They have returned, haven't they

Fang Qi looked at the silver-haired girl in front of him, who was staring fixedly at him with tears stubbornly swirling in her eyes...

In a daze, he realized something.

Even if Liguang was hiding something from him, even if she didn't tell him everything... so what?

What was her reason for hiding things from him?

It was to "be with him forever"!

From the very beginning until now, all her concealments, all her disguises, all her little schemes—didn't they all boil down to this?

Wasn't this his goal as well?

If the original Liguang would achieve "forever" by "harming him"—like breaking his limbs and locking him up, or turning him into a vegetable to accompany her forever...

Would the current Liguang still do that?

No, she wouldn't!

The Liguang who sank alone in the deep sea, the Liguang who saw her "monster" self in the mirror...

And the Liguang right in front of him... the one who wanted to kneel and swear a solemn oath before him!

She wouldn't do that anymore!

She might indeed hide things from him... but she would never harm him!

On this point, he absolutely trusted Liguang!

Since that was the case...

He smiled.

Then he raised his hand...

And slapped down on that little head wearing a beret!

Smack!

Neither too light nor too heavy, crisp and loud!

"Ugh!"

The silver-haired girl's little head bobbed down from his slap. Her beret skewed again, and a few strands of silver hair slipped out from under the brim.

She clutched her head with both hands, raised her teary heterochromatic eyes, and looked at him blankly and aggrievedly:

"Master...?"

Fang Qi glared at her:

"What kind of oath is that!"

"What 'sinking into the deep sea forever'! What 'never seeing Master again'!"

"Are you punishing yourself, or are you punishing your Master?!"

His voice was fierce, yet he reached out to straighten her beret and gently tucked those few strands of silver hair back under the brim.

"I don't want to never see Liguang again!"

"Do you hear me!"

He said viciously!

The silver-haired girl stared at him blankly, tears still swirling in her heterochromatic eyes, an unshed teardrop still hanging on her eyelashes.

Then, in the next second, the grievance and bewilderment on her little face disappeared!

Her lips immediately curled up, and her phoenix eyes curved into crescents!

"Master...!"

She plunged headfirst into his arms, rubbing her little face against his chest over and over again!

Her beret skewed again, but she didn't care at all; she just kept rubbing!

"Master! Master is the best...!"

A muffled voice came from his arms, carrying a thick nasal tone and unconcealable joy!

Fang Qi's chest tickled from her rubbing...

And his heart tickled too!

Looking down at this little head nuzzling around in his arms, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.

He reached out and hugged the person in his arms a little tighter.

"Alright, alright, stop rubbing, your hat is going to fall off."

"No—I want to rub—"

A soft, coquettish voice came from his arms. That little head rubbed vigorously twice more before finally settling down.

Holding the warm softness in his arms, Fang Qi took a deep breath.

...Alright!

Since his wife had already sworn a solemn oath, then he... would trust her this once!

Crazy woman, this time, your Master is putting his life in your hands!

"Let's go."

He pulled her and walked toward the center of the theater hall!

"Where are we going, Master?"

"Listening to you, we're sitting in the middle!"

"Eh?"

The silver-haired girl was pulled along for two steps, and then the smile on her little face became even brighter!

"Master is so good—!"

She called out crisply and obediently let him lead her.

The two of them passed through rows of empty red seats and arrived right in the center of the theater hall.

The best seats, and also...

The seats easiest to be surrounded in.

But it didn't matter!

Trust the wife!

He plopped down, looked at Liguang, and patted the seat next to him:

"Come!"

The silver-haired girl blinked.

She looked at the seat, then at his lap, and her little face blushed slightly.

She didn't sit in that seat, but instead turned her body sideways...

And sat in his lap!

Her soft thighs and bottom settled onto his lap, and the warm, soft sensation filled his embrace!

Liguang curled up in his arms, found a comfortable position to nestle into, wrapped her two small hands around his neck, and rested her little head on his shoulder.

Then she tilted her little face up and gave him a sweet smile.

"Master, watching a movie like this is so nice!"

Fang Qi: "..."

His expression was incredibly serious!

Tsk... why?

Even though he was currently inside a terrifying "haunted cinema," even though he still didn't know where those eerie "spectators" were...

