Office Romance

On the other side, not long after parting ways with Chu Xiaoxiao, only the Chengjiang remained on the sea, drifting lonely across the water.

In the cargo hold of the Chengjiang.

"Listen up, boys, time to get to work! Come on! Digest this pile of scrap metal for me! We're really short on hands!"

Nie Yun waved his hand, and the massive swarm of Mechanical Insect that had just transformed into the Sea Wolf began to devour the scrap metal nearby.

He found a crate to sit on, watching the pair of miniature male and female robots before him with a sense of helplessness.

"Sigh, small is better than nothing, I suppose." Nie Yun rubbed his forehead in resignation as a clump of Mechanical Insect, already standing by, pounced on them like hungry tigers.

Ten minutes later, Nie Yun opened his eyes and looked at the "Mechanical Insect version of the robots" that were identical to the originals, a flash of joy crossing his face.

Chu Xiaoxiao really hadn't been wrong; although these robots were a bit small in size, their internal structures were incredibly precise. Now, every detail of their design was imprinted in Nie Yun's mind.

Beyond causing his experience in mechanical engineering to skyrocket, he also discovered a highly useful new ability.

He closed his eyes again, and this time, after a full half-hour, Nie Yun reopened them, streams of data flashing through his pupils.

"Activate!" Nie Yun looked down at the robots and commanded.

"You are my little, little apple, no matter how much I love you, it's never enough..."

As the upbeat music played, the pair of robots immediately began to perform a square dance, with a level of precision and coordination that would make any square-dancing auntie feel ashamed.

"Stop!" Nie Yun commanded again.

The pair of robots immediately ceased their movements, heads held high and chests out, standing at attention.

"Oh yeah! It really works!" Nie Yun cheered, waving his arms.

Although the movements of the robots just now seemed completely effortless for Nie Yun, who could perfectly control the Mechanical Insect, he hadn't used any mental commands at all!

In other words, this program was something Nie Yun had just written, and he had completed the entire control sequence using only his voice.

Since Nie Yun could control the Mechanical Insect at the picometer level, he could, to a certain extent, modify the code in any computer chip assimilated by the Mechanical Insect as he pleased; after all, program code also needs to be stored in memory units via physical hardware.

If he wanted to, he could even skip the voice control step and simply use a single thought in his mind to trigger this segment of code within the robot's control chip.

Furthermore, there was a huge advantage to electronic products being assimilated by the Mechanical Insect: storage space was vastly expanded, because every individual Mechanical Insect was, in fact, a storage unit.

Calculating based on the volume of the miniature robots, their total capacity was roughly equivalent to that of a supercomputer. It was enough for Nie Yun to write massive applications to his heart's content.

"Tsk tsk, another programming master skill added. Why does it feel like I'm drifting further and further down the path of a straight-A student?

Turns out I wasn't a slacker, just a late bloomer!

Dad, seeing my achievements today, you should be able to rest in peace!"

Nie Yun stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, wearing the expression of someone reflecting on a past too painful to look back upon.

Although this skill seemed a bit redundant for now—as Nie Yun's mental control was superior in both flexibility and efficiency—he couldn't continue to personally control every single Mechanical Insect as the swarm continued to grow.

He had previously been troubled by the fact that he was spending more and more time on recharging every day, feeling as though he couldn't keep up with everything.

But if he could build an army of robots that could work automatically with just a single program command, then no matter how many Mechanical Insect there were, Nie Yun would be able to control them with ease.

Looking at it this way, the potential of this skill was immense!

However, writing programs suitable for various environments wasn't something that could be done overnight, so for now, Nie Yun still had to control them personally.

"You two are the first sailors under my command, so I have to give you names. Let's see, the girl will be called 'Xiaohai', and the boy will be called 'Xiaolang'! Yes, not bad, from now on you are 'Xiaohai' and 'Xiaolang'!"

Captain Nie's naming style had always been simple and crude. He had originally thought of calling them "Xiao Nie" and "Xiao Yun," but to maintain the last shred of Captain Nie's distinctiveness, he gave up on that and went with "Xiaohai" and "Xiaolang"!

"Xiaolang Squad, assemble!"

Following Nie Yun's order, the Mechanical Insect that were busy frantically reproducing their swarm bulged up from the pile of scrap metal, and a small silver figure quickly emerged from the mound, hopping out. By the time it landed, it had transformed into the male robot.

As soon as the robotic figure landed, it moved its short legs and scurried toward Nie Yun.

More mounds kept appearing, and one "Xiaolang" after another popped out like a gopher, until finally, 20 Xiaolangs stood in a neat line to one side of Nie Yun.

"Snap!" The Xiaolang Squad gave a military salute in perfect unison.

"Xiaohai Squad, assemble!"

Another wave of 20 "Xiaohais" popped out from the main force, lined up neatly on the other side, and saluted!

Uh... they were actually performing an ancient lady's bow!

Nie Yun nodded in satisfaction, then looked at the two rows of robots that didn't even reach his knees. "Sigh! If only they were a bit bigger, it would be perfect!"

Nie Yun's resentment regarding their size had never faded...

"Alright, you are the first veterans of my sailor army. In the days to come, you must demonstrate a spirit of hard work and diligence, and fully utilize your advantage of not fearing hardship or fatigue!

At the same time, you must also set a leading example for those who come after you!

I... support you in spirit!"

Nie Yun stood there with his hands behind his back, spitting as he lectured, while the robot squad remained motionless.

Perhaps feeling that the atmosphere was a bit cold, Nie Yun glanced at them slightly. "Clap, clap, clap!" A rhythmic, uniform sound of applause rang out.

"Hmm!" Nie Yun nodded with a satisfied smile and turned to leave.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he turned back around, held up an index finger, and said with a stern face, "I want to emphasize one point here! Office romances... are absolutely! Absolutely forbidden! Do you understand!"

Xiaohai: "..."

Xiaolang: "..."

Mechanical Insect: "..."