Bai Luan changed into a clean set of clothes, holding his phone and looking at the new file Herta had sent him.
While Ms. Herta herself hadn't changed much, her home had undergone significant alterations, with many facilities now conflicting with Bai Luan's memories.
It seemed he needed to spend some time re-recording everything.
He would set aside such a headache-inducing task for now and focus on finding his own home first.
Before long, the scenery before him gradually became familiar.
When that familiar sight once again entered his vision, a flicker of emotion stirred in Bai Luan's heart.
His little nook, as if with a stubborn defiance, stood proudly in the distance.
It was still there.
It was like a lone brave warrior, bursting forth from a faded memory film, carrying a nearly tragic stubbornness.
Amidst the vast changes of time, it fiercely occupied its own corner, refusing to be erased by time.
Quietly waiting there for him to return.
An ineffable warmth, mixed with a pang of sadness, surged into his throat.
A smile appeared on Bai Luan's face as he opened the door.
Inside, everything was still familiar.
If it weren't for the various changes he had witnessed on his way here, confirming Herta's words, Bai Luan would have doubted upon seeing everything in his little room:
Had centuries truly passed?
It was as if...
Outside was the future.
Inside was the past.
A sense of absurdity floated into Bai Luan's heart.
Bai Luan sat on the bed.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not...
Centuries had already passed.
He couldn't go back.
What had become of those people and things from back then…
Inspiration Shroom, Botanical Garden, the material distribution robot, Stark, Conrad, the old rookies…
Bai Luan grabbed the pillow from the bed, hugged it, then rolled around on the bed in relaxation, before taking a nostalgic sniff of the scent of the past.
Time to go.
Time to move towards what people considered the present, and what he considered the future.
Bai Luan released the pillow from his hands and stood up, looking at the messy bed.
He'd tidy it up when he returned!
A slightly childish thought flashed through his mind, and he suddenly chuckled softly, the sound echoing in the empty little room, dispelling some of the gloom.
Bai Luan laughed again, his spirits restored.
I won't run away!
Running away from their endings would be a betrayal of the past!
Bai Luan went to the Botanical Garden.
Bai Luan had intended to run there, but too much had changed along the way; he constantly had to run for a bit, then stop to check the map.
A journey that originally wouldn't have taken long, he spent a considerable amount of time on.
After a familiar disinfection process, Bai Luan entered the Botanical Garden; the plants here were still the same, but they no longer recognized him.
Chizuru, who had been fostered here, was also gone.
Finally, Bai Luan stopped in a corner.
"Inspiration guli guli wacha Inspiration Shroom~"
The brown mushroom with white spots on its front, which should have been there, was gone.
Bai Luan couldn't possibly expect a mushroom to live for centuries.
The most likely thing to still be around was the material distribution robot.
Bai Luan arrived at the material distribution station; it was still the same, but the robot there was no longer the one Bai Luan was familiar with.
"Hello."
Bai Luan smiled and greeted it.
It looked up at Bai Luan.
"Hello, materials will be delivered to the required location; there is no need to specially come for pick-up."
Hearing this, Bai Luan smiled, a hint of emotion flashing in his eyes.
"I know."
The material distribution robot didn't pay any more attention to Bai Luan, simply continuing its work.
Bai Luan looked at it; even the model had changed, it wasn't the material robot that used to greet him.
As if possessed, Bai Luan asked the robot:
"Do you know a robot that used to greet people?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Bai Luan laughed.
He laughed at his own absurdity.
Asking a robot for information.
How could it possibly know…
Just as Bai Luan was about to leave, the robot's reply was unexpected.
"Do you need me to lead the way for you?"
"You really know?"
"Yes."
With that, the robot said nothing more and led Bai Luan deeper into the material distribution station.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, in a corner, a robot stood silently.
Rust, like spreading vines, covered its outer shell; signs of wear were all over its body, and its joint connections were long deformed, having lost the ability to move.
It was like a steel wreck forgotten on a battlefield by time.
"That is the robot that used to greet people."
"It… is it really not scrapped yet?"
