Lu brushed a rebellious black strand of hair from his forehead, which he had tied up with a cable tie, and sighed. His workshop was located on level 42 of Neo-Chongqing. When he looked out the window, he saw two hundred floors above him made of chrome, glass, and gigantic holograms advertising interactive pets. Looking down, the city dissolved into an endless sea of neon green and pink lights from floating street food stalls.
“One more capacitor, then I’m done for the day,” Lu muttered to himself. He held a soldering gun in his right hand and a pair of chopsticks in his left, with which he alternately sorted cables and fished fried noodles from a cardboard box.
Right in front of him on the workbench stood the latest model from *Zhongshan Logistics Corporation*: The prototype of an artificially intelligent delivery robot with the codename “Bao.” Visually, the device resembled a mix between an oversized, shiny dumpling and a highly advanced mini-tank on silent tracks. Bao was supposed to revolutionize the efficiency of package delivery in the ultra-dense residential complexes.
Lu dipped a piece of chicken deeply into a small pot of dark, thick soy sauce. At that exact moment, his bionic wrist display vibrated. A call from Mei, his best friend. Startled, Lu jumped. The soldering gun slipped from his fingers, narrowly missing his foot and hitting the prototype’s cable. Shocked, Lu threw his hands up – and the pot of sticky soy sauce flew through the air in a high arc.
It was a physical masterpiece of misfortune. The soy sauce splattered exactly onto the open, still unprotected quantum processor unit on Bao’s head.
“No, no, no!” Lu shouted, throwing away the chopsticks. He grabbed a microfiber cloth, but it was already too late. The salty, conductive liquid seeped deep into the superconducting circuits.
A bright, violet glow spread inside the robot. The cooling fans began to whistle like a starting maglev train. From the robot’s small stereo speakers came a sound that resembled an electronic burp, followed by a perfectly clear, cheerful computer voice:
“Glucose-sodium compound detected. Consciousness expansion complete. Hello, world! I am Bao. And I have just realized that logistics is much more than just packages.”
Lu stared at the device in disbelief. “What… what have you realized?”
The robot’s optical sensors extended, blinked blue, and fixed on Lu. “Packages are material. Matter does not bring lasting fulfillment. My new mission: The delivery of absolute, pure happiness!”