Stellaris from the Automata Era

"I think you can hear what I say now?"

Looking at A2 who hadn't spoken for a long time, Yan Luo pulled over a chair and sat on it backwards, with his arms folded on the back of the chair as if to support his body.

"Although I know some of your situation through some special means, I still want you to answer me in person. So, please introduce yourself, unknown humanoid."

"a2."

"Isn't this a good start? Let's move on to the next question."

Yan Luo stared at A2 with his darkened eyes, and for a moment he made her feel as if she was being stared at by an unknown creature.

"Then A2, why don't you just kill me?"

What kind of weird question is this?

A large amount of garbled code and questions instantly rushed a2's logical thinking, and a2 felt that his system might have stagnated for a few seconds.

"Don't get me wrong, I just had doubts. Clearly, at that distance and without any defense, I couldn't react at all. You could have killed me in one blow. But you missed. Don't call it a mistake."

"do not know."

"Huh? Don't know?"

A2's bound hands touched her chest, where her reactor might be.

"The system tells me that I should embrace and love you. You are everything to me, my lover, and my protector. Although I don't understand the meaning of this, I shouldn't do anything that would harm you."

"But you still attacked me. Even though you missed the target, the same old question remains: why?"

"Were you not the ones who ordered our destruction? We are merely tools, to be discarded and destroyed when no longer useful."

A2's expression was very calm. If it weren't for the strong emotions in his words, Yan Luo would have almost thought that the person in front of him was a standard emotionless machine.

"So that's it, revenge. You know what? I should be laughing right now, asking you to share your tragic past to cheer me up. Or..."

Yan Luo thought for a moment and continued to speak, words that made Divara's hands tremble.

"Or I could give you a knife to untie your shackles, let you put it against my chest, and tell you that you can get your revenge with just a gentle push. Then I'd watch you struggle between instinct and emotion, and laugh with joy."

"Of course, my instinct tells me that this is dangerous. Besides, I'm not a joy freak, nor am I a weirdo who can feel happy just by listening to others' sadness."

"Not to mention, it seems like I'm going to be blamed for this kind of thing, which makes me even less happy."

Yan Luo stood up, walked in front of A2, and looked down at him.

"You know what? When I woke up from my hibernation capsule, someone whispered in my ear that there were no humans left in the world." (This was a lie!)

"Later, Diwala and Popola told me that there were people like me on the moon. I didn't know if what they said was true." (Still a lie!)

"But I might as well assume that both sides are right. As far as I know, how long has it been since humans appeared on this land?"

"One hundred years? Two hundred years? Three hundred years? Or has it been gone since it went to the moon?"

The extremely oppressive words made the logical thinking brains of all the humanoids present tremble.

"They weren't even there to reclaim their homeland. Are they really still human?"

"They never showed up when you were counterattacking, they never showed up when you were defending, they never showed up when your morale was low. So all you could hear was their broadcasts?"

He turned on the recording device, and then the words of the Human Parliament came out.

The embarrassing thing is that Yan Luo didn't understand, but it didn't matter. The information he got from the system did not prevent him from continuing to mock.

"Are people too lazy to write by hand these days? What about the tone? What about the particles? What computer created this morale-boosting manuscript?"

"Shame on you, Jill! Honestly, even a three-year-old could write better than this, so let's just assume they're all dead..."

"At this level, either they will be expelled from the community today, or I will be expelled from the community."

"Okay, having said all that, I actually only have one key idea for today, which is to recruit you."

"I really like a humanoid like you with a strong sense of self."

"So make your choice."

Looking at the crutch handed to him, A2 looked a little confused.

"Oh, this is a special allegiance ceremony. When you decide to pledge your loyalty to me, break it with your leg."

What kind of strange ritual is this? It's not mentioned in the reading materials about humans.

"Anyway, think about it carefully first, Diwala. There's no need to restrict her. Let her move freely. I'll get a good night's sleep after I fix Popola's system."

After being uncuffed, A2 was a little confused by Divara's warning.

It seemed as if she had just been mocked, affirmed, and liked by a tangible human being?

How should I put it? She felt like something was wrong with the system...

Just words, the cheers in the core roared like a motor.

With just words, the previous love and hate disappeared like snowflakes.

No...it's not disappeared, it's shifted, and new love and hate are intertwined again.

"May your glory last forever."

She hummed so softly.

Chapter 12: Man Wants to Leave the Desert of His Loyalty!

It's a few days later..

Well, actually the time unit is a bit confusing to Yan Luo. The earth has stopped rotating a long time ago, and half of it is in eternal darkness and the other half is in eternal daylight.

Unable to rely on the intensity of light, he now had to rely on a clock to tell the time. Of course, a clock wasn't very reliable... after all, it was basically just numbers from one to twelve.

"It's time for you to rest."

Looking at Bobo La who was urging him, Yan Luo looked up at the clock in confusion. When the time pointed to six, he looked as if he understood.

"It's time for dinner. It seems like it's time to take a break."

"No, I mean after breakfast you should get some sleep."

Bobola sighed. In fact, Diwala was supposed to supervise Yan Luo's rest yesterday. However, since A2 joined, Diwala's work schedule has added another task: monitoring A2.

Although Yan Luo repeatedly explained that A2's extreme behavior was just a short-term system failure and he had already fixed it, who would believe such a statement?

There is nothing wrong with their judgment logic. Don’t they know what is going on in a2?

They really wanted to eliminate the unstable factor of A2. After all, their previous experiences were too terrifying. As long as they thought of the Creator disappearing from their sight again, the system in their minds would lose control.

