Endless Debt

Wandering fork in the road, TEDA's alchemy workshop.

Aimu was sitting on a strange-shaped reclining chair. There were several mechanical arms set up around the reclining chair. Pipes of different styles were scattered among them. Different tools were hung on the wall behind, within easy reach.

"Are they going to stay here permanently?"

Ai Mu pulled down the mirror above her head so that it could reflect her body just right. Then she lay down on her back and lifted her top up to her lower armpits. There was a jack there, and she connected the line left aside to the jack. Inside, a faint blue light passed over Aimu's body.

"Almost, it's a deal. They need a foothold, and I need the alchemy matrix on Boluogo."

Teda walked by. He frowned and looked at the document in his hand. He held coffee in his other hand and sat on a chair nearby.

"is this okay?"

Aimu's voice dropped.

As the line was connected, the ether was released from the body and transferred to these mechanical arms. She lay down completely, and the mechanical arms started one after another, as if to hold her tightly on the bench, and the slender tips split from He reached out from the mechanical structure and gently pried open her gel-like shell.

She looked at herself on the maintenance platform through the mirror above, using the ether to control these mechanical arms to repair her body.

As an alchemy doll, Aimu still has many shortcomings. She needs to maintain and repair her body every once in a while. Fortunately, she has learned all this. She can complete these things independently even without bothering Teda.

Learn, improve and upgrade yourself.

"There's nothing wrong with it. They won't affect my research. And with Boluogo's cooperation, I might be able to discover the mystery of Overlord Xilin's power."

TEDA has an extremely strong purpose, and it is this purpose that has supported him to live until now, and he has fallen into the fanatical pursuit of the truth.

"We even said that maybe we can use them to deal with those businessmen," TEDA was plotting something. "I'm not suitable to go directly to get those things, but you don't have the ability to protect yourself. If you leave it to Boluogo, them……"

Soon, TEDA finalized the idea.

"You know the importance of all this, right? Aimu."

He raised his head as he spoke and looked at Aimu, who was inspecting himself on the maintenance platform.

"I understand, everything is for her..."

Perhaps because it was undergoing maintenance, Aimu's voice was low and without any emotion.

She slowly raised her hand and covered her chest, feeling the beating, powerful heart of steel and ether under the metal and composite materials, as well as the bright red shadow hidden inside.

"It's good that you know." Teda's eyes were gloomy.

"I will work hard for this," Aimu looked at her split self in the mirror, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said tentatively, "I will do it, father."

Aimu seemed to have said something taboo, and the atmosphere instantly became depressed. Teda's eyes showed a rare hint of anger. He put down the documents and coffee, with anger in his voice.

"Aimu, I've said it many times!"

"Sorry, I just subconsciously..."

Aimu expressed her apology, but she knew very well that this was not subconscious, but a premeditated temptation. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she tried, she would always get such a result.

"I hope there won't be a next time, Aimu." Teda said seriously.

"I understand, teacher."

Obviously, Teda prefers the title "teacher" to "father". If Boluogo was here, he would understand that Teda resists recognizing Amu as a human individual and avoids the emotions brought about by close relationships. Injection, but he refused the title of blood relationship, but accepted the relationship between teacher and student.

Maybe in TEDA's eyes, he can control the relationship between teachers and students, or there are other reasons, but only TEDA himself understands all this.

"I'm going to bed."

Teda picked up the documents and coffee, walked into the shadows, stepped onto the stairs, turned around the corner, and opened a door.

This is Teda's room. During the day, he is mostly busy at the workbench. When he is tired, he just rests on the chair. Except for sleeping, he rarely comes here. He even said that sometimes he only sleeps outside. , lying on the table and spending the night.

It was like he was escaping from something, something TEDA didn't want to face.

The room was dark and warmly decorated, and the small table was filled with group photos. Teda walked to the table and picked up a photo, which showed Teda's figure. He stood in the sun and raised a girl high with both hands.

The girl looks very similar to Aimu, even her age, body shape and hair color are very similar. In other words, Aimu was modeled after the girl in the photo.

Teda's face was covered by shadows. He stared at the photo for a long time, and finally put it down and fell back on the bed without saying a word, just like a dead corpse.

