CH 49.1

Under Li Qingzhou’s affirming gaze, Yu Zhe reached out and pressed the button again.

—At this moment, they were the center of attention for the entire audience.

Almost everyone was either looking forward to, or doubting and speculating about whether Unique Studio’s team’s robot had been repaired and if there was any need to continue the competition.

Online discussions became even more fervent, with the attention continuing to grow.

The director hastily instructed the cameras to be switched to close-ups, causing the performance on the field to be captured clearly without a doubt as to what was going on.

Du Chenwei’s team also brought their robot onto the field.

They pressed the switch and the robot started up, temporarily waiting for commands on the edge of the field.

Du Chenwei’s face held a hypocritical smile, his gaze filled with hidden mockery. On the surface, however, he appeared concerned and gentlemanly, waiting for his opponents to make the first move.

Li Qingzhou remained on the field and after Yu Zhe handed the control over to him, he together with Dong Lin followed Liu Bohuai off the field.

With a ‘beep’, Unique Studio’s team’s robot started up.

Then both the live audience and online viewers saw the two camera-like ‘eyes’ at the top of the robot swivel around.

It seemed to be first scanning the whole arena, trying to figure out where it was, the entire robot appearing to have come alive instantly.

Then, the two camera eyes paused on Li Qingzhou and a synthesized electronic voice sounded—

“Hello, Captain. Rescue One at your service. What can I help you with?”

[Wow, it can talk! But the name ‘Rescue One’…. so ordinary!]

[To be honest, there’s no need for a rescue-type robot like this to have a speaking system.]

[Because robots are completely commanded by humans during rescue operations, installing a talking feature seems redundant.]

[It seems that the female repair technician added this feature after listening to President Li’s suggestion.]

[Laymen shouldn’t meddle….. Unique Studio’s team is definitely going to lose. This is a competition with no suspense at all. We don’t even need to watch to guess the outcome.]

The online discussions were varied and the audience in the venue were awash with opinions.

However, Li Qingzhou didn’t know all this.

Even if he knew, he wouldn’t care. He would simply prove matters with facts and throw it in their faces, making them watch with their eyes wide open.

Li Qingzhou: “Save people.”

Rescue One swiveled its cameras and surprisingly showed a confused expression as its electronic voice sounded: “But this isn’t a post-disaster scene. Rescue One hasn’t detected any signs of disaster.”

“Everyone is sitting here safe and sound. Captain, who should Rescue One save?”

—The robot raised its pincer like arm, pointing to the audience.

“Wow, is this pre-programmed?” A member of the audience shouted in disbelief.

“It must be a pre-set program…. but why are they still communicating? Aren’t they just wasting rescue time? Can’t they just hurry up?”

“Why do I feel that the robot is communicating with President Li so….. smoothly?”

The judges also exchanged glances, but suppressed their urge to comment for the time being.

Li Qingzhou’s lips curled slightly.

He said: “Apologies, I didn’t explain everything. This is a robot rescue competition. Your task now is to compete on the field…..”

Li Qingzhou listed the scoring categories for the rescue robots— detection, transport, movement, positioning and dragging rescue dummies…..

Rescue One: “It turns out it’s like this. Captain, is this friend my competitor?”

The robot’s cameras swiveled, ‘looking’ at Du Chenwei’s team’s robot and even pointing at it with its mechanical pincer.

[Pfft, I’m dying of laughter. This friend? And the robot is really pointing at the robot, not Captain Du Chenwei.]

[Why do I feel that something is off….. Is this the stereotypical conversation that can be set up by a program?]

[I also feel that something isn’t right….. Could it be that there’s going to be a twist?!]

Du Chenwei’s smile faded slightly and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease rise within him.

Li Qingzhou said: “Yes, your competitor is that robot. Do your best, you have to win.”

Rescue One’s electronic voice remained monotone as it answered,

However at this moment, it seemed as though people could see it nodding firmly in agreement.

—”Captain, rest assured! I will definitely win the competition and return in glory!”

After saying this, Rescue One slid into the field.

Du Chenwei’s expression darkened slightly as he began to operate his team’s robot, guiding it to enter the field and start the competition.

The robot rescue competition was a scoring points based event.

So both teams controlled their robots to perform the same tasks.