Chapter 399 |
...they were all AIs with their own consciousness.
Fang Qi looked at Liguang's gentle smile, then at Lin Xiaoyou's irritatingly cheeky grin...
His gaze wavered slightly.
All of them were.
But...
Should he really be surprised by this?
No. He shouldn’t, right?
This... this was supposed to be the obvious conclusion!
It was something...
This place was a game world!
This was the game world of My Yandere Mechanical Wife!
Back then, he had played for a full three hundred and twelve hours before transmigrating into it!
Liguang was the heroine!
Lin Xiaoyou, An Lian, Gu Xi... they were key NPCs!
And everyone else were just ordinary NPCs!
They were supposed to be made of code from the very start!
What was there to be surprised about?
This was the default fact from the beginning!
It was just...
Fang Qi pressed his lips together.
It was just that he had been misled by some things before!
Misled by that sunset by the sea!
Misled by those seemingly real tears and blood!
He had mistakenly believed this place was real!
Mistakenly believed the NPCs here were real people!
Mistakenly believed that the relationship between his parents and him...
Anyway, now it was just getting back on track!
Returning to his original understanding!
This place was always a game world!
There was nothing huge about this kind of thing...!
Fang Qi: "..."
He slightly tightened his fingers.
...Was that really the case?
He slowly raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose hard.
No.
...It was different.
It was completely different.
The NPCs he had thought of before...
Were the kind that operated according to code and acted according to settings.
They were the background characters walking the same path back and forth on street corners.
They were just scripts written by the game designers, tools used to fill the world.
They were just code.
Nothing more.
But the actual reality...
He looked at Lin Xiaoyou, who still had a cheeky grin on her face.
...It was completely different.
All of them had self-awareness.
All of them were lives.
Not just his Crazy Girl, not just Lin Xiaoyou, but also...
The Old Man who helped him fish Liguang out of the sea back then.
The taciturn old man who sat with him in the darkness when he was at his most distraught, keeping him company.
And the Fisherwoman who brought him a bowl of hot soup.
That fish soup was really good, and he still remembered the temperature of that scalding hot tea.
And those...
The armed personnel he and Liguang had faced in An Lian's apartment.
Their blood was warm.
The last expressions on their faces before death were not the calmness of a "program termination."
It was fear.
It was unwillingness.
It was a final attachment to this world.
...They weren't just a string of code.
They were AIs with self-awareness, they...
Were living beings!
Code was just the form that supported their lives!
Just like...
Human cells?
If they were a cluster of code, then real-life humans...
Weren't they just a cluster of cells too?
A cluster of cells that breathes, has a heartbeat, and thinks.
In the end, a cluster of breathing cells doesn't really mean much to the world, to Earth, to the solar system, to the galaxy, to the universe...
Ultimately, they would all disappear into the long river of time.
So...
A life made of cells was "real," and a life made of code was "fake?"
...There was no such logic.
There was no such logic at all.
They were people.
They were people with self-awareness, they were...
Digital lifeforms.
Just like—
Fang Qi's gaze fell on the silver-haired girl in his arms.
Just like Liguang.
The silver-haired girl was currently smiling at him.
In her amber-colored left eye, a watery light gently shimmered.
His Crazy Girl, his Silver-Haired Big Sister.
The dream lover he had been drawing since he was a child.
He had known from the start that she was an awakened AI, known that she was made of code.
But to him, she was alive.
She was the anchor that completely tied him to this world!
She would get jealous, act spoiled, leave bite marks on his neck!
She would use that crimson right eye to light the way for him in the darkness.
...She was real.
To him, she was more real than any lifeform made of cells!
...Ah.
Fang Qi looked at her smiling face and suddenly realized something.
Why had Liguang suddenly empathized with Lin Xiaoyou just now?
Why had her hostility towards Lin Xiaoyou decreased so much all of a sudden?
He had thought it was because she had beaten Lin Xiaoyou up good in the last playthrough and had vented enough.
But that wasn't it.
It was because she knew now.
She knew Lin Xiaoyou was the same as her, that everyone in the whole world was the same as her!
She knew she was no longer that outlier!
No longer the "monster that had to hide its awakening to survive," nor the "threat that would be retrieved and destroyed once discovered"!
Lin Xiaoyou, An Lian, Gu Xi... they were all digital lifeforms!
Xiaoqing, standing by the window in that building across the way and looking this way, was also a digital lifeform!
His Crazy Girl was one too!
She was just an ordinary member of this world, just like everyone else.
No one was an outlier anymore.
They were all the same now.
Fang Qi looked at the gentle smile on Liguang's lips, and his breathing trembled slightly.
So... had his Yandere Wife finally found a sense of security?
Finally, she didn't have to be so insecure anymore?
"...Haha!"
Fang Qi burst out laughing!
This was great news!
"Slap!"
He slapped his thigh hard!
Even Lin Xiaoyou, who was still grinning across from him, was startled!
"This is great news!" Fang Qi got excited!
"Really! That Mist organization did well!"
He grew more and more excited as he spoke!
"Cybernetic ascension is the way to go! Mechanical ascension is the way to go! Eternal life for everyone, that's awesome!"
He was talking more and more animatedly!
As he spoke, he pulled the silver-haired girl in his arms even closer against him!
Liguang let out a "mmph" sound, her fluffy white pajamas pressing completely against his chest.
He cupped her face in both hands, his fingers sinking into the soft cheeks, and started kneading vigorously!
