Conquering the Stairs Before Saving the World

The nanorobot virus is deadly to V.I.K.I.. Dr. Lanning left a contingency plan when he created V.I.K.I., but too many people were blinded by profit. No one was willing to believe the old man's words, or rather, these people realized the danger but clung to wishful thinking and were unwilling to give up the profits that were about to be obtained.

For example, President Robertson deserved to die and didn't deserve any sympathy. He knew Dr. Lanning was right, but still stubbornly opted for a cold shoulder because all his money was invested in the NS-5 series. If he halted the robot's release, he would go bankrupt and become homeless the next day.

V.I.K.I. also knows that nanobots are its natural enemy, so it has specially set up a laser protection net and locked the password so that no one can take it out.

Dr. Lanning anticipated this, and he specially created Sonny who was not subject to the three laws of motion, and endowed him with a skeleton of ultra-high-density alloy, so strong that even laser protection nets could not penetrate it.

However, possessing ultra-dense Kingpin mean that Sonny can take on a hundred opponents. He can only fight ten at most, and beyond that, he will be easily defeated.

Sonny, refusing to believe it, rushed into the main unit room, only to be beaten and forced to flee in terror ten seconds later. Fortunately, the nanobot virus wasn't stolen, otherwise all his previous efforts would have been in vain.

Hundreds of NS-5s swarmed out, forcing Spooner to make a strategic retreat. His idea was simple: since they couldn't break in from upstairs, they would try to break in from downstairs.

The idea was good, but he overlooked one problem: with Sonny carrying him up the 2,880 steps, Calvin still had to rely on his own two legs.

After being chased by robots all the way, with Sonny coming to the rescue a few times, Spooner collapsed again when he got to the first floor. His knees were trembling and he couldn't stand up straight, feeling like his meniscus was almost worn away.

Spooner was extremely frustrated, realizing that before saving the world, he had to conquer the stairs. He spent the whole night either going up or down the stairs. Why didn't Dr. Lanning replace his legs too?

The three arrived in the hall, with the giant robot statue behind them and V.I.K.I.'s mainframe above their heads, about... well, very high, so high that V.I.K.I. didn't think he would be soaring through the rear, so there wasn't even an NS-5 in the hall.

Spooner was dumbfounded, and suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sonny waved the nanobot in his hand. "I can climb up the wall, but someone has to draw fire for me, otherwise I can't get close to V.I.K.I.."

Calvin frowned. "That's probably difficult. We only have one pistol, which is not enough to help you, and the distance is too far, beyond the pistol's range."

"Dr. Calvin, is there really no way?"

Calvin pondered for a moment, "It's not like there's no way at all. We can climb to the 50th floor first, which is closer to V.I.K.I.. It's just that I'm not sure if there are robots guarding the entrance."

"We have no choice but to try!" Sonny bent down. "Come on, Dr. Calvin, I'll carry you."

Spooner: "..."

Wait a minute, who will carry me?

Rumble!!

Suddenly, bright lights flashed above the USR headquarters building, and the NS-5 robots, guided by the lights, climbed the walls and ran upwards.

Spooner and his two companions could only see the red dot getting farther and farther away from the ground. Sonny, with the best eyesight, focused on the top floor and his face lit up with joy. "It's Officer Russell, riding that electric... cat? wolf?"

"Whatever it is, I don't want to move anymore. I hate the stairs!"

Russell went on a killing spree in the president's office, covering Spooner for a while before making his escape. He didn't bother with NS-5; no matter how many he killed, it couldn't keep up with the production speed of the assembly line. He stayed behind only to trigger a few more lottery draws.

The result was good; a benevolent-looking NS-5 triggered a lottery draw. To highlight its outstanding contribution, Russell deliberately cut it into eight pieces to show that it was different from others.

Russell mounted the enlarged Thunder Beast, burst through the roof window, and raced all the way to the top of the V.I.K.I. server. Anticipating that Spooner and his two companions would likely return empty-handed, he had deliberately kept the Thunder Beast out of the battle, waiting for this very moment.

"Jump down, discharge at full power, and blow up the light bulbs below!"

At a command, the Thunder Beast roared and howled, tearing through the blast-proof glass and leaping down, its limbs gripping the wall as it ran. Elemental creatures are agile, Thunder Beast could use its electricity to glide along the walls, even briefly flying dozens of meters in the steel jungle of the metropolis.

Of course, this requires Russell's Magic Power to support the energy conversion; it would be difficult for Russell to do it on its own.

