A Human Observation Report (Nonhuman)

Gu Xinglan goes to work diligently every day, does her job honestly, and lives an ordinary life. Yet she has one grand, extraordinary dream

She hopes the planet will explode.

And then, just as she wished, the planet really did split apart with a deafening roar.

Good news: The planet exploded.

Bad news: She woke up again.

-

In the year 7486 of the Star Era, after generations of robotic archaeologists and excavators, an entire tomb of cryogenic pods was finally discovered. An ancient species found only in records lay asleep within, their faces peaceful.

After researchers worked day and night to retrieve the remains of an ancient civilization, they left behind a pod full of ancient people whom no one cared about.

Robots are interested in human civilization, but not in humans.

Until one day, the humans who had been left behind gradually awoke, walked out of their cryogenic pods, and entered the city of machines, becoming like stray cats and dogs in this steel forest.

Good news: The bosses have all gone extinct.

Bad news: There aren't many people left, either.

Gu Xinglan became a proud scavenger and wandered the city for three months.

In the third month, on a rainy night, she had a fever and collapsed on the roadside, dazed and delirious. Through her blurred vision, it seemed someone had stopped in front of her. At last, she reached out her hand.

*

Unit XBA-6587 was an ordinary member of the robot population.

He went to work ordinarily every day, lived ordinarily, crushed his enemies ordinarily, and then went home ordinarily.

On his way home, as usual, he bought some bread and left it at a street corner to feed the homeless cat-people. Then one of them grabbed his trouser leg.

XBA-6587 had never kept a cat-person before and didn't know what was taboo.

When he calmly said that he had to go to work and couldn't stay to play, the cat-person's blood pressure suddenly shot up to 130 mmHg.

"What? Even after becoming mechanical beings, we still have to go to work?!"

XBA-6587: .

A Report on Human Observation

Observation 1: Humans dislike going to work, but have a strong sense of class.

Observation 2: Humans are obsessed with giving things names.

Observation 3: Humans are fragile and have poor learning ability. They cannot handle multiple problems at once.

Observation 4: Do not say that Gu Xinglan has poor learning ability.

Observation N: Human bodies are interesting. They're no different from other animals, yet humans often deny that they indulge in pleasure. Gu Xinglan, however, is very honest.

Observation X: What is love?

Reader's Guide:

1. An inhuman romance. The male lead is a robot from the future. He's described as ordinary, but read as powerful.

2. Every sentence is a complaint about going to work.

3. Robots are the most delicious of all. This is a story written with total abandon.

Blurb written on October 20, 2024.

Theme: Humans are resilient