The three people and one cat circled around Shark Chilli, poking, patting, and pressing their fingers against him, indulging their curiosity.
The touch felt leathery, but the hardness and the sound when knocking clearly revealed it was metal. Even more surprising—his body seemed to have a self-repair function. The bite marks Tom had left on his tail earlier were already fading away.
Shark Chilli grumbled, "Hey, I'm only letting you do this because you've never seen a robot before. Just this once, alright? Even for me, being stared at and studied like this is embarrassing. You're not doctors or scientists."
Rui Meng Meng asked curiously, "Shark Chilli, when Tom bit you earlier, you said 'that hurts,' didn't you? Robots can feel pain?"
"Of course. Our B-series robots are similar to humans in many ways. We can feel pain and ticklishness, we get hungry, even drunk. If we eat the wrong thing, we can get sick too. In fact, where I come from, there are hospitals dedicated to robots."
In Shark Chilli's world, aside from the main cast of robots, there were also engineering bots, police bots, and many others with high intelligence and very human-like traits.
Cockroach Boss even once had feelings for a widowed woman with a child, showing that their sense of empathy wasn't limited to robots but extended to humans as well.
"That's amazing," Rui Meng Meng said with wide eyes. "Then… can you transform? Like the Transformers in movies?"
Shark Chilli stood proudly. "Of course! Want me to show you?"
"Come on, show us!" Zhang Da Ye immediately agreed, childhood nostalgia flashing in his eyes.
Everyone else looked at him expectantly.
"Alright then… Activate Super Transformation Mode!" Shark Chilli shouted with vigor before beginning his transformation.
His legs flipped down from the hip joints, revealing his thighs as the lower parts became shins. Feet rotated into place.
His stubby arms unfolded upward, new forearms sliding out from the gaps. The shark head on his shoulders split open and slid down onto his back, while a smaller humanoid head rose from his torso.
It sounded lengthy, but in reality, the whole transformation took less than a second. Anyone without sharp dynamic vision wouldn't even catch what happened.
In an instant, the black, stubby-headed mascot-like figure was replaced by a tall, sleek, black-and-red combat robot.
His height shot up from 1.6 meters to 2.18 meters, and his proportions shifted closer to human.
After posing a few heroic stances, he was met with applause.
"So cool!" Rui Meng Meng and Zhang Da Ye shouted in unison. In the words of certain over-the-top anime: a robot that can transform is every man's dream!
Even Artoria and Tom had stars in their eyes. It really was impressive. Though… both of them couldn't help wondering if the shark on his back was edible now.
Shark Chilli felt a chill run down his spine, as though something predatory was watching him, but he dismissed it as imagination. Smiling, he explained:
"After transforming, my power multiplies several times. This form is perfect for combat, though it can only last fifteen minutes. Even so, that's the longest duration among all B-series robots."
No wonder he was called the strongest B-series robot. Even Kabuto's transformation only lasted three minutes—without protagonist plot armor, time alone would've worn him down.
Artoria hesitated before asking, "Excuse me, but the shark on your back…?"
"That? It's one of my auxiliary weapons," Shark Chilli replied. "Here, let me show you. Do you have any targets?"
"In the yard we've got training dummies and posts. Let's go," Zhang Da Ye said.
Shark Chilli chose a wooden post as thick as a telephone pole, standing five meters away. He bent slightly, hands at his sides, head lowered. "Auxiliary Weapon: Shark Fang!"
The mechanical shark on his back shot out, chomping the post clean in half. Splinters flew everywhere before the weapon reattached itself neatly back onto his spine.
Artoria and Tom looked thoroughly disappointed. So it really wasn't edible.
Only Rui Meng Meng clapped enthusiastically. "That's awesome!"
Her praise made Shark Chilli beam. "That's not even my strongest weapon. My ultimate is the Super Shark Giant—a ten-meter-tall behemoth! When I use my transformed mode, it can even stir up a tornado."
Zhang Da Ye blinked. "Wait—you can summon that here too? This isn't your original world. And where do you even keep something that huge?"
"No problem. The Shark Giant was a gift from Doctor Kougenji through the Star of Peace. Like my Shark Fang and Shark Axe, it's an auxiliary weapon. You can think of it as stored in a personal subspace—it appears whenever I call for it."
Zhang Da Ye nodded. "That's… kind of incredible."
"The Star of Peace is mysterious like that. So, want to see my Shark Giant?" Shark Chilli asked eagerly, wanting his new friends to understand him better.
"Not right now," Zhang Da Ye said quickly. "Too eye-catching. Let's go to the seaside another day. I don't want it smashing through the neighbors' houses. I remember that thing likes to burrow in the ground when it appears, and it makes quite the ruckus."
"Fair enough. Next time, then." Shark Chilli wasn't hard to get along with.
"Tonight, you can just stay in my room for now. Tomorrow, I'll ask a carpenter to remodel the storage room into a proper bedroom for you," Zhang Da Ye offered.
Upstairs was full, but the storage room could be expanded into a livable space by knocking down a wall.
Artoria said gently, "If it's inconvenient, Rui Meng Meng and I can share a room. I don't mind the conditions."
Rui Meng Meng nodded. "I don't mind either. Sharing a room with Artoria would be like dorm life. Kinda fun."
Tom meowed and gestured with his paws, offering to give up his little cat house too.
Zhang Da Ye chuckled, patting his head. "Forget it. No one but you can fit inside that."
"Thanks, everyone. Really, I don't need to trouble you. I can just make a bed on the floor. I'm a robot, remember? Don't need a bed." Shark Chilli knocked his chest, producing a metallic clang.
But that was a lie. Earlier, he had said robots like him could feel pain, itchiness, even get sick. Pretending he didn't need a bed was just his way of not burdening his new friends.
Once, because of the unique program Kougenji implanted in him, he had witnessed humanity's ugly side. That left him without friends, always lonely.
But after turning a new leaf, he treasured companionship all the more, and worked hard to learn the good in humans.
Now, in this strange new world, meeting people who truly cared about him filled him with joy and hope for the future.
——
A/N:
For readers who watched Iron Kid (Iron Armor Little Treasure), you might wonder: why was there a time when Shark Chilli couldn't find the Shark Giant? And when he blew Kabuto's giant robot away, why didn't he just summon it back?
Answer: because Shark Chilli was sealed away for too long, and the Shark Giant had been hidden by the Doctor, drained of power. As for Kabuto's giant robot—it was blown away before it could even be activated and bound.
That's the "reasonable explanation" I came up with. The real reason? Plot convenience. After all, the "recover Kabuto's giant" episode was a classic. I was so hyped as a kid watching it.
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