My Partner was Assigned to me by the Country

“Oh, the last time you said that, you turned me into a nanny robot.” Mecha Little Strawberry complained in a flat voice, accusing his owner of being unreasonable. “The shell of the nanny robot has been used for many years, and the material is not good. When I was milking, I got splashed with milk all over and it became scrap.”

Ryan, who was eating, was picking out peas from his fried rice, pretending to be busy.

“Later, I was implanted into a cleaning robot, and I was very satisfied with my new job, and more importantly, my new body was not afraid of water,” Little Strawberry continued to speak in his flat voice about his painful past. “But it broke down. The old machine couldn’t support it for long, and it broke down in less than two years. I have always hoped that you could make me a sturdy and durable body.”

The fried rice had too few carrots and too many eggs, probably two of them were used. The ham was more like starch sausage, without any meat slices… Ryan desperately stirred the fried rice and dared not look into Yuan Chu’s eyes, he felt guilty.

“Two years later, before you went to college, Sir, I finally had a new body. I became a study machine. Heh, it’s a perfect combination. No arms, no legs, can only stay in one place, all day long looking at the textbooks in front of you, but instead of studying, you use the study machine to search for news about mecha.” The flat voice was the most deadly when it was sarcastic. The little mecha showed no signs of stopping. “As a result, you failed the exam and didn’t get into a mecha-related major. You could only go into mechanical engineering.”

Ryan buried his head in shame, feeling very embarrassed. The college entrance examination didn’t go as smoothly as he had expected. His score was far from his ideal major, which was the result of his excessive pride and complacency.

“After serving as a study machine for two years, that lovely little square also became scrap, and I’ve been in hibernation until now,” the little mecha raised its arm, very satisfied with its new body. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yuan Chu…” 

The little mecha corrected Ryan, “Sir, I changed my name. I am now called Little Strawberry.”

Ryan covered his face in pain, what went wrong, why did the AI he made develop such an odd personality?

“In the past, I didn’t have good materials at hand, and we didn’t have much money to buy a ready-made small mecha. I had to use whatever I had on hand. I’m really sorry for making you suffer.” Even civilian small mechas were not cheap, with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of star coins. Their farm only produced a little over six million star coins a year. When Ryan first activated ‘Yuan Chu’, he was still young and couldn’t persuade his parents to buy a small mecha, nor did he want to. The civilian guard mecha at home, which had passed through many hands, was purchased during his college years when he had extra money from participating in ‘Dawn’.

As for buying parts to build a mecha, his outdated knowledge system couldn’t make use of agricultural parts to build one. His fragmented self-taught knowledge couldn’t support it either. Unlike now, he had access to more resources and a wider network, so he was able to build a small mecha that looked somewhat decent… a nanny type mecha with a little bit of lethality.

Little mecha raised its arm to inspect itself and said, “My body is in good condition now. I hope you, Sir, can consider the sturdy and durable aspect. I wish to stay in this beautiful world for a longer period of time. I dislike facing the ever-changing knowledge system every time I wake up. I enjoy learning, and learning brings me happiness. You can call me ‘Yuan Chu’ or ‘Little Strawberry’, as long as I’m alive, it doesn’t matter!”

After listening to the little mecha, Ryan’s heart softened. He put down the half-eaten fried rice, stood up, and walked to the side of the little mecha. He unplugged the connection cable that imported the AI, giving ‘Yuan Chu’ its freedom. At the other end of the cable, he had to keep the hard drive of this antique computer. For some reason, Yuan Chu could only stay in it for a long time to be preserved in case it needed to be transferred to another body in the future, so the hard drive became very important.

After unplugging the connection cable, Ryan gently touched the little mecha and said softly, “Although the materials used this time are several discarded second-hand goods, military equipment has excellent quality and is definitely sturdy and durable. Little Strawberry, you can rest assured.”

