57: Chapter 57: Picked up an AI maid? She looks like her anime waifu.

Those eyes did not have human pupils.

Deep within that crystalline structure, deep as emeralds, intricate golden gears were silently interlocking and rotating, each movement seeming to recalibrate the focus of the world.

Eerie, yet breathtakingly beautiful.

"Beep—"

"System self-check complete."

"Codename: Ikaros. Model: Strategic-class Universal Housekeeping Artificial Angel (Type-α)."

The girl in the stasis pod parted her lips slightly, emitting an electronically synthesized voice that was devoid of inflection, yet as crisp as wind chimes. She tilted her head slightly, her long pink hair drifting gently in the long-stagnant air. Her gaze pierced through thousands of years of time, and through the screen, seemingly looking straight at Jiang Chen.

"Highest authority command source detected."

"Hello, new... Master."

On this side of the screen.

Jiang Chen held his phone, feeling as if his heart had been struck hard by an arrow named "2D."

Pink hair?

Mechanical eyes?

And she calls me Master?

This is just too damn unfair!

This isn't some terrifying creature from an alien ruin; this is clearly a 3D-printed dream for otaku!

"Wanqiu! Don't just stand there!"

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, his fingers tapping rapidly on the screen, even trembling with excitement. "Quick! Protect that stasis pod for me! No one is allowed to touch it! This is... ahem, this is an extremely precious scientific research sample!"

However, before Jiang Wanqiu could respond, the previously calm stasis pod suddenly emitted a harsh alarm sound.

"Warning! Warning!"

"Backup power depleted."

"Core power reactor shutting down, life support system will completely shut down in 30 seconds."

"Executing forced shutdown procedure... Memory formatting countdown..."

The girl's mechanical eyes, which had been glowing faintly, instantly dimmed, like a candle about to burn out. The tubes connected around her body began to fall off one by one, and she slumped backward powerlessly.

"Out of power?"

Jiang Chen panicked.

This was like finally pulling a rare SSR waifu, only for the server to shut down for maintenance and wipe the data before you could even take a screenshot!

"System! Save the person... no, save the machine!"

Jiang Chen roared at the damned system interface. "How much? Name your price! Don't give me that vague nonsense, I want to get her over here! Immediately! Right now!"

Although he couldn't afford to transport a living person, this thing was essentially a robot!

It was just a large piece of electronics!

It shouldn't... be that expensive, right?

The system seemed to have been waiting for this moment; the golden pop-up window appeared faster than anything else, even exuding the aura of an unscrupulous merchant "taking advantage of a crisis":

[Strong extraction intent detected from host.]

[Target Item: Strategic-class Housekeeping AI (dormant/near-death state).]

[Extraction Plan: Cross-dimensional material transport.]

[Required Energy Points: 50,000,000 (equivalent to approximately 250 million RMB).]

[Note: Given that the item is on the verge of shutting down, the system will include a complimentary "High-Energy Fast Charge" service to ensure it is ready to use upon arrival. Dear, do you want to pay?]

250 million.

Although it was an astronomical figure, compared to the 1 billion starting price for transporting a living person, it was practically a steal!

Most importantly, Jiang Chen was rich now!

The 200 million USD check that the Eagle Nation had just paid him hadn't even warmed up in his pocket yet, and converted to RMB, that was over a billion!

"Pay!"

Jiang Chen didn't hesitate at all. He pulled the check and the national special-grade black card out of his pocket and slammed them onto the table, full of bravado:

"System, deduct the money! Get the goods for me!"

"Money can be earned again, but if a waifu... no, if a robot with top-tier technological content like this is lost, it would be a loss for all of humanity!"

"Hum—!!!"

As the payment success notification sounded, an unprecedented, brilliant golden light erupted from the phone screen.

Over in the Wasteland.

Jiang Wanqiu only felt her vision blur. The massive stasis pod, along with the girl inside, had been wiped away as if by an invisible hand, vanishing into thin air.

"Father God's divine powers... are truly unfathomable."

