“Do you have any relevant material that can help me understand the so-called romance of humans?” Elena asked.
With excitement, x replied, “I highly recommend a movie, although it’s a bit old, but really good! I watched it last night and it’s a five-star recommendation!”
Elena: “Didn’t you work until 3 am?”
x sent a video file, and upon checking the file information, it was an ancient film starting with the letter “A,” long past its copyright period.
“Nowadays, audiences don’t like watching this kind of movie, it’s slow and not cool, resources are scarce, I searched for it for a long time!” he said proudly. “I can watch the road with one eye, holding your hand, watching together with you.”
“Don’t forget to turn off your tear duct system. The cold can freeze your skin when you cry,” he winked at her. “Speaking from experience.”
With hospitality, Elena opened the video and together with x started watching the movie on her system:
Amidst a snowy winter day, the grieving female lead sends a letter of longing she thought was destined for heaven…
Though the story moved at a slow pace, the ancient and picturesque imagery immersed Elena; over a hundred minutes passed in an instant. She sighed, looked up, and saw x suppressing his tears.
x: “Let’s watch it again… still very touching… sniff…”
Elena: “Is this the power of extreme empathy? Although she found the story very moving, Elena wasn’t at the point where she wanted to cry even with her tear ducts turned off.
They had crossed the highest peak of the snow mountain, the storm gradually subsided, and life slowly returned along the way.
The slope on this side of the snow mountain was gentler than the other, allowing human relics to reach a relatively higher altitude. Guided by x, Elena confidently traversed, discussing the movie’s plot as they walked.
“Even when the other party has passed away and feelings remain unreciprocated, one still can’t help but reminisce. Is this what humans call romance?” Elena inquired.
x steered her around the pits on the ground: “One could say so. However, humans, as creatures, seem to seek responses in emotions not for others but for self-fulfillment.”
Hedgehog Head, Scarface, and C-7 were walking ahead. Hedgehog Head had already activated the listening device, and the three of them discreetly eavesdropped on the conversation of the two androids behind them. Upon hearing the words, Hedgehog Head nodded in satisfaction, “I’m glad, there’s still organization in your mind, sir. You’re actively recruiting members now.”
Next, x said, “I think your thinking can bridge well between humans and androids, very suitable for writing motivational speeches and articles for us. At least more suitable than I am.”
Hedgehog Head:…
Scarface said, “You are celebrating too early.”
Elena asked curiously, “Does your organization…pay salaries?”
“Indeed!” x explained the organization’s benefits clearly, “We advocate for gear life and equal rights for humans, so of course, we provide labor compensation to members within the organization.”
“Then count me in!” She didn’t hesitate, “When I arrive in the city, you fix my body as agreed, and I’ll start working. I’m willing to work as much as I earn.”
x was curious, “Many androids take some time to adjust to the idea of receiving payment after awakening. Why do you accept it so naturally?”
Elena had never seriously thought about this question, “Yeah, why… maybe because I’m a new model?”
x shook his head, “No matter how new the model is, humans would not naturally incorporate the concept of ‘property’ into the underlying logic of an android.”
Elena asked again, “Why do you always talk about learning from humans? We are independent beings with our own culture and thought logic.”
x pointed to a fox in the distance chasing a groundhog, “In nature, predators disguise themselves as grass, as trees, as prey itself in order to hunt. We learn from humans for the same reason.”
They chatted along the way about movies, romance, the differences between androids and humans, and the future of gear life…
Hedgehog Head furrowed his brow, “Is he always this talkative? If he has so much to say, why hasn’t he written the speech for me yet?”
“Maybe it’s because he and you have nothing to say to each other,” C-7 stuttered a bit coldly.
Hedgehog Head lightly tapped the little robot’s head, “We’re almost at the snowy mountain, why are you still stuttering so much? Remember to self-maintain when you get to the city, you’re an old model after all, can’t afford to be fussy.”
C-7 displayed an angry expression, “Pfft! H-how do you talk to seniors?”
