Chapter 238 - Return to Gu Manor
Chapter 238: Return to Gu Manor
Gu Xiqiao gestured for Hua Youlin to do his homework before picking up the phone.
Tang Qinghong couldn’t hold back his curiosity any further so he called Gu Xiqiao, but when the call went through, he didn’t know what to say. “…Miss Gu.”
Upon hearing his voice, Gu Xiqiao wasn’t surprised in the least and only told him an address.” Just let Brother Yin pick you up when the time comes, or else you won’t be able to get in.”
After Tang Qinghong hung up on the phone, he placed the towel into the hands of his butler.
“Where are you going, Young Master?” The butler was surprised upon seeing that the young man was going to leave the Trial Tower, as he had always been hardworking. With the ranking battles right around the corner and the indomitable wall named Jiang Tong in front of him, Tang Qinghong faced unprecedented pressure. “Aren’t you going to continue your training for tonight?”
“No, I’ll go see Shaoyuan.” Tang Qinghong replied with a cheeky smile.
Looking for Young Master Yin? That young master hadn’t been training in the Trial Tower for a while now, was his young master going to be brought onto the wrong path by him?
Upon thinking of this, the butler was immensely worried and he followed behind Tang Qinghong, trying to persuade him “Young Master Yin is being foolish, you can’t follow his footsteps!”
“I understand, Grandpa Butler.” Tang Qinghong took his coat and put it on, before going back to his home and getting into his car that he hadn’t used in a while, and he was about to start the engine up when he saw a stumbling figure beside the road. “Is that…Divine Doctor Rong?”
The butler was smacking Tang Qinghong’s car window in protest, wanting to dissuade him from trying to leave the ancient martial arts world, and when Tang Qinghong looked into the distance he followed his gaze to see that figure. After identifying who it was, he was quite astonished. “My, how is Divine Doctor Rong in such a state?”
The moment the butler was distracted, Tang Qinghong immediately stepped on the accelerator and drove away, sparing a glance at Rong Feishuang as he did.
Upon seeing Tang Qinghong drive away, the butler was baffled and immediately called Tang Wenbo: “Master, you have to persuade Young Master to come back! He’s gone to where Young Master Yin is, and from the looks of it, he might not even come back before the ranking battles…”
On the side of the road, Rong Feishuang shook his pitcher of alcohol, seemingly disappointed to find that it was empty.
He was the exact image of a homeless tramp on the streets in the secular world, with none of the aura of a divine doctor. The people that passed him by all looked at him in surprise, but none dared to provoke him.
Rong Feishuang sat down and leaned on a rock with a cloudy gaze, before throwing away his pitcher haphazardly and taking out his phone, showing the long list of missed calls by Zhu Yuan. Without a second glance, he threw that away too, before sticking his hand into his pockets and fishing out a black communicator that was native to the ancient martial arts world.
He looked at this communication device for a moment, before pressing two buttons and speaking with a trembling voice, “Manman, she’s…She’s dead.”
After he said so, he threw the communication device away too, before laying down and looking at the starless night sky.
Zhu Yuan was quite worried when Rong Feishuang hadn’t picked up any of his calls, so he set aside his work in the laboratory and drove to the ancient martial arts world, only finding Rong Feishuang after a lot of effort.
“Master, can you tell me what is going on?” What was so bad that he didn’t even care about healing people anymore?
He looked at Rong Feishuang that seemed to have lost his spirit wordlessly and inhaled deeply, before looking down at the mobile phone and the communication device on the ground and picking them up. The indicator light on the communicator was still blinking red, and Zhu Yuan took a glance at who it was that Rong Feishuang messaged before he stood there dumbfoundedly.
Gu Xiqiao had completely finished all of her scenes on the set of Divergent Paths, and the day she was going to leave, the entire crew was in low spirits.
“Are you really not going to act anymore?” Cheng Zhou asked pitifully, just like how a teacher would if a genius with 180 IQ chose to drop out of school to work.
To this, Gu Xiqiao only smiled. “Director Cheng, I really can’t compare to Acting Emperor Li in terms of talent.” She only spent more time than anyone else in the cheat named as the virtual arena.
Then, she went off to remove her makeup.
Li Yu had just finished filming a scene and walked over to Cheng Dao who was down in the dumps, and the director looked up at him and asked with a bitter smile, “She said that she doesn’t have your talent. What do you think?”
From all of her roles, he saw a single similarity—An irreplaceable aura and ingenuity that couldn’t be replicated!
Every time she and Li Yu acted together, it was as if they were two sword masters in a battle of skill and technique.
Such a person told him that she didn’t have any talent? How could she get to those heights without talent?
