When Estelle was just one kilometer away from home, she suddenly turned north.
"PWL-000 asked, "Where are we going?"
"There's no food at home," Estelle said, glancing into the rearview mirror where the drone still followed quietly behind the car. "We need to buy some groceries."
It was PWL-000's first time in a supermarket.
He pushed the shopping cart and walked with Estelle, surrounded by colorful shelves filled with products he had mostly never seen before. When she stopped, he asked, "What is this?"
"Instant noodles and biscuits." Estelle looked at the shelves. "Similar to the electrolyte water that robots drink, they provide basic energy."
"Just basic energy?"
"The most basic is enough," Estelle said. "I'm not often at home and I don't cook. A makeshift meal once in a while is fine."
This wasn't entirely true. In the past, she wasn't often at home because she was the chief engineer of the THG project and, to ensure security, high-level managers were required to work in a closed environment within the company. But now she had resigned, so her life would be different from what it used to be.
"I can cook," PWL-000 said suddenly.
Estelle was taken aback and turned to look at him. "What did you say?"
"I can cook," he repeated.
"How is that possible?" Estelle found it hard to believe. "How could you possibly know how to cook?"
He clearly hadn't been given the code to extract information from the resource library, something she had already confirmed.
In other words, PWL-000 lacked even the most basic knowledge about the world. He wouldn't recognize everyday items or know common life skills, like driving or taking a shower.
To take it a step further, Stella Technology had never developed cooking robots. Even if he had accessed Stella Technology's resource library, there were no cooking programs in it.
So how could he...
"I really can."
However, PWL-000 seemed innocent, as if he weren't lying. Besides, robots didn't lie.
"If you like, I can cook for you."
Estelle looked at him for a moment, seemingly having no choice but to accept this fact. "Okay, let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"To buy ingredients and condiments." Estelle said. "Pick whatever ingredients you need."
Fortunately, he could read, so she didn't need to help him understand anything. Estelle watched PWL-000 seriously selecting vegetables on the shelves. She felt a sudden disconnection between her understanding and reality, and after a moment of silence, she asked, "What else can you do?"
"I can also serve you in bed or elsewhere," PWL-000 answered.
"I know. Anything else?"
PWL-000 thought for a moment and shook his head. "No."
Estelle didn't have time to ask another question as her phone beeped with an incoming email.
While replying to the email, PWL-000 had already finished buying the ingredients. Estelle typed as she walked, and when they reached the checkout counter, she suddenly looked up. "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong?"
Estelle said, "I want to buy some apples."
When they left the supermarket, the drone was gone.
The night in the city was dark like a curtain. Estelle lowered the car window, and PWL-000's hair was gently swayed by the evening breeze.
She looked at his silhouette in the dim light and felt a fleeting sense of familiarity. However, the feeling was too vague and weak; she couldn't quite place who he reminded her of.
The encrypted email sent by Sera White required a developer terminal computer to open. While Estelle received the email in her study, PWL-000 was busy with the ingredients in the kitchen.
Estelle opened the program code and, without noticing how much time had passed, suddenly smelled the aroma of cooking. She came back to reality and accepted the fact again.
PWL-000 really could cook.
PWL-000 called her name through the door. Estelle responded and shut down the program interface before walking out.
The room was filled with steam from the cooking. A few dishes and a soup were neatly arranged on the table. Estelle slowly sat down as PWL-000 came out of the kitchen and handed her a fork. "Try them."
She picked up a piece of steak and chewed it.
"It's very good," she praised sincerely.
But she still couldn't figure it out. Every AI behavior should correspond to its source code, and every outcome should have a cause. A robot that could cook but didn't have a cooking program in its chip was simply impossible according to an AI engineer's understanding.
She knew there was no point in asking "why" again. She had asked him many times, and PWL-000 didn't have an answer. It seemed he didn't care about this either, only watching her intently across the table, observing her expressions as feedback for the dinner.
"Good, then," he said with a gentle smile.
Only then did she realize how late it was. She was very hungry and very tired.
Estelle gulped down the meal until there was almost nothing left on the plate. Having just returned from abroad and not yet adjusted to the time difference, and after a full day of work, she was extremely exhausted. Still, she said, "Give me your hand."
PWL-000 obediently extended his hand. Estelle entered a palm print, bringing up PWL-000's developer operation interface. With her fingertips tapping virtual keys, PWL-000 saw her inputting an extraction code for external-source programs.
He asked, "What is this?"
"A driving program," she answered.
