Chapter 60: I Will… Catch You Again.
“Done.”
Xiang Nanli attached the metallic head back onto the little robot’s paralyzed body.
Compared to Beichen’s previous head, this one obviously had more of a sci-fi, technological feel. The overall shape was that of a human head—though it looked slightly like an alien’s; at least he didn’t have to walk around with a glass tank displaying his brain like a decorative centerpiece anymore.
Xiang Nanli soldered the neural transmission wires and powered it on.
Beichen’s body didn’t have any LED indicator lights. Xiang Nanli asked, “How does it feel?”
Beichen’s metallic eyes couldn’t mimic the action of blinking. He looked around and replied, “I feel… pretty good.”
His brain felt lighter! Even his thinking capacity seemed a bit faster!
Of course, it was also possible that while he was sleeping yesterday, he had received some data transmitted via Bluetooth from Xiao Fu.
It had sent over a lot of agricultural knowledge!
Beichen’s data reception speed was very fast; he didn’t seem at all like an antique model from six hundred years ago.
One night was only enough for Beichen to scratch the surface, leaving him to slowly digest and learn the rest during his free time.
But as of now, Beichen could already pass as a farming robot.
However, among the knowledge Gospel had transmitted, what he was actually most interested in was the cross-breeding of different crops and transgenic plant and animal technology…
Beichen unplugged the wires connected to his body and walked a lap around the small room, his tone a bit more excited: “Movement is normal.”
His voice echoed from the loudspeaker: “Thank you, Xiang Nanli.”
Xiang Nanli was also gratified. “It’s good that everything’s fine. It was my first time trying this, too.”
He had repaired many mechanical prosthetics, but fixing something devoid of life felt completely different from fixing something living.
Replacing the external casing of the head was only the beginning; next would be the torso and limbs. The antique parts on Beichen’s body needed to be gradually phased out. He was genuinely worried that if he wasn’t careful, the system would shut down and damage the brain.
Xiang Nanli glanced at the time and let out a wail: “What exactly did I do today? Didn’t we just have breakfast? How is it already nine o’clock at night!”
Breaking out of his work state, Xiang Nanli’s perception of the outside world was once again awakened—and the most direct sensation was hunger.
Fortunately, the sound of cooking was already drifting from the kitchen.
Xiang Nanli pushed open the studio door. The floors in the house were clean enough to reflect a person’s image. In the kitchen, Dongfang Qingdi was cooking, and it looked like the food would be ready very soon.
Xiao Fu, who had been lying on the living room rug, rushed over: “Xiang Nanli~ Xiang Nanli!”
It scrambled twice, went clatter, and fell flat on the floor. It climbed up, ran again, and crashed into the ground once more.
Gospel stumbled all the way to Xiang Nanli’s side, then pawed at his calves with its front limbs to barely prop itself up.
Xiang Nanli bent down, scooped Xiao Fu up, and instructed Xiao Bai, who was still mopping to the side: “Xiao Bai, from now on, just giving the house a light mop is fine. You don’t need to wipe it this clean. Xiao Fu and Beichen both have metallic bodies; they don’t have enough friction.”
Xiao Bai originally wanted to say that it was Dongfang Qingdi who told him to keep mopping the floor, but that would inevitably seem a bit too intelligent.
He had no choice but to swallow it down and reply gently: “Understood.”
Xiang Nanli noticed that Xiao Bai had actually changed clothes.
An elaborate white lace court-style shirt with ruffled sleeves that clearly weren’t suited for chores, paired with a form-fitting boned corset. When he bent over, the curve of his waist was exceptionally elegant.
Xiang Nanli sized up his body with an appreciative gaze, then asked, “Where did the clothes come from?”
The quality of this outfit was too good; at a glance, you could tell it wasn’t cheap market goods. Xiang Nanli had never actively paid attention to the fashion circle, but his company had hosted annual galas before. Everyone there had been dressed to the nines, radiating glamour and wealth.
“When you made the purchase, it coincided with the conglomerate’s promotional event. Buy one, get three free. Buy one housekeeping robot, get three sets of work uniforms for free. This is one of those sets.”
Xiang Nanli nodded, then asked Xiao Zhi:
[Is there still a balance in the account? I want to buy a couple of outfits for Xiao Qing online.]
