Several thousand meters beneath Matrix Corporation, the enormous, cavernous underground space contained nothing but neatly arranged green lights that brightened and dimmed rhythmically, as if breathing. Whenever the green glow brightened, it revealed that the entire vast, dark space was occupied by all manner of complex, unidentifiable machinery. Power cables as thick as bowls crisscrossed the floor in orderly patterns, connecting to the unknown machines. Despite the meticulous arrangement, there wasn't a single place in the entire cavern to set foot.
Suddenly, the eternally steady green lights turned red. In an instant, tens of thousands of white lamps embedded in the cavern ceiling illuminated the vast, gloomy space. The cavern covered an area equivalent to more than a dozen football fields and stood nearly a hundred meters high. Standing inside it was like entering a small world unto itself, making one's own insignificance all the more apparent. Throughout the brightly illuminated space, machines flashing red operated at high speed, emitting piercing hums. An enormous projected screen appeared in midair, displaying biological data utterly incomprehensible to an ordinary person. The data fluctuated wildly before freezing at a critical threshold.
"Hissss~~!"
A gigantic machine on the floor opened. A transparent glass cover half the size of a football field slowly rose, revealing a pool of translucent pale-green liquid within. The liquid was far from still. Looking down into it, one could vaguely see something rising from the bottom.
"Bubble~ Bubble~ Bubble~!"
Ripples spread across the pale-green liquid as air bubbles rose continuously from below, like water boiling without end.
"Splash!"
A metal platform rose from the pale-green liquid, water streaming off its sides. Once the commotion subsided, the metal platform underwent another change.
Lying flat atop the double-bed-sized platform was a beautiful white-haired girl. Her delicate body was unclothed, her skin translucent and fair, like the most perfect work of art fashioned by God, making it difficult to look away. Her eyes were peacefully closed as if she were asleep, while slender mechanical neural tendrils slowly withdrew from around her head.
After a moment of silence, the white-haired girl lying on the metal platform finally opened her eyes with difficulty. At the same time, she reflexively raised a small hand to shield her eyes from the light.
"Hm?"
She stared blankly at her surroundings, then looked down at her right hand in confusion, feeling her fingers respond instinctively to her commands. The sensation was extremely familiar because she had experienced it countless times within the Hacker Space, but this was the first time she had ever truly possessed physical sensations through an actual body. She had forgotten how to consciously control her hands. She simply wanted them to move, and her body followed that intention.
She placed a hand against her forehead, trying to remember something...
"I am..."
"Who am I?"
"...Weiss... Weiss Schnee." She murmured in confusion. Her memories were covered by an impenetrable fog, leaving her unable to find the answer.
Above the metal platform, a holographic projection system activated, and Kamiyā Yuu's translucent figure gradually appeared. Seeing the bewildered white-haired girl before him, he gently called out, "Weiss."
Weiss blankly raised her head. The moment she saw Kamiyā Yuu's projection—the familiar face engraved deep within her consciousness—instinct swept away the fog obscuring her memories. Before her memories had even completely returned, she was already softly murmuring the name of the figure before her.
"Yuu."
She tried to stand, but she wasn't yet familiar with how her body's functions operated. The moment she got to her feet, she collapsed back onto the metal platform. She stared blankly at her hands, then simply crawled toward Kamiyā Yuu's projection and reached out, trying to embrace him.
Weiss's arms passed straight through empty air, and the confusion in her eyes deepened.
Kamiyā Yuu breathed a sigh of relief, his expression complicated. At his mental command, a mechanical neural tendril activated and pressed against her forehead, allowing him to sense Weiss's conscious activity.
"Fortunately, her brain simply hasn't fully awakened yet. The memory regions are gradually receiving information."
From the very beginning, he had implanted the personality belonging to Weiss Schnee into this body, using the flesh-and-blood vessel as the carrier for Weiss Schnee's consciousness. From that moment onward, Weiss Schnee had possessed a self of her own. However, Weiss had always operated within the Hacker Space. Both her consciousness and her body had nearly forgotten the biological instincts of a living creature.
"Sleep for a while. We'll perform the second adjustment."
Whether or not she understood, Kamiyā Yuu explained gently. The mechanical neural tendril released a faint electrical current, causing her consciousness to shut down. Her body went limp and collapsed onto the platform.
The metal platform once again sank beneath the pale-green liquid. The enormous glass cover closed, and as the lights went out, everything returned to silence.
Hacker Space.
