Return attempt failed

At the end of the meeting, the R&D department came to a somewhat absurd conclusion: Trinity might be lying.

She fabricated a sensational lie, throwing up all sorts of smokescreens, just to achieve some ulterior motive. Otherwise, it's hard to explain why the camera would break at such a convenient time, right when she and Lambert went out. It's also inexplicable that in this age, when the chances of a video file getting corrupted while recording on a phone are nearly zero, she just happened to encounter such an issue.

The bigwigs at the meeting were all discussing this, feeling somewhat amused and angry that they were possibly tricked by a young girl.

Amber remained calm. He asked Michael, "What would be her motive for lying?"

"We're not sure yet."

Amber thought for a moment and said, "Connect to her supervisor now."

"Okay."

Sophie was explaining the benefits of robots to a customer in the store when she suddenly received a video call from headquarters. She quickly handed the customer over to another employee and went to the conference room alone.

On the screen covering the entire wall, the company executives were all seated and looking at her. She felt a bit nervous and spoke with a slight tremor in her voice, "Pr-president, what can I do for you?"

Amber glanced at Michael. Michael understood and adjusted his glasses before asking Sophie, "Are you Trinity's supervisor?"

"I am. My name is Sophie."

"Alright, Sophie. Hello, I'm Michael, the Director of the R&D Department."

"I know you, Michael. Hello!"

Michael gave her a gentle smile and continued, "I'll get straight to the point. We want to ask about Trinity's character and qualities."

"Oh, Trinity is a bit shy, but she's a nice person, very dedicated and motivated."

"Hmm. But now, we suspect she's lying. We haven't detected any of the issues she raised about the robot Lambert."

"Huh? Really?" Sophie was stunned for a moment and immediately shook her head. "No way, I feel Trinity is an honest kid. Though she can be a bit silly sometimes, lying... I don't think so."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh, this..." Sophie thought to herself, how could anyone be certain about this kind of thing?

Michael asked again, "How long have you known Trinity?"

"Less than five months."

Sophie understood his implication. Since she hadn't known Trinity for very long, her assurance of Trinity's character lacked credibility. However, Trinity was her subordinate and had always performed well. Being suspected of lying without any reason made Sophie feel quite displeased. She said, "So, may I ask why Trinity would lie? What would her motive be?"

Just as Sophie finished speaking, her phone suddenly rang. She was about to decline the call when she saw the caller ID: "Trinity." Sophie showed the phone to the camera and said, "It's a call from Trinity."

Michael said, "Please answer it and put it on speaker."

Sophie complied.

"Hello, Trinity?"

"Hi, Sophie. There's something I want to tell you."

"Oh? Go ahead."

"I don't want Lambert anymore. Can I return him?"

"Um..."

"He came with a faulty program from the factory. It's a manufacturer's issue. You said such cases are eligible for a full refund."

Sophie, holding the phone in one hand, glanced at the executives on the screen. Almost everyone had a look of sudden realization on their faces. She felt this was not good and wanted to defend Trinity a bit more, but Amber suddenly waved his hand and said, "Alright, you can go back to your work. Don't mention this to her for now."

"But..."

The video call was already cut off.

Trinity was still unaware of what had happened. "Sophie? Are you there?"

Sophie had to placate Trinity with a few words, saying only that Lambert was being sent to the headquarters for testing and that any returns would have to wait for the results.

Michael turned off the video call and scanned the room, noticing that everyone's expressions were similar.

The Marketing Director said, "So this girl lied just to return a product? She played us all for fools just to get a refund? Claiming the robot walks like a human? If she could actually make a robot walk like a human, every major robotics company would be worshiping her, not letting her work as a sales assistant in a showroom!"

The others shared this sentiment but were less outspoken than the Marketing Director, merely shaking their heads in silence.

The HR Director asked, "According to HR policies, how do you think we should handle an employee like this?"

"For employees with ethical issues, the severity of the punishment depends on the extent of the damage they've caused. The loss caused by Trinity..." Trinity hadn't caused any financial loss, she had merely made fools of the executives.

The Marketing Director said, "Time is money. Can she compensate for the time we've all wasted? People like her should be fired!"

