Hao Ren finished his meeting and cooked a meal for Han Lingshi before delivering it to her office. She saw Grace and the two robots serving the food. She asked, "Ren, why do you seem to be in a hurry?"
The young man replied, "I have a meeting at the military administration office."
Han Lingshi looked at him with surprise and asked, "When did this happen?"
Hao Ren told her about the call he received last night. Han Lingshi nodded and wished him good luck and also warned him to not act out of line. Military was not something they can mess with. Even if Hao Ren had strong capabilities, his company was yet to make a big name for itself.
The revenue they generated was being dedicated directly to new projects and expansion. It was not yet a capital they could use to flex among the companies who made billions in profits. Hao Ren was aware of this, and if he had military favor, then he would be able to hire more experts.
His meal was short and quick, and then he left the Empress International Building with his bots. The people noticed the bots but they did not make a big fuss because they all knew Hao Ren's identity now. The young man was dating their president and he was a talented and humble individual. They saw Hao Ren stand up for the president when they were in the VIP viewer's area on the racing circuit.
That was enough from him to warm up their hearts. Han Lingshi was their goddess.
Hao Ren drove his car, and navigated his way to the Military Administration office with a GPS application. Xiao Mei had been given a silent command till he finishes his meeting. Hao Ren did not want the monitoring equipment to detect her.
The young man drove at the entrance of the Administration region after an hour, and the guards on the entrance, aimed their guns et him. A person came forward and knocked on the driver's window. Hao Ren slowly rolled down the window, and said, "Good Afternoon Officer, my name is Hao Ren, I was invited to present a demonstration today."
The soldier looked at him with intense scrutiny and then asked him for a proof of identification. Hao Ren provided him with the ID card, while the other guards checked his car thoroughly. Then, they specially conducted a search his bots.
After he was cleared of all the threat parameters, the soldier said, "Please park the vehicle in the designated parking area and wait for a guiding officer to arrive and lead you through."
Hao Ren nodded and then drove to the parking lot on the side. He stood outside his car, and looked around. The place was really worthy of its name. He could see armed guards patrolling the place from time to time.
Soon, he saw a young man in military green uniform coming over to him from the side. The person said, "Hello, CEO Hao, I am Lieutenant Xia Yun."
The officer extended his hand to Hao Ren, who shook it briefly before withdrawing. Xia Yun had a shocked expression on his face, but he regained his calm really quickly. He remarked, "I did not expect you to have practiced."
Hao Ren smiled and shook his head, "It's nothing major. Shall we go?"
Xia Yun nodded and asked, "Ummm, your bots?"
Hao Ren gestured him to wait and opened the passenger door as he said, "Grace, come out."
A silver robot came out of the passenger seat and two black robots got down the back seats. The three of them had a slightly stiff movement, and Hao Ren said, "The best way to transport them in the standing position. Although, they are capable of movements like sitting and running, however, the joints are nothing that could be compared to human movement."
Xia Yun nodded, he was scrutinizing the bots, and said, "Please follow me, the Commander is ready for you."
Then Hao Ren followed behind Xia Yun and the two of them were followed by Grace and her two underlings. Many soldiers took a second glance at the bot, and they were curious about it. However, when they saw Xia Yun, they did not approach the two people.
Hao Ren could tell that Xia Yun was leading him through an indirect path, but what could he say? This place was military and the officer was only following a standard procedure.
After a few minutes, Hao Ren followed Xia Yun outside a lounge. He realized that quite a few officers were present inside the place. Xia Yun signaled Hao Ren to wait and went inside. According to Hao Ren's guess it seemed to be tea time for the officers. Firstly, he felt that he was severely understaffed in this place.
He came alone with a couple of robots, how could he feel comfortable when every set of eyes was trying to peek through his flesh and find the deepest secrets in his heart. On the way, a few times, Hao Ren almost wanted to yell a few words, for example, 'What you looking at? Do you want to drill into my ass?'
