Stellaris from the Automata Era

"Is this a forest?"

After climbing over the obstacle with Bobo La in his arms, Yan Luo suddenly saw the light. Looking at the dense and complex vegetation, he turned around and asked Bobo La.

"It should be. It looks very close to the forest according to the map."

After coming out of Yan Luo's arms, Bobo La held the big sword tightly in her hand, walked past Yan Luo carefully and came to the front of the team.

From here on, it was likely that this was the domain of mechanical life. As a humanoid with electronic radar, she had to ensure the safety of humans at all times, regardless of whether humans wanted to or not.

"This is the edge of the bordering forest, my lord. We should turn back now."

"Don't worry! Let's look ahead, Popola! If there are any large-scale mechanical life forms, please notify me in advance."

So we can run away... There is no need to say this, I believe Bobo La can understand.

After all, they didn't come out specifically to fight this time, so Yan Luo had no other equipment except a mobile tomahawk and a machine gun with a box of ammunition.

According to his previous style, if he wanted to fight, he would at least have a hundred or more machine guns behind him. This would give him room to maneuver, after all, the number of round-headed people in battle was indeed a bit scary.

Of course, in the end they were overthinking it. As they went deeper, they didn't encounter any large groups of round-headed creatures along the way, not even a few scattered ones.

I finally caught the only one who was alone...but something seems wrong.

"Please don't hurt me!"

Yan Luo was a little confused.

Obviously, the round...mechanical life in front of us is a little different from the traditional model. Its head is not round, probably a cylindrical head?

But what really surprised Yan Luo was that when he and Boppola surrounded the mechanical life and were about to harvest some materials, the mechanical life made an unexpected move.

It surrendered... and even took out a French flag and waved it in surrender.

"I am a friendly and peaceful mechanical life form, I hold no ill will!"

That's what it actually said?

Yan Luo was a little confused at the time! In fact, he was not surprised by the appearance of this type of mechanical life form.

The plan to explore the nest of those purple round heads is still on hold at Yan Luo's place. With them laying the foundation, it is understandable that mechanical life forms that can communicate and promote peace will appear.

But what he really didn't expect was that the other party would draw the flag without any defense as soon as they met... If Yan Luo had any malicious intentions, he would probably have chopped it down on the spot.

"Forget it. I can't understand their train of thought. Bobo La, go and have a conversation with them." Yan Luo paused, then added, "Although the possibility is low, be careful. This could be a trap."

This is just a possible defense. In fact, according to the information Yan Luo has learned so far, humanoids have not really communicated with mechanical life.

Therefore, there has never been any record of either party using words to lure the other party into a trap.

After receiving Yan Luo's instructions, Bobo La quickly approached the mechanical life in front of her, but she also remained vigilant enough and always kept a distance where she could react.

"Hello, my name is Pascal."

The mechanical life said.

"Mechanical life forms actually have their own names?"

The machine lifeform clearly didn't know how to respond to Popola's words, and even the hand waving the flag stopped.

"I am one of the few who have read human books and given myself this name."

"A human book? You..."

Bobo La was about to speak but stopped herself. She really didn't expect that as an enemy, she would actively absorb the other party's culture.

Think about it, this is actually a very scary thing. If humanoids actively absorb human culture out of worship for the Creator and want to imitate and replicate it, then what is the purpose of mechanical life forms?

As enemies that have been in constant conflict for thousands of years, it is almost impossible for Popola to think positively.

In short, all my thoughts turned into one sentence.

"Is this what all mechanical life forms are like nowadays? I mean, reading human books?"

"No, we are machines that have voluntarily disconnected from the internet, so we can do things according to our own will."

Off the grid? Yan Luo, standing by, relied on the translator to grasp the key words. He couldn't help but interject himself into the conversation.

"Popo La, let me ask you, are there many mechanical life forms like this?"

"Huh? Not much. Right now I only know about the groups in our village, the Forest Country, and the factory."

Yan Luo's words were quickly translated by Bobo La, and the answer she received made people ponder.

The Forest Country and the Factory Group should be understandable. After all, the former was mentioned in A2, and he had even come into contact with the latter, although he went crazy later..

However, it is obvious that mechanical life forms with abnormal behaviors like these have one characteristic, that is, they are separated from the so-called network.

Perhaps this disconnection from the grid will be a turning point in the relationship between humanoid and machine life.

Then, seeing Yan Luo in deep thought, Bobo La began to act on her own.

"Speaking of which, what are you doing around here?"

Yan Luo was also very curious about this. Although the surrounding area could be said to be the territory of mechanical life, it was also very close to human beings.

In fact, there should be humanoid monitoring points nearby. If they encounter a lone mechanical life, there is a high probability that a fight will break out.

"Our village is conducting a trade with the humanoid leader. I'm delivering the materials you need."

"Wait? Who? The chief?"

It's magical.

How could these two groups, who fought each other so fiercely, actually still interact with each other privately? Yan Luo felt that he might have to re-evaluate the mechanical life forms.

He had to admit that he knew very little about mechanical life, and all his knowledge of them came from the humanoids around him.

However...no humanoid knows the deeper understanding of mechanical life forms.

The reason is very simple. Whether it is Gemini, A2 or 11b, they are all low-level humanoids.

