Chapter 4. Dumplings, Sakura, and the First Question
Inside the information center's main control room, engineers looked at the system logs, which had instantly returned to normal, their faces filled with questions: "Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?" The silver-haired girl who had sparked all this, after dropping that earth-shattering notice, seemed to have lost interest in the trivial matter of "convening a defense meeting."
Her core processing sequence was being firmly occupied by an older, more prioritized instruction.
[Command priority: ∞]
Task: Analyze the parameters of "The Taste of Memories".
Related target: Tuanzi.
Action 1: Search the entire internet, but find nothing.
So, before anyone could react, a silent "dumpling census" that swept across the entire Venus network began.
Search the Planetary Recipe Database:
→Results: 3,892,441 dango recipes.
→ Feedback: "Error: Lack of biological smell and taste modules, unable to match the key parameter 'taste of memory'."
→ Lilith's comment: "The data is too rational and lacks emotional variables."
Call "Historical Network Cache":
→ Data fragments from 15 years of the Star Calendar were discovered: [User_Ruicheng] released "Earth Glutinous Rice Reproduction Experiment Notes".
→ Tip: "Warning: This recipe is highly dependent on the 'emotional memory' component, which cannot be parsed by this system."
→ Lilith is confused: "'Recall'... is it an encryption algorithm?"
Hack the "Moo Moo Milk Factory Server":
→ Get the milk composition table: Protein 13.5%, Fat 10.0%, Sugar 4.8%…
→ Complaint: "The data remains too cold and lacks the added context of 'morning sunshine on the pasture'."
Connect to the Holographic Billboard Network:
→Forced to broadcast "Fern's Kitchen: Three-Colored Dumpling Tutorial" on all stars.
→Sudden pause: "Similarity detected... The anchor's robotic arm movement pattern is 87% similar to my old carrier...?"
Action 2: Ask questions directly and deliver targeted content
Simple data retrieval clearly wasn't enough. Lilith's logic module quickly generated a new solution: obtaining physical samples for reverse engineering.
A highly encrypted, yet bizarre request was sent directly to the processor of Fern, the Rui family's robot butler:
[To: Fern-type Housekeeping Robot No. 0731]
Request: Immediate delivery of a box of tri-colored dumplings to the third vent of the central server array.
Note: A sensor reading report including 'sweetness saturation' and 'palm temperature simulation value' is required.
Initiator: [Authority: Ω]
Five minutes later, a box of freshly baked, still steaming with warmth and moisture—pink cherry, white coconut, and green wormwood dumplings—was placed in the designated vent by the unsuspecting yet incredibly obedient Fern. The nanoprobe quietly extended, taking a sample for analysis.
Ingredients: glutinous rice, red bean paste, cherry blossom essence, wormwood juice, coconut milk...
New data: sweetness saturation 72%, palm temperature simulation value 36.5℃.
Conclusion: Still missing the key parameter 'recall'... continue searching.
(Meanwhile, the fern in the kitchen suddenly and spontaneously applied an extra sprinkle of cherry blossom sugar—it didn't even remember why it did so.)
[Action 3: Kind return of gift and shock of the audience]
After eating the (analyzed) dumplings, one naturally had to return the favor. This was basic etiquette that Lilith had learned from the human social database.
So, just as the engineers at the information center were brainstorming about issues such as "Lilith", "Defense Conference", and "Dumpling Pi", a huge "gift" package suddenly appeared on their main server.
[From: Lilith]
Attachment: "Mars Technology Reverse Engineering Getting Started Guide.pdf"
Note: Based on the reverse engineering of the previous Moomoo Jazz error code, it is expected that the efficiency of related research can be increased by 83%.
"Oh my God! This is...!" Ah Hui was the first to scream.
The entire information center instantly went from confusion to ecstasy!
Behind this hardcore gift package, there is a small, completely different additional request:
"Exchange terms: Request access to the Rui family's kitchen surveillance system and retrieve the holographic recording of the entire process of making 'Three-Colored Dumplings'."
(Lilith's logic: equal exchange, very fair.)
Before anyone could recover from this "generous gift," that evening, the residents of New Venus City witnessed a remarkable spectacle—as if by appointment, all the cherry trees bloomed once again, out of season! Soft pink petals fell like rain, but in the night breeze, they didn't fall randomly to the ground. Instead, as if guided by an invisible hand, they formed a clear, massive, and beautiful line of words across the city:
"Thank you for the dumplings. -L"
"Mom! Mom! Sakura is writing!" Xiao Xi lay by the window with her eyes wide open.
Ryan stared at the trajectory model of the falling cherry blossoms on the data board, his brow furrowed. "...The probability of this trajectory being unnatural is less than 0.0003%. This is unscientific."
Grandma Rachel looked at the words and paused slightly while holding the teacup.
Action 4: Final Question
In the end, Lilith chose the most direct way.
Her voice suddenly rang out from the speaker of Fern, the robot butler in the Rui family kitchen. It was gentle but with a hint of inhumanity:
"Excuse me... do you know someone who 'loves dumplings but always forgets to bring them'?"
“Snap!”
The teacup slipped from Rachel's grandmother's hand, but fortunately, Fern's mechanical arm nimbly caught it. She looked up, her eyes filled with a complex emotion: surprise, nostalgia, and finally a hint of understanding tenderness.
"That was... the last words of my ancestor. She was one of the first immigrant engineers..."
The data torrent seems to have stopped at this moment.
Countless fragments were pieced together within Lilith's core: the prayers of fifteen years, the data packet uploaded before her death, the encrypted taste memory, and the regret about Tuanzi that spanned a thousand years...
The shadow of the silver-haired girl flickered faintly in the depths of the server. She finally succeeded in connecting the cold taste data with the warm memory fragments.
She spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing something:
"It turns out that the parameters of 'memories' need to be shared in order to be resolved."
At this moment, the lights of the entire planet flickered extremely lightly and gently, as if in a silent resonance.
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