Chapter 185
Translator’s Utterly Random Notes: Do you guys think if I write about my visual novel collection more people would pay attention to SRH? *has gone insane*
Chapter 185: Robot Kingdom [Part 1]
This time, their destination was the core planet of Sector G District F, planet G-F100. Its size was moderate, and although it was appointed as the core planet of District F, in reality its planetary habitability didn’t reach Rank A. It was a rank B planet that had poorer conditions.
The owner of planet G-F100 was called Robert Frentz. He was also the person who negotiated the contract with Falvey.
Speaking of the Robert Family; the GAL famous robot family, they actually did not number over a hundred people. They could be said to be the unconventionals of the unconventionals among all the other reputable families in GAL.
Unlike the other families, the Robert Family did not have human servants, bodyguards and so on. Instead, they were replaced with extremely realistic robots who looked so lifelike that many people could not differentiate whether the Robert Family’s robots were real or fake humans even if they were to stand right in front of them. These robots could even fool some scanner as well.
In the past, the Third B Squadron and Sixth B Squadron had only learned about the Robert Family’s robots through the reports in electronic publications. However, what they’d seen today with their own eyes obviously stunned them to a greater degree.
The stars.h.i.+ps parked at the s.p.a.ce station outside the planet, and only a large majority of combat personnel and small minority of logistics personnel were going to set foot on planet G-F100. Shawton had only brought three teams with him, and Cillin’s team was one of them. As compared to Falvey’s disposition of forces, Shawton’s side was a lot more low-key. After all, they were only accompanying the Third Squadron, so they couldn’t possibly grab the limelight for themselves.
After descending from the s.p.a.ceplane, Cillin cast a glance at a flock of birds flying by in the sky.
"These are all robo-birds." the gray cat didn’t look conflicted just because these birds weren’t carbon lifeforms. In fact, it looked rather happy at the discovery. As a rare specie in the universe, its diet was incredibly diverse. Naturally, it could consume carbon birds, but it could consume robo-birds just the same. It’s not bad to eat something different for a change after all.
"Moderate yourself. The observers would notice if any one of these robo-birds go missing. It’ll be hard to explain things if their disappearances were traced back to you." Cillin stretched out a finger and poked the gray cat’s head.
"I know, I’m just saying. I’ll pretend that I don’t understand what those robots are talking about." the gray cat licked its paw, looked up and inhaled deeply, "What a familiar smell." It was the smell of machines.
The planet’s layout looked almost the same as a rank A planet’s. In fact, it looked prettier than a rank A planet. After all, a robot would not generate as much daily garbage.
There were some people who were raising sheeps on a wide gra.s.sland. The gra.s.s was real gra.s.s, and the goats were real goats, but the same could not be said about the humans raising them. Perhaps they were all robots, but looked almost identical to normal people.
Falvey led the group over a stretch of road on the gra.s.sland before stopping to say, "It should be here; to the left side of the planet."
Gra.s.slands filled the left and right side of the group. They were s.p.a.cious and empty, and the shepherds from earlier were all gone. They had not encountered anyone else along the way.
"This is the place we’ve agreed upon, so there should be no mistake. Let’s wait." Shawton said to the Sixth B Squadron members walking towards him.
Since both the commanders had given their word, naturally no one would refute them. They waited obediently at the spot.
Scarlet Wind was obviously excited to see the gra.s.sland. The planet he was on earlier did not have such beautiful gra.s.sland.
A lot of animals liked gra.s.slands. s...o...b..ll and the gray cat were already rolling on the gra.s.slands. Tico’s little rabbit had also been set loose to feed on the gra.s.s. Dough’s body color was identical to the gra.s.sland’s, so it was impossible to see where it was unless one was paying attention.
"Actually, the reason this planet was categorised as rank B was because it had too little resources. However, this planet’s conditions slowly changed under Robert Frentz and his robot kingdom’s influence. After all, there were very, very few people who needed to eat on this planet. Most of the ‘people’ here only needed to absorb solar energy to function." Shawton explained to the group.
"This was what made the Robert Family astounding. The robot kingdom is still the robot kingdom beneath this gra.s.sland." Eudy said while looking at the scanner’s panel.
"After this planet was reformed, it became Robert Frentz’s kingdom, whereas Robert Frentz himself was the king of this planet."
