Chapter 58、Unexpected Gain: The Guardian Robot!

"Top Employee of the Year?" Yi Bai rolled his eyes. "I can let that slide, but honest and trustworthy? No way!"

That madman—his style was too reckless for Yi Bai to believe anything he said.

With a sigh, Yi Bai sat back down on the sofa and reconnected to Lin Yue's perspective. He'd intended to connect to Chen Qiuren's view, but since this guy had barely been in the shelter for 72 hours, Yi Bai couldn't yet access his connection.

Soon, Yi Bai's vision returned to the dimly lit corridor. The standoff between Lin Yue and the people inside the building continued. Lin Yue hadn't forced an attack, and the enemies inside were too afraid to come out. They kept shouting, seemingly confident that as long as they remained behind the door, they would be safe.

This deadlock had lasted for about thirty minutes when Yi Bai suddenly heard voices from inside the room—chaotic, frantic.

"Third! Third, what happened to you?"

"Shit! Third's poisoned! He's bleeding from all seven orifices!"

"Boss, your nose... cough!"

"There's smoke! Where is that smoke coming from?"

A series of panicked cries followed by the sound of bodies dropping to the ground. Lin Yue and Li Yang both froze, and before they could speak, they heard the crisp sound of footsteps outside. Moments later, Chen Qiuren's lazy voice echoed in the corridor.

"Captain Lin, stop hiding. They're all dead inside."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yue shone her tactical flashlight down the hall, revealing Chen Qiuren leaning against the wall, casually smoking a cigarette.

"The boss sent me to back you up. It's all handled, I'm heading back now."

Chen Qiuren waved a dismissive hand at the hallway, stretched, and turned to leave. "Shift's over, heading home to sleep... damn, I think I have night shift later, so annoying."

The man complained as he walked off, seemingly just here to deliver a message.

Lin Yue exchanged a look with Li Yang. They made a quick hand gesture, and the two of them moved into combat formation, breaking open the door to the room.

As the light of their tactical flashlight swept across the room, they saw a gruesome sight—bodies of men and women lying all over the floor, face down in pools of blood, their faces darkening and blood streaming from their eyes, ears, and mouths. It was clear they had died from poisoning.

A faint, lingering white smoke still hung in the air. Lin Yue frowned and covered her mouth and nose as she began to quickly scan the scene.

Upon inspection, she found a special arrow on the ground—one of Liu Rui's arrows. Near the arrowhead was a shattered small vial.

"He had Liu Rui shoot the poison in," Lin Yue murmured, her mind replaying the chaos she had heard inside. In the cramped room, Chen Qiuren's poison had been magnified to deadly effect.

"Captain Lin, there's a robot here!" Li Yang suddenly called out, crouching to pull something from among the bodies.

It was a fully intact male robot, about the size of a human, with a metallic sheen covering its body. Its head was studded with pairs of electronic eyes, and weapons parts—black gun barrels and cannons—were mounted on its arms, knees, and shoulders, making it look like some kind of end-of-the-world killing machine.

"This is their confidence?" Lin Yue frowned as she knocked on the robot's body, which gave off a dull, metallic sound. The thing's defense seemed incredibly strong—certainly not something that could be pierced by ordinary bullets.

"Strange, they have such a weapon but didn't let it out to fight us," Lin Yue wondered aloud, but Yi Bai understood immediately.

Through Lin Yue's perspective, Yi Bai saw the robot's item information.

"I Love My Home - D6612 Model Guard Robot": Shelter Talent Item; It can grow as the shelter level increases. Each time the shelter upgrades, its three states—"Guard Mode," "Assist Mode," and "Research Mode"—can be adjusted. It's loyal and powerful, the shelter's best assistant. However, it cannot leave the shelter's range and is limited to operating within the shelter.

"A robot as a talent reward?" Yi Bai muttered, "This is some next-level stuff."

No wonder these guys felt so fearless. If Lin Yue had forced the door open, she could've easily been torn apart by this robot.

"Wait a minute," Yi Bai frowned, "if this thing has cannons, why didn't it fire at us from inside the shelter?"

"Could its weapon range be limited by the shelter's boundary?" he wondered. "Or are these thugs worried the robot's weapons might collapse the building?"

At first glance, the robot looked like an incredibly powerful weapon. With something like this in their home, their defense would be near impregnable—unless, of course, it was a natural disaster like an earthquake. But as Yi Bai had seen, poison was the only thing that could defeat this tech.

"And it even has the potential to grow… what an insane talent."

Yi Bai admired the robot's power, a little envious. He could only imagine how much easier it would be to have such a guardian in his own shelter.

After the threat in this household was eliminated, Lin Yue proceeded with the standard clearing procedure, carefully checking the shelter for any remaining supplies and hidden threats. Jiang Xiaoci had reminded her countless times: once a battle begins, there can be no survivors.

But as the time ticked on, Lin Yue and Li Yang had spent over thirty minutes in this shelter, and Yi Bai saw a new notification appear in front of him.

"Your talent 'Lin Yue' has destroyed a Level 0 shelter. You inherit the current shelter's survival points: 263."

"Item inheritance check in progress… Inheritance successful! You have obtained the current shelter's stored items: 'Robot Repair Facility and User Manual,' 'Instructional Command Seal,' and 'I Love My Home - D6612 Model Guard Robot.'"

"Huh?" Yi Bai blinked, his eyes widening in surprise. "What the hell! I inherited the robot?"

"Wait, it's a shelter talent item, isn't it? Aren't talent items supposed to be non-transferable?"

Yi Bai quickly checked the shelter's reserve panel, and sure enough, the robot appeared there.

"Retrieve!"

He immediately took the robot out of his shelter's storage panel. To his surprise, it appeared right in front of him—still lying motionless, as though it hadn't been activated. The information on its head remained unchanged.

"It looks like it was considered a shelter item, and I inherited it?" Yi Bai frowned. He couldn't activate the robot just yet, so he moved on to check the other two inherited items.

The first was the "Robot Repair Facility and User Manual"—a stack of papers detailing the robot's origin, its usage instructions, and upgrade options.

Yi Bai skimmed through it, and his heart leapt with joy. "What a pleasant surprise! I can actually use this robot?"