Cheng Qi's face was covered in black soot.
His eyes were wide, glistening with tears.
Since Grandpa had died, Foolish Boy had been his only companion.
He had promised that once he saved up 800 credit points, he would replace Foolish Boy's hydraulic pump with one that didn't leak oil. It had to be brand-new, too-no more than eighteen previous owners.
But now, Foolish Boy was completely, irreversibly dead.
Granted, there had never been any warmth in Foolish Boy's body.
Yet Cheng Qi felt that the steel hand he held was colder than ever, chilling him to the bone.
Suddenly.
Seven or eight playing cards fell out of a gap in the armor on Foolish Boy's arm. Every one was a joker.
Cheng Qi's arm trembled even harder. "You even learned how to hide cards?"
But a moment later.
Cheng Qi's tears burst free. He pressed a hand to his forehead and choked out, "Why did this happen?"
[Similar technological constructs detected] [Perform technological synthesis?]
A voice with a distinctly technological quality sounded beside his ear. Cheng Qi jolted, then stared blankly at the back of his right hand.
Inside the unidentified Crystal Bracer, four points of azure starlight swirled and danced. As they spun and tumbled, a certain order began to emerge.
"This bracer..."
An iridescent blue bracer encircled Cheng Qi's right wrist. It was rather thick and broad, with a raised section extending over the back of his hand.
Cheng Qi had no idea what it actually was.
Grandpa had said that when he found Cheng Qi, this thing had already been on his tiny, soft white hand.
It was strange. Its shape changed as Cheng Qi grew, always fitting snugly around his wrist with almost no gap. Even after more than a decade without charging, a dim glow still flowed through it.
Later, Grandpa said it might be a construct from a level 13 civilization.
But Grandpa had already been getting a little senile by then. He claimed his chamber pot and dentures were also constructs from a level 13 civilization. The diaper under his protective suit was even more impressive-a construct from a level 17 civilization.
Bzzz!
The surface of the Crystal Bracer suddenly emitted two azure scanning beams.
One moved up and down, scanning Foolish Boy's shattered body. It formed a crisscrossing blue grid that covered him like a blanket, as though the Crystal Bracer were collecting his data.
The other scanning beam reached more than ten meters away, scanning a distant heap of garbage.
The interior of the heap instantly became visible.
Cheng Qi could clearly see another humanoid nanny robot half-buried beneath the distant pile. It was another discarded B343 Nanny Robot, the same model as Foolish Boy.
The B343 Nanny Robot was a cheap, basic model.
In mainstream human society, robots like these were everywhere. Their status was even lower than that of a pet dog.
So there was bound to be more than one discarded B343 in this enormous garbage dump called Earth.
Cheng Qi's pupils quivered slightly. "Two B343s can be combined into one?"
[Select synthesis base]
Stunned, Cheng Qi instinctively looked at Foolish Boy by his feet.
The bracer seemed to possess visual tracking capabilities. The grid covering Foolish Boy's body turned red and began flashing rapidly.
[Matter formatting initiated]
A force suddenly acted on Cheng Qi's wrist, making him straighten his right arm and point at the distant B343.
The half-buried, rust-covered B343 suddenly shone with an azure glow.
After a strange tremor.
Its body broke apart into impossibly tiny points of blue light.
[Disassembling into basic units]
"Formatting...?"
Cheng Qi was filled with disbelief.
Then, like a rainbow drawing up water, the Crystal Bracer suddenly sucked the blue points of light into itself.
Cheng Qi's right hand moved again without his control, pointing at Foolish Boy on the ground.
A translucent river appeared, connecting the Crystal Bracer to Foolish Boy. Ethereal as silk, it seemed to form some sort of passage.
The Crystal Bracer released the blue points of light back out. They traveled along the river and "sprayed" onto Foolish Boy.
Light filled with a technological brilliance shone in the dark abyss of garbage.
It was like an indescribable miracle.
Through the glow, Foolish Boy's body could be faintly seen restoring itself. Some external force slowly lifted him upright onto the ground.
After barely a dozen seconds, the dazzling light gradually faded.
Cheng Qi's eyes widened slightly.
Before him stood a brand-new humanoid robot, without a trace of rust or damage!
Its entire body was made of dark silver alloy. Its shoulders were broader, its limb joints more refined, and it had grown a little taller!
