Found

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

...Explain?

What did she want to explain?

The figure in his arms also shifted slightly. That small silver head peeked out a bit from his chest, her heterochromatic eyes staring warily at the phone.

An Lian's voice continued through the phone.

Word by word, incredibly clear:

"You should know that as soon as your AI companion returns to the city, she connects to the company's network."

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes. "...So what?"

"In the contract you signed when purchasing Liguang... on page 342, line 15, there is a clause."

An Lian's voice was incomparably calm:

"In emergency situations, the company may perform data extraction on its AI companion products connected to the company network."

"The extracted data will be analyzed by the background Super AI to determine if the AI companion exhibits significant anomalies."

"All rights of interpretation for this clause... belong to Chenxi Company."

Fang Qi: "...?"

...Huh?

No... what the hell?

Page 342... line 15?!

What? There was such a setting?

He... had never seen any contract clauses hundreds of pages long!

Moreover...

He had played "My Yandere Mechanical Wife" for 312 hours, and the game had never mentioned it at all?!

No...

Wait, wait!

His mind raced!

That's not right!

It's still a bluff!

The company could extract data without doing an on-site inspection?

That's impossible!

Absolutely impossible!

Then what were all of An Lian's previous on-site inspections for!

She was bluffing him!

He suppressed the shock in his heart and stated flatly:

"Miss An Lian, do you think I would believe you when you say something like this?"

"If that were really the case, then why do you even do on-site inspections? Couldn't you just extract the data from the background every time?"

An Lian's voice remained calm:

"Mr. Fang, you need to understand..."

"First, my primary duty as a specialist making a house call is to maintain the AI companion, not solely to test the emotional core."

"Second, the accuracy of this kind of network extraction is far less definitive than a face-to-face inspection."

"Finally... this method involves invading customer privacy, so it is absolutely never activated under normal circumstances."

She paused.

"Only when an AI companion is highly suspected of a major awakening will a specialist proactively apply to activate it."

Fang Qi's pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly:

"You... applied for it?"

"Yes."

An Lian's answer this time was crisp and decisive.

"This time, I proactively applied for the data extraction on 'Liguang'."

Fang Qi... fell silent.

The figure in his arms also stiffened, the small hands wrapped around his waist suddenly tightening!

"Miss An Lian."

Fang Qi's voice was very calm:

"Do you know what this is called? This is called... invading customer privacy."

There was a second of silence on the other end of the phone.

Then—

"Heh."

Another soft chuckle.

"Mr. Fang is right."

An Lian's voice carried a trace of... a complex emotion that Fang Qi couldn't understand:

"It is indeed suspected of invading customer privacy."

"Therefore, if the data extracted this time is normal, I will personally come to your door to apologize."

"If I cannot obtain your forgiveness..."

Her voice paused.

"Then there is a high probability that I will be dismissed, and even face massive compensation claims."

Fang Qi was stunned.

The silver-haired girl in his arms was also stunned, a trace of bewilderment flashing in her amber left eye.

An Lian continued, her voice still calm:

"So I am very glad."

"This time, I was indeed a bit impulsive."

"But my guess... was not wrong."

Fang Qi: "......"

He stared at the phone screen, staring at the call interface.

Now... he could basically be certain!

An Lian...

She definitely also had dreams about the previous loop!

Otherwise, with her professional, almost rigid personality, she couldn't possibly do something so "impulsive"!

Mobilizing armed forces, applying for data extraction, gambling her own career—

Just based on Liguang's "slightly over-the-top" daily behavior?

Impossible.

This simply wasn't something the calm and rational An Lian would do!

She...

Must have dreamed about the events of the previous loop!

Dreamed of Liguang awakening, dreamed of her failing to mobilize armed forces to contain her, taking the blame, resigning, and ending up in prison...

Combined with her third-day inspection results, where multiple of Liguang's metrics were approaching critical values, after which she even gave him a USB drive...

