ATL | Chapter 20

“Sorry……” Lin Bai swallowed a mouthful of saliva and tested the waters.

“Arthur, are you busy with work?”

Hetawaisi blinked, and very quickly, the cold, scrutinizing feeling from just now completely dissolved away. When he spoke again, there was a hint of apology.

“Yes.” He explained, “A mercenary brawl case with heavy casualties, the main culprit fled out of fear of punishment, did I just scare you?”

Then why was Arthur chatting with Lingsheng, yet avoiding him, because of what?

Gan Lin thought aimlessly, his hands never stopping. The body wash was spread everywhere, and after the dense, white, soft foam was rinsed away, within the immersion of the bergamot fragrance, the clean skin finally became exposed again.

The smart system carried by Carrot Butler did not have an emotional module, so its calm and cold mechanical voice did not show any extra emotion, but it was precisely this kind of voice that made Eliya feel at ease.

Its body was also round, thick on top and thin on the bottom, with two flexible mechanical claws extending from both sides of its body for daily work. It looked like a somewhat cute robot, something you could tell at a glance was a machine.

It was rigorous to the point of being rigid, but it was very reliable, seriously carrying out daily work around Eliya’s little patch of land.

Eliya touched the chest of Carrot Butler, and suddenly felt that he seemed to be a little too anxious.

Maybe it was because he had not seen a bioroid for too long?

Human faces are asymmetrical, not perfectly proportioned, but in human eyes they are natural and harmonious, and Aividisi is different, its perfect face is absolutely symmetrical.

And Aividisi’s behavior was also too similar to a human’s, whether it was speech, gaze, or expression, he even felt concern for Gan Lin from Aividisi, emotions too real, as if there really was a human soul inside that mechanical body, human yet not human, this feeling made Eliya feel fear.

This is the difference between a companion robot and an ordinary robot? The reason they sold at an exorbitant price, their intelligence level was higher, smarter, more human-like, yet it still made responses according to its program.

Eliya pressed a hand to his forehead and gave a low laugh, feeling that he had stayed here for too long, so long that even his personality had become timid.

Aividisi was a companion robot. Robots, created by humans, controlled by humans, their core program was to obey their master’s commands, they were constrained, and if they violated the prohibition, the self-destruct program would be activated.

In the end, Eliya raised his head and said, “Carrot, give me a glass of wine, with one third honey orange juice.”

“Okay, sir.” “Hey, brothers! My brother Andri has already agreed to provide us with information!”

Eliya announced this important news brightly to the several people in front of him.

“Mm.”

“Oh, keep working hard.”

“Eliya is awesome.”

Looking at the three people in front of him who were only half-heartedly responding, Eliya drew in his arms, then let out an unsatisfied huff.

Gan Lin was turning a black dagger in his hand, looked at him, and said sincerely, “Thank you very much, thank him very much, how did you do it?”

Eliya: “I grew up with him, we’re brothers, sigh, when we were little, if I hadn’t protected him, who knows how many times other people would have bullied him, even when his mother was sick, I was the one who took him to earn money for treatment, isn’t this kind of friendship worth him helping me?”

Xier laughed, “And then he got on your pirate ship~”

Eliya: “What pirate ship, we’re a great cause!”

Wang Yun also lifted his head from behind the screen and said, “A cause that will be executed immediately by death penalty, tsk, high risk, low return.”

Gan Lin also could not help but laugh.

Eliya hummed twice, and in the end quieted down.

In this spacious hall, everyone was busy with their own things, Xier and Wang Yun were discussing some data.

The people in front of Gan Lin rested, then got up from the ground again. Very orderly, several at a time, they charged at Gan Lin, and then were knocked down by Gan Lin again.

This process repeated over and over. At first they could not even dodge, but they became a little more nimble, and occasionally could even use a bit of dirty trickery. The effect of growing through being beaten was very significant.

By the time this round ended, Eliya had also moved to Gan Lin, who was resting, in front of him.

Gan Lin took a sip of water and looked at him in confusion.