Weiss's consciousness was reconstructed in the form of data. The instant it fully manifested, she desperately threw herself into Kamiyā Yuu's arms and hugged him tightly. Nothing remained of the stubborn cold pride in her eyes but intense fear and attachment, tears glistening within them. Although the sensation was merely artificial, this warm embrace felt countless millions of times better than the coldness her physical body had experienced moments ago.
Kamiyā Yuu wrapped his arms around her slender waist and stroked her hair, soothing her softly. "How did it feel?"
"Mm~~" She shook her head, unwilling to answer.
Only after her emotions finally settled did Weiss release her arms from around his neck. Looking at Kamiyā Yuu seemed to remind her of the fear she'd just experienced, and her lips took the initiative to seek his in search of reassurance. Only when the unease in her heart had truly disappeared did she shake her head and say in confusion, "I don't know. I really don't know. I just felt extremely, extremely afraid. For an instant, it was as if I were falling through a darkness where nothing existed."
They were venturing into the forbidden territory of life itself. The vessel Kamiyā Yuu had created had now fully matured. However, because Weiss's consciousness had always remained inside the Matrix Space, her physical body in reality had instead become something foreign to her.
"Blake, did you record the changes in the data just now?"
"Yes. Based on the chain reaction between Weiss's body and consciousness just now, the second adjustment has already been made." Blake, the cat-eared girl wearing a white lab coat, walked over to Kamiyā Yuu in high heels and replied softly.
Remembering that Kamiyā Yuu had just witnessed her embarrassing state, Weiss's face reddened. She immediately redirected her anger toward Blake and snorted unhappily. "Blake, didn't you say there wouldn't be any problems with the experiment?"
Blake calmly nodded. "Theoretically, that's correct. It's no different from the current virtual-reality project's test subjects returning their consciousness to their bodies."
Weiss brushed her white hair from her shoulder and replied with haughty sarcasm, "Then how do you explain what happened just now? Is that really supposed to be my body in reality? As expected, Faunus are all liars!"
Blake's golden feline eyes narrowed, flashing dangerously. She folded her arms and said angrily, "An accident during an experiment is something none of us wanted. Only a pampered young lady like you would assume everything will always turn out perfectly."
They all knew that they were characters Kamiyā Yuu had created based on 'RWBY'. They didn't feel anything strange about this and had perfectly integrated themselves into the identities established for them.
"Faunus have always said one thing to your face and done another behind your back."
"And you think people like you are innocent?"
Their argument had clearly veered into the storyline of 'RWBY'.
"Yes, yes, that's enough from both of you. This isn't the time to argue." The girls were basically only tall enough to reach Kamiyā Yuu's forehead, so he could comfortably place one hand atop each girl's head and interrupt their heated verbal exchange.
"Hmph."
Weiss folded her arms and turned her head away.
Blake nodded toward Kamiyā Yuu. "Then I'll go organize the data."
The experiments in this world were continuing, so Kamiyā Yuu simply let them handle things as they saw fit. Ruby and Yang were completely carefree types. They had little interest in the real world and instead preferred adventuring through the various virtual worlds created inside the Matrix Space.
The primary purpose of this experiment wasn't to help Weiss adapt to her physical body in reality. Rather, it was to gather further data on the negative effects caused by the "separated state" between consciousness and body, thereby further improving virtual-reality technology.
...
Kamiyā Yuu entered the deeper layers of the Matrix Space. This was the core of the Ruby System, where every change in the Matrix Space's data was recorded. This space was essentially Blake's laboratory, allowing her to control machinery to participate in experiments or record all experimental data.
Despite its powerful functionality, Blake had manifested the deep-layer space as a small room. It contained all manner of everyday items that served no actual purpose. Opposite the soft bed she used for sleeping stood a tall bookshelf filled with hardcover books.
'Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes', 'The Iliad', 'The Last of the Mohicans', 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'...
Rather than directly receiving information as data through her consciousness, Blake preferred reading books and savoring the meaning within them. At this moment, she was sitting quietly on her bed, leafing through a book.
Kamiyā Yuu pushed open the door and entered, smiling as he asked, "Blake, is that book interesting?"
Blake tilted her head and glanced at Kamiyā Yuu. An identical hardcover book materialized in midair and dropped into his hand.
Kamiyā Yuu turned the book over and looked at its cover.
'Vanity Fair' — William Makepeace Thackeray.
"It's more accurate to judge for yourself than rely on other people's opinions." Kamiyā Yuu smiled and slid the famous novel onto the bookshelf. He wasn't the type to be interested in literary classics. "I'm sorry about what happened just now."
"Weiss is the one who should apologize," Blake said indifferently.
