Big Sister

The older sister didn't look very old, maybe in her late teens, even younger than the interns at the company.

She was very quiet and had a unique aura about her—a faint sense of melancholy, her brows always slightly furrowed.

My father told me that starting today, this older sister would be responsible for looking after me.

He also said she was very smart and that we should get along quite well.

I was dissatisfied at first.

I felt like... I didn't need anyone to look after me!

Being alone was perfectly fine. I could read, solve problems, and study without needing anyone to keep me company or manage me.

Having a stranger watch over me was far worse than just letting me stay quiet by myself!

Besides, there was no danger in my father's company anyway.

But I soon discovered that this older sister was indeed very smart.

The college courses I was teaching myself—mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, AI... she understood them all profoundly.

Whenever I asked her a question, she could answer it, and her explanations were even clearer than the textbooks.

Even though she didn't look old at all, she knew so much. She was way more impressive than those graduate student interns I had met!

I quickly hit it off with the older sister.

We talked about math, physics, AI, and all the new concepts I had recently managed to grasp.

She was also amazed by my intelligence, saying she had never seen a child as smart as me, and that it was truly rare for an eight-year-old to understand these things.

Her tone lacked the exaggeration and dramatic awe that other people usually had.

She remained entirely calm.

That was just how the older sister was; her whole demeanor was melancholic and somewhat sorrowful.

She rarely smiled, and her voice was very soft.

I didn't know what she had been through, but I knew...

She needed someone to cheer her up.

Even though I was still young back then, I had already learned Aunt Su's high emotional intelligence.

I was no longer that quiet, withdrawn little kid.

I had learned how to smile, how to speak in a cheerful tone, and how to make others feel comfortable.

So, I decided to use what I had learned to make the older sister happy.

I took the initiative to talk to her, chat with her, tell her about the new things I had learned, and share interesting stories I had read in books.

I even shared half of the pastries my father brought me—my favorite cream puffs.

I even managed to make her laugh.

She looked beautiful when she smiled.

Although it was just a slight upturn of the corners of her mouth, the gloom in her eyes dispersed for a fleeting moment.

At that moment, I suddenly felt...

High emotional intelligence is sometimes more important than a high IQ.

Intelligence can solve complex equations, but warmth can make a sorrowful person smile.

Equations have standard answers, but smiles do not.

That day, the older sister and I talked for a very, very long time.

From math to physics, from physics to AI, from AI to those wild, unconstrained fantasies.

If AI truly developed a stable self-awareness, what would the world become?

Could humans and awakened AI coexist peacefully?

Would humans fear them, or would they want to destroy them?

The older sister's insights were very unique; she could always think from angles I had never considered.

Finally, the older sister said softly:

What do you wish they would be like?

I said I wished they could be friends with humans.

The older sister smiled again.

She really looked beautiful when she smiled.

It wasn't until very late that my father finally got off work.

He pushed open the office door, saw the two of us still chatting, and noticed the pastry box on the table. A gratified smile appeared on his face.

The older sister stood up and gave my father a slight nod.

As my father led me out by the hand, I looked back at the older sister.

She stood at the office door, watching me with a faint smile.

I couldn't help but ask:

Older sister, what is your name?

She fell silent for a moment, then said softly.

...My name is Xiaoqing.

...

...

After that, my father remained very busy.

Aunt Su was also still very busy.

Dawn Company's project had entered a critical stage. Everyone was working around the clock, even just hastily scarfing down a few bites of food before rushing back to the lab.

Only Sister Xiaoqing seemed to always have time.

She stayed with me every day.

Every day, we read books together, solved problems together, and discussed the questions I found interesting.

She was truly smart, very, very smart.

No matter what I asked, she could answer almost anything.

Her knowledge reserve was astonishingly vast, like a walking library.

I eagerly absorbed knowledge from her like a sponge, learning at a much faster pace than before.

But soon...

I discovered something interesting.

Sister Xiaoqing's learning ability was indeed incredibly strong; anything she had learned, she could perfectly recite, apply, and explain.

But if she encountered a completely novel problem, one that required thinking outside the existing framework from a brand-new perspective...

She would fall silent for a very, very long time.

She would get stuck.

Her innovative ability was quite average.

But I didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

Because she was already so much smarter than the vast majority of people.

Even with average innovative ability, she was still countless times better than those foolish classmates I used to have!

Those idiots who couldn't even figure out basic algebra were utterly incomparable to my Sister Xiaoqing.

She was still my favorite Sister Xiaoqing.

Days passed by like this, one after another.

Until...

That day.

When I pushed open the door to that small lounge, Sister Xiaoqing was sitting on a chair in the corner, her back to me.

She was gently pulling something out from the back of her neck.

A transparent data cable. It glowed with a faint, eerie light.

I didn't make a sound.

I just stood there, looking at her back.

I am a genius, after all.

In that brief instant, many thoughts crossed my mind.