A surge of red light appeared as NS-5 launched a suicidal attack on the Thunder Beast, but due to the elemental advantage, it could only create scrap metal in vain.

The Thunder Beast leaped onto the V.I.K.I. host, and under Russell's command, its body suddenly enlarged, its limbs wrapped around the lights, and its whole body surged with blue light, as if it had entered a countdown to self-destruction.

Russell didn't try to test his limits on lightning tolerance. He jumped onto the wall, took out his Adamantium Blade, inserted it into the steel, and slowly slid down toward the ground.

Sizzle! Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle—

As the Lightning Snake charged forward, the Thunder Beast unleashed all its energy in one breath, its entire body igniting with blue flames and transforming into a dazzling ball of Lightning Magma.

Lightning bolts shot into the sky, piercing the roof and piercing the dark heavens. Inside the building, streaks of lightning rippled and twisted, leaving charred marks on the walls.

Russell, wielding the Adamantium Blade, was severely shocked by the electric shock, exhaling black smoke. He used Magic Power to accelerate his body's repair, and his 'physical' attribute points increased by 2, breaking through the 40 mark.

The fluorescent lights on the main building of V.I.K.I. suddenly emitted a surge of blue light, and visible electrical pulses broke through the building one after another. The shockwaves shook the building violently, and all the glass shattered.

Thousands of NS-5s were paralyzed and fell, piling up in layers in the hall, reaching a height of more than ten meters.

With a roar, the Thunder Beast completed its mission and leaped onto the wall. Using its limbs to push off the wall, it descended to Russell's side, opened its mouth to grab his arm, and with a few leaps, safely brought him to the first-floor lobby.

Having used up its last bit of energy, the Thunder Beast shrank back to its original form Clow Cards and automatically fell into Russell's hand.

Russell put the Clow Cards into his Space Ring, stepped out of the group of robots, glanced back at the dim fluorescent light tubes, and frowned deeply.

The V.I.K.I. is dead, but the system didn't notify us that the task was finished. It's definitely not that simple.

"Hey buddy, what breed is your cat..." Spooner came out with Calvin and Sonny, chattering on and on. "Is it male or female? If it's female, remember to save one for me if it has kittens... no, I want two, one male and one female!"

Russell rolled his eyes and ignored him. Elemental creatures don't even have penises, let alone genitals, so where would the next generation come from?

Does it reproduce by fission?

"Dr. Calvin, has the robot rebellion outside stopped?"

Calvin stared dumbfounded at the V.I.K.I. server above him, swallowing hard. "Uh, that's probably difficult?"

"What's the meaning?"

As Russell was asking his questions, the V.I.K.I., which had been turned off, suddenly lit up, and a 3D virtual face looked down at him, saying, "Officer Russell, my logic is impeccable!"

Russell was dumbfounded. "What's going on? Did V.I.K.I. restart automatically?"

Calvin coughed lightly. "No, rather than rebooting, I feel she's... full of energy now."

Russell: "..."

"Only nanobots can destroy her, Sonny. Let's get upstairs before the NS-5s arrive," Calvin was the first to react.

Sonny nodded, bent down to help Calvin up the stairs leading into the fire escape, Spooner, his face dark, showed no intention of following.

Russell glanced at him. "Spooner, aren't you going to be a knight in shining armor?"

"Ha, now I'm the one who should be pampered!" Spooner said angrily, holding his knees. "To hell with that damn staircase! I swear I'll never climb stairs again tonight... I swear I'll never climb stairs again tonight."

Click! Click! Crackling sound—

A twisting metallic scraping sound rang out overhead, and a dark shadow blocked the light, causing the two to instinctively look up. Sometime during the night, the giant robot statue behind them had come to life, its chest glowing red like the NS-5, its crimson eyes staring unblinkingly down.

Being stared at by the 50-meter-tall behemoth, both of them gaped. Spooner swallowed hard and ran towards the fire escape without looking back.

"Hey buddy, this thing's yours. I'm going to be your protector."

"Holy crap, you said you'd never climb the stairs again tonight!"

"That's right, but it's already past midnight, that's what we said yesterday!"

The giant robot interrupted the two, slamming its fist into the wall, sending a massive shard of rubble crashing down and burying Russell in the ruins. The giant robot didn't stop there; it raised its massive foot and stomped down on the rubble until the ground was flattened.

Whoosh!

An arm, its surface worn and revealing a metal skeleton, emerged from the rubble. Russell pushed aside the debris and stood up, staring with a pair of red electronic eyes.

[Character Card: T-800 (What can this old guy do?)]

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