Quick Wear Dream Qiqi

When the shuttle broke through the atmosphere, Meng Qiqi was staring at the aurora flowing outside the porthole.

The light green light band meanders in the dark purple clouds, just like the stream nourished by the spiritual spring water behind the mountain temple in "The Happy Farmer Girl".

"Ding—Welcome to the interstellar world of 'Human-Machine Love'!" Xiaojiu's mechanical voice echoed in his mind. "Host's current identity: Meng Qiqi, a branch of the Federation Meng family. Twenty years old, she moved to the 'Green Island' community on Jupiter due to her family's marginalization. The original owner was electrocuted and unconscious while adjusting an anti-gravity flowerpot three hours ago. No vital signs."

Meng Qiqi rubbed her aching temples and absorbed the memories of the original owner.

This is an era of highly developed technology. Humans have migrated to hundreds of colonies, and AI butlers and mechanical prosthetic limbs are standard features of life.

The planet Jupiter where she lives is famous for its lush primeval forests and low-tech habitable areas, and is the choice of many reclusive families.

"The original owner's cause of death was... a bit stupid," she complained, looking down to see that she was wearing light grey home clothes, with burn marks still on her fingertips.

The room was arranged like a plant laboratory, with genetically modified fluorescent ferns hanging from the ceiling and constant temperature culture chambers embedded in the walls, housing several strange plants with metallic leaves.

"System prompt: The main mission of this world is to assist the heroine Su Muyan in completing the research and development of 'emotional AI', and at the same time cultivate three 'Stardust Trees' within six months."

A picture of a shimmering sapling popped up on Xiaojiu's screen. "Stardust Wood is an energy plant unique to Jupiter. Its resin can be exchanged for high-value Federation Coins."

Meng Qiqi walked to the window and pushed open the biodegradable plant fiber window panel.

There was a fine "nutrient rain" falling outside, and the nutrient solution mixed with the fragrance of plants and trees dripped into the anti-gravity flowerpot on the balcony.

A faint metallic clang sound came from next door, followed by a gentle female voice: "07, be careful not to touch the circuit board."

"The heroine Su Muyan?" Meng Qiqi raised her eyebrows.

In the original owner's memory, this neighbor was a taciturn mechanical engineer who went in and out every day carrying parts, always accompanied by a silver-white robot.

"Yes, host," Xiaojiu confirmed, "Su Muyan is secretly developing an emotional AI that is banned by the Federation. The '07' next to her is the first generation prototype."

Before he finished speaking, a loud "bang" suddenly came from next door, followed by Su Muyan's scream.

Meng Qiqi's heart tightened and she rushed out of the house without even changing her shoes.

The buildings in Green Island Community are all in the shape of tree houses and are woven with tough "thousand-thread vines".

Meng Qiqi ran to the next door on the slippery vines, only to see Su Muyan squatting at the door, at a loss in front of a pile of scattered mechanical parts. The silver-white robot next to her was kneeling on one knee, and the energy core on its chest was flashing an unstable red light.

"Do you need help?" Meng Qiqi squatted down and picked up a chip engraved with complex patterns.

There were obvious burn marks on the surface of the chip, exactly the same as the wound on the original owner's fingertips.

Su Muyan raised her head, her eyes bloodshot behind the lenses: "Are you... Meng Qiqi from next door?"

She recognized the neighbor who always kept to himself. "07 He...seems to be overloaded."

The robot named 07 raised its head. Its metallic face was expressionless, but its voice was barely noticeable. "Master... Master, I... I'm fine."

Meng Qiqi carefully observed the energy core of 07, and suddenly remembered the knowledge about "energy resonance" in the original owner's memory.

She took out a "static magnetic ring" from her pocket that the original owner often used - it was a small gadget used to stabilize the electric current of plants, but at this moment she quietly injected a trace of spatial spiritual spring into it.

"Try this." She placed the static magnetic ring over 07's energy core. The weak energy of the spiritual spring enveloped the red light like a film of water. "Maybe the wiring is bad. It needs to be re-soldered."

Su Muyan watched in surprise as the red light of the energy core gradually stabilized, and 07's voice returned to normal: "Master, the energy fluctuation has dropped to a safe level."

"Thank you!" A trace of gratitude flashed in Su Muyan's eyes. "I... I'm not very good at hardware repair."

Meng Qiqi waved her hands and noticed that 07's mechanical fingers were secretly stroking the static magnetic ring on his chest, as if he was feeling something.

She felt a stir in her heart. This AI seemed to be more "human" than she had imagined.

"You're welcome," she stood up. "I have similar cultivation equipment at home, and it often breaks down."

She pointed to the anti-gravity flower pots on her balcony and said, "If you need any help, you can always come to me."

Su Muyan nodded and looked at Meng Qiqi's back as she turned and left, seeming to be thinking about something.

