Chapter 33
Su Jing walked along the metal fence of the residential area, her boots making a soft "tap" sound on the patchwork metal floor—she deliberately walked lightly, avoiding the protruding mechanical parts on the ground to avoid triggering unnecessary noise. The residential area was more orderly than the alley, with rows of low metal houses on both sides, each door equipped with a simple electronic lock, the screen lit up with a pale green standby light; a few small household robots were scattered in front of the houses, some wiping the lintel with their robotic arms, others dragging mini cleaning boxes to sweep the floor, the "buzzing" sound of their operation mixed with the sound of synthetic food heating up from inside the houses, creating the unique atmosphere of life in the cyber slum.
Following the little boy's directions, she stopped under the neon sign for "Convenience Supermarket"—the sign was damaged, only half of the neon tube for the character "便" (convenience) was lit, and the remaining three characters for "民超" (people's supermarket) flickered with an unstable orange light. Next to the supermarket was metal building number 3, with a yellowed piece of paper pasted on the lintel with a simple robot drawing in marker on it, which was the "auntie who is willing to help" that the little boy had mentioned.
Su Jing raised her hand and knocked on the metal door—with just the right amount of force, not too light and no one would hear, nor too heavy and it would attract the neighbors' attention. Soft footsteps came from inside, followed by the beeping of the electronic lock. A small window in the door was pulled open a crack, revealing a pair of wary brown eyes: "Who is it?"
“The little boy I met in the alley introduced me here. He said you know how to safely get the ‘Blue Core’.” Su Jing softened her tone, took out two small vacuum-packed dried fruit pieces from her pocket, and held them up to the small window. “This is a thank-you gift, not something bad. It can help replenish some energy for your robot.”
The eyes behind the small window stared at the dried fruit for a few seconds, then glanced at Su Jing's radiation protection suit—it had no offensive markings and she wasn't carrying any obvious weapons—before slowly pushing open the metal door. The person who opened the door was a woman of about thirty, wearing a dark gray work jacket with oil stains on the cuffs, and holding a small screwdriver in her hand, clearly having just been repairing a robot; her hair was tied in a ponytail, with a few metal shavings stuck to the ends, and a mechanical clicking sound came from the room behind her—a cooking robot about half a person's height was operating in front of the stove.
"Come in, don't stand at the door, the 'Metal Man's' patrol route passes through here." The woman stepped aside to let Su Jing into the house, glancing warily at the alleyway before closing the door to make sure no one was following them. The room wasn't large. On the left was a cooking robot and a simple stove, and on the right was a metal table with scattered screws and a worn paper manual. A small cleaning robot was charging on the corner of the table, its blue core light faintly visible on the side of its body.
"He said you want the 'energy core'?" The woman walked to the metal table, picked up the manual on the table and handed it to Su Jing. The cover read "New Los Angeles Home Robot Repair Guide (Slums Edition)", and several key points were circled in black marker on the inside pages. "Don't directly remove the core shell, it will trigger an alarm. Follow the steps on page 12 of the manual, first disconnect the robot's power interface, then unscrew the spare screw on the side, and you can take out the core without affecting the robot's basic operation."
Su Jing took the manual and turned to page 12—it had clear step-by-step diagrams: First, locate the red power button on the back of the robot and press and hold it for 3 seconds to turn off the power; second, use a screwdriver to unscrew the four spare screws on the side of the robot and open the small cover; third, gently pull out the core connection cable to remove the blue core. There was also a handwritten note on the edge of the manual: "Use this for cleaning and cooking robots only. Do not touch the industrial robot, as it may trigger a community alarm."
"Thank you, Auntie, this manual is so useful." Su Jing placed the dried fruit on the table and pointed to the cleaning robot charging on the corner of the table. "Can I try this one first? After I remove the core, I'll help you put the robot back in so it won't affect its use."
