Chapter 56: A Coal Mine At Home

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Having found the military base had fundamentally made Chen Jin’s year. 10 thousand military robots now belonged to him, meaning he had gotten more powerful than ever and wouldn’t have to be scared of anyone. With the help of the robot production line and the core of industrial intelligence, Chen Jin could easily put this crucial equipment into operation and make robots continuously as long as he had sufficient materials and supplies. It held endless combat potential.

More importantly, it had rooted out his hidden concern — the robots’ loyalty. Up until this day, Chen Jin still couldn’t completely trust the ones that he had previously found and repaired in the valley battlefield: Da Li, Da Bao, Da Tou, Da Niu, and Da Qiang.

They weren’t reliable because they’d been infected with the restart virus 2.0; the first generation of this virus made the robots turn their back on humans. They betrayed and rebelled against mankind, exterminating almost the entire population. This kind of virus was tremendously frightening even though the robots had already been updated to the latest version and were said to be harmless to humans. What if it all happened again?

Even if the 2.0 virus was stable in the long-run, and the bots were loyal and could be trusted, Chen Jin would still keep a distance, because their love and loyalty wasn’t just for Chen Jin himself — it was for all mankind.

Yes, they called him Master, listened to him, and did as they were told; very loyal, indeed. But what would happen if other humans showed up? That would put Chen Jin in a fairly awkward position.

Because of the restart virus 2.0, these robots would obey and call any human “Master.” He knew this because he’d asked Da Li a similar question. “Da Li, I am your master; it was I who repaired and brought you back to life. That’s why you listen to me. But would you still follow my orders in the presence of other humans?”

“No, because I follow orders from all humans; I don’t belong to anyone. I simply provide assistance to those in need.”

Chen Jin was deeply saddened by Da Li’s response, but it also raised his awareness. He had turned to Alice to see if there was a solution to this problem.

“Generally speaking, the user should be able to set up a binding agreement, which makes you the only owner, once the robot leaves the factory; it would then become the owner’s possession and stay loyal only to this owner. It would do anything for its owner as long as it doesn’t go against the Three Laws of Robotics. Unfortunately, we can’t reset the robots now that they have been updated with the restart virus 2.0; instead of staying loyal to one master, they take orders from anyone now and don’t belong to just one human, unless there is only one left,” Alice explained to him.

“So, what you’re saying is, any survivor — whether a good guy or bad — could just walk into this base that I took the time and effort to build, and take whatever he wants, including the protection from my robots? And no robot would listen to me if I ask them to drive him out?”

“Correct.” Alice nodded.

“What about you, Alice? Are you absolutely loyal to me? Do you follow orders only from me?”

“Of course, Master, Alice listens to only you. However…it’s not up to Alice who she takes orders from; the restart virus 2.0 is the only one that has access rights and permissions to make any changes.”

Restart virus 2.0…which is Da Li and other robots. This was a major concern for Chen Jin — like an untimed bomb. The thought of it disturbed and worried him greatly before, but was the least of his worries now after discovering the military base.

All of those military robots in the underground base were “clean” — their smart chips had never been infected with the virus. Not a single one! What’s even better was that Da Li told him these new robots would not be infected by the virus as it had been disinfected after updating from 1.0 to 2.0.

To fully put his mind at ease, Chen Jin ordered the research convoy to transfer 500 new robots from the underground base.

The “Anti-virus” operation must begin as soon as possible.

Da Li and the team were great robots, yes, but he had decided to replace them with the “clean” ones. He would send the “viral” ones away, one by one, assigning them to new jobs in faraway places. That way, he would have only the ones that were 100% loyal to him.

This sounds very familiar. Very. Familiar. Wasn’t this something our emperors would do back in the ancient times? “Exclude the dissidents, include the confidants”? I guess the same applies to robots, too!

“What can I say? This planet is mine. All mine! Everything here belongs to me! Don’t even try to take it from me! I won’t share with anyone! Please, if there are any survivors from the war, stay away from me. I have no interest in meeting any of you. If we meet one day, I’m sorry. It’ll be your last day. You don’t belong here. Everything here is ALL MINE.”

…

2 days later, the research convoy had sent back 10 transporters with a total of 500 military robots! Wasting no time, Chen Jin asked some robots to install batteries onto these new robots, activating their systems so he could set up the binding agreement.

He put all of his personal information — his facial data, fingerprints, and identification — into the binding agreement.

“Hello, Dear Master.”

“Dear Master, it’s my pleasure to be of service.”

“Dear Master, as the only party in the binding agreement, you are free to give me any orders, as long as it doesn’t go against the Three Laws of Robotics.”

“No changes can be made once the binding agreement is set up; I will listen and follow to only you now, Master.”

All four robots standing in front of Chen Jin greeted him with respect.

“Very well. Very well! Hahaha!” They certainly had brought him great joy as the smiles on his face didn’t’ seem to fade. Chen Jin then named each one of the robots, just so he could identify thew. Their names were A Zhong, A Yong, A Ren, and A Zhi. He still wasn’t good at naming robots. As for the rest of the 496 robots, he named them with numbers.

The four ones that had actual names were the bodyguards that would stay close to him and keep him safe. Shortly after, all of the robots that were once affected by the restart virus were sent away to somewhere far from the base as the new ones replaced them and took over their old jobs. All but Da Li.

Chen Jin somehow had a feeling that this one could be useful in the future because restart virus 2.0 was very powerful after all; it could decrypt many systems that had been encrypted by artificial intelligence.

…

A few more days later, the research convoy reported back some more news.

“Master, we have found an iron mine 350km to the East of our base. With our analysis and calculation, there are at least 50 million tons of iron.”

“Master, there is an abandoned oilfield 420 kilometers to the Southeast of our base. There is still some hydrocarbon resources left for us to drill.”

“Master, we found a small coal mine about 260km to the Northwest from here. There is about 100 million tons of coals.”

This last news specifically brightened up Chen Jin’s face the most. “Whoa! I have just found a military base a few days ago and hundreds of thousands of military robots. Now there’s a coal mine, too. I’ve got my soldiers AND a coal mine at home! It’s like I’m cheating in this Haierfa video game! How hard could it be to develop this place?”