Chapter 45 Robot Cat
Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh.
“You really never stop thinking about digging up someone else’s turf.”
James shrugged, looking perfectly innocent.
“I call it having a healthy sense of competition. John’s way too good–even if your professor shows up personally, he might not be able to outdo him.”
Scarlett was a bit surprised by John’s abilities. This man’s got a secret identity? Huh… kind of interesting.
“Alright, go on then. I won’t head back to the capital until after the medical exchange conference. If you change your mind before then, you can come find me anytime.”
Scarlett nodded. “Got it.”
On the second floor, Jasper sat holding a robotic cat, fingers pressed against its joint connectors. Jack leaned on the window, staring down at the two people chatting and laughing below.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Pixel look so alive. She was always expressionless before. I thought she’d gone numb after cutting ties with her family. They’ve got that teenage love vibe going on. Look at that shy little smile. Jasper, wanna guess what they’re talking about?”
Jasper pressed a little harder on the cat.
“Not interested.”
The robot cat looked like it was on the verge of being crushed.
Jack, never one to pass up drama, started ad–libbing wildly.
“I bet he was like, ‘Hey, mind if I walk you home?‘ And Pixel probably lit up like, ‘Okay, okay, you’re the best!‘ Then he said, ‘I’ll wait for you to finish your experiment so we can head home together. Pixel definitely smiled and said yes without thinking twice. Oh–and I bet they made plans to grab a late–night snack, maybe take a walk, hold hands or something.”
Jack’s voice cut off suddenly.
He turned around, stunned.
The robotic cat in Jasper’s hands had completely fallen apart.
Its pieces clattered to the floor.
Jack was stunned.
“Jasper, what did the robot cat ever do to you?”
Jasper’s expression didn’t budge.
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“I’m upgrading the software. You handle the hardware.”
Jack groaned. Seriously? I just finished three experiments, now I’ve gotta be your handyman too?
“You really expect my fragile little shoulders to carry all this weight? Why don’t you make Pixel do it?”
Right on cue, Scarlett walked in and casually asked, “Make me do what… huh? Are those parts from the robot cat?”
She rolled up her sleeves.
“I can help.”
No sooner had she spoken than she crouched down and started assembling the pieces one by one.
Jack gave Jasper a sly wink. Post–date Pixel is a whole new person! See? Love really does make people more productive!
Scarlett, while obsessed with medicine, also loved construction games in her downtime.
Seeing all these “fragments” scattered about triggered her urge to build.
And so, she proceeded to misplace several of the chips.
Jack wanted to correct her.
But he noticed Jasper didn’t stop her at all, so he swallowed his words.
He got it now.
Jasper was annoyed that Scarlett wasn’t taking her role as the “experimental subject” seriously.
So now he was letting her embarrass herself?
Honestly, Jasper could be such a child.
Just because she was pretty didn’t mean she couldn’t have a few clingy admirers.
And nowhere in the contract did it say “experimental subjects” weren’t allowed to date.
He was still ranting internally when…
“Reporting the time, it is now exactly 1.00 PM.”
Jack was stunned. Wait, the robot cat’s language system wasn’t even finished yet, right?
That sudden robotic voice nearly scared the soul out of him!
Scarlett clearly jumped too.
She didn’t stop the cat from hopping onto the lab bench.
“I may not be a little demon cat, but I’m carefree and chill; landed here on the lab table, stretching once,
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Finished
look how charming I still feel!”
“Wait, this robot cat can talk now? And it rhymes?”
Scarlett stared at the little black cat for a while, stunned, then looked at Jasper in disbelief.
“Mr. Fletcher, did you crack the language system?”
They had talked about this before.
Getting a machine to “speak” was easy–just input commands.
But to develop a human–like language system capable of thought required massive amounts of code training.
It wasn’t supposed to be possible in such a short time.
Apparently, she had underestimated Jasper.
Jasper didn’t say anything.
He just lowered his gaze to the robotic cat perched on the desk, tail flicking proudly.
He had seen it clearly, Scarlett had reversed the polarity–positive and negative terminals were connected backward.
It must’ve affected the current flow in just the right way to flip some part of the code that had been giving him trouble for ages.
Truthfully, he hadn’t stopped her because he wanted to see if she had any natural instinct for this kind of work.
Even if she messed up, he could always fix it.
He just hadn’t expected… a breakthrough.
Suddenly, his mentor’s words echoed in his head. Success is thirty percent effort, seventy percent luck.
This experimental subject of his was pretty lucky after all.
