This time, Xi Kai didn't waste too much time thinking. Not long after Silin's "return" forum was created, Xi Kai contacted Silin.
The meeting place was the "disappeared" area of Black Viper, but it was a little far from the center. There was an asteroid filled with electronic devices and mechanical structures, and this asteroid was Xi Kai's, or rather, the Xi Family's base of operations.
When they approached the asteroid, Silin sensed a strong mechanical signal. It gave Silin a very strange feeling. It was similar to Sigma's, but it was also very different.
"There's a very large artificial intelligence control center here that controls almost the entire planet." Wheeze also stopped "arguing" in the forums. This planet gave Wheeze a very special feeling, and it even carried a sense of friendliness and intimacy. In other words, the artificial intelligence knew who was coming here, and it was showing emotions.
Yes, emotions. Unlike the rigid emotions of other robots, this kind of emotion was more like the expression of a human, just like what Xi Kai said was the standard of the "original."
Most of the electronic planet was made up of machines, and only a small number of humans were related to the Xi Family.
"Welcome, my dear friends," a voice said.
The voice was transmitted through the communication system on the spaceplane Silin was piloting. It was very gentle, like a kind old man speaking with a smile.
"Who are you?" Huimao asked.
"My name is Chip. I heard from Xi Kai that you know Sigma."
"Oh? You know Sigma too? " Huimao curled his tail and looked around. He didn't see any robots that looked like Sigma, but the owner of the voice reminded Huimao of Sigma.
"We're old friends. Sigma and I are brothers."
"Are you one of the five Original robots?" Silin asked.
"Yes."
Following the instructions displayed on the screen, the spaceplane flew to a fortress surrounded by mechanical devices. This fortress was like the center of a "spider web", and the other machines were distributed around it.
After entering the fortress, Silin saw Xi Kai waiting for him with two other people he didn't recognize. They were probably from the Xi Family. Apart from these few people, the others were all robots, robots that looked similar to humans.
Since Xi Kai was able to invite Silin here, it showed his sincerity. Even the upper echelons of Black Viper rarely visited this electronic planet.
"Where's Chip?" Huimao looked around and asked impatiently.
Xi Kai smiled. "Follow me."
Xi Kai signaled the others not to follow him, and then led Silin and Huimao to a spacious area inside the fortress. Along the way, Silin found that there were many access controls, but there was no need to swipe a card or verify identity. The door would open automatically. Just as Huimao had said, this place was controlled by an AI hub.
When they arrived at the venue, the door opened automatically. Cillin followed Xi Kai inside, and the first thing that entered his eyes was a gigantic mechanical body. Complicated circuit boards and connecting wires were scattered all over the place, and there was a flashing circular screen at the top of the machine.
As Silin and the others approached, the screen moved down until it was level with Silin's line of sight. A human face appeared on the screen. It was the face of an old man.
"Nice to meet you."
"You're Chip?!" Huimao, who was crouching on Silin's shoulder, stood up and looked at the face on the screen. "Why doesn't Sigma have a face?"
"It does." The screen showed Sigma's signature blue "face". "That's it."
"Then why do you look like this?" Huimao pointed a claw at the old face. "It doesn't look right."
Xi Kai smiled wryly. Not only did it look wrong, but it couldn't be helped. If it weren't for the remedial measures he took later, even Chip would be gone.
This time, Xi Kai didn't say too much. Chip was the one who explained everything to Silin. He explained the origin of the five robots and what happened after that.
Just as Cillin thought, the ancestors of the Xi Family accidentally discovered a substance that could be used as a brain compound for the robots. That was how they created the five Original robots.
Some things happened after that. When they first arrived, they ran into the rebellion of the Empire. Most of the people and robots were killed, and only a few survived. They ran into Mist Bodhisattva Freeman, who was ostracized at the time. Freeman provided them with shelter, and at the same time, they developed a batch of intelligent combat robots together.
After that, the remaining members of the Xi Family and the four Original robots signed an agreement with the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor. After that, an organization called Black Viper appeared in the Empire.
This was the same thing every patriarch of the Xi Family knew. Xi Kai knew this as well. However, there was one thing he didn't know: there were only four robots when they met Freeman! As for why, no one knew the answer even now. There were many things that were still a mystery.
Silin also noticed this problem. "Why were there only four Original robots when we met His Highness Freeman?"
Chip paused for a moment before sighing. "Later on, our master erased a part of our memories. We don't know what that memory was. The only thing I remember is that our master said it was to protect the Xi Family. "
"The robot that disappeared was …"
"It was Sigma," Chip answered.
Silin looked down. If it was Sigma, then the erased memory was probably about how Sigma was sent to the League of Stars. Moreover, the Xi Family had concealed the technology they knew about the technology that allowed them to travel between two major star systems!
"So, where did you meet Sigma? Perhaps these are the memories that were erased, "Chip asked anxiously. It had been wondering about this for almost a thousand years. When Xi Kai finally told it about Sigma, it made him agree to Silin's request immediately.
Originally, Silin had come here to lay his cards on the table, but he didn't know that the Xi Family didn't belong to the Mist Bodhisattva Empire at all. Or rather, they knew about it in the first place, but their memories were erased later on.
Seeing Silin's hesitation, Chip added, "Not all of the Original robots had their memories erased. I don't know if Sigma's memories were erased or not, but I'm sure Moon didn't. Of the five of us, Sigma is the most innocent, and Moon is the best at playing dumb. I didn't find out until later that Moon's memories weren't erased like the rest of us. "
Moon wasn't one of the two destroyed Original robots, but he had been in a special state since a long time ago.
