Published at 5th of July 2026 7:34 am

Chapter 223: Mr. Gates

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Chapter 223: Mr. Gates

Activating his skill, Split-jaw stopped mid-sprint and slammed his foot into the ground. Instantly, the terrain rippled outward from his foot like a stone dropped in a pond, the earth lifting and rolling forward.

The white machine was humanoid from the waist up, but instead of legs, its torso rested on a giant sphere that let it roll around. The moment the wave of earth hit, the laser it was firing veered off course, finally giving Min a chance to recover and push free from the wall.

"Hey, ya stupid puppet! Try to hit me!"

Flipping the robot the middle finger, Split-jaw did his best to get its attention.

It worked.

"Crap"

A bright red glow faced him, but before the attack could release, Min suddenly appeared beside it, fist already loaded with aura.

BOOM!

The impact tore across the farm. The robot flew like a rocket and hit the far wall like a bomb.

"Run!"

Screaming at Ash, Min moved to stand between the retreating boy and where the robot had landed. Her jaw was clenched tight, chest heaving as she kept her eyes pinned on the rubble. She'd felt it when her fist connected.

No damage.

Still holding the wounded Triss, Ash was about to hit the stairs leading to the landing when the smoking rubble finally shifted. Stone ground against stone as the white robot rose completely undamaged.

The red glow started again.

"What the hell is that?!"

From above, Teal's voice made Min glance up for just a second

In that moment, the laser fired.

Caught looking away, Min barely had time to react. Her shield intercepted the beam, but her angle was wrong. Ricocheting off her gauntlet, the laser twisted away and struck the supports beneath the stairs.

Above, Teal's eyes widened as the landing groaned and began pulling away from the wall.

Min had to choose.

Her mind raced a million miles a second, yet it still wasn't fast enough. Gritting her teeth, she tore forward, scooped Ash up under one arm, and moved clear of the collapsing structure. She tossed him aside and turned to charge back, but stopped mid-stride

As Teal fell with the metal stairs, two white arms stretched out and caught her in midair. Slowly, gently, they retracted and lowered her safely to the ground.

Too confused to make sense of what she'd just seen, Min still moved on instinct and put herself between Teal and the robot, which was now rolling free of the rubble as it's arms retracted fully.

"What just happened?"

Min only shook her head.

"No idea, but stay behind me. Ash! Get over here!"

The robot's blank screen face turned toward Ash as the boy ran over, causing Min's muscles to tighten, but no red glow appeared. Instead, a green dot blinked into existence at the center of the screen. It flashed a few times before a simple face appeared.

Two green dots for eyes, lines above them for brows, and a thin slit for a mouth.

Stepping beside Min, Split-jaw floated there, his ethereal form radiating killing intent, more than Min had ever felt from him while he was alive.

"Look for an exit."

"What about"

"You're too weak. My punch didn't even scratch it. Find an exit or else we're all gonna die."

Looking at Min, Split-jaw could tell she wasn't exaggerating. Whatever this robot was, it was completely out of their league.

"Don't get killed."

Min only laughed once, a short huff through her nose, but kept her focus locked on the advancing machine as Split-jaw peeled away.

"Please stay where you are."

The cold voice stopped the old man instantly. He looked back at Min. Seeing her motion for him to go while her aura began to spike around her body, he turned to move again, but the voice stopped him once more.

"There's only the one exit, so run around if you must, but you'll find that I only speak the truth. But will he believe you? Doubt it."

This time, Split-jaw didn't look back at Min. He was too busy wondering what the hell was going on.

"You did just attack them. I did not, you did! Did not! I attacked the cat, you attacked the ape woman!"

"Ape?!"

Min's back straightened at that, and a vein twitched at her temple, but everyone still stared at the robot like someone had just dumped cold oatmeal over their heads.

Peeking around Min, Teal limped slightly from her twisted ankle.

"Is it talking to itself?"

The second she spoke, the robot's eyes locked onto her and the two dots flickered.

"I apologize for attacking. If I'd known you were with them, I wouldn't have been so rough."

Ash, Split-jaw, and Min all slowly looked at Teal.

The woman started blushing from the attention and, at the same time, bristled.

"What? Don't look at me."

Smacking its own head with one white hand, the robot swiveled on its sphere.

"You didn't introduce us! Neither did you! I've never introduced anyone before, you do it. God, you're pathetic. You made me."

Blinking a few times, Min still kept her guard up even though the whole situation had completely jumped off the rails.

"He's fucking crazy."

With an exaggerated bow, the robot crossed the distance between them almost instantly, arriving right in front of Teal. It bent at the waist and held a hand out to her.

"My name is... my name isWilliam, you idiot. Right! My name is William Gates. You may call me whatever your heart desires."

As Min grabbed Teal by the arm and pushed her behind her, the robot suddenly straightened.

"What about me?"

It poked its own chest, only for the face on its screen to redden for a moment.

"This is Alex."

Still holding a hand out toward Teal, both women looked at each other. Min shook her head no, while Teal reluctantly shrugged and reached forward.

"Hello, uh... Mr. Gates, and, um...I'm Teal, this is Min, that's Ash, and that's Split-jaw. Alex was it?"

"Alex. It stands for Artificial Life Extension. She doesn't care about your name. Yes she does. Will you just"

"Gates?"

Frowning, Min looked past the robot toward the house in the center of the farm. Still sitting on the wraparound porch was the corpse she thought belonged to Mr. Gates.

"Isn't that Mr. Gates?"

"No way!"

Jumping to his feet after setting Triss down, Ash ran up and started inspecting the robot. His eyes shone like stars as he looked over every inch of it.

"This is so cool! How'd you do it? Can you jump into other robots?! Oohis that why you can see ghosts? How long have you been in there? Do you eat?"

