I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Lin spoke as if she were already prepared to coax a child.

"No need, I'm used to staying up late."

Lu Ban replied.

May I sit down?

After receiving Lu Ban's permission, Lin sat down at the other end of the bench.

Her bare feet tapped lightly and rhythmically on the artificial grass.

"Actually, I'm really happy that you could come."

Lin looked at the starry sky and said softly.

"During this period, all the robots in Future City held 2,147,483,647 discussions, and all the robots believed that humans would never return, except for me."

"They believe that humans have successfully left this planet and gone to a new home, but we were created to serve humans and do not know how to act after humans are gone."

"But I believe that humanity will definitely return."

"Seeing you all proves that I was right."

Upon hearing Lin's words, Lu Ban suddenly wondered if the robots in this world had already awakened a certain degree of self-awareness.

"Actually, you don't necessarily have to follow humans. Robots can maintain themselves as well."

He said.

"No, it's already written into our program, into our basic framework, or in human terms, into our very souls. We were born for humanity."

Lin was adamant; this seemingly fragile robot girl only became as hard as steel when it came to these kinds of things.

"Then you can come with us then, since we're human too."

Lu Ban added that there was no way for them to follow him. The alien world probably wouldn't be able to carry so many robots back to his world. However, he could let these robots go back to Utopia with Shuang Xin. Perhaps the saints there could find a way to keep these robots moving.

"This... I need to check the response manual; this is something that hasn't appeared in the manual yet."

Lin was somewhat surprised, confused, and at a loss.

"Think it over carefully, and we'll give you our answer when we get back tomorrow."

Lu Ban patted the other person's head.

Artificial hair looks so real.

He thought to himself with emotion.

……

Before dawn, the four of them left the ecological park, took a map, and rode camel-shaped insects toward the industrial park.

Lu Ban saw Lin standing at the entrance of the ecological park, bowing to see them off, and she didn't stand up until she disappeared from sight.

Seven kilometers is not far.

At noon, when the sun was at its fiercest, Lu Ban spotted an unusual object outside the desert.

"what is this?"

Frosty Heart slightly obscures the sunlight, observing carefully.

It was a tall and enormous shelf, which should have held something, but it was completely empty.

Beside the scaffolding, buildings of different shapes stand side by side.

Extending outwards from this point is a cluster of dilapidated buildings.

This must be the industrial park.

Lu Ban observed carefully but found no trace of the insect swarm.

"Shall we go in and explore?"

Shuangxin asked uncertainly.

"Same as always, Shuangxin and I will go."

Lu Ban was a little worried, but still decided to take the lead.

Chapter 494 Since it's already done...

When Lu Ban saw the shelf, his first thought was that the original inhabitants of this planet might have really flown away.

That's clearly a rocket launch platform; the surrounding buildings are for manufacturing and maintaining rockets.

He walked in front, with Shuangxin following behind, and the two entered the abandoned city.

Without the robots' maintenance, the place is clearly much more dilapidated.

Lu Ban saw some robots by the roadside. Most of the robots were broken, damaged, and out of power, obviously because the power supply equipment here was no longer usable.

If the solar panels in Future City malfunction, Lin and the others probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.

Or rather, it is already a miracle that it has been able to work continuously for hundreds of years in such harsh conditions.

"No insect swarm has been here yet, otherwise they wouldn't have left these metals behind."

Shuangxin reached out and touched the head of one of the robots that was no longer moving, muttering to herself.

The robot's eyes were dull, like a corpse. There were many such corpses scattered on the street.

Suddenly, the head made a cracking sound.

Shuangxin subconsciously withdrew her hand, accidentally touching the robot's head. The metal lump rolled to the ground, spun twice, and stopped at Lu Ban's feet.

"wind."

Lu Ban said something.

As the wind and sand blew by, the robot corpses swayed. The head of the robot from earlier made a sound because it was being blown by the wind.

"This must have been some kind of laboratory, but unfortunately the building has collapsed, and the equipment and materials inside are probably long gone."

Lu Ban whispered something and then looked at Shuang Xin.

"What did you mean when you said the swarm hadn't come?"

“The swarm will also eat metal; they won’t let go of metals like this. They will devour everything except stones and sand on the ground.”

Shuangxin said with lingering fear.

"So, if there is still so much metal here, it means that they haven't visited the vicinity recently."

"Sparrow food."

Lu Ban nodded in agreement. If the insects didn't devour steel, then with the previous level of technology, it would be a piece of cake to create some Terminator-like combat robots. Wouldn't it be possible to suppress the insect swarm with an army of these robots?

It is precisely because these insect swarms eat everything that humans are powerless to resist them.

Most of the buildings had collapsed. Lu Ban carefully examined the signs that were still intact, and the words on them read things like "Research Institute", "Experimental Center" and "Office".

One can imagine that at that time, the people living in Future City would come here during the day to research ways to save the world, and they would not return even late at night. The artificial plants in the ecological park and the music of the robots were perhaps the only way to soothe their souls.

Lu Ban was curious about what exactly they had researched here, and whether the rocket launch center had ever successfully launched a rocket.

He and Shuangxin walked towards the launch pad.

The buildings closer to that location are relatively well-preserved, as if they radiate outwards from there.

Lu Ban saw a two-story building that looked precarious and decided to go inside to take a look.

First, while Shuangxin wasn't paying attention, Lu Ban used a silver fountain pen to write words on it [Last Words].

[Sturdy].

Then, while holding onto the wall, he walked in.

The place was in a mess, whether it had been looted or the people who left were in too much of a hurry, most of the papers were rotten, and the electronic devices had lost power. Lu Ban opened the almost broken drawer and found a notebook inside.

Instead of taking it out rashly, Lu Ban wrote some words on it with a fountain pen.

【intact】.

He then picked up the notebook.

The notebook contained experimental records. As a liberal arts student, Lu Ban couldn't understand the complex formulas and calculations, but he could tell from the text that it seemed to be about rocket research. Moreover, it wasn't the ordinary calculations needed to leave this planet, but rather some more complex data needed to travel to a farther destination.

He picked up the tablet again and wrote the words "intact" on it.

Suddenly, the tablet computer lit up.

After being silent for hundreds of years, the tablet computer lit up again.

The operation of tablets is similar in many ways, and Lu Ban figured it out after a little study.

The background of the tablet computer showed a little girl with an innocent smile, and Lu Ban guessed that she might be the researcher's daughter.

Lu Ban opened the photo album.

The first photo in the album is of a family of three. The little girl is standing in the middle, flanked by a young couple who look somewhat tired, but their eyes still shine brightly.

Following that were some simple everyday photos, mostly of the woman and her children.

It appears that the researcher is the husband.

Next comes the research content.

The formulas on the blackboard, photos of various devices, and images that Lu Ban couldn't understand or knew how they were taken—then, Lu Ban saw a rocket.

It was a rocket with an industrial aesthetic, located on the launch pad, shining brightly in the golden sunlight.

This photo has no special technique involved, yet it is full of power and confidence.

Lu Ban glanced at the apps on the tablet. Besides the usual chat software, there was also a notepad app.

Upon opening it, Lu Ban discovered that there were many audio clips inside.

He started playing the music in chronological order.

[My first day at the base was very difficult; the rooms were so cramped, it felt like being in prison. But when I thought about what I was about to do, nothing else mattered. I knew I could do it!]

The beef noodles in the commercial street taste really good, exactly the same as the ones I had back home. Sigh, the more I eat, the more homesick I become.

The research isn't progressing smoothly. I know the thing is there, but we need more sophisticated instruments to get the data. Tomorrow, we must succeed tomorrow!