Chapter 191: Second rebirth, Protocol Four: swear to protect Yunxiao!

Before retiring, Yun Sheng told you the whole story, which made you once again realize the shamelessness of the human race.

In order to keep you safe, Yun Sheng extracted your main body—a palm-sized core—from you, which contains your database, the Crystal Core, and the Logic Core.

Without him, even a mecha resembling Chi Hong's is no longer Chi Hong, and Yun Sheng did this to pull a switcheroo, giving the real Chi Hong a golden cicada shell escape; what he will do next is forge a new 'Chi Hong'.

For this purpose, Yun Sheng delayed his retirement, using the excuse of wanting to spend Chi Hong's last moments with him, and forged data day and night; he wanted this forged Chi Hong to be as convincing as possible!

Yun Sheng's confidence in doing this lies in everyone's perception of mechas—that a mecha's body is what matters.

In their view, a mecha piloted by a high-level artificer necessarily possesses an extremely powerful ether core, and its mechanical frame has been strengthened over a long time by strong ether.

As for whether the consciousness is the original mecha's, they don't care at all.

Even now, in their eyes, a mecha is merely a handy tool—like a hammer: if the handle breaks, you just replace it; what matters most is the hammerhead.

But Chi Hong is different; Yun Sheng clearly knows that Chi Hong's most precious thing is definitely its core, and only that can be called the true Chi Hong.

Year 93 of the Mechanical Age: Yun Sheng retired, and the red mecha that had accompanied him for years was permanently left in the army, but he felt no nostalgia; he had made full preparations, and now nobody could tell that the current Chi Hong had been swapped.

And the most difficult part was editing a pile of shit code that couldn't be uploaded to the cloud yet still had to run normally; this was also the hardest part for Yun Sheng to forge, but fortunately he successfully completed this arduous task.

After enduring countless hardships, Yun Sheng finally set foot on the road home.

The somewhat heavy core in his pocket made him feel utterly at ease.

Gradually, a cluster of small villas came into Yun Sheng's sight, where his relatives and his home were.

Yun Sheng couldn't help but take out Chi Hong's core and mutter.

Old buddy.... Sorry, the plan to grow old together with you... I'm afraid I'll have to go back on my word.

Yun Sheng's fingers slightly clenched the mechanical core; in life, there are so many things that go as wished, yet everywhere one is subject to fate....

System rebooting.....

Reboot progress 58%....

Reboot progress 59%....

As the countdown ended, Chi Hong opened its eyes again, and this time its gaze was no longer the usual downward view of the ground.

It seemed.... to have become shorter...

Chi Hong? Chi Hong?

Yun Sheng waved his hand in front of him, and only then did Chi Hong react.

Old buddy, take a look at your current appearance—are you satisfied?

Yun Sheng grinned and pushed a mirror forward; in the mirror, a short-haired, handsome human youth was clearly reflected.

He looked at his own hands, which were indistinguishable from those of a normal human.

Question: What has happened to my current state?

Oh dear.

Yun Sheng laughed and waved his hand, then explained to Chi Hong.

Your current identity is that of a next-generation bionic housekeeping robot; sorry, to bring you back I could only resort to this measure.

But to compensate you, I specially found the most handsome skin suit for you to wear—how about that?

Since the development of the Mecha Age, the craftsmanship of housekeeping robots has become ever more advanced; nowadays housekeeping robots can already be indistinguishable from ordinary people, even surpassing humans in likeness.

However, without exception, to prevent these machines from turning on their masters, their computational power and memory are usually very low—so low that the possibility of mechanical consciousness awakening and independent thought is reduced to the minimum.

But now, Chi Hong has once again broken this rule; as a housekeeping robot, he possesses a database and computational power beyond ordinary imagination.

It seems.... he is always different every time.

Question: What should I do?

Hearing Chi Hong's question, Yun Sheng fell silent for a moment, then let out a slow sigh and laid bare the plan he had hidden in his heart.

For this old comrade-in-arms who pulled him out of the depths of life, Yun Sheng could not bear to deceive him.

Chi Hong.... is also his most important kin.

Listening to Yun Sheng slowly lay out his plan, Chi Hong's face, no different from an ordinary person's, showed no extra expression.

Answer: I understand....

Supplement: Iron Guard, you need not blame yourself; we are comrades.

Once more, a supplement: lifelong comrades.

Hearing Chi Hong's words, Yun Sheng felt somewhat moved; he raised his head and forced back the tears into his eyes.

I understand, thank you, Chi Hong.

Then....

Yun Sheng let out a long breath; when he opened his eyes again, the worry in them had vanished.

Chi Hong! Activate Protocol One!

Protocol One: In the absence of Iron Guard, one must not harm humans, must not resist humans, must not refuse humans, and Iron Guard's orders override all protocols.

Protocol One has been activated; Iron Guard's orders take precedence over all settings.

Protocol Transfer! Target person, Yunxiao!

Change the address for Yunxiao; the address is changed to: Miss.

Protocol transferred...

Address changed...

Good....

Yun Sheng nodded and continued.

Amend Protocol Four's content, namely: no matter what happens, no matter what occurs, one must swear to protect Yunxiao.

Furthermore, conceal Chi Hong's designation, changing it to: B118-type bionic housekeeping robot, until an appropriate time, when it will be changed back to Chi Hong.

The command has been received; the latest mission detected is to care for, protect, and assist Miss Yunxiao.

Chi Hong paused, the Logic Core was thinking; after a while, he finally uttered his last words.

"And kill the hidden mastermind, avenge Iron Guard Yun Sheng."

Yun Sheng seemed not to have expected Chi Hong to say such a mission, but he did not object.

"Besides, there is something more important: protect yourself well."

"Chi Hong... no, 118, welcome your rebirth."