Before taking the elevator, Xia Chuhe and the others encountered the same trouble again.
Two artificial mutants stood at the elevator entrance, passionately exchanging barrages of words, locked in a frantic standoff, repeatedly uttering the same phrase: "Please make way, please make way, please make way..."
Other people who needed to take the elevator didn't dare to go up and break up the fight. Instead, they all kept their eyes down and moved to another elevator, waiting for it to slowly come down.
Xia Chuhe couldn't stand it anymore. What happened to kindness? How could humans be so indifferent?
While the elevator doors were open, Xia Chuhe pressed down on a small, short-haired man's head with one hand and pushed him forcefully towards the elevator: "Let's go!"
Two robots simultaneously slid into the elevator, the elevator doors closed, and the world became peaceful.
But the peace lasted for less than a second.
The elevator doors opened again, and the two artificial stubborn creatures were still arguing in polite language: "Please leave the middle of the elevator for me! Please leave the middle of the elevator for me..."
Xia Chuhe rubbed his forehead, then casually selected a robot and pulled it out, just like he was counting soldiers.
The robot, pulled out, screamed, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"
Bao'er instinctively raised her hands: "It wasn't me."
The robot in the elevator finally quieted down, and the people who had been waiting entered the elevator one after another.
Zhao Maomao and Bu Yi helped Xia Chuhe hold down the robot: "Shall we wait for the next one?"
Feeling the robot's struggling force, Xia Chuhe said helplessly, "It seems so for now."
The elevator finally went up smoothly, and the three of them released the robot.
The robot stared at Xia Chuhe with its camera, and Xia Chuhe could almost extract a feeling of resentment from its cold, mechanical eyes.
The elevator next to us finally came down to the first floor, and Xia Chuhe gestured to the robot to let it go.
The robot slowly glided to the middle, and Xia Chuhe and the others followed behind, entering the elevator.
Just before the elevator doors closed, they heard a soft "ding" and the chatter of others.
Why is the elevator stuck on the seventh floor?
Is it broken?
"Ask a machine manager."
"..."
The good news is that the elevator that Xia Chuhe and the others were using was working fine.
The bad news is that the robot has started acting up again.
"The atmosphere is a bit somber, let me sing a song for everyone."
It sang in a cheerful tone: "The day you disappeared, it was sunny and rainless, the air quality was said to be level one, exceptionally clean for this city..."
The cheerful tone paired with the sad lyrics was extremely strange. Xia Chuhe wished she could cover her ears immediately, and the expressions on the other people's faces were also unpleasant.
Everyone endured until the nineteenth floor, when the robot leaned close and mocked, "Riding the elevator with you is really enjoyable."
Xia Chuhe ignored it this time and walked straight to the suite door. Zhao Maomao circled the nineteenth floor and confirmed that there were only three luxury suites on this floor.
The deluxe suite had four bedrooms and two living rooms, and its interior was more upscale than that of the regular rooms. After checking that the room was in good condition, the group gathered together.
Xia Chuhe charged the phone he found and took out the mooncakes and stir-fried rice cakes he had brought from the restaurant.
Li Yue poked at the food with her chopsticks, muttering, "The rice cake is fine, but the mooncake... the crust is clean, the filling isn't."
The mooncakes are fresh meat mooncakes, with a layer of oil oozing out of the filling. They look oily and moist, and surprisingly, they look quite good.
Xia Chuhe recalled the classic human flesh buns from literary works and joked with a smile, "How about human flesh mooncakes?"
Li Yue completely missed the joke, but nodded seriously in agreement: "Perhaps, if I cut off a piece of meat, stir-fry it, and compare the results, I'll know."
Li Yue carefully recalled each dish she had ordered, then shook her head: "Not only were the meat dishes wrong, but the vegetable dishes were wrong too. I remember Mao Mao ordered a stir-fry with lotus root, the main ingredients of which were lotus root slices, snow peas, and wood ear mushrooms."
If there's a problem with the ingredients, an on-site inspection is necessary. The restaurant's dining area and kitchen are completely separate; the kitchen is completely invisible from the dining area.
Xia Chuhe finalized the plan: "Find an opportunity to go and take a look at the kitchen."
Bu Yi offered a rather absurd clue: "My intuition tells me that these robotic butlers don't seem to have any malicious intent. Which side do you think they belong to?"
Following Bu Yi's line of thought, the robot butler's behavior suddenly became quite meaningful.
Normally, the last room on each floor of a hotel is unoccupied, and the robot butler operates according to its program; it shouldn't issue room keys for the last room. Unless, of course, it wants the evolved beings to see the tall building across the street.
However, the last room was dangerous and filled with an inexplicable eerie atmosphere, so another robot deliberately kept Bu Yi outside the elevator, trying to delay her entry into the room and cause the five of them to check the room's safety together.
Meanwhile, there must have been something wrong with the food in the restaurant, which is why the robot "just happened" to trip and fall. Otherwise, why would so many robots, who perform the same tasks in the restaurant every day, make such a basic mistake right in front of the evolved humans?
If they want to verify the robots' stance, they only need to do one very simple thing.
The front desk's contact information was posted on the door. Xia Chuhe dialed the number using the hotel landline, and the automated assistant answered: "Hello, it's a pleasure to serve you."
Xia Chuhe said casually, "When we came up just now, the other elevator seemed to be malfunctioning."
"Yes, that elevator is currently under maintenance, please don't worry."
"Oh, what exactly is the problem?"
"The feedback I've received so far is that the bearings are worn, which is causing the elevator to be unable to move normally."
Are there any casualties?
The robot paused for a moment, seemingly waiting for feedback, before finally replying: "Yes, two passengers attempted to climb out of the elevator shaft and were cut in half by the unexpectedly falling elevator."
This time, Xia Chuhe fell silent.
Bu Yi, leaning against the other side of the microphone, gently touched Xia Chuhe's arm.
Xia Chuhe tried to remain calm: "Thank you for informing me."
"You're welcome. It's my pleasure to serve you."
Even after hanging up the phone, Xia Chuhe still felt a slight ripple in his heart. Although he knew that the people in the dungeon were no different from the NPCs in the game, the NPCs in this dungeon were too realistic.
The outcome of the call confirmed Bu Yi's conjecture—the robots were helping them, or at least, some of the robots were helping them.
If the two little robots hadn't argued at the elevator entrance, Xia Chuhe and the others would definitely have gotten into the malfunctioning elevator. If they had been trapped inside, the problem might not have been as simple as worn bearings.
If we continue along this line of thought...
Xia Chuhe remembered the song the robot sang in the elevator and asked, "Do you remember the lyrics of the song the robot sang in the elevator?"
Li Yue and Bu Yi shook their heads, having absolutely no recollection of it.
Zhao Maomao remembered a sentence: "What, sunny with no rain, level one..."
Xia Bao'er suddenly started singing: "The day you disappeared, it was sunny and rainless, the air quality was said to be level one, a rare cleanliness in this city..."
A near-perfect restoration.
So perfect that Xia Chuhe couldn't help but cover her mouth: "Enough, it's a bit weird."
Just then, the phone's charging indicator showed that it had reached 10% charge.
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