"I'm a clone!"
AA's words exploded like a thunderbolt in Sun Jack's ears, leaving him staring incredulously at AA, almost thinking he must be hearing things.
But when AA spoke again, it shattered his illusions entirely. "I'm a fake! I'm a clone just like you! The real AA is still in Metropolis!"
"The real AA is... in Metropolis? In the Metropolis controlled by the Holy Grail?" When Sun Jack heard these words, he immediately felt a chill down his spine.
He suddenly rushed over, yanking AA off the ground as he squatted, his face extremely grim as he asked, "What the hell is going on! Answer me!"
But in the next second, he instantly connected to a possibility, "Because you didn't want to die in Metropolis! You secretly swapped her back?!"
Hearing this from Sun Jack's mouth, AA, deeply hurt, shoved him away and almost hysterically, with tears streaming, shouted, "Why would you think I'm that kind of person! Just because I'm a clone?"
"Then why is AA's original body still in Metropolis!!"
"Because she loves me!!"
As soon as these words came out of AA's mouth, the room finally quieted down, the two standing there silently, the air momentarily stagnant.
Sobbing, AA dropped her head, her dyed bangs covering her eyes, "She loves me... she didn't want a clone AA to die for her..."
The turn of events far exceeded Sun Jack's predictions. He took a deep breath, running his hands forcefully through his hair.
At some point, a cigarette had appeared at his lips; he began pacing around the room, contemplating how to fix things. It couldn't go on like this; it had to be put back on track.
Glancing at AA before him, Sun Jack turned and walked out the door, intending to contact the original and tell him everything that had happened.
But just as he was about to make contact, he suddenly stopped, realizing the danger of doing this.
"No way! It's too risky! The original is under full surveillance by the Holy Grail now, any contact could be known by the Holy Grail, and if it finds out the original's memory hasn't been erased, it's all over!"
Then he thought of contacting others, but who? Tapai was out of the question; he's basically the Holy Grail's camera.
Old Six? No, telling him would be almost suicidal.
Si Ai? Sun Jack paused for a moment at this name, then skipped over it, continuing to think of others.
Even though he had experienced many things in Metropolis, there weren't many people he truly trusted, unless those from the Rat Alliance who had died would come back to help; otherwise, he simply couldn't pass on this message.
After thinking for a long time, pacing outside the room for quite some time, Sun Jack sighed and walked back in. "AA, I've thought about it, I've decided----"
The door wasn't fully opened yet when Sun Jack's words were abruptly cut off; the entire room was empty.
"AA?" Sun Jack called again as he went to the bathroom and pushed open the door, but it was empty too.
Increasingly concerned, Sun Jack quickly accessed the room's surveillance, only to find it had just been wiped!
"Damn it! Do you have any idea how dangerous this place is!!"
With a stern expression, Sun Jack tightened his lips and silently started buying things online; soon a hover drone flew in from outside the window, beginning to meticulously scan the room for any clue.
The traces left by AA, including fingerprints, hair strands, and everything, were swiftly organized by it and projected before Sun Jack's neural system.
Soon, a moving virtual figure appeared on Sun Jack's yellow lenses, showing the translucent AA approaching the window, opening it directly, and jumping out without hesitation.
Sun Jack immediately clenched his teeth, swiftly moving to the window, grabbing the window frame with his right hand, and pulling it open forcefully as the black snow roared in, and he jumped out without hesitation.
Sun Jack wanted to find AA again, but the ever-falling snow outside had erased all traces. He searched for a long time in the snow but found nothing.
AA, with reddened eyes, walked in the snow, occasionally choking up, but the naturally cheerful her quickly adjusted her mood.
A gunshot rang out, with smoke billowing from the strange gun in AA's hand, scattering some malicious gazes behind her.
She could survive in Metropolis; she wasn't as fragile as Sun Jack had imagined, neither mentally nor physically.
Following the system navigation's guidance, she walked southeast towards Lavanasi, where there was nothing else but Varanasi's garbage dump.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, several grand mountains appeared before AA, black snow covering the entire garbage mountain, turning these wastelands into snow-capped black mountains.
She endured the allergic stinging and itching, pushing through the waist-deep snow toward the snowy mountain.
A few twisted metal rods with a bent plastic board in AA's hands quickly became a shovel.
Then she used the tools she crafted from trash to start digging; she didn't intend to excavate the whole mountain but dug downward like a little mole, making a snow cave.
After about an hour of work, when AA saw the garbage under the snow, a smile appeared on her face.
Soon, various pieces of garbage in her hands turned rapidly into practical small tools, and the originally narrow snow path was quickly expanded into a cozy snow cave by her.
When the little lights came on, just like in the Metropolis sewer back then, this place quickly became a simple abode under AA's care.
As she lay on a small bed made of pieces of cloth, looking at her handiwork, a smile reappeared on her face.
"It's quite nice here; you can find almost anything. If only Metropolis's garbage mound was this close to a landfill."
Suddenly, she sat up again, reaching over to draw on some discarded plastic beside her, soon creating a new little dog just like in the sewer.
Beside the little dog, she drew a new AA, followed by sunlit grassland, then Tapai, Si Ai, Old Six, Priest, and finally, Sun Jack.
But halfway through drawing, her expression darkened again; she pursed her lips tightly as if trying to suppress something, but ultimately couldn't; her pursed lips turned downwards, and she cried out once more.
No matter how difficult the environment, she could always find a way to survive, even if living was excruciating, but she was a born optimist, enduring through bitterness.
She chose to follow Sun Jack not because of work, salary, or other benefits; he was surrounded by danger, enemies lurking around every corner, following him for gains was sheer madness.
Her willingness to stay by Sun Jack's side was primarily because AA could feel care for herself from him.
This feeling she hadn't experienced since coming out of the Breeding Factory, and when she saw the Boss willing to risk his life against cyber psychos to save her, she felt at that moment that the Boss was family.
Even though she knew he seemed to treat everyone like that, AA didn't care; she believed the Boss was family, and she had to do everything to help him.
However, all of this truly belonged to the real AA - the feelings and the relationships, while she was just a clone; the Boss created her just to sacrifice her.
Feeling immensely wronged, she picked up a pen and fiercely crossed out Sun Jack, then erased Priest, Old Six, Si Ai, Tapai.
When only AA herself remained on the plastic, she touched the AA drawing, lost in thought; it was her, her most beloved self.
She loved herself, whether she was a clone or real, so the original couldn't bear to let her die.
AA, touching the drawing, felt a surge of deep love and longing, yet at this moment, she questioned these feelings in her heart.
All these emotions came from the original AA, but her feelings with the Boss and others were fake; so are these feelings real?
At this moment AA felt somewhat confused, hesitating whether to accept this affection; she truly wanted to accept it but was held back by some hesitation.
It felt as if accepting this deep love would mean psychologically accepting becoming AA's backup.
"Why did I love myself in the first place?" A somewhat bewildered AA first thought about this question, but luckily with the help of intelligent AI, her system quickly provided an answer.
"Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), commonly known as 'self-love psychosis,' under high pressure, a narcissist may exaggerate themselves to cover inner inferiority or shame, forming a 'false self' as a protective shell, gradually developing a narcissistic defense mechanism."
"If lacking stable attachment in childhood, it might affect the development of healthy self-esteem, turning to rely on internal self-evaluation to maintain self-worth when external needs are unmet."
Hearing this, AA cuddled the piece of plastic, shrinking into the bed helplessly, saying with her lips clamped tightly, "Am I really different from Si Ai? Is this not a fetish, but a mental disorder...."