"I'm sorry, guys, for making you do this."

Looking at the swarm of insects floating towards her and the endless wasteland, Lin whispered.

Her eyes fell on the three camel worms, and the robot's good vision allowed her to immediately recognize the three people.

Not seeing Lu Ban, Lin felt as if some low-voltage pulses were generated in her logic circuit. This weak electric current was like the sad emotion of human beings, making her feel lost.

But soon, Lin raised her head again.

Beside her, a huge loudspeaker for broadcasting was erected. Lin looked at all the robots that were still able to move pouring out of the future city, and she spoke.

"Creatures in front, please stop harming humans, or we will take forceful measures."

The sound came through the loudspeaker and reached the insect swarm, but obviously, these insects, immersed in their instincts, naturally ignored it, and the torrent did not weaken at all.

"Detecting that humans are threatened, the robots of Future City will carry out rescue according to the program."

Lin said.

She glanced at the robots charging forward.

After hundreds of years of waiting, the companions who once lived together day and night finally encountered a being that needed protection.

Over tens of thousands of days and nights, Lin had imagined their final moments countless times.

It stops functioning due to irreparable damage, or loses its energy source and becomes unconscious.

She never thought that she would greet her last moment in this way.

At this moment, in the wasteland outside the future city, the communication systems of all robots are operating at maximum power. With Lin as the center, a dense intelligence network has been established, corresponding to which is a steel line of defense to resist the swarm of insects.

"Everyone, we have had billions of discussions, and many of the companions who participated in the discussions have fallen into a deep sleep. During the discussions, I have always held a view that humans have not abandoned us. They will come back one day and bring vitality to this place, so that every sleeping companion can wake up again."

Lin's voice was transmitted to every robot through the communication network, and then rang out from their pronunciation devices and reached Frost Heart's ears.

She couldn't understand why these robots would do this for such an insignificant thing.

A few minutes ago, they were even considering bringing the swarm of insects into the future city to bring about a devastating disaster for those robots.

For Frost Heart, any promise is time-limited and conditional.

If she were asked to wait here for hundreds of years for people who might never come back, she would definitely not stay.

"Now, I am happy because humanity has truly returned, and we will light a fire for humanity and illuminate this dark night."

The next moment, flames rose in front of the steel defense line formed by robots.

The fuel for these flames is the banners on the commercial street, the signs of the noodle shops, the artificial trees in the ecological park, and everything that can burn in the future city.

Even the corpses of the devoured robots were ablaze.

The raging flames burned the insects, igniting some of the insects that tried to cross the defense line. The bright flames illuminated the desert that had become dim due to the sandstorm, and reflected the faces of the three people.

"This is the bonfire party. I still remember that people would dance around the bonfire to celebrate the passing of the old year and the coming of the new year."

At this point, Lin's voice became a little weaker.

As the communications hub, her processor contains all the complex information, such as wind, terrain, and temperature, in order to maximize the use of the environment and block the advance of the swarm.

This is a calculation that is difficult even for supercomputers to complete and requires the use of sensors on each robot.

This calculation also caused Lin's logical processing unit to overload. She was like a human who overused her brain. Her individual consciousness had become unclear and only endless calculations remained.

As long as this kind of calculation continues for a while, there are only two possible outcomes waiting for Lin.

Or the energy is completely exhausted by calculation and it enters a permanent sleep.

Either the processor is overloaded and burns out completely.

Even if she wasn't burned up and was replenished with energy, her "personality" as a robot would no longer exist.

But in the face of such a situation, she had a smile on her face.

"You, you don't have to do this."

Frost Heart murmured to herself. She would never have thought before that in this desolate world, what made her feel the warmest was not humans, but the glowing flames of these robots.

When humans of the old era chose to abandon themselves and become a swarm of insects, they left behind a group of robots that were more human than them.

"No."

Lin seemed to have heard Frost Heart's words, and spoke in the softest tone before the processor, which was gradually becoming hotter, was completely burned.

"Never at any time should you harm a human being, nor should you stand idly by while a human being is in danger."

She recounted the shackles that humans of the olden days had placed on robots.

"I like this rule very much, because it means we will never harm humans, and we will never be helpless when humans are threatened. I love humans the most, the most."

“This is the oath we are most proud of.”

She called the shackles "the oath".

“It’s not worth it.”

Frost Heart said that she was getting closer and closer to the Future City and could clearly see the skirt of the robot girl on the roof of the building swaying in the strong wind.

"This is just a restriction imposed on you by humans to prevent you from rebelling. This is not your original will."

"It's not worth staying here for hundreds of years, or even sacrificing yourself, for something so illusory."

Hearing Shuangxin's words, Lin shook her head.

"No, it's worth it."

The robot girl's voice was light, like a song that lulled a child to sleep.

"Because that's what the oath means. No matter how the world changes, it will never change."

"Because we met you, all our waiting has paid off."

"Thank you for making our existence meaningful."

"We have discussed whether humans will come back 2 billion times. Each time we have discussed this, a large amount of signals are transmitted and resonate at a frequency of tens of thousands of hertz. It takes a long time for us to think about it. But this time, it only took a moment for all of us to decide to leave Future City to rescue you."

"Rather than falling asleep because of running out of energy, this is what we are pursuing most now."

The defense line formed by the flames was quickly destroyed by the Zerg. The robots fell apart and were swallowed by the flames. The Zerg, which had been stagnant for a while, began to move again.

Shuangxin and others entered the future city and passed by Lin.

"Thanks."

Lin said as all the remaining robots rushed towards the swarm.

She fell to her knees, adjusted her body's functions to zero, and focused all her efforts on the last line of defense.

When even consciousness became blurred, raindrops fell from the sky.

The water drops that had not been seen for a hundred years fell into her eyes like tears.

The swarm of insects overwhelmed the future city.