Chapter 262: Can you turn off the therapy, Ailee?

The identities of man and machine are completed switched at this moment.

It should be cold machinery, constantly speaking of arrangements for the future.

It should be the ardent ones who are always keeping quiet and listening.

To break that impossible delusion?

The Hsu system didn’t do that.

He reached out and gently rubbed the machine servant’s hair, “I’m sorry, Ailee, for bothering you to take care of me at a time like this.”

Tactile sensations were being lost, vision was blurring, and even the beating of the heart could not be perceived.

The so-called cure is simply not a possibility.

A wounded body can heal.

But there is no cure for a “dead” body.

The Xu system gave a forced smile, the choking sensation of emptiness wrapping around him, and did his best to stroke the top of Ailee’s head in a gentle gesture.

“It’s been Ailee who’s been helping me since before, and now that I think about it, it’s really overwhelming.”

No poking at the brutal truth.

The Xu system just recalled the past in a raspy voice.

Underground lab.

RTX-9090 startup.

Stargazing camera.

The capture of the first satellite city was successful.

The past that should have been blurred, however, flashed through Xu System’s mind with clear images, frame by frame.

In a trance, he seemed to touch the familiar lab again, performing the action of wiping the camera.

“Master ……”

“Master ……”

Until Ailee’s voice came.

It was only afterward that the Xu system realized that they were caught up in some kind of fantasy.

He apologized again, “I’m sorry, Ailee, it must be bothering you that I’m in such a state.”

He managed to smile, a hollow smile that lost its warm glow.

It won’t.

Not really…

As long as it’s you ……

The trembling of the machine servant no longer appeared only in the eyes, as the entire metal body took on a misplaced chirp as the core power supply unit overheated.

“You needn’t be concerned, whatever you become, Ailee will be at your service.”

Always have been.

Forever infinite.

“I am mindless machinery that knows no fatigue, knows no hurt, and you may use me without fear.”

The shuddering of the fuselage, along with the sound of the vocal module, took on a humanized fluctuation.

Kind of like a wail.

“It’s always been Ailee who’s helped me, hasn’t it?”

“More than myself, it’s actually Ailee who gets the most credit for coming from the wasteland of the old Federation.”

“Ailee, you’ve grown excellently and are no longer a mindless piece of machinery.”

The Xu system’s movements slowed down.

The palm of his hand rested lightly against the top of Ailee’s head, gradually losing strength.

He joked that if we were to categorize them according to their abilities, Ailee, with her infinite power of calculation, would be the real “human being”.

Advancement of science and technology can be promoted.

Retreats can be implemented in a civilized cycle.

Compared to Ailee’s arithmetic and observation skills, Department Xu felt diminished.

Saying that, with a gentle gesture, the Xu system once again expressed its gratitude to Ailee, who had been helping the less-than-excellent him.

With words like that, with a voice like that, even a machine servant who innately lacked emotion could sense the implied wrongness.

“You …… needn’t care.”

“It’s what I’m supposed to do ……”

It’s not just the instructions set in the underlying logic that makes Ailee go with the words of the Xu system.

The passage of time.

Mutual companionship.

It had long since made the cold soul of the machine feel warm.

Subconsciously, wanting to always be there, the figure that would wipe the blur for her.

However, this precious warmth is dissipating a little before our eyes ……

Subconsciously, Ailee glanced at the data panel of the healing pod, wanting to help heal the Xu system so that it could stand up again.

But the voice from the Hsu system.

Instead, he called out to stop the machine servant.

“Ailee, can you help me …… turn it off…”

“Cough cough …… cough cough…”

Weak and incapable of maneuvering on his own, the Xu system allowed his loyal machine servant to help by shutting down the healing pods that were keeping him alive.

Yes.

It’s not about continuing the treatment, it’s about turning it off altogether.

No matter how obedient and loyal the Machine Servant was, he froze on the spot in disbelief in the face of such a command.

Why?

The Xu system saw such confusion in that broken, mechanical face.

“It’s a little hard to understand, but lying in a therapy pod makes it a little hard for me.”

The Xu system explained wearily.

He was now in a very peculiar situation, with silent death eating away at most of his body and mind, infinitely approaching the abyss of death.

A healing pod that can restore normal people to health.

Put it here in the Hsu system.

But it became a silent torture.

Not only was it impossible to prevent death from coming, but it also repeatedly exacerbated the nothingness, causing the Xu system’s body and mind to sink deeper and deeper into the nothingness that was eating away at it.

It’s not as easy to be in that state as it is to be honest.

“I …… I can’t ……”

“The order violates the second regulation and could jeopardize your life.”

“Negative, unenforceable.”

The light of the machine’s eyes flashed with high frequency.

Vetoed the words of the Xu system.

Ailee’s voice, which had never been more urgent, faltered with a seemingly calm demeanor:

“Your body is in need of treatment and your state of physical functioning is in serious decline, I must ensure that your life is safe.”

“Please don’t worry, the treatment will be over soon.”

“You’ll be fine ……”

“It’s going to be okay ……”

The machine servant began to name various medical cases, trying to argue the possibility of successful treatment with scientific data, theoretical elaboration.

Gradual.

That voice is starting to get subtle.

Until it’s completely quiet.

She saw the agony of the Xu system, clearly on the brink of death, only to be pulled back by the healing pods over and over again to experience that desperate nothingness over and over again.

Subconsciously, Ailee tried to close the healing pod.

But to shut it down would mean the arrival of an even harsher truth, a horror that Ailee didn’t want to see in any way, yet was real.

“…… Sorry, master.”

“I, I can’t do it ……”

“Your words…I can’t do it …… You need, to be treated ……”

People go through partings all their lives.

The present self is an infinitely repeated parting from the last.

In the many partings, there are so many opportunities to make a choice, either to leave normally or to stay forcibly.

Inside the empty and quiet escape pod, the machine servant did something he could not forgive himself for.

She’s trying to keep the Hsu system.

It has caused pain to the Hsu system.

With a trembling voice, he refused the request of the Xu system.

The clash of data, the contradiction of egos, almost washed away that logical program.

Will it be resented?

Will it be reprimanded?

Ailee waited for the punishment of the Xu system.

But the Xu system didn’t do that, still gently rubbing the top of Ailee’s head with gentle movements.

“Is that so? …… If you can’t do it, forget it, Ailee.”

No resentment or incredulity.

Instead, a smile spread across the Xu system’s face, a genuine one, pleased that the machine servant had learned to oppose it as well as the witch.

Perhaps the two would have something in common if they could meet?