4. Collision Accident
I wandered the city streets for what felt like an eternity—a whole minute—but not a single memory returned.
Before leaving the house, I had felt fragments of memory resurface, even if only faintly.
So, I had hoped that strolling through the city would spark something, anything. But it was as if I'd thrown that minute into a ditch, with no收获 whatsoever.
My growing frustration gradually turned into restlessness, and then, faintly but surely, swelled into fear.
So, I had no choice but to quicken my pace.
I sped up, broke into a run, and before I knew it, I was sprinting at full speed.
In this humid city, runners were a rare sight. Naturally, I stood out immediately.
And it wasn't just running—it was a full-on sprint.
Within three seconds, every humanoid robot in the vicinity turned their gaze toward me.
Overwhelmed with embarrassment, I averted my eyes downward to avoid meeting anyone's stare. For psychological stability, I wanted to look up, but the sky was filled with a dazzling parade of fireworks shaped like deep-sea creatures and freshwater fish. So, I had no choice but to keep my eyes on the ground.
Running like this, without looking ahead at all—
—suddenly, my body floated.
It floated.
It was as if the humidity in the air had compressed in an instant, trapping me in a fishing port filled with water, my body buoyed by an underwater-like sensation of weightlessness.
Still airborne, my back arched like a bow, and in 0.000001 seconds, I quickly assessed the situation.
Shifting my perspective slightly, my visual sensors caught sight of a taxi.
Then, my eyes met those of a girl in the driver's seat.
Her face was frozen in shock.
She was likely even more panicked than I was, her eyes wide open as if her CPU had crashed, staring at me intensely.
I understood the situation.
I had been hit by the taxi.
There were no passengers in the vehicle.
Only the driver—a girl who appeared to be programmed as about 16 years old—filled the cab with her transparent expression of despair.
And then, my consciousness blacked out—
But it quickly rebooted.
I managed to restart my visual sensors.
Before my camera, a chaotic glitch-like scene played out—random stars scattered as if in the aftermath of the Big Bang—swirling noise flooded my retinal lenses, leaving my vision unsteady.
Still, my model proved its excellence. In less than 0.0001 seconds, the debugging process completed, and my vision returned to normal.
My other sensory systems followed suit, restoring the colors of sound, the scent of the tropical night, and the clamor of the city that began to soothe my tongue. I was fully operational again.
"Are you okay?!"
A frantic, near-screaming voice washed over my fallen body.
Lying on the ground, I looked around and saw that a crowd of humanoid robots—15 times larger than when I was sprinting—had gathered, turning me into a spectacle. I felt like a star that had fallen from the sky.
I tried to move, but while my CPU had fully recovered, my hardware hadn't caught up, making it impossible to even sit up.
Then, from right beside me, a lifeline—no, a helping hand—was extended.
"I'm so sorry…"
The same girl's voice echoed again. With her help, I managed to sit up.
Looking to my side, I finally saw her face clearly.
Her voice, her face, her remorseful, teary expression—all seemed to glisten even more vividly in the city's humidity.
"Was it you?" I asked. "The one who hit me?"
"Yes," her voice came back. "I'm so, so, so sorry…"
It felt like she might apologize forever, so to save time, I raised my hand to stop her.
"It's okay."
I told her the truth.
While listening to her apologies, my hardware had finished repairing itself.
I had burned through 20% of my battery, but fortunately, the damage wasn't severe. My hardware seemed quite durable. This wasn't a memory—it was something I learned through this experience.
Maybe from now on, instead of waiting for lost memories to return, I'd have to learn and build new ones. This accident taught me that much.
"Thank you."
So, I couldn't help but express gratitude to her.
I ended up thanking the driver who hit me.
As expected, her eyes widened in shock.
"…Huh?"
She looked even more flustered.
I had to explain.
"No, I mean, thanks to you, I'm fully awake now. My consciousness was half-trapped in a dream, clinging to the past. I was obsessing over lost memories when there's nothing I can do about them."
Instead, this was a chance to build new memories, yet I'd been fixated on the past.
It was time to stop the futile struggle to reclaim lost memories.
"That's bad," she said, apparently misinterpreting my words, a tinge of worry in her eyes.
"Your memories… are they gone?"
"No, it's not because of the crash…"
But before I could explain, her panicked voice cut me off.
"The hospital! We need to get you to a hospital!"
"Look, I'm—"
Before I could say I was fine, she forcibly pulled me up and made me stand. Despite having no extraordinary strength, I couldn't resist her. I stood as she lifted me and was dragged along as she led me.
Question marks bloomed wildly in my CPU.
Why?
Why couldn't I resist?
I didn't even have the chance to voice these questions.
Was it the lingering aftermath of the crash? No, upon analysis, both my body and CPU were fully restored. Aside from the pre-existing memory chip damage, there shouldn't be any issues.
Yet, I couldn't resist.
Upon further analysis, I noticed something astonishing.
The sensors in my actuators were rejoicing at her proximity.
I could feel that joyful voltage coursing through my entire body.
And so, as if manipulated, I wore a dazed expression and was forcibly seated in the back of her taxi, which had one headlight crushed from the collision.
She climbed into the driver's seat, the engine roared to life, and the car soon started moving.