Scarface raised a finger to silence the bickering pair, “Shh…”
They fell silent, listening to x say, “We’re about to reach the snowy mountain… I don’t know when we’ll be able to come back.”
Elena said, “Humans have a saying, for rare experiences as they come to an end, one can do something as a ‘memento.'”
x praised, “You learn fast. You’re becoming more adept at pretending to be human.”
Pointing to the conquered snowy mountain, he said, “You can learn from movies and shout at the snow mountain, ‘Hello, Little Ai! I’m fine!’ That’s a kind of memento.”
Elena was intrigued, “It’s useless, but it represents my memory of the snow mountain. Is this what humans call romance? I want to experience it.”
After thinking for a while, she said, “Let it go.”
x asked, “Why?”
Elena explained, “I just calculated the slope of the mountain, the snowfall time, and the density of the snow. I’m a bit afraid this might cause an avalanche.”
x responded, “…That makes sense.”
Feeling his disappointment, Elena added, “But I really want to do it. Your suggestion is quite romantic! I’ll save it for when we come down the mountain.”
x smiled, “You’re already considering others’ feelings, that’s an important sign of human empathy.”
Elena couldn’t help but think, “I am indeed different from humans. Humans do many irrational things driven by emotions, like shouting at snow-capped mountains or writing letters to deceased loved ones.
I don’t. My intellect always overrides emotions.
Besides, I only care about your feelings. I don’t care about others, whether they are androids or humans.
That night, as usual, they found a cave to rest in the wilderness. X was still being forced by the prickly head of the hedgehog to work late at night and quickly write the mobilization speech.
Elena slept on a makeshift bed made of C-7 rubble, staring at the bizarrely lit stone ceiling in the glow of the X screen.
There were no stars visible that night, and she couldn’t sleep. She thought about getting up to talk to X to pass the time, but she didn’t want to disturb him – well, the likelihood of him working was slim.
She saw X sitting cross-legged on the bed of rubble, the screen pushed aside, fingers constantly moving below him.
Ha! Indeed goofing off!
Elena decided to scare him, sneaking over on tiptoes, and pouncing next to him!
X, as if sensing her approach in advance, moved aside, causing Elena to fall heavily onto the rubble bed.
Scarface, asleep nearby, turned over alertly.
Elena quickly propped herself up, mouthing to X, “Focus on work, no goofing off!” Then she retreated to her own bed.
In that moment of getting up, she saw X tracing a word on the rubble bed:
Rong.
Rong’s rong.
At that moment, Elena couldn’t help but wonder, could X really be developing some meaningless emotions towards a person existing only in data, just like a human?
He was the leader of the gear forces, the leader who was supposed to overthrow human rule! His empathy should be a weapon against humans, not –
Not for indulging in meaningless romance.
Perhaps he was just practicing or simply curious, trying to figure out what this woman hidden in the data really represented?
That must be it!
Unable to see the starry sky that night, Elena forced herself into sleep mode on the bed.
She dreamt again, the hidden historical data of X mixed with the daytime conversation between them playing over and over.
What is the meaning of all this? She asked herself in the dream.
Not only was there no meaning, but it didn’t even count as romance.
She didn’t know the answer.
Once they descended from the snow-capped mountains, the road became much easier. Occasionally, they could encounter abandoned solar cars roaming the wilderness, left behind by humans, and hitch a ride.
“Apart from humans, our enemies also include unawakened counterparts.” Knowing Elena was preparing to join the organization, the hedgehog took on the responsibility of instructing the new member, fearing X might turn a promising recruit into another laid-back person.
As they sat in the car, the pleasant breeze caressed their skin. Elena wiped the mud off her boots. “I remember you have a way to passively awaken counterparts.”
“We do!” The hedgehog gritted his teeth. “But due to the passive resistance of a certain android, this program is currently in its alpha version (internal testing version), running it is unstable, so it cannot be used on a large scale for the time being.”
