Chapter 7 The New Servant, Chestnut

Zuo Shan cried for a while, then suddenly heard a metallic sound coming from the corner, like the breaking-in sound of a new machine running for the first time.

She was so startled that she immediately forgot to cry.

The electrical circuit in the house broke down when she was eleven years old. At that time, she and Qi Yang were worried about food every day and couldn't afford to hire someone to repair it. Since then, they have never used electricity again.

Therefore, they had to grope in the dark at night.

At this moment, Zuo Shan, so nervous that he didn't even dare to breathe loudly, stared intently at the direction from which the noise came.

I vaguely remember that was where she put that lump of scrap metal. Could it be that after it rusted, the parts inside just fell apart?

Zuo Shan was puzzled when a bright green light suddenly appeared in the corner. Instead of feeling relieved to see light in the darkness, she became even more nervous.

Is this some kind of ghost story?

The next second, the green light gradually faded into a large expanse of white light, revealing a silver humanoid metal skeleton. Its facial features were vaguely discernible as male, and it was about 1.4 meters tall. Judging from its appearance, it must have been short in life.

Zuo Shan froze on the spot, just about to give the ghost a bowl of chicken soup, to teach it to find the culprit who killed it and stop bothering this innocent passerby.

Then, a melodious baritone voice emanated from the skeleton: "My great and noble benefactor, the second prince of the Machine Race, Mori Jones, Barnett, and Mittenland, pay homage to you!"

On behalf of all the people of our entire Mechanical Planet, I sincerely thank you for saving my life and for awakening me from my slumber.

What?! What's going on? Zuo Shan was completely dumbfounded!

"Ahem! Um, what do you mean by 'mechanical race' and 'mechanical star' that you mentioned, Mao Li?" Zuo Shan asked, mustering his courage.

"The Mechanical Star is located in the Flowing Light Galaxy, 30 million light-years away from the Gorent Galaxy. Our Mechanical Race is a new species created by an advanced civilization through the evolution of artificial intelligence, which combines the genes of intelligent beings with highly realistic metal skeletons."

We, the mechanical race, are all exceptionally intelligent and knowledgeable. However, our ancestors made a pact with their creators that a peace chip would be implanted in the brain of every mechanical being at birth.

With the constraint of this peace chip, the mechanical race all love peace and will never initiate a fight with others unless their lives are threatened.

Furthermore, the total population of our mechanical race will always be controlled within 10,000 people, and new people will only be allowed to be born if an old member of the race dies.

We, the mechanical race, have lived on the mechanical planet for generations, but as mechanical princes, we are required to travel to various star systems to broaden our horizons before our coming-of-age ceremony.

While traveling through the Gorent Galaxy, I unfortunately encountered the stellar fission of that galaxy. The extremely high temperature generated during the fission melted the interstellar spaceship I was traveling in.

I accidentally crashed onto this green algae planet and was caught in a massive acid rainstorm. The acid rain corroded my metal skeleton, causing it to rust and rendering it unable to move.

Then I encountered high solar radiation. In order to protect my genes from unpredictable mutations caused by the high radiation, I used 90% of my energy to create an anti-radiation energy shield for myself.

However, due to excessive energy depletion, I was forced into a deep sleep and awaited rescue.

At that time, I was actually in despair because I knew that without the aircraft carrier, my people would have no way to locate me and would naturally not be able to send anyone to rescue me.

My energy shield can only last for about three hundred years. When it breaks, my genes will be subjected to strong radiation, and the result of mutation is unpredictable.

I might become a murderous monster, or I might completely lose my mind and become an idiot, or I might be treated as scrap metal by the local natives and thrown into a smelting furnace to be melted into liquid.

If my body is truly dissolved, my consciousness will also quickly dissipate, and then I will truly die.

It's a pity that we mechanical beings have long lifespans, usually living to around three thousand years old, while I've only lived to be 128 years old. Oh, no, adding the 320 years I spent sleeping, I'm now 428 years old.

However, we mechanical race people are considered adults at 600 years old, and I still have a full 172 years until I reach adulthood.

