When she was with the companion robot, 99 would let out clear, silvery laughter like ringing bells. Whenever her laughter came through the monitors, Wei Lanshan could not help being infected by her joy.
She really was such an adorable child. She had learned to walk, run, and speak.
At just over a year old, 99 already knew that the beautiful woman taking care of her was a machine. As for how she had discovered it, one time she had been far too energetic and had not slept all day. While the beautiful sister was playing with her, she suddenly stopped moving!
99 was terrified. She threw all caution aside and began wailing at the top of her lungs.
Wu Yuan, who was outside, heard her cries and thought something had happened. When it came in and found that the low-grade robot had stopped moving because it had run out of energy, it looked at 99 with utter contempt.
Do not ask how 99 could tell that a machine in a giant shell had made a contemptuous expression. She was absolutely certain that the look on the giant shell's face meant, "Idiot!"
Still, Wu Yuan ended up replacing the low-grade robot sister's energy.
If the companion robot could not move, that meant it would have to take over caring for 99 again. It was Wu Yuan, a medical assistant; it refused to care for such a noisy baby!
Later, 99 gave the pretty sister a name: Sixi. Simple and easy to remember.
Sixi was very gentle and always wore a warm smile. She accompanied 99 through an unbearably difficult period of experimental life.
And so, under Sixi's care, 99 spent her first year as a baby in the sealed underground laboratory.
Usually, there was no one in the space where she stayed, only endless white and cold machinery.
Whenever that happened, she would close her eyes, rest, and empty her mind, letting her thoughts go outside to play.
Once before, while she was fooling around with Sixi, she accidentally discovered something interesting.
When she emptied her mind, she found that her thoughts could move freely through the building without any obstruction.
The physical exhaustion caused by drug injections could also be restored through the Tranquil Heart Art while she slept.
So whenever the robot called Wu Yuan left the laboratory, she would sleep for a while and secretly send her thoughts outside to play, gathering plenty of information she did not know in the process.
She saw the scenes beyond the space where she lived. There were many strange things here. She knew the technology was extremely advanced, probably several hundred years ahead of Blue Star, but reality still exceeded her expectations.
The civilization here was on a higher level, and its technology had reached an unimaginable degree. This was likely a civilization thousands of years beyond her Homeworld, not merely a few hundred.
She was deep underground, yet they could still maintain the basic conditions for human life. There was no need for protective masks or oxygen tanks.
There was a sphere that simulated stellar light and heat, as well as an air circulation system that provided the basic conditions for survival.
There was also Sixi, who cared for her. On the surface, Sixi was no different from a real person. Only when looking at the back of her head would one notice something unusual.
There was a square opening at the back of Sixi's head, where an Energy Stone was placed.
Then there was Wu Yuan, the giant shell. Wu Yuan was not humanoid and had many tentacles. Usually, only two were in normal use. The rest only extended during experiments. Its computational abilities were astonishing, and its practical skills were formidable as well.
99 also discovered that there were several other girls in the underground laboratory, likely serving the same purpose as her.
99 learned that the owner of the laboratory was named Wei Lanshan, the Alliance's finest biomedical scientist. She usually stayed in her own room and only appeared when conducting experiments.
For 99, aside from being stripped naked for examinations every so often, receiving all kinds of injections, and having blood drawn, there was nothing especially bad during the first year.
The second year, however, was an extremely painful one for 99. She felt as if her body was on the verge of collapsing at every moment.
The pain felt as though every bone in her body had shattered, making her think she was about to die all over again.
Just like now, her tiny body lay inside an isolated sterile container, covered in tubes with unknown drugs flowing through them.
The heartless giant shell, Wu Yuan, observed the data at her side.
All of the drugs had to be injected into her body within a single day. Their various side effects made her feel that no pain in the world could compare to what she was suffering at this moment.
Her body convulsed, her breathing grew rapid, and her heart stopped beating. 99 felt as though her cells had been reorganized countless times in an instant. Her entire body seemed to be torn apart and then put back together, the pain of being forcibly stripped apart worse than death itself.
When she could no longer bear it, she would whimper and try to struggle free. But her body and limbs were fixed in place. Even if she screamed herself hoarse, Wu Yuan would not let her out.
Wu Yuan would only record data expressionlessly at the side. As a medical assistant robot, it had no empathy program by nature.
No matter what 99 did, it remained unmoved. It would even say, "99, do not move around. Otherwise, the data will fluctuate, and it will be difficult for me to observe."
After trying once, 99 never spoke to it again. How could talking about life with a cold experimental assistant robot that had no emotional module possibly earn its sympathy?
On days without experiments, 99 would suck on the Nutrient Paste Sixi gave her, speak simple words with Sixi, and pester Sixi to tell her all sorts of strange tales from across the stars.
Whenever Wei Lanshan or Wu Yuan was present, she would remain absolutely silent.
She could already speak very fluently and communicate with Sixi without any difficulty.
99 learned more things. Through Sixi, she learned everything Sixi was permitted to tell her.
She did not know that everything about her was being watched by Wei Lanshan.
Wei Lanshan herself did not know why she had become interested in the little thing. Every day, she watched the interactions between 99 and Sixi through the live-synced surveillance feed.
She discovered that little 99 possessed an adult's way of thinking. She would beat around the bush when questioning the companion robot she had named Sixi, all to obtain the information she wanted.
But what Sixi could tell her was actually very limited.
Sometimes, 99 would become very dejected. She would run to the place where Wei Lanshan entered the laboratory and lie there searching for an exit, but to no avail.
Other times, she would lie by the window in the room and look at the artificial scenery outside.
When she was angry, she would look at her short little arms and legs and sigh soundlessly.
She looked especially adorable when she rested her chin in her hands and pondered life, those lively eyes staring fixedly at Sixi.
She even reached out and touched Sixi. "Sixi, if we can get out someday, I'll take you to see even prettier scenery and eat delicious food. I've eaten so much Nutrient Paste that I'm sick of it. Okay?"
Sixi tilted her head and blinked her blue eyes at her. "99, what does prettier scenery mean? How delicious is delicious food? I cannot eat it."
99 said, "That's right. What a shame. Then someday, I'll write a program for Sixi that lets you taste flavors. And, and, I'll definitely earn lots and lots of Star Coins and get you an even prettier body. It's settled, then. Let's pinky swear."
99 stretched out her still tender little hand and hooked it around Sixi's finger, whose outer layer had begun to peel away. To a machine, she made her first promise since coming here.
From then on, no matter where in the sea of stars she went, 99 kept Sixi by her side.
Hearing her say that, Wei Lanshan inexplicably felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. So she was not truly made of stone, without empathy after all?
She admitted that at this moment, 99—the experimental subject who had earnestly made a promise to a machine—had moved her long-silent heart.
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