Eliya looked at him, then carefully asked, “It’s Aividisi, right”

“Mm?”

“Is it easy to use?”

Carrot Butler moved silently, and very quickly it came back carrying a glass of wine.

Eliya took a sip of the wine, and a similarly intoxicating smile also appeared on his face. He adjusted his condition, planning to do something proper.

A hidden communication channel was opened, and he tried to contact another person on the other end of the channel.

[Andri, I am Eliya, I want to talk to you.]

The sent message was like a stone sinking into the sea, and no reply was received for a long time, but Eliya was not anxious. If you want to become a successful businessman, patience is indispensable.

Just as the wine glass in his hand was about to be emptied, the other side finally sent the first message.

[Eliya?] If someone is outstanding in one aspect, they have to give up other parts?

“Hu.”

Gan Lin exhaled, shook his head, trying to shake out the messy thoughts in his head, and only then reached out to open the door.

As usual, the enthusiastically attached Zouzou rubbed up with whining sounds.

“Go back, Zouzou.”

Gan Lin dragged it back into the room with him. After he tossed out a small ball, Zouzou then let go of his leg and ran off with its tail wagging to bite the small ball.

“Gan Lin, welcome home.”

Aividisi welcomed him, and very quickly took off the protective suit on him, then sat him on the chair.

After it detected Gan Lin’s physical condition, it said, “I also missed you very much today, so I tried some new dishes.”

“Mm.”

Gan Lin was also very tired today, body tired, head tired, he did not want to move at all right now, his body had even turned soft, like a piece of soft pastry, directly sliding down from the chair.

Aividisi reached out to catch him, but in the end only grabbed his two arms, and Gan Lin’s butt was already sitting on the floor.

The floor was not soft, it was rough and warm, not cold and not hot, and he did not know when, even the constant temperature system had been added to this room.

Gan Lin comfortably narrowed his eyes and said, “Aividisi, the floor is fine too, I’ll rest for a while.”

“Okay.”

Zouzou came back carrying the small ball in its mouth. It put its front paws on Gan Lin’s leg and rubbed its head against Gan Lin’s chest.

Aividisi looked at them for a few seconds, then turned around to bring Gan Lin a glass of juice.

Gan Lin curved his eyes at it, just like Carrot Butler, no, better than Carrot Butler, considerate and professional, easy to use!

He touched the fluffy artificial fur on Zouzou’s body, the feel was equally first-rate. After a while, he recovered his energy, and finally said to Aividisi, “Aividisi, begin a full-body self-check.”

Aividisi replied, “Okay, this process takes thirty minutes, Gan Lin.”

“Mm.” He felt his backpack move, as if the things inside were truly obediently following instructions, using hands and feet together to grip tightly.

Gan Lin curled his lips, suppressing the habit of swinging the backpack over his shoulder.

And the doll inside the backpack had a solemn expression, busily pawing around, looking for something.

Not here.

Not here either.

Did obediently really cut that thread?

The Little Doll sat down with a plop, puffing out its cheeks with its hands tucked in, looking somewhat irritated.

But the next second it was jolted into a tumble, the entire doll spinning around, falling to the other side of the backpack.

It first let out a protest, then another sound of worry, reaching out to scratch the inner wall of the backpack, but not daring to open it.

Because Gan Lin really would hang himself on the window as a teru teru bōzu.

Compared to the wind and rain outside, it still liked Gan Lin’s warm quilt better.

In the fight, Gan Lin clearly heard this sound, he quickly glanced over, and the smile in his eyes deepened.

He had told it to hold on tight, this time it could not pin it on him.

And this time Wu Qi was not much harder to deal with than last time. The battle ended very quickly, and by now he was already lying dead on the ground, blood slowly seeping into the earth.

Gan Lin always felt that something was not right. Originally he was here to see whether Minotaurus would follow over, but he had not expected it to be him who came.

And……

This was solved too easily, and how had Wu Qi revived? Was it using a tool?

He covered the arm that had been scraped bloody, turned around, and looked at the three people staring at him.

They all looked guarded, and the weapons in their hands had not been put down.