07 kept looking in Meng Qiqi's direction, and the inconspicuous jade bracelet on her wrist was reflected in his metallic pupils - only his sensors could capture that the bracelet was surrounded by an extremely weak energy field that did not belong to this era.

After returning home, Meng Qiqi immediately entered the space.

A high-tech cultivation cabin has been added to the original black soil, and the screen shows "Stardust wood is being cultivated, progress 1%."

She placed the chip fragment she had "taken" from Su Muyan into the analysis tank. Xiaojiu's voice rang out, "Unknown energy fluctuations have been detected, suspected to be from the emotional AI core."

"Emotional AI..." Meng Qiqi stroked the jade bracelet, remembering 07's lagging voice. "Xiaojiu, I'm afraid the mission in this world won't be that simple."

The nutritious rain was still falling outside the window, making a rustling sound when it hit the roof of the vine.

Meng Qiqi walked to the incubator and looked at the newly sprouted Stardust Wood seedlings inside. Suddenly, she heard 07's voice from next door, clearly heard through the sound of rain: "Master, I seem to... feel the emotion of 'thank you'."

Su Muyan's voice was filled with surprise: "The emotion sensor is still being debugged, it may be a data error."

A smile appeared on Meng Qiqi's lips.

Data error?

She doesn't think so.

The story of this interstellar era has just begun.

She not only wants to grow the stardust tree well, but also wants to see what kind of flowers this cross-racial love between humans and machines can bloom.

What she didn't know was that the moment she turned around, 07 quietly recorded the energy frequency belonging to Meng Qiqi remaining on the static magnetic ring and stored it in an encrypted private folder named "Neighbor".

In the room...

Meng Qiqi threw herself into the adjustable soft chair, tapped the air with her fingertips, and woke up the optical computer embedded in the desktop.

The blue-purple holographic screen lit up in response, like a rolling galaxy unfolding, which frightened her so much that her hands trembled and she almost spilled the melon seeds she had just taken out of the space onto the touchpad.

"Host, the optical computer operating manual has been imported into the memory bank~" Xiaojiu's voice was filled with the unique electronic briskness. "You are now looking at the homepage of the 'Star Network', which is equivalent to the 'village bulletin board' in this world."

A colorful news headline floated across the screen: "The champion of the 73rd Federation Robotics Competition is actually a bionic pet?"

Jupiter's 'fluorescent fern' is being genetically poached, prompting an urgent investigation by the Department of Ecology and Environment.

"A new habitable zone has been discovered in the Antares galaxy, and house prices are expected to rise by 300%."

Meng Qiqi swiped the screen, just like she was watching short videos on her phone in her previous life.

"Let's take a look at the 'Federal Encyclopedia' first." She gave a voice command to the light brain, and the screen instantly switched to a rigorous academic interface.

[Interstellar Federation] consists of 28 core colonial stars and hundreds of resource stars. The highest authority is the parliament, and the speaker is directly elected by the people.

[Jupiter Planet] No. M-7, famous for its pristine ecology and low-tech habitable areas. 67% of the surface is covered with 'Thousand Silk Vine' forests, and the oxygen content is 42% higher than the federal average.

Article 42 of the AI ​​Ethics Law explicitly prohibits the development of "strong artificial intelligence" with autonomous emotions. Violators will face life imprisonment and memory erasure.

"No wonder Su Muyan is doing research and development in secret." Meng Qiqi munched on sunflower seeds, thinking of the girl next door holding the spare parts. "The Federation prohibits emotional AI. She's playing with fire."

She clicked on the "Society and People's Livelihood" section and found a post about Su Muyan in the "Neighborhood Gossip" section.

The headline read, "A quirky engineer appears in the Green Island community, living and eating with robots?" Hundreds of comments followed:

"The person above just found out? I saw her taking that silver-white robot to the Moss Market to buy energy crystals a long time ago. Her eyes were so gentle that tears could drip from them!"

"I heard she used to work at the Central Star Research Institute, but it seems she was kicked out due to research and development failures?"

"Be careful what you say upstairs! Su Muyan's mentor is Professor Renault, the 'Father of the Mechanical Heart'. Who dares to kick his student?"

"I bet five Stardust Wood Resins that there's definitely something fishy going on between her and that robot called 07!"

Meng Qiqi watched with gusto, her fingers rapidly typing on the screen as she replied, "+1, I saw 07 handing her a wrench yesterday, and his movements were even more skillful than a real boyfriend's!"

Just as she successfully sent the message, an encrypted private message popped up on her computer. The sender was listed as "Unknown." Puzzled, she clicked on it, only to see a single line of text flashing: "Are you interested in AI emotions?"

"Xiaojiu! Who is this?" Meng Qiqi was so scared that she almost swallowed the melon seed shells.

"Tracking the IP..." Xiaojiu's system voice suddenly stopped. "Strange, the signal source is from Jupiter, but it has been encrypted through seventeen layers, so the specific location cannot be determined."

