The machine countered instantly, striking back with a punch as swift as a lightning bolt. Yet, his speed meant nothing to the lady's glowing purple eye. Preemptively calculating his trajectory with flawless precision, she ducked the blow. Rose was caught off guard as her heavy staff slammed into his chest, the impact hurling him violently against the brick wall. In a flash, she pinned him, pressing her baton firmly against his throat.
"You're interesting," her familiar voice murmured right into his audio receptors. "But you still have a hell of a lot to learn, just like Eve said."
"Miss Feng... what are you doing here?"
"Just taking a walk, same as you. Only difference is, I'm fully aware of my surroundings. Good close-quarters form, I'll give you that. You just haven't learned how to actually use it yet."
"How long have you been tracking me?"
"Since the very beginning, neheheh. Hawk eyes; they see through everything. Oh!" Feng tilted her head, peering down at the groaning thugs. "Sorry about the rough handling, boys! Just a quick twist of the waist and your bones should snap right back into place, nahaha!" She laughed, her tone dripping with biting sarcasm.
"Come on, Rosey. Let me show you one of the wonders of the world."
Feng grabbed Rose's shoulder, effortlessly vaulting over the battered bodies of the thugs. She led him up to the highest vantage point on the roof, where the sprawling view opened up completely before them, beneath a rain that was finally beginning to taper off. Feng sat herself down on an exhaust unit, pulling a white cigarette from her pocket and placing it between her lips. Rose tilted his gaze upward, studying the jagged, ruined silhouette of a hollowed-out skyscraper.
"Yueguang City~" Feng spoke up. "They blew the bridges and locked down the island five years ago. Completely abandoned it. Now it's just a breeding ground for syndicates and criminals from every corner of the globe. You need to be a lot more careful around here, you know?"
"If conditions are so dire, why do you choose to remain in this place?"
"I was born here. If the outside world refuses to reach out and help this city, then I'll be the hand that saves it—even if I can't do much. At the very least, I just want to see a small spark of change. Most of those corporate fat cats don't give a damn about saving this place. It's profit they're after. Nothing else."
"Because humanity is fundamentally driven by vice. No matter how tightly they try to suppress it, it will inevitably manifest. Miss Eva taught me this..."
"You are a remarkably weird robot, you know that? Asking questions, possessing actual intellect." Feng reached out, instinctively offering him the cigarette in her hand. Then she blinked.
"Oh, right! No lungs."
"I am incapable of metabolic functions. That substance introduces toxins into your system. What is your rationale for consuming it?"
Rose's literalism brought a faint, amused smile to Feng's lips. "Hmhmm. You wouldn't understand."
"...." Rose fell silent for a moment before offering his analysis. "Humans are erratic creatures."
His cold, clinical delivery made the young woman burst into a genuine laugh.
"Nee-hee-hee! You're actually fun to talk to. I'm really starting to like you."
As she spoke, Rose tilted his blood-stained face toward her. Feng reached out, her soft, slender fingers gently wiping the crimson streaks away from his synthetic skin. "There. Much better." She closed her eyes, offering the machine a warm, vibrant smile. "Sorry, pin you too hard."
"I hold no grievance regarding that matter. However... do you harbor hatred toward me, as those men did?"
Feng didn't answer his question. Instead, she sat in absolute silence, staring up into the bleak, choked sky, before letting her head rest gently against the machine's shoulder.
"And what reason would I have to hate you? Frankly, even among humans, some lives are lived so far down in the gutter that they pale in comparison to you. You should be proud to have been born this way. A monk taught me that when I was just a little girl. But faith... faith is a dead concept in this city now. It runs entirely on primal human instinct. The temples were burned to the ground. And what those bastards did to my master..."
Snap. Her teeth bit the cigarette clean in half.
"They dragged his lifeless body through the dirt streets behind a car. The mob... they forced my eyes open, making me watch every single second of it..."
"And then?" Rose prompted softly.
"Eva... she dropped from the sky and pulled me out of that hell. She painted the pavement with their blood, splashing it right across my face every time she moved her hands. I swore a sacred vow to my master that I would never take a human life, and I have kept that promise to this day. Unlike Eve, who is somewhat..."
"Antithesis," the machine finished for her.
"From this moment on, Rose, you're going to have to choose which philosophy you align yourself with. Mine... or Eve's. You're going to learn what it means to make the executive decision to become an angel... or a demon."
"This rain... at what point will it cease?" Rose asked, posing his final question into the cold air.
The answer that drifted from Feng's lips was quiet, almost a whisper. "It never stops... never... Come on, let's get home, Rose."