88 Days of Scavenging
Some of the bolder ones called out twice but the boss didn't appear, so they stuck their heads in to look inside.
This immediately caught my eye with the words "Automatic Trading Without Humans" posted by jsg.
They had naturally heard about unmanned supermarkets and convenience stores before the apocalypse, though most of them weren't truly unmanned. But overall, they hadn't forgotten about this model because of the zombies.
So, once someone tried it, the others weren't afraid anymore and lined up to go in, just like the previous two days.
After they finished the transaction and came out, they couldn't help but realize that even without the shop owner, the whole process had gone perfectly smoothly.
Even if the item to be traded is something special, such as a rare medicine, after making a request to the intelligent system, you will receive an order and a pickup time.
You can usually get it the next day.
In short, it's no different from when the boss is around.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Yes, whether the boss is there or not doesn't really matter to them. As long as they can continue trading goods as usual, they don't care about anything else.
These people don't care, but some people do.
.
The little robot watched as the shop operated independently for a whole morning without any problems, and it was completely relieved.
So he didn't linger any longer and started walking out of the base.
All around were groups of people carrying large and small bags, leaving the base to collect trash. The little robot stood out among them; anyone who heard the news and caught up with it spotted it immediately in the crowd.
"Boss Naji! Boss Naji, wait a minute!"
Hearing someone call his surname from behind, the little robot turned around in confusion.
The person who called out to him was a familiar face.
Tan Kang walked at the front, his slightly fat belly jiggling as he moved. Beside him followed a group of about twenty people.
Lin Jian, Zhao Conglu, Liu Jiaqing, and Guan Ningyu were among the group, along with a few others who had been with Tan Kang during the meeting. The rest of the faces were unfamiliar.
It was Tan Kang who called out to the little robot.
The little robot waited for them to approach. After greeting them, Tan Kang couldn't help but ask, "Where is Mr. Ji going?"
Clearly, he had received word that Naji's shop was already conducting unmanned transactions, and there were no other notices posted at the door. This didn't seem like he was going to be back anytime soon.
Upon hearing that Ji Tong was leaving the base, he immediately led his men to chase after him.
Thankfully, the person hadn't gone far.
Upon hearing Tan Kang's question, the little robot didn't feel there was anything wrong with it and openly told him that it was going to open a branch store.
As for the destination, he looked at the map and found that the closest base to Hope Base was the Mountain Base to the west. It was smaller than Hope Base, but its geographical location was good, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so he could go and take a look.
When will you come back?
"I'm not sure either." The little robot didn't hide anything. "The shops here can be run independently, so there's not much to worry about. I should come back once the branch is on track."
However, after returning and taking a look, it's clear they will continue to open branches in other bases.
The little robot didn't say anything, but that didn't prevent everyone from understanding what he meant.
Tan Kang's eyes darkened.
However, he didn't say much more about the topic after that. Instead, he kept praising the little robot for its great righteousness, wishing it to expand its branch store, and even patted his chest to assure the base store that they would take care of it from time to time.
Without waiting for the little robot to come up with any of the usual human social jargon to respond, Tan Kang brought up another matter.
"Here's the thing, this is my daughter, Tan Mengzhu. She's formed a team to pick up people at the Qunshan base, which happens to be the same destination as yours. If you don't mind, would you like to travel with my daughter and her team, Mr. Ji? Please take care of them on the way. I only have one daughter, and I'm really worried about her."
As he spoke, Tan Kang beckoned the girl next to him to come over.
"Mengzhu, come and say hello to Boss Ji."
Tan Mengzhu was slightly shorter than the little robot, making her look petite. However, she was quite beautiful and had a good figure. Her slightly tight combat uniform perfectly showcased her feminine beauty.
Tan Mengzhu gave the little robot a beautiful smile: "Hello, I'm Tan Mengzhu. Boss Ji, please take good care of me."
The little robot looked at Tan Mengzhu, then at Tan Kang, its gaze sweeping over the team members Tan Kang had mentioned, and then—
He politely declined, saying, "I'm sorry, it's not convenient for me to travel with others. It's more suitable for me to go alone."
You could say he was polite, but he didn't even shake Tan Mengzhu's outstretched hand, leaving her hanging in mid-air. But you could also say he was impolite, because his tone was gentle, and he even gave a half-bow to express his apology.
In short, Tan Kang's expression was clearly not good.
Tan Mengzhu, on the other hand, only had her smile freeze for a moment before returning to normal. If you weren't staring at her, you wouldn't even notice.
As if she didn't feel embarrassed, she withdrew her hand and said with a smile, "It's okay. Boss Ji is so capable. If we were to follow him, we would only be holding you back. It's only natural that you don't want to."
Little robot: "Mmm."
His expression even showed obvious agreement.
Tan Mengzhu: "..."
For a moment, one could only vaguely hear someone unable to suppress a laugh.
Finally, Tan Kang spoke up, saying that although they wouldn't be traveling together, they were on the same road anyway, so they should leave a message for each other. He hoped that if Tan Mengzhu and the others encountered any danger they couldn't handle, Boss Ji would lend a hand if he happened to be nearby.
Tan Kang even brought out a pair of improved signal devices for this purpose.
In this apocalypse, it's unclear whether the global magnetic field is malfunctioning, but all the signals that used to be working are now broken. Cell phones and telephones are unusable, and communication between bases is extremely difficult. It's only thanks to the equipment developed by the talent gathered at the capital base that they can barely exchange information.
