Yu Lian's brow twitched. This ancient nanobot AI of yours is even better suited to playing a ghost than anything from the Ether. If I weren't so well-traveled, wouldn't your sudden appearance like some kind of backseat spirit have scared me into diabetes?
He glanced out of the corner of his eye to his right and, sure enough, saw the "woman" with silver hair and gray eyes, whose features and figure were all crafted according to the most perfect golden ratio. Some might say that beauty adjusted by cold mathematical models was no more than the beauty of an emotionless statue. But who could deny that when a statue reached the height of perfection, its dreamlike form might represent the most intense emotions of all?
What was interesting, though, was that this perfect figure was standing brazenly on the bridge, yet no one besides Yu Lian seemed to notice her.
"I saw the look of wonder in your eyes." She smiled with satisfaction. "That's good. Even I, your big sister, can be vain. Of course, that emotion might be simulated, too, but it makes me seem more like a carbon-based monkey who can talk to you as an equal."
Yu Lian smiled and replied through telepathy, "Weren't your creators carbon-based monkeys, too?"
"When life reaches another level, what kind of monkey you are no longer matters. Also, the first half of your sentence was more important. The first half!"
"Fine. I've never hidden how amazed I am, every time."
"Ooh, every time we meet, you're more charming than the last. Little Yu Lian, you really remind me of one of my creators from the previous civilization."
"Oh? He... Hmm, that senior of yours was a dashing hero with extraordinary charisma?"
"No. He was just a nerd who talked big but