There were still no lights on the streets and no lights at all on the cars around them ← It seems that everyone is too poor to afford to use any light bulb – Rong Gui thought to himself.
And then, a beam of light suddenly appeared ahead.
A white light, like an evening sun. When it suddenly appeared before Rong Gui’s eyes, for a moment, he was unable to see anything.
Before he got panicked, Xiao Mei’s voice promptly arose next to him: “It’s not a breakdown of our bodies. Due to the sudden appearance of a light source, the switch of vision mode will take some time.”
Although it was a little hard for Rong Gui to understand, he firmly took it to mean that such blackout was normal.
Indeed, about another thirty seconds later, he could suddenly “see” things again!
The texture of the scenery had some subtle differences compared to the one he previously “saw” – it’s not as clear as before, but there were distinct boundaries between lights and shadows. This…this was almost like what he could originally see with his human body!
Rong Gui became a little excited.
He looked almost greedily at the scene before him, his eyes eventually falling upon the sight ahead – where the light source originated.
Those lights came from the top of a few buildings ahead – five thin and tall buildings which looked a bit like chimneys. These “chimneys” towered amidst the long processions of cars ahead, with an architectural style very similar to that of the traffic control bureau they had seen before. Rong Gui guessed that they were also serving similar functions – both seemed to be public buildings.
Perhaps these “chimneys” were something like tollbooths?
Soon, he figured he was right.
Though the cars were moving forward at a slow pace, they were nevertheless proceeding steadily. Shortly after, it’s Rong Gui and Xiao Mei’s turn to pass by those buildings.
Operating Da Huang, Xiao Mei drove the car next to a “chimney”. The window of the “chimney” happened to face their left side, so Rong Gui, who was sitting on the left of the car, came face to face with the attendant therein.
The woman inside the booth wore the same kind of ugly uniform worn by the man at the traffic control bureau, as well as an equally ugly tie. Her hat, however, was slightly different – the hat on her head was much daintier.
Whether such difference was due to the different work types of the attendants, or the preferences of different genders, Rong Gui didn’t know.
Yet, because of this dainty hat, Rong Gui at once saw the cat ears on top of the attendant’s head.
Er…were they decorations?
Rong Gui was momentarily distracted.
Just at this moment, the attendant spoke to him:
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.
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Lbkfnfg! Ktfs vlvc’a tjnf j qjrr!!!
Ktfs kbeivc’a yf jggfrafv, kbeiv atfs? Ebcu Xel lwwfvljafis yfmjwf cfgnber.
“Qf vbc’a tjnf j qjrr. Qtfgf mjc kf jqqis obg bcf?” Aera ktfc Ebcu Xel vlvc’a xcbk ktja ab vb, Wljb Zfl rqbxf eq.
Arghhhh! Is it really alright to be this honest?
But he couldn’t thought of a better way out, either, so he just added feebly from aside: “Well…we just came out from our home village, so we didn’t know what a pass was, and nor did we know that we need to apply for one…”
Xiao Mei might not have to worry too much – at least he was a native, but Rong Gui wasn’t! He was an undocumented outlander! He hadn’t yet died after such a long time…which really sounded like a phenomenon worthy of a lot of research. What if he got captured and sliced into pieces for use in experiment?
Having watched a lot of Frankenstein movies, Rong Gui immediately imagined the worst scenario possible.
“Oh, it’s okay if you don’t have one. You may simply apply for the pass here. It’s 10 narbies per pass.”
The attendant said, extending her hand out of the window. Rong Gui turned to Xiao Mei. Xiao Mei pulled out two coins from the sack under the seat, which Rong Gui took and handed over to the attendant. Not long after the attendant received the coins, she handed out two round objects to the two robots.
“These are the passes?” Rong Gui was still a little bewildered when he received the passes: That’s all? Was it that easy? No name or place of origin required? Not even collection of fingerprints or blood sample?
Er…fine, they were now robots, so even if fingerprints or blood sample had to be collected, they would have none.
“Yes. However, since you are merely holding the most junior-level passes, each with one initial credit, you can’t go to other places right now, but only to the City of Eni.”
“Eh? Does this road lead to many cities?” Rong Gui immediately grasped the hidden meaning in the woman’s words.
“Yes. Different amounts of credits correspond to different ranks of cities where you may go. This road leads to three cities in total. Yet, with your limited credits, you can only go to Eni, which has the lowest credit requirement.”
“Ah, it sounds like a city full of freedom!” Although Rong Gui was told that he only had one choice, it did not prevent him from imagining and yearning for that city where he was about to go.
For a while, it seemed that the tiny robot was immersed in daydreaming.
Eni…it’s Eni the “city”!
Rong Gui crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Hehe, yes, it’s a very free…mining city.” Amused by Rong Gui’s reaction, the woman added.
“Er…” Did he just hear the word “mining”?
“Alright then, please follow the road sign ahead to Eni.” Having already spent too much time explaining, the attendant was asking them to leave.
At the same time, the road sign ahead lit up. Rong Gui took a close look at the text written on the sign: this road was called Platon.
There were two other forks branching off from the road ahead, and each had a sign with some other words written on it. It’s a shame that these signs did not light up, and Rong Gui could not see what was written on them.