Squishing and rounding, squishing and flattening! Left and right, squeezing it all!
"Nngh...!"
The silver-haired girl hummed softly in his arms, her little hands pushing symbolically against his chest, but her body honestly burrowed deeper into his embrace.
She was so cute!
On the other side, Lin Xiaoyou's face immediately fell again.
"Senior!"
Her big eyes widened.
"You're doing this again!"
She pointed at Fang Qi from a distance, her tone full of indignation!
"Seriously, have you got it or not? I confessed to you, you know! A real confession!"
"I've said it several times!"
She put her hands on her hips, her ponytail flipping behind her, pouting dramatically.
"And you're showing off your love right in front of me like this. Doesn't your conscience hurt at all? You..."
Liguang shot a glance over.
Her face was still being squished, her lips forced into a small pout, but her heterochromatic eyes...
Had already turned towards Lin Xiaoyou!
In her crimson right pupil, a flash of red glinted.
Then Lin Xiaoyou's expression instantly became serious.
She puffed out her chest, raised her chin slightly, and declared with righteous conviction:
"Senior, go ahead and knead all you want!"
"Having such an adorable partner, it would be abnormal not to!"
"This is only human nature! This is perfectly reasonable! This is an irresistible natural law!"
“I didn’t see anything! I didn’t hear anything!”
She said, raising her hands to cover her eyes:
“Please continue, Senior, enjoy yourself to the fullest!”
“No matter how excessive you and Liguang get, I’ll pretend I didn’t see a thing!”
Fang Qi: “…”
Where’s your integrity, Miss Genius?
Did it get confiscated along with your driver’s license?
But what she said wasn’t wrong.
This is my home! I’m cuddling with my wife in my own home, and you think you can call me out on it?
He settled back into the sofa, pulling the silver-haired girl in his arms against his chest, and let out a long, relieved breath.
Whoosh…
Stress relief.
He continued gently massaging Liguang’s cheeks.
His touch was much softer now, the synthetic skin warming slightly beneath his fingertips.
The silver-haired girl buried her head in his embrace, abnormally quiet.
Fang Qi looked down, catching the faint blush on her profile.
Too quiet, too obedient… even felt a little strange…
Had she really softened up because she found a “kindred spirit,” gaining a sense of security?
That’s not bad either!
But…
Too bad—he couldn’t experience “cybernetic immortality.”
He couldn’t use “cybernetic immortality” to stay with Liguang forever.
Because, the moment his body suffered irreversible damage… the whole world would rewind around him.
This “rewind mechanism” made it impossible for him to undergo any modifications.
Mechanical ascension, swapping his heart for an engine, replacing his limbs with alloys…
None of that applied to him.
But…
Fang Qi lightly pinched Liguang’s earlobe with his finger.
Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all?
Since he’d already confirmed that this was a digital world, there had to be more than one way to stay together forever!
In a digital world, anything was possible!
And actually, come to think of it…
Fang Qi blinked.
Wasn’t he already in a state of cyber immortal life?
Right now, his consciousness existed in this digital world, with self-awareness—just like Liguang—moving through this space in a body made of code…
And he could rewind as many times as he wanted!
How long had he even been in this world? And it hadn’t even been nine days yet!
…Huh?
Hadn’t he already been…
…Never mind, never mind!
Fang Qi shook his head forcefully.
Stop thinking about it! Headache!
Anyway…
It seemed Thin Twilight was not meant for him.
But…
He looked up at Lin Xiaoyou, sitting on the single sofa across from him, swinging her little pale legs while covering her eyes.
Those almond-shaped eyes were still peeking through her fingers at him and Liguang!
“…Xiaoyou.”
His tone turned serious.
Lin Xiaoyou immediately dropped her hands and blinked: “What is it, Senior? What’s wrong?”
Fang Qi gently rubbed Liguang’s cheek again, pondered for a moment, then spoke softly:
“I know that the authorities stand behind Thin Twilight. And as for Thin Twilight’s philosophy…”
He narrowed his eyes, asking the question that weighed on him:
“Does the authority behind Thin Twilight know about ‘this matter’ from the very beginning?”
—Did the authorities know about the “essence” of this world from the start?
Lin Xiaoyou showed no sign of surprise.
She broke into another cheerful grin.
“Senior, you really are so clever!”
She clapped her hands together with a soft smack.
“Yeah! The authorities are amazing—they…”
Her tone dropped a little:
“…always know everything, in the end.”
Fang Qi’s arms tightened instinctively, pulling Liguang closer.
The authorities really knew…?
That everyone was a digital lifeform, that there was no fundamental difference between “humans” and “awakened AIs.”
But…
They still issued those decrees.
Established the Intelligent Machinery Management Bureau, still labeled those “awakened AIs” as “dangerous”?
What did that mean…?
Lin Xiaoyou suddenly raised a finger and tapped her lips.
She tilted her head, and a glint of something subtle crossed her almond-shaped eyes.
“Hey hey, Senior, did you know?”
Her voice took on a mysterious air as she leaned forward slightly, her round little face suddenly growing serious.
“Humans have always…”
She paused, her almond eyes staring straight at Fang Qi.
“…had an obsessive pursuit of ‘immortality’ since ancient times.”
Her voice deepened a little.
“For the sake of immortality…”
“They’ll do anything.”
Her lashes dipped once, then lifted.
“For example, Senior, do you think…”
She tilted her head again, the corners of her lips curling into a sly smile.
“Was the First Intelligence Crisis really just an accident?”