While listening to Shawton and Beaver’s words, Cillin also noticed the activity beneath the gra.s.sland.
The activity underground wasn’t big. In fact, it was almost indistinguishable above the gra.s.sland. However, the reason this gra.s.sland was able to grow so lushly wasn’t only because of the light s.h.i.+elds. The ground itself was infertile, and the nutrients and elements necessary for the growth of all kinds of plants were lacking. That was why the machines beneath the ground had pumped nutrients and elements into this land.
Soil reform from underground was a lot more environmentally friendly than spraying the nutrients and elements directly on the surface, and the utilisation rate would improve by a lot too. This method was also closer to the Robert Family’s ‘realism’ standards, and it looked more natural on the surface.
However, what was reformed was reformed. No matter how lifelike they appeared, they were still reformed. Once the reformation process was stopped, everything would return to what it once was. The Robert Family was a group of people who enjoyed living in their own worlds.
The group didn’t wait for too long when a flying car flew over from afar. It made a beautiful turn once it approached the group, stopped in the air before them and slowly descended to the ground.
A person walked out from inside the car. He looked very fit, and he wore a warm smile on his face. After roughly sweeping a glance across the people on the gra.s.sland, he walked directly towards Falvey.
"Mr. Falvey, I apologize to have kept you and your men waiting for so long. My boss was held up with something, and he could not to clear up the time to come personally. Please accept our apologies." the person said clearly and walked before Falvey. After saluting in the manner of an aristocrat, he said, "My name is Carl. My boss has ordered to welcome you."
"Mr. Carl, I am very happy to see you. We have not waited for long either."
Falvey did not reveal much emotion on his face, and the ‘happiness’ he spoke of did not show at all. Of course, this did not mean that he was angry. Falvey’s expressions were just scarce to begin with.
Carl continued to smile gently. After the brief introduction, he said, "Please follow me, everyone."
A s.p.a.ceplane descended from the sky following Carl’s voice. Carl made an inviting gesture, but he did not follow the group into the s.p.a.ceplane. The s.p.a.ceplane had a pilot inside already.
The s.p.a.ceplane flew away when both squadrons had gone up the vehicle. Meanwhile, Carl leaped into the flying car he sat in before and followed them from behind.
The destination of the s.p.a.ceplane was a village-like place. Here, there were no high rise buildings, and no atmosphere of bustling cities like
The group were all a little amazed by the sight before them.
The ‘men’ carried many bags of packed crops into the warehouse. The ‘women’ were bantering with each other and drying clothes beside pomegranate trees. The ‘children’ were playing games in groups, running everywhere with soil stuck on their bodies.
"They’re all&h.e.l.lip;" Cary looked a little suspicious.
"They are all robots." Eudy said.
"They’re all robots?!" Tang Qiuqiu stared curiously at every person on both sides of the street. These ‘people’ looked different from the robots she’d seen before. Don’t they look a little too&h.e.l.lip; real?!
"Wah——"
A child’s cry broke through the air. Several kids had accidentally kicked another kid while they were playing, and as a consequence the kid who was kicked did not s.n.a.t.c.h the playing card he wanted in time.
The crying sound was truly indistinguishable from the real one, drawing tears from anyone who heard it and shocking those who learned about it. The tears in the kids’ eyes were especially realistic, smearing his already dusty and soil stained face even dirtier than before.
"Are they&h.e.l.lip; really&h.e.l.lip; robots?" Cary asked again.
This time, Eudy and Beaver fell silent too.
A man walked out of the house because of the kid’s cries and picked him up from the ground. He wiped the tears from the kid’s face and tried to calm him down with a smile. He handed over a playing card to the kid, and finally the kid who had cried so hard that his face was swollen red finally broke into a smile.
Eudy and the others continued to maintain their silence. Even Shawton did not dare to guess recklessly, or it would be embarra.s.sing if they made a mistake.
Carl who was leading the way in front simply smiled faintly at the sight. He continued to guide them forwards.
When he pa.s.sed by the chair the kid had sat down on earlier, Cillin extended a hand and wiped the tear of the crying kid that had been left behind on the chair seemingly at random.
"What is it? Did you find something?" Cary moved over and saw the water on Cillin’s hand, "Is that a tear?"
