"Knock, knock, knock."
A gentle knock on the door was followed by the voice of a young man.
"Come in."
Yan Shan, dressed in a crisp white uniform, gently pushed open the door, holding a stack of reports in her hand.
As soon as the door cracked open, a faint, soothing fragrance wafted out. She glanced inside and immediately spotted the scented bottle on the desk.
The room was impeccably organized, with documents neatly stacked and labeled in an orderly fashion.
Yan Shan couldn’t help but silently admire the scene.
The director truly was a man of cleanliness, order, and refined taste.
According to the gossip among her female colleagues, the director was young, handsome, and seemingly unattached. No one could figure out why he was still single.
Yan Shan shared their curiosity.
She had heard rumors that the director would sometimes converse with a woman in his office when no one else was around, yet no one had ever seen another woman enter his room.
What secret was the director hiding?
Lin Hao sat in front of his computer, surrounded by five or six monitors displaying numbers and charts that Yan Shan couldn’t comprehend.
He wore his usual gold-rimmed glasses and the same uniform as Yan Shan, except his had an additional badge on the front.
It read, "Post-Disaster Reconstruction Bureau."
Although Yan Shan had entered, Lin Hao didn’t turn around, seemingly engrossed in something critical, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
The screens in front of him shifted accordingly.
Yan Shan remained silent, quietly watching Lin Hao as he worked, waiting for him to finish.
"My apologies."
Lin Hao finally pressed a key, and all the screens locked.
He removed his gold-rimmed glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then turned to face Yan Shan, who had been waiting patiently.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It’s fine, Director. It’s already after work hours, and I don’t have anything urgent to do."
Yan Shan waved her hand, smiling as she assured him it was no trouble. Internally, she was thinking: I wouldn’t mind watching you work a little longer.
"So, what brings you here?"
Lin Hao put his glasses back on, the light in the room reflecting off the lenses and illuminating his face.
"These are the results from the recent survey on the 'Zombie Rights Act.'"
Yan Shan handed over the reports, and Lin Hao took them, placing them on the desk to review.
"Hmm... Let me take a look at the key points..."
Seeing Lin Hao’s focused expression, Yan Shan couldn’t help but lean in, ready to answer any questions he might have.
Noticing her proximity, Lin Hao subtly shifted a little further away, though the movement was so slight that Yan Shan didn’t notice.
"Indeed, most people still have concerns about this..."
"Oh, the observation period seems to be widely supported, and some even think it’s too long..."
Lin Hao muttered to himself as he read, then opened a new screen to jot down some key points he deemed important.
Halfway through typing, he suddenly stopped and looked at Yan Shan, catching her off guard with his sudden gaze.
She wanted to look away but found herself unable to.
"Yan Shan, what do you think?"
Lin Hao’s glasses had slid slightly down his nose, and his neatly combed hair was as immaculate as ever.
Yan Shan was momentarily captivated by his appearance before snapping back to reality.
"Ah...? Director, are you asking me?"
Lin Hao nodded.
"Yes, about the 'Zombie Rights Act,' I’d like to hear your thoughts."
Yan Shan’s heart raced, but she had already pondered this issue, so she answered without hesitation.
"Well, I think the definition of 'rehabilitated zombies' is still a bit vague..."
"Perhaps we need to establish more specific criteria and test these standards through experiments, then adjust the parameters accordingly before finalizing..."
As she spoke, Yan Shan seemed to forget her original purpose and began passionately sharing her views on the 'Zombie Rights Act.'
Lin Hao listened intently, his eyes gradually lighting up. He pushed his glasses back up his nose, which had started to slip.
"That’s a very good point. I should discuss these matters with you more often."
Hearing the words 'discuss with you more often,' Yan Shan nearly jumped for joy, though she maintained her composure on the surface.
"Anytime, Director. I’m always available."
Lin Hao nodded and said nothing more, organizing the reports to review them later.
Suddenly, he realized Yan Shan was still standing there and turned to ask:
"Is there something else?"
Yan Shan flustered.
"Ah... I..."
