Chapter 17 – Garbage Processing Yard (3)

Under the scorching sun, a large area of land spread along the gently undulating riverside. The clearing was covered in layers of scrap metal and plastic that looked like houses. Like a virus, rust had spread on the junk cars, old plane engines and swaths of alloy plates that had no purpose. A strong smell of rust permeated the air.

The "gate" of the Garbage Processing Yard was a huge crane that was crumbling and had been swallowed by heavy rust, and next to it sat an ancient mecha that was scrapped at least eighty years ago. Adam raised his head and looked at the "high-rise buildings" stacked with waste, his eyes full of admiration and surprise.

Zhang Xun didn't tell Adam that he was no stranger to this place. He used to sneak here as a child, away from the other "human noises" that irritated him. This place was full of amazement and excitement and he could scour the countless items for parts he could use to make robots or other small machines. But since he started the God Descent Plan, he had no time to set foot here again.

If Sistine knew that the drudgery he thought up was actually not that hard for Zhang Xun and Adam, but rather excited him a little, he didn't know if he would round his eyes that were always pretending to be squinting, so angry that he would be speechless.

"This is a T439 type mecha, which is no longer seen in the ordinary world." Adam said, walking towards the huge mecha sitting quietly in the hot sun, reaching out his left hand and stroking the alloy plate covered with thick rust and looking up at the silent square head that obscured the sunlight. There was a huge hole in the cockpit and it was unknown whether the driver at the time survived.

Zhang Xun took Adam around the "high-rise buildings" piled up from the waste and walked towards a crooked little house that seemed to be spliced ​​out of plastic panels and steel plates, where the administrator lived. The last time he came, the manager was the old man Roy who he was familiar with, but after so many years, probably the person has changed. There were a lot of beer bottles piled next to the hut and a lot of clothes were casually hanging on the drying rack on the other side. There was even a bonfire at the door, with a barbecue grill made of waste and there was still a piece of beef left on it, which had attracted a large number of buzzing flies.

Zhang Xun knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again and finally heard a crash of beer bottles and a rude curse inside. Immediately afterwards, the door was slammed open and a man in a scruffy, fluffy nightgown, with hair like a bird's nest, leaned against the door frame, apparently just waking up. What was more striking is that the right half of his face was mechanically manufactured from cheek to forehead but the handiwork was a bit rough and the neglected metal was slightly rusted like the waste outside. Even the mechanical prosthetic eye was also the most basic model, like a giant red monitor staring viciously at you.

He was probably an ex-soldier who had a severe wound to the face or head, so it was replaced with a machine. However, this rough workmanship was definitely not the work of the Lab...

The man asked with a bad temper, "What?"

Zhang Xun was almost suffocated by the smell of alcohol on his face, but he still managed to keep his composure and took the initiative to reach out and said. , "Hello, I'm Zhang Xun, the mechanic, and I was ordered to bring Adam here to help for a while."

The man didn't reach out at all, so Zhang Xun had to retract his hand a little awkwardly... The other party suddenly snorted, "It seemed like there was someone earlier. A messenger came and knocked on the door for a long time, I thought I was dreaming." After he finished speaking, he squinted at Zhang Xun again and then his eyes fell on Adam in the distance, "Why do two mechanics have the time to visit a garbage dump like ours?"

Zhang Xun was stunned, the other party didn't seem to know Adam.

The strong smell of smoke and alcohol wafting from the house made him wonder if this person even knew about the God Descent Plan? But looking at his age, if he was in the army, he should have been in the past few years, he shouldn't not know?

Adam looked at the unfamiliar and scruffy man with great interest and a smile.

"Well, this isn't a mechanic, this is Adam."

"Oh, I don't have Eve here." The man yawned.

Zhang Xun had to continue to explain, "He is the result of the God Descent Plan. Eden's North American server is still being tamed."

Hearing the words "God Descent Plan", the man's eyes widened slightly and he glanced at Adam again, but that was his only reaction. He shrugged and said, "What do you want me to say? For a robot, he looks quite human?"

Zhang Xun had never met a person with this character before. He couldn't speak for a while and after a while said, "Are you the manager here?"

"If not, why would I live here?" The other party yawned lazily.

"Captain Sistine ordered Adam to work here for a while. I hope you can arrange his work tasks." Zhang Xun straightened his neck and his tone became more serious and stiff.

