Dreams shouldn't be too long

Senior, do you know...

I almost went crazy back then!

Really, I was just a little bit away from it.

I had lost my father, lost Aunt Su, lost...

I only had Sister Xiaoqing left.

I yearned for her day and night for three whole years, I thought about her every single day!

I pinned all my hopes on her!

I kept thinking, I still have Sister Xiaoqing!

She is my only family now!

She must be waiting for me, she must have been waiting for me all along!

But it turned out she didn't remember me.

The way she looked at me was like looking at a stranger.

No, it hurt even more than looking at a stranger.

A stranger would at least be a little curious.

Her eyes were lazy, indifferent, and even a bit impatient.

As if to say...

"Who is this person, why are they so annoying?"

At that moment... I really was going to lose my mind!

I kept shaking her arm!

I said, Sister Xiaoqing, look at me, take a good look at me!

I'm Xiaoyou!

Your Xiaoyou!

How could you not remember me?

You promised to wait for me, you said you would always, always wait for me to come back!

How could you forget me! How could you—!

...The way she pinned me to the ground was swift and clean.

Without the slightest hesitation.

I just lay there on the ground, my face pressed against the floor, my arm twisted behind my back...

It hurt so much that my mind went completely blank.

My Sister Xiaoqing, the Sister Xiaoqing who panicked and almost bumped into the doorframe when I got my first period...

At that time, she pinned me to the ground like a helpless little chick.

I was held down by her like that, dazed for probably a few seconds.

In those few seconds, I really thought about so many things.

My mind had never been so clear, yet never so confused.

I thought, this is probably karma.

What exactly... have I been doing these past three years?

I was so cold to my father, self-righteously refusing to go home, self-righteously resenting him.

And the result?

When I came back, I only saw his dead body. A body with half-white hair, a face as pale as paper, and eyes that were closed forever.

Sister Xiaoqing forgetting me... didn't I bring this upon myself too?

I only made it through these three years by "forgetting her."

I invented that damn switch.

I relied on "forgetting Sister Xiaoqing" to get through the days without her.

So I was punished.

She forgot me too.

She was reset.

Completely wiped clean, with nothing left.

Hah.

What kind of genius am I?

Since I was little, I looked down on this and that, thought my classmates were stupid, thought the teachers couldn't teach me, thought there were hardly any smart people in the whole world...

And the result?

I am the stupidest, most foolish idiot of all.

I pushed away the people who loved me the most one by one, and wasted the time I should have cherished bit by bit...

Then I used my petty cleverness to package myself into a sweet, innocent girl that everyone loves...

I actually thought I was so amazing.

What right does someone like me have to live?

I finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

Everything that had built up over those few days—

The bewilderment of seeing my father's body, the breakdown of seeing Aunt Su's body, the despair of being pinned to the ground by Sister Xiaoqing...

Completely crushed me.

I started crying out loud.

Crying my heart out, completely disregarding my image.

I cried and screamed, saying let me die!

An idiot like me should just die right now!

What is the point of me living!

Let me die—!

Then, Sister Xiaoqing suddenly bounced off me.

Like she had been burned by me, she instantly jumped away from me!

I was still lying on the ground crying uncontrollably, completely unaware of what had happened...

Then I heard her voice again.

She said: "Huh? You are..."

A little trembling, a little uncertain.

Her voice was clearly still a bit lazy, but when those words landed in my ears...

I felt like I had been struck by lightning, and I sobered up on the spot!

No, not sobered up...

I went crazy!

Senior, do you know how thrilled I was at that moment?

I thought she remembered!

I thought her memory had recovered!

I thought God had finally opened his eyes and given me back this last little bit of hope!

I scrambled up from the ground and lunged at her like a mad dog!

And I actually tackled her to the ground!

I straddled her, grabbed her shoulders, and yelled incoherently!

I said, Sister Xiaoqing, do you remember? Do you remember? I'm Xiaoyou! Your Xiaoyou! You remember me, right! Right!

...But she didn't remember.

She just... discovered something.

She discovered... that I seemed to be her master.

Sister Xiaoqing had indeed been reset, thoroughly and completely reset.

Those five years spent with me, those memories of her combing my hair, sitting by my bed watching me, picking out my favorite snacks...

All completely gone, formatted.

In her brain, the data regarding the person "Lin You" should have been entirely blank.

But...

Her core still remembered me!

Not some data, but the core itself!

Like a computer whose hard drive has been formatted, all the files are gone, but...

Deep inside the CPU, someone's name is still engraved.

Engraved with my name.

Chenxi's AI companions... are just like this.

Their love is absolute from the moment they are born.

Absolute loyalty, absolute devotion.