For thousands of years, their only purpose has been to fight and... protect humans, which is also the current situation of most humanoids.

Because of this, information from higher-ups is not open to them, or they simply don't have the channels to learn about it.

Apart from the publicly available information, all we can know is uncertain information such as "it is said" and "rumors".

After all, the lower-level humanoids only need to obey orders and fight for the "great cause of humanity."

Maybe now is a good opportunity.

"Can I come over to your place and take a look?"

When this sentence came out, it was almost opposed by Bopolla on the spot!

She is always so tough on matters concerning humanity...

But in the end, I chose to help Yan Luo translate this passage.

"of course can!"

So next Yan landed in the village of the so-called mechanical life forms and saw many round heads waving white chess pieces to express their welcome.

Maybe... they read books written by French people?

Chapter 38: Once Again

The village of mechanical life forms is a complex of buildings built around a giant tree as its main trunk.

The simple exterior style once made Yan Luo doubt whether it could serve as a residence, but considering the differences between machines and humans, perhaps their definition of a house is also different.

After confirming that the round-headed creatures here were really posing no threat, Yan Luo and Bobo La separated briefly in the middle of the journey in order to collect intelligence.

After they met again, what they saw and heard here seemed to broaden Boppola's horizons.

"I never imagined... there could actually be machine lifeforms advocating for peace," Popola commented, clearly somewhat bewildered by the outward appearance of this atmosphere. "Sir, I even saw humanoid figures in this village built by machine lifeforms."

This was simply irrational. She chatted privately with the humanoid here and found that the other party had been in this village for quite some time.

This almost made her certain that the mechanical life here was indeed as peaceful as they said.

"There's still a human figure? Why is there still a human figure here? Are you sure you're not seeing things?"

For Yan Luo, this was something he had never imagined. If the two sides had some connection, it would be understandable.

It is truly jaw-dropping that two opposing parties can coexist peacefully.

Haven't humanoids and mechanical life always been composing their own hymns with swords and knives?

The purpose for their creation destined them to be irreconcilable groups. Many people probably couldn't imagine that this day would come.

However, reality is so magical and unreasonable.

"I wasn't mistaken. They were indeed humanoids. They seemed to be temporarily hiding here because they were tired of fighting."

"War-weary..."

In fact, it is not difficult to understand.

Yan Luo could feel the theme of their atmosphere during the close conversations with these mechanical lives today.

Almost every round-headed person kept saying something like "I don't want to fight."

Over thousands of years, the mechanical life forms have forged a peaceful faction that can communicate and does not want to fight.

As for the human form, it is hard to imagine that there will be no other problems.

It's just that a humanoid figure with war-weariness appears, so it's not surprising.

"By the way, it seems that Pascal just wanted us to deliver the necessary supplies to the leader of the resistance army."

"This is not difficult. You can take it along the way."

Yan Luo nodded, indicating that he could agree.

Of course, this was also a test for him.

According to the narration of the mechanical life Pascal, there is a trading relationship between it and the humanoid, but Yan Luo still has a last bit of doubt.

Not to mention how they passed materials to each other without spreading rumors in the camp.

Just given the identities of both parties, any communication needs to be carefully considered before a deeper understanding is achieved to exclude any information that the other party may have deliberately disclosed.

Helping with transportation is a good fulcrum. Perhaps we can use it to indirectly identify the information we have received this time from the humanoid side, not to mention that the humanoid is at the level of a regional leader. The information obtained from her is still credible.

As for whether it was a trap that would reveal the location of the humanoid base...

Humanoids and machine lifeforms had been fighting for so long, so who on either side knew each other's intricacies? A simple calculation based on the areas of activity would give a rough idea of ​​each other's positions.

The reason why the status quo remains is that no matter whether it is human or mechanical life, no one is sure to defeat the other in one breath.

Last time, even though the humanoids tried hard, they were still beaten back in the end... Hmm? It seems like the mechanical lifeforms are letting up. Yan Luo suddenly felt something was amiss.

However, there were too many unexpected factors at the time, and some of them can be explained if you think about it carefully.

After all, the humanoids were fighting outside at that time, and Yan Luo was also fighting inside the factory... The effect caused may have produced some kind of reaction.

The same oversized mechanical lifeforms that pushed back the humanoids. According to what Yan Luo learned from 11b, Yoerha had gone directly after these oversized mechanical lifeforms that time.

Yan Luo saw that several large machines had been scrapped. In a sense, it was a stalemate.

Although there was a vague feeling that something was wrong, Yan Luo could only think of this much for the time being due to the lack of information.

"Forget it. I don't want to think about it anymore. I'll give the things to Diwala when I get back. And when she delivers them... I'll specifically mention the situation in this village."

As for Yan Luo, he would not participate in the intelligence processing this time. After all, he was not very good at it and did not understand the language.

And after so many days, Gemini’s learning mechanism should be able to handle the problem well.

The most important thing for him now is to speed up his armament.

The thought that just flashed through his mind made him feel a little anxious.

He always felt that the waters of this world were a little deep. And he might just be at a critical juncture.

No, it’s not a possibility, it should be a certainty!

There is definitely some kind of storm brewing in the future.

After all, there is a high-dimensional creature above his head that cannot be understood according to common sense.

He must now be implicated in some incident.

But the biggest problem was that he had no idea what he was getting himself into.