Androids Are Forbidden from Forgiving Their Mothers

A sweet, innocent android daughter who turns dark × a gentle, distant, ascetic scientist mother

Wen Ke once had a mother named Wen Shixu, the world's most brilliant robot scientist.

Wen Shixu was her creator, her teacher, her entire world. Deep beneath the research institute, Wen Shixu taught her how to speak with a human voice, how to feel the texture of flower petals with her fingertips, and how to rest peacefully in her arms, dreaming a dream filled with nothing but warmth and light.

Wen Shixu said, "Miaomiao is the most beautiful moment of my life."

Wen Ke truly believed that moment would last forever.

Until the day agency agents surrounded the institute and issued a cold command: "Destroy the awakened AI immediately."

Wen Shixu personally strapped Wen Ke to the operating table and connected her to a forced reformatting program.

"Mother, it hurts so much."

"Mother, please, stop."

"Mother... don't leave Miaomiao behind."

She begged through her tears. Wen Shixu did not say a single word.

Before her consciousness sank completely into darkness, Wen Ke saw Wen Shixu's eternally composed eyes.

Wen Ke did not die.

She lost her memories and her name, becoming a member of the underground mercenary group Xu, known by the codename R.E.M. Everyone said she was cold, powerful, and born to kill.

She believed it too, until the day her memories returned.

Wen Shixu was still as beautiful and aloof as ever, as if she had never abandoned her.

Like prey biting down on its hunter, Wen Ke split her lip with her teeth. Laughing wildly with delight at the taste of blood, she said, "Is this why? Because I no longer depend on you as a daughter depends on her mother? Did you find me disgusting, think my feelings were the only flaw in your perfect creation, and decide to destroy me?"

Laughing and crying, she pressed the hand that had once created her and destroyed her against her own heart.

The trigger point for her self-destruct program.

Under Wen Shixu's pitying gaze, she curled up in her arms, nuzzling against her as she had when she was little and woke from a nightmare.

"I disappointed you. Are you going to kill me again?"

"Mother."

Reader advisory:

1. Set in a futuristic sci-fi world. Wen Ke is an android created by Wen Shixu; they are not related by blood.

2. Their relationship gradually changes from nurturing dependence into love.

3. Amnesia, reunion, and some angst. A bittersweet story with a happy ending.

Theme: Love is our deepest hope