A dim room filled with robots, with robots lined up at equal intervals on both sides, save for the central corridor.
All rooms in the research center had windows, except for this one.
If Chen San were still alive, he would have discovered that this was the place where he stole that beautiful robot.
All the robots stood motionless in their positions.
Some robots were even fixed in place, unable to be moved an inch.
The door to this room was abruptly opened.
The lights in the room were not turned on, remaining dim.
A figure in a white lab coat and sunglasses entered.
It took off its sunglasses, revealing itself to be a robot with deep blue eyes.
The instant the figure entered, a rustling sound arose in the previously silent room.
Then came a clear sound of footsteps landing.
A thud, like a heavy object hitting the ground, echoed in the room.
Afterward, a robot from inside the room slowly walked out and moved to the center of the corridor.
Where the room had been full, a space was now empty, leaving only a chain on the ground to mark the robot that had once been there.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses looked at the robot that had walked up to it, and extended its hand.
The damaged fingertips touched the intact fingertips of the other. After a moment, both robots walked out of the room together.
However, the robot in front controlled its movements with great precision, its footsteps light.
The one behind, on the other hand, walked with a heavier gait, one step light and one step heavy, as if it couldn't control its joint strength properly.
They walked one after the other.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses suddenly stopped, standing still, as if waiting.
Only when the robot behind, unable to control its strength, slowly caught up did the robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses follow. They then proceeded to stop in front of an empty room not too far from where they had been.
The robot standing by the door gestured, then moved aside.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses took out its ID badge from its pocket and swiped it at the door.
"Beep beep..."
The door opened with a click.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses walked in.
The room was filled with rows of sophisticated instruments, but they were all covered in a thick layer of dust.
The place looked like a storage area for discarded equipment.
The robot walking behind followed closely.
Its stiff arm moved with a jerky motion, slowly stroking the row of worn and dusty instruments before it.
After stroking many of them, it stopped in front of one.
The robot with stiff movements plugged in the discarded precision instrument and began operating it rigidly.
After a few buttons were pressed, the precision instrument, which was marked as "reached its service life," began to function.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses also walked over at this moment, extending a hand—the one with the missing fingertip—holding a metallic-colored object...
The robot operating the precision instrument, marked as "reached its service life" with stiff movements, had a white tag hanging from the back of its neck.
It read: Problematic robot from the repair assembly line, reason for decommissioning: unknown reason for assembly line component leakage, unrepairable.
-
575 returned to the spot where it had been walking with Wen Bai and where it had suddenly stopped.
It waited there for a moment, then headed in the direction it had previously looked.
Along the way, many people saw a tall, handsome individual. But upon closer inspection, they realized the person had a pair of deep blue eyes; it was a robot.
It was extremely rare for a robot to act independently without a directive, especially here at the robot research center.
Onlookers tacitly assumed it was a robot with an owner, carrying out the director's orders, though they wondered what kind of command would lead such a robot to traverse the research center relentlessly.
575 seemed to have lost its objective and wandered through the robot research center.
After a while, it suddenly stopped.
575 looked around, displaying an expression of confusion, something not typically associated with robots.
Then, it ceased its movement. After pausing for a few seconds in place, it turned and began to walk back in the direction it had come.
Midway, 575 stopped.
It was now in a very spacious and secluded area, with no one around.
Except for the robot that suddenly appeared before it, blocking its path.
575 seemed to have finally found its objective. Its magnetic voice whispered, "Intruder."
And opposite it.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses took a few steps toward 575.
575 did not move.
The robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses took a few more steps forward.
This time, 575 moved, suddenly reaching out to grab its arm.
But despite both being robots, the one in the white lab coat and sunglasses was exceptionally agile, performing an action uncharacteristic of a robot—it traced the back of 575's hand with its own.
As if confirming something.
The brief confirmation nearly resulted in the robot in the white lab coat and sunglasses being hit by 575's powerful punch.
As it turned its head, its sunglasses slipped off and were snatched from the air by 575.
The robot in the white lab coat, now without its sunglasses,
escaped and fled without looking back.
575 stood in place, holding the sunglasses, only seeing the back of the white lab coat fluttering in the air as the robot ran.
-
When Wen Bai had finished his discussion, he finally noticed that his domestic robot was missing.
Recalling that someone had wanted to speak with 575 earlier,
Wen Bai stated expressionlessly, "575 is missing."
Li Bu became anxious upon hearing this. It was their oversight; they had been so engrossed in discussing advertisements that they hadn't even noticed such a large robot had disappeared.
Since Mr. Wen had spoken, he had to handle the matter properly.
He immediately went out to search for the robot himself.
Wen Ziyue found it quite baffling. Why was Wen Bai so attached to this robot after waking up this time? He hadn't seen him so inseparable from it before.
Gou Zhe raised an eyebrow at this, recalling the robot that had entered.
A robot leaving without its owner's command?
Was it a rogue robot?
Gou Zhe, who had been urged by his agent to go to the next event, was no longer in a hurry.
He even said, "Since Mr. Wen is so anxious, and we are collaborators, we should help look for it as well."
His agent was surprised that Gou Zhe would say such a thing.
Gou Zhe was not a helpful person, nor was he someone who was easily persuaded or considerate of others.
Hearing Gou Zhe's words, Wen Bai, after entering and discussing cooperation for so long, finally gave Gou Zhe a direct look.