In the early morning, Chen Hao squatted in front of the outermost cage in the chicken coop, holding half a hardened steamed bun in his left hand and carefully reaching his right hand inside. His movements were as light as if he were stealing cured meat from his neighbor's house, but before he could even touch the egg, the hen twisted her neck and her sharp beak snapped at his index finger.
"Ouch!" He pulled his hand back and shook it, his fingertips already red. "I took the egg you laid, not your own child!"
The speckled hen tilted its head and stared at him, its wings half-spread, clearly being unreasonable.
He sighed, stuffed the steamed bun into his mouth, his cheeks bulging like they were stuffed with a walnut. Last night's mud and water battle had left him feeling sore all over, and the soles of his feet were still cold—his shoes were lying in the doorway drying, and the feeling of walking barefoot made him feel like an ascetic forced into spiritual practice.
"You guys, can't you move aside a bit after laying your eggs?" he muttered as he bent down, picked up a freshly collected egg from the basket, and looked at it in the morning light. "You just have to stay there, like you're reserving a seat."
Before he could finish speaking, the black-feathered chicken in the next cage poked its head out, its eyes wary. Just as he was about to reach out, the chicken jumped up, its wings flapping loudly against the bamboo cage.
"Fine, fine, I'm scared of you guys." He withdrew his hand, sat down on the ground, leaned against the wooden wall of the chicken coop, and looked up at the few rays of sunlight filtering through the eaves. "This job is not for humans, it's for chickens to do."
Nana's voice came from behind: "According to avian behavioral statistics, the attack frequency of hens during the nest-guarding period increases by an average of eight times, which is a normal defense mechanism."
“I know it’s normal,” he rolled his eyes, “but I’m not abnormal either, I just want an egg.”
"We suggest changing the method of egg extraction."
"How should we change it? Post a notice? 'Dear hen, please leave your post after laying your egg, thank you for your cooperation'?"
"We can design a biomimetic egg-collecting device."
He turned to look at her. Nana stood at the edge of the morning light, her robotic arm slowly unfolding, the front module rotating and deforming, finally forming an arc-shaped gripper, its surface covered with a flexible material that gleamed with a warm luster.
"This is... a fake chicken hand?"
"Simulating the surface temperature and feel of a healthy hen to reduce stress response," she said, raising her arm slightly. "Test mode activated."
“Wait a minute,” he suddenly stood up, “Don’t burn the egg with that thing, I don’t want to have to hatch a fried egg myself.”
"Current surface temperature is 37.5 degrees Celsius, with an error of ±0.2 degrees Celsius."
“Sounds healthier than me.” He muttered, but still took a half step back and crossed his arms. “Then you go ahead and let me see if technology can handle these local tyrants.”
Nana slowly approached the first chicken coop. The speckled hen immediately became alert, its neck elongated and its tail feathers bristled. She paused for a second, and the robotic arm slowly reached in, the end of its gripper lightly touching the ground, pausing slightly, as if testing the waters.
The hen lowered her head and touched the curved front with her beak.
Then, it rubbed against it.
Chen Hao's eyes widened: "It...it recognized its family?"
The hen's claws moved closer, firmly holding the brown-shelled egg in the nest. With a slight adjustment of the force, she gently lifted it. The whole process took less than three seconds. The hen not only didn't attack, but actually moved aside, as if making room for her companion.
"My God." He leaned closer, staring at the empty nest. "Did it just nod?"
"There was no explicit nodding, but the head movements were in line with the gesture of social approval."
“Anyway, it’s willing.” He grinned, then became nervous again. “But this is just one; the others might not accept it.”
Nana had moved on to the second cage. This time it was a large Australian Black hen, usually the fiercest, who would flap her wings to scare him away as soon as he approached. She still moved in slowly, and as soon as her claws appeared, the hen raised her neck feathers and let out a low squawk.
Just as Chen Hao was about to rush up to save the person, Nana's arm trembled slightly, the movement was so small that it seemed to be imitating some kind of feather shaking motion.
The Australian black man was stunned.
It tilted its head, moved closer, and gently pecked at the edge of the claw with its beak.
Then, it lowered its head and pushed the two eggs hidden under its body outwards.
"Holy crap!" Chen Hao plopped down on the haystack. "It offered up its eggs! It voluntarily handed over its grain!"
Nana continued, clearing the remaining chicken coops one by one. After each retrieval, she would slightly vibrate the claws, simulating the natural shaking of a hen getting up. More and more hens became less wary; some even moved away from their nests, while others simply lay down and dozed off, as if a reliable relative had come to help look after their chicks.
“This isn’t collecting eggs,” he muttered, “it’s visiting relatives.”
Ten minutes later, thirty-six eggs were neatly stacked in a bamboo basket, none broken and none injured.
Chen Hao sat on a wooden stump at the entrance of the chicken coop, holding a basket of eggs he had just finished counting. His face was still covered with bits of grass and some spilled egg liquid. He watched the chickens quietly pecking at their food and suddenly smiled.
"So you can win without fighting, huh?"
Nana stood to the side, the robotic arm restored to its original state, its optical eye flashing a gentle blue light, data streams quietly archived internally. She marked the "Bionic Temperature Control Pickup Program" as a routine protocol and set its execution priority to "high".
"Egg-collecting efficiency has increased by 320%, and manpower costs have been reduced to zero," she said.
"The key is to be in a good mood." He picked up an egg and tapped it lightly on his knee. "Before, it was like sneaking around like a thief; now it's like collecting rent openly."
He stood up, carried the egg basket into the house, and looked back at it again as he walked to the door.
The speckled pheasant was preening its feathers with its beak when an Australian black pheasant strolled by. The two birds were very close and showed no hostility towards each other.
"Do you think they'll feel like they have a warm, iron hand coming to visit every day from now on?" he asked.
Nana looked at the flock of chickens and said after a moment, "They probably think that a new member has been added to the family."
"Then what is she? An aunt or a maternal aunt?"
"Biologically, they are not related."
"Hey, can't you say something a little more interesting?"
"Fun is not within the scope of data."
He shook his head, turned, and went inside. Sunlight streamed into the empty chicken coop, and bits of grass floated slowly in the beams of light. A chick emerged from a corner, hopped to the edge of the mud pit that had been trampled down yesterday, and pecked at the cracked clods of earth.
Nana's robotic arm twitched slightly, and the lingering warmth at the end of the gripper slowly dissipated.
Chen Hao came out carrying a basin, ready to wash the egg baskets. He stepped onto the threshold and bent down to tie his shoelaces—the shoes he had left outside to dry were finally dry.
He had just put his foot in when he heard a muffled thud behind him.
Looking back, Nana's robotic arm was stuck between the support beams of the chicken coop in the middle, its claws half open, an egg hanging on the edge, wobbled, and fell into the grass nest below.
"Stuck?" He walked over. "Didn't you plan the path?"
“The structural database does not include the newly added diagonal bracing from yesterday,” she said. “The temporary obstacle avoidance failed.”
He reached out to grab the egg, and just as his fingertips touched it, a head suddenly popped out from deep within the grass nest—a little spotted hen he had never seen before, with bright, round eyes, and bit his thumb.
"Hey! I'm not here to steal your place!"
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