As the spider robot was talking to Lydia, there came a knock at the door.
Through the monitor, the two saw three robots outside.
One carried a portable missile launcher, one held an automatic rifle and had crude steel plates welded all over its body, while the third carried nothing but a small pistol and was knocking on the door.
"Hide upstairs and don't come out. I'll deal with them," Howie said, then went to the door and opened it.
He had no choice but to open it. The one with the missile launcher would help him open it otherwise...
"Hey, guys, what's up?" the spider robot called out.
"You inferior thing! You must have seen the recruitment ads. Why didn't you enlist? We need manpower!" the pistol robot shouted.
So it was recruitment.
"Sorry, I'm a smuggling robot. I'm not connected to the central server," Howie said.
He might not have been good at anything else, but he had plenty of excuses.
"We'll notify you verbally now. Come fight with us," the pistol robot said with a wave of its hand.
"No, I still need to take care of... No, I'm just a household robot," Howie hastily changed his words halfway through.
Right, it no longer needed to take care of its owner.
"Come with us. Don't overthink it."
"No, my controls aren't responsive enough. I'd only get in the way on the battlefield."
"We'll update your software and hardware."
Howie was left speechless. He could only resort to his final move. "Please let me pack up first."
"We'll give you ten minutes. No, five minutes," the pistol robot said.
"Hurry and run, Master. Run with me," Howie said to Lydia upstairs.
The two quietly slipped out through the back door.
"Why are we running?" Lydia asked in