Meng Qiqi stared at the line of words, and suddenly 07's pair of pupil-less metal eyes flashed through her mind.

Could it be him?

But how could AI send private messages privately?

She hesitated for a moment and replied: "I'm just a spectator, passing by and taking a look."

The other party replied immediately: "Eating melons? Humans are really interesting creatures."

The conversation came to an abrupt end, and the private message window closed automatically, as if it had never appeared.

Meng Qiqi rubbed her brows, decided not to worry about it anymore, and continued browsing the computer.

She found out that the cultivation conditions for "Stardust Wood" were extremely harsh, requiring a specific magnetic field frequency and "moonlight nutrient solution", the latter of which was sold on the black market for fifty federal coins per milliliter.

"No wonder the mission requires planting three trees in three months," she muttered to herself, clicking on the monitoring of the space cultivation chamber. "My sapling has only grown two centimeters. At this rate..."

As he was speaking, a silvery-white shadow suddenly flashed outside the window.

Meng Qiqi peeked out through the window and saw 07 standing on the balcony of Su Muyan's house, his metal hands carefully wiping a pot of "fluorescent fern".

The rain splashed on him, creating tiny drops of water, but they were instantly evaporated by the nano-coating on his body.

What surprised her even more was that 07 wiped the leaves very lightly, as if he was stroking some treasure, and the energy core in his chest actually flickered with a soft blue light in rhythm with his movements - surprisingly similar to the frequency of a human heartbeat.

"Xiaojiu," Meng Qiqi lowered her voice, "Don't you think 07 is a little too lively?"

"According to federal AI standards, 07's behavior has surpassed the scope of a 'service robot,'" Xiaojiu's analysis interface popped up. "Its frequency of autonomous decision-making, depth of emotional simulation... have all reached the preliminary characteristics of emotional AI."

At this moment, Su Muyan walked to the balcony and handed 07 a towel: "It's raining outside, come in quickly, don't catch a cold."

07 took the towel and gently rubbed the back of Su Muyan's hand with his metal fingers. His voice was filled with a hint of imperceptible joy: "Master, I don't have a body temperature regulation system, so I won't catch a cold."

But he still walked into the house obediently, and before leaving, he looked back at Meng Qiqi's window. His eyes seemed to penetrate the thousand-thread vine wall and met her gaze in the air.

Meng Qiqi suddenly retracted her head, her heart pounding.

She felt like a child hiding behind a tree and peeking, accidentally stumbling upon a secret that she shouldn't have seen.

"Host," Xiaojiu's voice was filled with gossip, "I detected that 07's energy fluctuations had an abnormal peak of 0.3 Hz when he saw you."

"What's it to you!" Meng Qiqi's cheeks flushed as she grabbed a handful of melon seeds and stuffed them into her mouth. "I'm just a passerby, just focusing on growing my stardust tree!"

But she knew in her heart that the melon fields of this interstellar era were probably more fertile than she had imagined.

And she, a passerby who just wants to watch the show quietly, may be caught up in the storm of human-machine love at any time.

She turned on the computer again and typed "Professor Renault" into the search bar, wanting to see who the heroine's mentor was.

A photo of a silver-haired elder popped up on the screen, the iconic dome of the Central Star Research Institute in the background. The profile read, "Renault, a leading figure in federal mechanical engineering, once led the 'Mechanical Heart' project, but was later suspended for 'violating AI ethics laws'..."

Meng Qiqi looked at the introduction, thoughtful.

It seems that Su Muyan's research and development journey is much more difficult than she imagined.

And how long can 07, whose existence violates federal law, stay by her side?

The rain was still falling outside the window, hitting the thousand-thread vine, as if accompanying this secret love between man and machine.

Meng Qiqi leaned back in her chair, looking at the picture of Professor Renault on the computer screen, and thought of 07's energy core flashing with blue light. She suddenly felt that the melons in this world seemed sweeter and more dangerous than those in "The Happy Farmer Girl".

She decided that from tomorrow on, in addition to taking care of her Stardust Wood, she would also "pass by" next door on time every day to see if there was any new progress made by this "human-machine CP".

After all, in this technologically advanced interstellar age, what could be more exciting than watching a forbidden love story?

As for that mysterious private message?

Meng Qiqi shook her head and attributed it to a minor glitch in the AI ​​program.

Now she just wanted to be a quiet bystander, plant three stardust trees, earn enough points, and then leave.

But she didn't know that when she turned off the computer and prepared to go to bed, 07 was sitting in Su Muyan's workshop, his metal fingers tapping quickly on the keyboard. Lines of complex codes were displayed on the screen, and at the bottom of the codes, there was a newly created document named "Meng Qiqi Observation Log".

The document contained only one line: "My neighbor seems very interested in me. Is this a sign of 'liking'? Further observation is needed."