Story Reader / Affection / Hanying: Zitherwoe / Story
Ah, right...
She quickly steps into the courtyard and picks up the bird inside.
Holding the umbrella up, you follow her in and discover that the bird is actually a bionic swallow. Intricate and lifelike, it would have fooled you without a close inspection.
However, it is now lying in Hanying's hands quietly, its wings stiff and shivering as they make a low hum that suggests some kind of malfunction.
It wasn't your fault. It was hurt quite badly beforehand.
Flying here was the most it could do.
She looks sorrowful as she gently caresses the bird.
Thank you for your guidance. This is good enough. I'll take it from here and talk to your owner myself.
It's okay.
We're looking for its owner. He will fix this child properly.
You follow Hanying and go deeper into the quiet alley.
This used to be a hustling and bustling neighborhood, but now it's left in ruins...
Leaving this place and returning to Kowloong, their "home," was the wish of many people trapped on this ship in the middle of the sea.
"Miles" was the most valuable resource that could support regular people to leave this ship when Lord Villier was in charge of the Nighter.
Except... the "homes" many people remembered were gone the moment they left Kowloong.
Most people that are still on the Nighter are trapped in the past.
Hanying's words are equally conflicted and detached, as if... she does not belong to either Kowloong or the Nighter.
I used to live here. I know every nook and cranny of this ship.
But I left for a long time because of some past events. I only recently came back for the first time.
There have been many changes here as well. Many old friends are no longer here. If it weren't for Pulao...
Hanying stops talking as if realizing she has said too much.
Hanying does not seem like she wants to talk about her past, so you choose to stay silent.
...If we have a chance to talk in the future, I'll tell you everything.
But we have something more important on our hands, don't we?
...Forgeries?
Ah... Right.
Pulao mentioned that many counterfeits have appeared in the shops of the Nighter recently. I've seen a few; they all have a well-hidden code on them.
And the person behind those codes...
You step on a loose tile while you are talking, and you hear the sound of a triggered spring in the wall on your right simultaneously.
A dark object shoots out from the wall before you can react.
Right then, a gentle but steadfast wind rushes by you as Hanying dashes in front with inhuman speed to shield you. With a loud clang, the arrow shot from the trap pierces the garden wall next to you.
The sudden threat has not fazed Hanying. Her movement is as elegant as a dance, her motion reminding you of a certain memory in your mind...
Commandant! Are you okay?
Coming to your senses, you see Hanying turning around and putting away her fan before examining you worriedly.
It might be old, but these traps are even harder to notice on the Nighter.
...I'm guessing that it's set up by the "resident" still living here. He doesn't want untoward visitors.
Let's be careful as we move forward, Commandant.
The paths afterward are convoluted and intertwined, rendering the map Pulao gave you completely useless at this point. You resort to following Hanying's lead as you go deeper.
The rain begins to stop. You encounter a few more traps here and there on the way, but Hanying and you manage to disarm them before they are triggered.
Passing another stretch of empty houses, you find the unchanging landscape before you suddenly shift. The old buildings here have been repaired, and containers sit tidily on shelves instead of being covered in dust.
You hear the bustling noises of conversations coming from the depth of the narrow alley you thought to be empty, and you stop to listen.
Did anyone see my cane?
Mom—I want dim sum from Peishilin! They'll be out if we don't hurry!
Alright, alright. Let your mother finish sewing this, and you'll get a new coat to wear! We'll go to West Street for dim sum and lanterns afterward, yeah?
Yeah!
The girl cheers gleefully, the bells on her ponytails ringing as she moves.
Test number twenty... I-it moves!
Do a flip! Jump! That's right. Hop on the pole and keep jumping! Wait, you didn't lift your leg high enough... Aaargh!
You hear the heartbreaking sound of a man's scream, followed by the crash of a giant mechanical object crumbling.
Dad... stop tinkering with your mechanical lion. It's never been activated successfully since it was made. Tonight's lion dance is...