The woman nodded and walked over to the cooking robot to continue adjusting it: "You do it. The core of this cleaning robot is almost out of power. Taking it out is just right, and I'll replace it with a spare."
Following the instructions, Su Jing first went to the cleaning robot, located the red power button on its back, and pressed it for 3 seconds. The robot's operation stopped instantly, and the blue core's light dimmed slightly. Next, she picked up the screwdriver on the table, aimed it at the four spare screws on the side of the robot, and gently unscrewed them—the screws were very small, so she deliberately slowed down to avoid dropping them. After opening the small cover, a thin white connecting wire was visible, connected to the core. She carefully pulled out the wire, and the moment her fingertip touched the core, a system notification sounded in her mind:
[1 Common Energy Core detected, automatically added to dungeon inventory, current total: 1]
She put the removed core into the EMP-proof metal box, then, following the instructions in the manual, screwed the spare screws back into place and pressed the power button—the cleaning robot hummed and restarted. Although the core was gone, the basic cleaning functions could still operate, but it required an external power source. "See, it's not broken, it can still sweep the floor." Su Jing gestured for the woman to check, then pointed to the small robot vacuum cleaner by the door, "Can I take that one too? I'll leave you a piece of dried fruit."
The woman looked at the cleaning robot that was working properly, and her wariness lessened: "Okay, that one was asked to be repaired by my neighbor. The core was almost out of power, so taking it out will allow him to replace it with a spare."
Following the same steps, Su Jing quickly retrieved the second ordinary core from the robot vacuum cleaner, and the system indicated that she now had a total of two cores. She carefully put away the second core and left behind a piece of dried fruit. Just as she was about to say thank you, there was a knock on the door, accompanied by an old lady's voice: "Lina, is your robot fixed? My cooking robot is also having problems."
The woman (Lina) walked to the door and opened it. The old lady outside saw Su Jing and was stunned for a moment: "Who is this?"
"She's the one who helped me retrieve the core. She won't damage the robot and even left something to replenish its energy." Lina pointed to the dried fruit on the table and then said to Su Jing, "She's Aunt Martha next door. She has a cooking robot at home, and its core is almost dead. If you still need it, could you help her retrieve it? She'll give you a reward, like half a bag of synthetic rice."
Su Jing's eyes lit up—she could get more cores, gain the trust of the natives, and replenish her food supply—a triple win. She immediately nodded: "Okay, I'll take them according to the manual, making sure it doesn't affect the robot's use."
Aunt Martha smiled and welcomed Su Jing into the next room. Inside, a cooking robot sat beside the stove, its screen displaying "Low Energy." Su Jing quickly retrieved the third core (she hadn't had time to collect it yet, as she needed to equip Aunt Martha with her own core first). Aunt Martha promptly took out half a bag of synthetic rice from the cupboard and handed it to her: "This is a thank-you gift. If you need more, I can ask the other neighbors. Many of their robot cores are almost out of power, and they're worried about finding someone to help them get more."
Su Jing accepted the synthesized rice, feeling much more at ease—with Lina and Aunt Martha's introduction, collecting ordinary cores would be much smoother, and she wouldn't have to worry about being chased away by the natives anymore. She glanced at the system panel; she currently had 2 ordinary cores, 8 more to reach her goal of 10. Meanwhile, in the global channel, Chen Yang was still complaining: "I was just about to dismantle a household robot when the natives chased me out with a wrench, saying I was going to break their livelihood!" Zhao Yue chimed in: "I found 3 cleaning robots, and the alarm was triggered as soon as I unscrewed a single screw. The mechanical guards almost came over, so I had to run!"
Su Jing turned off the channel and followed Aunt Martha to the next neighbor's house. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the aircraft onto the metal floor at the door, casting dappled patterns of light on the ground. The footsteps of the mechanical guards in the distance were still ringing out rhythmically, but she knew that with the help of the natives, her collection speed would far exceed that of the other participants.
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