After getting beaten up by Seele, the two drifters fled in panic.
"Hmph, useless trash." Seele didn't chase after them. She just watched their retreating backs coldly, the disdain in her tone completely undisguised.
"Huh? What's this? Did those two guys drop it just now…?" March discovered some loot.
It was a white machine, looking like three long, leaf-shaped structures combined together.
At this moment, the machine slowly floated up and began making noise.
March let out a startled cry. "Ugh… wah! Th-this thing, what is it?!"
Immediately after, a crackling electric sound ran through the machine, and a somewhat girlish electronic voice rang out.
["Beep-do… searching for possible users…"]
["Beep-do… voiceprint detected. Retrieving corresponding voiceprint information, oh my, it's actually an alien."]
March stared at it blankly. "W-what's going on? This thing can talk? And it even knows we're not locals?"
"Definitely not technology from this world." Dan Heng remained calm. He casually scanned it a couple of times and found some useful clues.
"Look, there's also the logo of the Interastral Peace Corporation on its casing. It might be some old antique left behind here by past interstellar travelers."
However, the moment Dan Heng finished speaking, the machine actually snapped back fluently.
["Beep-do… You're the antique! Your whole family are antiques!"]
Dan Heng fell silent.
Nero looked at the machine, then raised his head to look at Dan Heng's expressionless face.
Actually, in a certain sense, what the machine said wasn't wrong. Teacher Dan Heng really could be considered an antique…
But from the perspective of personality and life, Nero agreed more with the idea that a Vidyadhara before and after rebirth were two different individuals… as for any lingering memories, just treat it as not having drunk Meng Po soup.
In some ways, it was pretty similar to his own transmigration.
That thought flashed through his mind, and then Nero took out his phone and snapped a photo of the machine.
At this point, the machine spoke again.
["Beep-do… never mind, never mind. Aliens, you know the Interastral Peace Corporation? That's great."]
["Beep-do… self-introduction. I am [Household Item Finder 'Richard', Version 0.63, Expert Model, Annual Deluxe Edition], nickname 'Findie'."]
March frowned. "A household item finder? So the company even makes stuff like this…"
Stelle squinted her eyes and said, "Its name is really long… It sounds just like those luxury products advertised on the train broadcasts, no real change to the basic function, but slap on a bunch of titles and the price goes up several times."
Nero shrugged. "Feels kind of flashy but impractical." Then he looked at Findie and asked, "Can you take us to treasure chests?"
Seele watched the group of aliens talking on the side. She understood less than sixty percent of what they were saying.
But that was fine, she could still sort out the situation at hand.
["Beep-do… this unit's brainwave scanning module has been damaged. Please send this product to an Interastral Peace Home Appliances store for warranty repair within the promised warranty period of two hundred thirty-two years and eighty-four days."]
Findie suddenly said. After seeing that no one reacted, it emphasized again, ["Aliens, please take me to an Interastral Peace Home Appliances store for repairs."]
March pursed her lips. "What the heck, so this thing is already broken… What now, do we bring it along?"
"Our load is already too heavy," Stelle said.
March turned her head, looked at the lightly equipped Express crew, then looked back at Stelle. "Are you serious?"
"I think we should take it." Nero looked at Findie with a slightly malicious expression as he spoke.
"As an antique, the fact that it can still run means it's already trying really hard. Since it wants to work so much, I might as well let it give full play to its value every day before it gets scrapped."
"You want this thing for something?" Dan Heng asked.
"Yeah!" Nero nodded and answered honestly. "Didn't Sampo and I catch a new Fragmentum creature and start experimenting on it? This thing will come in handy. At worst, it can be a snack for Sampo Korgi."
"Alright, then bring it along." Dan Heng nodded.
Seele, listening from the side, was completely confused, like she was hearing some kind of heavenly scripture.
'Weren't they talking about this weird machine at first?'
'How did it suddenly turn into talking about Sampo?'
'And how did it involve Fragmentum creatures and experiments? What kind of experiment could a little kid like you even do?'
'Also, what the heck is Sampo Korgi?'
If she remembered correctly, wasn't his name supposed to be Sampo Koski?
As a native of Jarilo-VI, she had absolutely no idea what the aliens were actually communicating about.
And Findie seemed to understand human speech. After hearing Nero's words, it actually spoke in a very panicked tone, ["Beep-do… don't become food! Yes, yes, yes, when you need to find something, calling Findie is the right choice."]
Nero edited some information about Findie on his phone and sent it, along with the photo, to the Express Family group chat.
[Found an old antique item finder from the company on this planet. It can actually still be used! The quality of company products does seem trustworthy, but something like this must have gone through many version updates by now, right?]
After that, Nero also reported the current exploration progress to the two parents on the train.
[We're getting ready to look for the leader of the underground human settlement on this planet, but there's a conflict among the locals here. Seems like humans and robots have started fighting.]
The two parents on the train had been keeping an eye on the kids' movements. Not long after Nero sent the message, he got a reply.
[Himeko: Make sure you all stay safe. If you want to keep that Findie, you can bring it back to the train. I can help repair its brainwave scanning module, and even upgrade it while I'm at it.]
[Welt Yang: Be careful. When encountering enemies, don't rely solely on brute force.]
After sending those few words, Mr. Yang fell silent for a bit. He frowned, his expression conflicted.
After seeing the word "robots," that restless desire of his to go out and play started stirring again.
But…
Mr. Yang scrolled through his phone and came to the messages Nero had sent earlier.
Cocolia, Natasha, Seele, and Bronya…
Although there were differences, he still had a strange feeling of having returned to his hometown.
As he thought about it, the quietly ignited flame of exploration began to slowly die down.
So… should he go or not?
That was the question.
Speaking of which, in this world, the relationship between Seele and Bronya was still this good, huh…
After struggling with it for a while, Mr. Yang finally typed out a message.
[If you run into robots, take a few photos for me… if there's one you can bring back, even better.]
Nero replied very quickly.
[No problem, Mr. Yang! (Pom-pom thumbs up)]