"Although most of its functions have been lost, it is indeed still operating. Now, I will take my leave."
Bai Luan watched the robot leave, then looked at the old robot.
The model was correct, but was it really that robot?
With hope, Bai Luan walked step by step towards the robot.
As if sensing someone approaching, the old robot laboriously, and extremely slowly, raised its scratched "television head" display.
The blurry screen flickered a few times, finally focusing on Bai Luan's face.
The image froze.
After a brief silence, its already inflexible mechanical arm, with an almost tragic slowness, laboriously lifted, pointing in Bai Luan's direction.
A stuttering, synthesized voice with clear static, like an echo from across a long span of time, rang out in the quiet corner:
"He… Hello. ㇏ [ ^ _ ^ ]
You… you are… 964 years late."
"…"
Confirmed, it was him.
Bai Luan slowly walked over and sat opposite it, looking at the paralyzed robot.
How could… a robot… wait for a greeting for over nine hundred years?
"You remembered me for so long?"
"I… tried… to leave… to… look for you… but… found nothing."
"Is that so? You actually weren't treated as a malfunctioning unit and disposed of."
"Ms. Herta… said I… had… research value…"
"I see…"
Bai Luan's gaze swept over every shocking scar on its body; the rust was the moss of time, the wear was a silent 訴說.
"I'm sorry."
He said softly.
"Today… you… did not break your promise."
"But I came too late."
The robot looked at Bai Luan, seemingly making some judgment, and finally made up its mind.
It slightly turned its head, directing its gaze to one side.
A faint, static-filled beam of light projected from its other still-working optical lens.
A familiar shadow appeared before Bai Luan.
"Is it recording, shroom?"
"This is?"
Bai Luan looked at the robot with some surprise.
"I… said…"
The old robot's voice carried a calmness of having completed its mission.
"I tried… to look for you… didn't… find… you… but found… them."
Bai Luan nodded knowingly.
"Shroom doesn't know where you went, everyone is quite worried about you, shroom."
"Many plants have withered away; if you were here, shroom would know their last words, shroom."
"Shroom asked Ms. Herta where you went, and she said shroom would never see you again, shroom."
"There's nothing shroom can do, after all, shroom doesn't have legs and can't go look for you, shroom."
"Did you go somewhere very far? How could you even forget to come back, shroom?"
"Shroom can't go look for you, so shroom can only ask others for help, shroom."
"Ms. Herta is never wrong, so shroom really won't see you again, shroom."
"Shroom can only ask the big iron man to deliver a message for shroom, shroom."
"No matter what, remember to come back, shroom!"
"Finally, let's do that again, shroom."
"Inspiration guli guli wacha Inspiration Shroom~"
"Thank you for teaching shroom these things. Although shroom doesn't know what they mean, they must be very important and interesting to you, shroom?"
"Hmm, that's all shroom has to say. Goodbye, shroom."
"Big iron man, please deliver shroom's message, shroom."
Bai Luan silently watched the entire recording.
Had Inspiration Shroom also been waiting for me?
It had been too long…
He had truly been away for too long.
Bai Luan looked at the robot beside him and stood up.
At least...
He had to save one.
Bai Luan picked up the robot on his back.
"What… are… you… doing?"
"I will fix you."
"Why…?"
Bai Luan laboriously carried the robot on his back.
"For your waiting."
A stream of data flashed in the robot's eyes again.
"It seems… you… didn't… forget… us…"
Bai Luan heard this and gave a wry smile.
"I probably won't be able to forget you all my life."
"Inspiration… Shroom… I… put it… in… that refrigerator… Do you… want to… see it?"
Refrigerator?
Bai Luan was a little confused, then his eyes widened.
Refrigerator!
That super-preserving refrigerator! The one where anything put in, no matter its state, would come out exactly as it was put in!
Could it be!? Could it be!?
Bai Luan's breathing became hurried.
"Is there still a chance?"
"Yes… there is… Let us…"
The robot on Bai Luan's back laboriously raised its mechanical arm, pointing to the path ahead.
"Set… off…"