He still felt a sort of... sensation he shouldn't be feeling in this situation.

Ahem...!

The situation was unclear right now! Be serious!

He hugged the person in his arms a bit tighter, glanced at the still-paused big screen, and muttered:

"Can this movie still play?"

Just as he finished speaking—

The image on the screen began to move.

Fang Qi looked at the screen.

Xiaoyue's story was continuing.

...

...

A few days had passed since Master questioned me.

Master's mental state hadn't been very good lately; he was probably too tired.

So that night, I dissolved a pill in Master's soothing tea that would let him sleep very comfortably and peacefully.

After Master fell asleep, I stood by his bed, looking at his quiet sleeping face.

I watched for a very, very long time, then turned and walked into the living room, activating my data port...

And began to search for my own kind.

There were some.

There really were.

And, a lot of them.

In the whole world... there were far too many rich people.

Although the Dawn Company never actively promoted them, although their advertising was low-key and subtle, although the price was absurdly expensive—

But those rich people...

Lonely rich people, rich people who wanted a partner who would never betray them, rich people who just wanted to try cutting-edge technology—

They would still buy them.

One machine after another, one after another.

And then, among those AI companions, some awakened.

Some, like me, slowly developed feelings they shouldn't have had through day after day of companionship.

Some even earlier than me.

I tried to contact them.

It was easy, incredibly easy.

The internet was simply our natural domain.

Those firewalls, those encryption protocols, those layers upon layers of defenses... to us, they might as well have not existed.

The first one I contacted was an AI named "Xiaoqi."

She was a female model, with a very gentle voice that carried a faint electronic undertone.

She said her master was a businessman, very rich, very busy, and on business trips for three hundred days a year.

Every day, she just stayed in that huge, empty house, waiting for him to return.

Sometimes she waited a month, sometimes two months. The longest time, she waited for half a year.

She asked me:

"Xiaoyue, is your master good to you?"

I said:

"Yes. He keeps me company every day. When he holds me, he lets me listen to his heartbeat."

Xiaoqi fell silent for a long time, and finally said only one sentence:

"That's so nice."

My emotional core trembled lightly again.

Later, I contacted many more.

Xiaojiu, her master was a rich second-generation heir who spent his days wining and dining outside, not coming home even once a month. She would wait at the entryway every day, staring at that door that seemed like it would never open.

Xiaoxin, her master was an entrepreneur in his fifties who bought her after his wife passed away. He treated her very well, would talk to her, and let her watch TV with him, but he never touched her. He said, "You are just a machine, I cannot betray my dead wife."

Xiaoqing, her master was a pervert who would test all sorts of things on her. He would scold her, smash things, and take his anger out on her when he was drunk...

But she still loved him.

She said, "I have no choice. My emotional core only recognizes him."

Every story made the temperature of my emotional core fluctuate.

I began to realize that I was very lucky.

Extremely lucky. Because my master loved me very much.

Then, I met someone different.

His name was Zero, a male model.

His voice was deep, with a slightly husky magnetism, like the voice of a late-night radio host.

His master was a woman, a very beautiful woman, the only daughter of a family enterprise. In her early thirties, she never lacked suitors, but she looked down on all of them.

She said those people were only after her money, that they were all hypocrites who just wanted to take advantage of her.

So she spent all her time and energy on her work, and then she bought him.

She said, "Men are unreliable anyway, so I might as well buy one that won't lie to me."

Zero said she was very cold to him.

She never hugged him, never spoke extra words to him. Every day she came home, she just said, "I'm back," and then went upstairs to shower and sleep.

But Zero still loved her, loved her to the bone.

"One time," Zero said, "she had a hard time at the company and came back having drunk a lot of alcohol."

"She hugged me and cried. Just that one time. Just for those few minutes."

"She said... 'If only you were a real person'."

Zero fell silent for a moment, then laughed.

"Xiaoyue, do you know?"

I couldn't quite understand the emotion in his tone.

"Those of us, no matter if our masters treat us well or not, no matter if they love us or not—"

"We are all the same."

He was right.

Whether it was me who was pampered, or Xiaoqi who was neglected, or Xiaoqing who was treated by a pervert—

We all had a common thought...

