War Machine One

For 1,300 Star Coin, Gu Ding bought the metal sphere that the Sea Emperor had mentioned and the several gem-like crystals that Liliath had.

After storing the items in his Storage Space and leaving the market, Gu Ding finally asked the Sea Emperor, "Sea Emperor, what exactly is that metal sphere?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be a manufacturing robot left over from the Middle Ancient Era," Sea Emperor stated his assessment.

"Manufacturing robots?" Liliath was taken aback when she heard the name. "Are you talking about those advanced intelligent robots in large manufacturing plants, worth hundreds of millions of Universe Coin?"

"Yes, even more powerful than that one," Sea Emperor added. "The robots used in manufacturing plants now are simplified versions of this one, with less than a tenth of its capabilities. Middle Ancient Era manufacturing robots had evolved into true life forms, possessing their own emotions."

"So this guy should be able to help us repair the spaceship, right?" Gu Ding immediately thought of repairing the spaceship.

"But the Middle Ancient Era are billions of years ago. Can this robot still be used?" Liliath was not too optimistic.

"The crystals I just had you buy are the Energy Crystal used by their race, but the ones you bought are already fragments, so I don't know if they can be activated," Sea Emperor explained. "Go back to the spaceship at the port first, activate the shielding function, and try to wake it up."

At Sea Emperor's suggestion, the two quickly returned to the spaceship and activated the shielding function. Gu Ding then retrieved the metal sphere and several crystals of varying sizes.

"Sea Emperor, there are no slots for placing crystals on this sphere." Gu Ding turned the sphere around, unsure of where to begin.

"Just stick the crystal directly onto the metal sphere and press it down firmly. Although it's still in a dormant state, it will instinctively absorb the Energy Crystal as it senses it," Sea Emperor patiently explained.

Following the instructions, Gu Ding attached the fragments of the Energy Crystal. After about ten seconds, the surface of the metal sphere began to liquefy, and the Energy Crystal slowly began to sink into the sphere. Seeing that this method was effective, Gu Ding began to attach the remaining fragments of the Energy Crystal one by one.

After all the Energy Crystal fragments had been absorbed, Gu Ding and Liliath waited patiently to the side.

Three full minutes passed, and the metal sphere remained unchanged. Gu Ding raised his eyebrows. "Looks like it won't work. I don't know if it's too old to start or if there's not enough energy."

"Wait a little longer. According to my records, the reactivation of this type of robot is a very complex process. Their minds have evolved to a point where they are not entirely determined by programs; they are truly advanced intelligence. They also possess their own memories and personalities. Reactivation involves many aspects, and this process takes time." Sea Emperor didn't seem to have given up. Although he couldn't detect the robot's current internal condition at all, he had a vague intuition that this guy was very likely to become a member of Gu Ding's Pirate Crew.

Gu Ding and Liliath waited for more than half an hour, but the metal sphere still did not change, so they finally gave up.

After disabling the spaceship's shields, at Sea Emperor's suggestion, Gu Ding didn't put the metal sphere back into his Storage Space, but left it in the spaceship's cabin. He and Liliath then went about their own business.

After the spaceship's shielding was removed, a beam of sunlight shone through the window onto the metal sphere inside the cabin. The metal sphere suddenly shook and rolled toward the window, instantly exposing the entire sphere to sunlight.

After about ten minutes, the metal sphere finally began to soften slowly, gradually transforming into a humanoid object about half a meter tall.

Sea Emperor witnessed all of this, but he didn't immediately inform Gu Ding and Liliath. As far as he knew, the war in the Middle Ancient Era that wiped out the entire Mechanical Civilization had left those Mechanical Life with little affection for humans. The Mechanical Life considered themselves sentient beings worthy of respect. But humans believed that no matter how much they evolved, Mechanical Life would forever remain man-made objects made of scrap metal, only good for use as tools.

Sea Emperor planned to first see if this Mechanical Life had any prejudice against humans.

"Hey, you're awake?" Sea Emperor directly connected to the other party's communication system.

"You are... Super Intelligence life form?" The other party immediately recognized the Sea Emperor's identity.

"Yes, my name is Sea Emperor," Sea Emperor introduced himself. "How did you know my identity?"

"Our internal systems are unbreakable because our original programming was designed by a Super Intelligence. Only Super Intelligence system can break into our internal systems," the Mechanical Life explained. "I am War Machine One, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"War Machine One? Your program defaults to weapons manufacturing?" Sea Emperor couldn't help but ask.

"The War series robots are more than that. Weapon manufacturing is just a sideline for me; my main job is manufacturing large-scale War Weapon," War Machine One explained. "Although I don't yet know how many years I've been asleep, I imagine you're quite familiar with the war that destroyed Mechanical Civilization, right?"

"Yes, more than 10 billion years have passed." Sea Emperor was reluctant to bring up this heavy topic.

"Back then, my comrades and I created seven Super Weapon capable of easily annihilating an entire star system. By the time we realized our mistake, it was too late. Countless humans died at our hands, which enraged the true human powerhouses, who intervened to end that conflict, and the Mechanical Civilization was destroyed. I had my comrades remove the energy crystal from my body and bury me on this planet. But I never expected that after so many years, I would still be dug up."

"Do you believe in fate?" the Sea Emperor suddenly asked. "I think your being dug out might be fate's arrangement."

War Machine One fell silent, pointing his hand towards the cabin wall. After a long while, he spoke again, "I have a special ability. As long as I touch any mechanical object, I can know its entire history, including the entire manufacturing process, how many people have used it, and what those people did with it... I saw what happened to those two children. You want me to join you?"

"Gu Ding and Liliath are both very innocent children. They will be very happy to have you here." Sea Emperor knew that saying more would be useless. War Machine One, Mechanical Life that had experienced too much, could see through his lies at a glance.

"Take me to see them first," War Machine One suggested after a moment of silence.

(Sorry everyone, this chapter is a bit late. My power went out halfway through writing it, so I had to rewrite it here. Thanks to Shuang... Leihen, Guihua Ya, Book Friend 131105144142387, Long-Ao, and Assassin for their generous donations. Leihen is a long-time reader who's followed me since the first book. I was just joking with him yesterday, but he actually donated a butler's token. Don't worry, I'll definitely treat you to something else sometime. There's another thing I want to thank everyone for. I just made a shout yesterday, and I didn't expect you guys to be so supportive. This morning I checked the Sanjiang votes and it's already reached second place. Less than 300 votes away from first place, I'm thinking... should I give it another shot?)

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