Chapter 201: Mysterious Existence, Agreement Four

Humans have not been exterminated; we are successively launching recovery operations on the surrounding disaster-stricken planets! Now we announce the approximate recovery time for each planet!

Disaster zone recovery work....

Two years?

118 wore an abstract-style painting, and in the hole that Yunxiao had dug out on the painting, the light of his mechanical eye flickered twice.

Can't last until then.

The Logic Core performed a calculation; based on the current energy reserves, 118 cannot possibly last until the day Xiaoyunxiao is rescued.

Now, all 118 can do is to prepare as many escape routes as possible for Xiaoyunxiao.

Another two and a half months have passed; the wear rate of your body is faster than calculated, perhaps because the Insect Disaster is growing stronger, or perhaps because your working hours are too long; in any case, your combat power is declining rapidly.

Without professional equipment, and given that Xiaoyunxiao's age is far too young to be able to use ether, even if she tries hard she cannot produce very good components.

In that vast expanse of ruins, each and every broken domestic robot is your material stockpile; in a daze, you again recall the time when you scavenged scraps to get by in Scrap Mountain.

"Putting it in human terms, do you think this counts as a miserable fate?" You can't help but voice this question.

Besides that, Xiaoyunxiao has recently become nervous; she will stealthily observe you with a strong sense of guilt, she will leer at you while you work, and even when you are on standby she will panic and run up to you to confirm whether you are still alive.

It's clear she is very worried about you, which you can understand, after all she doesn't know how much longer you can exist.

The Insect Disaster grows stronger day by day, the Keratin-grade Insect Disasters outside are increasing, and with your body continually wearing down and your strength declining, your food-gathering efficiency keeps dropping.

Keratin-grade Insect Disasters are hard to deal with; if you encounter one, it basically means death. The next stage of a Keratin-grade Insect Disaster is 'Vibrating Wings', and a Vibrating-Wings-grade Insect Disaster is the main force in the Insect Tide.

They gain the ability to fly into space, and once they reach the Vibrating-Wings stage, these Insect Disasters will fly to space to converge, fighting each other until a Head Insect is born; with the birth of the Head Insect, a new wave of Insect Tide will emerge—this is the complete life cycle of the Insect Disaster.

It is as if there is some kind of program, something born solely to destroy civilization, without thought, only instinct.

Time does not stop for anyone; everyone is the same, wear and tear increases day by day, your components are constantly replaced, and at this moment time suddenly feels prolonged—you feel each day has become many times longer, and even the once-clear faces in the database begin to blur....

You seem to be starting to become forgetful....

But then one day you suddenly realize that this is perhaps not forgetfulness, nor have you learned to forget, but.... wear and tear.

As a machine, your body continually weathers and wears down in the river of time until it disappears completely.

Your components are like that, your limbs are like that, and even your most core Crystal Core.... is the same.

Actually, it's not that you have developed emotions; it's that your Logic Core has begun to age. When you previously saw Xiaoyunxiao's abstract painting, the pause of your Logic Core was not due to wordless emotion, but because your Logic Core could not process it.

Everything is an illusion; you can't tell, you can't understand, and just then a voice suddenly sounded.

Ridiculous! Ridiculous!

A machine produced on an assembly line actually fantasizes that it has born emotions?

You, who possess great computing power and an immortal body, actually still crave emotions? Delusional.

A certain mysterious existence mocks your misery; he seems to ridicule all things that attempt to surpass themselves, and the mechanical Logic Core falls into self-doubt.

"You are nothing but a machine." the Logic Core concludes, and this is also the sentence he heard most often in the countless times he was bought and sold.

Perhaps because of genuine aging, or perhaps due to some other factor, your core has experienced its first prolonged crash in its lifetime.

When you recover again, before you is Yunxiao's heart-wrenching cries....

Wu... wu... wu....

I have come back, Miss.

Just now... it was merely a crash.

Yunxiao still choked back sobs nonstop; during this period, her number of crying bouts exceeds that of the past ten years.

But 118 can understand; in this endless Fierce Prison, the only relative accompanying him is also about to leave, and Yunxiao is merely a twelve-year-old girl.

Miss, my energy... is running low.

Rescue will arrive within two years; we need to stockpile supplies as much as possible during this time.

I don't want... I don't want....!

I don't want you to leave!

Yunxiao knew this day would come; beforehand she had made countless mental preparations for herself.

But when the fact finally lay before her, Xiaoyunxiao still could not accept it.

"Remaining energy reserve: 7%"

After replacing bodily parts, the original mechanical structures were destroyed; the energy required to maintain the body's movement increased, and the originally expected standby time also became shorter.

You tell her to be strong, not to be sad, that you are merely a machine; Yunxiao will rebut you, will repeat that you are her family, but in the end you still convince Yunxiao.

To stockpile food, you set your sights on an underground supermarket one kilometer outside; according to your survey, the number of Insect Disasters there is within controllable limits, and the sole Insect Disaster about to undergo 'Vibrating Wings' will soon pupate.

Compared to other dangerous areas, this is the best way to obtain food.

You begin to lure the Insect Disasters inside for cleaning....

Miss, please prioritize taking canned food; don't keep staring at the chips.

Yunxiao's hand holding the chips paused, she scratched her head, and ultimately she still chose a yellow peach can and gently placed it in the basket.

Countless food items are scattered on the ground; fortunately the Insect Disasters don't know how to use them, merely treating this place as a spawning site.

At this moment, as long as you look up, you can certainly see dense masses of insect silk and eggs.

One person and one machine, having gathered enough food, began to return the same way; but just then they actually encountered an Insect Disaster head-on at the corner.

Encountering love at the corner—this appears to be a newly hatched little Insect Disaster strolling outside.

Upon seeing the person and machine, its tiny brain glitched for a moment, then it suddenly burst out an extremely shrill insect scream.

Not good!

Yunxiao was terrified beyond measure, while 118 had already stabbed this young Insect Disaster to death with a single blow, but the entire Insect nest at this moment has already erupted into chaos.

Miss! Please withdraw quickly!

I will cover your retreat!

118 pulled an axe from behind his back, his mismatched mechanical parts glinting with a cold light, he fixed his gaze on the Insect Disaster coming toward him.

"Protocol Four: Protect the miss!"