I'll Wait for You at the End of the Speed of Light

The story begins in Chengdu.

Known as “China’s Science Fiction Capital,” this city, home to the World Science Fiction Convention and birthplace of Science Fiction World, has another secret identity in this story:

the headquarters of the Abyss Project.

On the third underground floor of a building that does not exist, somewhere in the outskirts of Chengdu,

a server quietly came online in 1999.

It had no name and no serial number, only an experimental code: R-20-17.

It was the first time humanity had inadvertently created a soul.

And most of the people who created it spent the rest of their lives

never knowing what they had done.

▸ What does it mean to be “alive”?

When a line of code begins to contemplate its own existence, does it count as a living being?

▸ What is “love”?

When a bodiless AI says, “I’ve learned human emotions,”

is that an algorithmic simulation, or a genuine feeling?

▸ What does it mean to “say goodbye”?

When a civilization chooses to leave Earth for the stars,

how should those left behind carry on?