Grand Voyage : Surviving on a Ghost Ship-Chapter 271 - A robot that seems to have a soul

Suna gave a concise account of what had happened on the ship and told Yang Yi everything she had learned.

“A rat infestation… and we need to be careful of Beautiful Dream…”

Yang Yi nodded and committed it to memory.

Although the exact causes and details were still unclear, the chat records made one thing obvious. A terrifying rat disaster had occurred aboard this ship.

And unlike ordinary infestations, these house rats were parasitic organisms, with truly horrifying consequences.

Just imagine it. While you’re asleep at night, an house rat crawls out of the ventilation ducts, silently climbs onto your bed…

Then you wake up the next morning as a different person.

With the involvement of Beautiful Dream, the process might not take a single night, but several days, or even a full week.

In the end, the infected would become the majority, suppressing the few who remained uninfected. And among the uninfected, there could still be traitors, including those already infected but not yet showing symptoms.

At that point, the situation would be almost impossible to reverse.

Because the infected could also use weapons. They possessed real combat power, possibly even greater than before.

“Looks like having more people isn’t always an advantage,” Yang Yi said with a sigh.

Some dangers that lurk in the shadows are more likely to be overlooked when there are many people, quietly growing until they finally erupt.

He had been to the captain’s cabin and had seen the scene there.

That final explosion had most likely been set off by the captain himself, meant to destroy his own body so he wouldn’t end up joining the rats as one of them.

Even now, the rats still existed, using the general warehouse as their nest.

Destroying them was Yang Yi’s next objective.

He finished off all the food and drinks that had been printed earlier. Both dishes and the beverages went straight into his stomach.

He didn’t actually mind that the food was made from rats. It wasn’t the first time he’d eaten something like that.

And the printed food tasted authentic enough. As long as no one mentioned rats, he wouldn’t have noticed at all. He would have sworn he was eating beef or chicken.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t be taken away.

He had tried moving it, but the food printer was a ship grade device, more like a cannon. Forcing it off wouldn’t work anyway.

“And this too.”

Suna handed Yang Yi a silver card. It was the unregistered authorisation ID card she had obtained earlier, granting A level access on the Sanctuary.

Its exact uses were still unclear, but A level authorisation was certainly not low.

Xiao Ji remained silent until it saw the card. Only then did its indicator light flash as it asked, “May I ask where Dr. Wei is? Is she still not resting?”

“Uh…” Yang Yi didn’t know how to answer for a moment.

“She’s retired. I’ll be taking over her work from now on,” Suna replied.

A silver, white tablet appeared in her hand, still dusted in places.

Seeing the tablet, Xiao Ji seemed to understand. It followed behind Suna, noticeably quieter than before.

The two of them planned to return and attempt to reproduce Rat Killer.

Any laboratory equipment that was still usable was transported by Suna into the witch’s laboratory.

Fixed installations like the food printer were the exception.

Before leaving, however, Yang Yi used up all the remaining organic matter inside the machine and produced ten roasted chickens to take with him.

As for who would eat them, it was probably only him.

On the way back, Xiao Ji followed along as well.

Its internal program appeared to have been altered. After Suna took over Dr. Wei’s role, Xiao Ji’s service target shifted to Suna accordingly.

Still, Yang Yi couldn’t shake the feeling that this thing was a fake robot.

Some of its behaviour was just a little too strange.

“Xiao Ji, do you know how many rats there are on this ship? A rough number will do,” Yang Yi suddenly asked.

Xiao Ji did not want to answer. But Yang Yi was holding an authorisation card and now counted as a high level authority holder, so it could not avoid the question.

The robot came to a halt. Its indicator light flashed rapidly, as if it were thinking or querying its database. Only after a long pause did it answer solemnly.

“Xiao Ji cannot find an answer to this query…”

“Then how many people lived here before?” Yang Yi asked, changing tack.

Xiao Ji went back to “thinking.”

Only when Suna looked over did it seem to find the answer, responding immediately.

“In total, [data unavailable] people.

At the time, the Sanctuary had just been upgraded to level seven. The available space had increased significantly, and many people were still in the process of moving in. The planned total population was expected to exceed one hundred thousand.”

The answer was clear and well structured.

Yang Yi, however, eyed Xiao Ji suspiciously. He had the distinct feeling that the robot harboured some inexplicable hostility towards him.

Perhaps it was projecting him onto someone from the past, such as the former captain of the Sanctuary.

He rubbed his chin. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

This robot clearly possessed real intelligence. It could not simply be treated as a mindless machine.

“Are you the only robot on this ship?” Yang Yi continued.

This time, Xiao Ji did not pretend to think. It replied quickly.

“No. In addition to Xiao Ji, there are nine others.

However, most are damaged. Including Xiao Ji, only four units are currently operational.”

“Oh?”

Yang Yi nodded, quite satisfied with the answer.

These robots were no slouches in combat. They would be very useful when dealing with the rats.

“Can you call the other robots over?” Yang Yi asked.

“Yes.”

Xiao Ji’s indicator light flashed repeatedly, as if transmitting a signal.

Before long, movement came from both ends of the corridor. Three robots arrived in total, all damaged to varying degrees. One was even missing a wheel and could only drag itself along the floor.

They were the same model as Xiao Ji, but their intelligence modules were clearly different. They could only follow orders and execute simple commands.

Xiao Ji, by contrast, was more like their leader, a higher tier unit.

For convenience, Yang Yi named the three robots Xiao Yi, Xiao Er, and Xiao San. Together, they returned to the Nightmare Star.

Yang Yi and Suna boarded first. The robots were then hauled into the ship’s hold using grappling hooks.

Because of the side effects of the Spirit potion, Suna soon collapsed and lay resting in her room for over three hours before getting up again.

She then went straight to the cargo hold, found Xiao Ji, and brought it into the laboratory.

Wei Qian’s research data was stored inside this robot. It needed to be extracted as soon as possible.

Suna connected Xiao Ji to the tablet with a data cable. The robot immediately entered standby mode, and a password input window appeared on the tablet.

She entered the password Wei Qian had given her. A progress bar popped up, indicating data transfer. The speed was fast.

But when the bar reached 42 percent, it froze. At the same time, a wisp of black smoke drifted out from the bullet hole in Xiao Ji’s head.

【Transfer failed. Stored data is damaged or missing.】

A warning appeared on the screen, and the transfer was aborted.

This was likely the result of the earlier battle. The data inside Xiao Ji had suffered loss or corruption.

Restoring it now would probably be impossible.

Suna was about to unplug the data cable to prevent further damage to Xiao Ji, when she unexpectedly noticed a mechanical arm extending from inside the robot’s body. It was holding a cracked, leaking vial.

【Name: Love Potion (Prototype)】

【Type: Consumable / Potion / Unique】

【Quality: Heroic】

【Description: A Love Potion created by the witch Wei Qian, but never completed. After use, the object of affection cannot be specified, and the effect is unstable.】

“Broken?”

Suna froze for a moment, then checked the data that had already been transferred.

She found entries related to the robot itself. Xiao Ji and the other robots had been produced in the same batch, with serial number eight, classified as low level artificial intelligence.

Yet for some reason, after four thousand years, it had renamed itself Xiao Ji and begun to exhibit signs of high level artificial intelligence.

This might be connected to that shattered potion.

Suna looked at Xiao Ji, her eyes shining.

She felt that this robot might be more valuable than the data stored inside it.

It seemed to have developed something like a soul.

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