Let Me Ride This Thing

Russell's eagerness to go home wasn't really about petting the cat; rather, there was an NS-5 waiting for him to dissect at his doorstep. Spooner's words reminded him of the plot, and although he wanted to refuse, the V.I.K.I.- guided robot rebellion was tonight, and the story was nearing its end.

He wasn't worried that Spooner would run into trouble on his own; given the level of threat the two posed to V.I.K.I., he was the one who would be the one to run into trouble.

Sure enough, Russell saw many USR Corporation transport vehicles downstairs, with a large number of NS-5 robots being unloaded and distributed to various households.

It's said that everyone in the building won the lottery!

Pushing open the door, I saw Thunder Beast happily playing with the American Shorthair's tail, while the latter looked utterly dejected, completely unlike its cheerful self when it first entered the house.

The NS-5 robot, named Cook by Russell, slumped on the sofa, wisps of smoke rising from its body, clearly on the verge of being scrapped. It was obvious that Thunder Beast was responsible; Cook probably wanted to do something, and then it took it down.

Russell picked up the Thunder Beast, petted it a couple of times, and put it on the ground to let it continue bullying the American Shorthair. He then disassembled Cook into parts with his bare hands. Hui Tailang's research abilities weren't limited to academics; his hands-on skills had also improved significantly, making disassembling a robot as easy as playing with it.

Maybe one day, if you give him a hammer, he can build a spaceship!

Russell had seen the blueprints of the NS-5 in Dr. Lanning's laboratory and had memorized some of the data. As long as the materials were suitable, he could assemble an NS-5 on his own.

However, he lacks complete programming code, and what he puts together is just an empty shell. Right now, there is a ready-made machine that can be used to get a glimpse of what it is.

Reverse engineering is not so simple, and cracking technical blockade codes is even more difficult. Russell connected to Cook through his personal computer but was unable to break through to the backend and obtain core information. Helpless, he resorted to looking at some relatively simple programming data, namely the rigid data of the NS-4 series robots.

Numerous C programming equations jumped across the computer screen, dazzling even Russell with his Hui Tailang learning abilities. However, minor problems were no challenge for him; he simply took screenshots and transferred them to his digital camera's memory card.

Because there were too many screenshots, Russell had to sift through 20GB of 'Ashley's Encyclopedia' and 10GB of 'Jennifer's Interactive Collection', and finally had to painfully delete about 100MB of precious data to barely fit all the screenshots.

"This won't do! I need to find a way to get a portable hard drive, otherwise I won't have anywhere to store the photos in the future..." Russell felt heartbroken at the thought of those 100MB of precious images, which represented his youth and hard work.

As night falls, the brightly lit city of Chicago welcomes its most beloved nightlife.

After work, people of all ages—white-collar workers, intellectuals, laborers, and ordinary employees—like to gather in groups of three or five and go to bars for parties. This is part of America life; they prefer watching soap operas in bars to watching them at home—it's more fun with a large group.

In addition, there were thugs, hooligans, hooligans, rogues, and gangsters. After all, this was Chicago, a city with a simple and honest folk culture, and a city where typewriters were selling like hotcakes back in the day.

But tonight won't be lively at all; the city's transportation system is paralyzed, and all cars equipped with computers have broken down for unknown reasons. Relevant departments are investigating.

Soon, the communication system was disrupted, and Chicago was cut off from the outside world, becoming an isolated city.

On the large electronic screen in the high-rise plaza, the narrator delivered a terrible message: New York, Los Angeles, Washington, and other areas had been attacked by robots, and people were ordered to stay at home and not go anywhere.

Just as people were stunned, something even worse happened: the entire city of Chicago experienced a blackout, plunging the city into darkness, except for one place where the lights were still on— the USR Corporation headquarters!

"Please return home. Curfew is in effect!!!"

"Please return home. Curfew is in effect!!!"

"Human protection agreements are being drafted. Please remain calm and return to your home immediately..."

"..."

The USR headquarters is located in Chicago, a severely affected area. Transport vehicles shuttle through the city's main roads, and large groups of NS-5 robots drive people back to their homes, not through discussion or negotiation, but by direct violence.