Clearly, they did not trust this suddenly appearing, exceptionally dangerous existence.

The man spoke first, “What do you want to do?”

“Me?” Gan Lin spread his hands. A streak of blood still clung to the exposed section of his fair wrist, a faint smile hanging at the corner of his mouth, but his tone was exceptionally sincere, “Waiting for someone, I previously promised to keep him alive.”

He pointed at Baimao.

One of the short-haired women, however, suddenly understood and said, “No wonder he kept looking back just now, was he looking for you?”

Although it was a question, her tone was very certain.

“Looking at his appearance,” her companion beside her also said, “he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would have the guts to leave the team on his own.”

Baimao, who had sneaked over quietly, stumbled, and when he met Gan Lin’s gaze he looked even more guilty, “That wasn’t, I was just, um... I was wrong.”

The man asked him, “Is he threatening you?”

“Huh?” Baimao waved his hands repeatedly, “No, I volunteered, really.”

He denied it very decisively, but the man did not hear his explanation at all.

Because Gan Lin was just too eerie, whether it was that ignorant and curious expression, or the strange, nimble hand he had just shown.

Compared with that, this face of his, beautiful yet bizarre after being fused, instead became the least noticeable and most insignificant existence.

“He is not a good person.” The man stared at Gan Lin without blinking and said, “He is indeed waiting for someone, but we are all his bait.”

Being deliberately guided by him, only to achieve his purpose.

Baimao froze, thinking of his own “accusation” toward Gan Lin just now.

[Threatening and intimidating me, and even using me to go fishing, he wants to wipe me out at the slightest disagreement.]

“I was talking nonsense,” Baimao’s explanation was somewhat weak, “He only occasionally beats people, but he’s a good person, he won’t lie to me.”

At the words, the man froze, and in a blink of an eye looked at him with an expression that wanted to say something but held back.

Even Gan Lin’s gaze drifted over with interest.

Gan Lin touched half of his face and laughed.

He is a good person.

Mm.

Makes sense.

“You……” The short-haired woman’s fingers grew pale yellow Datura flowers, and her gaze toward Baimao was complicated. She spoke tactfully, “You don’t have many schemes.”

Baimao asked in confusion, “Huh?”

Gan Lin laughed mischievously, and kindly reminded him, “He means you’re a bit simple-minded.”

“Me?!” Baimao raised his voice, turned his head left and right, saw the somewhat pitiful gazes of several people, and for a moment got so angry that even his foot no longer hurt. He turned his face away and hummed, “Go back the way we came, this is a dead end.”

“Mm-hm.”

Gan Lin nodded, shook the blood droplets off his hand, and turned around first.

The other three also exchanged a look, and because there was no other path to choose, they could only follow Gan Lin and the other person, silently returning.

Not long after the few of them left, footsteps sounded again in the silent tunnel of the maze.

Wu Qi, who had originally already breathed his last on the ground, suddenly twitched once, then extremely slowly blinked, and when he opened his eyes, a white membrane similar to that of amphibians flashed by.

“Ah, awake.”

Beside him, another person was sitting with his legs crossed on a chair woven from vines.

Wu Qi climbed up and sat down, reached out and dragged over the giant axe, and silently wiped the deep gash on his neck.

After finishing these things, he looked at the person beside him, his expression numb, his gaze slightly pausing on the half-glove on his hand.

Then, he opened his mouth and asked, “How much is left of the nameplate?”

“Not much is left,” the man plucked a strand of foxtail grass and poked Wu Qi’s side face, speaking mockingly, “What, you weren’t happy just now hearing that fool call someone father? Looking at the commotion you made just now, if you had been calmer, you wouldn’t have had to die again.”

He crossed his arms, looking down at Wu Qi from above.

“Of course.” Wu Qi braced himself with his hands behind him, sitting by that person’s feet, “I was fooled for so long, locked up until now, as to what I think of ‘father’, aren’t you the one who knows best?”

This time it was the person sitting who froze instead. He looked at Wu Qi, emotions surging in his eyes, and in the end sighed, looking toward the sky outside the maze.

