Chapter 18

Su Jing leaned against the stone wall, her gaze fixed on the robot's movements—the silver-gray body slid to the scattered giant wheat stalks 20 meters to the east, the mechanical arm unfolded with a "click," and the clamp precisely hooked onto the middle of the first wheat stalk.

With a gentle snap, the sound was so soft it was almost drowned out by the wind. The wheat stalks, laden with plump ears of wheat, fell to the ground, and the robotic arm quickly shook off the dirt and gathered them together.

In less than 5 minutes, all 24 scattered giant wheat plants were harvested and piled into two small heaps.

Su Jing walked over quickly, her fingertips tracing the top of the haystack, and focused her mind: "Put it into the edible plant area of ​​the space, and return it to the giant haystack."

The haystack vanished instantly, and a system notification sounded in his mind: "Added 120 kilograms, total 1074 kilograms."

She didn't stop, turning her head to look at the dense wheat thickets on the edge of the village—50 meters away, golden wheat stalks grew in patches, the ears of wheat heavy and stretching as far as the eye could see.

The system previously warned that "giants will patrol in 1 hour," so we must harvest some of the crops before then.

"Switch to batch harvesting mode, pile 50 plants together, and prioritize harvesting the stalks closest to the outside."

Su Jing gave the robot instructions with her mind, and at the same time took out a few packets of jerky from her space—she had used quite a lot to lure away the guard dogs earlier, and she had to use the rest sparingly in case of an emergency.

The robot's "eyes" flashed red, and its bottom omnidirectional wheels accelerated as it slid into the dense wheat field.

The robotic arm moved much faster, harvesting 10 plants every 30 seconds. In less than 3 minutes, 50 giant barley plants were piled into a large heap with a diameter of 2 meters.

Su Jing stood at the edge of the wheat field. Without even getting close, she could collect a large pile of wheat stalks into her spatial storage with a thought—at least five times faster than harvesting from a single stalk.

Midway through, the system suddenly issued a warning: "Giant patrol is approaching, 300 meters away, and is moving towards the wheat field."

Su Jing immediately stopped the robot and rushed over to press the "camouflage" button on the robot body.

A pale blue light flashed, and the robot instantly transformed into a long, narrow stone, blending into the pile of rubble beside the wheat bushes, making it virtually indistinguishable without close inspection.

She crouched deep within the wheat stalks, hugged her knees, and held her breath.

A slight tremor gradually came from the ground. A 10-meter-tall giant carrying a stone axe walked past the outside of the wheat field. The bloodstains on the edge of the stone axe gleamed dark brown in the light.

Only after the giant's footsteps completely disappeared did Su Jing dare to get up, allowing the robot to return to its original state and continue harvesting.

Around noon, the robot's battery was down to one-third.

Su Jing took out 1 kilogram of coal from her spatial storage and placed it in the robot's charging port—the coal was instantly sucked in, and the battery level "whooshed" to full. She leaned against the wheat stalks, chewed on a piece of honey fruit to replenish her energy, and as the sweet flesh melted, a "speed boost of 100%" instantly enveloped her entire body;

I took another bite of Giant Wheat kernel. It felt slightly astringent on my tongue. The finger that had been cut by the wheat stalk earlier was no longer bleeding, and the wound was still healing.

The afternoon harvest went even more smoothly. Occasionally, a guard dog would approach, and Su Jing would throw out half a bag of jerky. The aroma of the jerky would waft out, and the guard dog would immediately turn and chase after it, having no time to notice the movements in the wheat bushes.

The robot worked continuously, its robotic arm almost never stopping, piling up one wheat pile after another, which Su Jing then collected into her spatial storage in batches.

As the sun began to set, 180 of the 200 wheat stalks in the dense wheat field had already been harvested.

After the last 20 plants were harvested, the system notification sounded again: "100 kg added, daily cumulative increase of 1200 kg, total weight 2074 kg."

Su Jing activated her spatial perception—in the edible plant area, the giant wheat pile had formed a small mountain, next to which were sweet grass roots and honey fruits. The three resources combined only occupied one-eighth of the space.

The 7,140-square-meter space still has a large empty area, enough to hold even several thousand kilograms of food.

Just as she was about to switch the robot back to disguise mode and find a place to rest, the system suddenly issued an urgent warning: "5 humans are approaching from 50 meters to the southwest, carrying pistols and machetes. The leader is the previous robber, suspected of being an ambush."

Su Jing's heart sank—they were from another country! She had let him escape before, but she hadn't expected him to bring even more people back.

She quickly scanned the robot's body and noticed a "defense" button on the side, which she hadn't noticed before.

As soon as the fingertip touched the button, the system prompted: "Defense mode activated. The robotic arm can fire an electric needle with a range of 5 meters. If it hits, it can paralyze the target for 5 minutes."

She immediately turned the robot to the southwest, and tiny silver electric needles popped out from the tip of the robotic arm.

He then hid behind a pile of wheat and gripped the folding shovel at his waist.