Being ridden on by the very tools you created is something no one can tolerate. Most people choose to resist, but flesh and blood against steel and iron will instantly turn them into pig heads.

If you're carrying a gun, it'll be even worse. The robot will identify you as a dangerous individual, and disarming you is the least of your worries; in more serious cases, you could be executed on the spot.

Russell put the digital camera into his Space Ring, Thunder Beast blocked the doorway with its electric shocks. The corridor outside was filled with the smoking NS-5. Its abilities completely countered the robots, and it could kill a large number of them in one go.

As the Thunder Beast unleashed its unrestrained and frenzied electric discharges, Russell gradually realized that its energy was not limitless. It could replenish the energy it consumed, but during battles, it had to be replenished by Russell's Magic Power.

Thunder's power is immense, so the Thunder Beast consumes Magic Power at an astonishing rate. If Russell tries to use it to clear the game tonight, there's only one outcome: he'll be drained dry.

BOOM!!!

The balcony window was smashed, and the NS-5 robot, unable to break through the main door, chose to enter through the window.

Russell drew his Desert Eagle and killed them one by one. Suddenly, he heard the roar of a motorcycle engine downstairs. Without thinking, he picked up the Thunder Beast and jumped from the 30th floor.

"System, use 'Skill Card: Leap of Faith'."

[Skill Card: Leap of Faith (As long as there is grass on the ground, you will be safe no matter how high you jump)]

Russell had observed the nearby green belts when he arrived at his new home, and he was full of confidence for this leap.

The NS-5s, clinging to the wall, spotted Russell and jumped down to pounce on him. Russell threw the Thunder Beast out mid-air and shouted, "Thunder Beast, use Hundred Thousand Volts!"

Thunder Beast didn't quite understand what Hundred Thousand Volts was, but it was always a good idea to discharge electricity at this time.

Rumble—

A bright light flashed in mid-air, and the NS-5s that jumped down all became paralyzed, emitting blue smoke, and the red light on their chests disappeared. They fell from the sky like Chiaotzu being dropped into a pot.

Downstairs, Spooner was riding a motorcycle with Calvin on the back.

The female PhD student was terrified of gasoline-powered motorcycles, fearing they might suddenly explode. Feeling insecure, she clung tightly to Spooner the whole way, causing him to groan in pain.

Looking at the walls covered with NS-5s, Spooner was at a loss. The communicator was not working, and the elevator had stopped. He didn't know how to notify Russell to come downstairs.

"Get out of here right now, we're surrounded!" Calvin was pale. She couldn't understand what was so attractive about this building that would draw so many NS-5s to it.

Spooner squinted at the air and said, "Wait, he's coming down."

"What came down? How did it come down?" Calvin was completely bewildered. When he saw the figure falling from mid-air, he immediately opened his mouth wide.

Rumble!!

A burst of lightning erupted as Russell landed on his feet, slightly bending his knees, and caught the falling Thunder Beast with his hands, against the backdrop of NS-5s falling like raindrops.

"This... this... was he also modified by Dr. Lanning?"

Calvin was dumbfounded, Spooner was no better off, having jumped from the 30th floor unharmed. Russell's understanding of the world was once again shattered.

Could this guy really be a visitor from another world?!

Spooner's face was grim. Back then, when the two made a bet, he had insisted on swallowing feces, and when Russell disagreed, he got angry. Thinking about it now, he was really despicable!

Russell glanced at the two-seater motorcycle, frowned slightly, and ordered the Thunder Beast to enlarge to its two-meter-tall, bristly form. He then lightly leaped onto its back.

"Let's go, Spooner, it's time to get down to business."

Spooner swallowed hard, looking at the majestic Thunder Beast and then at his own motorcycle handlebars. He felt a sense of inadequacy, as if he had never won against Russell since they met.

"Hey, that's not fair! You can have the motorcycle, but I'll ride this thing instead!"

Just then, more than ten NS-5s surrounded them from all sides. The Thunder Beast roared, its entire body crackling with lightning. The roaring thunder made the robot tremble all over, its chest exploding with red light, and it collapsed on the ground, emitting black smoke.

Russell rubbed his afro. "Spooner, what did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly?"

Spooner blinked. "I mean, time is running out, let's get to USR Corporation headquarters quickly!"