Chapter 54: Repayment

"Yahweh, bring me two more plates of beef!" Xida, head bowed and face close to the porcelain plate, took large bites of grilled meat while reaching out to mumble orders at her boyfriend.

"Little lazybug only knows how to boss people around... don't you know the word 'please'?" Lucy chided Xida from the side.

"Yahweh! Hurry and fetch those two plates of beef!"

Yahweh shook his head helplessly, tapped lightly on Xida's small head as she leaned in, and walked toward the buffet area under Lucy's teasing gaze and Xida's delighted stare.

Lucy, seated opposite Xida, withdrew her gaze, finished the last piece of grilled meat on her plate, and rubbed her stomach.

"How can you eat so much?" Lucy wiped her mouth with a napkin, teasing Xida about her enormous appetite, which completely contradicted her appearance.

"Hmph... I burn a lot of energy every day, unlike some shut-in..." Xida wrinkled her nose at Lucy and made a face.

Although Lucy also exercised, as a Hacker, she was not particularly skilled in physical fitness. Her body was extremely beautiful, yet still lacked some of the finely sculpted lines.

"What are you two talking about?"

Yahweh placed two plates of beef on the table, sat down beside Xida, and asked.

"Talking about whose figure is better." Xida pouted her oily lips at her boyfriend, speaking with feigned ferocity.

Hearing this, Yahweh quickly lowered his head, silently eating the still-hot stone pot bibimbap, using the fragrant steam rising between the swirling rice grains to hide his presence, avoiding being forced into a war of words between the two girls.

January 18, 2074, 21:00

After bidding an early farewell to Mann and Dorio, Xida took Lucy and Yahweh to Downtown to eat Korean barbecue.

In the end, Xida's wish to take Lucy out to meet more friends came to nothing.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." Xida slumped in her seat, soothing her greatly expanded stomach.

"What's wrong?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion, though her hands didn't stop, placing mushrooms, potatoes, and enoki mushrooms onto the grill, which had just been updated with fresh oil paper.

"Didn't we agree I'd bring you out to meet more friends? But we only met Mann and Dorio, and I didn't see anyone else." Xida awkwardly touched her nose, smearing oil everywhere.

"Actually, I don't mind." Lucy waited for the vegetables to cook, propping her head up, quietly watching the affectionate scene of Yahweh taking a few napkins and carefully wiping the oil from Xida's hands and nose.

She paused for a moment, took a small sip of warm barley tea, and continued.

"I like being alone; too many unnecessary bonds only make me feel restricted... I long for freedom more."

"Forming bonds is inevitable; from the moment you stepped into Night City, you became bound to this city. The more people you meet here and the more experiences you have, the deeper the bonds become. This city is no longer just a few simple words on a map for you, but a memory filled with stories, a record on your soul."

Xida placed beef on the grill, leaving an appropriate distance between it and the vegetables Lucy had arranged—enough to preserve the original flavor while still allowing each to acquire the other's unique taste.

"Even if you flee to the Moon, past experiences will still follow you like a shadow, tightly binding you. One day you will return to Earth, to the starting point. Perhaps to return your soul to your homeland, or perhaps simply for a certain promise, or a certain person."

Lucy listened silently, her head turned slightly, her gaze lowered, staring blankly at the grill where the white, tender mushrooms were gradually being stained by the golden oil seeping from the beef.

"It really doesn't sound like something you would say, Xida." After a long while, Lucy slowly spoke, picking up the already cooked mushrooms with chopsticks and placing them in her bowl.

"In the past, I often thought such things." Xida spoke softly while using serving chopsticks to flip the beef.

"The past? What about now?" Lucy was very interested in Xida, whether in the past or the present.

"Now, I have Yahweh, so the problems of the past are no longer problems." As she spoke, Xida placed her small hand into Yahweh's warm shirt pocket.

"But you aren't as happy as you imagine, are you." Lucy glanced at Yahweh, who was almost burying his face in the pot, and voiced his unspoken thoughts for him.

"The only question is, how long can I stay with him?" The upward curve of Xida's eyes, usually present all day, fell as she spoke in a low voice.

"Can he leave you?" Lucy stared intently at Yahweh, trying to see his expression through the rising steam.

"He..." Perhaps considering that Lucy did not fully understand Yahweh's true identity, Xida opened and closed her mouth as if about to speak but stopped, saying nothing in the end.

"I am an AI... unlike humans with limited lifespans, an AI can achieve immortality within data. Xida is worried about this." Yahweh spoke, revealing his secret.

He did not want Xida to suffer in silence to keep so-called secrets, nor did he believe anyone would pose a threat to him after learning these things.

"AI?" Lucy gazed into Yahweh's eyes, that pure blue, shining like the sun.

Lucy's strange reaction was somewhat unexpected to Xida.

"Lucy seems to have known all along?" Xida tapped her head in frustration, feeling her hesitation just now was incredibly stupid.

"I've seen him display his power in Cyberspace..." Lucy mimicked Yahweh's manner, waving her hand at the air.

"Wow, that look is so stupid." Xida thought Lucy's imitation was spot-on; without seeing it firsthand, one could not possibly portray that essence.

But waving at thin air was still a bit too ridiculous.

"Excuse me, is there anything you need help with?" The Waitress, having seen Lucy wave, mistook it for a customer needing service, and hurried over to ask.

"Uh..." Lucy awkwardly withdrew her hand, touched her nose, and hadn't thought of how to answer.

"Please change the oil paper for us." Xida, suppressing her laughter, spoke to the Waitress.

After the Waitress turned and left, she immediately stopped holding back her laughter, covering her stomach as she laughed.

Watching Xida, who seemed no longer sad, Lucy quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Kind Xida had once silently cheered her up in various subtle ways; now was the time for repayment.

Xida is the luckiest person in the world.

Lucy looked at the silver-haired girl who had regained her composure and said to herself.

Yahweh finished the last bite of rice, silently watching the interaction between the two girls, a gentle smile lingering on his lips.