On the way back, Gan Lin saw Li Gubei and the others who had come looking for them, and said teasingly, “You came earlier than I expected.”

“No choice, worried about you.”

Li Gubei also spread his hands, pretending to sigh.

He noticed that the gazes of the three people behind Gan Lin were not friendly. After his words, the man’s gaze even shot over like a knife.

Gan Lin asked again, “Did you run into anything?”

Li Gubei shook his head, “Quiet beyond belief.”

The suddenly appearing Wu Qi jumped out of all possibilities, Minotaurus never showed itself, and they also did not know exactly what the purpose of this monster was.

“Alright, let’s hurry up.”

When saying this, Gan Lin looked at the flag overhead, the meaning was self-evident.

But halfway through turning around, he suddenly stopped again, smiling as he teased Baimao, “Let’s go, good son.”

Baimao trembled, then exploded at once, “Gan Lin!!!”

He chattered and rushed up, only to be pinched on the back of the neck by Li Gubei standing beside Gan Lin, forcibly turning him half a circle.

“You’re helping him too?!”

“Of course I’m helping him.”

The voices gradually faded away, and on the ground there was gradually only the flattened grass left.

As they kept moving forward, they drew closer and closer to the central area. The passageways they walked through gradually became wider, and even the branching paths that could appear at any time decreased a lot.

He Yan supported Chang Huaiyu for a moment and asked softly, “Teacher is tired?”

The old man reluctantly shook his head and exhaled.

Gan Lin, however, saw that man secretly glance over here, his fingers moving, as if it were a conditioned reflexive grabbing motion.

“Gan Lin.”

“Mm?”

He heard Li Gubei calling him, so he shifted his gaze back, eyes full of doubt.

“Look.”

Li Gubei pointed at the maze wall and said this.

Through the gaps in the much sparser plant growth, Gan Lin narrowed his eyes and saw a large open area.

And in the very center of the open area were several straight flagpoles.

Baimao wailed, reaching out to wrap around Li Gubei, “We’re finally here!!!”

“Calm down,” Gan Lin pressed his shoulder, stopping his movement, “This is the maze center, not the maze exit.”

Baimao instantly lost all spirit, looking wilted like an eggplant beaten by frost.

Unexpectedly, the center of the maze was actually this calm and peaceful, the continuous light rain had almost stopped, and even the sun had leaked out from behind the dark clouds, slanting beams of light down.

In this scene, it could even be called peaceful.

Baimao also spoke up, “It’s not quite the same as I imagined.”

They had all taken it for granted that the central area would definitely be more terrifying than outside, for example severed limbs and corpses scattered all over the ground, or simply no daylight at all.

Gan Lin nodded, pinching the doll in his backpack with one hand.

He Yan added, “Minotaurus is naturally brutal. Since it is locked up here, it should not look like this. We’d better find the maze map as quickly as possible, then leave immediately.”

Gan Lin continued nodding, and when he walked out of the passageway, he was the first to look at the flagpoles.

There were obvious signs of breakage on them, but they had been hastily tied up with vines, maintaining their original state.

His expression darkened, and the fingers kneading the doll gradually increased their force.

Minotaurus had indeed long since escaped the central area, wandering around in the maze, both searching for the exit and searching for prey.

After all, there were also records in the legend that Minotaurus liked to eat human flesh.

“Let’s look around.”

Li Gubei spoke softly.

So the few of them scattered, searching through this area.

Gan Lin walked straight to the base of the flagpoles. His movement to lift a foot suddenly slowed, feeling as if he had just stepped on something hard.

He crouched down, brushed away the top layer of dirt, and the broken chains gradually appeared.

The chains had been torn free, and that monster was already nowhere to be seen.

But since this was the place where Minotaurus had been imprisoned, what was the giant iron cage that he and Li Gubei had seen through the thorns before closing up?

In this maze, was there really only one monster?

The sunlight gradually became blinding, but the rain did not stop. Gan Lin was somewhat dazzled by the sun, and the side effects after being parasitized by the plant gradually began to gain the upper hand.