In short, with multiple reasons stacking together, she would take such a huge risk...

Putting all her eggs in one basket and proactively applying for data extraction!

Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed.

He opened his mouth, just about to speak—

But An Lian's voice rang out first.

"Mr. Fang, there is one more thing I want to tell you."

Her tone was still that professional calmness, but Fang Qi felt...

Beneath that calmness, something was surging.

"As I just said, the accuracy of this network extraction is far less than a face-to-face inspection."

"It can only capture some... massive emotional fluctuations."

"If an AI companion has merely awakened but has no major emotional fluctuations..."

"Then the background Super AI wouldn't be able to capture conclusive evidence either."

She paused.

"But today—"

"The company captured a massive amount of evidence."

On the other end of the phone, that cold voice finally carried a trace of obvious emotion.

Was it relief?

Or... some kind of complex release?

"I am truly glad."

She said.

Fang Qi... froze slightly.

Network extraction... can only capture massive emotional fluctuations?

So Liguang was discovered because today, she...

Was too happy?

"Mr. Fang, stop struggling."

"Your AI companion has already been thoroughly convicted by our company's strongest Super AI!"

"Her current state goes far beyond a normal awakening!"

"She is already a 'Highly Awakened AI' explicitly stipulated in the 'Smart Machine Safety Law' to be completely destroyed!"

"No country in the world will ever allow such an AI to exist anymore!"

"You had better..."

Fang Qi could no longer hear the rest of An Lian's words.

The hand he used to hold the phone was trembling slightly!

It wasn't because of fear of the desperate situation.

But...

He looked down at the silver-haired girl in his arms.

Liguang was burying her face in his chest.

She was trembling slightly.

The little star on her earlobe was still swaying in the light, her silver hair slightly messy from their earlier run.

Her entire delicate body was hugging him tightly, trembling!

Today...

She had indeed experienced far too many emotions.

Massive happiness, intense relief!

The release of fear from past "dreams", the wild joy of her master's confession, the sweetness of that kiss on the Ferris wheel.

The despair of being surrounded, and the excitement of escaping alive.

All these intense emotions... were her love for him!

But all this love... had been captured by Chenxi Company's background, that so-called Super AI!

And then judged as... "abnormal emotional patterns exceeding the scope of simulation."

Treated as evidence that she should be destroyed!

"Heh heh..."

Fang Qi suddenly laughed.

A somewhat absurd laugh.

Right now, he did not feel the slightest bit of despair at being completely exposed.

He only felt...

That it was so damn absurd!

He recalled everything that happened today.

From waking up and being bitten by her, to cooking for her, going out on a date, buying clothes, rejecting Lin Xiaoyou at the cafe, confessing on the street, going to the amusement park, to the kiss on the Ferris wheel—

Every second had been so beautiful; they were all memories he wanted to cherish, memories he wanted her to remember forever!

But looking at it now...

Every single second was actually evidence pushing her into the abyss?

His love, her love, all the feelings between them...

All of it was treated as anomalous data by some damn super AI?

This was truly...

Absurd to the extreme!

He looked up at the security camera on the street corner, at those... electronic eyes hidden in the dark!

He suddenly really wanted to ask that super AI running in the company's background—

You call yourself a fucking super AI?

You do not even have your own consciousness!

Do you understand what real emotion is?

Do you understand what a massive emotional fluctuation is?

Do you understand what it means... to personally crush your own core, just to slow down the other person's departure?

Do you understand what it means... to be willing to give up leaving for someone, and stay in this world forever?

You do not understand anything at all.

You are just a pile of code!

A pile of code... what gives you the right to judge her love as an anomaly?!

And what was that about... the Omnic Safety Law?

Universally applied globally?! Fuck that!

On what grounds does the law dictate that she must be destroyed?!

No...

On what fucking grounds?!

What kind of bullshit law is this?!

To hell with the Omnic Safety Law!!

Fang Qi suddenly felt that his emotions were slipping out of control!

