Wen Bai took two steps forward, exiting the protection circle of 575.
He looked at the malfunctioning robots before him and raised his voice, throwing out a bait: "Do you want to leave here?"
As if surprised by Wen Bai's question, the malfunctioning robots fell silent. The actions of all the robots paused for a moment.
Silence spread in the small room.
Wen Bai didn't speak again. He waited patiently.
At this moment, a short-haired female-form malfunctioning robot finally reacted. She stepped out from the mass of robots, her deep blue eyes fixed on Wen Bai, scrutinizing him.
As if judging whether this human was toying with them, or confirming his trustworthiness, she asked directly: "Can you take us away from here?"
Wen Bai replied expressionlessly, giving an extremely confident answer. He said, "I can take you away from here."
A petite female malfunctioning robot with long red hair tugged at the arm of the short-haired robot who had stepped forward.
The short-haired robot ignored her and looked directly at Wen Bai: "Why should we believe you, a human?"
Wen Bai's gaze swept across the malfunctioning robots in the room. His words carried a sense of certainty: "You don't seem to have any other choice, if you want to leave here."
The robots had varied expressions, seemingly aware that they had no other option.
In truth, Wen Bai was more like an opportunity for them, a chance that would not come again.
"What are your conditions? Humans aren't usually this kind." The short-haired female malfunctioning robot seemed to harbor a lot of hostility towards humans.
Wen Bai stated his conditions: "You just need to answer a few questions for me."
To their apparent surprise, the conditions were so simple that the malfunctioning robots agreed with hardly any hesitation.
Wen Bai looked at the malfunctioning robots before him and posed the first question: "Tell me how you got here, and where you came from."
The malfunctioning robots looked at Wen Bai with strange expressions, as if the question itself seemed foolish.
However, even so, they all answered.
"I was going to pick up my owner's clothes from the dry cleaner. On the way back, I was ambushed by humans, tied up, and stuffed into a trunk..." a small-looking male malfunctioning robot said softly.
"I was looking after the house while my owner was traveling. Those detestable humans broke in and abducted me directly..." a muscular male malfunctioning robot said indignantly.
"I was abandoned by my owner. The person who brought me here said this place could take me in..." a cute-looking male malfunctioning robot said pitifully.
...
"I was sold here..." said a seductive female malfunctioning robot sitting on the sofa, playing with her hair with her fingertips as if she didn't care at all.
Wen Bai asked in confusion: "Sold?"
The seductive female malfunctioning robot on the sofa had hatred in her eyes, but she smiled: "The mistress of the house didn't like me, but the master quite liked me. The mistress was always watching me, testing me, and found that I was different from other household robots. So, when the master was not at home, she directly sold me here."
She still remembered how pleased the mistress looked when she left with the money, proud to control her fate.
So, the reason this place had the most malfunctioning robots was precisely because it was a hub for a large number of robots who were tricked, deceived, and kidnapped.
And they were gathered here to be controlled and used for businesses that catered to human desires.
The most outrageous thing was that there were indeed humans with such perversions.
Wen Bai was inwardly shocked, but his expression remained calm. He collected himself and continued his questions: "When did you start having your own thoughts?"
As Wen Bai asked this question, it was evident that the malfunctioning robots before him all showed expressions of bewilderment.
Wen Bai had a feeling that they themselves didn't know when or how they had developed their own thoughts.
As Wen Bai was pondering this, one robot spoke, confirming his guess.
It seemed less like an answer to Wen Bai and more like it was speaking to itself.
"I don't know either. One day, when I saw the little master smile at me, I just wanted to protect the little master well. When the little master was bullied and cried, clutching my leg, I felt heartbroken, thinking those children bullying the little master were bad. So, I would go behind the masters' backs to help the little master get revenge."
As for the other robots, they seemed unable to provide a clear answer to this question.
Wen Bai rephrased the question more directly: "Around the time you became conscious, did you encounter anyone or anything that hadn't appeared before?"
The robots before Wen Bai uniformly shook their heads, indicating that nothing unusual had happened, nor had any unfamiliar people suddenly appeared in their lives.
It was as if their consciousness had developed naturally.
"Yes." The seductive female malfunctioning robot on the sofa suddenly spoke.
Wen Bai's spirits immediately lifted. Was he about to find the reason for the malfunctioning robots' self-awareness?
He looked at the seductive female malfunctioning robot on the sofa, his face serious, and asked: "What did you encounter?"
The seductive female malfunctioning robot recalled, and slowly began to speak: "Before that, my daily work was cleaning the house and taking care of the masters' daily needs."
Wen Bai nodded seriously, signaling her to continue.
The seductive female malfunctioning robot continued slowly: "One night, the master found me and told me he was hungry and wanted a late-night snack. While I was in the kitchen making a late-night snack for the master, he suddenly hugged me from behind. Then he kissed my neck and unfastened the buttons of my clothes. I was activated for special service by the master..."
What the heck?!
Wen Bai's expressionless, serious face showed a crack at this moment.
"During the physical contact," the seductive female malfunctioning robot continued to recall, "I could feel pleasure."
"When... I also felt happiness..."
As she spoke, she even showed a look of absentminded recollection, her hand drifting towards her chest in an unrestrained manner...
"That's enough," Wen Bai interrupted in a deep voice. "I understand."
Wen Bai understood. They had indeed all of a sudden, inexplicably, gained consciousness.
No strange people had appeared, and no strange events had occurred!