"Mr. Svarog?"
The gentle, red-clad girl with white hair noticed the large robot's unusual behavior and called out with concern. As a child raised by robots, she had always been different from others. Sometimes, she felt a closer kinship with inorganic machines than with organic humans. She called Mr. Svarog and the other machines her "family"—a family not bound by blood, but by their reliance on one another to withstand the blizzards and share warmth.
"Assessing variables..."
Svarog coldly raised his palm, the laser emitter within it aimed at Zhaowu and Sparkle. However, as long as the boy didn't initiate an attack, Svarog would not act recklessly.
"Clara, if a battle begins, you must hide behind me."
Svarog's mechanical voice was flat and emotionless, yet his words were filled with care and concern for the girl named Clara.
"Are... are they bad people?"
Clara shrank back timidly, her fair, bare feet taking a step back to hide in Svarog's tall shadow, like a frightened fawn in the woods.
"Judging a person as simply 'good' or 'bad' is one-sided. More often than not, it is merely a difference in standpoint," Svarog explained. As an ancient relic from a bygone era—an automated control unit left behind by the Geomarrow Tunnelling Team—Svarog possessed complex reasoning abilities, unlike most mindless drones that only followed orders.
But he also had his own stubbornness. For instance, Svarog only trusted the results of his own calculations, and he was determined to protect the entire Underworld in his own way. From this perspective, Zhaowu, an incalculable variable, was naturally a significant threat.
Clara was still young and didn't quite understand Mr. Svarog's grand principles. But one thing she could clearly sense... that older brother was not a bad person! A child's gaze is clear, and sometimes, they can distinguish good from evil at a glance.
Just as Clara was trying to figure out how to persuade Mr. Svarog to lower his offensive stance, a clear voice from the boy made her heart skip a beat.
"Excuse me, are you... Clara?"
Zhaowu took the initiative to communicate, unfazed by Svarog's aggressive posture. Sparkle, however, was not as calm. She tugged on Zhaowu's sleeve, seeming to want him to... Once I get my memory back, this whole period is definitely going to be an embarrassing memory...
Clara peeked out carefully from behind Svarog's shadow. "How did you know my..."
Her voice was very soft, but Zhaowu, with his enhanced hearing, heard it perfectly. This was the power of life, something those who disregard life would never understand. For Zhaowu, his hypersensitive constitution was initially a disaster and a torment. But once he endured and adapted, it opened the door to a new stage of evolution.
"Hook told me! The one and only Pitch-Dark Hook the Great!" Zhaowu announced. "I'm her friend. My name is Zhaowu."
Hook was a little chatterbox and had a weakness for good looks. Eager to show off in front of Zhaowu, she had spilled everything she knew about the Underworld, including details about Clara. Little Hook must have thought she was so impressive. Of course, Zhaowu thought she was amazing, too. If he hadn't already joined the Astral Express, he might have genuinely considered becoming a member of Hook's Moles.
"Hook..."
Hearing that name, Clara's expression instantly softened, her earlier vigilance fading. Hook was the first friend she had ever made who was her own age. Clara wasn't good at socializing, but Hook had patiently chatted and played with her, finally opening the girl's heart. If Zhaowu was Hook's friend, then that was further proof that he could be trusted.
The white-haired girl bravely stepped out from behind Svarog.
"Clara—" Svarog's mechanical voice held a note of confusion.
Clara reached out and touched Svarog's massive hand. She said nothing, simply staring at him with her clear eyes.
...
In that moment, Svarog must have understood what it felt like to be a "father." Sigh... He just couldn't help but spoil Clara.
In the end, Svarog compromised. He chose to trust Clara's judgment and deactivated his combat mode.
Seeing this, Zhaowu knew his gamble of using Clara as a breakthrough had paid off. He no longer worried about provoking Svarog and walked toward them in front of the geomarrow vein.
"Clara, could you please ask Mr. Svarog to order his robots to stop fighting? We all have a common goal; we shouldn't be caught in a meaningless conflict."
