The leading Law Enforcement Robot stared at Grenawa for a few seconds, then said to its companions:
"Code C-1578, Code C-2020, you two stay here and watch over this place. We'll go find other AIs in Tarnan for a supplementary investigation and return to headquarters together tomorrow morning."
After giving the instructions, the leading Law Enforcement Robot left Grenawa's house with the remaining two AI robots.
Law Enforcement Robot Code C-1578 then looked at Susanna:
"Give us two high-performance batteries."
"Okay." Susanna turned and walked to the kitchen.
The little robot Redders returned to the second floor as instructed.
Both the large and small AI robots were wearing white dresses, but they didn't look at each other as they walked, as if they were strangers meeting for the first time.
Soon, Susanna came out with a tray, on which were two shallow white porcelain plates.
Each of the white plates had a high-performance battery in the middle.
Susanna placed the two plates in front of Code C-1578 and Code C-2020, as if serving dishes.
Code C-1578 and Code C-2020 didn't show any discomfort. They each picked up a high-performance battery and put it into their mouths.
Inside their mouths, which glinted with metallic luster, the insulation baffles automatically retracted, revealing the slot for loading the high-performance battery.
Code C-1578 and Code C-2020 took out their original batteries, installed the new ones, and nodded to Susanna at the same time:
"Thank you."
"You're welcome." Susanna picked up the plates holding the batteries to be charged and walked back to the kitchen.
During this process, Grenawa remained seated on the single sofa, motionless and expressionless.
According to Jiang Baimian's understanding, it was like a system crash.
She tugged at Shang Jianyao and retreated a long distance.
"Whatever you want to do, the prerequisite is to respect his own will. Maybe returning to headquarters and being locked up for two or three years isn't such a bad option for him?" Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao in a low voice.
Shang Jianyao nodded:
"I understand."
With that, he took out paper and pen, squatted down, used his thigh as a support, and began to write quickly.
What exactly do you understand… Jiang Baimian felt inexplicably worried.
While waiting, she surveyed the surroundings to confirm that no robots were secretly approaching.
This indicated that the Law Enforcement Robots, and even Grenawa's family, had almost no surveillance around the house.
Of course, this wasn't to say that they didn't have the corresponding functions, but rather that they were in a state of "negligence."
Perhaps they trusted the ubiquitous multi-functional surveillance cameras too much, believing that with them, no one could approach the house silently, and there was no need to expend excessive energy to do repetitive things? Or perhaps they were too confident in their own strength, not afraid of sudden attacks, so they didn't actively monitor the surroundings? The more Jiang Baimian thought about it, the more she felt it was the former.
She found that AI robots were still somewhat rigid, strictly following pre-assigned tasks and corresponding arrangements, and rarely overstepping their boundaries.
But they didn't expect that there were humans like Jiang Baimian who could sense weak electrical signals and could clearly grasp the locations of those multi-functional surveillance cameras without getting close, and without missing deliberately hidden parts.
Combined with her usual observations, it wasn't too difficult for Jiang Baimian to find a winding path that wouldn't trigger warning signals.
——This was also related to the fact that AI robots valued privacy and didn't stack multi-functional surveillance cameras to leave no blind spots in the villa area.
Otherwise, Jiang Baimian would have to consider fabricating a short circuit and power outage accident, specifically targeting the surveillance system.
Not long after, Shang Jianyao finished writing and stood up.
"Let me see." Jiang Baimian held out her hand.
She trusted Shang Jianyao's intelligence, but not his impulsiveness.
…………
Inside the villa.
Grenawa sat on the single sofa, his eyes dimly lit, staring ahead.
There was nothing there.
The two Law Enforcement Robots responsible for guarding him didn't say much and each found a place to sit.
Their attention was focused on Grenawa and Susanna near the dining table, not paying much attention to the door and windows, as if they didn't feel it was necessary.
After an unknown amount of time, Grenawa finally made a movement. He slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the two Law Enforcement Robots, and then moved to the dining table.
