Bai Luan carried the robot and walked to the Refrigerator AI.
As a fundamental piece of infrastructure in Ms. Herta's home, the Refrigerator AI had stood there for over nine hundred years, still looking much the same as before.
Bai Luan first put down the robot he was carrying, then knocked on the Refrigerator AI, waking up its AI.
"Who!? Who is so rude to wake me up!?"
A blue dot appeared, frowning with anger, searching around for the person who had knocked on it. It paused when it saw Bai Luan, then looked at the robot placed beside him.
The Refrigerator AI was silent for a moment, then said:
"You really didn't lie to me. He really came to find me."
Facing the Refrigerator AI's words, the robot replied haltingly:
"I... also... don't... have... a lying... function."
"Who believes your functions? You insisted on stuffing that mushroom and paper crane inside me before; was that included in your functions?"
Just as the robot was about to reply, the Refrigerator AI interrupted it.
"Alright, alright, say less. You look like you're about to die."
Then the Refrigerator AI looked at Bai Luan.
"Isn't this my chef who disappeared for several hundred years? How did he know to come back?"
"Due to some irresistible factors, I was trapped in a temporal anomaly. I only spent a few minutes there, but for you all, it has been... 964 years."
"Hmm..."
The Refrigerator AI mused.
"What gibberish, I don't understand it at all. But there's one thing I must tell you: that robot over there went berserk."
"Berserk?"
"Yes, first it abandoned its post and ran off to inquire about you, then it tried to forcibly stuff a mushroom and a paper crane into me for storage. It caused such a commotion that even Ms. Herta came."
"...And then?"
"Ms. Herta said, 'To cause so much trouble even when not present, he truly is a peerless genius.' Then she just let it be.
If you had come back any later..."
The Refrigerator AI glanced at the robot standing silently to the side.
"It would have reached the limit of its lifespan and shut down."
"My... matter... doesn't... matter... Inspiration Shroom... where is it?"
"What I'm about to tell you is exactly that."
The Refrigerator AI looked at Bai Luan and said:
"Although it was a ridiculous attempt to stuff them inside me, hoping to use my preservation function to put them into a dormant state and thus extend their lifespan.
But this was only theoretically possible; no one knew what the actual outcome would be."
Bai Luan nodded and said,
"I am prepared."
"I'm not telling you this to prepare you for failure, but to tell you — whether it succeeds or not, you owe me a meal... no, many meals."
"..."
Bai Luan was speechless at his words.
Was that the 重點?
"We had an agreement back then that you would provide a steady supply. After you left, it's been a long time since anything has caught my eye..."
"Stop, stop! Nagging! Don't you have any sense of atmosphere!?"
"Alright, alright."
The Refrigerator AI said, opening its door. Two mechanical arms extended, bringing out a flowerpot from inside. In the flowerpot, a mushroom was growing, and on top of the mushroom, there was a paper crane.
Brown, white spots...
It seemed a bit larger than he remembered, but he could still be sure.
It was indeed the Inspiration Shroom.
Only now it looked wilted.
The Refrigerator AI placed it on the ground. At this moment, the gaze of the one person and two machines was focused on this mushroom.
"It failed?"
"..."
Bai Luan remained silent, only looking at Chizuru and the Inspiration Shroom.
The Inspiration Shroom was difficult to keep alive; Bai Luan knew this better than anyone, but he still held onto hope that the Inspiration Shroom would survive.
A ray of sunlight passed through Bai Luan and shone on Chizuru. The originally dormant head of Chizuru suddenly moved.
Then its previously stiff body began to move, its body, preserved for hundreds of years under the Refrigerator AI's special force field, gradually began to stretch.
Then, it spread its wings, flapped a few times, and flew up from the Inspiration Shroom.
The gaze of the one person and two machines rose as Chizuru ascended.
"Chizuru! You made it!"
Bai Luan cupped his hands together, offering Chizuru a platform to land on. Chizuru did a turn in the air and landed steadily in Bai Luan's hand.
