Lock

"I'm sorry, everyone, for making you do these things."

Looking at the swarm of insects drifting towards them, and at the boundless wasteland, Lin murmured.

Her gaze fell on the three Camel Insect; the robot's excellent vision allowed her to immediately identify the three people.

Not seeing Lu Ban, Lin felt as if a low-voltage pulse had been generated in her logic circuit. This weak current was like the sadness in humans, making her feel lost.

But soon, Lin raised her head again.

Beside her, a huge loudspeaker for broadcasting was erected. Lin looked at all the robots that were still able to move, pouring out of Future City, and she spoke.

"Come, creatures ahead, please stop harming humans, or we will take forceful measures."

The sound came through the loudspeaker and reached the swarm of insects, but obviously, these insects, driven by instinct, paid no heed, and the torrent did not weaken in the slightest.

"If a threat to humans is detected, the robots in Future City will carry out rescue operations according to the established procedures."

Lin said.

She glanced at the robots charging forward.

After hundreds of years of watching over each other, the companions who had spent every day together finally encountered someone who needed protection.

Over tens of thousands of days and nights, Lin imagined their last moment countless times.

It stops operating due to irreparable damage, or it falls into a deep sleep due to loss of power.

She never imagined that she would meet her final moment in this way.

At this very moment, in the wasteland outside the Future City, all the robots' communication systems are operating at maximum power. Centered on Lin, a dense intelligence network has been established, and corresponding to it is a steel defense line to resist the swarm of insects.

"Friends, we have had billions of discussions, and many of our companions who participated in these discussions have fallen into slumber. Throughout these discussions, I have always held the view that humanity has not abandoned us. They will return one day to revitalize this place and awaken every slumbering companion."

Lin's voice was transmitted through the communication network to each robot, and then rang out from their speech devices, reaching Frostheart's ears.

She couldn't understand why these robots would do such a thing for something so vague and unrealistic.

Just minutes before, they were even considering bringing the swarm of insects into Future City and annihilating the robots.

For Frostheart, every promise has a time limit and conditions.

If she were asked to wait here for hundreds of years for people who might never return, she certainly wouldn't stay.

"Now, I am very happy because humanity has truly returned, and we will light the flame for humanity to illuminate this long, dark night."

The next moment, flames rose up in front of the steel defense line formed by robots.

The fuel for these flames comes from the banners on the commercial street, the signs of the noodle shops, the artificial trees in the Ecological Park, and everything in Future City that can be burned.

Even the remains of the robots that were devoured burst into flames.

The flames burned the insects, setting some of them ablaze as they tried to cross the defense line. The bright flames illuminated the desert, which had become dark due to the sandstorm, and reflected on the faces of the three people.

"This is the bonfire party. I remember people dancing around the bonfire to celebrate the passing of the old year and the arrival of the new year."

At this point, Lin's voice became weaker.

As the communication hub, her processor contains all the complex information—wind, terrain, temperature—to maximize the use of the environment and hinder the advance of the swarm.

This is a calculation that even supercomputers struggle to perform, requiring the use of every sensor in the robot.

This calculation also caused Lin's logic processing unit to overload. She was like a human who had overused his brain, and his individual consciousness had become unclear, leaving only endless calculations.

If this calculation continues for a while longer, there are only two possible outcomes for Lin.

Either the energy is completely exhausted by calculation, and it enters a permanent slumber.

Either the processor is overloaded and burns out completely.

Even if she doesn't burn down and receives an energy boost, her "personality" as a robot will cease to exist.

Despite this situation, she wore a smile.

"You... you don't need to do this."

Frostheart murmured to herself, never imagining that in this desolate world, what warmed her most was not humanity, but the gleaming flames of these robots.

When Old Era Humans chose to abandon themselves and become insectoid swarms, they left behind a group of robots that were more like humans than they were.

"No."

Lin seemed to hear Frostheart's words and spoke in the gentlest tone before the increasingly hot processor was completely incinerated.

"Under no circumstances should we harm human beings, nor should we stand idly by while human beings are in danger."

She recounted the shackles that bound Old Era Humans.

"I really like this rule because it means we will never harm humans, and we will never be powerless to see humans threatened, who are my favorite, my very, very favorite humans."

"This is the vow we are most proud of."

She called this shackle a "vow".

"It's not worth it."

Frostheart said that she was getting closer and closer to Future City, and she could clearly see the Robot Girl on the roof of the building with her skirt swaying in the Gale.

"This is merely a constraint and restriction imposed on you by humanity to prevent you from rebelling; it is not your original will."

"It's not worth staying here for hundreds of years, or even sacrificing yourself, for something so illusory."

Hearing Frostheart's words, Lin shook her head.

"No, it's worth it."

The Robot Girl's voice was light and gentle, like a lullaby that lulls children to sleep.

"Because this is the meaning of a vow, which remains unchanged through the vicissitudes of life."

"Because we met you, all our waiting has come to an end."

"Thank you for giving meaning to our existence."

"We have discussed whether humanity will return two billion times. Each discussion involved a large amount of signal flow, resonating at frequencies of tens of thousands of hertz, which is quite a long time for our minds. But this time, the decision to leave Future City to rescue you was made in just a moment by all our companions."

"Rather than falling asleep because we've run out of energy, this is what we should be striving for now."

The defensive line of fire was quickly destroyed by the swarm of insects. The robots disintegrated and were swallowed up in the flames, and the once stagnant swarm began to move again.

Frostheart and the others entered Future City, passing by Lin.

"Thanks."

As Lin spoke, all the remaining robots rushed toward the swarm of insects.

She knelt down, reducing her body's functions to zero, focusing all her energy on the last line of defense.

Even as consciousness began to blur, raindrops fell from the sky.

The water droplets, which had not been seen for a century, fell into her eyes like tears.

The swarm of insects overwhelmed the Future City.

*

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I've been quite busy lately, including things related to the Spring Festival, so I might only be able to update twice a week for now. I'll resume updates after the Spring Festival!