Joystick Device Driver and Piston Hydraulic Bearing

Because of Russell's witty remarks, Spooner didn't provoke Dr. Calvin with his chatter, nor was he disliked by him.

Besides his racial talent of being practically invisible at night by remaining silent, Spooner has a hidden talent: he can make a stranger extremely dislike him in the shortest amount of time, and he's even better at ending conversations than Russell's Poison Tongue.

The three of them took the elevator to Dr. Lanning's research room. On the way, Russell saw a huge fluorescent light tube. It was obviously not a fluorescent light tube, but his limited vocabulary allowed him to describe it that way.

"This is the Cationic Operation Core, and also the mainframe of V.I.K.I., the most advanced electronic computer in the world." Seeing Russell's interest, Calvin stopped and explained.

"I didn't expect you guys to have installed a brain in this building. So, who exactly is the owner here?" Spooner, who hates all high technology, couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark, which earned him a glare from Calvin.

"She was Dr. Lanning's first invention, which stands for Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence. Incidentally, she also designed Chicago's defense system," Calvin said casually, his tone still revealing his pride.

Unfortunately, she was facing two clueless straight men, so her attempt to impress was all for naught.

Spooner shrugged, his expression exaggerated, and said, "So, she's still a girl. Is she an adult? Has she ever been in a relationship?"

Russell nodded in agreement. "If she gets dumped and throws a tantrum, will missiles fly all over Chicago?"

After they finished speaking, they looked at each other and smiled, then bumped fists in unison.

Calvin was so angry he was breathing heavily, his chest heaving... well, shifting horizontally. He wished he could immediately transform into a psychologist to treat Spooner and tell him that to cure his gun-drawing urge, he had to shoot Russell; when they both died, his urge would be cured.

She took a breath and continued, "If you want to know any clues, it's not too late to curry favor with this young lady, because she manages all the company's surveillance equipment."

"V.I.K.I.!"

As Calvin's voice faded, a 3D Cosmic Cube projection descended, with floating snowflakes forming the outline of a woman's face.

"Hello, Dr. Calvin! Officers!"

[Bite!]

[The host has come into contact with the story character VIKI, triggering Lottery Draw. Two chances to draw are granted. Do you wish to draw now?]

Russell's expression turned serious. If nothing unexpected happened, the supercomputer named V.I.K.I. was the boss of this world, but until the mission was triggered, he could only watch helplessly.

However, even though the mission was triggered, he could only stare helplessly. V.I.K.I. is the world's most advanced artificial intelligence, and it's related to Chicago's defense system. Let alone destroying it, even getting close to it is a problem.

Spooner didn't make any more sarcastic remarks. He always became exceptionally serious when it came to Dr. Lanning: "V.I.K.I., pull up the footage from the lab one minute before Dr. Lanning died."

A screen of static appeared on the V.I.K.I. page, followed by the message: "Sorry, there is a data error."

Spooner seemed to have expected this, and frowned as he said, "Pull up the footage outside the research room. Who has been in and out of here since Dr. Lanning died?"

V.I.K.I. played footage showing that, apart from police officers and company staff, no other individuals entered or exited the lab. Furthermore, the number of people entering the lab was equal to the number exiting, and there was no footage of the perpetrator using the opportunity to leave.

Spooner remained silent. Russell glanced at the research lab next to him and asked, "Dr. Calvin, may we go in now?"

"Sure!"

Dr. Lanning's laboratory was very monotonous, entirely devoted to his research. Apart from robot parts, his desk, and models, he had very few personal belongings.

A folding bed, a blanket, a bedside table with a water glass, a chair—that's it!

The scene was somewhat poignant, but in reality, Dr. Lanning was not short of money. His knowledge and research achievements brought him enormous social influence and wealth. He was simply a pure scientist who did not have much need for personal quality of life.

He has a bed when he's tired and a glass of water when he's thirsty. He asks for nothing more. He is a scientist worthy of everyone's respect!

Russell went to the desk and began flipping through Dr. Lanning's manuscripts. A large number of drawings and data about intelligent robots were right in front of him. He quickly skimmed through them, and what should have been incomprehensible gibberish became easy to understand under Hui Tailang's abilities, and was firmly imprinted in his mind.

Snap!

Calvin placed his hand on the manuscript and shook his head at Russell: "I'm sorry, officer, this involves company secrets, you are not authorized to look through it."

"Dr. Calvin, you don't actually think I can understand these technical drawings, do you?" Russell pushed Calvin's hand away, ignoring her angry glare. "I just want to see if Dr. Lanning left any codes or ciphers."

Calvin frowned. "What do you mean? You suspect the Doctor didn't commit suicide?"

"Of course, did he have a reason to commit suicide?" Russell quickly scanned the blueprints, then picked up another stack, multitasking as he said, "Although I don't know Dr. Lanning, I've read a lot of news reports about him. He is dedicated to promoting intelligent robots and has devoted his life to it."

"He was about to succeed, the NS-5's pre-sales prospects were very good, but he committed suicide before his dream came true..." Russell paused here, looking directly at Calvin: "Is this behavior reasonable?"

