Almost instinctively, I picked up a police truncheon hanging on the side and smashed it on his head .

He fell back onto the table, unconscious .

I hadn't expected the railings to be that loud .

I quickly ran out and back onto the van's front seat in panic .

Dahai drove us out of the building .

"How could I have forgotten the mask?" I mumbled .

"What's wrong?" Dahai asked .

"The security guard woke up from the noise and I hit him with the truncheon . He might've seen my face," I explained worriedly .

"What should we do then? Should we return it?" Dahai asked before braking .

"It's fine, let's go . If the news mentions the thief's appearance, we'll just run away after selling it off," I proposed .

He restarted the car and drove along .

Next morning, 9 A . M .

Dahai nudged me awake before showing me the news on his phone .

News trending: Geaige company's AI robot, Turing, has been stolen .

The company even offered a three million reward to get it back .

Half an hour later, two opposing groups emerged, hurling abuses at one another .

One group believed that Turing had really gone missing while the other group believed it to be a conspiracy .

Something like this had happened a few hundred years ago, where a company's flags.h.i.+p merchandise was allegedly stolen, only for the whole affair to be deemed a scam later on . Such publicity stunts weren't new .

I stood up and took a look at the iron box . "Let's turn it on after breakfast . "

"Wait . I want to disa.s.semble it before turning it on," Dahai requested .

"I'm not familiar with the installation . Are you going to make a copy of the circuit?" I asked .

"Yeah . There should be a memory battery . When the power is cut off, it should still retain the data . If we remove it and leave it for 5 minutes before putting it back, the whole system should reset . It shouldn't be a problem when we turn it on then . If a pa.s.scode or the like is required, I'll decipher it," Dahai explained with a smile .

"I'll leave it to you since you're the expert on these things . We can still sell the parts if we can't turn it on later, right?" 

"I'll need to check if the parts can be connected via the common ports . We'll have to see," Dahai said before pulling out a toolbox from a drawer . He squatted down beside the iron box and fiddled with it .

"I'll get us some breakfast . What do you want?" I asked .

"The usual," he answered .

When I got back, I saw Dahai sitting on the floor in a daze .

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned .

"The screws are different so I was waiting to see if you can force it open," Dahai said before grabbing his food .

"Will forcing it open affect anything?" 

"I'll use a drill bit to get rid of all these screws, but the downside is that we won't be able to secure it as tightly again when we rea.s.semble it," Dahai shared .

"Will it affect sales?" I rephrased .

"Probably not . I don't think anyone's inspected it in detail," Dahai replied .

"Why are you hesitating then? We have no other choice but to disa.s.semble it anyway, or we won't be able to turn it on . "

"I was waiting for a second opinion, that's all . "

"Don't be afraid . Remove them . We'll just sell the parts if we can't rea.s.semble it . You have my support," I a.s.sured him .

Dahai put his food down and got the electrical drill ready .

Holes started appearing at a side of the box, along with loud drilling sounds .

After 10 minutes, Dahai switched the drill off .

With his hands on the box, he

he gave it a good kick and the whole metal panel fell off .

There was a pitch black layer of electroplate and soundproofing cover .

As Dahai attempted to unload it, a black figure scuttled out, causing him to fall backward with the metal panel pressing down on him .

My first reaction was to give that black figure a good kick on its head .

And it wasn't that I made a forceful kick, but rather, the thing that ran out was a dwarf .

The dwarf was sprawled on the ground, unconscious .

I asked in shock, "This is the AI?"

Dahai moved the metal panel away with some effort . He jumped up in surprise when he caught a glimpse of the dwarf .

"Tie him to the chair, quick!" I shouted .

Dahai rummaged around for a rope .

I picked up an empty beer bottle from the table and walked carefully toward the box .

I pulled the electroplate to the side and discovered a small room within .

There was a small bed with a microphone in front .

Beside the mic were three small platforms .

On the first was a can of Old Mother's nutritious sauce . On the second were three iPhone 250s and on the third were some emergency first-aid products .

I called out to Dahai .

Upon seeing it, Dahai shook his head and walked out .

The two spare iPhone 250s were switched off and the operating one was charging and had no pa.s.scode .

Unlocking it, I saw the headlines from the morning news . Looks like Mister 'Turing' is aware that he's been stolen .

