Chapter 197: Starting with one person and one dog

Hah... hah... great!

Inside a relatively intact house ruin, 118 and Xiaoyunxiao gathered around a fire made of insect shells and limbs, with several pieces of tender insect meat placed above it, sizzling and oozing oil as they roasted.

The insect disaster is endless and extremely terrifying; it devours any organic matter they can see, their mouthparts are sharp, their exoskeleton hard, their blood is strong acid, yet despite being such a horrifying creature, their meat is extraordinarily delicious.

Not only is it rich in protein, it also has just the right amount of fat, but this deliciousness can only be tasted from freshly killed insect disasters; if an insect disaster has been dead for more than fifteen minutes, its acidic blood will corrode the tender meat, making it unsuitable to eat.

But no matter what, they are currently Xiaoyunxiao's best rations.

Meanwhile, 118 was tinkering with an antique quantum radio he happened to find in the ruins, trying to activate it.

118 didn't want Xiaoyunxiao to hear any bad news, so he took apart the radio, wired it into his own receiver, making it equivalent to a Bluetooth earpiece, with all received signals being converted into his Logic Core.

'The Federation is splitting.... AI rebellion.... Insect Tide invasion...'

Listening to the intermittent sounds, 118 furrowed his brows and looked toward Yunxiao.

Although she is now eating with utter bliss, 118 at this moment cannot help but consider their survival problem.

Now, Xiaoyunxiao has 118's protection and the hope that her parents will return to rescue her, but she does not know what she will soon face.

But 118 knows that Yun Sheng and the others.... will not come back.

The problem they now face is merely food, water, and shelter.

But....

118 stared at his arm, blackened from corrosion by the insect's acidic blood, while his Logic Core kept thinking.

As a machine, he needs neither food nor water.

But at the same time, his body will continuously wear down, his parts will continuously degrade, until completely scrapped.

And the insect blood that flows from the insect disaster, which is also highly acidic, will greatly increase the rate of wear.

Moreover, there is the crucial energy problem; as a domestic robot, its energy reserves are certainly less than those of a normal mecha.

But fortunately, Yun Sheng made ample preparations for him; 118 now uses a military mecha ether fuel tank, whose stored energy is enough to let him operate for two years.

But.... what about after two years?

Without 118, how can Yunxiao survive in this ruin world overrun by the insect disaster?

Moreover, the Federation has already split; no one knows when rescue will return, or perhaps the entire civilization has already been destroyed.

Under these circumstances, how long can they possibly hold out here?

It is now approaching afternoon; occasionally wandering insect disasters can be encountered around them, but 118 knows this is only temporary.

Before long, insect nests will begin to spawn on this planet, and the strength and numbers of the insect disaster will surge.

At that point, only mechs can be used to oppose them.

Now, these insect disasters are merely at the 'larva' stage; the ones that would devastate the entire planet's surface are not them, but those that have reached the 'winged' stage.

Soon, these insect disasters will undergo their first cocooning, molting into the carapace stage; at that time, 118 would be unable to defeat them bare-handed.

'Mission issued: Seek shelter....'

118 issued the mission for himself; seeing that Xiaoyunxiao had eaten her fill, he took her hand and walked toward the distance.

It seems that in this apocalypse, they will need to rely on each other for a while....

"In the blink of an eye, a whole month has passed like this; thanks to your efforts, you have successfully built a concealed underground shelter, but calling it a shelter is actually just you digging out an emergency underground bunker."

"This is not the one dug by Yun Sheng; the facilities here are complete, the safety factor high—probably prepared in advance by some doomsday enthusiast for himself."

"But now it has become cheap for you and Yunxiao; thinking of the days ahead, you decided to start gathering supplies while the insect disaster hasn't yet fully strengthened, preparing so that even if Yunxiao never leaves the house long-term, she can still survive."

At this moment, Yunxiao curiously took a small knife ground from threaded steel, waved it a few times in the air, then excitedly ran to the side of 118, who was pulling a small cart ahead, and voiced her thoughts.

"Big brother! Look, we're just like the protagonist in that post-apocalyptic survival game!"

"Start with one person and one dog! Supplies all rely on scavenging!"

Hearing this, 118's Logic Core rose with a speechless emotion, looking toward Yunxiao, who was waving the threaded-steel small knife nearby.

"Correction: Miss, I am not a dog."

Yunxiao froze for a moment, scratched her head foolishly, and then realized she had been presumptuous.

"Cough cough cough! I! I mean I am the little dog!"

Yunxiao laughed embarrassedly twice, and that was indeed what she truly meant to express.

After all, much of the time, she is the one who picks up trash....

118 watched the nearby Xiaoyunxiao amusing herself, and his Logic Core began to sprout some different thoughts.

He felt that he should have Xiaoyunxiao learn some other knowledge.

Just now, while searching for supplies, they found many various professional books; although they are still struggling to survive, 118 feels that Yunxiao should learn more like a normal human child.

Although the time until rescue arrives is uncertain and distant, as long as there remains a glimmer of hope to return to normal human society, 118 will hope that Yunxiao can live like a normal person,

Of course, I suppose Yun Sheng must think the same.

"Prompt: Miss, you can now think about what subject you would like to study next; I can offer you suggestions."

Xiaoyunxiao thought for a moment, then glanced without changing expression at the pair of arms 118 was gripping on his homemade cart.

Those arms once had the warmth of a normal person, tough and giving a sense of security, but they have now disappeared; the synthetic skin on them has been completely corroded by insect acid, revealing a cold, gleaming mechanical hand.

And this, is merely after just one month....

Although Yunxiao does not like studying and prefers to go out and play, she is actually more intelligent than the average child.

She clearly realizes that if this continues, 118's arms will eventually be corroded to the point of scrapping.

So....

"I want to learn mach.....!"

"Miss! Please be careful!"

Before she could finish, a sudden insect disaster hiss sounded nearby, followed by the sound of metal clashing.

And when Yunxiao reacted, the over-one-meter-long carapace-stage insect disaster before her had already engaged in mortal combat with 118....