Calvin was speechless. To be honest, she hadn't expected Dr. Lanning to commit suicide. It was too sudden, without any warning.

BOOM!!!

A loud bang startled Calvin, who had been silent. He turned around and saw that the bulletproof glass had been smashed open with spiderweb-like cracks. The perpetrator, Spooner, was holding a stool, looking annoyed that he hadn't been able to break the glass.

"Officer Spooner, what are you doing?!" Calvin felt his sanity about to collapse. These two policemen were both insane; they could never calm down for a moment.

Spooner sighed, put the stool down, and ignoring Calvin's impending outburst, said to Russell, "This is terrible. Dr. Lanning could break the blast-proof glass, but I can't. What does this mean?"

Russell flipped through the blueprints without looking up and said, "Spooner, this only shows that you're too weak. Your strength can't even compare to that of an old man."

The two of them went back and forth, and Calvin, not being stupid, frowned and said, "Are you two ever going to stop? I know you suspect that Dr. Lanning did not commit suicide, but... but you can't treat him as an ordinary old man. He must have used some method to break the glass."

Russell chimed in, "For example, the Dark Archmage's left hand that he sealed for 70 years?"

"What!?"

Calvin looked completely bewildered. It's no wonder that the older, unmarried woman didn't understand; she was from the technology side and couldn't comprehend the magician's jargon. If Russell had explained it as a joystick device driver and a piston-type hydraulic bearing, she probably would have grasped the essence.

"A locked room with a security lock, and the surveillance footage confirms that no one entered or left at the time of the incident..." Spooner looked around the research room. "Russell, what do you think?"

"What else can we look at it? It's a locked-room murder case!"

Spooner gave a thumbs up. "Damn it, man, how can you be so smart!"

"I was born this way, and I have no choice but to accept it."

Spooner drew his pistol, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I have reservations about that statement. Also, where do you think the killer is right now?"

Russell looked up, put down the blueprints in his hand, and drew his Desert Eagle: "It's right here beside us, in this room."

"You're a fucking genius!"

"Thanks, you too, you fucking."

Calvin stared wide-eyed at his two partners, who were constantly bickering, completely bewildered. "Officers, what are you doing? There's nothing in this room except the robot. Are you suspecting the robot?"

"Is it not allowed?" X2

Calvin put his hand to his forehead. "This is ridiculous! Robots follow the Three Laws of Robotics and will not harm humans!"

Russell swept his gun across the surrounding robots, then casually remarked, "How about we make a bet? If the robots actually harm humans, you'll swallow feces, okay?"

"..."

"What, are you scared?"

"No, I just don't want to participate in such a boring bet!"

"Tch, that sounds nice, these three laws, it's just a lack of confidence."

"Damn it, you really want to make this bet with me?" Calvin laughed angrily. "Fine, I'll make the bet with you, but if the robot doesn't harm humans, you'll be the one to swallow dung."

"No problem, that's fair."

"Can I join you? I want to see her eat double!" Spooner suddenly interjected, gripping his gun as he walked over to a pile of parts. With a casual flick of his wrist, he spotted a robot head—an NS-5 series robot.

Boom!!!

The silver-gray robot suddenly opened its eyes and leaped out in a pose resembling a roc spreading its wings or a white crane spreading its wings. Spooner was caught off guard and had his pistol kicked away by it in mid-air.

"Back off!" Spooner shouted at Calvin.

Calvin didn't seem to care. "It's alright, officer, it won't hurt us, it's just simulating human self-defense."

Thud! Thud!

Two gunshots rang out. The silver-gray robot was shot in both knees, silver engine oil leaked out, and it slumped to the ground, using its hands to back away.

"Officer Russell, what are you doing?" Calvin was stunned. "It's just acting in self-defense. It's a normal procedure. You can't harm company property."

"Cool, well done!" Spooner shouted, and started to walk around the robot to pick up the gun.

Suddenly, in the split second that Spooner moved, the silver-gray robot rolled and grabbed the pistol before he could. But before it could aim at Russell, another shot rang out, and the bullet sent the pistol flying from its hand.

Spooner's face darkened. He had actually been outmaneuvered by a robot. He pulled out handcuffs from his belt, cuffed them to the robot's wrists, and said fiercely, "Microwave Oven, you're under arrest!"

"Hey! You can't just take it away like that. This is company property. This is vandalism. It didn't do anything." Calvin stepped forward to block Spooner. She firmly believed in Dr. Lanning's Three Laws of Robotics and insisted that the silver-gray robot was acting in self-defense and could not possibly have fired a gun.

"Psychiatrist, you should be glad it didn't fire, or you'd be eating double," Spooner mocked.

Russell holstered the Desert Eagle: "Spooner, I think Dr. Calvin is right, we can't just leave like this."

Calvin's expression relaxed, thinking that at least there was someone reasonable. But the next second, her face turned dark.

"Spooner, we should bring Dr. Calvin back to the police station with us; she is a key witness."

Spooner slapped his forehead in frustration. "Damn it, I almost overlooked that."

"It's okay, I can make up for your intellectual deficiencies!"

"Russell, you're a damn good partner for me."

"You too, you son of a bitch!"

Calvin: "..."

Why didn't this robot shoot and kill you two?