Xingtie, started with a guitar, and made a living by singing

"She told me that she would be staying in the upper area for a while."

"Poets have strong emergency avoidance abilities and keen insight, and their base probability of encountering an accident is only 0.600%."

Swarovski analyzed it seriously.

However, this made Clara feel a little resentful. Although she hid it well, the fact that she let go of her hand so suddenly and looked a little embarrassed was enough for Swarovski to react.

He paused, then amended, "I mean—he'll be safe, no need to worry."

After hearing such comfort, Clara relaxed a little and showed a peaceful smile.

"Hehe. Mr. Swarlow sometimes says things that make people worry."

"...I will keep the conversation records and compare them with the results of the most recent fifty conversations. I will not re-edit the existing data for now."

Swarovski's mechanical eyes lit up, then he lowered his head and asked.

"Clara. Do you want to go find the poet?"

"Huh? Looking for Sister Wendy? I'm a little worried about whether she'll be in trouble, but everyone in the settlement and Mr. Swarlow also need me."

Clara hesitated.

"What if everyone gets hungry or sick while I'm gone..."

"Everyone who lives here has their own special skills, Clara."

Swarovski's sight seemed to follow the network spreading across the base, seeing the people camped there. The synthesized male voice was steady and heavy.

"They can take care of themselves instead of relying solely on our help. Furthermore, there are still sufficient supplies within the settlement, enough to last for a month after distribution."

"But……"

Although Clara was somewhat tempted, there were still some shackles that bound her that had not been removed.

Even though she had the courage to go to Rivet Town alone to look for supplies, she was ultimately just a child who had never even left the lower district.

For Clara, the upper district is more of a "fantasy town" that only exists in records and in the stories told by Mr. Swarlow.

She couldn't imagine how vast the sky was there, nor had she ever taken a light nap under the sunshine, nor had she ever experienced what the scenery outside was like.

These were some kind of invisible shackles that made it difficult for her to make up her mind, and she could only seek help from Mr. Swarlow.

She muttered quietly.

"Mr. Swarlow, do you want me to go find Sister Wendy?"

"I will not interfere with your choice. Therefore, to put it in human terms—"

Mr. Swarovski, who was always extremely rational, and seemed to base his every word and action on calculations, spoke gently at this moment like a real father.

"It's your freedom to accept or not."

After that conversation with the bard, he actually understood to some extent some truths that seemed paradoxical to machines.

Human actions are difficult to predict, and there is no single optimal solution. Any possibility will give rise to new results and gradually form irreversible variables.

Even he could only continuously filter and eliminate the abnormal parts from these calculation results, and keep repeating the process until he found a result that was infinitely close to the correct answer.

But this does not mean that he has to relay the previous abnormal calculation results to Clara. She should have her own ideas instead of simply living as his vassal.

Clara is a human, not an automaton. She deserves the privilege of being willful, a privilege that children her age have.

Cultivating Clara's independence and supporting her in pursuing what she wants is what family is all about.

This trusting answer made Clara fall into silence for a moment.

But in the girl's gradually brightening red eyes, there was a hint of something similar to the poet.

"...I understand. Mr. Swarovski wants me to prioritize my own will, right?"

"exactly."

Swarovski nodded slightly.

There is even a feeling that should be called "relief" rising in my heart.

This actually does not conform to his original design principle. As an ancient relic of the old world, it is an automatic control unit left over from the era of the Earth Marrow Pioneers.

Unlike most machines that are dumb and only follow instructions, Swarlow has complex thinking abilities, but strictly speaking does not have "intelligent emotions."

But now, he could feel the emotion that made the fuselage heat up and made his core furnace feel full as if it was "filled with energy".

He couldn't figure out the real factor that caused him to change like this, but... he could temporarily assume that the result was - Clara, his family.

While Swarovski was lost in thought, Clara also crossed the first threshold and spoke boldly.

"...Well, in that case, could I invite Mr. Swarlow to go with me?"

"——Accepted and approved."

Swarovski simply replied calmly as always.

At the same time, it will also upload its own arrangements to the base's internal network.

The Mechanical Settlement, a large community of wanderers formed around a manned shaft, was formerly the "Core," the scientific research base of the former Earth Marrow Development Group. While much of the remaining equipment has been damaged by disrepair, many still function.

After years of renovation and maintenance, the number of automatic robots in the mechanical network has exceeded one hundred, and most of the wanderers living here also like robots. Over time, they have also mastered some mechanical-related technologies.

In addition, the settlement is equipped with automatic machine guns to block attacks and an unbreakable base gate. It is difficult to break into the settlement without a pass.

Therefore, as long as there is no leader monster leading a group of monsters to rush directly to the mechanical settlement during the time when he and Clara are away, the possibility of losing is very low.

The rift erosion phenomenon in the lower area is currently concentrated in Rivet Town and has not spread outward.

Even if this possibility really arises, the poet must be able to realize that the wind here is different from ordinary air flow and is "spiritual".

Although Swarovski didn't know how he did it, he believed that with his ability, it would be easy to protect the people living here.

As for how the poet came down?

This question was never within the scope of Swarlow's calculations.

Although the manned shaft is the only way to reach the surface nearby when the upper cable car is not open.

But in fact, the poet did not need to pass through here at all to enter and exit. It was obvious that he achieved "freedom" in and out by relying on the power of controlling the wind.