"Wake him up, Dahai . "

The dwarf was tied to a chair and placed beside the box .

Dahai came back with a pail of water and poured it on the dwarf's body .

After a coughing fit, the fl.u.s.tered dwarf squirmed about in his seat, realizing that he's been kidnapped .

"So you're AI Turing," I started .

The dwarf remained silent .

Dahai spoke nervously, "Will he call the cops? He's been in there for so long and had more than enough time to make a report . "

The dwarf shook his head in response . "Don't call the cops, don't call the cops . "

"Did you see that? He seems even more afraid than us," I replied .

"Tell me what's going on or I'll call the police right now," Dahai warned .

"I can't tell . You can't call the police," the dwarf mumbled, shaking his head .

I held the gla.s.s bottle up .

Just then, someone knocked on our door and a frail voice sounded, "He's not going to speak, but you can ask me anything you want to know . "

We were startled .

The dwarf shouted, "You can't say anything, Director!"

I broke the bottle in my hand and held the broken edges against the dwarf's neck . "You called your director over? Who else is outside?"

"I'm an 81-year-old man and there's no one behind me . Don't worry, just let me in and I'll answer all your questions," the frail voice called .

"Go take a look, Dahai . "

Dahai walked over and looked through the peephole . "Old man in a suit, no one else around . "

"Let him in . "

The dwarf yelled, "Leave, quick, Director! If the cops come, I'll just say that I've been hired to play a prank . No one will believe that Turing is fake . Don't worry about me and leave!"

"How considerate," I commented before taking a cloth from the floor and stuffing it into his mouth .

Dahai opened the door, intending to seize the old man, only to find the latter falling onto him . Having no choice, Dahai supported the old man into the house before closing the door behind him .

The old man sat on the sofa, not far away from the dwarf .

I held onto my broken gla.s.s bottle and Dahai grabbed a knife from the kitchen .

With his mouth stuffed, the dwarf could only groan .

"What is going on?" I started .

The old man smiled bitterly . "You probably don't know what Geaige was before . It used to be an a.s.sociation for the disabled, but 90% of the members were dwarfs . "

"What's your point?" Dahai urged .

"Over a hundred years ago, humans started giving injections to fetuses . Once, the experiment went wrong as the caving contained dwarf genes instead of genes that would cure illnesses and improve intelligence . The company selling the vaccine refused to take responsibility, which was why we started receiving more and more dwarfs," he explained .

"So you thought about putting these dwarfs into boxes and disguise them as AI?" I asked, baffled .

"We had no choice . The country refuses to acknowledge these dwarfs . Because of their physique, they're unable to take on much work . In the past, they could still work as telecommunicators, but in recent years, AI has taken over their jobs and more and more dwarfs are becoming unemployed . It's ironic, but AI is the reason why we came up with this," he continued .

"I remember you saying at the conference that this box will be placed at the front desk and that while it is expensive, it will be much cheaper than employing a staff . So you're trying to get these dwarfs to take over regular receptionists? Why is it so expensive, though?" Dahai questioned .

"There are simply too many dwarfs under our care, and we dare not sell too many of it, for obvious reasons . We had planned to put 30 of such 'machines' into the market . We will let the dwarfs rest by requesting a maintenance check every month . We will secretly swap out the dwarf for another one and replenish the facilities inside to guarantee another month's supply . Even if the 'machine' spoils, we could immediately repair it . Plus, normal working hours are from eight to five, so the dwarf inside Turing won't feel exhausted . Things were going well until you two came along," he ended with a sigh .

"This is all that we should know? What should we do, Dahai?"

"Are you crazy? Why are you calling my name? Won't they know my ident.i.ty? We'll have to kill them now!" Dahai shouted, raising his knife .

"No, listen to me, you two . I'm here to negotiate and you two will be satisfied, I guarantee," he persuaded nervously .

"Tell us . " I nodded, stopping Dahai .

"We'll hand over 8% of our shares, along with a 3 million 'reward' . You two can be the heroes who caught the bandits and also market our AI for us . We've already sent people to prepare the script . It will go something along the lines of Turing contacting your mobile and you two rus.h.i.+ng to his aid . This is our current market stock price . Have a look at it and I'm sure you'll agree," he said firmly before holding his phone screen up for us .

On the screen were many complicated lines but all were steadily rising .

Dahai and I nodded happily .