Mutual Trust

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

"What exactly do I need to do?" Bai Ying didn't really understand this abstract explanation, but that didn't stop her from following the steps.

"First, I need you to forcibly sever the neural synchronization instead of exiting normally." Yu Xiao began explaining step by step. "That way, a trace of the neural synchronization between us will linger briefly, and my consciousness can use that opportunity to remain in the interface's cache. But only for ten seconds."

"Ten seconds... Does the countdown start as soon as I sever the connection?" Bai Ying realized how risky this was.

"Right. It starts the instant you disconnect."

Forcibly severing neural synchronization usually dealt a tremendous blow to a pilot's brain. At best, it caused dizziness, vomiting, or temporary tinnitus. At worst, it could lead to unconsciousness, shock, or damage to the hippocampus.

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

"I'll disappear from this world."

Bai Ying clenched her fists.

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

"Find any interface that can connect to the base's central control system and plug the interface into it."

"Then what?"

"Just wait for me to reconnect to my body." Yu Xiao did his best to make the process sound easy.

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

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

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

"I am." Yu Xiao took a deep breath, trying to relax.

"Three, two, one.

"Go!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Bai Ying and Yu Xiao both vanished from the white space.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The familiar alarm sounded in Bai Ying's ears once more as her consciousness returned to her body.

But her body's reaction was even more violent than she'd expected.

It felt as if a blender were churning the insides of her skull!

Reeling from the dizziness and headache, Bai Ying managed to pull the interface from the back of her helmet, then forced herself to her feet, swaying unsteadily!

She'd already wasted three seconds!

"What are you doing? Have you fixed the problem or not?"

Bai Ying could vaguely hear Dr. Chris demanding an answer, but she didn't have time to deal with him.

Even breathing made her feel sick, let alone opening her mouth to speak.

The smart terminal's port was only a step away, yet that single step felt impossibly far.

She had four seconds left!

But Bai Ying had only just lifted her left foot when she lost her balance and pitched forward!

Just then, the technician who'd given her instructions rushed over and caught her before she could fall!

Two seconds!

Bai Ying summoned every last ounce of strength and plugged the interface into the port!

After that final movement, she passed out completely.

Time ticked by, and the lights grew dimmer and dimmer. The alarms continued echoing within the high walls, like a death bird circling above them all.

Beneath the night sky, the entire Xuanse Cangqiong looked like a dying flame. Its fading light and warmth steadily melded into the cold darkness until they vanished.

"Why is Xingtian still drawing power?" Dr. Chris was the first to break the oppressive silence in the command room. He glared furiously at Bai Ying, unconscious in her chair. "What the hell is she doing? First she forcibly severs the neural synchronization, then she doesn't say a word and plugs the interface into the port!"

"Wait a little longer."

General Chen stopped Dr. Chris's angry outburst and quietly looked at the clock on the wall. Only two minutes remained before the entire base would be plunged into darkness.

"Xingtian..." Bai Ying murmured the name of Xingtian in her unconsciousness.

Yu Xiao had restored his sensory link several minutes ago.

But that was only the beginning of another nightmare.

He now understood what the mech-spirit protection mechanism was for. The moment he and Xingtian became one again, his perception went awry.

How could a human consciousness without a head or limbs continue to exist?

Could it still think?

Could it still feel?

None of this had ever concerned Yu Xiao before, because he was already an electronic ghost without a body.

But fate was fickle. Even though he'd become nothing but data, deep in his consciousness Yu Xiao still firmly believed he was a living, breathing person!

That was why he could perceive things in his consciousness space that only humans could: sight, hearing, pain, and more.

If he wanted, he could take the form of anything in that space: a bird, a tree, or even a Xingtian thousands of meters tall.

Yet Yu Xiao had unconsciously taken the form he'd had in his previous life, and his subconscious had simulated every human sensation and neural response.

That deep-rooted sense of self was precisely what caused Yu Xiao to fall into a perceptual distortion the moment he took control of Xingtian, turning him into a nonsensical jumble of data!

Yu Xiao had fallen into the "chasing the little rabbit" once more.

He had scattered into countless fragments, each with its own personality and thoughts, like countless people struggling to stay afloat as they drowned.

Which one was the real him?

He had to accept, at the deepest level, that he was no longer human. Only then could he escape the perceptual distortion for good and become a mech spirit unaffected by phantom pain!

"Who are you?"

"I'm Yu Xiao."

"Is Yu Xiao human?"

"Yes!"

"Then why are you still alive?"

One fragment dissolved amid its inner conflict, vanishing into points of starlight.

The same questions were being asked among all the fragments at once.

But one of them gave a different answer.

This extraordinary Yu Xiao was immersed in a memory of his own imagining. He had returned to Earth, but this time, he came back in an iron body.

The world immediately erupted in an uproar. Everyone clamored to discuss this astonishing event!

People interviewed him, followed him, and tested him!

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

But no one treated Yu Xiao like a human being.

Everyone kept their distance, and mischievous children even threw stones at him!

Yu Xiao walked alone for a long, long time, until at last he reached the familiar city and found the familiar door.

But his fingers stopped in front of the security door. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to knock.

As he headed downstairs, he glanced several times at the "Fortune" character pasted on the door, then descended in a daze.

But just as Yu Xiao reached the entrance to the building, he ran into the person he wanted to see but didn't dare to face.

The next second, his white-haired mother dropped everything in her hands and threw her arms around Yu Xiao's cold body. Beside her, his father quietly removed his glasses and wiped the cloudy tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Son, welcome home!"

Yu Xiao jolted awake from the memory!

He heard the questions too.

"Is Yu Xiao human?"

"He can be. Or he can not be."

"Then what are you?"

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

"None of those are you."

"No, you're wrong." Yu Xiao firmly refuted the other voice. "No matter what I become, I'll always be Yu Xiao."

The questioning voice disappeared. All the fragments merged into one, becoming a floating, human-shaped mass of white mist.

Then Yu Xiao was swallowed by a dazzling white light.