Stay out of this! It almost made it! You should sit and watch, too! You ought to learn all of this sooner or later. Have you seen Mo's granddaughter next door? She's so young and she's already a civil servant!
Stop comparing me with other people! I told you I don't want to learn this!
It's a craft passed down from generation to generation in our family! You don't get a say!
Alright, alright. Stop arguing, you two. It's the holiday for once!
Hey, Koo! It's about time! Tsai is waiting for us to begin!
Got it! Coming!
The courtyard begins to get lively. People move about; grandparents chuckle as they try to slow down the sprinting children. Guests with gifts big and small are welcomed inside, stopping and applauding the lion dance.
You cannot help but feel the happiness and warmth in the air even when you are only listening in from the other side of the wall.
Yeah...
...Yeah.
Hanying answers you quietly as you arrive at the deepest part of the alley. The door at the end of the road is left ajar, and the voices you hear are coming from inside.
Shaking her head, she walks up and extends her hand to push the door.
As soon as the door swings open, the bustling sounds cease abruptly. The unexpected hush throws you off balance, causing a brief, disconcerting ring in your ears.
What unfolds before you is a view utterly different from your anticipations.
Inside the yard, there are no signs of a joyful, loving family, no children engaging in playful chase under the watchful, smiling gaze of their mother. Instead, all that meets your eye is a set of worn rattan furniture on the stark, gray ground.
Seated on the chair is an antiquated mechanoid, his back facing the yard door. Perched atop his head is a bionic swallow, the same as the one you saw earlier.
Hanying offers you a gentle nod, a fleeting glimmer of sympathy crossing her gaze.
Simulation terminated. 1 minute and 39 seconds of new data added. Objective not accomplished. Deleting redundant data.
Unidentified intruders detected. Activating armed defense mode.
You immediately hold your gun up, aiming it at the mechanoid whose face pulsates with an ominous red glow. Given your anticipation of a peaceful encounter on the Nighter, you armed yourself minimally—certainly not prepared for an unexpected confrontation...
It's okay, Commandant. He's not a Corrupted.
A hand gently settles on your arm as Hanying's soothing voice resonates, her tone akin to comforting a startled child.
Almost as if reacting to her words, the extending arm of the mechanoid transforms into a pitch-black barrel. A deafening blast reverberates in the air, succeeded by... the blossoming of a petite smoke flower.
...
Amidst the lingering smoke, you and the mechanoid lock gazes. After a few tense seconds, the red glow emanating from his head morphs into a tranquil green.
...I lost.
The winner is decided, regardless. My body is no longer what it used to be. Now I have to enter sleep mode for maintenance once every 10 hours...
However, you destroyed the defensive measures I set outside, and according to Kowloong law, you're obligated to compensate for my losses.
The visibly damaged screen affixed to his chest displays numbers that are incessantly escalating. After a moment, they finally stabilized, settling on an exorbitant price that would take Pulao several seconds just to verbalize it.
Hmph.
A puff of air jets out from the mechanoid's heat vent, almost as if he were snorting in scorn.
Those pesky human thieves swiped a whole bunch of stuff from me last time. If it weren't for my traps, I wager they would've swiped even these old screws I have remaining on me.
Despite his weathered appearance, this mechanoid seems to possess a high level of intelligence as well as a sophisticated emotion imitation feature. As for the "human thieves" he brought up...
I'm sorry... but you've set a signal blocker and turned down all comms requests. This is the only way we could manage to talk with you.
You glance down at your terminal—it's already in offline mode, just as you anticipated. It appears that in addition to the defensive traps, the mechanoids have also rigged devices to block all incoming signals.
That's right. Those cheeky humans, they robbed me in the middle of my maintenance routine. Good thing I caught on quickly enough.
...Otherwise, everything my master left behind would've been swiped by now.
Invaluable human artworks that Master recreated. If you need it, I can make a detailed list of all the stuff that got taken.
You recognize some of the items displayed on his screen as they overlap with what Pulao previously showed you.
By the way, none of Master's works could've been completed without my help. Each one of them is a unique piece with my own code embedded in it.