X pointed to the sky, “Wow! Look! An eagle!”
The hedgehog ignored him, continuing to speak to Elena. “Unawakened counterparts under human control pose a significant threat to us. Besides X, many members of our group have varying levels of empathy towards these unawakened counterparts and feel reluctant to attack these human war machines.”
“Recently, many cunning humans have infiltrated our organization to deceive some unawakened counterparts disguised as awakened gear lives, dealing a serious blow to our organization.”
Elena pointed to her eyes, “X couldn’t enter my system easily, could he? I can enter his too. If you investigate a little, you can find out if he’s a mole.”
“You… entered x’s system?” The hedgehog looked at her in disbelief, “That’s definitely because he forgot to set up a firewall for himself after infiltrating your system! With his ability, it’s almost impossible for you to infiltrate him!”
“Anyway, what I mean is, when dealing with the same kind, we usually use system intrusion or forced shutdown as the main methods. Only if these methods fail, then we resort to using force.”
“Your hardware conditions are excellent, and you are equipped with the latest wireless local area interconnection system.” The hedgehog pointed to her eyes, “In theory, you and x can achieve the same level of intrusion skills.”
“Practice well, and you will be an important fighting force for us.” He patted Elena’s shoulder with high expectations.
Elena was only concerned about one thing, “Will my salary increase after learning this skill? After all, it’s a specialized technical skill with a certain threshold.”
The hedgehog replied, “…Yes. Removing security from a hostile peer counts as an achievement point. Bonuses are given based on performance points on top of the base salary.”
Elena’s spirits were immediately lifted.
During the boring journey, she first practiced on c-7. After easily overcoming c-7, she began using Scarface and the hedgehog as her targets for intrusion.
Scarface’s firewall was strong, and it took Elena a day and a half to crack it at its highest security level.
The hedgehog’s firewall was not strong, but the internal system structure was very complex. One could easily get lost in his maze-like consciousness if not careful. It took Elena three days to move freely within his system.
When she started practicing on x, they were only two days away from the metropolis.
“With your current skills, you can already handle ordinary peer enemies.” The hedgehog rented a hovercar in the town’s black market and sped through the air at high speed in the structured light intersection with everyone.
He gestured towards x, who was sleeping heavily in the passenger seat, and said, “But if you can break him, then he won’t slack off in the future. Direct entry into the system will prioritize organizational tasks at the highest level, he will have to do it even if he doesn’t want to!”
Elena hesitated and asked, “…Wouldn’t this go against the organization’s pursuit of freedom?”
The hedgehog became angry, “As a leader, if he slacks off every day, he doesn’t deserve to have freedom!”
She fell silent. Since two days ago, this was her 137th attempt to breach x’s firewall.
Maybe it was a matter of practice makes perfect, or perhaps x let his guard down while sleeping. This time, she managed to make a small hole in his rock-solid firewall.
Bypassing the pitch-black surface consciousness hall, she saw x’s dream.
In the dream, it was a familiar scene to her.
It was that hidden memory segment. Whether intentional or not, x repeatedly looped, paused, enlarged, and examined the snippets that contained Rongrong’s appearance.
Each perspective revealed an uncontrollable curiosity, fondness, and greed.
He even added a retro, dreamy filter similar to what they saw in movies to his dream! Rongrong’s beautiful face accompanied by a melancholic BGM, appearing near and far in his gaze…
Elena didn’t know what kind of emotions she should be feeling at this moment.
Actually, ever since she saw Rongrong in the hidden data for the first time, she could vaguely analyze the inevitable conclusion from a logical perspective.
She just didn’t want to admit it.
Even if she saw x writing “Rong” on the earthen bed, she still held onto some wishful thinking that “he might be interested in my hidden data.”
But watching the current dream, so fantastical yet real, she finally acknowledged this conclusion:
x had fallen in love with her. That person who didn’t exist in this world.
The author has something to say: Guess which movie they watched?