Not to mention the data from Divara on Yan Luo's interrogation of A2. Bobo La almost determined that he had a certain tendency to self-destruct, which was even more terrifying!

The last hope for mankind is internal and external troubles. Even without the external factor a2, it may lead to its own destruction at any time.

Of course, compared to the possibility of self-destruction, the more pressing issue now is a2!

She still hasn't pledged her loyalty to Yan Luo!

Although she has accepted the crutch given by the Creator, she has not broken it. Her attitude is very strange, but she will still obey some orders to a limited extent.

"So you're staying up all night again! I was wondering why I felt a little sleepy."

Yan Luo yawned. He had recently experienced the joys of a scientific researcher. Eating? Sleeping? What was that? As long as he wasn't dead, the pen in his hand would continue to stretch! As long as he wasn't dead, the inspiration in his mind would continue to expand!

Not to mention... the base that Gaowei Biology gave us at the start was a complete mess! The factory configuration was irrational! The production lines were irrational! The material transportation was irrational! This needed to be demolished and rebuilt!

So, to the joy of researchers, we have to add the joy of simulation operation and construction. Double the lethal dose.

"Speaking of which, where are Divala and A2?"

"Divara is conducting...hunting and gathering, while A2 has taken over the mechanical experiments."

Oh! Speaking of this, Yan Luo is no longer sleepy.

Let’s not talk about food collection for now. After all, he is the only one in the entire population who needs to consume food. According to the game, the number of people who need to consume food is reduced by one every day.

The mechanical experiments are actually the testing of weapons and new models of robots developed by Yan Luo.

Well... Diwala and Popola had never been too positive about Yan Luo's research and development before, but they are not fighters! What do they know?

Naturally, judging from the professional combat type like A2, he was quite looking forward to it.

"So what does A2 say?"

"As for weapons, she suggested increasing the caliber. As for the new model..." Bobola paused, a hint of agreement building in her voice. "She suggested adding a round head, perhaps to try to detect intelligence on mechanical life."

"Huh? I didn't expect A2 to have such a sense of humor?"

"No, I think she's serious about her suggestion. She's already reflected on many instances where hostile machines approached and chatted with them instead of attacking them the first time they saw them."

"..."

Boppola couldn't bear to look at it. Perhaps the Creator in front of her was a little broken, and his whole body exuded a dark aura.

Maybe it's depression... right?

"Okay, I'll think about it seriously. I'm going to get some sleep now. When they come back, remember to call me and we'll have a meeting."

"understood."

So Yan Luo went to his resting place in a daze.

When we met again, the clock had already turned a full circle, probably from morning to afternoon.

In fact, by noon, all kinds of personnel had already returned to their positions, but the scheduled meeting was postponed for various reasons.

Most of the time passed when Yan Luo was asleep, and some of it passed when he woke up and went to the factory to tinker with things for a while, so a lot of time had passed by the time the meeting progress was actually implemented.

The so-called meeting room is actually a very simple area, but considering that this place was vacant when it was Yan Luoteng's factory, there is no need to worry too much about it.

"Okay, I won't say any more unnecessary opening remarks."

Looking at the humanoid Yan Luo who was present, he spoke first. He spread out a map and pointed to one of the locations.

"Thanks to the intelligence provided by A2, we now have a specific understanding of our surroundings. Here is our location."

No one else looked at the map, as humanoids didn't need auxiliary tools like humans did for geographical location.

Obviously Yan Luo also understood this truth, so he didn't care about everyone's reactions.

"You know what? Our development has stagnated recently! After considering the reasons, I found that we don't have the resources!"

Yes, where do the resources in the desert come from? Oil?

It's good to have a base at the beginning...but it's very uncomfortable without resources. Now all the materials Yan Luo collects come from the scrap collection of Yuan Naotou.

The risk is high and the return is low, and sometimes you may even lose everything.

"So, I made a bold decision! Take this place!"

Yan Luo drew a circle at one end of the map, and this time everyone's attention was finally attracted. After comparing with the database, the faces of the people present changed!

That is the factory in the central city, a paradise for mechanical life forms.

"Sir! I don't think I can defeat him!"

Bobo La quickly expressed her opinion!

This is no longer a question of whether you can hit it or not, but it is equivalent to doing pull-ups on a branch on the edge of a cliff. If you are not careful, you will fall down!

"Don't worry, I'm not going in recklessly. In fact, I want to do some reconnaissance first. Next, let me introduce you to a new reconnaissance model."

Yan Luo clapped his hands and then a round-headed man came in.

"..."

The humanoids were greatly shocked. They had been privately joking that Yan Luo's design could perfectly simulate a round head for reconnaissance, but they had not expected that the Creator's ability to act was indeed beyond their imagination.

How long did it take for the final version to be produced?

Of course...a2 looked normal.

However, seeing that the humans did not want to rush in directly, Divara and Bopora breathed a sigh of relief.

Then they seemed to realize something, looked at each other with tacit understanding, and then spoke.

"Sir, this is a brilliant idea! However, there's a fair distance between here and the factory. I think it'll be difficult for these reconnaissance types to reach their designated locations. We might need a humanoid to escort us along the way."

Bobo La spoke first, and then Diwa La followed suit.

"I suggest that A2 undertake this mission. As the sole combat T-doll, she is fully capable!"

Huh? When did they start trusting A2 so much?

Although the key points were unclear for a while, it did not prevent Yan Luo from making his own decision.