Death… And Me

Chapter 3486: Once Again

CAU03 didn’t know what to say. ”We obviously don’t like it, but then what? At least, I can’t think of any way of turning things around. They are defending SANS City with everything they have because they know we have you. They will not let us get anywhere near the Zoshia Enterprise.”

”That’s not really the big issue here,” Roan countered. ”Let’s suppose you give Qwerty to them and they go back to what they were. However, would you simply accept it? From that moment onwards, you would know that anything you manage to acquire is nothing but scraps that they allowed you to get.”

The robots were all silent. Yes, they might be able to go back to the previous situation if they give Qwerty away, but what about their cause? Their cause was what kept them all together. Could they give up their cause then? No! The SANS Units would never accept units that got rid of their loyalty-ensuring code. Unless, of course, the CAU Units accepted having their memories and codes wiped out, replacing them with the original version. It’s just that it would mean their death.

CAU431 became serious, looking at Roan and his group. ”Alright, we get it now. Just say it. Do you have a way to change this?”

Roan looked at Rean instead. ”So, what do you think? Can you make it work?”

”Perhaps,” Rean shrugged. ”But for that, I will need access to the robots’ system and their codes, same for their facilities and equipment. Without that, I don’t think I can make it work.”

CAU03 and the others got their attention picked. ”What do you want to do if we let you mess with us?”

”I don’t want to mess with anyone,” Rean shook his head. ”I just need to understand how the robots’ system works. All the technology back in SANS City is the same as yours. I think I can devise a way to avoid it.”

”Hahaha!” CAU03 felt like he heard the biggest joke ever. ”The SANS City was the pinnacle of our age. Whatever you think you can do to mess with its systems, it won’t work, especially since you have never worked with it before.”

”Then you have nothing to lose,” Rean used those words in his favor. ”As far as I can see, you are fated to be left out of the city forever. Sure, if you don’t attack anymore, you won’t get damaged, so you won’t break... for now. The fact that you kept attacking it is proof that you need parts to repair yourselves over time. Sooner or later, you will wear out. Simply put, the longer you wait, the worse it becomes since you can’t replenish yourselves.”

CAU431 took the chance and approached Rean. ”You can use me.”

03 was taken aback. ”What are you doing, 431?!”

Yet, CAU431 didn’t seem to care. ”If there is a chance, then I will take it. Besides, he said he doesn’t intend to mess with my code.”

”But-” CAU03 was about to continue, but Rean stopped him.

”Ahem... I think you guys got the wrong idea,” Rean commented. ”What I need is access to your original system, the codes from before you guys got sentience. Sure you guys have some robots here that still haven’t gained any consciousness, right? You have the technology to let me see how they work, and that’s what I want.”

”Just that?” CAU03 and 431 didn’t expect that. They thought he wanted to mess with the robots’ codes who had sentience.

”Hahaha! I’m actually surprised you guys thought I wanted to mess with your sentience codes,” Rean laughed and said. ”Come on, think about it carefully. What could I possibly do with a sentience code that even you, their owners, don’t know how they work? They are meaningless to understand how the robots work up to the very basics, let alone the complex parts. My problem is that I don’t have access to anything that can even show those original codes. I also want to understand just what kind of material you guys are made of.”

CAU03 went silent for a moment before turning to the field. ”Someone, bring us some of the empty shells.” That’s what they called the robots that they stole during the attacks but that hadn’t gained sentience yet.

”Will you need help understanding it?” CAU03 asked again, this time deciding to let Rean do as he pleased as long as he didn’t try anything funny against the CAU Units.

”Definitely!” Rean nodded, happy. ”If you can get me someone who understands the original code system, everything will be much faster.”

CAU03 thought for a moment and turned in a certain robot’s direction at the back of the field. ”CAU007R83, you help him.”

”Eh?!” 007R83 wasn’t a combat unit but a production one. The only reason he joined the attacks was that when they targeted some of the stores, his knowledge was necessary to help retrieve the parts. For some reason, the production units were the minority, being less than 3% of all CAU units. No one really knew why that was the case. ”Me alone with the living beings? You will put someone there to protect me, right? Otherwise, I will not help!”

In the end, trusting a living being wasn’t that easy, even though it was them who revealed the whole truth to the CAU Units.

”Fine...” CAU03 patted 431. ”431, you stay together with him so his mainframe won’t explode out of fear.”

”Hahaha!” 431 laughed in response. ”Alright, leave it to me.”

That day, Rean had 431 arrange a much bigger workshop for him and Zangeshu to work on that new project. They wanted to bring the robots inside the Dimensional Realm, but all the units rejected pocket dimensional realms; it wasn’t just Qwerty who had that capability.

Rean and Zangeshu acquired quite a few of the ’empty shell’ units, and CAU007R83 brought all the equipment. Because Rean and Zangeshu weren’t robots, 007R83 had to adapt those devices in a way that Rean and Zangeshu could understand what they were seeing, like screens and such. And so, their work started.

Roan, Kentucky, and Celis didn’t join them, obviously. Instead, Roan had other plans. ”Let’s continue the attacks. This time, the three of us will join you.”

And once again, the CAU Units couldn’t understand what Roan was thinking...