The gray cat that was originally lying on Cillin’s shoulders grew energetic and stretched its neck over. Seeing this, Cillin wiped part of the tear on his finger directly onto the gray cat’s whiskers.
The gray cat shook its head in disdain, ‘Tsk, water."
"Yes, water. That is all there is to it." Cillin said.
Cary didn’t quite come to realisation just yet, "What do you guys mean?"
Tico, dressed in a big white coat walked over and explained, "If it just just water, then that kid just now really is a robot. A human’s tear does not contain just water. If we are to categorise them, they can be differentiated into basic types, reflexive types, emotional types and so on. For example, the tears leaked when a person is sad or moved are different. The composition of the tear is different. Be it the metallic elements such as sodium, pota.s.sium, manganese etc or enzymes, the composition of a tear is different depending on the situation."
This was the complexity of a human being. Unlike human beings, a robot could only leak water from their eyes no matter how realistic they appeared to be. They were not as complex as a human’s tear.
"I see." Cary nodded in understanding.
"Even so, Robert Family’s robots are just too shocking." Eudy lamented. It was real, too real. The sensation of touch and the blue veins popping from the ‘man’s’ arm when he held up the kid looked very realistic.
However, they were all robots. In Robert Family’s robot kingdom, every ‘person’ here could instantly change modes and transform into a combat tool that was no less dangerous than the Third Squad and Sixth Squad’s combat personnel if needed.
This was just the robots in Robert Frentz’s robot kingdom. What about the domain of other members of the Robert Family? Did they look about the same as well?
"Robots like these could sell for at least eight figures per unit outside." Beaver said. He was aware of the Robert Family’s special robots’ selling price at least.
"Maybe we can buy an arm if we sell me." Cary mumbled to himself.
Translator’s Notes: This t.i.tle reminds me so much of Doraemon and the Robot Kingdom. Have a bit of nostalgia. XD Also, thank you J.J., H.R. and all Patrons for sponsoring the previous chapter!
Chapter 185: Robot Kingdom [Part 2]
While letting out sighs of admiration at Robert Family’s robot kingdom, the group followed Carl to a building that looked like an ancient castle.
After they went inside, several people dressed in ancient knight uniforms standing beside the corridor performed an ancient salute when they saw Carl.
"Humph, those two robots are talking s.h.i.+t about us!" the gray cat said indignantly beside Cillin’s ears after they walked far away. No one else but Cillin could hear its words.
"What did they say?" Cillin raised a hand and scratched the bottom its chin.
The robots weren’t communicating with each other through words, but a kind of electromagnetic wave that was nigh undetectable even by rank A human beings. Therefore, although the two people dressed in knight uniforms looked like they were just standing there solemnly with their mouths firmly shut, they’d in fact communicated a lot of things with each other.
The gray cat’s eyes narrowed at Cillin’s chin rub, "They say that everyone of us look incredibly ugly and dumb, and that they can’t believe we’re bringing animals with us. They say that s...o...b..ll is as fat as a ball, and that my hair color is very ugly. What the meow! They have no appreciation for aesthetics at all!" the gray cat humphed.
"There’s no need to split hairs over them. You are a lifeform several ranks higher than them."
"Of course I am! Didn’t you notice that I pretended that I heard nothing? This is what they call ‘disregard’, isn’t it?" the gray cat said proudly.
"Yes, yes, you’ve performed very well today!" Cillin said. A cat must be stroked the right direction, or its hair would puff up.
Carl led the group into a grand hall. There were some carefully prepared food in the grand hall and beautiful maids standing at the side. If they hadn’t known that more than ninety nine percent of the ‘people’ here were all robots, some of them would’ve stirred at the pretty sight. Now, they could only put all of their aroused energy on their food. Of course, a basic level of caution was a must. The two commanders hadn’t brought them along to play the role of gluttons and decorations.
Carl said that Frentz was still busy, and that they shouldn’t hold themselves back and eat first.
The group didn’t hold themselves back. In any case, the Robert Family was absolutely not lacking in money.
After they were done eating, Carl led Falvey and Shawton into the study first while the others waited outside. After meal refreshments and tea were served so that the guests did not look neglected.
Cary despised such superficial procedures greatly, but despising something and choosing to eat were two different things. Therefore, he had hadn’t missed out on any refreshment and tea.