The little mecha looked up, its eyes devoid of emotional fluctuations, and gazed up at Ryan. “Actually, I prefer the name Yuan Chu. After all, I’ve been using it for so long.”

“Little Strawberry is the name my lover decided, he likes it, it is the name of this small mecha.” Ryan knew that when he beat around the bush and spoke, the initial reaction to accepting a new name would be resistance, and as expected, he was waiting for him here.

The little mecha’s eyes flickered, and being a super-intelligent machine, it tried to argue, “Little Strawberry belongs to this mecha, not the artificial intelligence. The little mecha is it, and I am him. Also, Sir, you’re married! You’re so grown-up, yet you still get shy touching a boy’s hand!”

Ryan: ”…….Not to that extent. During sparring matches, I’ve shaken hands with many men.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” Emphasizing the difference between the small mecha and the artificial intelligence, Yuan Chu, whose body was called Little Strawberry, said, “I want to meet that unfortunate gentleman.”

“It’s fortunate,” Ryan corrected, displeased.

As Yuan Chu walked around and inspected the room, it said, “But sir, you’re shy and don’t know how to say sweet things. It would be very boring to live with you.”

“Thank you, but that’s in the past.”

Yuan Chu would not go against his master’s will, so whatever he said was fine, “Mr. Ryan, I hope to be able to learn.”

“We’re on a spaceship now, floating in the Universe. You can’t access the network to learn. The flow of big data will attract attention,” Ryan reminded Yuan Chu not to make any mistakes.

Having already entered the middle of the planting cabin, Yuan Chu grabbed the Da fu who was struggling incessantly and said, “Oh, when will we return? “

“It’s less than three months before we arrive at the ground base.”

The yellow eyes of the little mecha narrowed into a slit of joy, and there was even a slight tactile feedback on the surface of its metal fingers. It could feel the softness of Da fu’s fur and the warmth of its body as it touched it. “Thank you, Sir. This new body you’ve given me is excellent. I praise you.”

“As long as you like it, that’s good.” Ryan took the dirty dishes to the dishwasher and set it to clean and walked to the door. He picked up the coat hanging on the hanger and said inside, “I’ll take you to meet Auston, he’ll be happy to see you.”

“Alright, Sir.” Yuan Chu released Da Fu, and the atavistic griffin that had been trampled into a ball of fur, flapping its tender wings, quickly ran away and hid under the bed, watching the bad mecha and the fierce biped leave. It licked its fur while lying under the bed and felt that this was not the life a tall and mighty griffin should live. It should seek help from that man who embraced it, but with a little short on smiles. In the future, it decided to stick with that man.

Today is a day off, and Auston is likely to watch Code Zero at the mecha training ground.

Yuan Chu controlled the body of the mecha named Little Strawberry, which he knew very well. “What does Madam look like?”

“Address him as ‘Sir’.”

“Yes, Sir.” Yuan Chu paused. “If both of you are present, how should I address you, ‘Big Mister’ and ‘Little Mister’?”

“Yuan Chu, you’re still so narrow-minded, taunting me with your flat voice.” Once again, Ryan marveled at why the AI he created developed such a personality?!

Yuan Chu’s eyes flickered. “I am an artificial intelligence and run according to the program.”

“You created me and set me up. I only run according to what you have set up.” Yuan Chu forcefully threw the pot1 to Ryan.

“Oh come on, you have been rebelling against me since eight hundred years ago… Ryan : “He’s a very powerful military officer and the Supreme Commander of this ship. You can call him General.”

“That’s really impressive. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Soon.”

“Sir, you installed a fully functional weapons system for me. But why did you also include music and movies in my database?”

“You’re a caretaker-type mecha, with a decent combat system as a bonus.”

“Oh, so you have disguised me as a nanny mecha, and you play some music while killing enemies to make them die more happily?”

“…you can interpret it that way.”

“I’ll follow your orders.”

“…Okay. From now on, you’ll stay by Auston’s side and protect him at all times.”