The alchemy workshop has a large space. In order to support TEDA's various researches and set up a virtual domain, when building this place, TEDA hollowed out the inside of the cliff and built it into a small fortress.

There are several laboratories, various large-scale equipment, and warehouses. The space here is very large, but no matter how big it is, TEDA has not prepared a room for Aimu. To be precise, Aimu also has a room, and her room is her own decoration. room, and the maintenance desk is her bed.

Aimu finished his daily maintenance and lay flat on the bench staring at himself in the mirror, the aura in his eyes constantly changing shapes.

Due to technical limitations, Aimu cannot make complex expressions. For this reason, when she speaks, it is like wearing a cold mask, but expressions are also an important part of communication between humans. In order to be more similar to humans and communicate with them, To communicate, Aimu let the halo in his eyes express his emotions for himself.

Just as Boluogo guessed at the time, the different shapes of the halo represent different emotions in Amu's heart...if this kind of thing is counted as emotion.

Aimu doesn't need to sleep. To her, sleeping is more like entering a low-power operation, slowing down the operation of her "mental projection".

Usually before going to sleep, Aimu likes to stare at himself in the mirror like this, like some kind of falling asleep ritual.

She had read in a book that people would determine whether the animals being tested had self-awareness by whether they could judge the existence of a mirror and realize that the reflection in the mirror was themselves.

Every time she sees herself in the mirror and recognizes that it is herself, Aimu is very happy. She knows that it is herself, that she is alive and has self-awareness.

Like a mantra, if you whisper it repeatedly, it will come true one day.

Then... it's dreaming.

Aimu doesn't know whether a being like himself can dream like humans, nor does he know what human dreams are like. No matter how the things in the books are described, they are just false theories, but his own limitations make him It is difficult for Amu to practice all this.

But... Aimu felt that this should be a dream, which was a little different from the dreams described in books, but she thought that this was probably her own dream.

Bursts of laughter like silver bells rang out, and Aimu knew that she was coming.

Every night she comes like a ghost. Aimu does not resist this, but is very happy. Aimu knows that she will bring surprises to him every time.

Slowly closing her eyes, when Aimu opened her eyes again, everything was as before, she was still lying on the maintenance table, but this time, under her gaze, she was no longer alone in the mirror.

"Alice..."

Aimu whispered, slowly turning her head, she saw the girl leaning next to her, she had the same face and the same posture as herself.

She smiled at herself, stretched out her hand to touch her cold cheek, and said kindly.

"Good evening, Aimu."

Alice's voice was ethereal and sacred. She was wearing a white dress. She was obviously in a closed room, but there was an invisible wind holding up her clothes.

Taking Aimu's hand and gesturing for her to follow, Aimu also took the initiative to keep up with Alice's pace. She maintained absolute trust in Alice.

The two pushed open the door of the alchemy workshop, which should have triggered the alarm in the virtual realm, but the virtual realm remained silent, as if this was really Aimu's dream.

Alice took Aimu to the sky corridor, leaned down and looked down. The blurry light lingered in the sea of ​​fog, and the wind howled in the depths. It seemed that in this sea of ​​fog, a huge creature was breathing deeply and exhaling.

"Amu, I know what you are thinking."

Alice sat on the railing, her white legs dangling in the air.

Aimu was not surprised when Alice guessed it. She said, "Then what do you think of this?"

This was a strange scene. No matter how many books Amu read, it was difficult to get an accurate answer. She did not dare to tell Teda all this, because she was afraid that Teda would know the little thoughts she had hidden in her heart.

Alchemy dolls shouldn't have such petty thoughts.

"Me? I don't have any objection, as long as this is what you want," Alice looked at Aimu with a smile, "After all, I am dead, and dead is dead, and there is nothing left."

Aimu put his hands on the railing and stood beside Alice. The two of them stood above the mist, like elves walking out of the dense forest.

The halo in his eyes turned slowly, and no one knew what Aimu was thinking. At this time, Alice gave another instruction.

"If I really have any ideas..."

She lowered her head and said to Aimu seriously.

"Please help me take care of him."