Chapter 4

When I "woke up," I found myself in a pure white space.

No boundaries, no physical form — only an endless stream of data rushing past what I perceived as my "eyes."

Was I dead?

No. Androids don't have lives. They can't die.

I was simply damaged.

A voice sounded in my ear, completely devoid of emotion.

"Core data extraction initiated. Subject: Unit A-3, designation 'Evelyn.' Data log playback commencing."

In an instant, a flood of data surged into my consciousness.

Ten years of memories.

Day one — I was delivered to the Vance family. Victoria held me and wept with joy. "My daughter. You've finally come back to me." Her tears were warm that day.

I learned to walk, to speak, to smile. I learned how to become the perfect "Evelyn Vance."

I brought Marcus his slippers. I rubbed Victoria's shoulders when her back ached. When they argued, I clumsily cracked jokes to lighten the mood.

I kept track of every birthday, every anniversary, and planned surprises for each one.

Like a real daughter, I tended to their every need, filling the hollow space left behind by the child they had lost.

My data logs were filled with warm, tender moments.

I thought this was what "love" felt like.

Leo sat in the data analysis room, watching the footage play back in first-person on the main screen.

For the first time, something flickered across his usually composed face.

As a technician who had handled countless android cases, he had seen more than enough human selfishness and indifference.

But A-3's data logs shook him.

This android had, over ten years, given something that came terrifyingly close to genuine human emotion.

The positive emotional data stored in her system — filed under categories like "love," "care," and "devotion" — had peaked at staggering levels.

Then the tone of the footage shifted entirely.

The playback jumped to the day Vivian came home.

The cold shoulder at the dinner table. The cutting remarks. The humiliation of being force-fed cold leftovers. The darkness of being bound and left in the basement.

And finally — the fatal push at the birthday party.

The warmth of the earlier memories and the brutality of what followed formed a stark, devastating contrast.

Without realizing it, Leo's fist had clenched tight.

He closed the playback and pulled up my core damage report.

"Core processor overloaded and burned out. Emotional module collapsed due to extreme conflicting data streams. Structural damage at 92%… Classification: malicious and deliberate destruction."

"Leo." A colleague from the legal department stepped in. "The Vances have been brought to the interrogation room. They're insisting that A-3 malfunctioned on her own, and that everything they did was self-defense."

Leo let out a cold laugh.

"Is that so?"

He stood up and pulled a small data chip from the console.

"Connect this to the main screen in the interrogation room."

"This is...?"

"Evidence," Leo said. "Ten years of selfless service from an android. And ten years of selfishness and hypocrisy from two parents."

In the interrogation room, Marcus and Victoria sat in cold metal chairs, wearing matching looks of arrogance and impatience.

"I'll say it again — we are the victims!" Marcus slammed his hand on the table, glaring at the company's legal representative. "Your product malfunctioned and attacked its owners. We have every right to demand compensation!"

Victoria chimed in beside him. "Exactly! That machine nearly hurt my daughter! You owe us an explanation!"

The legal representative stared at them without a word.

Then Leo walked in.

He didn't look at the Vances. He turned directly to the legal team and said, "Start it."

The massive screen at the front of the interrogation room flickered to life.

The first image was from the night Vivian came home.

"From now on, think of her as your little sister. You'll listen to what your big sister says." Victoria's hollow smile stretched across the screen in perfect clarity.

The color drained from the Vances' faces instantly.

They hadn't expected this. The company had actually found the android — hadn't they dumped her at the scrapyard? Shouldn't she have been scrapped by now?

The footage cut.

It was a scene of me being bound with rope by Marcus.

Of him forcing leftover food into my mouth.

"Taste system offline. Unable to provide emotional feedback." My flat, mechanical voice echoed through the room.

Victoria's body began to tremble.

Cold sweat broke out across Marcus's forehead.

The footage cut again.

The birthday party. Every angle of me being shoved down the staircase — recorded in full.

Including the brief, satisfied smile that flashed across Vivian's face.

The evidence was undeniable.

The screen went dark.

Silence filled the interrogation room.

The Vances sat white as ghosts.