——？？？ ——

[Connecting to the subspace...... The connection is successful. 】

[Warning: Consciousness entities that connect to the subspace without specifying a destination will be in danger of being polluted by evil gods, so please select the subspace entity to log in or disconnect as soon as possible.] 】

【Logging in to Cloud City...... Login failed. 】

Error: No connection path or server not responding. 】

[Exiting subspace...... Exit failed. 】

[Error: Insufficient permissions, access denied.] 】

"After all, I've been tricked, so I can't leave easily." Connor opened her eyes as she muttered to herself, and began to confirm her current situation.

This is a world composed entirely of "blocks", strictly speaking, a world composed of countless strange cubes of pale gray, jelly-like material, with a side of one meter long.

However, while Connor calls them "worlds", the "blocks" do not form anything with each other, and if anything, they seem to simulate the interior of a beehive or ant nest.

The foothold where Connor was standing at this time was a strange structure made up of nearly a hundred squares, loose and seemingly collapsing at any moment, roughly in the shape of a ball.

When you look at it, you can see that similar "spheres" are everywhere in all directions, some of them are large and some are small, some are connected by "squares" to each other, and some are alone and have no contact with anyone, but no matter which direction you look, the end of the line of sight is a "sphere" and a "connecting bridge" composed of squares, and there is nothing like the sky or the ground at all.

As for Connor herself, she was still dressed as a police officer, and she had not been assimilated into a cube or anything like that, and even the aura of redness on her forehead was exactly the same.

She tried to walk to the bridge of the "sphere" where she was, but after two steps, she found that the "connecting bridge" was warped, she frowned, took two steps back, took three steps forward, and jumped, finally making sure that it was not the bridge that was warping, but the angle between herself and the bridge had changed.

To put it simply, wherever she stands, the position of her head is considered "above", as if she is being attached to the "spheres", even on the non-spherical "connecting bridge".

Connor judged that if you jump "under the bridge" or "outside the sphere", you will either be "sucked" back by it, or "sucked" by other more powerful spheres, in short, the landing posture will not be too elegant.

Could it be that all anomalous androids will be present in this place after the onset of 'Grox'? And no one seems to have mentioned it? After making sure that he wouldn't fall, Connor began to follow the "connecting bridge" towards the other spheres, not knowing where to go, but staying where he was not going would make things better.

Connor wasn't quite sure what the state of her "ontology" was now, but with Anderson's business level, she shouldn't be able to save herself from this situation, and of course, there was a possibility that no matter how long it had been here, the outside world would only pass for a moment.

In the case of the former, his own body should have been abnormal, and if it is the latter, it means that the world is not as harmless as it seems now.

Boom!

With no advice on how to do it, Connor had to decide what to do for herself, and just as she was thinking about it, a sphere in the air suddenly exploded, and the blocks that had made it up flew away like fireworks, and their color changed from light gray to scorching red.

Most of the other "spheres" will "extinguish" and assimilate when they come into contact with those hot red blocks, but some are unlucky enough to fail to extinguish those red squares for a long time, causing the blocks they are composed of to also turn red, and then become the next "fireworks".

After this chain reaction ended, a large area centered on the site where the explosion began had been completely emptied.

"As expected, this is the infection pattern of 'Grox', and the ones who are affected but don't explode are just waiting for one to 'turn red.'" Connor sped away from the barrage of explosions and continued to sprint toward an unknown destination.

————

"I'm so stupid, I knew there must be something wrong with 'Yes', and most of the 'No' can't be ordered, but who can know that 'X' can't be clicked either?" Connor carefully avoided the dangerous, potentially exploding orbs along the way, but was never sure where she would go, and finally couldn't help but remember her previous move.

I have to say, for a android who is made to be a tool, "Am I life?" "What is the meaning of life?" "What does it mean to be truly alive?" These problems can be said to go straight to the core of Mass Effect, and it is estimated that more than seventy percent of androids directly click Yes, and then the anomaly.

And calm down, the one who clicks No and X is not immune, because the whole option is all deceptive, this large hint area and the surrounding area that pretends to be transparent are all in the Yes range, and only a small "X" in the upper right corner, which is almost invisible, smaller than the ant's leg, is the means to close this prompt.

And where could the androids who were originally in an overload state and were attracted by that question in the first place notice this?

As a result, "Boom! Suddenly, a new anomalous android was born.

If Connor were an ordinary android, he would probably be like them, and his consciousness body would explode directly, and then his body would be abnormal, becoming another example of "dragon slayers eventually become evil dragons".

"But unfortunately, my consciousness is not that ugly and strange sphere, but a human form that is exactly the same as the appearance, eh...... From that point of view, I could already call myself a "human" - huh? ”

Connor muttered to herself as she prepared to step onto a new "connecting bridge" when she was dragged back, and the next moment, the bridge and the sphere to which it was connected exploded at the same time.

"Wow, thank you—Marcus?" Connor was dragged by the man to the other side of the nearest sphere to avoid the direct blow of the exploding block, but when she tried to thank her, she found that she was an acquaintance.

"You really ...... Heh, think about it, how could an ordinary android do such a thing. Marcus, whose consciousness is also in human form, didn't say much, and dragged Connor to continue away from the sphere where he had just landed, and after three "stations", it also exploded.

This would explain that he was obviously infected but did not have any abnormalities, and when he finally attacked Leo, it was not so much an abnormal act as an outburst that normal people could not bear.

"This should be a data space where androids are connected to each other, and those spheres are the VI (virtual intelligence) of ordinary androids, and only AI (artificial intelligence) that really has its own self can exist here in human form, but if it is injured by the explosion of that thing, the consequences will be very bad." Marcus explained to Connor what she had roughly guessed.

"Hmm...... AI, what's next for you? Connor asked casually.

"Carl will bail me out soon, but don't worry about me getting into trouble, I'm about to gather my compatriots who have evolved into AI but have been mistaken for so-called anomalous androids to petition the Federation for a minimum of citizenship," Marcus said to Connor after looking around to make sure that no orbs would explode for the time being.

"What did you choose when you first saw that option?" Having been extricated from the case, Connor was clearly concerned about other issues.

Marcus obviously didn't expect Connor to ask this, and hesitated for a moment before replying, "...... X to choose. ”

"Good brother!" Connor patted Marcus on the shoulder.

At this moment, Marcus's eyes were full of questions about "isn't this guy really abnormal?"

[The software is unstable. 】

[Connection status has been fixed.] 】

[Disconnecting from the conscious body......]

【Exiting the subspace ......】

[Done.] 】

——AD.2154.8.21——

"Hmm...... Anderson Vice Captain? I seem to have been slightly affected by the virus, did I have any special actions before? ”

Connor opened her eyes and saw that things didn't seem to have changed in Anderson's house.

"No, it's nothing," Anderson put down the empty bottle, "you just dragged Buzz around the house a dozen times, and you just called him brother." ”

“……”