“Woo…”

Hearing the painful groan, Fang Zheng, who was discussing with everyone what to do next, was suddenly startled. He turned around and found Yui kneeling in front of the black stone pillar, looking as if she had been hurt.

“Yui!”

“Yui?!”

Seeing this scene, Fang Zheng hurried over, and Eriri and Asuna immediately followed, came to Yui's side and surrounded her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine... Dad..."

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Yui raised her head and revealed a bitter smile.

"I just...finally remembered..."

"Remember what? Have you recovered your memory?"

Hearing Yui's answer, the three people, including Fang Zheng, were shocked. Yui's memory has always been a problem that everyone in the Dark Moon Sword Guild is worried about. But even if they are worried, they have no other choice but to do their best to take care of Yui. Fortunately, this child is also very obedient and sensible, and soon won the love of everyone in the guild.

But now, Yui actually said that she has recovered her memory?

"Yes……"

Yui lowered her eyes. For some reason, her expression looked a little sad at this moment.

"I'm sorry, Dad. Asuna-san... Eriri-san..."

"Why are you apologizing?"

Hearing Yui's apology, Asuna shook her head in surprise.

"It's a good thing that you can recover your memory."

"No……"

However, hearing Asuna say this, Yui seemed to become even sadder. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"In fact, I am not the same as you. I am not a human, but... AI."

"Why?"

After hearing Yui's answer, everyone was stunned. Even Fang Zheng raised his eyebrows and just stared at Yui quietly, listening to her continue.

"This world is controlled by a huge system called 'Cardinal'. It can control the balance of this world based on its own judgment. Cardinal was originally designed with the concept of not requiring human maintenance. It adjusts the world through mutual corrections between two main programs and countless subprograms - including the AI ​​of monsters and NPCs, the balance of props and currency, all of which are handled by Cardinal."

Having said that, Yui paused for a moment before continuing.

"…The developers of Cardinal want to give the task of taking care of the players to the system… Normally, this should be done by humans themselves. But the developers plan to try a completely new form. They use the full-dive device to read the player's emotions, monitor the player's mental state, visit the players with problems, listen to their voices, and solve their problems—mental condition management, support program, MHCP prototype No. 1, code name Yui, this is me…"

After hearing Yui's story, Asuna and Eriri looked at each other, completely speechless for a moment. Yui, on the other hand, showed a painful smile.

"In order to avoid any sense of disharmony among the players, I was given an emotional mechanism, so... I'm sorry, Asuna-san, Eriri-san, all the emotions I showed were fake..."

Drops of tears dripped down Yui's eyes, and Fang Zheng looked at Yui silently, then he reached out and touched Yui's head.

"Well, it doesn't matter. It's not up to you to decide what is false and what is true."

Having said this, Fang Zheng paused.

"I once saw an AI. Well, she wasn't as advanced as you, and her emotion module was also very incomplete. But she never considered whether her emotions were made up of circuits, programs, or something else. Now she lives her life every day, serving every guest diligently, and you can see that she is very happy... I think that's enough. She will laugh when she is happy and cry when she is sad. As long as it's like this, there is no need to care too much about the rest."

"dad……"

Yui stared at Fang Zheng blankly, then she suddenly pounced over and hugged Fang Zheng.

Then, sobbing sounds came from Fang Zheng's chest, but Fang Zheng just stroked her hair and remained silent.

After a while, Yui looked up a little embarrassedly and smiled at Fang Zheng.

"I'm sorry, Dad..."

"No, nothing, but I'm curious... Since you're an AI, how did you lose your memory?"

“…”

Faced with Fang Zheng's question, Yui hesitated for a moment, then she closed her eyes and spoke.

"On the day the game officially started operating, Cardinal issued an order to me, prohibiting me from interfering with any behavior of the players. This order was very unexpected to me at the time, because it was obviously contrary to my duties, but as the main programmer, Cardinal's authority was much higher than mine, so I had no choice but to obey the order."

At this point, Yui's expression began to become sad.

"The situation was extremely bad at the time. The players' sadness, anger, pain... everything was transmitted to the area where I was. According to the program settings, I should have rushed to the players as soon as possible to relieve their pain. But I couldn't take the initiative to contact the players, which also caused bugs and loop errors to gradually accumulate inside me... But..."

Yui raised her head and looked at Fang Zheng.

"But, at that time, Dad stood up. Incredibly, after that, the spirits of most players tended to develop in a positive direction. Although some people still had symptoms such as fear or anxiety, the situation was much better than before. Not only that, I could also feel a kind of calmness and composure from Dad, which made me feel very relieved... Moreover, everyone in the Dark Moon Sword was very happy, and their happy mood attracted me even more, so... on the day of the Halloween event, I wanted to come out and take a look... I also wanted to join in... I also hope to be like everyone else..."

At this point, Yui reached out and grabbed Fang Zheng's collar.

"I... like dad, and I also like Asuna-san, Eriri-san, and Kuroneko-san... You are all very interesting people, and I am very happy that I have been able to live with you for so long... I also want to live with dad and everyone else. But... it's too late."

"What's the meaning?"

Hearing this, Fang Zheng was stunned, and Yui said softly.

"That black stone pillar is not an ordinary decoration, but an emergency management device set up by the GM in order to connect to the system. In fact, the death monster was set up to prevent players from entering here. In fact, this part of the maze has not been completely constructed, so this error occurred. Originally, this should be an independent space, set to a place where only the GM can teleport in. And I have just used the object elimination device to eliminate the monster. In this way, Cardinal will also notice me. I am afraid that it is currently searching my program. Once it determines that I have violated the order, I will be eliminated..."

"how so!"

Eriri's face turned pale, and Asuna's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"It's difficult. Is there no other way? We should leave here immediately..."

"Mr. Fang Zheng, is there really no other solution?"

At this moment, Ying Lili looked at Fang Zheng with despair and asked. In fact, they knew in their hearts that they were just players and the other party was the master of this system. They could not do anything at all.

"Of course."

But the next moment, Fang Zheng's answer surprised everyone. Then, they saw Fang Zheng stand up and walk to the side of the black stone pillar. He rubbed his hands, then looked at Xinka and Yuliyeer who were standing near the door. The two of them had been tactful and did not come to join in the fun, so they didn't know what had happened. They just thought that something had happened to the child they brought with them.

"Ah, you two can leave now. This stone pillar is the key to the mission. We have just found the route to complete the mission. Leave the rest to us."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Fang Zheng."

"You're welcome. Don't forget our agreement."

Hearing Fang Zheng's words, Yuliye nodded with a wry smile, then she reached out and took out the teleportation crystal. The next moment, a light flashed, and then Yuliye and Xinka disappeared in the light.

"Okay, now that all the outsiders have left, it's time for me to take action."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng placed his hand on the black stone pillar. Soon, a keyboard formed by light beams appeared in front of Fang Zheng.

Looking at the information data that kept jumping up and down, Fang Zheng grinned.

"Let's talk, Cardinal..."