“Director Cheng, have you seen anyone with high status truly join the entertainment industry?” Li Yu shook his head.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhou only fixed him with a withering stare. “Aren’t you such a person?”
Li Yu: “…She found something else fun.” Did he really want him to speak the truth?
Cheng Zhou: “…You didn’t need to be so honest.”
Li Yu fished out his phone. “I had you get me a role that could be in the same scene as Miss Gu, and you made me act as a passerby?”
“Ahem, putting that aside, Old Liu has a new movie recently that I think you and Xiao Yun would be suited for.” Because Gu Xiqiao had asked him to take care of Xiao Yun, he had tried to net several roles for her in the past, but a majority of them were turned down by Xiang Kun.
Upon hearing this, Li Yu only glanced at him before picking up his sunglasses and following after Gu Xiqiao.
The two of them were more familiar with each other than the entire crew, and when they walked away, they seemed like old, familiar friends.
Du Yixin stared at the two receding figures without a word.
Cheng Zhou pat his shoulder. “Little Du, work hard, okay?”
Du Yixin looked back at him and nodded expressionlessly.
[Ding! The system has upgraded successfully!]
[Congratulations! The host has obtained the Virtual Training Arena Upgrading Talisman x1]
[Ding! The host has accomplished the mission, 50 points have been rewarded!]
[Ding! The host has accomplished a hidden mission, 200 points have been rewarded!]
…
Gu Xiqiao had just separated from Li Yu at a fork in the road when the long-awaited mechanical voice rang out in her head.
The pale blue system spirit floated around in front of her with arms akimbo. “I’m back!”
“Congratulations, Lil’ System.” Gu Xiqiao curled her lips and smiled. “Why did it take you five days to finish upgrading this time, though?”
“It’s hard to explain, but quick! Make me a host body!” The system spirit hurriedly reminded.
As it spoke, the 3D model of a robot popped up on the system screen in front of her. “This is the most versatile robot I found in the system database, and it suits me the best!”
“…Do you really think I know how to do everything?” Gu Xiqiao’s lips twitched. Wasn’t making a robot something that only mechanics and engineers knew how to do?
“But you have the virtual space, don’t you?” The system blinked innocently. “With the ratio of time flow in there you can definitely learn how to make it, and you only have to learn how to make this specific robot, anyway!”
“Beauty Qiao, I can only feel the real world if I possess a robot.” At this, the system spirit sighed and continued with a depressed tone. “I don’t know how long I’ve existed as data.”
Gu Xiqiao held her forehead and flagged down a taxi, before getting in. “Alright, don’t put on that pitiful act with me.”
After that, she told the taxi driver to send her to A University, and upon hearing that her destination was the best education institute in the country, the taxi driver’s gaze was tinged with respect.
The best place to build a robot was definitely the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in A University. They had labs and workshops that were on par with those in the Faculty of Medicine, and they had clinched many international awards too.
In the taxi, Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes and immersed herself into the virtual arena.
At first, she was quite confused when she looked at the robot assembly sketch, but the system found many books on her about mechanics, C programming language, and the theory of automatic control, and even though she didn’t need to brush up on her programming knowledge, she had never come into contact with anything else.
Studying all of this spent a lot of time.
Thankfully, she had netted a lot of points when the system upgraded, or else she might have gone broke from the one point per day cost.
When she got off the taxi, she had already been in the virtual arena for three months, spending ninety points.
After calling the dean of the faculty and getting permission from him, she walked over to their lab.
Their laboratory was completely different than that of the Faculty of Medicine, with various models and mechanical parts, and everyone in there was busy when she arrived.
“Beauty Gu, I can help with whatever you want!” Gu Xiqiao stood in front of a bunch of parts, and a bunch of students surrounded her.
Gu Xiqiao smiled politely. “I want to make a robot by myself, please don’t mind me.”
After she said so, they nodded in understanding.
“Well if you have any questions, you can come to ask me for help, I’ll be in the lab for the next few days anyway,” said one of the boys.
“Thank you.” Gu Xiqiao nodded, before looking at the bunch of parts in front of her.
At the table next to them was a boy and a girl, who were the most famous people in their faculty. If Luo Wenlang and Gu Xiqiao weren’t in this year, they would have become the most well-known students in the university. They had gotten an international patent back when they were in high school and were personally recruited by A University.
Upon hearing what Gu Xiqiao said, the girl snorted. “She wants to make a robot by herself? Does she think that robots can be made so easily? What was the professor thinking, letting a medicine student come into our lab! Won’t she spill our secrets?”
