Doggo's New Parts

Yao Wei stared intently at Doggo, eager to see what other amazing things it could do.

Lu Xi'an's gaze had already shifted to the drone.

The slot on top of Mechanical Dog's head had truly caught Lu Xi'an by surprise.

But Doggo had surprised Lu Xi'an more than once or twice by now. For instance, it had powered the villa earlier.

So Lu Xi'an had gotten used to it.

The slot on Mechanical Dog's head seemed able to automatically match the shape and model of a chip, making it highly compatible.

Now that Doggo had installed the remote control's chip in its head, Lu Xi'an didn't need to think hard to figure out what it could probably do with the drone.

"Come on, show me."

He gave Mechanical Dog a command.

But Mechanical Dog didn't follow the command right away. Instead, it raised one of its wheeled legs, nudged the drone, then nudged Lu Xi'an.

Only then did Lu Xi'an realize that he'd turned the drone off when he got back earlier to save power.

The drone still wasn't switched on, so asking Doggo to try controlling it had indeed put it in a difficult position.

He picked up the drone, turned it on, and set it down again. The light in Doggo's eyes flickered, and at last it could carry out Lu Xi'an's command.

"Bzzzz—"

The drone's four propellers spun rapidly, lifting the machine into the air until it hovered in place.

It worked!

Lu Xi'an was overjoyed. This new feature of Doggo's was great!

Now the drone had become an attachment for Doggo, solving the problem of Doggo being unable to fly up and scout the surroundings.

Having Doggo control the drone and send it up to scout would also free Lu Xi'an from constantly watching the screen on the drone's remote.

If there was any danger, Doggo could hide out of sight. Even if the drone was spotted and attacked, at worst he'd lose an attachment, without any harm coming to Doggo itself.

This was fantastic!

These days, Doggo wasn't just a tool to Lu Xi'an. It was his lifeline, and the only companion he had as he struggled on alone in this harsh environment.

—Though most of the time, he still treated Doggo like a tool.

At any rate, it was best that Doggo could help him with greater safety.

And as its safety improved, its capabilities had evolved too.

"Fly under the table and come back."

"Circle the pillar in a figure eight, then come back."

"Land close and give it a bump."

"Check whether there's anything dangerous in the kitchen at the very back."

Lu Xi'an tried giving Doggo a few commands.

The drone darted under the table, then flew back and forth around the support pillar in the lounge, tracing an S-shaped path. It went wherever he pointed it, and it worked wonderfully.

At last, it flew into the kitchen and back, hovering in front of Doggo. Watching Doggo control the drone through all of this, Lu Xi'an smiled with satisfaction.

"It's better at this than the two of us."

Lu Xi'an turned to Yao Wei and said.

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded, impressed by how capable Doggo was.

She'd tried using the remote to fly the drone earlier, but couldn't manage it at all. Doggo had done it perfectly—far better than she could.

"All right. Go turn on the power."

Lu Xi'an gave Doggo another command, and it sped off to the monitoring room to reconnect the power.

The lights in the hallway came back on.

Lu Xi'an returned to the dormitory, found an outlet, and switched open the plug compartment on the drone. He took out the plug and inserted it into the socket.

He'd noticed earlier that there was a battery compartment by the switch underneath the drone. The plug compartment was right beside it, and opening it revealed a plug, so there was no need for an external cable.

That saved him the trouble of looking for extra parts.

The red indicator light by the battery compartment came on, showing that the drone was charging.

In someone else's hands, this thing would've been a consumable that could only be used a few times. But in Lu Xi'an's hands, it was completely different.

With Mechanical Dog at his side, he could recharge the drone whenever he needed.

The remote control's chip had already been removed and inserted into Doggo's head, so Doggo had taken over its functions.

That meant Lu Xi'an didn't need to worry about the remote's batteries running out, either.

Luo Ping had even given Lu Xi'an four extra batteries earlier, but now he had no use for them.

He could put them away for now. Who knew when they might come in handy?

If all else failed, he could throw them as makeshift projectiles in a pinch.

Lu Xi'an removed the batteries from the drone remote and put them away too. Then he looked at the casing with the screen attached and sighed.

"Too bad. Doggo can use the chip, but it doesn't seem able to use this screen too."

Though he said that, he still took the remote apart, keeping the small rectangular screen along with its wiring.

It was useful salvage, and it could also serve as a makeshift projectile.

And if they got the chance later, they could connect it to Doggo. Then they'd be able to watch the footage while Doggo flew the drone.

It wasn't heavy or bulky, so he might as well keep it.

"No need to watch. Doggo can tell if there's danger."

Yao Wei said.

She already understood what the drone could do now that it was linked to Doggo.

Lu Xi'an couldn't help glancing at Yao Wei. She really did treat "Doggo" as the dog's real name.

But he hadn't actually given Doggo a name, either. He'd always called it that, so "Doggo" did count as its name.

That worked well enough.

From today on, Doggo's official name was "Doggo."

"Let's go. We'll carry all the water to the bathroom, then take two buckets to the kitchen and cook."

As he spoke, he left the bedroom, picked up two buckets of water, and set them down by the bathroom.

Yao Wei was reminded of what Lu Xi'an had started to say earlier, but since he still showed no sign of explaining, she didn't ask. She followed him to the bathroom with a bucket, then carried the last two buckets to the kitchen.

The kitchen lights worked too.

Once Doggo restored the power, the cold storage room began cooling again. It was only barely functional, nowhere near as good as before, but at least it worked.

Lu Xi'an turned off the cooling anyway. Everything left inside was vacuum-sealed, and they wouldn't be staying here much longer. There was no need to keep cooling it.

He felt that letting it get warm and cold in turns would be worse.

They'd already had meat for breakfast, so Lu Xi'an didn't use any meat sticks for this meal. He opened a bag of dehydrated vegetables, boiled them in water, added a drizzle of oil along with soy sauce and salt, and cooked some rice. They ate the two dishes together.

The cooked rice had a naturally sweet fragrance, and the seasoned vegetable soup tasted just as good. With plenty to eat and drink, the meal was a real treat for Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

They used half a bucket of water for the meal. Afterward, Lu Xi'an extravagantly used the remaining half bucket to wash the pots and bowls clean, then took the empty bucket to the bathroom.

Yao Wei couldn't cook, so she helped wash the dishes before following Lu Xi'an.

She wondered if Lu Xi'an would finally do what he'd planned earlier.

If he didn't, she was going to make him do it.