The silver-white AI robot Susanna sat there, reading a book, without any response, as if the events in the living room had nothing to do with her.
Grenawa stared for nearly a minute, then turned his neck slightly blankly, surveying the various parts of the room.
He seemed to want to remember every detail of this place.
As his gaze moved, he suddenly saw two human faces reflected in the most easily overlooked window, one male and one female.
Ninety-nine percent similarity… Zhang Qubing… Xue Shiyue… Grenawa directly identified the owners of those two faces.
The next moment, he saw Shang Jianyao smile, then pick up a piece of white paper and stick it to the glass.
The surface of the white paper had the same sentence written in Ashlands Text and Red River Language:
"Need help?"
The blue light in Grenawa's eyes flickered.
He immediately turned his neck a full 180 degrees and looked back at Susanna.
After a moment of silence, he turned his head back and slowly shook it.
Then, he continued to move his gaze, just like he had done before.
This would prevent the two Law Enforcement Robots in the villa from noticing the slightest abnormality.
When Grenawa looked at the most easily overlooked window for the second time, the posted white paper had been replaced.
The content on it had also changed:
"Don't you want to search for the meaning of life?"
Grenawa's gaze stopped moving, and the blue light in his eyes seemed to freeze slightly.
He silently repeated a word:
"Life… Life…"
Then, Shang Jianyao replaced the paper again.
This time, it read:
"Don't you want to find the answer to the question 'What is a human'?"
The blue light in Grenawa's eyes suddenly brightened a little.
He turned his neck again, so that his gaze no longer lingered on the window, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the watchers.
When he looked at the window for the third time with a reluctant attitude towards the house, the initial paper came into his eyes:
"Need help?"
The silver-black AI robot Grenawa paused for two seconds and slowly nodded.
Almost at the same time, he saw a sincere smile on Shang Jianyao's face.
Shang Jianyao quickly replaced the paper:
"Wait for us fifteen minutes."
Unlike before, the words "five minutes" and the corresponding words were crossed out by someone, and "fifteen minutes" was corrected next to them.
Grenawa nodded again, withdrew his gaze, and no longer looked at the window.
…………
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao left the surveillance area and walked towards the location where the jeep was parked.
"Really, how could five minutes be enough? We have to plan the route, come up with a plan, and prepare. Fifteen minutes is barely enough." Jiang Baimian complained, "But, this kind of thing can't be delayed for too long, or something might change."
Shang Jianyao glanced at her:
"Did you secretly watch more of the Old World dramas while sleeping in the living room?"
"…" Jiang Baimian was speechless for two seconds, then said sternly, "That's not the point!"
As she walked in the direction of the jeep, she changed the subject:
"This is not a simple matter. It doesn't seem right to turn against someone immediately after getting a lot of information from the 'Source Brain'.
"Besides, from Grenawa's point of view, he definitely wouldn't want to directly destroy other AI robots. He sees himself as a human and sees them as companions.
"I have to control the intensity of the conflict on the one hand, and rescue Grenawa on the other hand. It's very difficult."
Speaking of this, she suddenly felt a little expectant:
"I haven't fought with an AI robot yet."
Seeing Shang Jianyao's gaze towards her becoming strange, Jiang Baimian breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"Now that we've decided to help, we can't look forward and backward, hesitate, or waver.
"Well, when you can't change reality, learn to find some exciting things for yourself."
To be honest, she really thought AI robots were a bit difficult to deal with. They weren't afraid of light weapons, their key interfaces were hidden and shielded, they had corresponding insulation measures, and they had two or more power systems themselves. In terms of the machine itself, they were much more complete than the Mechanical Monks.
More importantly, they were immune to Shang Jianyao's Awakened abilities.
While speaking, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian returned to the jeep and saw Long Yuehong, who was already wearing a military exoskeleton, and Bai Chen, who was fully armed.
ps: The previous chapter said that they temporarily解除社会关系 (jiechu shehui guanxi - sever social connections), not format. They all need to be sent back to headquarters for further review before there will be format punishments.