"But the process of firing an employee is very complicated," the HR Director said, feeling a bit troubled. "Our reason for firing her is that she lied. Setting aside the difficulty of firing someone for lying, the biggest issue now is that, although I also believe she lied, we don't have concrete evidence to prove it. She simply described what she saw and heard, and we didn't find any problems. That's not enough to prove she lied."

"Isn't it obvious?"

"You might think it's obvious, but the Labor Department doesn't see it that way. They only look at evidence. And with the unemployment rate rising every year, labor courts tend to side with employees during arbitration. If Trinity applies for arbitration with the Labor Department, her chances of success are high. We could end up not only keeping her on but also facing hefty fines."

"Can we find another excuse to fire her?"

"That's difficult. These days, all industries face the same issue: the high cost of firing employees. So, they tend to raise the hiring bar to shift the risk. I checked Trinity's interview records and work performance last night. Everything looked good; I didn't expect this to happen."

Someone sighed and said, "You never really know a person. This girl seems naive, but she's actually quite cunning."

Another person added, "Yeah, it feels like people have become worse these days."

The Marketing Director said, "I can't swallow this. We absolutely cannot give her a refund."

Michael adjusted his glasses and said, "Of course not. We didn't find any issues, so it doesn't meet the return criteria."

...

Trinity had already started looking for a new robot. To keep her job, she had to buy a new one after returning Lambert. Because Lambert had caused her so much stress, she decided to buy a standard version this time, without a hydrogen battery. The standard versions are also quite stylish and less likely to have issues.

She thought returning Lambert was a sure thing, but a few days later, the headquarters called her to say that Lambert's test results came back normal.

Trinity couldn't believe it. "How is that possible? His program was a mess! You need to analyze it properly. Maybe you can make a breakthrough in robot development. I'm serious! You should keep him..."

The customer service lady, with a sweet voice, laughed and said, "Although we didn't find any issues, the R&D department has fully copied his program for further analysis. If any problems are discovered, you can reapply for a return. We'll inform you immediately if there's any progress in our research."

"Hey, can't you give it another try? Michael seemed very capable. Can you ask him to take another look? Do you have Michael's phone number? I'll call him myself."

"Michael oversees the entire R&D department and is very busy every day. Please don't disturb him." The customer service lady's tone turned stern and a bit exasperated at the end.

Trinity felt nothing but disappointment.

The next day, Lambert was returned to her. It was Lisa who brought him back. Lisa said, "Trinity, because you kept suspecting Lambert's program was malfunctioning, the R&D department copied his program, then formatted and reinstalled his system. This time, there's definitely no malfunction."

As she spoke, she guided Lambert through the owner recognition process once more.

Trinity felt wronged. "Why does no one believe me? This robot was completely messed up!"

Lisa hesitated for a long moment, then, unable to bring herself to argue, simply said, "Trinity, I think Lambert is fine. You should try to get along with him."

"Yeah, right..."

After Lisa left, Trinity gazed at Lambert with a heavy heart.

Though the system was chaotic the first time, wasn't it formatted this time? What if... Trinity held onto a tiny bit of hope.

She called out softly, "Lambert?"

"Yes," he responded, his voice deep and gentle.

Trinity's heart leaped with joy: Has my sweet boy really come back?

Lambert suddenly floated in front of her, placed one hand on her shoulder, pushing her against the white wall, and propped his other hand on the wall, leaning in close.

She was trapped between him and the wall, their bodies almost touching. She looked up in confusion, seeing his handsome face and clear, clean eyes.

Oh my god, I'm so happy! My Lambert is really back, and he's even wall-slamming me right away! Yay!

Lambert leaned in closer, looking at her flushed face, and suddenly said, "Human."

Trinity: "..."

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!!!

At that moment, her disappointment was this——————————big.

Lambert said, "You tried everything to get rid of me."

Trinity replied, "Any normal person would want to get rid of you, okay!"

He suddenly sneered, "I won't let you have your way."

Trinity exclaimed, "You do such heart-fluttering moves and then say such maddening things... is that really okay?" I'm really good at crying, you know!