Her tone was quite condescending and it made the boy furrow his brow slightly, but he didn’t say anything in return. It was true, after all, that robots were difficult to make.
In actuality, most of the people in the laboratory thought that Gu Xiqiao was just here to have fun and play.
Not an hour later, they found themselves proven wrong.
Gu Xiqiao started fiddling with the spare parts with her head lowered, and for a moment, it was hard to tell if her aura was colder or the metal was.
As if they had a spirit of their own, the parts on the table seemed to fit together seamlessly in her hands.
Without even a single pause to think, she knew exactly which parts to place together when she touched them.
As to not cause any disturbance, she specifically chose an isolated position near the corner to do all this, and as she was working, she seemed like a painting that made it hard for people to move their gazes away from her.
She wasn’t completely focused on what she was doing, and she would occasionally pull out her phone and type out some messages.
In such a condition, an exquisite robot took form in her hands. Unlike the crudely crafted robots on the market, this robot was like an ingenious work of craftsmanship.
Then, she made her way to a computer and took out a PSP to program the robot, and as she placed her hands on the keys and prepared to type in the code, everyone watched on with bated breath.
At that moment, she took out her phone and replied to a message before she officially started.
Her fingers moved quickly as if they were flying, her eyes not looking at the keyboard whatsoever.
They had all learned C programming language before, but they had never seen someone start coding without a template.
It was after ten at night, and usually, people would have started to leave at this time, but none of them did today, looking at the girl in the corner of the room.
The porcelain finger tapped on the enter key, and the robot on the table moved. Not only did it move, it even bounced a few times before speaking with a robotic tone, “Beauty Qiao, I’m hungry!”
Everyone else in the lab: “…”
Gu Xiqiao gestured for the robot to follow her as she got up and prepared to leave, and when she stood up, she saw that everyone else was still in the lab. Quite surprisedly, she asked, “You guys haven’t left yet?”
No wonder the students in this faculty were well known, they were all so hardworking!
“Well, don’t work yourselves too hard okay?” Gu Xiqiao waved them goodbye, before walking out of the door.
She-
Had she succeeded?
That robot that Gu Xiqiao made could move just like a sentient being, and could even talk?
Was it a robot, or was it artificial intelligence?
“She made a robot just like that?” Someone asked, remembering her attitude when she was making the robot, the way she played games and chatted with people on her phone, and not only did she succeed in making a robot, and in such a short time too?
Another person rubbed their face in disbelief. “I thought that she was here to play, but are we the ones studying in this faculty, or is she?”
“Don’t you guys think that robot was very animated?” Someone asked. “It was as if it had a mind of its own…”
No one spoke after that, everyone was in utter disbelief.
The duo didn’t speak, and the girl, in particular, had the expression of someone that had seen a ghost. They knew better than anyone how hard it was to make a good robot, but she succeeded just like that?
“Look at the source code she left behind!” Someone exclaimed when they saw the computer Gu Xiqiao used.
The boy walked over to the computer, and the source code she used was left behind on a Word document, with several annotations and explanations underneath, and it was clear that it was left for them.
The boy looked at the source code that she left behind, and his expression turned into one of shock before he called their professor with a trembling voice, “Professor… I think we found our breakthrough in our experimental program, please come to the lab quickly!”
And so, the lights of the laboratory were left on all night.
The next day, the professor went to see Professor Jiang to get her to change her major. “She can take it as a second degree! You should have seen that robot that she made!”
Professor Jiang had quite a headache at how there were always all sorts of people that wanted to snatch Gu Xiqiao away from their faculty, but he still put on a smile. “Professor Lin, you can ask Student Gu about this. We will respect her decision!”
But actually, what he thought was, ‘Would that Gu Xiqiao get a second degree? That reincarnation of a snail? Pfft.’
Professor Lin: “…” If she agreed, would he come and look for him?!
And so, Professor Lin left with wounded pride.
After he left, Professor Jiang immediately took out his phone and called Zhu Yuan as he walked towards the lab in their faculty. “That brat was on campus yesterday, did she go back to the lab?”
“She was here? Why didn’t she come back to the lab?!” As expected, Zhu Yuan reacted like an angry cat puffing its fur.
Professor Jiang expected this, and replied, “She went over to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering to make a robot, how would she have time for us?”
Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao was on her way to N City on a flying ark.
“Judging from the looks of it this flying ark is quite the treasure! Speed, defense, and looks, the Baili family sure treats you well!” The system spirit scurried around the deck of the flying ark, its mechanical eyes almost lighting up.
Gu Xiqiao got to an isolated place and landed, smiling as she kept the flying ark. “You can look at it later. Let’s go back to Gu Estate.”