The sewer stank of swamp gas, the kind that crawled into your throat and sat there like a wet rag.
Lu Jin leaned against a rusted maintenance pipe, letting the phone's dim light wash over his paper-white face. On the cracked screen, the balance sat there like an insult: ¥21.00.
Right now he wasn't a person so much as a junker on its last legs, idling on the stolen fumes of that earlier "Holy Resonance" boost. The lung pain was gone, sure, but a chill still seeped from the gaps in his bones, chewing at his jaw until his teeth chattered.
He tugged his collar closer, coughing, and dragged his gaze to the screen.
On it, the thing that had just forced him into high-interest metaphysical debt—S-09 "Executioner"—squatted in the warehouse of Resource Point No. 7 like a collapsed steel hill.
And the idiot girl who kept making his blood pressure spike, Li Xing, was busy doing something that almost stopped his heart.
—
[A-11 Wasteland Zone · Resource Point No. 7 · Underground Warehouse]
Dust hung in the air, old and dry. It mixed with the sharp, sweet stink of a can of military-grade lubricant Li Xing had just pried open.
The stuff was meant for servicing heavy artillery. Top-shelf pre-war gear. Right now the girl was dipping her fingers into the pale yellow paste and stretching on tiptoe, carefully smearing it into the joints of Executioner's chainsaw arm, the same arm that had been dripping blood not long ago.
"Big guy, don't hurt, okay…" she murmured, voice soft, coaxing the murder-tool like it was a kid with a scraped knee.
S-09's single giant eye glowed a dull yellow. It tracked the tiny movements of her hand as she worked. That sterile, inhuman stare paired with her bare, unguarded fingers made the whole scene feel wrong.
When she finished the joints, Li Xing dug into her pocket and pulled out the half piece of chocolate she'd been saving.
She broke it carefully and tried to push the bits into the mech's chest vents, where heat still wafted out.
"Just try a little… it's the best."
Lu Jin's scalp crawled.
Right on cue, Deep Space Echo slapped something onto his view, all cheap mobile game fonts and tacky effects.
["All Things Have Feelings" · Heart-Voice Translator (Trial)]
[Copy: Ever wanted to know what your quiet little fur baby is thinking? Is it begging for treats, or cursing its human?]
[Function: Real-time parsing of thought patterns for non-human entities / intelligent constructs.]
[Original Price: ¥999.00]
["Broke-Ass Special" (crossed out) New User Offer: ¥1.00 (Limited: 1 minute)]
The corner of Lu Jin's mouth twitched.
"Fur baby? That thing is an S-class walking war crime. Even powered down it could tear this district in half."
He stared at the ¥1.00, then at the lonely "1" in his balance, and let out a humorless little laugh.
"Even my last damn coin, huh? You really are a money-eating demon."
But he didn't have a choice. He needed to know what the half-dead monster was thinking.
He hit pay.
[Payment Successful. Balance: ¥20.00]
The feed flickered. A moment later, red-and-black "thought bubbles" popped into existence over S-09's head, pulsing.
Lu Jin read the first line and felt cold sweat prick his spine.
[Thought Bubble A: High-protein carbon-based organism detected… distance: 0.3m…]
[Thought Bubble B: Cerebral cortex activity: excellent… ideal wetware… smells good…]
[Thought Bubble C: Want to open skull… want to put that soft tissue into my tank… Feeding Drive: 99%…]
[Thought Bubble D: Core protocol locked… unable to attack… so hungry… so hungry…]
Loyal guard dog? Yeah, right.
This wasn't a pet. It was a man-eater chained in place, staring at the juiciest part of its handler.
On the wasteland feed, Li Xing was still happily trying to jam chocolate through the vents. Her pale fingers hovered less than five centimeters from a hydraulic jaw that could bite clean through a tank.
"Idiot! Move your damn hand!"
Lu Jin's fingers hammered clumsily at his screen. Numbness made them slow; the chill had never really left. He didn't have the power reserves to "feed" this thing. His only play was to mess with whatever fragment of "emotion module" it still had.
[Firing Command Bullet…]
Down in the warehouse, Li Xing had just started to sulk because "Big Guy" wouldn't eat the chocolate.
Then a string of golden words shimmered into view in front of her.
"It doesn't eat that. Try patting its head."
She froze, then her eyes lit up.
If the Listener said it liked head pats, then of course it did. Even if it was a giant… thing. It was the same logic as with the old dogs back in the settlement.
She tucked the chocolate away, wiped the grease off her fingers, then, heart pounding, reached up toward the glass brain tank.
In the sewer, Lu Jin held his breath, eyes locked on the [Feeding Drive: 99%] line.
