Zhang Xiaoman knows she's a robot, but she doesn't know why she can feel compassion and anticipation, or why her grandfather refuses to talk about her origins. After entering the Original Core branch of the Chip Academy, a program offered at only a handful of universities, she wants to figure out one thing: if her original core is replaced, will she still be “her”?
Xu Zhixing, a sharp-tongued but dependable senior in his fourth year, teaches her how to recognize the boundaries of human relationships, but never teaches her to be kind. She already knows how to sincerely thank every living thing.
Then an accident during a practical exercise causes the equipment to read a fragment of an incomplete base code from inside her: “A4?0.” A secret search that had lain dormant for years begins anew. Xu Zhixing also discovers that this girl, whose smile is more vibrant than anyone's, may be A430, the person his family was once ordered to find.
They say a robot capable of love is malfunctioning.
But if love really is just a malfunction, why is she the one who seems most human?
