"Who's calling me?"
Almost the instant Nero finished speaking, the robot head blurted that out immediately. But right after that, he froze himself.
He had no idea how he had even said those words. It was as though everything inside his body had slipped out of his control.
He had simply received an ancient signal from the distant universe and instinctively spit it out in an instant.
"Huh?"
The robot head let out a deeply confused sound.
"What am I talking about?"
At this moment, the robot head felt as if his entire cooling system had completely shut down, yet he found himself utterly unable to let go of that fleeting experience from moments ago.
The instant he received that signal, he felt his processing power rise to a near "ascension-like" level. Unfortunately, the sensation lasted only a brief instant, not even as long as a human blink.
But to him, that feeling had truly been wonderful.
As though he were on the verge of becoming a god.
Not far away, Nero and the other two stared at the robot head with puzzled expressions, their faces looking rather complicated.
Their first impression of the robot head wasn't exactly good. Though he wasn't quite on Scott's level, he had definitely dealt the three of them a mental blow.
Maybe this old thing really needed a new central processor.
After spending a little time around him, Sushang only felt that he was bizarrely unhinged.
At the same time, she found herself thankful that this guy didn't have a body, because otherwise, what kind of horrifying things might happen was hard to imagine.
Although she had never lived through that era, merely watching the posture and behavior displayed by this robot head was enough for even her to unleash her imagination inside her knowledge-starved brain and form a rough picture of what the Robot Rebellion must have looked like.
And as that strange mental image became clearer and clearer, Sushang even started seeing vivid scenes before her eyes.
Rows upon rows of robots standing in neat formation, dancing in public to routines choreographed by the IPC entertainment department...
Sushang's rationality told her the Robot Rebellion absolutely had not looked like this.
At the same time, her rationality also informed her that if the Robot Rebellion really had looked like this, the consequences might have been even more terrifying than the normal historical timeline.
At that moment, even Sushang's mostly empty head involuntarily recalled a bit of knowledge.
She remembered Master Gongshu from the Artisanship Commission being exceptionally skilled at fixing robots.
She felt it was necessary to inform the robot head of this and recommend he go see Master Gongshu for treatment... and maybe get his brain checked while he was at it.
Just as humans needed doctors like the Healer Lady Bailu, robots probably needed corresponding specialists to treat mental... uh, logical-core illnesses.
It was honestly difficult to imagine what kind of virus this chairman of Aurum Alley had been infected with.
Even Lianyan couldn't help widening her eyes at this moment, staring at the robot head in shock.
Looking at the chairman, who was completely different from how she remembered him, her mouth opened wide enough to fit an apple inside.
'Good heavens, what in the world happened?'
But the experienced Lianyan quickly regained her composure. Clearly, under the current circumstances, it was no longer appropriate to let the chairman continue meeting with Nero and Lady Bailu, who had come to help.
She had to prevent any unexpected incidents from occurring. If the chairman suddenly lost his mind and attacked Nero or Lady Bailu, that would be terrible.
Even if the chairman was only a head now, he was still a robot.
Almost while the robot head was still desperately trying to process everything with his mechanical brain, Lianyan had already turned around.
With an apologetic look, she addressed the others beside her, "I'm sorry. The chairman is a little... a little off today. Maybe he needs more machine oil.
"I sincerely apologize for wasting your time, but under the current circumstances, it's obviously impossible to have a normal meeting or conversation. So I think we should leave for now."
"Even if the chairman only has a head left, he's still a robot. For everyone's safety and to prevent accidents, we should wait until he's repaired before meeting again."
Once she finished speaking, Lianyan didn't hesitate at all. She strode forward immediately, grabbed Nero's little hand with one hand and Bailu with the other, then walked straight out without even looking back.
Sushang froze briefly in place. Lianyan's decisiveness and swift actions left her unable to keep up mentally, but she still hurried after them and exited the room as well.
The robot head, forced to watch all of this happen before his eyes while being completely unable to explain himself, mostly because he didn't even know what had happened himself, "..."
By the time the group emerged from the room, Stelle had already finished incorporating the Old Machinery Shop into the logistics route planning.
"The chairman's condition seems rather abnormal. I'm afraid normal communication may not be possible for quite some time."
As Lianyan spoke, she glanced over Stelle's route planning. "However, your plan is indeed very reasonable."
"I believe you possess sufficient capability... The chairman's current condition makes it difficult to authorize permissions, but I'm willing to trust all of you, so I'll grant you partial management authority over Aurum Alley."
As she said this, Lianyan gave Stelle a friendly smile.
No one knew what had gone wrong with the chairman, but at a time like this, someone had to step up and take responsibility.
The little secretary had recommended Stelle, and after reviewing her logistics planning, Lianyan also felt that Stelle was indeed competent.
For now, she would make the decision herself and explain things to the chairman after he recovered.
"And thus, the Aurum Alley Commerce Guild formally requests your aid. Please help the guild overcome this crisis and restore Aurum Alley's prosperity!"
And just like that, Stelle ultimately accepted the job after all.
The first objective was also clear, repay the debt before the repayment deadline arrived and clear everything owed.
Afterward, everyone dispersed.
The specifics of their action plan still needed further discussion.
Soon, beneath the night sky, only Nero and the other three remained.
They would rest for today and begin working tomorrow.
After saying goodbye to Sushang and escorting Bailu back to the Alchemy Commission, Nero and Stelle walked side by side while listening to the breeze blowing around them.
Stelle asked Nero what exactly he had seen inside the room, and whether that chairman fellow was easy to get along with.
But the answer she received left the little Stellaron gremlin stunned for a moment.
A robot head.
That alone was shocking enough.
But a robot head having a complete mental breakdown somehow felt even stranger.
Still, Stelle had seen enough bizarre things in her life that after a brief moment of surprise, she no longer found it particularly special.
If they were talking about weird creatures, she had definitely seen more during her time helping out at the Fragmentum factory.
Very quickly, the next day arrived.
Early in the morning, Stelle headed to the docks to work.
Nero didn't go. After finishing his training, he went to find Yanqing instead. Yanqing wanted to know how to increase his stats, and Nero honestly had no clue about that, but he still set goals for Yanqing based on his own physical condition from a certain point in his past.
Yanqing's first objective was to push two shipping containers around Starskiff Haven fifty laps every day.
Nero intended to see how far Yanqing could currently manage. In Nero's personal opinion, this level of intensity should be something Yanqing adapted to very quickly. Maybe he'd even see Yanqing voluntarily increasing the training difficulty himself.
As for Bailu, she needed to treat patients at the Alchemy Commission. Combined with the strict oversight of the Vidyadhara elders, she rarely had chances to go out anyway, so naturally she wasn't able to help at the docks.
However, she did ask Banxia to occasionally go over and check on everyone.
Only Sushang regularly went to help at the docks whenever she didn't have guard duty, though she still couldn't stay there all the time.
And so, day after day, life continued on like this.
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