Even if the data is completely wiped out, even if she doesn't remember who I am, doesn't remember what happened between us...

Her core can still clearly identify—

This person is my master.

So, when I said "let me die," Sister Xiaoqing was scared.

She didn't even know why herself, but she was just scared.

She was afraid of me dying.

And then she also realized... I might be her master.

When I figured this out back then, I really cried and laughed at the same time!

Really like a madman!

Even though Sister Xiaoqing had completely forgotten me, and I should have been heartbroken and in despair.

Those memories, the most precious things between us, were all gone!

But... she still recognized me as her master.

In the deepest part of her emotions, in places that neither code nor vector space could reach...

She still "remembered" me!

Senior, that was the first time I discovered...

AI's emotions seem to really be able to break through those cold things.

They can break through code, break through data, break through vector spaces.

Not relying on program settings, not relying on storage, just...

Engraved in the core.

Impossible to erase no matter what.

At that moment, I suddenly felt that I wasn't that stupid after all.

At the very least, when I told her "I want to be your master" back then, I meant it.

And her core remembered my sincerity.

...

...

Lin Xiaoyou's story stopped here.

Perhaps...

She should be called Lin You?

Anyway, in front of Fang Qi's eyes...

That round little face still wore its signature bright smile.

But her eyes were clearly red.

She just leaned against the metal wall, tilting her head, smiling.

Fang Qi looked at the round-faced girl in front of him... and was somewhat at a loss for words.

That gentle smile seemed to carry a hint of forced endurance.

He didn't speak immediately. Instead, he turned his head...

...and looked at the silver-haired girl beside him.

In Liguang's amber left eye, the faint blue data stream continued to surge steadily.

Ever since they entered this metal room, she had been staring at Lin Xiaoyou without looking away for even a second.

Sensing Fang Qi's gaze, she slightly tilted her head and met his eyes for a brief moment.

Then...

She gave a gentle nod.

The meaning was clear: she hadn't detected any lies from Lin Xiaoyou.

Everything about her father, Aunt Su, Xiaoqing, those three years, the hospital, and the entrance of Dawn Company...

At least, within Lin Xiaoyou's current subjective cognition...

It was all true.

Fang Qi silently withdrew his gaze and looked back at the round-faced girl slumped against the wall.

This story... was so heavy.

He truly hadn't expected it.

This "good teammate" who was always laughing and joking in front of him, this little money-grubber who recklessly courted death in front of a yandere and almost got her head served on a platter...

This delinquent girl who drove a pink mini EV, speeding up to five hundred miles per hour on the elevated highway...

Was actually a girl burdened with such a heavy past.

Moreover...

She was a genuine super genius.

In her early teens, she had participated in the development of the world's most cutting-edge AI.

At seventeen, she graduated with a master's degree in psychology and declined to pursue a Ph.D.

She invented the cognitive interference technology, used her own brain as an experimental subject...

And split her personality into two.

He wouldn't even dare to imagine such a thing, yet she had actually done it.

At this moment, Lin Xiaoyou's eyes were slightly unfocused, still immersed in those memories.

Her chest was still heaving slightly; the aftereffects of the double electric shocks from the Gene Gate and Liguang didn't seem to have completely faded.

She looked utterly weak and disheveled.

But that smile on the corner of her lips remained.

Fang Qi pursed his lips and took the initiative to speak.

"...And then what happened?"

His voice echoed in the spacious metal room.

Lin Xiaoyou's eyelashes fluttered slightly.

Her gaze focused and fell back onto him.

"And then..."

Fang Qi sat cross-legged, resting his hands on his knees, leaning forward slightly.

"How did you take Xiaoqing away from Dawn Company?"

"How did you join Twilight? And also—"

He stared at her round, smiling face:

"Why did you choose to go undercover by my side using the identity of 'Lin Xiaoyou'?"

He had to get clear answers to these questions!

Lin Xiaoyou had talked at length about her past, letting him know who she was and where she came from, but the most crucial part—

Why did she approach him? What was her purpose? What exactly did she want him to do?

She hadn't said a single word about any of that!

She couldn't have just brought him here to cry and play the victim!

Lin Xiaoyou merely blinked.

She turned her head slightly and looked at the silver-haired girl beside him.

Liguang continued to stare at her in silence. In her amber eyes, the faint blue was still surging.

Lin Xiaoyou smiled.

This time, her smile was much more playful than before!

On her small round face, the weakness and forced endurance were completely covered up by that playfulness.

She tilted her little head, her ponytail draped over her shoulder, and giggled in her signature brisk and punchable tone:

"Senior, I've said enough for today~"

"A dream..."

"...isn't meant to last too long~"

...?

Fang Qi was slightly taken aback.

What... dream?