She Is Not Human

Chapter 2

A dusty-looking guy stood in the doorway with his long shadow stretching over her.

"Maya?”

His voice was deep and magnetic but sounded confused—he probably didn't expect Maya to bounce back so fast.

At least according to Grandpa Jock's message, Maya had been seriously hurt and close to death.

Hearing that familiar voice made her look up—and there he was—a guy who checked all her boxes.

He wore a black trench coat draped over his tall muscular frame that showed off his sharp features perfectly.

He looked about twenty-five or twenty-six years old with pale skin, but had nearly perfect facial contours. His black hair fell over his eyelids; those dark eyes peeking out from under his hair held an emotion she just couldn't figure out.

Seeing Maya staring at him in shock, he didn't seem to care.

He had gotten used to her indifference a long time ago. Over the years, the bond she once felt as a child had faded away, and now they barely had anything to say to each other. This wasn't something that happened overnight.

But hey, she was still alive, and that was a good thing. When he heard the news that she was dying, it really made him angry this time. Just because he wasn't in City 9 anymore didn't mean he'd vanished from existence!

He walked right past Maya without giving her another look and asked Grandpa Jock, "Can I still use my room?"

"Of course!" Grandpa Jock replied with surprise. "Max! When did you get back?"

"Just arrived…" Before he could finish his sentence, he felt her arms wrap tightly around his waist. He turned around and saw Maya hugging him close; their bodies pressed together. Even through their clothes, he could smell her faint fragrance and feel how soft she was.

He had imagined all sorts of scenarios—maybe she'd cry or avoid him completely or even brush him off with some cold words.

After all, their few video calls over the years always ended up feeling pretty awkward.

But Max never expected that when he came back home, she'd greet him with a hug.

When did she start wanting to be close like this?

Grandpa Jock looked like he had a lot on his mind, while Max wore a more serious expression.

Maya had always held a grudge against him.

She wouldn't even give him a hug or talk to him. But now, she was so scared that she went to him for comfort all by herself.

Max could only imagine how much she'd been through and how shocked she must have felt.

Trying to keep his anger in check, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and spoke softly, "It's okay now. Your brother is back."

But the girl in front of him seemed lost in her own world.

Without thinking, she reached out to wrap her arms around Max's waist as if trying to lift him up—something she'd do without hesitation back in the mechanical space where it felt completely normal for her.

Unfortunately, things were different here.

Max stood there like an immovable rock, which made Maya feel pretty frustrated.

Human bodies really are weak! She couldn't even budge this guy who weighed over a hundred pounds!

Her bright blue eyes lit up with determination as she tried to summon every bit of strength she had left.

Then... disaster struck.

"Watch out, Maya!" Grandpa Jock shouted.

Blood splattered onto Max's cheek just before Maya caught sight of his shocked face covered in red before everything started going blurry around her; muffled shouts echoed faintly in her ears.

How could she forget?

This was human territory—no endless supply of light energy like back in the mechanical space!

The energy in the human space was really low.

She had nearly used up all her strength just to get here.

How could she possibly have enough left to boost her body? Plus, this girl's body was just an ordinary one—super weak, to be honest.

Because she didn't have enough energy, if she tried too hard, it might actually make her explode from the inside because of the crazy power of that mechanical controller.

She thought about how habits can really mess things up.

A bunch of voices kept echoing in her head: "Gurgle! Energy warning!" "Internal damage warning!"

For a full ten hours, Max hadn't slept at all after rushing home.

He did everything he could to save her. After giving her the last dose of medicine through an injection, he stared at her calm sleeping face and gently brushed back her hair, which was drenched with cold sweat.

Every little move felt like handling something super fragile.

Seeing all that blood made him feel sick to his stomach. He held onto her hand and closed his eyes for a moment in silence; his serious face showed just how tired he really was.

He'd been awake for three days straight after racing back from City 25 to City 9, and now he'd been on edge for ten hours straight worrying about what might happen next.

When he finally stopped moving, both his body and mind were completely worn out.

His silhouette stretched out against the dim light behind him as he sat there quietly for a long time with a seriousness he'd never shown before.

Finally, as if making some kind of decision, he suddenly stood up, looked deeply at Maya one last time, and walked out the door.

Maya lay quietly on the soft bed with her eyes shut tight; she looked so peaceful.

