Sera hadn't expected Estelle to bring someone else along.
From a distance, she couldn't see his face clearly, only felt he was very thin and tall, with a straight back and a slender figure.
There was no man of this stature among their mutual friends. She stared for a moment, knowing he wasn't someone she knew. It wasn't until he approached with Estelle that she got a good look at his features. Sera widened her eyes in disbelief and exclaimed excitedly, "Wow, so handsome! Who is he?"
Estelle hadn't decided whether to tell Sera the truth. After all, PWL was still in development, and Calvin and Aiden were competitors in the same industry. She didn't want to risk being accused of leaking confidential information later on.
After hesitating for a moment, she said, "He's my distant relative's child, named Crescent Grey. He's recently come to work in the city, so I've been asked to look after him."
Crescent remained silent beside them. Sera was taken aback; she remembered that Estelle's immediate family had died in the war, and she hadn't known about any distant relatives.
But it wouldn't be polite to pry in front of Crescent. Moreover, hearing that he shared the Grey surname added a layer of plausibility to the story, and Sera believed it without doubt. She nodded and said, "Great, you came just in time. The coffee is ready, waiting for you to drink."
Calvin and Oscar were sitting in the courtyard. Estelle brought Crescent over, Sera introduced them, and then they sat down to chat and drink coffee.
The farm was quiet and peaceful at night. Friends gathered simply to chat. This was Estelle's first time meeting Oscar, and there wasn't much to talk about. Besides, she had been busy all day and was really thirsty by now, so she mostly kept to herself and drank coffee.
She kept drinking coffee, and Crescent kept pouring it for her. Sera sat opposite, watching Crescent with her chin in her hand. Crescent felt uncomfortable and frequently avoided her gaze. Calvin, catching a glimpse of this out of the corner of her eye, asked, "Why do you keep staring at him?"
Sera smiled, "He's so handsome."
"..."
"What does he do?" Sera asked Estelle.
Estelle thought for a moment. "A chef."
"What?"
"Mmm... He's a great cook."
"With looks like those, I thought he might be a celebrity," Sera remarked. "It's a pity he's a chef."
"Well, what can you do? That's what he's good at."
Crescent began, "I also know how to…"
"Shush." Estelle interrupted him.
Crescent pursed his lips. Suddenly, he heard a faint sound and asked, "What's that noise?"
Oscar listened carefully and replied, "Those are my ducks. They're in the warming shed over there, sleeping."
"Ducks?" Crescent was curious. "Can I go see them?"
"Of course," Oscar stood up. "Come on, I'll show you."
Crescent followed Oscar away. Estelle didn't have time to stop him. She wanted to follow, but Sera grabbed her. "Does he have a girlfriend?"
Estelle answered truthfully, "No."
How could a robot have a girlfriend?
Sera's eyes lit up. Calvin couldn't help but say, "What are you thinking? Sera, don't you remember we're getting married soon?"
"Penny-pincher. Can't I even ask?"
Estelle smiled and turned to look. Crescent had already reached the warming shed with Oscar and was squatting down to watch the sleeping ducks.
Seeing them talking, Crescent pointed at something, as if asking a question. Estelle watched from afar. No wonder Sera was smitten. Crescent was indeed very handsome, something she'd known since the first time she saw him.
No one would want to share a similar partner with others, so service robots were always unique.
For example, each THG female robot had distinct appearance, body shape, voice tone... even subtle structural differences. This is why service robots couldn't be mass-produced and were quite expensive. Buyers could accept a randomly generated product or pay extra for a customized personal companion.
Crescent was a prototype of the PWL Generation Zero robot. During the development phase, only basic functions were tested, so his physique and appearance were likely randomly generated.
It was unclear whether it was sheer coincidence or if Stella Technology's human design coffeem did an excellent job with big data analysis, but the randomly generated appearance unexpectedly suited her taste. Crescent's eyebrows, eyes, lips, nose, height, and build all matched her aesthetic preferences. If there were such a man, she probably would have been equally infatuated like Sera—unfortunately, he wasn't, he was just a robot.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you."
Hearing Sera speak, Estelle looked back. "What?"
"The government contract we talked about last time, Stella Technology really won it."
"Oh, that's great."
Sera tilted her head in confusion. Estelle paused and smiled. "I have shares in Stella Technology."
"What? Aiden actually gave you shares?" Sera was shocked. "When did this happen?"
"Last month." Estelle chose her words carefully. "Uh, it's sort of like... a breakup fee?"
"Wow, that's quite a breakup fee." Sera quickly calculated in her mind and laughed. "Well, since that's the case, you shouldn't miss Aiden. You're so rich now, you can find any type of man you like. There's no need to stick to one dude, especially if he's a real dud."
Estelle wanted to counter with "I don't miss him at all," but Sera suddenly looked off into the distance and raised her chin. "I think he's not bad. Really handsome and young. Estelle, keep him around."
In the distant night, Crescent's back stiffened slightly. Estelle saw this and couldn't help laughing. "He can hear us."
"Huh? He can hear us from this far away?" Sera was startled. "Was I speaking loudly?"
"His hearing is very good." Estelle said.
It was more than just good. To improve the accuracy of his actions and responses, PWL's audio reception range was set very broadly. He could even hear ultrasound.