In order to understand the complex substance in the brain, the Xi Family's descendants had destroyed two Original robots, and Chip had almost been crippled as well. He wouldn't have ended up like this if he hadn't made amends later on. After Chip's accident, Moon went into forced hibernation. No one could wake him up, and Chip forbade the Xi Family's descendants from using him for research. Even if he couldn't create another Original robot, he wouldn't allow them to destroy him.
Before Moon went into forced hibernation, he had chatted with Chip for a while. It was then that Chip realized that Moon knew a lot more than they did. It was because he knew how to play dumb that he was able to keep more secrets, which was why his master was willing to share them with him.
Not even the Xi Family could force Moon to be used for research. Many people had tried to wake him up, but to no avail, including Chip himself. It was as if Moon had sealed himself away from the outside world and refused to communicate with the outside world.
"Where is Moon?" Silin asked.
"Moon has been in forced hibernation for more than seven hundred years."
A light screen appeared in front of them after Chip's voice was heard. It was a robot that looked similar to Sigma, but it was lying quietly on the ground without any reaction.
Silin was wondering if he should try to wake Moon up. Maybe he could learn the secret technology from Moon, but Xi Kai interrupted his train of thought.
What Xi Kai cared about the most wasn't what Sigma did all those years ago, but how to create the Original robots. Moreover, he didn't think that Silin could wake Moon up.
"Silin, do you think it's possible to recreate the Original robots?" Xi Kai asked.
Silin frowned as he stared at Chip's huge body. "I want to know what the complex substance in the brain is."
Xi Kai shook his head. "Like I said, we haven't been able to figure it out for nearly a thousand years. Even the two and a half Original robots that we sacrificed only know part of it."
Xi Kai nodded at Chip, and an image appeared on the screen. It was a spherical crystal, but it was not a solid sphere. It had a core, and there were countless branches extending from this core. Each branch was strangely shaped, and they were very complicated thin crystal columns. These thin crystal columns seemed to be covering the core with a thick layer of "fluff".
Silin's face twitched when he saw the image. Huimao also shook his beard.
Xi Kai was shocked when he noticed Silin and Huimao's strange reactions. "Have you seen this before, Silin?!"
Silin was distressed. How should he put it? Why is it here?!
"I've seen it before, but it's been used up. I'm afraid it'll be difficult to find it again."
"It's … used up?" Xi Kai felt his boiling blood turn cold. He then asked, "Was it used on robots? Where are they now? "
Silin shook his head and said nothing. Huimao was staring at Xi Kai with hostility. He had already destroyed two and a half Original robots, and now he was plotting against Czedow?!
Right now, Silin was worried that Xi Kai was right. If Xi Kai's words were true, then Czedow's mind might stretch even further than he expected. He had left the League of Stars for such a long time. Would Czedow's development go astray? If he did, then it was very likely that he would create a robot storm.
Xi Kai was about to ask more questions, but Chip stopped him. Xi Kai might not be able to sense Huimao's hostility clearly, but Chip did. Therefore, he changed the topic.
"You can try to awaken Yue if you want to know more. If you can't, there's not much we can do to help."
Cillin nodded. Let's give it a try. We can only start with it.
Chip opened a door, and inside was Moon, who had been forced to hibernate.
At first glance, he looked similar to Sigma, but the color was a little different. Other than that, there wasn't much difference.
Unlike humans, who could still feel the aura of life when they were in hibernation, this kind of robot was like an antique that had been hidden from the world for a long time, quietly staying there without any signs of life.
"Yue, I brought two friends with me. They said they've seen Sigma before." Chip's voice was full of emotion.
Several hundred years had passed, and Chip was now the only one of the five brothers who was still guarding this place. The other four were either destroyed, missing, or in hibernation. Even though they were not real humans, their thoughts and emotions were similar to those of humans. They would still feel sad and nostalgic, but as time passed, they would also feel helpless.
Moon didn't react to Chip's words, just like before.
Xi Kai watched from the side. He still didn't hold out much hope. If it was possible, the Xi Family would've awakened it a long time ago. There was no need to wait until now. It was as if Yue was refusing to awaken or anyone. Xi Kai had always wondered if the ancestors of the Original robots had scared him off when they experimented on them. That was why he had sealed himself away. Are robots that emotionally fragile?
Silin didn't say anything. He flicked Huimao's ear and nodded at Yue with his chin.
Huimao jumped off Silin's shoulder and circled around Yue once. Then, it ran up to Yue's head and patted it with its paw.
It was a soundless conversation. They were communicating in machine language, just like the one Huimao used to communicate with Sigma.
Although it was soundless, Xi Kai could sense some of it. He couldn't understand it completely. Chip's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and every now and then, a complicated emotion flashed across his face.
Huimao was talking to Yue in a special machine language. It was all about Sigma, but it didn't mention that they were from the League of Stars. Chip could understand it, so he couldn't say too much for now.
As Huimao spoke, Chip sensed that Yue was sending him a weak feedback. However, it was all for Huimao, so he didn't know what Yue was sending him.
After the weak feedback, the machine's signal grew stronger. Even Xi Kai could sense that the robot was slowly "coming back to life".
When the blue light flashed, Silin knew that Huimao had succeeded. Sure enough, whether it was a human or a robot, they needed to be moved by emotions and reason. Otherwise, it would continue to play dumb and act like it didn't know anything.
The blue light grew stronger and stronger. After a few changes, Yue suddenly jumped a few meters away. Then, a childish voice filled with confusion and fear rang out, "Who … who are you?!"
On the round screen, Chip's old face stiffened. Yue was playing dumb again.
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