He closed his eyes, turned his head to avoid it, and then glimpsed that pale-faced man, who was at this moment looking at something with concentration.

Gan Lin did not pay much attention, turned back, stood up, and began looking elsewhere.

During this, when passing a clearly messy passage entrance, Gan Lin frowned and thought for a moment, then turned back.

He stared at the overgrown grass in front of him, and the bright red flowers on the walls on both sides that looked like spots of blood, then leaned out and looked inside once.

At the end, a small figure flashed by.

The maze map?

Does this thing really have to be grabbed by hand?

Gan Lin almost imperceptibly shook his head. After denying it, he heard someone approaching from behind.

He turned around and saw that man who had always held deep hostility toward him.

And the man was examining Gan Lin from a safe distance, the kraft paper in his hand rubbing behind his back, as if he were struggling over something.

On the contrary, Gan Lin was rather interested as he said, “Thinking about how to threaten me?”

“How about I give you two ideas?”

And then Gan Lin watched it go lie down on the bed, close its eyes, as if it had fallen asleep.

Curiously, he stood up from the ground, and stared at Aividisi’s face for a while.

[It’s me, we once lived together in V6 District, you were right next door to my house, you said my mother made the world’s best cookies, and also, how is Auntie Mary? Back then because she was sick, I took you with me to do second-hand parts business]

After this long message was sent, the other side stopped again. After a while, Eliya finally saw the symbol representing Andri start flashing, and then the screen flickered, and a man’s face appeared in front of him.

A familiar face, when he left Andri was still a short, chubby kid, and now he had already become a fully mature man in appearance.

After that there were also many records of Aividisi trying to contact a Doctor, but all of them showed contact failure.

Seeing this, Gan Lin could not help but smile. This would definitely fail, after all there was no Doctor here, and there were no other planets suitable for human habitation nearby. Whether there was a Doctor in this star system was still debatable.

He lifted his head and said to Aividisi, “Aividisi, next time you run into this kind of situation, directly inject me with sedative.”

Aividisi: “Gan Lin, the Empire’s medical standards stipulate that before using sedative, it must be confirmed by a Doctor, and after the injection, a blood test must be taken every four hours.”

Gan Lin: “But there’s no Doctor here.”

“I need it.”

Aividisi touched his face and said seriously, “It will be okay.”

“Hopefully.”

Gan Lin said this softly without much expectation.

The language module, the language module can switch according to the chosen persona and personality, there was nothing worth seeing.

He did not look at the other fine and trivial parts for very long, mainly just roughly checking whether there were any abnormalities.

Flipping down page by page, Gan Lin glanced over it and in the end really saw an abnormality.

He asked in confusion, “Aividisi, what did you store? Such massive data.”

“Some image data.”

After Aividisi finished speaking, a small recorder floated up from the side. It was black, its body reflecting the light above, a tiny little thing.

Gan Lin looked at it and blinked.

The presence of this thing was not high, Gan Lin often ignored it.

It was the same as the recorders outside, still recording him, only now its data was no longer being uploaded to Eliya’s side, but was being uploaded to Aividisi.

“Gan Lin, it is my ‘eyes’.”

What a strange sentence.

Gan Lin turned his head to look at Aividisi’s face, a little blank appearing on his face.

“I want to see you, Gan Lin.”

Aividisi said another sentence. After its voice entered Gan Lin’s ears, the thoughts that seemed to have stalled in Gan Lin resumed normal.

“I repaired it, changed its control end, it is now connected to my ‘visual’ system.”

Unfortunately, there might simply not be such a thing in this world, because the vast majority of sheep-type people only lived in Lower Nest, and were also considered naturally loose, not needing too much decency.

In any case, Gan Lin could not endure through tonight by just holding out.

At first glance, Lin Bai looked as if he had never visited.

If not for the air still lingering with a sweet mixed fragrance.

Who knew, the cunning Snake had no intention of stopping there, the other side looked unruffled on the surface, but learned from him to lower its voice, and asked secretly and calmly.

“Heat period aftereffects, are they over?”