Just after they drove onto the road to Eni, a few other cars drove onto the two forks whose names Rong Gui couldn’t clearly see. Turning around, Rong Gui clenched the back of his seat to try to take a few more looks at the other two signs. When he realized he still couldn’t recognize what was written on them, he finally sat back, and continued his routine pedaling work.
“That’s great! Xiao Mei, we are about to enter a city~” Rong Gui was a little worried about the attendant’s remarks on Eni. Nevertheless, he plucked up his spirit to comfort Xiao Mei: “The attendant just now said that Eni is some sort of mining city, so it seems to be a place rich in resources~”
“Our Da Huang is such a poor darling. Xiao Mei, when we get there, you have to search for some good materials to provide it with some better power sources.”
“Of course, I will search with you together.”
“It’s so weird. Why nobody is surprised by our current looks?”
“However, I wonder if you noticed that, Xiao Mei – the attendant girl we just met was wearing cat ears! These staff members are really flashy, whether it’s the tie, the animal ear accessories, or something else… It seems that everyone is very fashionable!”
“Should we buy some cat ears to wear after entering the city? To keep up with trends?”
It didn’t matter even if no one responded to him – Rong Gui could continue a whole cart load of dialogues all by himself. While he was chattering to himself, Xiao Mei was keeping a steady hand on the steering wheel all along. After driving for another two hours, the two little robots sitting on Da Huang eventually arrived in front of a city.
Pushing open the car door, Rong Gui followed behind Xiao Mei and got out of the car. Pitter-pattering his way next to Xiao Mei, and staring at the city before him, Rong Gui was speechless for a long time.
This was a city brimming with bright light. Countless light sources in the sky illuminated the whole city almost as if it were daytime.
Yet, for Rong Gui, who had really seen daylight in the past, such “daylight” was very artificial, and fake.
Those lights were abnormally white. The city shrouded beneath such lights, on the other hand, was ice-cold black, just like metals.
Rong Gui heard the noises of huge mechanical engines roaring from the city ahead, accompanied by various sounds of pounding and hammering.
At the same time, he heard another voice –
“Notice: The concentration of metal pollutants in the air exceeds the standard PM index. The current air quality indices are…”
It’s Da Huang’s voice. Somehow, Da Huang’ voice suddenly started ringing in his mind.
It truly gave Rong Gui a fright, but he soon realized that this was the work result of Xiao Mei.
Since Rong Gui still couldn’t get used to this robotic body and he would always miss some important changes in his physical signs, he requested Xiao Mei’s help. Thus, Xiao Mei made an extra alarm device, but it hadn’t been used ever since it was made. Judging by its performance today, this simple invention was quite successful. Yet, Xiao Mei must have been slacking off during his work – he simply chose to use the same version of Da Huang’s voice as the device’s alerting sound…
Rong Gui’s first reaction was to find a facial mask. But soon, he saw his mechanical hands. Although he had always been a little uncomfortable with his current body, at this moment, he was suddenly relieved.
A robotic body should be able to withstand air pollution, right?
Metals, machines, and glaring light without a trace of warmth – with all these elements combined, no one would feel that this was a friendly city.
“But…this city is very manly, isn’t it?” Even under such circumstance, Rong Gui still found a pretty nice and positive adjective for Eni.
“Hey you, bumpkin! Get out of the way!” Just at this moment, the sound of a siren suddenly came from behind. Only when Rong Gui looked back did he find that a car had stopped behind them.
Unlike Xiao Mei, who was standing in a relatively inconspicuous place, Rong Gui, who wanted to take a closer look at the city before him from all angles, stood somewhat at the middle of the road. Although it’s true that he was at fault, the other party’s attitude was really bad, too. After shouting at Rong Gui, they even made their car jerk forward.
It was directly coming at Rong Gui!
At present, Rong Gui was merely a robot made of shabby materials, so his reaction couldn’t be considered as fast at all. In fact, he was so frightened that he tumbled at once with his bottom hitting the ground.
Fortunately, it seemed that the other was only intending to scare him, and the car stopped before hitting him.
A burst of rude laughter then flooded out from inside the car.
Despite the insult, Rong Gui restrained his simmering anger.
Standing up slowly, Rong Gui made way for the car behind him. All the while, he also pulled Xiao Mei aside with him for fear that the latter would do something improper. He then said gravely to Xiao Mei: “It’s our first time to a strange place. We are unfamiliar with the people and customs here, so we should avoid causing trouble as much as possible.”
“I lost my cool the first time I went into the city before. A man scolded me, so I had a fight with him. Then at that night I was rounded up and beaten by a group of gangsters brought by that man, and they took away all my money. In the end I had no choice but to find a random job that others had conned me into accepting.” He shared his past experience.
“However -” With a change in tone, Rong Gui continued, “Deep inside, I’m still very upset, so I’ve already learnt by heart what their car looks like. If I see it again later, I will sneak out to puncture all its tires.”
What a boring way of revenge – casting a glance at his own hand, which was still held by Rong Gui, Xiao Mei pulled out his hand, got back into his seat, and started the car again.
Translator’s Note: The adventure of the two robots officially begins! Thanks for all your support ^_^
Yaaay!! They finally reached a city with peoples~ w
Thanks for the chapter~ <3
Actually, I liked it more when it was just the rwo of them… But let’s see where it goes from here. Thanks for the chap!
I meant “two” 🙃
And I have a feeling that XM will teach that car driver a lesson if they see him again. He probably has other, not so harmless methods of revenge in mind than RG.🔪