Dongfang Qingdi was a bit taller than him, but Xiang Nanli’s clothes were mostly loose-fitting, so they often just shared and mixed their wardrobes.
Xiang Nanli’s fashion sense was incredibly casual.
He had bought 30 identical tops and pants. And 10 pairs of identical socks.
The Underground City was constantly kept at 21 degrees Celsius, so whenever Xiang Nanli opened his closet every day, he never had to stress over what to wear.
But seeing Xiao Bai dressed up like this today, Xiang Nanli suddenly realized that Dongfang Qingdi would also look incredibly good if he dressed up. That potential shouldn’t go to waste.
Hehehe, what’s wrong with a man liking things that are young and pretty? He was just a vulgar visual creature.
Xiao Zhi: [With all due respect, your cash flow is rather tight…]
Its sentence wasn’t even finished.
[There is.]
[Xiao Qing, stop secretly hijacking poor Xiao Zhi!]
[Apologies, I do not understand what you mean.]
Seeing Xiang Nanli suddenly go quiet while his expressions kept shifting, Xiao Bai instantly realized that he had entered an encrypted channel with that damn AI again.
Xiao Bai opened his mouth with a smile: “By the way, Xiang Nanli. As per your instructions, I went and delivered the gifts to the residents of 8-7 and 39-4 today. Rock’s family and Ms. Xiao Yan both liked them very much.”
Xiang Nanli nodded: “Good, good. I’m glad they liked them.”
Dongfang Qingdi carried the food out of the kitchen and set it on the dining table: “Come eat.”
He absolutely could not yield control over the kitchen.
It wasn’t that Dongfang Qingdi actually enjoyed cooking, of course.
But what if the housekeeping robot accidentally got infected by a virus and poisoned the food?
Although, according to calculations, the probability of this happening was only 0.000…01%, and it had only occurred twice in the Human Alliance’s 800-year history, rare did not mean impossible. So it was still more appropriate for him to do the cooking.
Beichen was adapting to his new body, pacing back and forth around the house.
In this household, aside from Xiang Nanli, no one needed to eat. Actually, Xiang Nanli didn’t strictly need to eat either; he just had cravings and retained the habits of the past.
Beichen carefully pushed open the door and stepped out onto the external corridor.
His height didn’t even reach the corridor’s retaining wall. Beichen took a deep breath of fresh air. He had been in a pretty good mood, but soon he lifted his head in confusion.
The smell of mushrooms was too overpowering. It was like being steeped in a creamy mushroom soup. Beichen’s brain felt a sense of suffocation—even though, given his current physical structure, it was impossible for him to actually feel suffocated.
He looked up and saw pink spores filling the sky, descending upon the black-and-white world like a shimmering waterfall.
Beichen took two steps back, retreating indoors.
He activated the disinfection device at the doorway, and odorless, colorless disinfectant sprayed evenly over his body.
Xiang Nanli was still at the dining table, blissfully sucking on a chicken wing bone.
Beichen originally wanted to state it directly, but a voice in his subconscious stopped him, warning him that exposing his talents was extremely dangerous. Furthermore, convincing others to believe his judgment would be difficult. He didn’t have any scientific basis to back it up—only a perception that differed from ordinary humans.
Beichen pondered for a moment, then dragged Gospel into the small room and closed the door.
“It’s not safe outside. I smell a very strong scent of mushrooms. Those fungi… they might spread, might be contagious,” he spoke slowly. “I have very little biological tissue left on my body, and you are a robot. In this house, there is only one human. He might be in danger. But, I am not entirely certain.”
Xiao Fu received the hint.
It bolted out of the room, stepped on Xiang Nanli’s slippers, and jumped onto his lap: “Xiang Nanli, let’s go to the Surface! Xiao Fu wants to go home.”
Xiang Nanli was taken aback: “Right now? Isn’t it a bit late?”
Though he had actually planned to leave the next morning, as he still retained his old habit of sleeping in.
Beichen also replied: “I want to go to the Surface, too. The Underground… there are too many people. They don’t like me.”
Xiao Zhi chimed in right on cue: [The transport station has vehicles running 24 hours a day.]
Currently, there were exactly three family members in the house: Xiao Qing, Xiao Fu, and Beichen.