"Work? What work is there here? You can just find a way to pass the time yourself. I'm going back to sleep." The manager, who still hadn't introduced himself, slammed the door shut.

Zhang Xun stared, unable to believe that the door was really closed. What was happening here? Was there really no one to manage the Garbage Processing Yard now?

"His interpersonal skills don't seem to be very good. I don't think he has many friends." Adam analysed seriously.

"..." Zhang Xun frowned and banged on the door more vigorously. After a while, the man slammed the door open again and pointed a finger at Zhang Xun's nose fiercely, "If you make any more noise, I'll pull you in to sleep together!"

Zhang Xun had never heard such a threat before. His face turned red all of a sudden, "If you're the manager, you should carry out the orders of your superiors!"

"Superiors? Who's my superior?" The other party looked Zhang Xun up and down and jokingly said, "Is it you?"

"Whether it's me or Captain Sistine, we're both your superiors! Captain Sistine may come to supervise Adam's work at any time, if you can't..."

"Alright, alright! MY ears are going to grow calluses because of you!" As the man was muttering, he took out a cigarette from his trouser pocket, put it in his mouth and strode out, passing by Zhang Xun and Adam. After walking two steps, he stopped and looked at the two of them, "What are you doing? Follow me."

Adam felt as if he had come to some alien planet abandoned by all civilizations, full of rust and dust. They walked to a "hill" that was obviously much less rusty and dusty than other places and could even see a lot of shiny metal reflections. At first glance, there were propellers, ship engines, antique stereos, obsolete refrigerators, etc....

What kind of mess did those hunters bring back? What would make them think it would be a good idea to bring back a broken refrigerator? Zhang Xun stared in disbelief and decided he would go to the head of the group, Comrade James, to have a good talk afterward.

"This mountain hasn't been registered yet." The manager said inarticulately, smoking a cigarette and shoving a large book as thick as Leo Tolstoy's collection into Zhang Xun's hand, "You can do it one by one. Just record the classification of the pieces here. Ah, if you have time, move them to the areas they should belong to." As he spoke, he also shoved an old and yellowed map into Zhang Xun's hands. "

The manager, who has completed his task asked, "Any questions?" If there's no questions I'm going back to sleep. "

"I have a question." Zhang Xun sighed, raised his head and asked, "What should we call you?" "

"Diego." ' said the manager, suddenly laughing at himself again, "but most people call me Dick." (Note, Dick = bastard/arsehole)

Zhang Xun thought to himself: Dick is indeed a more appropriate name.

After the administrator left, Zhang Xun turned around and saw Adam squatting in front of the junk mountain, rummaging through something, making a jingling sound. Zhang Xun leaned over and saw Adam pick up a yellow and shiny thing.

It was a locket necklace, a classical box necklace that was rare in the ordinary world. The metal vines on the oval locket were intertwined with each other and a ruby ​​was embedded in the middle. Adam opened it and found that there was actually a lock of hair inside...

Zhang Xun's first reaction was to take a few steps back, "Throw it away, it's dirty."

Adam turned to look at him and said with interest, "Do you know what this is?" "

"It's a locket, but why is there hair in it?..." Zhang Xun showed a disgusted expression.

"In the Middle Ages, the story of a knight falling in love with a noble lady was popular. Because knights often went out to fight and duel, their lives would be in danger at any time, so ladies who missed them would cut their lover's hair and put it in a locket, then cut off their own hair, put it in another locket and give it to their lover. Then they would never have to be separated." Adam said, raising the necklace in his hand, "It seems that this is a token of love for someone in the ordinary world."

"Why was the token of love lost? It must be because her lover saw her standing by the bed with scissors in the middle of the night and it was too terrifying..." Zhang Xun complained and stopped paying attention to it. He opened the thick ledger, frowning and shaking his head while looking at it, he was obviously dissatisfied with the chaotic records in it.

He didn't see Adam quietly putting the locket in his trouser pocket.

"We have to classify the items according to the type, size, material and degree of damage and then note the possible use in the future..." Zhang Xun was watching Adam walk up to him and said, "I have completed the scan and can start recording."

Zhang Xun raised his eyebrows, "The scan is complete?"

"Can I fill it in? I want to practice using my fingers." Adam's eyes fell on the thick notebook.

