Every Day Is Painful

When with her companion robot, 99 would let out clear, crisp laughter that sounded like silver bells. When her laughter came through the monitor, Wei Lanshan could feel infected by her joy.

She was truly a very cute child; she could already walk, run, and talk.

99, who was just over a year old, already knew that the beautiful woman taking care of her was a robot. As for how she discovered this, it was because one day she was simply too energetic and didn't sleep at all. As the beautiful sister played with her, she suddenly stopped moving!

This really scared 99, and she started crying and screaming without regard for anything.

Wu Yuan, hearing her cries from outside, thought something had happened. Upon entering and discovering that the low-level robot had stopped moving due to lack of energy, it looked at 99 with disdain.

Don't ask how 99 could tell that the big metal shell, a robot, could make a disdainful expression. She was sure and certain that the expression displayed by the big metal shell was "stupid"!

However, Wu Yuan eventually replaced the energy for the low-level robot lady.

If the companion robot couldn't move, it would mean it would have to take over the job of taking care of 99 again. It, Wu Yuan, was a medical assistant and wouldn't take care of such a noisy infant!

Later, 99 gave the pretty lady a name: "Sixi," simple and easy to remember.

Sixi was very gentle, always smiling, and she accompanied 99 through a very difficult, very difficult experimental period.

Under Sixi's care, 99 spent her first year as an infant in the sealed underground laboratory.

Normally, her space was empty of people, only endless white and cold equipment.

Whenever this happened, she would close her eyes to rest and clear her mind, letting her thoughts wander outside.

Once, when she was playing with Sixi, she accidentally discovered something interesting.

When she cleared her mind, she found that her thoughts could travel freely throughout the building without any obstacles.

Also, the physical fatigue caused by drug injections could be recovered by using the "Tranquil Mind Technique" while sleeping.

So, whenever the robot called Wu Yuan left the laboratory, she would sleep for a while, letting her thoughts sneak out to play, and incidentally gather a lot of information she didn't know.

She saw scenes beyond her own space. There were many strange things here. She knew the technology here was extremely advanced, far exceeding Earth's by hundreds of years, but reality still exceeded her expectations.

The civilization here was a higher existence, and their technology had reached an unimaginable level. It was likely a civilization thousands of years beyond her home planet, not just hundreds.

She was located deep underground, yet it could still maintain basic human living conditions, without the need for protective masks or oxygen tanks.

There was a sphere that simulated the sun's light and heat, as well as an air circulation system, providing them with basic survival conditions.

And there was Sixi, who took care of her. Sixi appeared no different from a real person on the surface, and only when looking at the back of her head would the peculiarity be revealed.

There was a square-shaped gap at the back of Sixi's head, where the energy stone was placed.

And then there was the big metal shell, Wu Yuan. Wu Yuan was not in human form; it had many tentacles, usually only using two normally. The rest of its hands would only extend when conducting experiments. Its computational ability was astonishing, and its manual dexterity was also very strong.

99 also discovered that there were several other girls in this underground laboratory, likely with the same purpose as her.

99 knew that the owner of this laboratory was Wei Lanshan, the most outstanding biomedical scientist in the entire Alliance. She usually stayed in her room and only appeared when conducting experiments.

For 99, apart from being stripped naked for testing, injected with various drugs, and having blood drawn from time to time, her first year was temporarily without any particularly bad experiences.

The second year was an extremely painful one for 99. She felt her body was constantly on the verge of collapse.

The pain, as if all her bones had shattered, made her think she was about to die again.

Just like at this moment, her small body lay in a sterile isolation chamber, covered in tubes, with unknown drugs flowing through them.

The ruthless big metal shell, Wu Yuan, observed the data nearby.

These drugs had to be injected into her body within a day. The various side effects of the drugs made her feel that there was probably no pain in the world that could compare to the suffering she was currently enduring.

Her body convulsed, her breathing grew rapid, and her heart stopped. 99 felt her cells being reassembled countless times in an instant. Her entire being seemed to be torn apart and then reassembled, the pain of being forcibly stripped away was worse than death.

When she couldn't bear it, she would whimper and try to struggle free, but her body, hands, and feet were all fixed. Even if she screamed until her throat was raw, Wu Yuan wouldn't let her go.

Wu Yuan would only expressionlessly record the data, as it was a medical assistant robot with no empathy programming by nature.

So, no matter what 99 did, it remained indifferent, even saying, "99, don't move around, or the data will fluctuate, and it will be difficult for me to observe."

After trying once, 99 never spoke again. What sympathy could one get from discussing life with an experimental assistant robot that lacked emotion modules?

On days when she wasn't being experimented on, 99 would drink the nutrient solution Sixi gave her, say simple things to Sixi, and pester Sixi to tell her various interstellar wonders.

If Wei Lanshan or Wu Yuan were present, she would remain absolutely silent.

Her speech was already very fluent, and communicating with Sixi had no obstacles at all.

99 learned more things. From Sixi, she learned everything that Sixi's permissions allowed her to know.

She had no idea that everything about her was being watched by Wei Lanshan.

Wei Lanshan also didn't know why she became interested in this little thing. She would observe 99's interactions with Sixi daily through real-time synchronized monitoring.

She discovered that the tiny 99 had the thoughts of an adult. She would indirectly ask the companion robot, whom she had named Sixi, just to get the information she wanted.

However, what Sixi could tell her was actually very limited.

Sometimes 99 would be very dejected. She would run to the place where Wei Lanshan entered the laboratory and lie there looking for an exit, but to no avail.

Sometimes she would also lie by the window in her space and look at the artificial scenery outside.

When she was angry, she would look at her short arms and legs and sigh silently.

When she propped her chin on her hand and pondered life, she was especially cute. Her bright, intelligent eyes would stare intently at Sixi.

She even reached out and touched Sixi, saying, "Sixi, if we can go out in the future, I'll take you to see more beautiful scenery and eat delicious food. I've had so much nutrient solution I could puke. Okay?"

Sixi would tilt her head and ask with her blue eyes, "99, what is a more beautiful scenery? How delicious is delicious food? I can't eat it."

99: "Yes, that's such a shame. Then, in the future, I'll write a program for Sixi that will let you feel the taste. And also, I'll definitely earn more star coins in the future and get you a more beautiful body, Sixi. It's happily decided! Let's pinky swear."

99 extended her still tender little hand and clasped the fingers of Sixi, whose outer skin was already peeling off. She made her first promise since arriving here to a machine.

From then on, no matter where they were in the sea of stars, 99 kept Sixi by her side.

Hearing her say this, Wei Lanshan felt an inexplicable pang of sadness. So, she wasn't entirely heartless and devoid of empathy?

She admitted that 99, this experimental subject, who was earnestly making a promise to a machine at this moment, had touched her long-dormant heart.