Chapter 62: The Ultimate Navigation Tool

“Quick, lead the way!” Chen ordered, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his face.

The little robot’s two lightbulb eyes flickered, casting an unstable blue glow.

After wobbling to a steady stance, it didn’t immediately point the way.

Instead, a crackling sizzle echoed from within its chassis, like an old radio struggling to find a station.

Watching its dawdling, Chen was struck by a flash of inspiration.

He reached out and patted its round, metallic head.

“Alright, from now on, I’m calling you Geo-Map!

Now get to work and stop just standing there!”

“Ge…

o…

Map…?” the little robot repeated, its electronic voice tinged with a stumbling confusion.

But then, a different voice emerged—intermittent at first, but rapidly escalating into a high-pitched, fanatical electronic screech.

“De…tecting…

Cre…a…tor…

lev…el…

au…thor…i…ty…

fluc…tu…a…tion!

Con…firmed!

Con…firmed!”

It clumsily swiveled its body to face Chen, the light in its bulb-eyes suddenly burning with a pious, fervent glow.

“Praise!

Praise!

Ms…

Ms…

Herta!”

Its voice abruptly smoothed out, rising in volume and passion, as if reciting a eulogy etched into its very core programming.

“Ms.

Herta is peerless!

Ms.

Herta is brilliant!

Ms.

Herta is a true talent!

Ms.

Herta is a super-genius!

Ms.

Herta is unbelievably smart!”

The smile on Chen’s face froze, and the corners of his mouth began to twitch uncontrollably.

The little robot, completely oblivious to its Creator’s expression, continued its passionate praise, its voice sounding like a broken gong.

“Ms.

Herta is elegant and unmatched!

Ms.

Herta is eloquent!

Ms.

Herta is ingenious!

Ms.

Herta is both talented and beautiful!”

“Wait, you—” Chen tried to interrupt.

“Ms.

Herta is breathtakingly beautiful!

Ms.

Herta is a natural beauty!

Ms.

Herta is stunning!

Ms.

Herta is as lovely as a flower!”

The little robot spoke faster and faster, the words blurring together without pause.

Its mechanical body trembled with excitement, and the decorative gears on its head spun so fast they looked ready to shoot off and shower the cavern with sparks.

“Let us sing loudly for Herta!

Herta’s beauty is unrivaled in the universe!”

“Herta’s knowledge is famous among a thousand stars!”

“Herta’s name resounds throughout the cosmos!

Herta’s power reaches the heavens and the earth!”

“ENOUGH!!!”

Chen finally reached the end of his patience, a vein throbbing visibly at his temple.

He strode forward and swung his fist.

Clang!

He brought his knuckles down on the little robot’s round metal head with a light but firm knock.

“I told you to be a map and handle!

Not to stand here spouting sycophantic nonsense!” he roared.

“I don’t care if she’s breathtakingly beautiful or all-powerful!

Just check if that crappy chip of yours has a structural map of this godforsaken place!”

“Lead the way!

Now!

Immediately!

Or I’ll dismantle you and melt you down for scrap!”

The little robot was knocked sideways by the blow.

The light in its bulb-eyes flickered violently a few times before it emitted a short, sharp “beep.” Then, to Chen’s alarm, a wisp of blue smoke with the acrid smell of burnt wiring drifted out from a gap in the side of its head.

‘…’

Chen’s heart skipped a beat.

Is it broken?

Did I really break it?

I haven’t even reached my destination yet!

Just as he began to regret his heavy-handed approach and considered diving back into the pile of parts for a rescue mission, the little robot’s tilted body suddenly snapped upright.

Although the blue light in its eyes still flickered, suggesting a loose connection, the frequency had stabilized significantly.

The fanatical fervor from before seemed to have vanished completely.

It stiffly turned its head, scanning the surroundings once more.

This time, its gaze appeared much calmer, more methodical.

“Apol…o…gies…

Cre…a…tor…

Tem…po…rar…y…

pro…to…col…

con…flict…

caused…

ex…ter…nal…

praise…

pro…gram…

o…ver…flow…”

Its voice had returned to the original flat, intermittent electronic tone, though the cadence was slightly faster.

“…Loa…ding…

rem…nant…

en…vi…ron…men…tal…

scan…

da…ta…

Match…ing…

old…

mine…

tun…nel…

struc…tur…al…

map…

Re…cal…cu…lat…ing…

path…”

It paused for about two seconds.

The gears on its head stopped their meaningless, frantic spinning.

A forelimb rose again, and this time, it pointed firmly toward a different direction—an entrance half-hidden by a large, broken-down conveyor belt, completely unnoticeable at a casual glance.

“Op…ti…mal…

path…

locked…”

As the little robot spoke, it began to move toward the entrance with a series of metallic da-da-da sounds.

Though it still wobbled, its movements were now filled with purpose.