Li Xing's warm palm came down on the cold, sensor-studded glass.
"Good boy…" she whispered, rubbing slowly, humming her off-key lullaby.
Executioner's pulsing gray brain stilled.
On Lu Jin's side, the thought bubbles jittered, red text washing to a muddy yellow.
[Detected: Bioelectric contact… warm…]
[Tactile feedback… pleasant… logic loop overload…]
[Is this… being petted…?]
[Feeding Drive: 99% → 98% → 95%…]
The massive steel head sat stiff for a few seconds, then, unbelievably, dipped. Just a little. Just enough to nudge into her hand.
A monster that had never been loved in its short, ugly existence got its first taste of "gentle" and forgot to be hungry for a moment.
"…Hah."
Lu Jin sagged back against the wall. His muscles felt like he'd sprinted ten blocks.
On the other side, Li Xing was practically glowing. She turned toward the unseen camera, cheeks flushed, eyes bright.
"Listener! It's so good!"
She hid her hands behind her back, rocked a bit on her heels, then asked in a small, hopeful voice, "Um… can I give it a name? Calling it 'big guy' all the time feels rude."
Lu Jin stared at the mech still popping [So hungry] bubbles now and then, then sighed and typed.
"Do what you want."
She brightened instantly.
She scrunched her brows and got deep into it.
"'Destroyer'? No, too mean…"
"'Silver Lightning'? But it's so dirty. All gray…"
She spiraled through several embarrassments, then finally lifted her head and studied its dim yellow eye.
"Its eye's yellow… like that old dog Aunt Zhang had in the settlement. Everyone loved him. He chased the rats away…"
She raised a hand and pointed—solemn, like she was announcing a royal title.
"Then… I'll call it Big Yellow."
[System Notice: Naming Confirmed. Writing to Logic Library…]
[S-09 New Codename: Big Yellow]
The mech's eye flickered twice, like its processors were choking on the sheer rusticity of the name. But under Li Xing's hopeful stare, it let out a soft mechanical hum. Acceptance.
The next second, a spray of pink light bubbles exploded across Lu Jin's screen, turning the damp maintenance room blush-bright.
That was Li Xing's emotion hitting like a meteor—pure, concentrated happiness and belonging. In a world that had tried to starve her to death, she suddenly had a god, a "family member," and a "pet."
[Detected: Observation target Li Xing has produced extreme trust and sense of safety.]
[Event: Assigned S-Class weapon a name and added to "Family" emotional cluster. (Emotional Tagging Complete.)]
[Holy Resonance Conversion… Critical Hit!]
[Holy Resonance Energy +45!]
[Current Energy Debt: –148 → –103]
[Emotion Analysis: Family Belonging – S · Safety – A · Happiness – A-]
[Holy Resonance EXP Settlement: +35]
[Observation Target: Li Xing][Holy Resonance Realm: Mortal Echo · Glimmer Stage][Level: LV2][Growth: 424 / 500 → 459 / 500]
At the same time, a weird warmth seeped out of the phone. Not the needle-stab heat of forced healing—this was lazier, a slow, steady glow.
[Feedback Gained: Minor Thermal Radiation (30 min)]
[Effect: Body temperature rises, chills suppressed. Like hugging a very large, very warm golden retriever.]
Heat curled around Lu Jin's ribs. The clammy cold that had been eating at his limbs retreated; his fingers filled out with sensation. Even the heart that had been twitching in his chest like a frightened animal finally settled.
He let his head rest back against the pipe and soaked in a kind of warmth you couldn't buy with twenty yuan in this city. The corner of his mouth moved, just a little.
"Big Yellow," he repeated under his breath. It rolled off the tongue easier than "Executioner." "Fine. Better than hearing 'S-09' every time and feeling my stomach turn."
Of course, cozy moments never lasted.
Right as he started to let his eyes drift shut, Deep Space Echo's neutral ding cut through, dumping a bucket of ice on his head.
[Friendly Reminder: While "Big Yellow" is currently very obedient, its primary energy core remains depleted.]
[Current Hunger Level is increasing at 1% per hour. If you do not wish your girl to become its breakfast, please secure a high-energy fuel source promptly.]
The warmth in Lu Jin's eyes drained out.
Overhead, above the manhole cover, a new sound joined the drip of sewer water—a fast, tight pattern of metal feet.
A faint servo whine buzzed through the pipe.
That particular pitch? Federation search hounds. Police-grade.
They weren't alone.
Somewhere up there, someone slapped a magazine into place. That hollow click carried even through concrete.
They were waiting for him to climb out.