Chapter 330 - 322 Robot No.2_1

B-level Base.

Each visit by the space agency delegation usually lasted two or three days. The Big Shot especially liked the unique atmosphere here, relaxed but not slack, busy but not chaotic.

Moreover, one could often find all sorts of magical gadgets around the base, and its particularly high degree of automation was one point of interest.

Initially, Xinyuan had planned to choose a location in the city to serve as a reception, but whether it was the higher-ups or the space agency visitors, everyone preferred staying at the base. Firstly, it was convenient as it had an airport for direct landings, and it also boasted defensive forces for protection; secondly, it was very comfortable to stay here.

However, the Big Shot frowned today. He picked up two steamed buns in the cafeteria, but the pleats no longer looked as nice as before, and the handiwork seemed a bit off, uneven in thickness, which shouldn’t be the case.

Ye Changsi, sitting opposite, noticed his expression, curious, he too picked up a bun and took a big bite, reaching the generous meat filling mid-way. After a few chews, he quickly took a sip of bone broth and found a moment to ask, "What’s wrong, not used to the green onions?" Then he hurriedly stuffed the remaining half into his mouth.

Although they were now in an era of abundant resources, old habits die hard. Ye Changsi placed great importance on food; he believed buns with a lot of filling were the most delicious.

As the Big Shot spoke about the issue with the buns and speculated whether a new apprentice was responsible for making them, he also discreetly scrutinized the new deputy CEO recently hired by Xinyuan.

Xinyuan Company always seemed to find outstanding individuals from nowhere, like Ye Changsi for example, who had worked in space exploration with Roro, even in peripheral areas. After returning to his home country, it seemed he directly took charge of Qingshan Base’s work. Did that mean he had considerable mastery in nuclear technology?

Goodness, that wasn’t on his resume! And it couldn’t be a case of nepotism either.

What was more peculiar was that after two days of interacting, he found that Ye Changsi, like Xie Liaofu, possessed maturity beyond his years, as if he had led many large-scale projects before and had absolute confidence. His lifestyle was extremely simple, rarely opting for expensive dishes in the cafeteria.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ye had worked abroad for twenty years, he might have thought this was one of those silent scientists from the last century who toiled away in top-secret projects, hiding their brilliance behind an inconspicuous exterior.

However, he harbored no suspicions; to him, the world was vast and all kinds of people could exist, and these traits were all positive in his view.

Ye Changsi was unaware of how much he was being analyzed, and simply responded to the Big Shot’s inquiries.

"The buns? You must have had one made by Warrior II, oh, that is, Warrior II."

"Warrior II?" the Big Shot’s eyes widened. Wasn’t that a robot?

Ye Changsi nodded, "Yeah, it’s a derivative model of Courage I, specifically branching out into the service sector. The microelectronics department reduced its strength and enhanced its agility and endurance. Full of charge and used conservatively, it can last for two hours.

They said that in order to provide the best service, robots must integrate into human life, so Warrior II—what we usually call Warrior—wanders around the base aimlessly, learning and imitating various tasks.

Helping in the cafeteria, driving to transport materials, delivering takeout... It even worked in a workshop once, but it almost welded its hand onto a workpiece so it got kicked out. Nevertheless, we quite like it; since pets like cats and dogs aren’t allowed on the base, playing with Warrior is more entertaining than having a pet... Oh, there it is, do you see it?"

Following the direction of Ye Changsi’s pointing finger, the Big Shot and a few people from the space agency caught sight of Warrior II.

Their first impression was that it was delicate, a far cry from the robust Warrior I, which was engineered for heavy-duty work, handling emergencies, and withstanding damage in severe conditions. The limbs of Warrior II were like human bones, and it was significantly shorter, standing only at about 1.7 meters tall. Only its torso was a bit bulkier, but still not large.

Warrior II looked more vibrant than the metallic natural color of Warrior I, sporting a black and white paint job with a high-tech feel. At the moment, it was seated on an electric cart inside the facility, parked in front of a few employees who had already finished their dinner.

Warrior dismounted from the cart with a posture completely human-like, even deliberately lowering its head, although it didn’t need to. This was merely to make it appear more human, intentionally learning subconscious human behaviors.

The few people nearby had already grown accustomed to the scene and stood up cooperatively, moving away to give Warrior II the opportunity to learn. It wasn’t that they were lazy, but rather they were providing the robot with a chance to learn.

At this moment, the robot transformed into the likeness of a cafeteria auntie, deftly cleaning up the plates with its hands donned in rubber gloves. It dumped the trash from each plate into a bin, tossed paper wads and cups into another, and then neatly arranged the plates before picking up a damp cloth and a small plastic basin to wipe down the tables.

After everything was neatly done, it smoothly hung the gloves on the side of the electric cart and twisted the throttle in search of the next target.

Space Agency Trio: "???"

An expert with glasses and graying hair incredulously raised his chopsticks, pointing to the now clean table surface.

"Your artificial intelligence technology has reached this stage? Its actions are indistinguishable from a human’s!"

Another person chimed in immediately, "How does it accurately identify and determine the placement of its movements? I also noticed that when it was picking up trash, it bent its palm to place it on the ground. Could this be specialized optimization?"

"I have a question too. Why does Warrior II stick its butt out... lower its waist so much when wiping the table? Wouldn’t that just smear the grease around?"

Most people who came here had a technical background; even if they weren’t experts in the field, they could still make conversation and quickly raised several key questions involving fundamental logic.

Ye Changsi had not yet responded when his assistant stepped in to explain:

"’Warrior II’s artificial intelligence is derived from ’Bravery’. It is a big data self-learning type. The more it is taught, the more human-like it becomes, and the smoothness of its actions is because it has plenty of samples.

As for sticking out the ... lowering the waist, that’s because the design of service robots naturally leans towards the female form, so there might be some cross-error in the settings... "

Big Shot: "..."

Such an advanced robot, and you still harbor such lowly thoughts?

He wasn’t interested in discussing how human-like Warrior II was, but instead seriously considered the robot itself.

"You say that Warrior II’s design standard is just that of an average human, so at the very least it could be considered an adult, right? That’s very impressive already. A human who doesn’t fear death and can flexibly carry out all sorts of tasks, capable of pulling a trigger, Warrior I is more like a land tank, while Warrior II could completely take on the role of a human.

Without discussing anything else, I’m thinking why not just send the Warrior II robot on the Dawn III mission in place of an astronaut? Even if it is more fragile, it’s still stronger than the average person, and wearing a spacesuit wouldn’t be a problem. It could totally replace an astronaut for the landing!"

Ye Changsi hadn’t expected Big Shot’s imagination to be so vast, and he asked subconsciously:

"Isn’t the third mission a manned flight? Wouldn’t the payload be an issue?"

Big Shot shook his head.

"A Warrior II robot weighs at most 100 kilograms, just use the people’s spacesuit for it. An astronaut of that build could totally fit in it, squeezing out 100 kilograms definitely won’t be a problem.

Wow, I almost feel like we could let Warrior II pretend to be a human, go plant a flag, and land on the moon. Who would know it’s a robot behind the visor? Hmm, America was suspected of faking the moon landing, but we would be truly faking it!"