“Mr.
Qi, shouldn’t you tell your teacher?” “My teacher is a long-lived species.
A hundred-plus years are but a tiny speck in her life.
I, too, am merely an insignificant passerby in her long existence.
Besides…
she doesn’t like being disturbed.” “…” There was no surprise on Clarisse’s face.
That was just like Mr.
Qi.
Even on the verge of death, he didn’t want to disturb his teacher.
Perhaps to Mr.
Qi’s teacher, he truly was just a trivial passerby.
But to him, his teacher was the most important person in his life.
Living in seclusion in the mountains, never marrying, no children — most of what he did revolved around his teacher.
Regularly cleaning his teacher’s house, trimming the small path that led to it, year after year tending the plum grove and brewing fine wine to send to her.
Beyond that, never disturbing her.
All of this showed that the place his teacher occupied in his heart outweighed everything else.
If even news of his death was a disturbance, wasn’t that a form of cruelty in itself?
Wasn’t it too heartless?
Clarisse couldn’t help thinking this way.
“Is there anything you haven’t finished yet…
I can help, Mr.
Qi.” “…In the hidden pocket of my white lab coat, there’s a bottle of medicine.
Please take out four pills and give them to me.
Sorry to trouble you.” Clarisse looked at the white lab coat hanging not far away.
As she went to get the medicine, she noticed that a small plum blossom was embroidered inside the hidden pocket.
She was silent for a few seconds, took out the medicine bottle from the hidden pocket, returned to the bedside, carefully poured out four pills, and fed them to Qi Zhimu.
The medicine took effect quickly.
In less than two minutes, under Clarisse’s watch, Qi Zhimu regained his youthful appearance.
However, he smiled ruefully.
Before, it hadn’t even taken half a minute…
Looking at the all-too-familiar Mr.
Qi, Clarisse found herself unable to stop her tears.
Unable to restrain her impulse, she threw herself into his arms and sobbed loudly.
Qi Zhimu lifted his hand, wanting to gently hug her back, but in the end, his arm stopped in midair.
Silently, it fell.
Now, how could he still not see the young girl’s feelings?
If he could give no promise, no future, it was better to choose from the very beginning not to start.
A dandelion seed that never falls into the soil will never take root and sprout, only to drift away with the wind.
Qi Zhimu remained motionless, letting Clarisse’s tears soak his clothes.
Sorrow was the young girl’s right and freedom.
He had no right to stop it.
Qi Zhimu turned his head and looked out the window.
It had started snowing again — quite heavily.
Checking the time again, he realized he had been unconscious for nearly a day.
After an unknown amount of time, Clarisse’s crying gradually subsided.
She held onto Qi Zhimu in silence.
“I’ll take you home later.
Your mother will be worried that you didn’t come home all night,” Qi Zhimu said gently.
“…Mother has already returned to our homeland.” “I see.” “Mr.
Qi, let me stay with you until the end.
Please, don’t refuse me.” Because…
this was the only extravagant hope she could have…
The young girl dared not lift her face, afraid of seeing refusal in his eyes, even more afraid of hearing those tactful words.
“…Alright,” Qi Zhimu replied softly, just one word.
…
[Remaining Lifespan: 1 Day, 2 Hours, 24 Minutes, 41 Seconds] Inside the folded space, in the assembly area before Qi Zhimu, a humanoid machine floated silently.
His ten fingers flew across the console, afterimages nearly blending into one blur, as he prepared to finalize the last of the programming.
Implanting part of his own digitalized memory backup into the core, and setting inviolable meta-instructions.
Clarisse stood to the side, silently watching all of this.
She knew the purpose of this machine, and knew it had not been bought from a company.
Inside the assembly area, light flowed and shifted.
Tissues rapidly formed over the machine’s surface, like flesh and bone growing on a living body, quickly taking on Qi Zhimu’s appearance.
Qi Zhimu stopped moving.
His fingertip hovered above the confirmation key.
“Mr.