Just then, Lin Hao seemed to notice something and walked over to Yan Shan’s side.
Her heart began to race, and she started imagining scenes straight out of a romance novel, her face turning red with nervousness.
But Lin Hao simply pointed to a button on her uniform and said:
"This one’s about to fall off. You might not have noticed."
His expression was calm, and upon closer inspection, there was a certain aloofness in his eyes.
Yan Shan noticed this and felt the little fantasies in her heart instantly dissipate.
"Th-thank you, Director."
She felt a bit disheartened. She had thought she might be special to him, but now it seemed she wasn’t.
Still, she decided to muster her courage and reminded herself:
'Yan Shan, don’t forget why you came here today!'
Meanwhile, Lin Hao reopened all the screens and sat back down in his chair.
Yan Shan’s attention was drawn to his movements, and her breath caught when she saw what was displayed on the monitors.
The desktop backgrounds on all the screens showed the same photo—a wedding picture of a young couple. The groom was Lin Hao.
He wore the same gold-rimmed glasses and had a gentle smile on his face, one that no one in the bureau had ever seen before.
In that moment, any thoughts of inviting the director to dinner vanished instantly.
Yan Shan felt her mind go blank.
The sound of Lin Hao’s keyboard clattering soon filled the room again, and the wedding photo was replaced by charts and code.
"Director... are you married?"
As soon as the question left her lips, Yan Shan internally screamed at herself:
'Yan Shan!! What kind of question is that?!'
"Hmm?"
Lin Hao turned to her, about to respond, but then he noticed her expression and seemed to understand.
Without offering any explanation, he simply nodded and said:
"Yes."
As soon as the word left his mouth, Yan Shan quickly stammered:
"Ah, the weather’s so nice today! It’s getting late, Director. I’ll go grab some dinner now. Take your time!"
Before Lin Hao could say anything else, Yan Shan bolted out of the office as if the floor were on fire.
"Click."
The door closed behind her, and Yan Shan leaned against it, covering her face with her hands. She felt like her cheeks were burning.
How embarrassing...
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
Her stomach growled, pulling her back to reality. Yan Shan patted her cheeks to snap herself out of it.
Forget it. Time to eat!
She walked to the elevator and pressed the button, heading to the cafeteria.
"Ding!"
The elevator arrived before she could even press the down button, and the button she had just pressed turned gray again.
The doors slowly opened, revealing two stunningly beautiful girls inside.
Both had long silver hair and nearly identical faces, though one had lake-blue eyes and the other had amber eyes.
Their fair skin, delicate noses, and cherry-colored lips were complemented by their elegant dresses. One of them even wore a black baseball cap with a scalpel embroidered on it.
Yan Shan stepped into the elevator, watching as the two girls walked toward Lin Hao’s office. She was filled with confusion.
Are these twins? What are they here for? Did they come to see the director? Could they be his daughters? No, the age doesn't match; they seem a bit older.
Hmm... better think about what to eat tonight instead.
Yan Shan didn't dwell on it much and started pondering today's menu at the cafeteria.
Lin Hao sat in his office, where the charts and code that used to fill his screen had all disappeared, but his computer was roaring with the sound of fan overload.
Some incredibly resource-hungry program seemed to be running.
He just stared blankly at the desktop, at the wedding photo of him and Xiaolv, sinking deep into thought.
"You're spacing out again."
A window suddenly popped up on the screen, showing only a series of sound waves, from which the female voice emanated.
Lin Hao suddenly chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"I was looking at our photo."
"The wedding photo?"
The voice from the screen asked, intrigued.
"Yeah, the one from our wedding."
Before Lin Hao could finish, the voice seemed to add, "You only look at the photo... and don't even come to talk to me."
"That girl just now, she seems to have a thing for you, huh? How about it, not considering it?"
Lin Hao's expression turned awkward, and he could only shake his head with a wry smile, spinning his chair with his feet.
"Don't joke like that, Xiaolv. It's my fault for not maintaining the right distance. I'll be more careful next time."
"Hmph."
The voice from the screen playfully huffed, then fell silent.