Svarog responded coldly, "If you had truly honored those words, I would not be here now."
Sarcasm! The robot had learned sarcasm! But Svarog had a point. He had come here at Clara's request to stop the conflict between the vagrants and the miners. And he had succeeded. By becoming a common enemy, he had quelled the fighting between the two factions. The newly discovered geomarrow vein would now be used by Svarog to sustain Belobog's energy supply. By his initial estimates, it could support Belobog against the Eternal Freeze for 231 days, with a margin of error of plus or minus seven days.
A perfect solution. The feelings of the vagrants and miners were irrelevant.
Zhaowu gave Clara a helpless, wry smile.
Clara looked at Svarog and called out softly, "Mr. Svarog..."
Svarog: "?"
Wait a minute, daughter! You can't just side with him because he's handsome! Good-looking boys are the most deceptive! And this Zhaowu is cunning, too! Seeing that he couldn't persuade me directly, he decided to use you against me, didn't he!?
...
And wouldn't you know it, that was a tactic Svarog was completely vulnerable to.
After a moment of silence, Svarog raised his hand and remotely commanded all his automatons to cease combat.
"I thought only human behavior deviated from rational calculation, but it seems even I—"
Before Svarog could finish, an alarm from the furnace core blared through his processor. A dangerous red light flashed on his head unit. He immediately knelt, using his arm as a ladder so Clara could climb onto his shoulder.
"External threat variable detected. Recalculating. The furnace core requires a guardian. Clara, let's go."
"...Okay, Mr. Svarog."
Although Clara was a little disappointed that she couldn't get closer to Zhaowu, talk more, or even become friends, she understood what was more important and agreed immediately.
The next moment, Svarog, with Clara on his shoulder, sped off towards the depths of the Great Mine, toward the robot settlement.
"What's going on?! He just left?" Sparkle was completely bewildered.
In fact, she wasn't the only one. The members of Wildfire were just as clueless. They had been locked in a difficult battle with Svarog's automatons, but suddenly, the robots all powered down. Even Svarog had abandoned the mine and retreated.
Only a few sharp individuals simultaneously turned their gazes to Zhaowu.
Bronya: "Zhaowu, was that your doing?"
Oleg: "Kid, how did you manage that?"
Seele: "Disappear among the sea of butterflies, illusions of the past!"
Ignoring a certain young woman who was eager to fire off her ultimate, Zhaowu briefly explained how he had communicated with Svarog.
Oleg's eyes widened in realization. "Why didn't I think of that? We could have persuaded Svarog through Clara!"
But even if he had thought of it, not just anyone could have succeeded like Zhaowu. On the contrary, if anyone else had dared to approach Svarog's precious "daughter," they'd be lucky not to be executed as a kidnapper.
"I'm more curious about what's happening at the furnace core. Something that could make even Svarog treat it as a major threat," Bronya mused. After her tough fight with the Automaton Grizzly, she had a better understanding of the power of Svarog, their controller. It was a whole different world down here. In the Underworld, Bronya had encountered Wildfire, the vagrants, and Svarog, and for the first time, she was beginning to grasp the complexity of governing at the ground level. But that was exactly why she had to rise to the challenge. Bronya believed that through this trial, she would become a more worthy successor to the Supreme Guardian.
"Who cares! At least the crisis in the mine is over for now," Seele said with her usual pragmatic attitude. "By the way, Zhaowu, what was that thing you were looking for earlier? A 'Stell-something'? Ask our boss, Oleg. Maybe he knows."
"A Stellaron!" Zhaowu quickly added.
Oleg frowned, his white brows furrowing. "Stellaron? I've never heard of it. But if it truly exists somewhere in Belobog, I think the only one in the Underworld who might know anything about it... is Svarog."
After all, he was a prototype model who had participated in the war long ago.
"Huh? We're back to him again?!" Seele exclaimed in surprise.
"If that's the case," Zhaowu concluded, "then we have no choice but to head to the furnace core where Svarog is."
....
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