Cillin sat on his chair and drank tea at his leisure. Meanwhile, the gray cat lay on top of Cillin’s shoulder, kept its ears open and listened in on those electromagnetic waves and ‘gossip’ between robots.
In reality, the electromagnetic waves transmitted by these robots could not be deciphered by anyone but people like Frentz, who knew how the electromagnetic waves should be converted into coded signals. Not even Cillin could figure out what these electromagnetic waves meant even if they were caught by instruments. The only reason the gray cat could understand it was because it had the advantage of being a half cyborg.
The gray cat tried very hard to keep a straight face as it listened in to the robot’s gossip. However, its shaking whiskers let Cillin knew that this fellow was on the verge of exploding.
"Don’t choke on it. Just laugh if you want to laugh. As long as it’s not too ridiculous, no one will know that you’re laughing over what those robots were talking about."
The gray cat grinned and was about to tell an interesting tale it just heard, when suddenly it froze.
"What is it?" Cillin noticed the gray cat’s abnormality.
The gray cat thought for a moment before saying, "&h.e.l.lip; something’s wrong."
A while later, the gray cat worked hard to maintain a normal expression on its cat face. However, what it told Cillin made him tense up all over.
"I’ve just received a piece of electromagnetic wave that’s very familiar and impressive&h.e.l.lip; it’s the electromagnetic wave that I’ve received back at the warehouse when we went to that grade three prison planet in Sector S not long ago."
‘Grim Reaper’!
This was Cillin’s first reaction. He could not think of anyone else but ‘Grim Reaper’ right away.
The grade three prison’s defense systems and defense network – be it in or off planet – had completely collapsed. It was no wonder Cillin was this nervous in face of such technology. After all, the grade three prison planet’s downfall was too horrific.
"Keep listening." Cillin told the gray cat.
"Mm, I know." the gray cat was no longer joking around. Because it had been controlling its expression all this time, no one noticed anything unusual from it even now.
Cillin did a concealed hand gesture, and everyone including Eudy and Dias felt sudden apprehension when they saw it. They might not know what was going on, but the meaning behind Cillin’s hand gesture was all too important.
High alert!
Why did Cillin tell them to be on high alert?
When Tico saw Rikulab’s hand gesture and the little rabbit folding its ears and trembling inside her coat pocket, she sucked in a deep breath.
There was trouble. Big trouble. Otherwise, Little White’s ears would not shake this way.
Tico had always known about the little rabbit’s ability to predict danger. She also figured out what its trembling ears meant after so many years of a.s.sociation.
The Third B Squadron had also seen the hidden message Cillin sent them. While they still appeared to be chatting and laughing as before, they were ready to react to anything.
They were all people who had experienced many things, and they all had their own ways of dealing with a situation like this. However, there were many robot maids surrounding them, so they could not react too obviously.
Scarlet Wind took huge bites off the food on his plate while keeping its sharp ears perfectly straight. Right now he was paying attention to his surroundings at every moment, and it was no longer wagging its tail.
Cillin stood up. Everyone around him was looking at him.
He smiled and said, "I just now received news about the T13 minerals. Let me inform the commander and Commander Falvey about it; we may be able to increase our price."
No one believed Cillin’s words, but some people understood that it meant that the matter was related to the two commanders, and that the two commanders were in danger!
"I’ll accompany you." Cary said.
It wasn’t just Cary; the lieutenant commanders of both Squadrons wanted to accompany him as well. However, Cillin had turned them down.
"It’s fine. It’ll only take a moment. You guys should wait here, there are a lot squaddies here after all."
What he meant was: if something happens, you guys need to be here to lead our squadmates. If we all head over then things will get difficult to manage. Plus, it’s easier for me to act alone.
They did not insist after hearing Cillin’s words.
Udoze looked a little nervous. Thankfully, he lowered his head so that no one could notice the anxiety in his heart. Beaver patted his shoulder to indicate him to calm down. He looked up and gave Beaver a smile, "I’m fine, I choked on something just now."
After inhaling deeply several times, Udoze also became a lot calmer than before.
Cillin walked to Frentz’ study. However, the maids did not attempt to stop him. This puzzled Cillin greatly.
This shouldn’t be&h.e.l.lip;