“┟┑└┥┶╆╄?”
Still dizzy, Rong Gui saw a line of characters.
It’s not completely accurate to say that he “saw” them, but he did not “hear” them, either. It’s more as if he had been in a dream.
“What did you say?” He opened his mouth, uhh…he intended to open his mouth. But not yet until he found the proper position to open his mouth, his “voice” went out.
Alright. It’s not completely accurate to say that’s his “voice”. He could not hear his own voice at all.
He was more and more convinced that he was dreaming.
But the next question came at him before he had figured out anything. This time, he understood the question from the other side.
“Question: 1+1=?”
“2.” Rong Gui answered grumpily.
“Question: 11+11+11+11+11=?”
“55!” Was he dreaming of taking courses? And they were courses from the primary school!
But it’s better to have dreams of primary school courses than of college courses. God knew that he had not even graduated from college. He hadn’t been able to catch up with many of his lessons since high school…
Rong Gui thought.
Yet, he didn’t get much longer time to rejoice at his fortune, as another question came.
“Question: 1+11+111+1111+11111+……=?”
And now it’s turning into an International Mathematical Olympiad? Damn!
Rong Gui did not utter a sound.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktfc defralbcr yfmjwf aglmxlfg: mbwqilmjafv ugjqtr jqqfjgfv yfobgf tlw bcf joafg jcbatfg, jcv tf… tf mbeivc’a gfmbuclhf jcs bo atfw. Qtja atf batfg rlvf kjr rqfjxlcu kjr mifjgis Jtlcfrf, yea tf mbeivc’a fnfc ecvfgrajcv j kbgv.
Pc vfjv rlifcmf, atf tfjvjmtf-agluufglcu wjat ifrrbcr olcjiis mjwf ab j rabq. Rfza, la’r ijcuejuf mijrr.
All kinds of weird linguistic symbols glided past his eyes. The reason he knew they were linguistic symbols was that he saw a few English alphabets. But many English alphabets had other marks on top of them. They looked a bit like Pinyin*, but maybe some other languages, he couldn’t be sure.
*拼音 (Pin Yin): Chinese phonetic alphabets.
“Question: Do you know how to prepare the legendary cuisine ‘Manchu-Han Imperial Feast’*?” The other side switched the questions to another direction.
*满汉全席 (Manchu-Han Imperial Feast): a type of grand banquet meal renowned in Chinese culinary history. Passing down from Qing dynasty, the meal usually consists of 108 dishes (54 southern dishes, 42 northern dishes, and 12 Manchu dishes) with all kinds of delicacies cooked by various methods.
“What?”
“Question: Do you know how to prepare the legendary cuisine ‘Manchu-Han Imperial Feast’?” Since Rong Gui did not give an answer, the other side “asked” again.
“I don’t.” I’m not a cook!
“Question: Do you know how to prepare the beginner level cuisine ‘stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs’?”
“I don’t!”
As he was answering, Rong Gui wondered: Aren’t these questions becoming more and more mysterious?
Various questions ensued. Regrettably, Rong Gui almost could not give any definite answer to any question posed by the other side. At last, the other side asked a final question.
“Question: What do you think that you have mastered? Or, what do you believe to be your only strength?”
This time, Rong Gui did not hesitate. He answered, very heartily, “Hahaha! My biggest strength is of course good-looking!”
“I have a good figure and a good face. I’m good-looking from all angles!”
As soon as this response came out, that voice never rose up again.
And then he got thrust into a cram school.
It’s rather weird to call it a cram school, because he could see nothing. Yet he could feel many things were being forced into his brain.
He could “see” those things in his “brain”, but he didn’t know how to use them at all.
In the end, his head got so stuffed up that it swelled with pain. A sudden blackout – and he fainted downright due to cramming.
When he woke up again, this time, he found in surprise that he could actually see things!
It’s no more from a strange viewing angle. This time, he could really see with his eyes.
But it’s not completely accurate to say that he saw “with his eyes”. For some reason…the things he saw looked different than usual…as if what he saw had not been tangible objects, but images. What’s more… it’s pitch dark all around, and how could he see anything in such a dark place? His usual night vision had been very bad…
Wait…usual?
He immediately rolled up from the ground.
Then, he “saw” something sitting on a battered chair before him, that is a…a toy? A robot?
It’s a robot about the same size as him – nothing like that kind of humanoid robots he had seen in movies which, with just one glance, one could tell that they were fancy. It’s just a plainly ordinary robot which resembled an enlarged version of a toy for children.
Rong Gui was stupefied.
“Hello, pleased to see you activated in time before the battery goes dead. But there is a bad news: The computer had stopped functioning before you could receive all the knowledge.” That robot even talked!
Rong Gui was stunned. Soon, he recalled the weird course-taking process he just experienced.
“No…This should be a good news to me…” He didn’t like taking courses, not in the least.
Only until this moment did Rong Gui realize that he had been speaking a language completely unfamiliar to him from his mouth! What’s more frightening than this was –
Where was his voice? This wasn’t his voice at all, but an extremely strange metallic sound!
That robot “spoke” again. “Your previous language setting was too obsolete. I made a latest language setting for you.”
“This is fairly normal.” He said.
“It isn’t normal at all!” Although in his heart, Rong Gui was roaring like mad, when he spoke out this sentence, he heard his strange metallic sound again. It’s a flat tone, unable to express any emotion.
“Right, something is indeed abnormal.” That robot nodded, “With such a small chip that can merely accept one type of language setting – you are the only one that I have seen.”
Rong Gui: “……”
He understood this sentence. It meant that he was not very bright.
This robot really had a sharp tongue.
He wanted to curl his lips, but failed. As he lowered his head, Rong Gui found his arms replaced by a pair of crude metal arms.
He paused in surprise, and continued to look at his stomach, his feet…No need to look for more. Even without a mirror, he could tell how his current appearance looked like – identical to that robot before him!
“My…where are my six-pack abs?” Ultimately, Rong Gui let out a piteous shriek with his metal-like voice.
“Your six-pack abdominal muscles should be here.” God knew that Rong Gui had not expected to get any response at all, but the robot on the opposite side actually jumped down from the chair, pointed ahead, and spoke.
Only by following the direction pointed by his fingers did Rong Gui “see” a wall ahead. The wall was densely packed with lattices, and each lattice unit had a lock. Standing up, Rong Gui speechlessly followed the robot and walked towards the direction of the “wall”. He watched that robot press on one of the lattice unit cell, and that cell slowly glided out!
A coffin!!!
And it’s translucent!
But it was thanks to the coffin’s translucency that Rong Gui was able to see clear what was contained inside. The instant he saw it, Rong Gui jumped with fright.
“It’s a shame. Your six-pack abs seemed to have gone.” He heard that robot saying flatly.
“Mamma mia! That’s me!” No time to care for the other’s words, Rong Gui threw all his limbs upon the “coffin” containing his own body!
Thanks for the chapter! ❤
So it was like his soul was separated from his original body and was then transferred to this robotic body?
This novel is very interesting. Thank you very much for translating this! ^^
Yes, I think you can understand it this way. Some part of this novel can be regarded as a sort of pseudo sci-fi 🙂
Also, thanks for your wonderful feedbacks! Xiao Mei and A Gui are indeed a lovely pair ❤