Chapter 70
Cyborg BFF
“Hey Chu Shen! I have an interesting project over here. I wanna see if we can modify the nanites programming to combine into androids.” Lucas Webil called out.
Chu Shen stuck his head out into the hallway. Black oil covered his face. “Sure. If it works, maybe I can use it for my robot project.”
“Let’s go then!” Lucas dashed down the hallway while Chu Shen quickly followed him. It had been another month since he had won the Robo Games, making it a little over 10 months since he came to this realm.
Nowadays it was like a dream. Unlimited budgets, the capability to test whatever came to mind. It was heaven. Of course, Chu Shen hadn’t forgotten exactly why he had come here.
He was able to modify a couple things so that it emitted radiation/Qi in his room so he could cultivate. He even broke through to be a level 4 Martial Student. Master Ti Wu woke up and was livid at the fact that he wasted so much time learning ‘useless’ things.
That was until Chu Shen showed him one of the robots he was building. Even Master Ti Wu admitted this path had potential. One of his robots was as powerful as a Martial Pract.i.tioner. And according to Xentus, this was child’s play compared to Sparta’s real weapons.
Right now they were encouraged to build whatever came to mind. After he deemed they were ready, they would have access to all of the projects Xentus had worked on or was working on. Of course if they ever gave away any blueprints to Sparta’s enemies, they would be killed on the spot.
The only people here on Athena, besides Xentus, was Lucas and Chu Shen. Lucas was a fifteen year old cyborg with a pretty tragic past.
“The accident happened five years ago. It was take your kid to work day. My parents were a part of Xentus Viri’s research team. They were working on the project while I watched behind a forcefield when something went wrong.
Mr. Viri said it was a quantum fluctuation that caused the experimental FTL drive to explode. It killed my parents and almost killed me.
The only thing that wasn’t destroyed was my brain. Mr. Viri heard about what happened and felt responsible. It was the project he was working on with my parents that went wrong. Because of that he personally helped me.
He found out because of quantum interference that any attempt at regrowing the body would cause it to become twisted and deformed. So instead he transferred my brain, which was starting to become cancerous from the energy, into a digital format.It had some side-effects though.
For one I don’t forget things plus I had a ma.s.sive rise in IQ. Before I was already a genius at 171 but it went to 290 when I changed. After he gave me a new brain he gave me a physical body though I have modified it a little bit.
After discovering my intelligence plus the fact that he still felt responsible for the accident he took me in. He made me who I am today.”
This was what Lucas had told him. Feeling sorry for Lucas he shared the made-up story of his parents being lost to the bug invasion. Of course, he still felt the pain since he truly didn’t know if his parents were okay.
Feeling that special companionship that comes from mutual loss, both of them grew closer. Within a single month they became the best of friends.
Right now they were on one of Sparta’s moons, Athena, inside a special complex that Xentus Viri had created. As a result of being in the same building they shared a lot of the same things, helping them to bond faster.
Xentus himself urged these feelings on. He said it quite clearly. “One of you is like a son to me. The other like a ruffian picked up from the road. I expect you both to become brothers, at least, as long as I’m alive hehe.”
After Chu Shen helped him with his project, Lucas stared at him. He looked back. “What?” He asked, feeling a little weirded out.
“Don’t you know what today is?” Lucas asked with a look of disbelief.
“December 25th, why?” Chu Shen looked puzzled, still not getting the point.
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Christmas you dummy. You know, that holiday where everyone exchanges gifts?”
Chu Shen shook his head. “Nope, never celebrated it.”
Lucas shook his head sadly. “Well, either way I got you something.” He pulled a small red present out from one of the cabinets. Handing it to Chu Shen he waited anxiously. “Go on, open it!”
Obeying Chu Shen opened up the small red box to reveal a small necklace. “I got Mr. Viri to help with it. It’s actually a cla.s.s 2 vehicle shield calibrated to cover your body. I figured it could help protect you in case of an explosion so that happened to my……. parents. Doesn’t happen to you.” Lucas wiped away a small tear while smiling at him.
Chu Shen’s heart ached with pain. He hugged Lucas. “Don’t worry. It’s not that easy for me to die.” On an impulse he withdrew the only thing he had that he could give away. One of the bracelets from the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
“Here. I have one just like it. Hold on to it until I can find a different gift okay?”
They talked for a little bit before heading back to their own projects. As Chu Shen worked with the plasma welder on the fabricator in front of him, he tried to think of what to get Lucas.
‘Hmm. Something unique. It has to be meaningful so what could it be? Maybe a mech using that liquid metal.’
“Ah. Finally finished. With this modified fabber, I can use even junk metal. Heh. Maybe I can use this as a gift for Lucas.” He smiled at that thought.
Then it happened.
A translucent barrier appeared around him. Chu Shen gaped at it for a second in shock before he reacted. Using his spatial ring he quickly stored the fabber inside it before he disappeared.
Xentus Viri was in the middle of extrapolating data from the miniature black hole in his lab.
Beep
He lifted his head from the raw data being displayed. “What is it Genie. I’m in the middle of a breakthrough here.”
“Sir, I have detected an anomaly.”
“What exactly?”
“The two children, Lucas Webil and Chu Shen have disappeared. I detected some form of energy around them before they vanished from my sensors. The energy is similair to what is detected from wormholes.”
“WHAT!?” Xentus yelled. “GET ME A READOUT OF THAT ENERGY QUICKLY! I NEED TO FIND THEM NOW!" He immediately made the connection between his work on the blackhole and the energy of a wormhole appearing inside the facility. "Oh G.o.d. Please don"t let this be my fault."