Chapter 56: Evolution of the Artificial Idiot

Mo Yu watched the recording, confirming that some peculiar changes had occurred to Alpha. Ignoring Beta's warning, he opened the containment room door.

Alpha reacted instantly. Its canine head turned, emitting a mechanical electronic voice:
"Identity recognition in progress. Station Commander, please follow instructions and blink."
"What a damn moron."
With a single kick, Mo Yu sent Alpha sprawling.

The latter quickly flipped itself up and sat cross-legged.
"Authentication successful, Station Commander. Granting a monster space station privileges is an extremely dangerous act; it is recommended to revoke them immediately and confine it back to the containment room."
"Let's talk about your situation first. Why have you grown mechanical hands, and how are you able to fire lasers?"
"A large amount of unknown information has appeared in the database, suspected to be weapon blueprints. Alpha can unlock and utilize a few of them," Alpha replied.

Mo Yu said, "Beta, initiate a synchronization link."
Alpha froze in place.
After half a minute, Beta issued a warning: "Synchronization failed."
Multiple attempts yielded the same result.

Rewinding back to before issuing the command.
Mo Yu took Alpha to the maintenance room for a deep scan.
Beta provided the results.

Alpha's body had recovered, and its internally melted structures had re-separated and reassembled. Yet bizarrely, the reorganized mechanical architecture did not correspond to any known design; it was entirely different from the technology documented in the space station's archives.
The discrepancy was so vast it was comparable to the difference between a living organism and a bionic android.
It was clearly the product of an entirely separate technological tree.

Mo Yu set Alpha down and commanded, "Alpha, initiate self-destruction."
"Station Commander, there are currently no threats present," Alpha replied.
Mo Yu said earnestly, "I know. As the Commander of the Gaia Space Station, I order you to initiate the self-destruction sequence."

Alpha's breathing light flickered as it said, "Warning! Self-destruction will result in the complete destruction of the space station, and the Station Commander will not survive. This violates the Three Laws of Robotics."
Mo Yu said, "Move away from the space station before self-destructing."
Alpha replied, "Moving away from the space station to initiate self-destruction protocol. Please confirm."
Mo Yu said, "Confirmed."
Alpha stated, "This is a hazardous action requiring secondary confirmation. Please confirm."
Mo Yu said, "Confirmed."

Alpha began executing the order. It left the space station, drifting out toward the distant, pitch-black cosmos. Five minutes later, a brilliant fireball bloomed in the dark, expanding rapidly as its blinding light consumed the entire field of vision.
Alpha lost contact.
Mo Yu watched with his own eyes as it disintegrated into fragments, obliterating in the blast.

Rewind.
Returning to the moment before the command was given.
Though unknown forces had altered Alpha from within, its loyalty remained unquestionable.
This put Mo Yu at ease.

At that moment, the hatch opened.
Alice and Iris walked in successively.
Alpha reacted instantly: "High-risk unit detected!..."
With a swift kick, Mo Yu interrupted its operation and said, "Stop. They are our own people now, important members of the space station."

Alpha's breathing light returned to normal. After a brief pause, it asked, "Station Commander, have you added any male-specific balloons to the supplies?"
Alice and Iris: ???
Mo Yu broke out in a cold sweat, kicking Alpha away. "Shut your trap! I don't need things like that!"
Alice and Iris: !!!

Coughing to shift the focus, Mo Yu said, "Alpha, what was that weapon you used in the containment room? What other weapons do you have? What operations can you perform?"
This question instantly diverted everyone's attention.
Alpha's breathing light flickered. "Alpha does not know."
"If you don't know, how could you fire a laser?" Mo Yu retorted.
Alpha explained, "Alpha only wished to eliminate the high-risk unit, and the mechanical structures within my body automatically reorganized."
"Come, let's test it out and see what you're capable of."

Mo Yu led Alpha to the space station's laboratory, equipped with full safety shielding suitable for conducting hazardous tests.
Alpha possessed numerous new capabilities.

First, enhanced computational power.
Its native computing capacity was now superior to the mainframe when it was in its dim-witted state. Its intelligence had risen significantly, allowing it to provide substantial daily assistance.

Second, structural modification.
It could extend more than a dozen octopus-like tentacle structures from its body, and the tips of these appendages could adapt and transform according to its needs.
Furthermore, its entire body was capable of shifting into various required forms.

Third, weapon and equipment upgrades.
For close combat, it could manifest weapons of various shapes. The alloy performance of these generated arms was exceptionally high—superior to any known material within the space station—and it could also deploy plasma blades to enhance cutting capabilities.
For ranged combat, it featured laser beams, Gauss rifles, plasma cannons capable of wide-area explosions, and it could release multi-functional drone equipment for reconnaissance or payload deployment.

Even more delightfully, energy weapons could now be converted into specialized variants uniquely effective against monsters—the very same white rays fired in the containment room.
These beams had little effect on human bodies, but when striking monsters, though they did not tear flesh, they inflicted severe internal trauma.
Even Iris dared not take them head-on; her healing factor would be temporarily sealed off wherever she was injured.

Regrettably, Alpha could no longer unleash massive, thick lasers as it had previously done. Despite subjecting Alpha to various tests and repeated self-destructions dozens of times, it failed to replicate that feat of converting its entire energy reserves into a torrent of white light.
One major weapon had been lost.

Fourth, tool upgrades.
Alpha could similarly manifest various tools as needed to perform diverse operations. It was capable of handling every task in the space station with flying colors, such as welding metal plates together seamlessly until they were thoroughly fused.

Following a thorough and meticulous battery of tests, Mo Yu felt quite pleasantly surprised.
Alpha had evolved from a simple-minded assistant into an all-around versatile helper. If it had any single flaw, it was its enormous energy consumption.
It relied on nuclear batteries.
Only 15 units remained in the station's inventory.
Previously, the standard power output would have sustained Alpha for a century. But now, its baseline idle power consumption had multiplied tenfold, and during combat, its power reserves visibly plummeted by the naked eye.
Firing the plasma cannon drained a notch instantly. Although its destructive power was formidable, capable of instantly vaporizing a small area with intense heat, the energy drain was astronomical.

Alpha's internal mechanical structure could store energy, but capacity was limited. At maximum power, the plasma cannon could only be fired three times.
Nuclear batteries had to be treated as precious combat resources.
Under normal circumstances, it would absorb ambient station power to sustain itself.
Until a suitable energy source could be found, Alpha should not be sent into combat unless necessary; using it as a daily assistant offered far better cost-efficiency.

With testing concluded, Mo Yu was thoroughly satisfied.
He rewound time back to before the testing began.
Squatting down directly, he patted Alpha's mechanical dog head and offered lavish praise: "Good boy~"
Alpha crouched on the ground, its mechanical tail wagging and breathing light flickering, looking thoroughly pleased.

Iris and Alice looked utterly bewildered.
Mo Yu turned around and proposed, "You two, would you like to spar with it?"
Both beautiful maidens shook their heads in unison.
Alice spread her hands. "My injuries haven't healed yet, absolutely not."
Iris voiced her concern: "What if we break it?"
"It's fine, just go all out. If you win, I'll grant you any one wish," Mo Yu promised, knowing the wager wouldn't actually count.
Iris's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Mo Yu nodded. "Of course. Give it your all, Iris."
Encouraged by his words, Iris agreed.

Right there inside the laboratory, both combatants took their positions.
Mo Yu and Alice retreated to the corridor, observing the testing arena through the reinforced glass.