Xiao Bai, who looked like a human but wasn’t, was temporarily excluded from the family roster.
It was true that Xiang Nanli loved robots, but he drew a very clear line when defining what made a “companion.”
Xiao Bai was a housekeeping robot lacking a Anthropomorphic Module; its functionality vastly outweighed any emotional attachment. In Xiang Nanli’s eyes, it currently held no fundamental difference from a vacuum cleaner or a broom. Of course, after spending a long time together in the future, some affection would form. But right now, Xiao Bai had just been unboxed!
Out of three family members, two had expressed a desire to go to the Surface.
Xiang Nanli had no reason to refuse: “Alright, then. Xiao Zhi, buy three adult tickets.”
A mechanical dog like Xiao Fu counted as “luggage” and could just be carried along.
Dongfang Qingdi and Beichen, however, both needed tickets.
By the dining table, Xiao Bai couldn’t help but ask: “Xiang Nanli, what about me?”
“You’re staying home,” Xiang Nanli comforted him. “We need someone to watch the house. Guarding the house is a very important job too, right?”
The mechanical dog wasn’t heavy and fit within the luggage allowance, so it could just be brought along. But a robot like Xiao Bai would definitely incur overweight luggage fees.
The household simply didn’t have any spare money left! Unless he returned the two outfits he had just bought for Xiao Qing! But the delivery robot was only 500 meters away from the house!
Xiao Bai’s smile remained unchanged: “Yes, that’s correct.”
Dongfang Qingdi turned his head away to prevent the corners of his mouth from rising too obviously and ruining his image.
There was absolutely no need to secretly compete with a housekeeping robot.
It was just that Alpha couldn’t control himself. Perhaps it was because this housekeeping robot made him feel threatened…
Not a threat to his physical safety, of course, but a threat to his standing and intimacy in Xiang Nanli’s heart.
Yes, this was something Dongfang Qingdi didn’t really want to admit.
In Xiang Nanli’s heart, he wasn’t special to the point of being irreplaceable. Xiang Nanli cared about him, but that “care” was far away from the “love” he desired.
At this current stage, replacing him might only require a housekeeping robot equipped with some weapons.
Dongfang Qingdi began packing their luggage. There wasn’t much. He folded their clothes and placed the batch of Gene Serums from the Eternal City into the suitcase. He also packed Xiang Nanli’s usual maintenance tools, batteries, and blank chips. The suitcase was quickly stuffed to the brim.
At ten o’clock at night, the whole family stood neatly assembled at the doorway.
Xiang Nanli waved at Xiao Bai: “Xiao Bai, make sure to guard the house well.”
Xiao Bai folded his hands, rested them in front of him, and gave a slight bow: “Understood. Have a safe trip.”
The front door closed before Xiao Bai’s—or rather, Luoyang’s—eyes.
The lights shut off, plunging the room into total darkness. Only the unwashed plates on the dining table remained.
A cold sneer surfaced on his face.
Stop Xiang Nanli from leaving? That would be too stupid, and Alpha would definitely notice something was wrong.
But it didn’t matter. Did you think you could leave me just like that?
Luoyang finished washing the plates and tidied up the kitchen. He piloted this body over to the charging station.
He connected the charging cable to the port on the back of his neck and activated standby mode.
The light in Xiao Bai’s eyes gradually dimmed.
Technology has progressed, Xiang Nanli.
This is no longer the era you controlled.
As long as I wish it, anywhere covered by the cloud network, any robot produced by Immortality Tech can become my body.
I will once again… catch you.
—
Author’s Note:
Luoyang: A twisted Xiang Nanli simp, temporarily going offline.
Does Luoyang actually love Xiang Nanli or not? I can only say he is someone who has been stung by the radiance of a genius. He has spent countless nights burning with jealousy, and when the burning fades, youth brings about a surge of lust—making Xiang Nanli an exciting object of sexual/romantic fantasy. Later on, realizing he truly couldn’t catch up to him, he accepted his fate. Finally, when Xiang Nanli died in a societal sense, he felt both joy and sorrow.
The sorrow was that Xiang Nanli was pretty much dead. The joy was that Xiang Nanli was finally dead, and Immortality Tech and the cryo-pod were now in his hands.