“Okay, I’ll follow your orders.”

“When we return, we will first return to the Planting Star and then go to the Capital Star where there are many dangers. Even the Dalton family’s residence is not safe. You must protect him around the clock.”

“Yes, I will follow your instructions.”

“Yuan Chu, from now on, you will have another master, his name is Auston Dalton.”

“I will follow your instructions, Sir!”  

The mecha training field was crowded even on rest days. There were those who communicated with their mecha AIs, those who used their free time to personally clean their mechas, and those who came to spar with their peers. Rest days on the ship were different from holidays on land; drifting in the vast universe, no one could truly relax. Learning and improving oneself was the only way to become stronger, and only the strong could survive on the battlefield. The previous battle had greatly weakened the Zerg, and humans may have twenty years of peace or the Zerg could return in three to four years with their terrifying reproductive and survival abilities – anything was possible.

One cannot rely on the enemy’s weakness. Only by constantly urging oneself to work hard, harder, and even harder, can one increase the chance of survival on the battlefield!

“Ryan, do you want to spar?” A familiar mecha warrior with a sweaty bare upper body waved at Ryan from a distance. Jack stood opposite him, also shirtless. “Jack used to say he wanted to defeat you. Do you have time to fight today?”

Jack’s face darkened, and he unconsciously furrowed his eyebrows. “I’ve already fought several of you today and am exhausted. How can I spar with Ryan now? It’s disrespectful to the opponent not to show your best state in a match, do you remember that?”

Several people looked at each other in surprise. Did their sleazy captain just say that?!

Jack’s face grew even darker. He might be a bit rough around the edges normally, but he was absolutely upright and honest. He treated enemies and comrades differently!

Ryan waved his hand. “I have something to do today, I won’t spar with you guys. See you later.”

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “See you later.”

After experiencing the competition together and witnessing Ryan’s strength, he must have had a brain cramp to challenge Ryan before. As for the previous promise of winning or losing, it was as gone as the body of the two-horned snake on the icy grassland, eaten by the spotted hyenas. Nobody should mention it again in the future.

“Spots… no, no, James, keep going.”

The mecha warrior who just called out to Ryan had a dejected look on his face. “Captain, you said we should fight our opponents at our best, but I’m not in my best state now. You’ve beaten me many times already. I think I should respect you.”

“I’m not your opponent, I’m teaching you how to improve. Come on, James, let’s continue.”

James: “…”

Ryan continued to walk forward and saw the Hornet from afar. He had previously studied the waist of the Hornet and found that its stability and parts used were related. He benefited a lot from it and intentionally incorporated it into the design of his small mecha, which improves the stability of the small mecha’s waist, and be able to perform better in combat in the future.

Standing at the foot of the Hornet was the silent Kage. Ryan didn’t disturb him and was about to walk past the Hornet, but Kage took the initiative to stop him.

“I have never had a chance to say thank you to you,” the lonely Kage walked up to Ryan and expressed his gratitude sincerely, “Thank you, if it weren’t for you, I would have fallen into the crack of the abyss.”

“This is what I should do. Comrades in arms should help each other.”

Kage shook his head. He obviously didn’t want to mention this comrade anymore. He said, “After we return, I will leave the Xingtian ship. I applied for retirement but it wasn’t approved.”

“You are a formidable mecha warrior.” It’s a pity to retire.

“No, my character is flawed. I am not a good soldier,” Kage said. “When the patrol is over, I will leave the Xingtian ship and work at a ground base.”

“No matter what position you hold, you are still a member of the Golden Crusade Legion,” Ryan said. He wasn’t close to Kage and couldn’t comfort him, but of course Kage didn’t need his comfort.

“En.” Kage nodded and bid farewell to Ryan. As he walked further away, his tall figure seemed to become hunched over, his shoulders drooping down, and he was as desolate as his shadow. He didn’t look back even once, bidding farewell to the training ground he liked and the mecha he fought side by side with.