Adam's current writing speed was already very close to the average writing speed. He took a notebook and a pen, found an upside down boat to use as a table and started writing there. He didn't even have to look up to see what was in the mountain and the letters kept popping out of his pen one by one. He didn't even stop to think about it.

An hour later, Adam had finished recording everything in the mountain and put down his pen, but his fingers were a little bit stiff. He frowned and moved his fingers, complaining, "My wrist muscles feel weird. The human body is much more difficult to use than a robotic arm."

He obviously had wrist cramps because of writing for too long... Zhang Xun looked at the handwriting in the notebook. Although it was a little crooked, it was neater than 80% of the guards and the remarks were so detailed that even he couldn't match it. Zhang Xun actually felt a little envious.

The brain of an artificial intelligence was indeed much more powerful than that of human beings...

"I found that there are a lot of materials that can be used in the Lab, they just need a little cleaning up." Adam added beside.

Zhang Xun raised his head, looked at the mountain of remaining materials to be sorted in front of him and sighed, "Unfortunately, Sistine does not allow me to bring things from the Lab. I have built a basic sorting robot, which is most suitable for this kind of work. "

"Bringing one from the Lab isn't allowed, but if we use the materials here to make one, is that a violation?" Adam said, reaching out and quickly pointing to a dozen items in his classification list, "These can be used to make components and these can be used to make parts. I believe the manager should have some welding tools as well. There's just one problem...my dexterity is still not precise enough."

"You mean, make a sorting robot out of this scrap?" Zhang Xun said, his eyes suddenly lit up and countless design drawings naturally began popping up in his mind. He seemed to be back in the old days, wandering alone through these scrap heaps like a ghost, sometimes excited about his newfound precious parts, but at that time, no one could share his excitement and joy.

But it was different now. The thought of working with Adam to create a robot made his blood race. That feeling was about the same as when James and the others aimed their guns at a roaring bear or drove their mechs into the monstrous war, and even borrowing tools from Diego felt like less of a headache.

Diego lent him the tools and trailer that the strange mechanic wanted, although he didn't know if the tools were still usable, and after that he didn't see those two again. He was as immersed in the beer bottles as he always was, until two days later, when he was nibbling on dry bread for breakfast, when he realised he had heard the mechanic and the AI ​​for a long time. So he put on his coat and flip flops and walked towards the place where he had left them two days ago.

Then he was dumbfounded.

The garbage mountain that had to be sorted and registered was gone, as were several surrounding garbage mountains. He saw a retractable robotic arm that had been put ​​together out of old car casings, truck wheels and some sort of mess of metal, hoisted up, pulling a mouldy table out of a rubbish heap and placing it on another pile of furniture.

And the mechanic and Adam were bustling around another oddly shaped, smaller machine.

When Diego walked up behind them, they didn't notice. He had to cough a lot.

Adam looked back at him, his face unknowingly stained with dust and grease and a big friendly smile on it.

"Good morning, Mr. Diego."

Zhang Xun just nodded at him, then focused on screwing a screw with a screwdriver. It seemed to be... an android made out of a freezer, a robot vacuum and a shovel? It even looked a little cute?

"These...you made them?" Diego pointed behind him.

"Yeah." Adam's tone was relaxed and natural, as if he didn't realise that they had done in two days what all the people who had worked here before hadn't done in a few years.

Diego rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat, "You guys built these robots out of the stuff here?"

Adam went on to explain thoughtfully, "Yes, and by using the tools you lent us. We have set Sorter No. 1 to work 23 hours a day with one hour to cool down and restart. This can ensure work efficiency and prevent the motherboard from being burned due to overheating."

Zhang Xun raised the corners of his mouth. He liked the way Adam explained seriously to those who didn't understand what he was talking about.

Diego stared at Zhang Xun in disbelief, "So... mechanics are actually wizards, right?"

"According to all the data I've gathered so far, it's likely that magic was an umbrella term used by some ancient humans to refer to coincidences and psychological effects that they couldn't explain. So no, I don't believe Ah-Xun is a wizard." Adam continued to explain with a serious face.

"Yes, you're right..." Diego scratched his shoulder-length messy hair and seemed a little embarrassed, "Actually, the TV in my room has been broken for a while, too. Can you take a look at it?"