"I didn't expect this Refrigerator AI to have a dormancy function in addition to preservation. I truly am amazing."
Just as the Refrigerator AI was gloating, a slightly weak but firm voice retorted:
"Mushroom... it was very uncomfortable inside you, mushroom... good thing I only stayed for a little while, mushroom..."
"What are you saying! What are you saying! What do you mean uncomfortable? It's good enough that I let you in! And what do you mean 'only stayed for a little while'? Do you know you stayed with me for over eight hundred years?"
"Mushroom is just speaking the truth. Indeed, born as a mushroom, one cannot be too honest, mushroom."
The Inspiration Shroom looked at the robot in front of it, its tone filled with confusion.
"Big iron man, why have you become like this? You were clearly... could it be that so much time has really passed, mushroom?"
"Inspiration Shroom."
When the Inspiration Shroom heard Bai Luan's voice, it trembled all over.
"Bai Luan? You're back? Big iron man, you really didn't lie to me; this way I can indeed see Bai Luan, mushroom.
Also, didn't I tell you, mushroom, that if you stand behind me, I can't see you either, mushroom."
The robot laboriously lifted its mechanical arm, pinched the edge of the flowerpot, and with difficulty turned the Inspiration Shroom towards Bai Luan.
"Mushroom... why haven't you changed at all, mushroom? You wouldn't team up to lie to me, would you, mushroom? After I went in, did that much time really pass, mushroom?"
Bai Luan smiled and explained:
"A very long time has passed, at least for you, a very long time has passed."
"Mushroom..."
The Inspiration Shroom pondered for a while, trying to understand what Bai Luan meant.
"Forget it, mushroom, a mushroom doesn't need to understand human matters so clearly, mushroom!"
After convincing itself to stop thinking, the Inspiration Shroom looked at Bai Luan and said:
"Anyway, welcome home, mushroom."
Those not-so-distant memories surfaced in Bai Luan's mind, then flashed and disappeared.
They would not return.
How could that time have been a final farewell?
A huge sense of emptiness and sharp loss gripped his heart.
But the next second, the subtle touch of the paper crane in his palm, the swaying cap of the Inspiration Shroom before him, and the faint operational hum from the robot's broken body beside him...
These faint but real presences, like sparks in the darkness, stubbornly illuminated the small space beneath his feet.
But thankfully...
I am not yet... completely empty-handed.
Complex emotions—sadness, relief, nostalgia, serenity—intertwined and settled like colorful pigments in Bai Luan's eyes.
Finally, they transformed into an equally complex, yet incredibly genuine smile on his lips.
He looked at the mushroom trying to "see" him, at the paper crane gently fluttering its wings in his palm, at the silent yet resilient steel wreckage on the ground, and softly responded:
"Yes.
I'm home."
Bai Luan decided to keep the Inspiration Shroom with him from now on, so he first took it home, planning to come back for the robot later, asking the Refrigerator AI to look after it temporarily.
"What a hassle. I'm just a Refrigerator AI. My job is to preserve food. Now I'm storing strange things and looking after robots. What have I become?"
"I... caused... trouble..."
The blue dot on the Refrigerator AI's screen flickered a few times, as if sighing:
"...Forget it. Who made that kid's cooking... indeed quite interesting."
It paused, its tone becoming somewhat unusual.
"But, honestly, tin can... I actually admire you."
"..."
Facing the Refrigerator AI's admiration, the robot remained silent, just leaning quietly against the Refrigerator AI.
The Refrigerator AI continued to speak to itself, its electronic voice carrying a kind of emotion that transcended mechanical logic:
"Back then... you almost asked every movable and immovable machine in the Space Station, didn't you? Like a persistent ghost, stubbornly searching for a human who might no longer exist...
Why did you do all that, anyway?"
"I... also... don't... know..."
It had asked its own logic modules the same question many times.
But its logic modules could not give it the answer.
The robot's head lifted slightly, leaning against the Refrigerator AI, like a traveler resting in the shade beneath a large tree.
"Perhaps... it's... just... because... I... wanted... to... do... it."