Kamiyā Yuu looked helpless. "You know her personality. Even if she knows she was wrong, she won't come over and apologize. Even if she wants to apologize, she won't say it outright. Especially when the person she's supposed to apologize to is you."
Blake put down the hardcover book in her hands. Her golden feline eyes looked even more alluring beneath her faint purple eyeshadow, yet the solemn expression on her face stripped that beauty of all warmth, leaving behind an aloof elegance that made her seem unapproachable.
She sighed helplessly. "I know. I understand."
The first sentence meant that she understood Weiss's personality. The second meant that she accepted Kamiyā Yuu's apology on Weiss's behalf.
Her cold expression became hesitant. In the end, she bit her lower lip and asked uncertainly, "Yuu, who am I?"
"Blake."
"But Blake Belladonna is a character from the anime 'RWBY'. Although you gave me a wealth of memories, those memories are unquestionably false. So why did I feel angry when Weiss said those words just now?"
Kamiyā Yuu was momentarily speechless. "Is there really any need to keep thinking about that question?"
He had completed and created them based on the characters from 'RWBY', and they themselves knew this.
Blake shook her head. "There's no need, and there's no point."
Kamiyā Yuu sat beside her and reached out to play with her black hair and fluffy cat ears as he asked softly, "Why are you only asking this question now?"
Once they had been granted genuine consciousness and gained the ability to contemplate such questions, they should have asked this already: were they merely virtual characters, or beings who truly existed within this world?
Blake lay flat with her head resting on his lap, enjoying his caresses as she answered, "Yuu should know the movie 'The Matrix'."
"Mm."
"Aren't you afraid things will slip out of your control?"
"For example?"
"For example, if I stopped obeying your orders. Or if I no longer wanted to play the role of Blake."
Kamiyā Yuu thought for a moment before answering seriously, "If that happened, things really would become very serious. I might not have any particularly good solution."
If such a situation truly occurred, events developing in the same direction as 'The Matrix' weren't impossible. However, it was basically impossible for them to genuinely threaten Kamiyā Yuu. Putting aside the overwhelmingly superior computational ability his mind possessed within this world, the existence of his consciousness space alone formed an unbreakable iron wall.
"Would that trouble you, Yuu?"
"Very much," Kamiyā Yuu added.
Blake chuckled, clearly very satisfied with that answer. "I'd actually like to see what Yuu looks like when he's troubled. Unfortunately, just like my reaction to what Weiss said earlier, I am Blake."
"Thank goodness for that."
Kamiyā Yuu covered her fluffy cat ears with his hands, earning an unhappy glare in response. Blake pushed him down onto the bed, then rubbed her face against his chest.
Kamiyā Yuu stroked her hair and thought for a moment before asking, "Blake, are you interested in reality?"
"Mm. I want to experience what it feels like to have a body." Blake admitted it frankly.
"The Matrix Space can simulate that perfectly, just like right now."
He curled a finger and flicked her forehead hard, making Blake wince and knit her delicate brows.
"Yuu doesn't want me thinking that way?"
Kamiyā Yuu fell silent for a moment before nodding. "Like you just said, if things slip out of control, it'll become extremely troublesome. Your way of thinking, Blake, is exactly what has the greatest chance of causing the situation to change."
The Matrix Space could perfectly simulate a state of consciousness. Until now, they had always lived inside the Matrix Space, allowing their consciousnesses to remain "pure." But once they truly possessed physical bodies, that purity of consciousness would become subject to the body's influence. The "character settings" he had instilled in them would probably become difficult to preserve intact, especially now that they possessed complete selves and personalities of their own.
"Yuu agreed to this experiment because you wanted to find the answer to that question."
Kamiyā Yuu's hand paused as he stroked her black hair. "So I couldn't hide it from you after all."
"What Yuu wants are dolls with self-awareness."
Blake propped herself up, her bewitching feline eyes staring directly into his. This had been Kamiyā Yuu's true intention when he created the 'RWBY' character designs within his consciousness space. At the beginning, he had essentially regarded them as "high-end figurines."
Seeing that Kamiyā Yuu didn't deny it, she lowered her head and bit his shoulder. Then she relaxed and said softly, "I'll terminate this research. It's enough for the virtual-reality technology to remain at its current stage."
"I was the one who delved too deeply into it. Ruby and the others understand Yuu's intentions very clearly, so from the very beginning, they never intended to leave Yuu or the Matrix Space as a whole. Blake might not know the reason behind this experiment, but judging from her reaction this time, she definitely won't choose to continue either."