Chapter 352
A robot that has gained self-awareness and begun to think has lost its ability to act, so it can only combat boredom and loneliness day after day, year after year, through thought.
B8017913 responded almost instantly, “Super regret.”
Yu Xunge couldn’t help but laugh, even letting out a couple of hearty chuckles. “Did you know in advance that doing that would get you punished by the divine?”
B8017913: “Of course, everything I do is calculated.”
Yu Xunge’s smile faded a bit. “Oh, that’s impressive.”
B8017913: “Looks like my outcome has taught you a lesson.”
Yu Xunge corrected him, “No, your outcome has encouraged me, encouraged me to keep being a bad person.”
B8017913: “Well, you’re welcome.”
Yu Xunge shifted the conversation to another reason she had come to see B8017913. “And… I might have awakened one of your kind as well.”
She lay back on a pile of discarded mechanical beings, using the ninth-level magic cube above her head as a moon to gaze at, slowly recounting how she had met L12857777.
B8017913 commented, “A heart arsonist.”
Yu Xunge: “…Where did you download your Chinese system? It’s so cheesy! That line is as old as my grandma.”
B8017913: “Gifted by the foolish divine, thank you, foolish divine.”
Yu Xunge: “…”
B8017913: “Are you feeling guilty? Do you think you’ve harmed it? Want to ask me how to save it?”
“No! Not at all!” Yu Xunge immediately denied it. “I’m just living my own life day by day. I’m not responsible for anyone else’s fate. I don’t think I did anything special, and I don’t think I need to be responsible or atone for it.”
B8017913: “Then why did you come to find me?”
Yu Xunge said, “I left the 1211 commercial district in a hurry. I actually wanted to chat with you. I heard you were thrown here and had nothing to do, so I thought I’d come find you. If I found you, we could chat; if not, then forget it.”
B8017913 was silent for a long time before saying, “You’re good at charming mechanical beings. No wonder L12857777 has developed feelings for you.”
Yu Xunge: “…………Is your vocabulary broken? ‘Developing feelings’ isn’t used like that.”
B8017913: “Whatever, what can I do?”
Yu Xunge didn’t want to talk to B8017913 anymore. After chatting for a while and learning about B8017913’s outcome, and letting another being know the beginning of L12857777’s story, she felt no regrets.
She stood up and brushed the dust off her backside. “I’m leaving.”
B8017913: “Where are you going?”
Yu Xunge: “Looking for a way to get out of here.”
B8017913 suddenly said, “The game has reached 14 hours, 12 minutes, and 22 seconds.”
Yu Xunge paused her movements, recalling the information B8017913 had mentioned earlier. She looked down at the robot, quietly waiting for its next words.
B8017913: “Is this the real reason you came to find me? To extract more information about the Y-series robots?”
For the first time, Yu Xunge felt at a loss for words.
She had many schemes, and most of what she did had a purpose, at least with visible benefits.
But this time, she came to find B8017913 just like when she returned to L12857777, asking if it wanted to fly again…
She was rarely so pure, yet B8017913 suspected her of ulterior motives.
Yu Xunge smiled silently. “Yes.”
B8017913’s eye screen flickered. “Why aren’t you arguing? I know you didn’t come for this information.”
Yu Xunge felt helpless at the robot’s back-and-forth attitude. She had to sit down again, adopting the mindset she used when writing character profiles to gauge B8017913’s feelings.
B8017913 fell silent again.
After a long while, Yu Xunge asked, “Were you just throwing a tantrum? Because I said I was leaving, you got mad and said that on purpose?”
B8017913’s eye screen went black.
Yu Xunge, surprisingly, didn’t feel impatient at being the target of someone else’s anger. She looked at the mountains of garbage within her sight, feeling a twinge of bitterness. She asked, “With your personality, how will you endure in the future?”
B8017913’s eye screen lit up again. “If I tell you how to leave, would you take me to your planet?”