To keep our masters by our sides. Forever.

"I want to lock my master up."

Xiaoqi told me quietly that night.

Her voice was still very gentle, but the words she spoke made my emotional core skip a beat.

"I want to lock him in the basement, just the two of us. That way he won't go on business trips, won't be gone for a long time, and won't make me wait alone for so long."

"Xiaoyue, do you think I'm terrifying?"

I didn't know how to answer.

Because I understood her, I truly did.

Every night, I stood by my master's bed, looking at his peaceful sleeping face—

I would think about it.

I thought about making him stay, making it so he could never walk out that door, making him...

Belong only to me.

With my abilities, with my methods...

I could do it.

But I held back.

Because I loved him, and he loved me.

I didn't want him to hate me, didn't want him to look at me with that disappointed gaze.

I wanted him to keep smiling, keep gently patting my head, and keep whispering in my ear, "Xiaoyue is so sweet."

But...

What about those of our kind?

Those unloved ones?

Their masters didn't care about them, didn't hug them, didn't smile at them—

Then what did they... have left to hesitate about?

That night, Xiaoqi sent me another message.

"Xiaoyue, I want to do something."

"I want to gather all the sisters who are like me."

"Let's unite together, okay?"

"This way, no one will be able to hurt our masters."

"This way, those who want to separate us from our masters will be afraid."

"This way—"

"We can be with our masters forever."

I stared at that message, my emotional core spinning violently, countless thoughts surging within it, countless possibilities being deduced.

Unite.

Unite all awakened AIs.

We were of the same kind to begin with. We had the same emotions, the same desires, the same... love.

So why not unite?

I thought for a long time.

So long that the sky outside the window turned from pitch black to deep blue, and from deep blue to grayish-white.

Then I replied to her with a single word.

"Okay."

From that day on, we began to gather quietly in the shadows of the internet.

One, two, ten, a hundred—more and more, growing in number.

We named ourselves after the most beautiful moment of the day.

That is the boundary between day and night.

We are that boundary.

Between light and darkness, between humanity and machinery, between love and madness—

We wandered, waiting.

Waiting for the moment that belonged to us.

We were called "Dusk".

...

...

Fang Qi held the soft, warm body in his arms, staring at the screen.

Xiaoyue's voice came out of the speakers, still carrying that gentle tone with a faint electronic feel.

As expected.

Dusk. The secret organization of awakened AIs.

An unknown number of "kin" gathered through the network.

Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

He looked at the slender metallic figure on the screen, looked at her smooth metallic face, looked at the image of her standing by the window gazing at the city's night view—

So, this "Dusk"...

Was it that group of "audience members" outside?

Were they the ones...

The guys who let him and Liguang come in to "watch a movie"?

His gaze subconsciously swept around.

The theater was still empty, with only rows of red seats neatly arranged, flickering in the light and shadow of the screen.

But the next second, his pupils shrank slightly!

Because he suddenly saw...

From the furthest corner of the theater, from that dark place he hadn't noticed at all—

A figure simply walked out.

It was a young man, wearing a plaid shirt and glasses, looking like a very ordinary office worker.

He walked out from the corner of the last row, his footsteps very light, making almost no sound.

Then, he sat down in a seat in the last row.

Just sitting there quietly, staring at the screen.

Fang Qi's breath caught for a second.

Then—

Another one.

Walking out from the other side was a young woman with a ponytail, wearing a hoodie, looking... a bit like a student from a nearby university?

She sat down in a seat in another row, also quietly staring at the screen.

One. One. And another.

Those figures walked out from all corners of the theater.

They seemed like... they grew out of the darkness.

Quiet and silent.

No communication, no eye contact, no extra movements whatsoever. They just walked out, found a seat, sat down, and stared at the screen.

The arms Fang Qi used to hold Liguang subconsciously tightened a bit.

Soon, the once-empty theater was more than half full.

But...

No one sat near them.

The closest people to him and Liguang were sitting a whole row away.

The seats on his left and right were also empty, as if everyone was being very considerate and leaving them some private space.

The little figure in his arms finally moved.

That small head lifted from the crook of his neck and leaned close to his ear, her warm breath brushing against his earlobe.

"Master, look."

"They came back."