Mutual Trust

"I need you to take my consciousness out and restore my connection to my body from the outside," Yu Xiao decided to take a gamble.

"How exactly do I do that?" Bai Ying didn't quite grasp the abstract concept, but that didn't stop her from following instructions.

"First, I need you to forcibly disconnect the neural sync, not exit normally," Yu Xiao began to explain step-by-step. "This way, there will be a brief residual connection between us, and my consciousness can use this opportunity to stay in the interactor's cache. But only for ten seconds."

"Ten seconds... is that calculated from the moment of forced disconnection?" Bai Ying realized the risk involved.

"Yes, it starts counting from the instant you disconnect."

Forcibly disconnecting neural sync usually caused a massive shock to the pilot's brain. At best, it resulted in dizziness, vomiting, or temporary tinnitus. At worst, it could lead to a coma, shock, or damage to the hippocampus.

"What happens if the time runs out?" Bai Ying vaguely sensed the danger behind those ten seconds.

"I will disappear from this world."

Bai Ying clenched her fists.

"What do I need to do in those ten seconds?"

"Find any interface that can connect to the base's main control system and plug in the interactor."

"And then?"

"Just wait for me to reconnect to my body," Yu Xiao tried to make the process sound as easy as possible.

"Do you trust me?" Bai Ying knew Yu Xiao was placing his life in her hands.

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have proposed this plan."

"Then are you ready?" Bai Ying gave Yu Xiao a faint smile.

"Ready." Yu Xiao took a deep breath, trying to relax his mind.

"Three, two, one.

"Go!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, both Bai Ying and Yu Xiao vanished from the white space.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The familiar alarm sounded in Bai Ying's ears again. Her consciousness returned to her body.

But Bai Ying's reaction was more extreme than she had anticipated.

She felt as if a blender was churning her brain matter inside her head!

Under the intense dizziness and headache, Bai Ying managed to pull out the interactor from the back of her helmet and, supporting herself, stood up unsteadily!

She had already wasted three seconds!

"What are you doing! Did you solve the problem?"

Bai Ying could vaguely hear Dr. Chris questioning her, but she had no time to deal with him.

Even breathing made her feel nauseous, let alone speaking.

The smart terminal's port was only a step away, but that single step felt like a world away to Bai Ying.

She had four seconds left!

But as Bai Ying lifted her left foot, her body lost its balance and she fell forward!

Just then, the technician who had instructed her rushed forward and caught Bai Ying's falling body!

Two seconds!

Bai Ying used all her strength to plug the interactor into the port!

After completing this final action, Bai Ying completely lost consciousness.

Time ticked by, the lights dimmed, and the alarm still echoed within the high walls, like a death knell hovering over everyone.

Under the night sky, the entire dark firmament was like a dying ember, its fading light and heat continuously merging into the cold night and disappearing.

"Why is Xingtian still drawing power!" Dr. Chris broke the oppressive silence in the command center first. He glared fiercely at Bai Ying, who lay unconscious in the chair. "What is she up to! First, she forcibly disconnects the neural sync, and then she just plugs the interactor into the port without saying a word!"

"Let's wait a bit longer."

General Chen stopped Dr. Chris's outburst. He simply looked quietly at the clock on the wall—there were only two minutes left before the entire base would be plunged into darkness.

"Xingtian..." Bai Ying, still in a coma, murmured Xingtian's name.

Yu Xiao had successfully restored his sensory link several minutes ago.

But this was merely the beginning of another nightmare.

He now understood what the machine spirit protection mechanism was for—the moment he and Xingtian became one again, his consciousness experienced a perceptual deviation.

How could a human consciousness without a head or limbs survive?

Would it still think?

Would it have consciousness?

All of this was outside Yu Xiao's original scope of thought, as he was already an electronic ghost without a physical body.

But fate is unpredictable. Even though he had become a mass of data, deep within his consciousness, Yu Xiao still firmly believed he was a living person!

This was why he possessed human senses in his consciousness space: sight, hearing, pain, and so on.

If he wished, he could transform into anything in that space—a bird, a tree, or even a Xingtian thousands of meters tall.

Yet, Yu Xiao unconsciously reverted to his appearance from his previous life, and his subconscious simulated all human perceptions and neural responses.

It was precisely this firm self-identity that caused Yu Xiao to fall into a perceptual deviation immediately after taking over Xingtian, turning into a pile of illogical gibberish!

Yu Xiao once again found himself in the "chase the little rabbit" scenario.

At this moment, he had already fragmented into countless scattered pieces, and each piece possessed an independent personality and consciousness, like countless drowning victims struggling in the water.

Which one was the real him?

He had to fundamentally accept the fact that he was no longer human to completely escape this perceptual deviation and become a machine spirit unaffected by phantom pain!

"Who are you?"

"I am Yu Xiao."

"Is Yu Xiao human?"

"Yes!"

"Then why are you still alive?"

One fragment dissolved into specks of starlight and vanished amidst the contradiction.

The same questioning was happening simultaneously among all the fragments.

But only one of them provided a different answer.

This unique Yu Xiao was immersed in an imagined memory—he had returned to Earth, but in the form of a steel body.

The world immediately exploded, and everyone eagerly discussed this momentous event!

People interviewed him, tracked him, and tested him!

Because he was a mecha, an iron man with human thoughts!

But no one treated Yu Xiao as human.

Everyone kept their distance from him, and mischievous children would even throw stones at him!

Thus, Yu Xiao walked alone for a long, long time, finally arriving at the city he was familiar with and finding the familiar door.

But Yu Xiao's fingers stopped before the anti-theft door; he ultimately did not knock.

Before going downstairs, he cast a lingering glance at the "Fu" character pasted on the door, then dazedly descended.

But as Yu Xiao reached the entrance of the building, he bumped into the person he wanted to see but dared not.

The next second, his white-haired mother dropped everything in her hands and directly embraced Yu Xiao's cold body. His father, standing beside her, quietly took off his glasses and wiped away the cloudy tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Son, welcome home!"

Yu Xiao jolted awake from the memory!

He also heard the questioning.

"Is Yu Xiao human?"

"He can be, and he can not be."

"Then what are you?"

"I can be a machine spirit, Xingtian, anything that exists."

"None of those are you."

"No, you are wrong," Yu Xiao retorted firmly. "No matter what I become, I will always be Yu Xiao."

The questioning voice disappeared, and all the fragments merged into one at this moment, forming a floating humanoid white mist.

Immediately after, Yu Xiao was engulfed by a dazzling white light.