After Zhang Guoyang got off the train, it was already 8:25PM national time, and the sky had already darkened.

There were three people from country A who came to pick him up at the train station, one was thin and two were tall. The skinny one calls himself "Laren", and the tall two are bodyguards.

Laren was dressed in a suit and leather shoes. Zhang Guoyang, on the other hand, is a metal body.

(Again, a real person came to greet you.) Zhang Guoyang subconsciously thought that when shaking hands with Laren, Zhang Guoyang was afraid that if he did not operate properly, the stand-in robot would pinch Laren's hand.

(It's hard.) Laren's hands, too, are hard! He is...... No, it's ...... too

Zhang Guoyang suddenly felt a wave of fear - his stand-in robot grip sensor data showed that he might be holding a brick now - that was Laren's hand, and he was indeed a robot.

(Thankfully, I wasn't there to shake his hand.) Zhang Guoyang comforted himself, what would it be like to shake hands with a person who has no body temperature and is erect?

Zhang Guoyang has heard of the uncanny valley theory before: a person who has been with you for many years, one day, you suddenly find that it is a cold robot.

Those robots that look like robots, and those robots dressed in human skin, what is the difference between the two, Zhang Guoyang has experienced it for the first time.

"Are you okay? Mr. Zhang. Laren asked. When Laren asked like this, Zhang Guoyang realized that he was stunned just now.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just ......," Zhang Guoyang said apologetically, "what are we going to do next?" ”

According to the agreement, Zhang Guoyang (the stand-in robot) will be taken to the laboratory "blindfolded", and in this process, the operation log of the mobile phone, communication equipment, and the stand-in robot must also be turned off to ensure that he will not record the GPS coordinates of the laboratory and will not cause any trouble.

The means of transport is a helicopter. One hour later, the helicopter landed in the desert. The desert is still very cold at night, with 6 degrees Celsius on the computer screen. But Zhang Guoyang himself can't feel the cold, and the hotel is very warm, which is the benefit of the stand-in. Sometimes, however, the stand-in does not bring exactly the benefits, and often, the operator of the stand-in has a very strange feeling: he feels that he is in a cold desert, and at the same time, in a warm hotel room, it is cold and hot, as if he is having a fever.

There was a light in the desert, and the four of them walked towards it.

(It should still be in Nevada, and the helicopter shouldn't fly too far in an hour.) Zhang Guoyang estimated in his heart, and followed Laren and the other three forward. As he got closer, he found that the place where the lights were lit was a low, flat-roofed house.

The four of them opened the door and entered the room, passed through a security gate, and came to the elevator entrance.

"The lab is underground." "This used to be an underground nuclear facility – there were more than a dozen nuclear warheads!"

(More than a dozen nuclear warheads?) In case of an explosion??? When he heard Laren's introduction, Zhang Guoyang had this idea in his head.

"It's all old, and it's transformed into a nuclear reactor." The four of them entered the elevator, and Laren continued, "Right now, the lab relies on these modified reactors for power. ”

(In short, there is still a possibility of explosion, at least nuclear contamination.) Zhang Guoyang thought, (Fortunately, it's just a stand-in robot, not me.) ）

At this time, among the four people, two tall security robots said, "We won't go down, we'll stay on top." ”

So, Laren and Zhang Guoyang entered the elevator, the elevator was very old, like an iron cage, and it creaked when it ran, which made Zhang Guoyang very uncomfortable.

The elevator ran for about two minutes.

Suddenly, there was a strong tremor!

Zhang Guoyang, who was in the hotel, was also taken aback.

Obviously, this simple elevator like an iron cage does not bring any sense of security, brown rust and cold. It is a strong contrast to Laren's glossy appearance.

"What's going on?" Zhang Guoyang asked Laren.

"Oh, that's right, Mr. Zhang," Laren explained with a smile, "and the geological activity in this area has been quite active lately, so don't worry. ”

Zhang Guoyang thought about it, how could country A build a nuclear bomb shaft in a geologically active area? He glanced at Laren and felt like he was lying. Dressed in a glamorous outfit, but taking customers to such an old "underground cave", is it a "scam company" and "leather bag company" in country A? If it weren't for Bai Yuntian's introduction, he would really want to leave now.

"Although he is not a geological scientist," Zhang Guoyang said, "I at least suggest that you should choose a place with a more stable geological (structure) to build a laboratory, right?" ”

Laren was puzzled, "You made me think. He said.

It turned out that the stand-in robot rented by Zhang Guoyang should be the most streamlined version. The translation feature is really not very powerful. actually translated "contemptible" into "bastard". Therefore, Laren understood Zhang Guoyang's words and took some time.

"In fact," Laren smiled after making sure the client wasn't angry, "the geological structure in this area has always been fairly stable, which is why the government chose to build a nuclear facility here." It is only in the last two months that geological activity has begun to become active. We also feel that it is a headache, but from the current situation, it will not affect our production and R&D. ”

Geological structure data has been fairly stable? Is it?

Laren's tone was full of confidence, just like his confident smile.

Still, Zhang Guoyang felt that Laren's confident smile was a cheap smile: a robotic smile, absolutely exquisite, but absolutely cheap — it was just a program, a piece of code, a smile that could be replicated 10,000 times at almost no task cost.

Zhang Guoyang even thought that this robot called Laren Yi stand-in robot, its operator did not laugh at all, but just played the kind of smiling expression like the most ordinary chat tool, and the robot would smile. And what about its operators? At this point, he may be swearing with the letters F and S.