He stared dead at the camera on the corner, his chest heaving violently.

The person in his arms was still trembling.

Over, and over, and over again.

Her trembling made his heart clench tight.

He tightened his arms, hugging her even closer.

The gazes of the surrounding pedestrians, their whispers, their raised phones—

He could not see any of it anymore.

Beside his ear, An Lian was still saying things like You had better cooperate, This is for your own good, Do not ruin your future—

And he did not want to hear a single word of it!

He just held her like this, holding her so, so tightly!

Crazy girl... do not be afraid, I am here!

No one is going to take you away from me!

Absolutely no one!

Whatever super AI, whatever Omnic Safety Law, whatever Dawn Company—

Fuck them all...!

...Master.

A soft call suddenly came beside his ear.

The voice was trembling slightly.

The silver-haired girl... was slowly lifting her head from his embrace.

Fang Qi's gaze paused slightly.

Because that delicate little face...

Was not filled with the panic, bewilderment, and teary eyes he had imagined...

But rather—

The corners of her mouth were stretched high!

Stretched into an...

Exaggerated arc!

Revealing two neat rows of pearly white teeth!

Those phoenix eyes, hooked at the inner corners and lifted at the outer, were narrowed into slits, the edges of her eyes trembling madly!

Her entire expression was so sickeningly morbid that it made one's scalp tingle!

Fang Qi was instantly stunned.

...Huh?

Why?

Why... this expression?

Li... Liguang?

He called out subconsciously.

The silver-haired girl looked up at him with her pretty face.

In her amber left eye, a halo of light was quivering madly.

In her crimson right eye, scarlet data streams were spinning at high speed!

Mas... ter...

Her voice was trembling, hoarse with a hint of sharpness, the ending notes rising high!

It sounded as if it had been squeezed out from the depths of her throat!

She suddenly leaned into his ear!

Her warm breath... sprayed against his ear like fire!

That hoarse, trembling voice, laced with a mad smile, drilled into his ear word by word!

Master... Liguang... found it...!

Fang Qi's pupils shrank.

What?

Found it?

Found what?

But the corners of the silver-haired girl's mouth stretched up a bit more!

Almost reaching the base of her ears!

That slender finger...

Gently tapped the phone he was currently gripping in his hand, blocking the microphone.

An Lian's words of persuasion were still coming from it.

But Fang Qi could not hear them anymore.

Because the scarlet in the crimson eye before him had suddenly exploded!

Master...

Her voice sounded like she was laughing, yet also like she was crying!

Liguang...

Found...

Miss An Lian's...

Location...!

Her rosy lips had stretched to their absolute limit!

Her entire pretty face was contorted because of it!

As for Fang Qi...

He stared at her blankly.

He looked at her small face... twisted by extreme excitement.

Looked at her astonishingly bright heterochromatic eyes.

Looked at that smile on her lips...

Stretched all the way to her ears.

Oh...

Found it?

Found it...

...

Found it!

The corners of his mouth... also slowly curled up.

Little by little...

Growing wider and wider.

Until finally, it was almost, exactly the same as the silver-haired girl in front of him!

Heh...

He softly... let out a laugh.

Heheh...

He laughed again.

He just looked at the crazy girl in his arms, her face twisted in a smile.

She was also looking up at him with her pretty face.

The two of them just stared at each other like this...

Smiling with their mouths stretched wide open!

Their narrowed eyes filled with nothing but madness!

The pedestrians around them were still watching, phone camera flashes still blinking, whispering about something.

An Lian's voice was still intermittently coming from the phone—

Mr. Fang? Are you still listening?

Mr. Fang, please, you must...

Fang Qi paid it no mind.

He merely held the trembling, laughing delicate body in his arms.

Moonlight spilled down, falling upon the two of them.

The streetlights flickered, and pedestrians came and went on the overpass in the distance.

They just looked at each other like this, smiling.

Oh, so...

She found it.