Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Durandal's path to confront them was blocked by Cecilia.

For a moment, she couldn't think of how to interact with this woman, even feeling the urge to flee. But years of training, an ingrained instinct, told her to calm her mind and clear her thoughts.

"If I remember correctly, the White Tower android network should retain your memories. Even if you're recycled, fragments of your personality will still be etched into the network. Since you already have a life, why not live it well?"

Durandal knew the flaw of androids. They were one step behind humans in emotional transformation, needing the White Tower network to compensate for their emotional changes.

If humans could understand pain through their own experiences and then change their behavior, androids lacked this intermediate process. The moment humans understood pain, they had the initiative to correct themselves.

But androids were different. They had to go through the structure of the White Tower network to shape their new personalities. Because of this, their emotions tended to be stubborn, and their willpower was also stronger. The drawback was the same: androids lacked the means to change themselves and became more dependent on the White Tower network.

However, in her interaction with Cecilia, Durandal didn't feel any of this lag. This woman didn't make Durandal feel awkward at all. Even knowing she was the original Cecilia's daughter, she showed no emotion.

"The android network is a blockchain-like structure. In the network, we don't actually know who the android on the other side is, and we don't know where the relevant knowledge we obtain comes from. The White Tower network has the characteristics of being immutable and transparent, and this network technology has successfully allowed us androids to do things that humans can do."

Cecilia looked up at the sky. She was different from other androids.

All androids were created based on human emotional needs and would feed back to humans based on those emotions. So, in theory, androids could understand emotions like pain and revenge, but it was precisely because they could understand that they wouldn't actively touch these taboos.

If this were a normal sci-fi world, the androids should have united and started a revolution by now. But they hadn't, and they couldn't. Hysterical, insane emotions were a privilege unique to humans, a network taboo set from the very beginning.

If an android wanted to go mad, they had to cut themselves off from the network. But without the network, an android couldn't normally experience and perceive human emotions, eventually becoming a rigid, mechanical program.

Cecilia was different for the same reason. She wasn't an android created based on human emotional needs. From the beginning, her creation had no object for her emotional projection; she simply inherited the life of someone named Cecilia.

Just as she knew the person before her was "her own" daughter, Kiana, Cecilia's emotions were her emotions, and her emotions were Cecilia's. But because of her identity, no one needed the current Cecilia, so she couldn't extend her arms to embrace her daughter.

Even so, seeing her daughter grow into such a healthy and outstanding Valkyrie, her heart was still filled with emotion.

Durandal couldn't understand the android Cecilia's feelings. She didn't even know what attitude to take toward this woman now.

"You said you can do things humans can do? What things?"

"We can use the android network to transmit and transform emotions, thereby understanding the changes in external emotional needs for us, and thus better adapt our responses... Unfortunately, I don't have such needs. I am currently the only one who has appeared as a substitute for the dead."

The android Cecilia sighed and said with a smile, "The Academy City prohibits this kind of substitute experience. One reason is to protect the deceased's lifelong contributions from being replaced, and the other is to protect the stability of the deceased's emotional relationships. Therefore, it is absolutely forbidden for androids to replace humans. This is an irreversible option."

Durandal frowned upon hearing this. Her voice was slightly agitated as she asked, "Then why did they create you?"

"To make the other androids in the network understand this kind of pain, to edit the emotional system in the network and maintain the stability of the entire White Tower network," the android Cecilia explained the meaning of her existence, although she didn't believe her meaning was just that.

To be chosen by the Director-General, Otto, and Cocolia at the same time meant that Cecilia's memories were crucial to the entire White Tower network. And these memories would show their use when necessary.

But before their use was revealed, even the android Cecilia herself couldn't imagine what use her memories would have.

"..."

A wave of frustration welled up in Durandal's heart. Her brow furrowed, and she was filled with the urge to storm into Heliopolis Life Sciences and go on a rampage.

As if sensing her daughter's thoughts, the android Cecilia comforted her, "It's alright. If you go and destroy the White Tower network at Heliopolis Life Sciences, then all the androids that have already been produced will lose their emotional systems and become walking corpses. At least, for now... you can't harm them."

These words made Durandal feel uncomfortable all over. Because she knew for a fact that the androids were designated by the Academy City as the reserve force for the Honkai Herrscher.

There was no escaping the fate of becoming a Herrscher.

No matter how this android Cecilia explained it, it couldn't change the final possibility of being erased from the network and melted down for reprocessing.

"Why? Now there's no way to even run!"

Durandal would rather go back in time, rather deal with those Honkai incidents, rather kill those mindless Honkai Beasts. She didn't want to face such a thorny issue. Noldrei's every action indeed brought great benefits to humanity, but each time, he was dancing on the edge of a knife in people's hearts.

If what he had created were living people, real, living people, Durandal would dare to lead a rebellion and tear down this Academy City right now.

But these were androids. It was even questionable whether they were human.

Durandal knew her own limits. She couldn't even determine if these people with an emotional network were truly alive.

"Bianka, are you still a Valkyrie? Can you tell me about the Valkyries of later times?"

Cecilia changed the subject. She also wanted to know about the Valkyries of this era.