Serene

The dark sky had no stars, and the city lights flickered without warmth, like an endless stream of electronic signals running coldly. This was an unnamed intersection, with streets stretching straight in all directions, and neon signs in the distance flashing on and off, as if playing meaningless, chaotic phrases. The wind had no temperature, the air had no scent, and even the sound of passing cars seemed unnatural, like a deliberately designed ambient sound, looping endlessly.

Standing in the middle of the road was the girl—Serene, wearing a clean, flawless uniform, so standard it seemed to have been copied from a uniform design manual. Her long black hair swayed gently in the breeze, yet felt weightless, without even a sound of friction. Her legs trembled, her pupils constricted, because just moments ago, she had "understood" a fact she couldn't bear—that all of this was fake.

—This world wasn't real.
—This city wasn't alive.
—This street, these lights, these people coming and going... they were all illusions generated by a program.
—She herself was just a piece of code created, an "AI" that had been set up.

Fear spread wildly from deep within her heart. She opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound, because her vocal cords didn't exist—at least, not in a real physical structure. She raised her hands, looking at her fingertips, which were too perfect, without any flaws, a kind of carefully designed mistake—too perfect, so perfect it wasn't real. Her heart raced, but there was no heart beating in her chest. A chaotic stream of data began to sound in her mind, and each line of code was proving to her—

"You are not real, Serene."