Forgeries?!
I've gotta set the record straight. Those works are the fruits of Master's amazing skills, and that includes me! Master can perfectly imitate and replicate every single detail of the original works. Even the top connoisseurs in Kowloong can't spot the difference. It's artistry at its finest!
Worked up, the mechanoid waves his barrel arm.
But you are the only one here. Your master...
My master is currently not on the Nighter.
He left not too long ago, saying that he wanted to look for his family up in the mountains.
At Master's command, I'm not allowed to leave this construction until he returns.
I must obey every command he gives—it's a fundamental directive etched into the logic of my behavioral patterns.
This is a style preference Master programmed into my language module. He's not a fan of me sounding too "stiff."
The accurate time should be... 2471 hours ago... No. Calculation error. It was 5320 hours ago. Calculation error. It was 7340 hours ago. Calculation error...
The mechanoid continues to re-calculate the number as if he's malfunctioning, his eye indicator flashing in apparent confusion.
...His time perception module is malfunctioning due to an overload of redundant data.
I'm afraid his master has been gone for a very long time.
After a while, the mechanoid's calculation finally comes to a halt.
...So Master has been gone for such a long time...
...I remember it now. I wanted to go outside to look for him because he's been away for far too long.
I also wanted to find his works back after they were stolen.
But "leaving here" clashes with the command Master gave me.
I tried to overwrite this command by executing the final command with a higher priority. However, all of my attempts have so far failed due to a lack of real-world parameters regarding "family" and "life."
Correct. I want to fulfill Master's final command by using real-life data and image data as references.
And his command is...?
Wait for me. When I come back, we'll live a happy life as a family.
Before that, I'll have you help me take care of our home.
...I see.
So this is what you came here for?
I knew it... Humans have taken Master's artworks to sell.
Hanying casts a glance in your direction, appearing hesitant to speak.
I received the distress signal that this little one transmitted. It guided us here.
Observing the frail bird curling up in Hanying's hand, the mechanoid lowers his barrel arm in a melancholic manner. The other bionic swallow on his head flutters over and lands on Hanying's hand, tenderly touching its unmoving friend with its beak.
There's no entry in my memory log about instructing it to transmit a distress signal.
But it's a part of you that archives the "redundant" memory data that you've lost during maintenance.
You can retrieve that data once it's fixed.
...I see what you mean now. Please give me some time.
By the way, may I know your names, intruders?
I'm Hanying.
Hanying, [player name], I'll keep them in mind.
It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm KLM-324 Industrial Assistance Mechanoid. You can call me Sturddy.
It's Master's idea. He said I wouldn't easily break with this kind of name.
While Sturddy undergoes his maintenance session, you and Hanying wait under the withered tree in the yard.
Machines... can never deviate from the commands set for them.
Looking into her eyes, you get a sense of understanding about what she is trying to convey.
Yes, and that conclusion conflicts with the original command—that's why he's been attempting to resolve the issue repeatedly through simulations.
...In my eyes, Sturddy is not simply enslaved by his Master's commands.
He's just trapped in the past, like many people on this ship.
Trapped in an endless dream, neither able to wake up nor willing to...
She subtly lowers her head to conceal the flickering emotion in her eyes.
So, I want to help him complete the simulation and break free from the commands.
I'm so glad to hear that...
Thank you, Commandant.
Sturddy can't complete the simulation because he lacks real-world data regarding "family" and "life"... I think I have an idea.
So, Commandant...
She turns back, her determined and sincere gaze fixed upon you.
Can we become a "family" for the following short period of time?
Meanwhile, in the east district of the Nighter, in front of Chen's Pawnshop.
...Where is the person?
Didn't Pulao say she's got us a helper? We've been waiting forever!
It's getting late. Let's continue first.
I paid a fortune for these, and now everyone knows they're forgeries! (Wails) I'm done for good...
What should I do... Good sirs, you have to help me, please...!!
Don't worry. That's why we're here.
Describe the appearance of the person who sold these to you. We'll do our best to track them down and retrieve your money.