[B897 Security Nanny Robot] [Equipped with home security patrol and surveillance systems, capable of effectively anticipating and detecting intrusions and dangers before they occur]
At that very instant, the robot's shoulder covers flipped open. Eight miniature full-spectrum radars slowly rose, emitting detection waves in every direction without a single blind spot. The surrounding air hummed faintly.
Cheng Qi froze.
It had gone straight from B3 Level to B8 Level, and gained entirely new functions.
[Similar technological constructs detected] [Perform technological synthesis?]
Before Cheng Qi could react, the Crystal Bracer spoke again in its cold synthesized voice.
Two azure scanning beams shot out of the bracer again, locking onto a piece of starship wreckage nearby. In an instant, the beams penetrated the enormous alloy armor plate, revealing the clearly defined outlines of two more B343 Nanny Robots.
"There are two more discarded B343s over there?"
Cheng Qi's eyes flickered. It was common for similar kinds of scrap to pile up together, since they had most likely come from the same garbage transport ship.
[Select synthesis base] [Matter formatting initiated]
A moment later, two B897s stood before Cheng Qi.
One had been made from garbage nobody wanted. The other had been made from the dead Foolish Boy.
[Similar technological constructs detected] [Perform technological synthesis?]
The Crystal Bracer emitted two more scanning beams, scanning the two brand-new B897s.
Cheng Qi's throat felt a little dry. "It can keep going?"
[Disassembling into basic units] [Fusion upgrade]
With Cheng Qi's tacit consent.
The second B897 was "formatted" into countless tiny points of blue light.
Those points then traveled along the dazzling translucent river and converged on the B897 made from Foolish Boy.
In other words.
The Crystal Bracer's basic synthesis process was to turn four into two, then two into one, raising their level step by step.
Thirty seconds later.
The dazzling technological glow faded.
Cheng Qi's pupils contracted. The B897 before him had changed again.
It had grown taller once more, and its limbs were considerably thicker. All its joints had visibly undergone extensive reinforcement, as though they could now withstand greater torque.
Its mechanical hands in particular had changed from dark silver to silver-gray. The material seemed to have become a grade harder.
[A24 Environment-Adaptive Nanny Robot] [Possesses powerful environmental adaptation capabilities, allowing normal operation in both extreme climates and complex terrain. Multiple everyday tools are concealed within its body, enabling basic configuration changes]
At that instant, the A24's thick legs transformed. Its metal covers flipped and shifted, and a lightweight alloy track assembly swung out from the inner thighs, replacing its feet. Its internal engine roared, and the tracks seemed to harbor tremendous horsepower.
At the same time, its arms also transformed. Various tools flipped out and replaced one another, including hydraulic cutters, a hydraulic jack, rapidly spinning alloy saw teeth, and a metal-cutting torch capable of projecting blue flames.
As an upgraded model, it still had the eight miniature full-spectrum radars on its shoulders. Their range had also increased, and they rotated silently.
Cheng Qi tilted his head back, looking at the A24 nanny robot. It was a full fifty centimeters taller than before, now standing roughly 2.3 meters tall.
He was almost speechless with shock.
An A-Class Assistant Robot cost at least 20,000 credit points. Perhaps they were everywhere on other planets, but there would never be a second one on Earth as it was now.
And this one was brand-new.
"Foolish Boy...?"
Cheng Qi's voice trembled. "Can you hear me?"
The robot's head still looked somewhat goofy, without any sleek styling. On its square alloy head, its eyes were two narrow lines, with two points of red light flickering back and forth inside them.
"Greetings, esteemed purchaser."
"The A24 Environment-Adaptive Nanny Robot is at your service."
"Please complete the initial setup so that I may better serve you."
Hearing the emotionless voice coming from the robot, Cheng Qi went completely rigid.
This was what he had feared most.
The mechanical body had been repaired, but Foolish Boy would never return.
Tears glimmered in his eyes as Cheng Qi reached out and touched the A24's chest.
"Greetings, esteemed purchaser."
"Please complete the activation procedure."
"If you insist on getting up to anything out of the ordinary, y'know, I can't guarantee I won't hurt you by accident."
The robot stared straight ahead.
"???"
Cheng Qi's hand stopped moving.
Why did that sound so familiar?
Would a factory-fresh A24 talk like that?
"Ah, screw it!"
"I can't keep this act up anymore!"
"You little idiot, quit touching my chest!"
Before you continue