[Wasteland] The AI Is Actually Me!

Five hundred years after the old era ended, on a day in the hundredth year of the new calendar, Mu Qinghe woke up in her tiny, rundown research lab.

Beside her was a crumbling protective wall. Beyond it lay a silent wasteland of extreme cold, endless night, radiation, and monsters, like a random grab bag of death.

Fortunately, a small team of explorers passing by brought her into the "Shelter" and handed her over to the caretaker assigned by the central intelligence: A Yan.

"Hello..." Mu Qinghe said, a little nervously, because she had no memory at all of what she used to research.

Fortunately, her caretaker looked after her in every possible way. She fussed over her and asked after her, and even held her close when she was feeling down, rubbing against her like a cat to keep her warm.

It would be even better if A Yan weren't so strict with her studies.

As soon as her observation period ended, Mu Qinghe received a gift from A Yan: a collection of papers and research notes that supposedly belonged to her.

Mu Qinghe suspected the Shelter's central intelligence had mistaken her for someone else. After all, she had always hated math and science, and the moment she opened a paper, she got a headache.

A Yan could certainly be called a bear of a caretaker. Even when Mu Qinghe blew up the lab, she would calmly take out a handkerchief and wipe Qinghe's face.

If only Mu Qinghe hadn't overheard A Yan talking to her subordinates:

"She's so stupid. She doesn't seem anything like the real Professor Mu. I have no idea where the central intelligence dug up this replacement."

The scar on the back of her neck was there to hide the barcode stamped on her when she was born as a bionic human. Sitting on the Shelter's wall, Mu Qinghe pouted as she thought.

"Should I bravely venture out, or go back to class? This is such a headache~"

When A Yan arrived, this was what she saw.

The girl was sprawled across the Shelter's force field, eager to see the world beyond the wall.

"Qinghe, be good... Come here, to my side." For the first time, her voice trembled.

Mu Qinghe glanced at her, then suddenly smiled.

"I'm not Professor Mu, and I can't become her. But I know that if she were sitting here right now, she would do the same thing."

In just a second, the girl flipped over and dropped into the frozen earth where humans could not survive.

"Thank you for everything you've done for the Shelter Base. May the flame of humanity endure."

P.S. This is an atypical replacement story. Both protagonists have more than one identity, like layer cakes!

P.P.S. A little melodrama, but very little! An atypical crematorium arc!

Blurb written on September 16, 2023

Theme: Thank you for everything you've done for humanity. May the flame of humanity endure.