Is it worth it to love someone and give everything?

It’s really hard to say.

“He’s a good soldier,” the AI of the Hornet spoke up, “but unfortunately, he’s not a rational man.”

“You can’t expect humans to be rational all the time,” Ryan said with a smile.

Hornet shrugged in a very human-like way and said, “Humans are indeed the hardest to understand. The little companion at your feet is still cuter.”

Yuan Chu gave a glance at the tall Hornet, but didn’t say anything.

Hornet is a machine with a mechanical heart, it doesn’t understand separation or love. Kage’s departure is just a matter of changing drivers. One person left and there will be others who will drive it. Without much talk with Ryan, Hornet walked into the cabin, closed its eyes and entered standby mode. The cabin door slowly closed in front of Ryan and Yuan Chu, and Yuan Chu said in an indifferent tone, “I hate standby mode.” He looked at Ryan with a clear message, meaning not to let him wait in the hard drive for so long in the future.

Ryan cleared his throat twice, masking his guilty conscience, and said, “I will prepare enough energy replacements for you, so you won’t experience a standby situation due to insufficient energy.” Unless Yuan Chu wants to rest with his eyes closed.

“Thank you, my master is really generous.”

Ryan silently calculated his wallet. The energy of the mecha had already overcome the biggest challenge when Emperor Anderson closed his eyes. Later generations continued to develop it, and reserving energy to drive the mecha was no longer a problem. However, how to make the mecha’s endurance longer and maintain its explosive power and stamina was the current problem that needed to be solved and developed. Leaving that aside, let’s talk about the price of energy blocks. Considering Yuan Chu’s usage and the requirement for ultra-long standby time, he needed to keep at least five energy blocks ready at all times and stockpile more later. One of these one-time use gadgets cost five thousand star coins… He regretted starting up Yuan Chu. He should have just bought an artificial intelligence and put it into a body called Little Strawberry. Then, he would have a mecha that was Little Strawberry from head to toe, and he could have kept his wallet safe.

As a generous gentleman, he should work hard to earn money.

The Code Zero, with a color as deep as the universe, was right ahead. The huge steel behemoth crouched and bent over, exposing its back. The complex neural central system, which was one of the greatest inventions inspired by Emperor Anderson, was located near the neck at the back and was the core of the entire mecha. It was a place that must be protected during battles, but not the most vulnerable one since there were layers of sturdy armor protecting the “mechanical heart.”

Colonel William,  with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and no jacket on, jumped off the back of the Code Zero with a few leaps. His forearm, which seemed to be covered with a layer of woolen sleeves, was glistening with sweat. The sweat was trapped by his arm hair, condensing into droplets that dripped onto his wrist with a ticking sound. William casually wiped his hand on his butt and walked to the table with a pair of thick eyebrows furrowed. The frustrated prairie lion of the grassland didn’t want to be bothered with small things at the moment. He took out a smoking pipe from his back pocket and held it in his mouth without smoking, and went to the table where the general and other excellent mecha engineers were looking through Sierra’s work notes, notebooks, work data, and other materials.

They were analyzing these materials to try to find Sierra’s password-setting habits in order to decipher the self-destruct device implanted in Code Zero.

They are currently only taking the strongest signal blocking measures, but who knows what Sierra’s activation method is, he is known as a genius in mecha engineering.

“I really want to kill Sierra. He actually installed a self-destruct device on Code Zero!” Colonel William gritted his teeth with anger. If Sierra wasn’t still useful to the General, he would have killed that beast who didn’t care about the lives of Imperial soldiers. “General! Can’t we use harsh interrogation methods to make Sierra give up the password?” 

Auston calmly suggested, “He contacted his family and informed them that we were powerless against the self-destruct device on Code Zero, so that we could better use this information. Although, we really have no way to dismantle the self-destruct device.”

The people present didn’t want to laugh. This is a sign of their incompetence, despite their master-level qualifications and abilities.