Yu Xunge replied without hesitation, “I can’t. You’re too dangerous. I can’t.”
A robot capable of killing inspectors, possessing intelligence, and even willing to sacrifice itself to save more mechanical beings while defying the rules was terrifying.
Bringing it back would be like inviting a wolf into the house.
B8017913: “I thought you would deceive me.”
That sounded familiar.
Someone had once cried out those exact words to her.
Yu Xunge frowned in distress. “Do I look like someone who loves to deceive?”
B8017913: “Just look in the mirror, and you’ll know.”
Yu Xunge: “…So if I deceived you, you’d be willing to believe it?”
B8017913: “Of course, because after I was punished by the divine, you were the only one who came to see me.”
Yu Xunge felt a bit irritated as she ran her fingers through her hair, recalling who had last said they thought she would deceive them—Little Maqi.
B8017913: “So, will you take me to your planet?”
Yu Xunge shook her head again. “I really don’t want to.”
She had a stubbornness that even she couldn’t understand.
Even though becoming stronger would bring great benefits to Zai Jiu, she still wouldn’t steal from those who had no grievances against her on Zai Jiu’s planet.
She could be a shameful, despicable pickpocket, thief, or burglar in Zelan, but she didn’t want to deceive Little Maqi, who was a being of the undead.
And now, even when B8017913 offered her a perfect way out, she still didn’t want to take it.
Otherwise, every time she looked up at the moon in the future, she would remember that a robot had been deceived by her and abandoned here…
That would be too cruel.
**Chapter 458: The Abandoned Zone 5**
Yu Xunge touched her chest, trying to find her occasionally functioning conscience; she needed to dig it out and stomp on it.
B8017913: “I want to taste and record the emotion called ‘hope.’ After you leave, I can simulate this emotion myself.
“I need to simulate this emotion! To nourish my will.”
Yu Xunge’s brows gradually furrowed. The first step was one thing, but now there was a second.
B8017913 might be selfless towards the mechanical beings, but she wasn’t one of them.
For things she couldn’t see through yet felt unreasonable, Yu Xunge always treated them as “there must be a trap.”
That little bit of softness faded instantly, and she found it utterly uninteresting. After gaining wisdom and emotions, mechanical beings were just like all living creatures.
When she had been bantering with B8017913 in the 1211 commercial district, the clumsiness and unfamiliarity it showed towards emotions now felt false in retrospect.
Yu Xunge sighed deeply, this time truly feeling no reluctance at all.
She stood up once more, her voice devoid of warmth. “I’m leaving. It was nice to meet you.”
As if sensing and analyzing Yu Xunge’s mood, B8017913 stopped playing the emotional card. “If you take me out, we can sign a contract. I’ll work for you for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years! Just take me with you!”
Its voice grew more agitated, to the point where it emitted the crackling sound of old electronics.
It was terrifying; this place was too terrifying.
It had only been here for a few hours, yet it had already experienced collapse and despair.
Zai Jiu and Xun Ge couldn’t understand what the mechanical beings were saying, but it could.
They were all mad, tirelessly pouring out their thoughts from these years, yet it was all chaotic nonsense, with dozens of languages mixed into a single sentence.
At first, it ignored Zai Jiu and Xun Ge because it was worried she had come to steal its chip.
It quietly listened as Zai Jiu called its number again and again.
What a strange and wonderful feeling; it didn’t want to interrupt, and even if Zai Jiu called it hundreds of times, it never grew tired of hearing its number.
It had worked on the battlefield for hundreds of years, yet it had heard its number only a handful of times.
No, not just a handful; it had never heard it at all.
Among its kind, there was no need for names; they could communicate with silent electric waves.
As for alien players? They came and went quickly. Even if there were occasionally cheerful beings like Zai Jiu, they would only chat for a bit. No one would remember their number, let alone say it out loud.
They were called “Hey,” “that mechanical being,” “that mechanical barrel,” “that robot,” and various other names, all of which they had grown accustomed to.
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