I Became Your Cage

Recalling the past.

Xu Xi narrated the experiences that belonged solely to him and Ailei.

It was a struggle for survival in a wasteland world, a mutual reliance during the apocalypse, and an intertwined dependence across the vast sea of stars. Centuries of time condensed into a single moment, creating a dreamlike splendor.

The memories were beautiful.

And precious.

They were irreplaceable treasures.

"Ailei, I am so glad to have met you."

Xu Xi's breathing grew weaker, and he found it increasingly difficult to breathe. The weakness and silence emanating from his soul left him entirely dependent on oxygen equipment to survive.

His painful appearance made Ailei tremble even more.

Both her steel body and the elusive machine spirit resonated with sorrow in unison.

"Master, please rest now..."

Ailei's voice was no longer pleasant.

It seemed to have reverted to its initial electronic synthesis, chaotic and disordered.

It was the echo of a heart's lament.

But Xu Xi shook his head gently, holding Ailei's hand and facing her damaged, ferocious visage up close. "Ailei, let me finish speaking first."

"Can you do that?"

A request from Xu Xi was something the machine servant could never refuse.

"If it's you, then yes," the sorrowful emotion completely broke through the cold machinery, reverberating throughout the escape pod.

Then.

Xu Xi's gentle voice sounded again.

"Ailei, all along, my intention has been to nurture you, to help you grow into someone even more remarkable."

"Though you often deny it, I believe that you, with your emotions, are no different from a human."

"I wanted to watch you grow."

"I wanted to ensure your safe survival."

"Perhaps I am a dictator? Because I was too self-righteous, always thinking of freeing you from your cage."

"From the cage of machinery, from the cage of a civilization destined for destruction."

"But now, it seems that I, who always wanted to set you free, have unknowingly become a new cage, binding your future."

"I really... am not suited to teaching others."

Xu Xi gazed tenderly at Ailei, holding her mechanical hand, which had lost its synthetic skin, exposing the alloy beneath.

Guilt.

Regret.

His voice was filled with so many emotions that it tore at the machine servant's heart, delivering an intangible pain straight to her core.

It's not like this, it's not like this at all.

"You have not bound my future," Ailei denied in a trembling voice, all her sorrow pouring out through her eyes, quivering and dim.

"My birth, my existence, everything about me."

"Is because of you..."

"Master, you are my future."

"I don't need freedom, I only need you."

The surging sadness in her heart could no longer be contained, flooding the machine servant's absolute mind.

Nothing else is needed.

Nothing else has any meaning.

Only you, I only want you.

"You have not become my cage... it is I, I who have bound you," the machine servant trembled uncontrollably, like a drowning person struggling in water, clutching desperately at the only thing within reach.

Xu Xi's hand.

The familiar warmth was gone.

All she felt was cold ash.

The machine servant realized that compared to Xu Xi, who had always worried for her and thought of her well-being, her own actions were the true shackles, imprisoning the increasingly suffering Xu Xi.

The string of despair finally snapped at this moment.

The pod was silent, the bright lights illuminating Xu Xi's exhausted and haggard face with stark clarity.

The machine servant could no longer convince herself to believe in the false hope, to sit idly by and watch Xu Xi suffer through futile treatments.

"Master..."

"Please... command me."

In Xu Xi's stunned surprise, Ailei slowly raised her face, forcing a sorrowful smile as she made her request.

She did not explicitly state what the command should be.

But Xu Xi understood the underlying meaning.

First shock, then astonishment, and finally a gentle, approving gaze.

"Are you sure, Ailei?"

"...Yes."

Her vocal module was completely damaged, though there had been no external attack, the internal components burned hot, emitting acrid smoke as parts began to char.

Ailei's voice was hoarse and distorted, but she reaffirmed her answer.

"Then, I leave it to you, Ailei."

It was not a command, nor a demand.

But a request.

Under that gentle gaze, the machine servant, trembling even more, stood up and walked toward the treatment machines.

She shut down the programs, flipped the switches, and extinguished everything.

What could have been done with a single thought.

The machine servant chose to do it manually, one by one, turning off each machine in sequence, as if performing a delayed farewell.

"Thud—"

Soon.

As all the machines were turned off, the tubes attached to Xu Xi automatically detached.

The last bit of fuel sustaining the flame was gone.

Life began to approach its inevitable end.

But Xu Xi's expression was one of unprecedented relief. His long-fatigued and withered body could finally take the next step.

"I never thought..."

"There would come a day when I would consider death a good thing."

An overwhelming drowsiness surged forth.

Without the treatment machines, the sense of emptiness grew more pronounced. Xu Xi's vision blurred further, until it began to fade into darkness.

A spent torch.

About to fall into eternal slumber.

"Ailei..."

"Yes, I am here."

After shutting down all the machines, Ailei returned to the bedside, her silver-blue mechanical eyes filled with profound sorrow as she gazed at Xu Xi, who was about to leave her.

He was the first light in her life.

And the only light.

Ending the continuation of that light with her own hands left the machine servant unable to forgive herself.

"Don't grieve for me, Ailei."

"This time, like before, I will revive after death, though... it will take a bit longer."

On the bed,

Xu Xi gradually lost his strength.

The blinking of his eyes, the parting of his lips, the movement of his fingers.

Things that were once effortless now felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, nearly impossible to perform.

He smiled at the machine servant by his bedside.

It was his final smile.

The spent torch, wanting to use its last remaining warmth to do something for his loyal servant, to make that light and heat meaningful.

And so, he softly requested, "Ailei, may I touch your face?"

"...Yes, Ailei is at your service."

In the quiet escape pod, surrounded by silver-white walls, Ailei nodded with a mournful cry, gently lifting Xu Xi's right hand and placing his weak palm against her damaged cheek.

In the next moment.

A faint glow emanated from his palm.

It was mechanical energy.

Xu Xi summoned the last bit of strength in his body, using the final remnants of his mechanical energy.

Using the surrounding deactivated treatment machines as materials, he repaired Ailei's damaged body, restoring her delicate face and shattered form.

"Now, you look much better..."

His fingertips slipped from the machine servant's face, no longer able to touch. The continuously burning torch finally met its eternal darkness.

[You have died]

[Simulation ended]