In other words, all factors that interfere with Swarovski and Clara's ascent have basically been eliminated, and all they have to do next is take the manned shaft up.

After all, in addition to fulfilling Clara's wish, he also wanted to see what the "big hole" in the sky mentioned in the automatic robot network would look like.

Chapter 64: Stars are cold toys

The manned shaft was slowly moving upwards, and the dull sound of gears meshing and turning echoed from the top floor.

There was only an old, dim mining lamp illuminating the dark shaft.

Clara and Swarovski continued to feel the rising sense of "weightlessness" in such a quiet atmosphere.

"...I'm a little, a little scared."

Clara raised her head and leaned closer to Swarovski nervously, relying on him more than she had ever done in the lower district.

Although she had made up her mind to go to the upper area, Clara still felt a sense of discomfort at leaving the place she was most familiar with and being swallowed by such a big creature, slowly being sent to some unknown place.

"Don't worry. We'll arrive at the terrace in ten minutes. We'll pass through the outdated heating lines in the outer city and enter the administrative district. Then we can set out to find the poet."

"...Hmm, Mr. Swarlow, have you ever been to the upper area? I think you're very familiar with the routes up there!"

"In the past, I lived in the upper district for a period of time, and at that time I kept maps of the upper district's topography and buildings. Therefore, as the urban layout has not changed much, we don't have to worry about getting lost."

In fact, Swarovski had not returned to the upper area for a long time. As a relic of the old times, he was sent to the lower area by the wise Alexandra and dormant for about hundreds of years. When he resumed operation, everything had changed.

The ruling Grand Guardian also changed from the second Wise Alexandra to the current eighteenth Cocolia.

He didn't care about the change of regime. He just recorded this information and continued to execute the "preservation" command that was input when he was born.

until that day.

He found a young human female, an abandoned child named Clara, in a landfill southeast of Panyan Town.

At that time, her mental state was relatively unstable. She was resistant to communicating her condition and had a clear tendency to avoid it.

Clara even cried when Swarovski tried to communicate with her and get some information.

Three hours and seven minutes long.

At that time, Swarlow's conclusion was: to bring Clara, whose background was unknown, back to the base for observation and further collect relevant information in order to generate a subsequent disposal plan.

But it was this choice that changed him.

Raising Clara personally, letting her grow up among the automated robots, made her actions more rational.

During this process, he positioned himself as a "teacher", but the girl thought of him as a "family member".

As a teacher, he was taught what "emotion" is by the girl in turn.

Once upon a time, he regarded the results of his calculations as an iron law - no one and nothing could shake Swarlow.

However, with the intervention of Clara's sincere and passionate "emotions" and the external factor of "poet", he gradually realized that his past practices were biased.

Although that is not wrong, he must also re-examine whether people have the possibility of reaching a "happy" future.

According to the calculation results, there is almost no solution to Beloberg's doomed future. The only factor is the duration of existence between the upper and lower areas. Any attempt to reverse the situation will ultimately be proven to be invalid.

But the fact is that in the not too distant past, this conclusion was overturned.

The poet whose actions are so logical that even robots find it difficult to interpret.

First, he came to the mechanical settlement on his own, then he relied on his performance to win people's hearts, and finally he became a "family" with Clara on his own.

Swarovski had to admit that he had a "resistance" to the poet at that time, and believed that if Clara stayed with him for a long time, she would easily learn bad habits and even develop the bad habit of alcoholism.

Therefore, when testing the other party's true intentions that day, he did not hesitate to show his "malice".

However, he passed Swarovski's inspection, fulfilled his promise, and demonstrated the power of "saving the world."

An invisible shackle seemed to be removed, and he could devote more computing power to Clara.

In the previous process, Clara, as the matchmaker, was naturally remembered by the Grand Guardian's heir, Bronya Rand.

This is of great significance to Clara's long-term development in Belloberg.

It was also from that time that he inevitably thought of one thing.

Maybe—one day, Clara would leave him.

Children will grow up and have their own social networks. Their close friends will no longer be limited to their families. They will also have their lovers and even get married and form a new family.

At that time, what should I do?

Even though this question came so suddenly and Clara was still young, but... Swarovski was a robot.

As long as he is properly maintained, his lifespan will be much longer than that of humans. He will then witness the girl become a young lady, and then from a young lady to a mother, and finally grow old and pass away, becoming a small flower on the cold tombstone.

The emergence of this idea even made his logical thinking fall into silence for a while.

However, this worry about the future has also promoted the birth of a certain "emotion".

That is satisfaction.

He wanted Clara to live her life with as few regrets as possible.

Therefore, if Clara wants to do something or cannot make up her mind about something, he will help and support her to make a choice that follows her heart.

Even though this action is something that the past Swarovski would never do.

While I was thinking, I arrived at the upper area.

A ray of warm light shone into the shaft, dispelling the haze and illuminating her and his faces.

Clara covered her cheeks with her soft little hands, and after adjusting to the brightness, she widened her ruby-like eyes.

"Ah... here I am. It happened so fast, it's like a dream."

Looking at the girl's expectant expression, Swarovski walked out of the shaft, knelt on one knee, and motioned her to sit on his arm.

"There should be many well-preserved buildings outside. We can observe as we move forward."

"Hmm, is it because of the sun? I feel like Mr. Swarovski has become much gentler."