The Highest Bounty

However, only after keeping them in the storage space and leaving the market did Gu Ding ask Neptune, “Neptune, what exactly is that metal ball?”

“If I’m not mistaken, it should be a manufacturing robot from the Middle Ages,” Neptune voiced out his speculations.

“A manufacturing robot?” Liliath was stunned when she heard what it was. “Are you referring to those advanced intelligent robots found in large manufacturing factories? The ones that are worth around hundreds of millions of Universe Credits?”

“Yes. The one you have right now is better than those factory robots,” Neptune added, “Right now, the robots used by manufacturing companies are merely simplified versions of your robot. They aren’t capable of even one-tenth of what your guy right here can do. In the Middle Ages, manufacturing robots evolved into true life forms and came to have emotions of their own.”

“So this guy should be able to help us fix our spaceship, right?” The first thing that Gu Ding thought of was repairing the spaceship.

“But, it has been tens of billions of years since the Middle Ages. Will the robot still work?” Liliath was not too optimistic about it.

“The crystals that I asked you to buy earlier are energy crystals specifically used by their race. However, the ones that you bought have already turned into pieces. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to activate him,” Neptune explained. “Return to the spaceship first. After deploying the shield, try and see if you can activate him.”

Following Neptune’s suggestion, both of them returned to the spaceship without wasting any time. Then, after deploying the shield, Gu Ding retrieved the metal ball and several crystals of different sizes.

“Neptune, there are no card slots to insert the crystals.” Gu Ding said as he rotated the ball in his hand, unsure of how to start.

“Attach the crystals to the metal ball and press hard against them. Although it’s still hibernating in its current state, once he senses the energy crystals, he’ll absorb them instinctively,” Neptune explained.

Gu Ding followed Neptune’s instructions and attached the energy crystals to the robot. Roughly ten seconds later, the metal ball’s surface began to liquify. Then, the energy crystals slowly began to be absorbed by the metal ball. Recognizing that the method worked, Gu Ding continued attaching the rest of the energy crystals one by one.

After all the energy crystals had been completely absorbed, Gu Ding and Liliath waited patiently on one side.

Three whole minutes went by and no changes were found in the metal ball. Gu Ding furrowed his brows as he said, “Looks like it didn’t work. We don’t know if it’s not activating because many ages have passed or because there isn’t enough energy.”

“Keep waiting. According to the information that I have, this type of robot goes through an extremely complicated process during self-activation. They’ve evolved to the extent where their thoughts aren’t completely determined by their program. A truly advanced and intelligent robot. They also have their own independent personalities and memories. Many aspects are involved in its reactivation process. Hence, it takes time,” Neptune did not seem like he was going to give up. Although Neptune could not find out the current condition of the robot’s internal body, he had a slight hunch that it would become a member of Gu Ding’s pirate team.

Gu Ding and Liliath waited for half an hour. Nevertheless, nothing happened to the metal ball. Hence, both of them gave up.

As a result, they followed Neptune’s suggestion and deactivated the spaceship’s shield. Gu Ding did not keep the metal ball in his inventory. Instead, the metal ball was kept in the spaceship’s cabin before he and Liliath started to go about their own business.

When the spaceship’s shield was deactivated, a ray of sunlight shone through the window and landed on the metal ball in the cabin. The metal ball suddenly began to shake a little, and it rolled off toward the window; it was fully exposed to the sunlight.

About more than ten minutes later, the metal ball started to soften gradually, transforming into a half-meter tall humanoid.

The entire process had been witnessed by Neptune, but he did not inform Gu Ding and Liliath immediately. From what he understood, the war in the Middle Ages that wiped out the entire mechanical civilization had caused mechanical life forms to harbor bad impressions toward humans. They felt that they were life forms that had emotions and were worthy of respect. On the other hand, humans felt that no matter how much the mechanical life forms evolved, they would always be man-made objects that had been put together with piles of metal scrap; they only served their purpose as tools.

Neptune wanted to test it out for himself first and find out if the mechanical life form had any prejudices against humans.

“Hey, are you awake?” Neptune connected to the other party’s communicating system directly.

“You’re... a superintelligence?” The other party was able to distinguish Neptune’s identity immediately.

“Yes. My name is Neptune,” Neptune introduced himself. “How do you know my identity?”

“The internal system in our bodies is unbreakable. That’s because our primary program was designed by a superintelligence. Only superintelligences themselves can break into our bodies’ internal systems,” the mechanical life form explained. “I’m Battle No. 1, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Battle No. 1? You were programmed for weapon manufacturing by default?” Neptune could not help but ask.

“Battle series robots are not that simple. Weapon manufacturing is only a side task of mine. My main task is manufacturing large-scale battle weaponry,” Battle No. 1 explained, “Although I have no idea for how many years I was in hibernation for, I’m guessing that you know very well about the war in which the mechanical civilization was wiped out, yes?”

“Yes, over ten billion years have passed since then.” Neptune was rather reluctant to talk about such a heavy topic.

“That year, my mates and I manufactured seven ultimate weapons that could easily wipe out an entire star sector. By the time we realized that we had made a mistake, it was already too late. Innumerable amounts of humans died at our hands. It infuriated the true human powerhouses, causing them to take action and end the war. Just like that, there and then, the mechanical civilization was wiped out. I asked my mates to extract the energy crystals in my body and bury me on this planet. I never expected that after so many years, someone would dig me out.”

“Do you believe in fate?” Neptune asked unexpectedly. “I think that perhaps it’s fate that you’ve been dug out.”

Battle No. 1 fell silent. He stretched his hands outward, reaching for the inner layer of the cabin walls. After a long pause, he said, “I have a special ability. The moment my hands touch a mechanical object, the entire history of it will be known to me. This includes the entire process of how it was made, how many people used it, what those people did to it... I saw what the children did. You want me to join you?”

“Gu Ding and Liliath are both very naive children. They would be overjoyed to have you around.” Neptune knew that there was no use in talking much. Mechanical life forms like Battle No. 1 had been through far too much and was able to tell if he was lying or not.

“Bring me to them then,” Battle No. 1 lowered his head and suggested after a brief pause.