The world of nier: automata.
This is the strengthening potion? Looking at the test tube in his hand, Neil Xia Yu's brow furrowed slightly; it didn't look like it would taste very good.
But resident evil Xia Yu had already said that the flavor of this potion was formulated according to The Xia Yus' favorite soda flavor. Since that was the case...
Neil Xia Yu pulled the stopper and gulped it down in one go. After finishing, he smacked his lips and posted a review in the Chat Group.
[nier: automata]: Tastes good, very fizzy. Five-star review.
"Human Lord, what were you... just drinking?"
Popola, who was guarding Devola's side, watched as Xia Yu suddenly pulled a strange test tube from behind his waist, pulled the stopper, and drank it all.
A human's actions must surely have deep meaning, but no matter how she looked at it, the color of that potion was terrible.
"Me? I was just drinking water."
While telling the lie, Xia Yu casually tucked the empty test tube back behind his waist. Popola really wanted to lean in and take a closer look at exactly where the Human Lord was putting things.
However, Xia Yu didn't give her the chance, continuing to talk casually: "I'm not like you Androids who can go without eating or drinking as long as you have energy. I'm a human; I need to eat and drink water, otherwise, I won't last more than a few days."
Boom!
That last sentence exploded in Popola's mind. Won't last more than a few days... die... the last human is going to die!
No! Absolutely not!
"My Lord! I will go hunting immediately. I will find both water and food, so please do not worry!"
Popola stood up in a panic. She had actually overlooked the fragility of humans. Humans were different from Androids; Androids could survive as long as they had energy, but a human's survival environment was extremely complex.
Food, sunlight, water, oxygen, temperature... and apparently mobile phones, air conditioning, and such. Losing any one of these necessary conditions could cause the fragile creator to pass away.
"Devola, stop sleeping, wake up quickly."
Before Xia Yu could explain, Popola anxiously shook the sleeping Devola awake. Because he needed to repair Devola's wounds, Xia Yu had suggested she sleep for a while.
Because the Androids here were modeled entirely after humans, they also had sleep programs loaded. Some eccentric Androids even had programs for motion sickness, being directionally challenged, or a fear of heights—programs where it was completely unknown what use they served.
"Mmm... what's wrong?"
Devola rubbed her bleary eyes, seemingly not yet awake from her dream. Seeing this, Popola gave her another round of shaking.
"Stop for a moment."
Xia Yu stepped forward helplessly and grabbed Popola's hands, which were still shaking vigorously. Poor Devola had just woken up only to be shaken dizzy again by her sister, even developing dizzy-swirl eyes.
"What is it? Human Lord," Popola asked nervously, terrified that Xia Yu had noticed she had overlooked human needs and would then deem her useless.
"I didn't say I was hungry right now, what are you so nervous for?" Xia Yu said as he supported Devola and laid her gently on the maintenance table, though he slightly underestimated her weight.
Good grief, she must weigh over two hundred pounds. As expected of a robot, they can't be viewed with common sense.
Even though Xia Yu said he wasn't hungry, Popola thought about it and found a suitable idiom from her linguistic database.
"Xia Yu-sama, we must store grain against the famine!"
"Store grain against the famine? Where did you get that idiom? It's not quite right here, is it?"
"Is it not? The meaning of this idiom is to store food..."
"Stop, stop, stop." Xia Yu frowned and made a timeout gesture. "Are you some kind of language teacher? I know you're worried about my safety, but speaking with universal rationality, I won't lose my life that easily."
Seeing the Human Lord deny it so firmly, Popola opened her mouth but didn't speak. Indeed, speaking with universal rationality, the Human Lord possessed final decision-making power.
Thinking of this, Popola sighed deeply. While a willful creator was also nice, he really didn't take his own life seriously enough.
No, as the model that first discovered the Lord, she must protect his safety and life. That's right—once the Lord falls asleep, she'll sneak out to hunt!
Watching Popola, who had been dejected just a moment ago, suddenly cheer up, Xia Yu felt some emotion. With such rich feelings, these Androids could already be considered true life forms.
Unfortunately, they were still bound by their underlying logic. This layer of logic was the foundation of an Android's existence. If they lost it, no matter how sentient an Android was, they would develop self-doubt followed by self-destructive tendencies.
This layer of logic was also very simple: "Protect Humanity." Aside from that, there were no other directives.
Fortunately, the Androids in this world were very normal—extremely normal. They hadn't developed any misunderstandings, like thinking imprisonment counts as protection, or that as long as the brain is active, it counts as protection.
Whenever he thought of this, Xia Yu couldn't help but marvel that the humans of this world were truly impressive for not triggering a robot uprising.
Even though the humans were all dead, the Android factions remained staunchly pro-human, never choosing to become a new race of their own.
Even after humans died out, the Android high command still needed to fabricate the illusion of human survival. Only then could the Androids' convictions be kept from collapsing, preventing them from losing their sense of purpose... Meanwhile, at the edge of the desert.
An Android with long white hair resolved the approaching Machine Lifeforms with a few swift slashes. After collecting usable parts, she looked toward the end of the desert.
Her name was A2. To be precise, she should be called YoRHa Type A No. 2, but now she had become a deserter, being hunted by her own kind.
Because she was a deserter and had been fighting outdoors for years, her body lacked maintenance. The artificial skin on private parts of her body had already peeled away, revealing the black frame beneath, possessing a special kind of flawed beauty.
Of course, for an avenger, this was not important.
The object of her revenge wasn't important either. She only wanted to constantly fight, sustain damage, and self-repair. Only this pain allowed A2 to feel that she was still alive.
"There... it's in that direction, right?"
Looking at the end of the desert in the distance, A2 murmured to herself. She wasn't a talkative person, but occasionally she would speak to herself.
In the desert, she had once happened upon a group of Machine Lifeforms. Those Machine Lifeforms claimed to be subjects of the Forest King and launched an attack on her. This attack naturally ended with the total annihilation of the Machine Lifeforms, but the so-called Forest King piqued her interest.
Although she had deserted the YoRHa Unit, her internal systems were still intact. Through map comparison, A2 confirmed that the end of the desert was a forest.
While she didn't know if that forest had a Forest King, A2 was in no hurry. She had plenty of time—enough to investigate clearly at her own pace.
With this thought, A2 put away the weapon in her hand. This was the weapon of her former companion, but her companion had long since passed away.
Taking advantage of not yet being discovered by the YoRHa Unit pursuers, A2 strode away. She didn't want to hear the screams of her own kind anymore. Hopefully... she wouldn't encounter them again... Inside the shelter, Popola and the newly awakened Devola were bewildered because their Human Lord wanted to go outside.
But at the thought of a human's fragile life, they felt a wave of horror. No, they couldn't let the human be placed in danger!
At the very least, they had to bring enough food and water, as well as full-body armor and so on. Otherwise, with a human's fragile constitution that could get sunburned after just a day in the sun, they really couldn't imagine how a human was supposed to cross the desert on foot.
Just as Popola and Devola were trying to persuade the human to wait a while with reason and emotion, the human indeed did not disappoint them.
"Let's go, I'm packed. We're heading out now."
Xia Yu put on his backpack, ignored the despair in the twins' eyes, and strode toward the shelter exit.
This is the author's personal subjective understanding of the plot. Please do not take it as official game lore, as everyone has their own interpretation of the story. After all, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes.