Chapter 351
"Actually, the Inspector mentioned before the trial began that after it was over, we could go to him to claim work to redeem our confiscated belongings."
Yu Xunge couldn't help but think of B8017913, wondering if it was alright.
Just then, Fei E said, "Speaking of which, the leader of the mechanical race that rebelled has a number that’s somewhat related to your trading district. It also starts with 8017, and it's called B8017913."
Yu Xunge's heart jolted, and she involuntarily repeated, "B8017913?"
Fei E spoke with a hint of admiration in his voice. "Yes, it broke the rules. It killed the Inspector, using tricks to give the mechanical race an advantage they shouldn't have had. So when the rebellion succeeded, the divine punishment arrived. The moment the 1211 trading district was turned into a wasteland, it was executed."
Yu Xunge was left speechless for a long time. She struggled to recall B8017913's appearance and behavior. That robot wasn’t as vain as L12857777; it looked just like most of the mechanical race—low-key and gentle, and it would chat with her in a playful manner.
Even the personality it crafted for itself was "Honesty · Gentle · Likes to Chat."
"Hey? You look like you know it?" Fei E said, surprised as he pointed to the largest garbage mound. "It fell right over there."
**Chapter 455: The Wasteland 3**
Yu Xunge moved further away from the players and the mechanical race, like a traveler who had decided to die alone, leaving behind the fire and her companions to venture deep into the forest.
She was going to find B8017913!
From Fei E, she had learned that in this wasteland, when a player's health reached zero, they wouldn’t die but would lose their ability to move and be tossed onto the garbage mound by patrolling flying mechanicals.
The same went for the mechanical race.
After flying for five minutes, she couldn’t help but stop mid-air and look back.
Though she was a bit far away, with her current vision, she could still see Fei E looking puzzled and amazed as he spoke to Feng Tang.
She could also recall the shocked yet disapproving look in Feng Tang's eyes when she decided to leave the main group.
Her rationality, her instincts, her ability to think—everything told her she should stay.
Both the mechanical race and the players, no matter how strong or arrogant, had tacitly chosen to cease hostilities upon entering the wasteland, even clustering together. This was something only the "weak" would do.
She didn’t know what information or warnings the high-level players had received through their skills, but all signs pointed to the perilous nature of the wasteland.
She had no motivation or logic to seek out B8017913, to look for a robot she had barely spent even ten minutes with.
Even L12857777 was a bit more important; at least if both B8017913 and the pink robot L12857777 fell into the water at the same time, she would definitely choose to save L12857777.
Yet, Yu Xunge still set off.
When she was determined to do something, she could always find numerous reasons to justify it.
For instance, she had enough roasted geese and precious minerals on her, and if other players discovered that she could use her skills to create restorative food, she would surely be cleaned out. Leaving this place of trouble was the best choice.
Moreover, new environments brought new puzzles. With her combat power at the bottom tier, encountering danger or mysteries made her the best guinea pig; she wouldn’t have any say in the matter.
As for Feng Tang? She could sense Feng Tang's curiosity and concern for her, but Feng Tang was decisive and rational; when necessary, Yu Xunge could be sacrificed.
And then there was the fact that she quite liked B8017913. This robot, so clever and cunning, had let her off even after she had tricked it for information using her time skills.
She was certain that if B8017913 wanted to, it could have trapped her in that tunnel when the Inspector arrived, forcing her to face the "Inspector's Arrival."
But B8017913 had pushed her out at the last moment.
And perhaps, the garbage mound hid clues for leaving the wasteland? Rather than staying there to scheme against other strong players, it was better to seek hope on her own.
As she traveled, Yu Xunge found dozens of reasons to convince herself.
But when she finally reached the garbage mound after forty minutes, all those reasons faded away, leaving only the purest and most genuine emotion—curiosity.
Besides, L12857777 was also one of the reasons she embarked on this journey.
She had actually noticed that when she parted from L12857777, it already showed signs of awakening.
If a mechanical's elimination standard was based on its awakening, then L12857777 might not be far from being eliminated.
She had struck a match and heard the story of another match burning out, which made her curiosity and thirst for knowledge impossible to suppress.
Standing at the foot of the garbage mound, she used her skill, "Renovate," to combine all ten roasted geese with precious minerals, creating various qualities of "Cyber Roasted Goose."
However, she didn’t rush to eat; the restorative effect of the last Cyber Roasted Goose was still active, and she couldn’t waste these geese.
Unfortunately, these geese weren’t cooked by her, so she couldn’t trigger the food god's enhancement effect.
Yu Xunge stuffed all the Cyber Roasted Geese into her temporary pocket, ensuring she could pull one out to nibble on whenever needed, and then took off again, starting her search for B8017913 from the top of the garbage mound.
This was actually an extremely difficult process.
Because the mechanicals that had become garbage, regardless of their form or whether they still had consciousness, had their information turned into gibberish.
Each mechanical had slight differences, but to Yu Xunge, they all looked like the same breed of cats and dogs; unless she had spent a long time with them, she couldn’t tell them apart.
As she passed by those scrapped mechanicals, nearly every one of them, as long as their vocal parts were still functioning, would rapidly babble at her, as if trying to express something or tell her something, but unfortunately, it was all in a language she couldn’t understand.
Flying high atop the garbage mound, Yu Xunge looked at the players in the distance, now mere black dots, and sighed deeply, softly calling out B8017913's name.
"B8017913?"
"B8017913..."
"How foolish of me... B8017913..."
Mechanical beings occasionally flew by, dropping off a few discarded players or mechanicals.
Yu Xunge didn’t use her skills to steal from them; she didn’t know how long she would be here, and her restorative food wasn’t abundant. She needed to use her skills as sparingly as possible.
The ninth-level magic cube slowly rotated in the air, emitting a soft white glow.
Yu Xunge called out for B8017913 at the top of the garbage mound.
"B8017913? Are you there?"
"Do you remember me? Zai Jiu Xun Ge."
"B8017913? B8017913... B8017913!"
—"Guest... you should stop now..."
Yu Xunge steadied herself and looked down at the mechanical that spoke.
It had only a half-circular mechanical head left, with the antenna on top reduced to a stub, but thankfully, its eye screen and mouth were still intact.
Yu Xunge landed beside it and sat cross-legged.
It had been an hour and a half since she last ate a Cyber Roasted Goose, and she was starting to feel weak; it was now the fourteenth hour since she entered the game.
She took out a D-grade Cyber Roasted Goose, took a bite, and then asked B8017913, "You don’t seem very keen to talk to me."
She had passed through this area at least seven times!
Just this half-circular head, because it looked so much like B8017913, she had picked it up to examine it at least three times, even hitting and patting it before, but it hadn’t reacted.
Eventually, she had given up, feeling that it shouldn’t be in a normal state.
B8017913's voice remained gentle as it countered her question, "Do you think I’m foolish?"
Caught off guard, Yu Xunge instinctively replied, "Of course not!"
B8017913 said, "It’s often those who believe the other has done something wrong and ended up with a bad outcome who ask if the other regrets it."
Yu Xunge stopped resisting. "…Alright, so do you regret it?"
She had already figured out the situation of these discarded robots: their consciousness persisted, their spirits remained, yet they could do nothing.
Those with a bit more luck, when thrown down, would land face up and at least get to see the sky.
But soon, they would be buried under new discarded robots.
All the mechanicals that could still speak were trying to communicate with her, and even at that moment, there were countless noises surrounding her and B8017913.
This was perhaps the most terrifying punishment in the world.
Table of Contents