But only she knew what was going on inside her body—a drop of silver liquid metal flowed around in her brain while thin metal wires—way thinner than hair—spread out along with the blood into every part of herself.

Suddenly, fine needles that looked like cow hairs shot out from the metal wires and perfectly poked into the spots where her body's energy pathways met. At that moment, she felt life energy start to flow towards her brain like a little stream joining a big river.

Now in control of her body, Maya finally opened her eyes and sat up.

As an entity with machine consciousness, she had this tiny carrier.

For her, that drop of liquid metal brought from mechanical space was what made it all work.

This carrier not only pretended to be nerves and connected closely to her body's nervous system to help control everything, but also played its part in gathering and transforming energy. It made her body super sensitive.

Her vision and hearing were three times sharper than before.

She could spot tiny things a hundred meters away and hear all sorts of sounds within two hundred meters.

So at this moment, she also caught the conversation between Grandpa Jock and Max upstairs.

"Are you really not leaving this time?" Grandpa Jock asked.

"I'm staying."

"If you're worried about Maya..."

"Grandpa Jock," Max cut him off, "No matter how much we dig around, we still don't have any leads. The enemy is hiding while we're out in the open. Maya stands out way too much right now. Ever since she was born, those mechanical cops have never stopped looking for her. I need to keep an eye on her; otherwise, it'll be too late if someone comes after her."

"Ah man, she's acting a bit weird today. I'm just worried when she wakes up she'll still be mad at you." I've been watching over this kid for years—she's got a good heart; she just acted impulsively because of revenge," Grandpa Jock sighed.

Max sounded pretty frustrated: "Even if she's resistant about it, I have to stick around. I'm just scared someone might already know where she is."

Everyone who's been around in this human space for ages knows that the only way to get out is through that huge black metal door behind all those crazy lightning curtains.

The strong current buzzing around that door shows just how impossible it is for anything like that to exist inside our little human world.

But then, something like that current hit Maya. In Max's sharp mind, he figured someone was trying to mimic that energy to sneakily go after her.

Who else would care about an orphan hanging out in a small clinic besides those sneaky folks chasing them?

"Yeah, you're right. Better safe than sorry. It's tough for anyone these days," Grandpa Jock sighed deeply, thinking back to the master who had trusted him with the siblings and all those memories from long ago. A hundred years can fly by in no time at all—what's it matter if you give everything for people you love?

"I'll be back soon after I take care of some stuff over the next few days. I can't let her leave this clinic again."

When Max said this, Maya felt an urge to run after him.

It was her first time losing track of a research subject she thought she had under control.

But as soon as she got out of bed and tried to stand up, she just collapsed face-first onto the floor—almost smashing her delicate nose!

The problem was, now that her body was messed up, she didn't have any extra energy left to fix it; she could barely even stand.

"Ugh, humans are such a hassle," she grumbled quietly.

Lying there face down like that, Maya's pores started extending thin metal wires one by one... countless wires twisted together and lifted her back onto the bed.

When Grandpa Jock came over to check on her, those metal wires disappeared like they were never there at all.

Max still hadn't come back. It was five days later that Maya finally felt like she could stand up again. During this time, Grandpa Jock kept noticing that household appliances were losing power and going into a weird frozen state for no reason, but he had no clue why.

A lot of people showed up during this period, with journalists being the most common visitors.

They wanted to interview the girl who became famous overnight.

After all, there were plenty of shady activities happening in City 9. It wasn't unusual for powerful guys to throw parties and find places to have a good time.

But what was strange was that Maya not only managed to escape from such a scene but also alerted the machine police.

Did the machine police even deal with stuff like this?

They seemed more focused on squashing human uprisings, trying to break free from this place.

Plus, considering who those men were, it would've been easy for them to retaliate against where Maya was staying, yet instead, it turned out that those party-goers got mysteriously attacked by unknown assailants.

Many people began to sense something was amiss about all of this.

This little spot had some serious connections behind it.

Who were these people inside?

And what exactly was Maya's story?

These were questions everyone wanted answers to.

Of course, Grandpa Jock sent them all packing.

He didn't really have much power over them, but maybe he just didn't want any trouble brewing.

Anyone thinking about investigating had to remember what happened to those guys at the party and thought it better not to confront this stubborn old man directly.

Time went on as these relentless investigations continued alongside Grandpa Jock's daily medical check-ups.