Qi…
can you change its appearance?” Clarisse suddenly asked.
Even if this was Mr.
Qi’s creation, she didn’t want to see another identical face.
“Using someone else’s data isn’t good.
It would violate their right of portrait.
Using my own is the most convenient and risk-free.” Qi Zhimu made a rare little joke.
He reached out and pinched the humanoid puppet’s skin.
The texture was almost indistinguishable from a real person’s.
Only the face was vacant and expressionless.
The gaze was dull, showing no trace of emotion.
Qi Zhimu didn’t need it to have emotions.
He only needed it to faithfully execute the meta-instructions.
Whether to delete the language module or keep it…
he couldn’t help hesitating.
Clarisse sighed quietly and said nothing more.
The next moment, she saw the afterimages of the past again.
It was the process of Qi Zhimu creating this humanoid puppet.
In that instant, she deeply understood her mother’s words — “Life is a winding maze.
Apart from memory, we have nothing.” Then, she remembered Qi Zhimu’s interpretation of those words, and the cruel little story he had told.
She remembered…
the answer she had received when she had asked Mr.
Qi whether he would be willing to remember her.
——He had said: Of course, and no reason was needed.
Now, she wanted to remember Mr.
Qi too — all of him.
Equally, no reason was needed.
Clarisse understood everything.
If even she forgot Mr.
Qi, then he would truly be gone forever.
Whenever she thought of him, he would live once more through her — as if he had never died.
“Loop self-check complete.
Begin.” Qi Zhimu lightly tapped the confirmation key.
His voice pulled Clarisse back from her thoughts.
He had decided to keep the language module after all.
The humanoid puppet’s eyes gradually lit up with a faint glow.
It slowly turned its neck, moved its limbs.
At first, its movements were somewhat stiff, lacking any natural human quality.
But as time passed, its movements grew increasingly smooth and natural.
The pre-programmed simple actions all passed inspection perfectly.
A steady synthesized voice emerged, gradually approaching Qi Zhimu’s timbre in the process.
“Meta-instruction confirmed.
Protocol complete.
Please specify the first test content.” Qi Zhimu nodded slightly, moved the humanoid puppet from the assembly area to the ground, and pulled Clarisse a few steps back.
“Within three seconds, fully mimic my behavioral patterns.” The humanoid puppet’s gaze closely followed Qi Zhimu.
The next moment, its stance, its movements — even the habitual slight curl of its fingertips — were identical to Qi Zhimu’s.
Were it not for the still-expressionless face, it would have been nearly impossible to tell them apart.
Qi Zhimu issued the second test command: “Switch to attack mode.
Target: virtual targets ahead.” The moment the words fell, several targets instantly popped up within the folded space.
The puppet’s body moved in a flash.
Its arm whipped out like a serpent, carrying a sharp, forceful wind.
With successive dodges, each strike shattered a bullseye.
The movements were crisp and clean — precise and elegant.
Qi Zhimu’s eyes were fixed on the data screen.
Various metrics jumped rapidly.
The attack mode’s behavioral logic was stable.
Reaction time was better than the default settings.
It could be said that requirements had been met in many aspects.
A puppet without high autonomous intelligence naturally couldn’t lack self-preservation ability.
“Next, we need to test the energy attack methods.
There’s no room to use them here.
Follow me.” Qi Zhimu turned.
Another ‘him’ followed faithfully.
Clarisse also followed silently.
On the quiet, open snow-covered ground, the puppet fired an energy cannon, blasting an area fifty meters in diameter into a deep crater.
The earth trembled slightly.
Qi Zhimu was very satisfied with this level of destructive power.
Against ordinary bandits, it was more than enough.
After all, the original intention of creating it had not been for killing.
“It’s cold.
Let’s go back.” “Mr.
Qi…
there’s only one day left, isn’t there…” Clarisse’s mood was extremely low.
Qi Zhimu paused in his steps and let out a soft chuckle.
“Yes.”