Yanked back by his collar, Ash let out an offended noise as Min dragged him away and set him back down a few steps behind her.

Brushing off the spots where Ash had been touching him, the robot completely ignored the kid's questions and once again bowed, holding a hand out toward Teal.

"If you would join us, we can sit and eat while I explain. It's been a long time since we've had guests in the house, so please forgive me if the place is a mess."

At this point, Min couldn't feel even an inch of killing intent from the machine, so with a tentative sigh, she motioned for Teal to go ahead.

Hesitating for a second, Teal eventually reached out and took his hand.

"Thank you."

The robot straightened, a smile appearing on its screen, and gently led Teal toward the house. He chatted abut how she shouldn't worry about the damage, explaining that the other robots would have the repairs handled in no time. Sure enough, just as he finished speaking, multiple doors slid open along the walls and numerous machines rushed out and began repairing the farm. A group of them rolled away to start fixing the broken stairs behind them.

Walking together, Ash leaned close to Min.

"Was that thing like this last time?"

"Not even close."

"Think it's because of Teal?"

"Not sure."

Watching the two ahead of them, Min was pretty sure she caught the robot leaning back slightly, trying to be sly about checking out Teal's ass. She put the thought aside as they reached the front of the house. Last time, they hadn't been allowed inside, so her curiosity about the place had gotten the better of her.

"Please remove your shoes before you enter. Do any of you have any dietary restrictions?"

The four of them looked at one another, then shook their heads and slipped off their shoes.

The robot held the screen door open with one hand while opening the front door with the other.

"After you."

He bowed slightly again, and this time Min was sure of it. The robot definitely checked out Teal's ass as she walked by. A thought quickly crossed Min's mind, and before she could step through the doorway, the robot completely ignored her and headed inside, letting the screen door slap shut in her face.

"Guess he doesn't like large women."

Sneering as she yanked it open, she stepped through and instantly froze at what she saw inside. She stepped back out, looked around, then went back in. Ash stared at her like she was crazy, but when he entered, he repeated the same thing, stepping in and out as well.

Split-jaw followed after, but the shock didn't seem to bother him nearly as much.

What they found inside wasn't the quaint interior of a country house but the sleek, bright interior of some high-tech facility whose size didn't match the outside. The place was absolutely massive. The ceiling seemed to stretch into the heavens, and the open space was so large Min was sure it had to be at least a mile from wall to wall.

"A dimensional space?"

"Has to be."

Both Min and Ash slowly turned in place, eyes wide as the white light reflected off the polished floor. They looked completely starstruck and only snapped out of it when Teal shouted.

"Guys!"

Both Min and Ash blinked and looked over. Teal was already being led farther inside, the robot's hand resting on the small of her back as he pointed things out.

"That is where I do my upgrades. I'm still working out a few bugs. I'm not a bug. Don't interrupt me!"

At that moment, Min glanced over at Split-jaw.

"What was Triss doin' down here?"

The old man kept his eyes on the robot for another moment before tearing them away to look at the cat. She was still cradled in Ash's arms. Her wounds had mostly healed, but she still looked ragged.

"She said she smelled something. She probably didn't think it could see her."

"Smelled something? Like what?"

"She didn't say."

Min turned to Ash.

"She say anything to you?"

He simply shook his head as he stroked Triss's fur. The ghost was asleep while she healed, her body limp in his arms. It would have to wait.

Looking from the empty space in Ash's arms to Split-jaw, Min's brow furrowed.

"How come I can see him but not Triss?"

"Because you had a strong connection to him while he was still alive. Ghosts can normally only be seen by people they have powerful emotions for, like loved ones, or the person that killed them."

If the old man still had blood, he'd be blushing like a tomato right now. He quickly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Mr. Tinman, where're you taking us?"

Without looking back, the high-pitched voice responded.

"Not much further. The dining area is just up ahead. Apologies, but we won't have anything you'd find to your liking. Not that ghosts have much of an appetite, am I right?"

The robot nudged Teal with an elbow as he laughed, only for the girl to laugh back awkwardly. She stepped a bit to the side as she looked the robot up and down.

"Exactly how long have you been down here?"

"One hundred and five years, sixteen days, four hours, six minutes and twelve seconds. To be exact."

"Alone?"

"No, not at all. I've had Alex with me the entire time. Not that he was supposed to be. Not my fault. It is your fault. I didn't create me! It's still your fault!"

Over a hundred years. Whatever circumstances had brought him to his current state, a hundred years by yourself would make anyone a little strange. Min couldn't imagine going a week without sex, let alone a hundred years without so much as another soul to talk to.

She started to wonder if there even was an Alex, or if maybe Alex was the real one and Mr. Gates was the imagined personality. Her head started to hurt as they stopped in front of two large steel doors, the metal gleaming under the overhead lights. Before anyone could say anything, a beam of light swept over the robot. A second later, the doors slid open with a soft hiss.

"Tell me anything you'd like to eat, and I would be more than happy to make it for you. I'm the cook, he'll just burn it. Tell me what ya want, and I'll make sure it's tops."

Up until this point, Teal had felt overwhelmed. The fall. The robot's personality. The farm. The facility. All of it. But at the mention of food, her mind snapped out of its haze and immediately locked onto an answer.

"Can you make pizza?"

Suddenly, a twirly mustache appeared on the robot's screen.

"A-pizza pie! Ah-no problemo!"

Almost squealing, Teal turned with the biggest grin Min had ever seen on her face.

"Pizza! Am I dreaming?!"

She nearly skipped through the doorway after the robot. Min looked at Split-jaw, then Ash.

"Stay on guard."

With that said, the group followed inside. Truth be told, the thought of eating pizza had all of them suddenly very interested.

None of them really noticed as the doors slid closed softly behind them.

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