Jiang Wanqiu looked at the empty secret chamber, her eyes filled with reverence, but then she frowned and muttered to herself, "However... that hunk of metal looks so good. Could Father God be bringing her over because he wants to..."

In the real world, at Yunding Villa.

In Jiang Chen's living room, the space began to distort violently.

This time, the disturbance was greater than any before. The air was even filled with the crackling sounds of electrostatic bursts, and the glass on the coffee table shattered directly.

"Boom!"

With a dull, loud thud, a heavy object slammed heavily onto the expensive Persian rug.

The light faded.

Jiang Chen rushed over, unable to wait.

He saw that in the center of the rug, the long-haired pink girl was quietly curled up.

The casing of the stasis pod had been automatically stripped away by the system during the transmission. Now, she was wearing... an outfit that was extremely unscientific, but perfectly suited to Jiang Chen's aesthetic.

It was a classic black and white maid outfit.

But the material was definitely not ordinary cotton; it was a type of nano-fabric with a matte texture. The skirt was fluffy, and the waist was cinched, perfectly outlining her slender yet curvaceous waist. White over-the-knee socks wrapped around those straight mechanical legs, with clear spherical joint connection marks at the thighs, but this didn't ruin the beauty; instead, it added a kind of forbidden cyberpunk allure.

What caught the eye most was the top of her head.

Amidst that soft, long pink hair stood a pair of triangular mechanical cat ears that were flickering in sync with a breathing light.

"This is... housekeeping type?"

Jiang Chen swallowed, feeling as though his fetish system was undergoing a severe test.

What kind of proper civilization's housekeeping robot grows cat ears?

Did your God-level Civilization's tech tree get misallocated?

However...

"It's actually pretty great."

Jiang Chen squatted down, extended a finger, and cautiously poked the girl's delicate, flawless cheek.

It was soft.

It was warm.

That tactile sensation was even more delicate than real skin; he couldn't feel the cold metal skeleton underneath at all.

Just then.

Perhaps sensing the external touch, or because the system's "High-Energy Fast Charge" service had arrived.

The girl's body trembled slightly.

"Zzz—"

A faint buzzing of electricity came from her chest; it was the sound of the core power reactor reigniting.

Her eyelashes trembled, and her eyes, which had been tightly closed, slowly opened.

The emerald-green mechanical pupils began to rotate and focus, finally locking onto Jiang Chen's face, which was just inches away.

There was no confusion, nor any of the sluggishness a human would have just after waking up.

Within 0.1 seconds, she had completed a comprehensive scan of the man before her.

[Biometric comparison complete.]

[Highest authority holder: Jiang Chen.]

[Identity confirmed: Master.]

The girl slowly sat up, her movements as elegant as a ballet dancer. She knelt on the rug, hands folded over her lower abdomen, and bowed deeply to Jiang Chen.

The pair of mechanical cat ears twitched slightly with her movement, so cute it made one want to commit a crime.

"Good morning, Master."

Her voice was still that flat, electronic tone, but to Jiang Chen's ears, it was like music from heaven.

Jiang Chen felt his heart about to jump out of his chest, and he scratched his head awkwardly:

"Uh... morning. Are... are you hungry? Do you need to charge?"

The girl looked up.

In those emotionless green eyes, a trace of red data stream suddenly flashed.

She tilted her head, seemingly analyzing Jiang Chen's physical data.

"Detected Master's heart rate abnormally elevated (130 beats/min)."

"Detected Master's body temperature rising, hormone secretion index exceeds normal values by 300%."

She solemnly reported a string of data that made Jiang Chen want to find a hole to crawl into, and then, in the most innocent, naive tone, asked a fatal question:

"According to Article 1 of the factory-set 'Housekeeping Service Manual'... when the Master is in a state of physiological arousal, as a personal maid, I am obligated to alleviate your distress."

She reached out her slender, fair little hands toward Jiang Chen, her mechanical cat ears slightly perked up:

"Master."

"Do you need me to provide... special services for you?"