Lin Hao glanced at the log in the bottom right corner; the program seemed to have paused, waiting for him to resume the conversation.
"Knock, knock, knock."
There was another knock at the door, and this time even Lin Hao had no idea who it could be.
"Who is it?"
His hand was already on the keyboard, ready to lock the screen again.
"It's me."
A cold voice echoed from outside the door.
Upon hearing it, Lin Hao relaxed back into his chair.
"Come in~ When did you start knocking?"
Ning Yu turned the doorknob and walked in, bringing Ning Xuan with her.
"Should I start coming in through the window for you to be more comfortable?"
"No, the ventilation duct would suit you better. Hmm...?"
Lin Hao spun his chair around and suddenly noticed another girl beside Ning Yu, who looked strikingly similar to her.
"Is this the one you mentioned...?"
"Ning Xuan, my sister."
Ning Yu took Ning Xuan's hand and introduced her to Lin Hao.
After some small talk, Ning Yu led Ning Xuan to Lin Hao's computer.
"Got company?"
The sound waves on the screen stirred again, and the female voice asked a new question.
"Yeah, Xiaolv, this is my friend, Ning Yu."
You sure have a lot of female friends...
The screen carried a jealous tone, and Lin Hao could only respond with an awkward grin.
"This is...?"
Ning Yu looked curiously at the program on Lin Hao's screen, having just heard him call it "Xiaolv."
"This is my newly developed AI program, named Refrain."
Lin Hao explained.
"It can extract memories of a specific person from your brain through a brain-computer interface."
"All the voices of that person are extracted, and through multi-layer neural network training, it simulates that person's voice."
"Also, by converting all your interactions and conversations into text, tokenizing them, and turning them into vectors..."
"Stop!"
Ning Yu stopped Lin Hao from further explaining the technical details.
"To put it simply, you're conducting an experiment on yourself."
"Yes, I extracted all my memories of Xiaolv."
Lin Hao nodded.
"Hey, you keep calling me an AI, and I'm not talking to you anymore."
The voice from the screen complained, and then it really fell silent.
"It sounds quite real. What's next? Are you planning to build her a body?"
Ning Yu pondered Refrain's potential uses, resting her chin on her hand.
Lin Hao heard Ning Yu's question and answered with a smile.
"Well... it depends, I'd like to, of course, but it has a bigger purpose."
"There were countless people who also lost their loved ones in this disaster."
"If we can use this method to allow them to see their loved ones again, even if it's just an AI based on their memories."
"When that person can stand in front of you again, speaking in the voice you're familiar with, talking to you, joking with you."
"Perhaps it could ease some of the hurt this disaster has caused..."
Ning Yu listened intently, surprised at how far Lin Hao had thought this through.
"That's so like you, but it sounds wonderful."
She didn't hold back her praise.
"Speaking of which, why did you come here today?"
Lin Hao suddenly turned to Ning Yu, unsure why she had brought her sister to see him.
"To give her a new body. She wants to get rid of the cybernetic enhancements."
Ning Yu raised Ning Xuan's arm, which transformed into a gleaming blade before reverting to its human form.
Lin Hao was puzzled.
"Is this body not good? You might end up living longer than the average person..."
"I explained that to her too, but she says she wants to become a real human."
Ning Yu shrugged, playing with her sister's hair.
"Sister... if it's too much trouble, maybe..."
"Hey... cut it out."
Ning Yu stopped Ning Xuan from backing out, then clapped Lin Hao on the shoulder.
"This guy's pretty amazing, look at the AI he cooked up, all those vectors, neural networks..."
"It's called a neural network..."
Lin Hao corrected Ning Yu with a sigh, then turned to Ning Xuan.
"Are you sure? Is it because the cybernetic enhancements are affecting your emotional expression?"
"And once you revert, you might never be able to get cybernetic enhancements again."
With increasing research, people have begun to uncover some negative effects of cybernetic enhancements on humans.
"Yes."
"I want to become a flesh-and-blood human."
Ning Xuan looked at Ning Yu, holding her hand and lightly leaning on her shoulder.
"To stay by my sister's side."