The Experimenter

"So many ancient robots!"

At this moment, the three players are engaged in a monster-slaying battle.

Atomic City, an amusement park

The righteous security steward, I am the muscle giant, is hiding behind cover, firing his gun while carefully watching for a lawnmower flying from a distance.

To be fair, the robots aren't that hard to kill. There's a level 10 lawnmower that looks like Edward Scissorhands, a level 13 cargo robot that looks like Baymax, and a level 14 service robot that's curvy but doesn't have artificial skin.

These former rookie killers are now one-shot kills for today's players.

There are just too many of them.

So the two of them were responsible for stalling, while the rock 'n' roll chef was responsible for shutting down the power—after their research, they discovered that these robots were actually rechargeable.

"Damn, muscleman, don't go too far!"

The automatic machine gun on the Security Butler's back module had just stopped firing when, with a glance, Big Muscle Man charged forward, swinging his new gorilla arm. Intense flames shot from his elbow joint as he leaped three meters, slamming into the group of logistics robots. He smashed one of their heads flat with a punch, and the machine gun in his palm flared out as he sprayed bullets at several "mechanical giants" around him. Just as he was enjoying the kill, he suddenly felt an itch on his back. Looking up, he saw several "bee-shaped drones" firing at him.

"Damn it! Butler, snipe for me!"

Without a word, the security manager suddenly opened up the thigh, shoulder, and forearm sections, revealing the various parts of an electromagnetic sniper rifle. In less than three seconds, it assembled into a high-quality sniper rifle. However, before he could even aim, with a "snap," all the robots fell to the ground, including the flying vehicles in the sky, all of which were paralyzed.

"All done, power off," the chef's voice came through the headphones.

I, the muscle-bound brute, couldn't resist kicking the fallen robot and cursing, "What kind of old-fashioned robot is this? It even needs to be charged!"

The security guard grabbed a robot, pulled on its back, and a charging tube as thick as a forearm was pulled out.

"Pre-World War II robotics technology was naturally inferior to modern technology, since at that time, artificial intelligence could only be used for computer-based office work."

"Come here, I've found some fun things."

After digging through the garbage for most of the day, the three of them confirmed one thing: this was not a dead grave, but a living grave.

The so-called "living grave" is a place with an autonomous defense system, and it might even have an elderly person with artificial intelligence.

"If it's a shelter, then we're rich!" I couldn't help but say on the way.

"It doesn't look like one. It's more like a research base. Its storage center is up there. If it were a shelter, there would definitely be food and seed warehouses down there. And judging from these old-fashioned engines, they shouldn't be products from the late Empire period."

The two found the underground passage, went inside, and talked as they walked.

"That wouldn't be interesting."

In the final days of the empire, in order to cope with the "alien war," all the regimes on this planet built a large number of underground shelters and stored a large amount of weapons and equipment. According to the players, these were called "Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin Tomb."

Soon, the two arrived at the place the rock chef had mentioned, an underground signal receiving center. Apart from the strange smell of rusty water, the ground was covered with a large amount of paper documents.

"Robot... consciousness... research and development plan," Big Muscle Man barely recognized a few words thanks to the system's built-in translation function.

"Then isn't this just a robot factory?"

After scanning around, all they found were old-fashioned robot development equipment, all of which were rusty. Even the security manager was disappointed.

"No, that's not how it is," the rock 'n' roll chef suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding a test tube in his hand, looking excited.

"Here's a new roadmap for robot development!"

"Ha?"

According to the God of Cookery, even robots are different, and the differences between them are greater than those between humans and dogs.

On this planet, there are three types of robots. One is "cyborgs," which involves implanting mechanical prosthetics, making them half-human and half-machine. In short, these are the three types.

The second type is "bio-robots," which have human-like appearances and mechanical materials; a typical example is "humanoids."

The third type is the legendary "energy machine," which is a mechanical life form whose life source is the energy spark, a product of the Mother City's technology.

However, according to the information found by the chef, there is actually a fourth type of robot here.

"Atomic Machines!"

"What do you mean? A robot the size of an atom?"

"That's right, robots the size of atoms!"

"Come with me."

The three followed the rock chef through a series of doors until they arrived at a "biological laboratory" filled with equipment resembling "optical microscopes".

"Here exists a world of dead atomic life!"

"Atomic Mechanical Life Experimentation Project"

The senior engineer had far more information than the three players, and it could even be traced back to Dr. Schelling, the founder of the "Atomic Research Institute".

The general idea behind this plan is to modify living organisms at the atomic level by adding mechanical properties to atoms. In this way, atoms can form cells, and cells can be divided into egg cells and sperm cells. Once the sperm and egg cells are combined, they can directly produce a "little robot" in one step.

Similarly, humans can achieve this in one step, without even needing to implant prosthetics; they are born 100% mechanized.

Then, the plan was called off.

The reason is simple: this plan is far too advanced for a primitive civilization to even consider!

In fact, the higher-ups of the later civilized regime also realized this and banned the plan.

However, the founder of this project, Dr. Schelling, did not agree with this and even took a more radical approach, attempting to create mechanical life at the atomic level.

The plan was as improbable as developing the atomic bomb in the steam age.

Later, the Atomic Research Institute went bankrupt and closed down, Dr. Schelling disappeared, and the Atomic Research Institute was opened to the public and turned into a science fiction-style tourist attraction, which is now Atomic City, where various types of robots are placed.

However, because there are a large number of 'cell storage banks' here, the remaining 'viruses' were transferred here.

Indirectly affected by the virus, the service robots here will become highly aggressive.

"Putting everything else aside, viruses need a large number of infected people to evolve, right?"

Miao Miaomiao shrugged and said with a troubled expression, "Although our company is not short of money, we have a bad reputation. Both mechanical lifeforms and mechanical modifiers avoid us like the plague. Besides, we are currently wanted by those robots, so we can't openly recruit people for experiments."

The senior engineer stroked his chin:

"Now that you mention it, I know what to do."