Zhang Guoyang sighed in his heart, (as long as they can ensure the quality of the drug, for a while, we have to take a good look at their production line, whether it is professional or not.) )

"Mr. Laren, I also know that a lot of things have been happening recently." Zhang Guoyang said, "It's okay, I'm not just here to pick up medicine, but I may also cooperate with you to open up the market in country C in the future, I don't want me to expand the market in country C, your laboratory and production line are suddenly gone, don't fool ......me."

Laren was sure that would not be the case. Zhang Guoyang did not question it again.

The elevator, swaying, ran for about ten minutes and came to the eighteenth floor underground.

Eighteen floors underground! nnd, this is really "I don't go to hell, who goes to hell"! Zhang Guoyang couldn't help laughing. However, he knew that in country A, the number 13 was an unlucky number.

There is a theory that Jesus had a dinner with his disciples before his death. The 13th person to attend the dinner was Judas, a disciple of Jesus. This man betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities, causing him to be tortured. The Last Supper was attended by 13 people, and the date of the supper coincided with the 13th, and "13" brought suffering and misfortune to Jesus. Since then, "13" has been considered a symbol of misfortune.

But whether it's 13 or 18, it's already about 500 meters underground.

Under the guidance of Laren, Zhang Guoyang stepped into the "eighteenth layer of hell".

When the elevator doors opened, there was a white light in front of me. The underground lab is not like hell, but like coming to heaven. In the corridor, the experimenter was busy back and forth with various items in his hands. The various items are neatly furnished and meticulous, which is very different from everything in the rough and old elevator just now.

Walking in "heaven", walking among them (them), Zhang Guoyang felt very fresh: these robots were only half-human, like dwarfs. The "dwarfs" have basically maintained the shape of a human head and limbs.

Laren says making the robot smaller can save costs. The robot is small, the room in the facility can also be small, and in the underground facility, many rooms can only achieve a floor height of 1.5 meters, saving labor and materials.

(That makes sense.) Zhang Guoyang naturally wants to see a collaborator who can be careful with his calculations.

Not long after, under the guidance of Laren, Zhang Guoyang met with two other customers.

Laren and three customers begin to visit the production lines of the underground laboratory, each workshop that looks like a factory in the Dwarven Kingdom. But this is not a fairy tale. This is a matter of "cost", as Laren has repeatedly mentioned, everything has to be considered cost, every penny has to be carefully calculated, this laboratory is self-financed, not a government project, and does not cost taxpayers a penny.

"So," Laren said to the customers as she walked, "in fact, in addition to genetic and pharmaceutical products, we also work part-time as a small robot distributor. ”

"So," said one of the customers known as Selene, "can you sell me a, uh, one of those gnome robots?" I think kids will love it. It doesn't seem to be available on the market. ”

Laren hesitated for a moment, explaining that the "small robot dropshipping" he had just mentioned was not aimed at home customers.

(This woman is buying a pet.) Zhang Guoyang thought, he knows that women sometimes have such whims, although those robots are short, their angular appearance is far from cute, has this woman forgotten the purpose of her here? Is this a shopping mall?

After a while, Laren didn't know which superior to communicate with remotely, and after the communication, he actually agreed to Selene's request and sold one to her.

Zhang Guoyang quipped that if someone wants to buy a laboratory, Mr. Laren, will you sell it?

"Businessman, as long as the starting price is offered, you can say anything." Laren laughed.

"Money is not an issue." The woman named Selene said proudly, and then glanced at Zhang Guoyang.

Zhang Guoyang didn't know if he was the least rich of several customers, but he thought that no matter how rich he was, he wouldn't be bored enough to buy that kind of dwarf clown ghost robot as a pet.

Before you know it, an hour has passed, and the visit to the production line is coming to an end.

Laren told the three customers that if there is no doubt, they are ready to sign the contract, sign the contract and transfer the settlement, and then take the medicine or sample. The three had no opinion. So everyone came to the front of a round of air valves.

The valve opened, and behind the door was an air transfer room. There is also a round of air valves at the other end of the conversion chamber.

"Aerobic activity area!" It was marked on the door.

"This is the aerobic zone," Laren pointed to the exit of the air transfer chamber, "and you won't have to wear a mask when you go out through this door." The environment there is relatively good, suitable for business activities. ”

(Oh, so the underground isn't full of robots.) Zhang Guoyang thought.

Laren led the three of them to a break room in the "aerobic area", where there were two more gnomes - not gnome robots, but real people, the circus kind. Laren greeted the two and sent them away.

"They're the maintenance crews on duty." Laren explained, "When a robot fails, a real person backup is still necessary. ”

"Real person backup?" Hearing these four words, for some reason, Zhang Guoyang suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, as if these four words suddenly touched one of his nerves. Because, in country C, in big cities, there are also many stand-in robots in the streets and alleys, but Zhang Guoyang believes that most people still think that robots are the backup of humans, and no one will think that humans are the backup of robots.

In the dark, as a member of the human race, Zhang Guoyang's heart suddenly felt a trace of loss.

"Are these people just going underground?" Out of curiosity, Zhang Guoyang asked.

Laren smiled, "These days, I don't know how many people dream of hiding in underground facilities like this, eating and drinking. At least you don't have to worry about being attacked by aliens on the ground. Moreover, the circus has long been bankrupt, where else can these dwarfs go? ”

Zhang Guoyang thought about it, and it was the same thing.

After signing the contract, Laren brought the medicine, and he handed the medicine to Zhang Guoyang, just when Zhang Guoyang was about to "raise his hand" to take the medicine. In the hotel room, on his computer screen, the real-time video information transferred back by the stand-in robot suddenly froze and froze, and it was stuck-link_lost_reconnect (the connection was interrupted, retrying.) )

(This。。。。。 What's going on? Zhang Guoyang scolded in his heart.