In 2046, Cheng Xin has just graduated from college. On her way in a self-driving car to start work at the research institute where her parents work, the car suddenly locks its doors, changes course, and speeds onto a sea-crossing bridge. After causing a chain of rear-end collisions, it smashes through the guardrail and plunges into the sea.
Her memory freezes at the moment seawater floods the car.
In 2146, robot CX25 awakens Cheng Xin, who has been hibernating for nearly eighty years at the bottom of a lightless sinkhole.
To explore the new world that has emerged during her decades of hibernation and find out what happened to her parents, she decides to leave the underground base, even though the last footage her parents left her warned her never to leave if she woke up.
Mechanical spirits, human protected zones, pet humans... One unfamiliar term after another reshapes her understanding of the world.
Cheng Xin: Sigh, I've said it so many times: I don't want to be a leader. Why do they keep choosing me?
Cheng Ran: Because you're old.
Cheng Xin: ...
Reader's guide:
1. Pseudo-science fiction.
2. Plot-focused, with a romance subplot.
3. The technical details in this story come mostly from the internet or imagination, so don't take them too seriously.