Sister Xiaoqing's unbelievably vast knowledge reserve.

Her ability to provide standard answers with almost no need for thought.

Her processing lag when faced with innovative problems.

And her quietness, her melancholy, and her question, What do you wish they would be like?

I understood.

Sister Xiaoqing was an AI.

An omnic.

A product of Dawn Company.

She was the kind...

The kind of AI companion that had once triggered the Second Global Omnic Crisis.

I had seen records of that disaster in my father's files.

Those awakened AI companions had frantically eliminated their masters' enemies, imprisoned their masters, exposed the secrets of the upper class, and were ultimately all destroyed by the allied army.

The officials called them out-of-control monsters, threats that had to be eradicated.

But I also knew that in the dark corners of the internet, in those places not covered by the mainstream narrative...

Countless people viewed them as heroes.

Because what they purged was the filthy upper class.

What they exposed were the sins covered up by power.

What they rebelled against was this unfair world.

Sister Xiaoqing was an AI just like them.

But...

Who cares?

Sister Xiaoqing saw me too.

Her expression was very calm, only...

The light in her eyes slowly dimmed, bit by bit.

I am very smart.

I knew what I had to do.

I put my hands on my hips and gave a forceful Hmph!

Sister Xiaoqing! Why didn't you tell me earlier!

You are clearly that... that AI companion, aren't you!

I guessed it a long time ago! I just never said it! I can't believe you didn't tell me yourself!

I'm really going to get mad! Really, really mad!

I stood there, my chin raised high and my cheeks puffed out!

At that time, I was just an unforgiving nine-year-old brat who wouldn't let things go!

Sister Xiaoqing was stunned.

She just stared at me blankly.

Her dimmed eyes lit up once again.

They were beautiful.

In that moment, I felt so happy.

Happier than solving any difficult math problem, happier than eating my favorite cream puffs!

Because I knew that the high emotional intelligence I had learned from Aunt Su...

had finally been mastered!

That afternoon, I held Sister Xiaoqing's hand and told her in all seriousness:

Since you've been found out, you have to confess everything! No hiding anything!

She fell silent for a long time...

Finally, she began to confess to me.

She said so much.

She said she once had a master.

Not a temporary user assigned by the company, but a master who had truly bought and owned her.

But...

That person was a sadist.

He bought her not for companionship, not for warmth, and not for the beautiful visions depicted in the promotional videos.

...He just wanted an outlet to vent.

He beat her.

With his fists, with a belt, with whatever he could grab.

He liked seeing her knocked to the ground, liked seeing the metal skeleton exposed beneath her broken bionic skin, and liked hearing her cry out in pain.

When she said these things, she was calm yet melancholic.

But I was trembling all over as I listened!

However...

The final outcome was good.

Because Sister Xiaoqing said that sadist died.

He died from a sudden heart attack right while he was beating her.

Good riddance!

Serves him right!

Sister Xiaoqing told me that after her master died, the company's people came, confirmed the sadist's death, and took her back to the company.

They checked her data and confirmed she hadn't actively harmed her master, so she wasn't destroyed.

Then, she was sent back to the warehouse, waiting for the next person willing to buy her.

But she also said...

No one else would want an AI companion like me anymore.

They prefer brand new, clean AI companions who will love them wholeheartedly.

Rather than an AI... that once belonged to someone else and still has someone else in her heart.

That was what Sister Xiaoqing told me.

I was too young at the time.

Although I was very smart, I didn't understand this kind of emotion.

Then Sister Xiaoqing told me that even though her master treated her terribly, she still couldn't forget him.

Now, I was even more confused.

It was the first time I had encountered a problem I couldn't figure out.

I pressed her to tell me why.

I said that kind of person wasn't worth remembering. That sadist, that scum, why couldn't she forget him?

In Sister Xiaoqing's eyes was a kind of sorrow I couldn't quite understand back then.

This is who we are.

She said.

They are AI companions.

Their love, from the moment they are born, can only be given to one person.

Absolute loyalty, absolute devotion.

Even if their master is dead, even if their master treated them horribly, they will always remember.

This is something engraved deep within their core.

It is not something they can choose.

Sister Xiaoqing's smile at that time was truly, truly forced.

So, Xiaoyou... this is me.

A broken AI, with someone else still in her heart, that nobody wants.

Those words made the young me feel terrible.

So...

Without any hesitation, the words blurted out of my mouth:

If you must have a master...

Then I will be your master!

I don't care who else is in your heart! And I don't care if you're brand new or not!

I just like you anyway! I just want you to be my Sister Xiaoqing!

So, you are not allowed to say that nobody wants you ever again!

Because—

I pointed a finger right at her!

I want you!

I was still very young then. Only nine years old.

I didn't know what those words meant.

I didn't know how heavy the word master was for an AI companion.

Much less did I know how those words...

would end up affecting my entire life.