The den was far from small; it was outrageously large!
It was practically an underground palace!
Spanning at least half a football field in area, the floor and walls were perfectly smooth, clearly having taken a long time to construct. It resembled an excavated imperial tomb.
And there were many things piled inside.
"Did you build this doghouse yourself?" Jiang Ye asked in surprise.
"Yes, it took over a year," the mechanical dog said slowly as it descended the mountain. "Whenever I found trash I liked and wanted to collect, I would build a new room."
Jiang Ye clicked his tongue in admiration. This mechanical dog was truly formidable. It looked clumsy, yet it could build a royal residence.
He could trick it into building an even larger one for the esteemed master to live in.
Entering the doghouse.
Cen Yemeng suddenly jumped up, "Books!"
The first room was stacked with many brick-like objects, already covered in dust.
But it was still discernible that they were all books, thin and thick, numbering over a thousand!
Each book was also encased in a plastic bag for dust and decay protection.
"There are two types of paper: lightweight and coated. The lightweight paper rotted after only a few years; these are all coated paper," the mechanical dog explained. "When I was bored, I would read a book and then wrap it in a plastic bag to prevent it from getting ruined by rain."
"You read books?" Jiang Ye was astonished.
"Not only do I read them, I can recite them!" the mechanical dog's tone became proud. "The Complete Works of Shakespeare, The Complete Works of Li Bai, The Collected Works of the 23rd Century – I recite them when I'm bored."
This was uncanny. This dog was more cultured than he was.
For the first time, Jiang Ye felt inferior to a dog.
Cen Yemeng had already carefully opened a book and was examining it closely in front of her helmet.
The years had taken their toll, the spine was cracked in two places, the pages were wrinkled like a desert, and there were many mold spots, but the text was still clear.
"That one is 'Comparison of Qian Xuesen's Ballistics and Sanger's Ballistics and Their Application in Space Rendezvous,' by the 24th-century weapons scientist Mapu. It's very outdated ancient text, but it's a rare edition that can be sold as an antique for a high price," the mechanical dog glanced at it and said. "It was very dry, I only read it once."
Jiang Ye's jaw nearly dropped.
Mechanical dogs these days were truly heaven-defying!
With this level of comprehension, it could probably get a master's degree from a top university!
Why did he feel like this dog wouldn't be easy to fool anymore?
"Do you understand the formulas in these books?" Cen Yemeng asked.
The mechanical dog shook its head. "I don't understand them, I can only copy them down."
Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed this thing's intelligence wasn't high enough; its reading was more like that of a camera.
"What does this mean?"
Cen Yemeng displayed the book's cover. On it was a red circle with a red exclamation mark in the center.
"Forbidden book symbol," the mechanical dog stated. "All the books here are forbidden books, from the planet Qiushuang. That planet abolished its publishing industry, closed all its bookstores, and prohibited ordinary citizens from reading. They could at most read novels praising the planet's leader. Those who privately possessed books would be beheaded. I don't know why they did this; in any case, all the books were thrown here as trash. About a hundred kilometers north, there's a sea of books, all rotten, layer upon layer, turned into mud.估计有四五千万本."
"I'd like to borrow some books to read for my child's prenatal education," Cen Yemeng said.
"Of course," the mechanical dog paused, then suddenly remembered something. "Master, are you pregnant?"
"Yes," Cen Yemeng nodded.
"Please wait while I look," the mechanical dog stepped forward two paces and quickly counted on the dust-covered shelves, pulling out a book and throwing it on the ground at a fixed interval.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng went to look.
'100 Days of Prenatal Education'
'Complete Guide to Pregnancy Health'
'Ultrasound Diagnosis of Early Fetal Malformations'
'One Hundred Bedtime Stories for Baby from Mom'
Over twenty books, all related to childbirth!
Jiang Ye excitedly hugged the mechanical dog. "This is wonderful! Thank you!"
"There are some good things in Room 12, follow me!" the mechanical dog said.
They passed through several earth walls without doors.
They arrived at the room marked with "12."
Many metal boxes were stacked like a warehouse.
Jiang Ye went over to look at the labels on the boxes.
[Baby Pacifier, Pack of 50]
[Baby Bottle, 300ml Capacity, Pack of 40]
[100% Cotton Newborn Clothes, One Size Fits All Girls/One Size Fits All Boys]
An entire warehouse filled with infant and toddler supplies, even children's toys!
Opening the boxes and taking out the items, they were all wrapped in layers of plastic packaging. Not a single item was damaged; they were all brand new!
"They've been past their expiration date for over twenty years," the mechanical dog said. "But these are military supplies, prepared for soldiers on long-distance interstellar voyages. The quality of general military supplies is astonishingly good. I've scanned everything; they can be preserved for at least another 30 years before spoiling. If you don't have anything better, you can use these."
Cen Yemeng's tears fell onto her helmet. "How did you think of hoarding these things?"
"Our duty as robots is to protect humans," the mechanical dog said. "I read a novel written for robots called 'The Baby of the Electronic Star.' It tells the story of a garbage-processing dog on a planet full of electronic waste that discovers a human infant in swaddling clothes and raises the infant into adulthood. I was very moved after reading that novel and hoped to find a human baby someday and raise it."
Jiang Ye's heart stirred slightly, something indescribable breaking through.
He squatted down and hugged the mechanical dog.
Leaving the infant supplies room, they continued to look at other rooms.
Some rooms contained very useful items, such as the armory, piled high with various old landmines, floating mines, and shaped-charge assault rifles, most of which still looked capable of firing.
Then there was the chair room, filled with chairs of all sizes and shapes.
But some rooms contained things that were not only useless but even quite bizarre.
For example, the eyeball room, piled with fake eyeballs plucked from dolls. Thousands of plastic or glass eyeballs were stacked into a vast ocean.
Jiang Ye thought to himself that when the child was born, he absolutely could not let the mechanical dog near it!
What if it got a sudden urge and found the baby's eyeballs beautiful? That would be a disaster!
Then there was the playing card room, with tens of thousands of opened and unopened decks of playing cards. This ancient item had existed since the 12th century, yet it was still being produced in large quantities.
Most of the playing cards were made of plastic for preservation.
A small portion were made of metal.
There were even a few decks of pure gold playing cards, quite luxurious, likely used in places like high-end casinos, yet they were thrown away as trash.
Jiang Ye was very confused. What was the standard for these items becoming trash? Why were even pure gold items thrown away in bulk?
He couldn't figure it out and asked the mechanical dog, which also didn't know.
In the last room, Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng were both stunned.
A small spaceship!