If it weren't for your use of the precious, super-effective plant-based rust remover, even if I were to wake up, my bones would be severely damaged, and I might even lose the ability to move.

Therefore, you saved my life, and from now on I will honor you as my master.

"Master, please accept the loyalty of your servant, Mouri Jones, Barnett, and Mitt Renton. From this day forward, I will be your advisor, your vanguard, and your devoted butler and nanny!"

A metal skeleton instantly transforms into the all-around butler Sebastian, the Black Butler. Zuo Shan finds it hard to accept. The Black Butlers in the anime are handsome, dashing, and all-around capable, but this skeleton in front of her, she hasn't even seen its abilities yet, and its appearance alone is extremely irritating!

"Ahem! I mean, Mr. Mori, could I make two small requests of you?" Zuo Shan tentatively asked.

"Of course, you are my master now. Let alone two, even if you have two hundred or two thousand requests, I will do my best to fulfill your wishes." The metal skeleton readily pledged its loyalty.

"Could you change its appearance? For example, a cute little animal, or flowers and plants, or if that's not possible, one of those old-fashioned square-headed robots, anything small and cute will do."

"My esteemed master, I am currently short of energy and can only sustain one transformation, and I cannot become larger than my current size."

"Once you transform, you can't change your form for a short time. You can seriously consider choosing your favorite form," the metal skull said earnestly.

The meaning is clear: once sold, there are no returns or exchanges.

Suddenly, Zuo Shan remembered a black nine-tailed spirit cat from an anime she had once watched, so beautiful that she could not forget it.

Even the young masters and ladies of District 10 in the wasteland keep tamed mutant beasts as pets, but those things are ridiculously expensive. Some people settle for second best and buy a mechanical pet, the kind that is solar-powered.

Zuo Shan didn't dare bring an overly conspicuous pet with him, so he could only use his finger to dip in water and draw an ordinary Chinese pastoral cat on the ground. He then requested an inconspicuous mechanical silver shell and a pair of heterochromatic gold and silver eyes.

This was completely different from the pure black nine-tailed spirit cat she had in mind, but unfortunately, she was too weak, and she definitely couldn't keep such a good thing.

Upon hearing Zuo Shan's description, the metal skeleton felt even more grateful: "Master, you are so considerate. I know you made this request to help me save energy."

Don't worry, once I've recovered more than 50% of my energy, I'll definitely optimize my appearance to be the most beautiful and pleasing to your eye.

As soon as Mao Li finished speaking, the humanoid skeleton in the green light made a "click-clack" sound as its mechanical joints twisted. Soon, an extremely cute mechanical cat appeared in front of Zuo Shan's eyes!

It has a silver-white appearance, with black and gold accents, and a large gold collar around its neck inlaid with glass beads.

It is thousands of times more beautiful than the cat she depicted with both pictures and words. It looks lively and cute, but you can tell at a glance that it is a mechanical cat.

"Master, are you satisfied with my current form?" The cat's voice finally turned into a cute boy's voice.

"I'm very satisfied, absolutely very satisfied! Mao Li, you're amazing!" Zuo Shan praised sincerely.

"But you're so beautiful, I'm worried someone might covet you." While happy, she couldn't help but worry.

"Don't worry, Master! I can only reveal myself to you. In front of others, I will project a plain and ugly phantom image, which I guarantee they won't like." The cat casually projected a three-dimensional image in front of her.

Zuo Shan saw a metal cat skeleton with only a cat's head and four limbs appear before her. It looked rather creepy. This mechanical cat would definitely not be taken by her. Well, now she was completely relieved.

“Alright, now I have a second small request. Your name is too long and hard to remember. How about I give you a simple and easy-to-remember nickname, like Mao Li?” Zuo Shan said again.

"Master, is 'Chestnut' an abbreviation of my name, Mouri Jones?" the mechanical cat asked.

"Ahem! No, chestnuts are a delicious nut from my hometown. It's a pity we don't have them here, otherwise you'd want ten after eating one!" Zuo Shan coaxed it.

"Thank you for the name, Master!" the newly created mechanical cat said gratefully.