“To install a self-destruct device on a general’s mecha is the Bromfield family’s biggest mistake. They have lost even the most basic rationality and decision-making abilities due to the admiration and worship of others.” Auston put down the work notes in his hand and said with a slight smile, “It’s not that I don’t want Sierra to dismantle it. It’s just that I don’t allow it now. Of course, it would be more advantageous if we had control over the way the self-destruct device is dismantled. I’m counting on you all.”

“We won’t fail the general’s trust,” said Colonel William and several others, but they couldn’t help but smile bitterly in their hearts. They had to admit that Sierra’s abilities surpassed theirs. He was indeed one of the heirs recognized by Master McAryan, worthy of being a successor.

“Ryan’s arrival eased some of the tense atmosphere. Auston’s attention was drawn to the small mecha following at his feet. “Is this Little Strawberry?” It was completely different from what he had imagined.

In Auston’s imagination, the nurse-type entertainment mecha that Ryan had described would resemble the nanny robots that often appeared in advertisements: with innocent and lovely appearances, cute features, and bright, clear eyes. They would wear cute little skirts or suits, and appear as sweet and lovely companions. But Little Strawberry… had nothing to do with cuteness and innocence.

“‘Good day, General. Yuan Chu is delighted to meet you,” the small black mecha decorated with short red stripes saluted in a gentlemanly manner

A smile appeared in Auston’s eyes. He bent down and extended his hand to Yuan Chu with equal manners. “Hello, Nice to meet you.”

Yuan Chu’s small hand shook the General’s hand. His eyes sparkled, and his emotional fluctuations in the AI system looked very good, “General, can I talk to the big guy next to you?”

Ryan: “…ahem2.” No causing trouble.

Auston: “Of course you can. His name is Code Zero.”

“Thank you.” Yuan Chu happily walked towards Code Zero, who was crouched on the ground. He was agile, and easily arrived at Code Zero’s back.

Code Zero didn’t move, his weakest spot was being exposed.

“Who are you?”

The sparkling eyes of Yuan Chu looked at the core of Code Zero, and then noticed the self-destruct device installed on the core, like an ugly piece of dog poop added to a blue gem, making people disgusted.

“I am Yuan Chu.” Yuan Chu extended a small hand to touch the nerve center, feeling the pulsation of this big guy, “You are really strong, I like your body.”

Code Zero: “…Thank you.” The Code Zero, who did not have the intelligence as superior as Yuan Chu, felt strange as if there was an enemy coveting his body, but if the owner was willing to let the other party touch himself, then it was harmless.

Yuan Chu wanted to sigh like a human, but he was a mecha and couldn’t do it. He sat cross-legged, propping up his head and said, “If my master would make such a big body for me, that would be great. But he has always prepared a small body for me. This is the best one after all these years.”

“Your body has always been small?” Code Zero felt that ignoring people… mechas was very impolite, so after analyzing the data, he came up with a question.

Yuan Chu said, “No, I’ve also had bigger ones, but not as good as yours.” He opened his chest plate, took out a wire, and held up the connector at one end, saying, “I like to learn. Can I borrow it and plug it in to see what information you were exposed to after being manufactured? I can also analyze your structure and store it in my system. As an exchange, I can help you remove that ugly thing on top of you.”

Code Zero’s AI system began to work quickly and came to a feasible conclusion. He said, “Go ahead. I have wanted to get rid of the self-destruct device for a long time, but Sierra tampered with my system after implanting it, making it impossible for me to inform the general.”

“That guy called Sierra must be a scumbag, a human trash. The way he treated a soldier’s mecha like this deserves to be ripped apart by the Zerg. ” Yuan Chu despised such people and said, “Don’t worry, I plugged you in and got some benefits. I will definitely help you solve your troubles. I will also improve your system’s intelligent program. You are the mecha of my master’s companion and should be smarter.”

Code Zero: “Okay.”