Su Jing hid behind the haystack, her fingertips gripping the handle of the folding shovel tightly, her gaze peeking through the gaps in the wheat stalks—

Suddenly, the bushes to the southwest parted, and five figures rushed out. The leader held a silver pistol straight up, the muzzle pointed directly at the robot's body.

The four men behind him, two carrying machetes and two clutching sharpened wooden sticks, their eyes filled with greed, headed straight for the robot.

"Leave the robot here! Or you're not leaving today!"

The man's voice was ruthless, and he quickened his pace. "You got away last time, but this time there are five of us. You won't escape!"

Su Jing didn't respond, but quickly calculated in her mind: the person in the middle is the most threatening with a pistol;

The two machete-wielding men on the left and right are closest to the robot; take out these two most aggressive ones first.

She quickly transmitted her thoughts to the robot: "Defense mode, lock onto the left and right machete-wielding hands, and fire electric shock needles!"

The robot's "eyes" flashed red light instantly, and the defense module on the side of the body popped open with a "click." Three silver electric needles shot out from the top of the robotic arm, accompanied by a faint "buzzing" sound of electricity, and shot straight towards the two knife-wielding hands at the front.

"careful!"

The man instinctively shouted, but it was too late to warn anyone—the man on the left, who was wielding a machete, had just raised his knife to strike the robot when the electric needle pierced his forearm.

The person on the right wasn't spared either; the electric needle was stuck in their thigh.

Both men froze simultaneously, their machetes clattering to the ground. They fell straight down, their limbs twitching, white foam appearing at the corners of their mouths, clearly paralyzed by the electric current.

"Damn it! It's an electric shock!"

The remaining two (one wielding a stick, the other empty-handed) turned pale with fright, their steps halting, and they dared not move forward.

The man panicked, his gun trembling, but he dared not fire—afraid of accidentally injuring his fallen accomplice, and even more afraid of provoking Su Jing to have the robot aim the electric shock device at him.

"Run!"

The man shouted and turned to disappear into the bushes. The man with the stick followed suit, forgetting to even pick up the stick that had fallen to the ground. The two stumbled and rushed into the bushes, quickly disappearing from sight.

Su Jing walked out from behind the pile of wheat, holding a folding shovel. She went to the robot first and pressed the "Disable Defense Mode" button. The electric needle on the robotic arm retracted, and the robot returned to its calm, silver-gray state.

She kicked the two machete-wielding men who had fallen to the ground again to make sure they were just paralyzed and not unconscious before crouching down and starting to search their backpacks.

The person on the left has a half-bag of sweet grass roots in their backpack, weighing about 30 kilograms. The roots are still covered in soil, so they were obviously freshly dug up.

The backpack of the man on the right contained only a small amount of giant wheat, about 10 kilograms. The ears of wheat were deformed from being crushed, so it must have been stolen from elsewhere.

Su Jing dumped the supplies from both backpacks onto the ground and scanned them with her mind—there were no dangerous items, only a small amount of compressed biscuits and a bottle of water.

"Put them into the edible plant area of ​​the space, and put the sweet grass roots and giant wheat into the pile."

She focused her mind, and the supplies on the ground vanished instantly. A system notification sounded in her mind: "Added 40 kilograms, total 2114 kilograms."

Su Jing stood up and glanced at the two people lying on the ground—how long would the paralysis effect last? The system notification read: "3 minutes of paralysis time remaining. It is recommended to kill them to prevent them from harassing you after they recover."

Two stabs ended their lives.

She didn't linger any longer, switching the robot to "follow mode." The silver-gray body followed behind her, its omnidirectional wheels sliding silently at the bottom.

Before leaving, she glanced again in the direction the man had fled—there was no movement in the bushes, so he probably didn't dare to come back.

She felt her pockets; the jerky she had left was all gone, but the compressed biscuits she had just stolen would last her a while. More importantly, the men's team had a small amount of Giant Wheat in their supplies, which, although not much, could replenish what they had consumed earlier.

"The giant wheat in the core area is denser, and the robots have 8 hours of battery life left, just enough for a full day of harvesting."

Su Jing made up her mind and quickened her pace toward the core area—the earlier ambush made her realize that the human threat in the dungeon was more difficult to defend against than the giants, and she had to collect the giant's wheat as soon as possible and get away from these people who wanted to steal resources.

The robot followed behind, occasionally scanning the surroundings. The system occasionally issued warnings: "Human activity is detected 100 meters to the northwest. Keep your distance."

"Giant footsteps detected 200 meters to the northeast, no threat," Su Jing instructed the robot to remain vigilant and be ready to activate defense mode at any time should danger arise.

After walking for about 20 minutes, the wheat stalks ahead became denser and denser, and the golden wheat ears stretched out in the light, more lush than the edge of the previous village—the core area had been reached.

Su Jing stopped, looked at the dense wheat field in front of her, then glanced at the robot beside her, and a smile appeared on her lips: "Next, it's time to harvest with all our might."