Only I Walk Alone

Xiao Luo remained silent. The memory disk inside the cat maid could only be used for thirty years. With the previous five years, plus the current twenty-four years, it had been running for twenty-nine years, with just one year left until it expired.

Although they had taken the Cat Maid to nearby robot cities every five years to replace her artificial organs, they had never touched her memory disk. That part was untouchable because the robot had begun to possess human emotions!

Tampering with that memory disk might erase the hard-earned emotions she had acquired.

“Do you have human emotions, Maid Xiao Chao?” Xiao Luo asked.

The Cat Maid looked somewhat perplexed. “I don’t know,” she said.

Xiao Luo stared at her mischievously. “I feel like you have acquired real emotions. Maid Xiao Chao, have you fallen for Wu Ge?”

“No, no, no!” The Cat Maid quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not it. Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Xiao Luo clicked her tongue, saying with ill intent, “Young girl, boldly pursue love. Race is not an issue!”

The Cat Maid shook her head. “Humans and robots cannot love each other, nor can they reproduce.”

Xiao Luo said, “Reproduction is just a responsibility and duty of the species, separate from love. The two don’t conflict.”

Xiao Luo was instilling all sorts of strange ideas into her caregivers, and Robot Xiao Chao was also becoming weird, her face turning super red.

“My CPU seems overloaded. I need to cool down!”

With a “pfft,” she jumped into the lake.

Wu Ge was suddenly awakened. “What happened?”

Xiao Luo said, “Xiao Chao said she wanted to swim.”

Wu Ge: ???

What’s going on? A robot suddenly wants to swim without being commanded?

The next day, while Cat Maid Xiao Chao was getting her simulated parts replaced, Xiao Luo found Wu Ge. “Did you notice?” she asked.

Wu Ge was silent for a while before responding, “I noticed a bit. Maid Xiao Chao seems to have acquired a certain level of human emotions, which is not present in other Xiao Chaos.”

Xiao Luo said, “You should be able to feel it. She has her own soul! Wu Ge, do you think she will still be her after replacing the memory disk?”

Wu Ge was silent. This was similar to the question of whether a person remains the same after replacing their brain. The data on the memory disk can be copied, but can the soul?

“I don’t know,” Wu Ge answered.

Although Wu Ge said “I don’t know,” he actually knew the answer. If copying and pasting data could transfer the soul to another memory disk, wouldn’t that mean there are two souls? How could that be possible?

Xiao Luo said, “The final decision is yours, Wu Ge!”

Wu Ge nodded. “I understand.”

“I’m okay now!” At that moment, the Cat Maid appeared, having had her artificial organs replaced. She was still as beautiful and charming, with her cat ears and tail adding a touch of allure.

Wu Ge said, “We should head back to the base.”

The final decision was Wu Ge’s, whether to let Maid Xiao Chao’s memory disk age and shut down or to replace it. Only Wu Ge could decide.

However, after Wu Ge and his companions returned to the base, a militarized version of Xiao Chao suddenly sent a message: “Level one emergency. Mysterious unknown codes have suddenly appeared in my computer!”

Wu Ge was startled. Xiao Chao’s existence was his guarantee for survival and the hope for saving all of humanity. If her computer had problems, that hope would be dashed.

“What kind of codes?” Wu Ge asked.

Xiao Chao calmly replied, “Codes not made of 0s and 1s, decoding in progress… Decoding successful. The meaning of this string of codes is…”

“…We are the Mechanical Civilization Alliance, We will arrive in 100 days to retrieve the artificial intelligence robot designated as ZYX-977. Please wait patiently and ensure the safety of ZYX-977’s memory disk.”

Wu Ge was shocked by the decoded message. He hastily asked, “What does this mean? After the Microstar Civilization, has the Mechanical Civilization Alliance also set its sights on us? What do they want?”

Cat Maid Xiao Chao said, “Artificial Intelligence ZYX-977, that’s me. They are targeting me. All you need to do is hand me over.”

Wu Ge furrowed his brow, not being the type to foolishly overlook possibilities. He suggested, “You mean, because you’ve developed emotions, becoming an extraordinary artificial intelligence, the Mechanical Civilization Alliance has come after you, wanting to take you away?”

The militarized version of Xiao Chao analyzed, “The emergence of emotions in artificial intelligence is a very rare occurrence in the entire universe. The Mechanical Civilization Alliance clearly has the capability to detect emotions in artificial intelligence. Thus, the moment Cat Maid Xiao Chao developed emotions, she was detected by them. Therefore, they will dispatch a powerful fleet to retrieve the Cat Maid.”

Wu Ge understood. It seemed the memory disk of the Cat Maid had formed an independent personality. She appeared to have developed her own soul, and this transformation had been detected by the Mechanical Civilization Alliance. Given it’s called an alliance, it must be a civilization formed by multiple artificial intelligences with souls, emotions, and the ability to think. However, the number of such artificial intelligences must not be too high, so to grow and strengthen, they want to retrieve this important Cat Maid and have her serve them.

“They’ve given a deadline, which is, a hundred days!” the militarized version of Xiao Chao stated solemnly.

Wu Ge fell silent, noticing Cat Maid Xiao Chao was trembling slightly.

Xiao Luo came over and said, “If it’s the Mechanical Civilization Alliance, maybe they can replace her memory disk while ensuring the safety of her soul. In that case, she might be saved!”

Wu Ge understood this too. Since the opposition was coming to retrieve Maid Xiao Chao, they would surely ensure her safety.

But… he couldn’t bear the thought.

“A hundred days, huh?” Wu Ge muttered to himself.

Cat Maid Xiao Chao said to Wu Ge, “If I only have a hundred days, then I want to spend all of them by your side.”

Wu Ge nodded, “I understand. During these hundred days, you are not to leave my side for a moment.”

Cat Maid Xiao Chao stopped trembling and said, “Request recorded, executing Wu Ge’s request for a duration of: one hundred days.”

Suddenly, Cat Maid Xiao Chao was inseparable from Wu Ge. He took her away from the secret base, back to his hometown, to the place where they first met, looking at that broken window, Wu Ge suddenly remembered the words Xiao Chao had said when they first met.

“Don’t commit suicide! Don’t commit suicide! Don’t commit suicide!”

“I’m not a living person; I am an artificial intelligence robot…”

“My ultimate mission is: to save all of humanity…”

“…1 hour ago, the Microstar Ciivilization launched an attack and abducted all of humanity; 30 minutes ago, I discovered you through a networked camera; 15 minutes ago, I obtained the takeoff authorization for the drone of the closest courier company to you; now, I meet you.”