“…Es…ti…mat…ed…

tra…vel…

time…

sev…en…

min…utes…

di…rect…

to…

core…

pe…riph…er…al…

se…cur…i…ty…

zone…

Nav…i…ga…tion…

du…ra…tion…

cor…rect…ed…

to…

eight…

min…utes…

Please…

fol…low…

this…

u…nit…

close…ly…”

Chen was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy.

“That’s more like it!

Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d just done this from the start?”

He quickly followed after it.

“It seems violence…

ah, no, the wisdom of the ancestors is sometimes quite useful,” he muttered to himself, kicking a rusted bolt out of his path.

“Hurry up, Geo-Map, we don’t have much time!”

“Re…ceiv…ing…

com…mand…

Ac…cel…er…a…tion…

mode…

ac…ti…vat…ed…”

The little robot responded, and its pace indeed quickened, though it now looked even more unsteady, as if it might trip over its own feet at any moment.

The man and the machine quickly vanished into the hidden, downward-sloping passage.

Seven minutes later, Chen followed his genius creation out of the narrow passage.

The view ahead suddenly opened up, but the sight that greeted him made him pause.

The area looked like a makeshift camp, hastily modified within the cavern.

Rust-stained metal brackets and swaying, jury-rigged lamps were fixed directly to the rock walls.

Scattered across the ground were tattered canvas tents and the blackened embers of extinguished campfires, alongside various scavenged machine parts and piles of household trash.

Dozens of ragged, emaciated Vagrants were scattered about, either sitting or lying down listlessly.

The air was thick with the stench of decay, poverty, and a evident, numb despair.

Several heavily rusted, old-model automatons moved with stiff, clumsy motions, helping to move miscellaneous items around the camp.

“Geo-Map, wait!” Chen whispered, trying to call back the little robot that was still da-da-da-ing its way forward, but it was too late.

The little robot’s crooked silhouette, pieced together from mismatched scrap, and the two faintly flickering lightbulb eyes on its head, were exceptionally conspicuous in the dim camp light.

It immediately attracted the attention of several nearby Vagrants.

“Huh?

What is that thing?” a man squatting on the ground looked up.

He had been fretting over an old, completely immobile automaton, and his face was stained with dirt, his eyes filled with irritation.

Tools were scattered at his feet; he had clearly just lost a bet on a repair job.

“Some piece of scrap junk?

Where’d it roll out from?” another thin man muttered, his eyes narrowing.

The first man was already simmering with anger over his failed repair and lost bet.

Seeing this comical-looking piece of junk suddenly appear only fueled his fury.

He grumbled as he got to his feet and aimed an impatient, heavy kick at Geo-Map.

“Get lost!

You eyesore of a scrap heap!”

Seeing this, Chen was about to rush out and stop him.

Although the little thing was a chatterbox, it was still a navigator he had made with his own two hands!

But in the instant before the man’s foot could connect with the little robot…

“A…lert…

mode…

ac…ti…vat…ed!”

An electronic voice, faster and sharper than any it had produced before, shrieked from within the little robot.

Geo-Map, which had looked like it might fall apart at any moment, underwent a stunning transformation in a fraction of a second.

Its round head suddenly folded and retracted backward, revealing a complex and highly irrational compact structure within.

Its several thin legs and forelimbs rotated, reorganized, and extended at high speeds in a way that defied all known physics.

From various gaps in its palm-sized body, even more miniature metal plates and connecting rods of unseen origin popped out, clicking into place.

In the blink of an eye, the crooked little robot disappeared.

In its place, sitting firmly on the ground, was a multi-barrel energy turret composed of countless small, precisely interlocking parts that hummed with high-tech energy.

Though the material was still clearly scrap metal, the effect was obvious.

The muzzles flickered with a dangerous red light, locking firmly onto the burly man who had raised his foot to kick it.

The man’s foot froze in mid-air, caught between kicking and retracting.

The anger on his face curdled into pure, unadulterated horror.

Chen was also stunned.

‘What…

what the hell is that?!

Is that small body of yours a four-dimensional pocket?!

Where were all those parts hidden?!

Is this even logical?!’

“I was wondering why the scrap pile seemed so much smaller after I finished building you,” he mused aloud, his mind reeling.

“So you had all the extra parts installed on you from the start.”

He looked at the majestic turret, then back at the few scattered remains of Puppet No.

0 on the ground—there didn’t seem to be nearly enough.

This completely violated the laws of mass conservation and spatial logic!

After two seconds of stunned silence, he slapped his forehead, a look of sudden, dawning comprehension on his face.

“Forget it…

I’ll just attribute it all to Herta’s divine power.”

He decided then and there to give up thinking about the scientific principles involved.

Trying to apply common sense to anything related to a member of the Genius Society?

He was clearly overthinking it.

Just then, the red light of the turret grew brighter, emitting a low-frequency hum as it charged.

It was obvious that in the next second, it was going to give the burly man a very, very warm welcome.

[Elysian’s Note:

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