However, he kept himself in check. Xia Yun came out and said, "Follow me."
Hao Ren asked, "Is it alright to leave my robots here for a while? I will call them in when I have greeted the superiors."
Xia Yun thought about it and nodded to him. Hao Ren walked inside the lounge behind him and used one of the qualities that assassins have, calmness. He saw at least ten or so officers sitting inside having a break.
Xia Yun went around the couch and stopped behind man in his fifties before leaning down and whispering something to him. The man raised his head from the newspaper in his hands and looked at Hao Ren before he said, "Good afternoon, CEO Hao."
Hao Ren bowed slightly and replied, "Good afternoon to you as well, Sirs. Please just call me Hao Ren."
The old man nodded and said, "See, we are all old men and lack those sweet talking skills. So, don't mind me, but can you get on with the demonstration?"
Hao Ren nodded and replied, "It would be my pleasure."
Then he turned around and said, "Grace, bring them in."
The very next moment, Grace walked in with two black bots behind her. Hao Ren said, "Greet the officers."
The robots stood in a triangular formation and performed a neat bow, before they spoke, "Good afternoon to you all, Officers. Thank you for your hard work."
The old man looked at Hao Ren and the young man said, "Commander Gan, the robots have a separate internal communication system. It is something like telepathy. At the moment, Grace is their squad leader and thus they are following her commands."
Commander Gan looked at Hao Ren and said, "I heard that the robots are capable of autonomous communication?"
Hao Ren nodded and then gestured for the old man to try it. Commander Gan said, "What is your name?"
Grace replied in a pleasant voice, "Hello, Sir, My name is Grace." Read full story at novel•fire.net
Commander Gan continued and asked Grace and the other robots various questions. After an hour the old man looked at Hao Ren and said, "I did not expect that I would see a robot this intelligent."
Hao Ren bowed gently, and said, "Thank you for your praise."
However, the next moment the Commander said, "Xia Yun, go and try to attack the bots. I want to see how lethal they could be."
At this moment, Hao Ren raised his brows and said, "Pardon me, Sir, but my robots are not programmed to fight humans. Their bodies are made of carbon fiber, they are not apt for combat."
Commander Gan waved his hands and said, "I only want to see their self defense abilities."
Hao Ren shook his head and replied, "They don't have such capabilities. We only made them for observation and aid. They do not serve other purposes."
Commander Gan frowned and said, "If they are damaged the military will reimburse you of the cost."
He was speaking as if he was talking about something trivial. Hao Ren did not and said, "Sir, with all due respect, the money my company is making exceeds your monthly budget. It is not about the money, but the right of possession. Grace and her subordinates are the first of their kind. None of the world's tech companies have this level when it comes to robot.
If I go out and put then up for an auction, they might fetch me a couple of tens of million with ease.
It is about the integrity of my product. It is not to be taken for granted. I would not allow you to vandalize them."
None of the military officers expected this kind of courage from Hao Ren. Commander Gan nodded and said, "If they are not even capable of defending themselves. How will they save lives on the battle field?""
Hao Ren looked at him and replied, "Sir, I can upgrade them within a week, and then you can test them as rigorously as you want. I apologize for speaking out of term, but I was not informed about such circumstances."
Commander Gan looked at Hao Ren for a prolonged minute, before he said, "One week, you say? Fine, I will give you this chance. They should have a proper knowledge of self defense, and also they must not harm humans."
Hao Ren bowed slightly and said, "Thank you for your trust."
Hao Ren did not expect that the military leader would be so rough. However, he could not say anything overboard. He also wanted to do business and for that he would need to develop some tolerance and patience.
Hao Ren then thought about something and said, "Commander Gan, my robots might have failed your expectations, but I have something that can help you increase the strength of the military to another level."
His words made the people cast doubtful gazes at him. Hao Ren took out a small jade bottle from his inner pocket and said, "I wonder if you all have heard about..."