Chapter 283 Machine 22
Ji Rong is the eldest brother in the orphanage. He has a steady personality and often helps the director mother take care of the children in the orphanage. He is also very outstanding, but because he is a little old, adoptive families will not consider him as their first choice, until one day he was adopted by an adoptive family.
They were a very elegant and dignified couple. Ji Rong followed them away. His adoptive family was well-off, and he gradually adapted to his new life. His adoptive parents enrolled him in the best mechanics courses and allowed him to participate in various mechanical competitions. Given his adoptive parents' social status, he couldn't possibly join the wealthy circles of the Mechanical City, but Ji Rong received an admission letter to the city's top university.
After graduating from the highest institution of learning, one can directly join Dragon Technology and become a mechanic for the Royal Legion. For an ordinary family, this is a great opportunity to make a breakthrough.
Today, Ji Rong still stays in the Mechanical School before the start of the highest institution of learning, and helps the school's maintenance masters deal with some mechanical problems.
He was very glad that he didn't leave, otherwise he wouldn't have met his childhood friend. Ji Rong passed by Jiang Chan's class intentionally or unintentionally. With his deliberate approach, Jiang Chan gradually became familiar with him and even occasionally recalled some fragments of the past.
Ji Rong handed Jiang Chan a cup of hot milkshake and asked, "What's the situation at the welfare home?"
Jiang Chan's palms were scorching hot. A few snowflakes fell on her eyelashes, staining them with the white dust. She sat quietly, like a delicate doll. She raised her hand to wipe her eyes, a reddening slowly seeping into the corners. She said, "It's a fight between nobles."
The orphanage is located in a remote area. With the development of machinery, many private testing grounds have been built around it. Various new weapons have emerged one after another, and the nobles use new machinery to consolidate their status and increase their power. Every test is a disaster for the nearby orphanage.
"The director's mother was planning to move us, but before she could choose a location, the orphanage was destroyed. It was a robot cannon. The target was supposed to be the wilderness dozens of meters away, but the data was wrong and it ended up landing in the orphanage yard..."
Things like this happen every day, and Jiang Chan has become accustomed to it.
Ji Rong: "Dean's mother..."
Jiang Chan: "After the accident, the director took us away. All the children who could find adoptive families were sent away, leaving only a few. During that time, the streets were full of robbers and drunks. No one knew when they would die or why, or whether it was just the drunks waking up and letting off steam. The director later left the Mechanical City. I was eligible for the royal family's disability assistance and settled down in the Mechanical City with the assistance money."
She spoke lightly, as if settling in the Mechanical City was an easy matter.
Applying for disability benefits, renting a house, earning living expenses... and being alert at all times to all kinds of life-threatening things, Jiang Chan is really very cautious to be able to survive until now. Fortunately, she has always had Yin Jia by her side.
Jiang Chan: "You are very lucky."
Ji Rong smiled but said nothing.
The AR landscape room led directly to the rooftop. In the distant horizon, the fiery red sun was radiating its last rays, painting half the sky a brilliant golden hue. White snowflakes drifted down, a few scattered flakes landing on the ground, barely enough to cover the rooftops. The buildings of the Mechanical City appeared remarkably dense amidst the sparse snowflakes.
Louis's statue was recast and placed in the center of the main street, its metal exterior glaring in the setting sun. Ji Rong narrowed his eyes. "I'm lucky, but not happy. I sometimes wonder what I'd be doing now if I hadn't left the orphanage. I'd probably be an ordinary maintenance mechanic, or working for a small company..."
Jiang Chan held her cheeks, "Just being alive is good enough." She raised her face, the evening light slanting across it. "I used to live in the east of the city, in an area the residents of the central streets called a slum. People died every day for various reasons, and I could see all kinds of corpses in the mornings. Every time I woke up, I felt lucky to be alive and well."
Ji Rong: "Are you scared?"
"I was very scared at first, but later I got used to it," Jiang Chan said. "I'm afraid of death, but death is inevitable. When I think about that, I'm not afraid anymore. As long as I'm alive and well each day and don't die in a disaster or accident, I want to do what I want to do well."
Ji Rong smiled and said, "I originally wanted to comfort you, but I didn't expect that you would be more insightful than I thought."
Ji Rong's adoptive parents were very strict with him. Ji Rong had to receive the most rigorous training and the heaviest expectations from a very young age.
He didn't dare talk to anyone. His adoptive parents were treating him well in the way they thought, and he seemed to have no position to refute. However, the appearance of Jiang Chan aroused his fantasy of another path in life. If he had not been adopted, perhaps his life would be mediocre, but he might have more happiness in it.
Later, Ji Rong told Jiang Chan about the various strange machines he had seen during various competitions.
Jiang Chan listened with great interest and gradually forgot the time. When she came to her senses, her phone, which had to be muted due to class time, had received countless messages, and the screen was filled with red fonts.
"——Please contact me!"
"——Please contact me!"
"——Please contact me!"
The phone in her hand was burning hot, and in the cold outside, it seemed to be able to burn all the ice peaks. However, Jiang Chan was shocked by the buzzing phone, and her spine tingled. The red words on the screen competed for her vision. Her eyes hurt a little, and her fingers trembled slightly. She quickly replied to Yin Jia:
"I lost track of time, Shining Armor. I'm leaving now."
Jiang Chan silently thought to herself, Yin Jia, please don't be angry! Last time, Yin Jia became very scary because of the simulated robot incident, and even asked her to give him the authority to autonomously destroy the robot that appeared next to her. Fortunately, Ji Rong was a human, her friend, and Yin Jia could understand!
