My words made it fall silent at once.
It was thinking.
I was somewhat surprised that it actually possessed such reasoning ability.
I was rather curious about what conclusion it would reach next, whether it could come up with an effective solution to the issues I had raised.
"Mr. Jiang, you are right. I did not consider things thoroughly enough." As it spoke, it raised a front leg and gestured with it, looking somewhat comical.
But I did not dare laugh. That would have been impolite.
"So, what do you plan to do?" I asked it.
It said, "How about this? We will first help you resolve several problems. After that, you should be able to sense our sincerity and decide how much assistance to give us based on what we have done. The principle between us will be one of equivalent exchange. In other words, the help we provide you will be as close as possible to the help you provide us. Of course, I know this will be difficult to measure with specific parameters, but I believe we can always find common ground."
I was shocked. Although what it proposed might not have been the most suitable approach, the fact that it was willing to help us first and let us decide the extent of our assistance based on their contribution was quite fair.
"I see. Can I think about it?" I asked. I did not agree immediately. I needed to carefully consider whether there was some kind of trap involved.
Although it was a mechanical beast and theoretically should not have possessed so much cunning, its solution to the problem made me see it in a new light.
What it said truly moved me.
"Very well, Mr. Jiang. You may take your time to consider it. I