Less than a week later, the AI pet duck project at Siren Technology was officially launched.
True to her word, Estelle agreed to serve as the chief engineer for the pet duck. With the new project in its infancy, she had to oversee every detail from scheduling to personnel assignments and technical support. She was so busy, and since Siren Technology was far from home, Estelle didn't want to waste time commuting. Instead, she stayed in the company dormitory allocated to her by Calvin.
A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye. When she returned home, it was already early May, and the spring in the city was almost over.
When Estelle opened the door, it was twilight. Crescent was sitting on the floor reading a book. The setting sun slanted in, and he was down to the last few pages of the dry and abstruse Artificial Intelligence and Bionic Psychology.
"You're back," he said, closing the book.
Estelle felt somewhat surprised, thinking that he would automatically go into hibernation mode when she wasn't home. Apparently, this wasn't the case.
There were signs of his presence in her home, clothes drying on the windowsill, flowers watered on schedule... Estelle scanned the area, which was spotlessly clean. She asked, "Why didn't you go into hibernation?"
"I didn't know when you would return," Crescent said. "I thought you would be back soon."
She was taken aback, suddenly at a loss for words. Crescent didn't seem to mind. Perhaps her guilt was too subtle to be detected by his sensory system.
"Would you have dinner?" He walked toward the bookshelf, placing the book back where it belonged, and reached for a fingerprint cover nearby. "We don't have any fresh vegetables. What would you like to eat? I can go buy it now."
"No need..." Estelle stopped him. "I'm just passing through. I came back to drop off some things."
Crescent paused for a moment, slowly retracting his hand.
"You're leaving again?"
The fingerprint cover lay quietly on the bookshelf in the twilight. Estelle looked at it, finding it absurd that she was feeling pity for a robot.
She placed her suitcase by the door, explaining, "I'm going to visit a friend. I'll leave now and spend the night at his farm. You don't need to wait for me these next few days."
Crescent didn't say anything, simply nodding slightly. Estelle went to her bedroom to change clothes. When she came out, he was still standing there with his hands at his sides.
She had already left but turned back around at the corner.
"Four minutes," she said. "Get dressed and come with me."
His bionic emotional unit ran at high speed. Crescent's expression showed surprise for a moment before he immediately ran back to the bedroom to grab his jacket.
He got himself properly dressed and then went to the magnetic charging station to charge for a few minutes. Estelle leaned against the door frame watching him bustle about. Her phone vibrated—it was a message from Sera: "Calvin and I have already left. Have you gone yet?"
"Soon," she replied.
It seemed like taking Crescent along wouldn't be bad. At least she wouldn't need to drive all the way from the city to the outskirts.
Estelle sat in the passenger seat eating biscuits. The sun was setting, coloring the straight road golden with the evening light. She glanced at Crescent; he looked very happy, his eyes lively and cheerful. Estelle smiled faintly, saying, "I have two more friends who will be there, one is a robotics engineer, and the other is the CEO of a robotics company. Don't say anything careless until they find out your true identity, okay?"
This was not the first time she had given such instructions, and Crescent nodded as usual. After a while, he asked her, "Is this all you're eating?"
Estelle looked down at the biscuit in her hand.
"There's no other choice, I'm short on time," she said. "The project team added an emergency meeting an hour ago, and tonight's trip to Oscar Milton's farm was arranged long ago. I rushed back right after the meeting."
"Who is Oscar?"
"He's an animal bionics scientist. For this AI pet duck project, Calvin invited him to guide the bionic behavioral logic. He just returned from abroad yesterday, and I haven't met him yet. Tonight was originally a private gathering between him and Calvin, but since I'm the chief engineer for the project, I was included."
Crescent hummed in acknowledgment. A new name appeared in the social context, and he recorded the information as usual, creating a card for storage.
Remembering Oscar's name, he glanced at Estelle again. She was still eating biscuits. Crescent muttered softly, "No nutrition."
"Mind your own business."
"Okay."
They arrived at Oscar's farm when it was completely dark.
Crescent drove the car outside the farm. It was early May, nearly wheat harvest season, and the wind carried a faint scent of wheat leaves.
They walked toward the farm, Crescent following behind Estelle, watching her hair flutter in the breeze. Hearing someone call out from afar, Crescent lifted his gaze. The figure was petite, a woman. Putting together bits of information, he guessed that she was Estelle's friend Sera.