The same applies to signal transmitters; they can't receive signals if the distance is too far, but they can still call for help within a certain range.
The little robot thought about it and this time didn't refuse.
Tan Kang and Tan Mengzhu's expressions immediately improved.
Afterwards, Tan Kang returned to the base with his bodyguards, leaving only Tan Mengzhu and her team of thirteen to prepare for departure.
The little robot, of course, ignored them and drove its business vehicle along the planned route.
He didn't see Tan Mengzhu behind him trying to come over and ask if he had a car and if he wanted to ride with her.
.
The little robot didn't care what Tan Mengzhu was feeling after several unsuccessful attempts to get close to her. He drove slowly, and the route he chose wasn't the main road marked as clear and unobstructed on the map.
He even deliberately chose the routes that were marked as blocked.
He didn't intentionally refuse Tan Mengzhu's request to travel the same route. The little robot knew that the route he had chosen was obviously not the one that the humans doing the mission would take, so of course they couldn't travel the same route.
Unfortunately, the people he rejected didn't think that way.
In short, the little robot traveled along, stopping and starting as it encountered traffic jams, gradually clearing the road. If it encountered obstructions such as abandoned vehicles, wood chips, or zombie corpses, it would collect the former and process them in the recycling bin, while the zombie corpses would be piled up in one place for unified cremation.
If the blockage is caused by gravel or a broken road, the little robot will stay longer. Using its equipment, it will create materials to repair the road and mend what it can.
He would only abandon repairs if the cracks were too large and deep, and instead install warning signs and fall-prevention railings to surround them.
Then, a road of suitable width will be rebuilt from the side.
These tasks would obviously be impossible for a human to complete alone, and even a short distance would take several days or even dozens of days. But for the little robot, it is an all-powerful machine on its own, not to mention the various equipment and auxiliary areas in the recycling bin.
So even though he was delayed on the road, he didn't need to eat or sleep, and he didn't rest at night. As a result, his speed of progress was no slower than that of Tan Mengzhu's team on the other road.
As for Tan Mengzhu, she originally thought that she and Ji Tong set off at about the same time, and that she could catch up with Ji Tong by chasing after her. She would try to follow behind Ji Tong and maybe find an opportunity to get close to her, or even travel together.
However, she didn't expect that no matter how hard she chased, she couldn't even see the rear of the car!
She was so angry that she almost lost her composure.
Can that thing fly?! How can it run so fast?!
Well, it seems the only option is to go to the mountain base to ambush them again.
.
The little robot continued to walk methodically along the path. When it heard gunshots ahead, it immediately turned around and drove in that direction.
This is the first time the little robot has seen such a large mutated plant since it came to this world.
It was a mutated banyan tree. This plant originally had the property of "forming a forest from a single tree". Now, after the mutation, it covered the sky and the ground. One tree was like a thousand troops. Just looking at it from a distance was enough to make people tremble with fear.
Surrounded by this enormous mutated banyan tree were only two people.
To be precise, only one person was able to hold on; the other, smaller figure was hiding and trembling with fear, completely lacking the confidence to fight.
The person who was still gritting his teeth and fighting back was covered in magazines and had a large-caliber machine gun on his shoulders, firing bullets at the banyan tree branches as if they were free.
Hmm, it seems like this guy really doesn't need to spend money on bullets.
The little robot saw that the man's magazines were being consumed and then replenished out of thin air, without ever running out.
Even the bullets that person fired were different from ordinary bullets. Ordinary bullets don't curve, and they certainly won't catch fire after hitting a banyan tree.
It seems this must be related to that person's special ability.
That is why, although the banyan tree was powerful, it could not do anything to the human until the human's superpowers were exhausted.
However, the two humans were completely surrounded by the banyan tree and had no way to break through. If this continued, they would only run out of their superpowers and be trapped and die inside.
That's the situation, and the little robot sees it all clearly.
He didn't stand by for long. After thinking for a moment, he took out a new magic scroll from the warehouse—Sleeping Wind.
"Sir over there, please catch it and then tear it open!"
The little robot shouted loudly, and when it saw the two humans looking over, it threw the scroll in its hand.
The two people were far apart; it's impossible for a normal person to throw something that far.
But the little robot is not a normal person.
So the palm-sized scroll passed precisely through the dense branches of the banyan tree and landed in the arms of the terrified human.
There was no other way; the other human was holding machine guns in both hands, and the little robot was afraid he wouldn't be able to catch them.
Something suddenly fell into Feng Le's hand, startling him so much that he almost reflexively threw it away.
Fortunately, Feng Lixuan, who was beside him, reacted quickly and shouted, "Calm down! Quick! Tear it open!"
Feng Le stammered, "What... what is this?"
"Stop talking nonsense and tear it up! They're definitely here to support us!"
"Brother, I can't tear it!"
Feng Lixuan frowned, but before he could say anything, the little robot in the distance also noticed the problem and quickly added, "Tear it apart with your superpowers!"
Feng Le does indeed possess supernatural abilities.
He channeled his supernatural power into the scroll in his hands, and as soon as he touched it, he felt that it was much easier to tear.
Suddenly, the scroll split in two in his hand.
In an instant, a slightly sweet-smelling breeze swept across the entire area, centered around the scroll.
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