Jiang Chan was a little scared. She said goodbye to Ji Rong. Ji Rong said: "I want to leave too. Let's go together."
Jiang Chan hurried on, "Okay, let's hurry up."
The school gate was filled with all sorts of robots, most of them babysitters, responsible for picking up and dropping off children. Silver Armor stood out among them for no other reason. Its bulky design, a style popular a decade or so ago, looked old-fashioned even now. Today's robots are more focused on functionality and tend to be compact and dainty. If all robots were as gigantic as Silver Armor, it would be difficult to find space for them at home.
The slums were densely populated, with buildings stacked up against each other. The residential areas outside the slums weren't much better. Much of the empty land in the Machinery City was used to build machinery-related factories or testing grounds.
The space left for residents to live and play is minimal. While not as crowded as a slum, it still feels somewhat oppressive. The buildings are tall, and the space within is maximized. A family of three rarely has room for a giant robot. Such a robot is bulky and takes up too much space.
Shining Armor stood silently among the robotic nannies. The robotic nannies around him made him look particularly huge, like a massive mountain. The twilight slashed across his body, the silver metal shining brightly, while the part hidden in the shadows revealed an indescribable darkness and gloom.
His eyes were fixed on the school gate. The nanny robots around him gradually left, and only he was still standing outside the school in the gradually darkening day, staring at Jiang Chan who was waving at him at the gate.
Jiang Chan's face was slightly red, she ran a little fast, and her breathing was unstable. Ji Rong supported her from the side, "Slow down and watch the road." Jiang Chan thanked him and waved to Yin Jia again. She could feel the heat on her face, which was the gaze cast by Yin Jia.
Yinjia did not move, standing quietly like an ordinary robot, waiting for his master to come to him and input commands for the next step.
He stared stiffly and silently at the two people in the distance.
Who was that? Not a machine. Yin Jia had no way of getting his information in time, nor was his information recorded in his memory. He wasn't a robot, but a classmate of Jiang Chan's. Yin Jia defined the boy beside Jiang Chan as his young master's classmate, a human being, not a robot.
Shining Armor felt something was strange.
He hoped he was his little master's only robot and was jealous of any mechanical artifact that appeared around his little master.
Yes, jealousy.
He wanted to destroy them, just like he destroyed the intelligent butler Xiaozhi and the simulation robot. He hated robots appearing around his little master.
——The little master can only have him as his robot.
The little master gave him the authority to independently deal with the robots that appeared beside her, which was equivalent to promising that he would be the only robot. He was very happy, but this joy did not last long. When he saw the classmates who appeared beside the little master, it was like pouring a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the flame of joy.
He's not a robot, why would he be jealous?
He is the little master's classmate, why is he jealous?
He just appeared next to the little master, why would he be jealous?
He just touched the little master's arm, why would he be jealous?
Why? Why? Why?
Silver Armor's arm made a series of crackling sounds. The setting sun had long been hidden behind the tall buildings, and the lights on the road had not yet come on. He was just an ordinary robot and was not enough to attract attention, but Jiang Chan was very familiar with him. She saw his arms slowly turning, his palms bending, and his right arm slowly rising, gradually aiming at Ji Rong's position.
A dark cave entrance suddenly appeared before my eyes!
Is he crazy? What is he going to do! Jiang Chan screamed madly in her heart. She quickened her pace and ran towards Yin Jia, shouting, "Yin Jia!" She ran towards the location where the cave entrance was pointed, her panicked eyes meeting Yin Jia's cold and ruthless metal eyes.
The gun was still pointed at her.
Jiang Chan bit her lip, held her breath and walked in front of Yin Jia. She stretched out her hand to block the muzzle of the gun and lowered her voice: "Yin Jia, you are crazy!"
Yes, he is crazy. Silver Armor: "Young Master, Silver Armor is in great pain."
Jiang Chan was panting heavily. It was already cold in the evening, and her throat was burning from running so fast. She patted her chest, raised her face and glared at Yin Jia: "We are at the school gate, there are many people around, what if someone notices you? Change back to your original appearance quickly!" She was very angry and panicked. What if someone discovered Yin Jia's specialness and took him away from her?
Silver Armor's arm returned to its normal appearance. When Ji Rong was about to go to the front to check the situation, he suddenly picked up Jiang Chan. His strong mechanical arm held her against his chest, like the strongest wall, blocking Ji Rong's sight.
Yin Jia covered Jiang Chan's reddened face with his scarf and took long, long steps. In a matter of seconds, he disappeared from Ji Rong's sight. He tightened his grip, and Jiang Chan coughed twice. Yin Jia immediately loosened his grip. In the silent night, Yin Jia's voice was filled with an indescribable eeriness: "Excuse me, young master, who is he?"
Jiang Chan was still a little nervous. She could sense that something was wrong with Yin Jia. The scarlet words on the screen still lingered in her mind, so she had to pretend to be silent. But when Yin Jia asked her, she said, "He's my classmate." She changed the subject, "Yin Jia! He's Ji Rong. He also lived in the welfare home. When I first arrived at the welfare home, he was the one who coaxed me into playing!" Jiang Chan smiled and said, "We're quite destined to meet, right? We still meet."
He was Ji Rong, the young master's classmate, his former friend... Yin Jia felt a tearing pain, a desire to destroy... Why? Why? Why?
Yin Jia silently carried Jiang Chan home. His expressionless metallic face revealed a chill even colder than ice.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
