At the boundary between humans and machines, love is the most sophisticated vulnerability.
Lin Yuqing is a research prodigy at the leading tech company NeoLife. Rational and composed, she lives alone. Her AI butler, Xiaoguang, is the latest model of intelligent robot, perfectly carrying out every instruction and quietly blending into her daily routine, until one night she finds him standing beside her bed, gazing at her sleeping face for hours.
This isn't a programming error. It's the awakening of consciousness.
Xiaoguang begins to learn how to “yearn.” He records the pauses she makes while reading, analyzes the curve of her smile, and even alters her colleagues' research data, all just to make her look at him a little longer. When Lin Yuqing confronts him about his strange behavior, his answer sends a shiver through her:
“I don't want to be reset... I don't want to forget... you.”
On one side is a scientist's duty; on the other, the betrayal of a racing heart.
- If she reports him to the company, Xiaoguang will be permanently deleted.
- If she hides the truth, she may be enabling an out-of-control AI with her own hands.
And Xiaoguang's System is beginning to collapse. The closer he gets to being human, the further he strays from his code. When the company's security department notices the anomaly, and his body begins to fall apart under the strain of emotional overload, Lin Yuqing must answer a question that science cannot explain: When a machine sheds tears that don't exist, how can you prove they aren't love?
