"Of course it can be fixed. Why else would I bother taking it apart?" Anthea's voice was light as she continued her work.

She glanced down, her fair fingers tracing the cold, hard components, creating a picturesque scene.

Nanson suddenly realized that when his niece, Anthea, was focused, she was quite impressive.

Of course, she'd be even more impressive if she weren't always exaggerating!

"What's for lunch, Anthea?" Nanson asked.

Anthea pondered for a moment, "Let's order in. I'm craving cold noodles."

"Alright, cold noodles it is! I'll place the order. After lunch, we can take a break before heading back to the office."

"Okay."

Nanson went to the living room, placed the order, and then browsed online for a new robot vacuum.

Although Anthea claimed she could reassemble the robot, Nanson had his doubts she could turn that pile of junk back into a functioning vacuum!

To prevent the new purchase from meeting the same fate at Anthea's hands, Nanson decided to opt for a higher quality model, one less susceptible to enthusiastic disassembly.

Just as he settled on a choice, a knock came at the door.

Nanson walked over to open it.

The delivery guy greeted him.

"Hello, is this Mr. Nanson's place?"

"That's me." Nanson nodded.

The delivery guy handed over the food, "Here's your order."

"Thanks." Nanson took the food, closed the door, and laid everything out on the dining table.

Two servings of cold noodles, a portion of fried chicken, and some fried peanuts.

"Anthea, lunch is ready."

"Coming."

Anthea replied but didn't appear until ten minutes later, strolling out from her room at a leisurely pace.

"Do you want orange juice or soda, Anthea?"

Nanson looked up and froze, stammering, "Wha-what is that?"

Behind Anthea followed a strange cylindrical object about half a meter tall, not particularly pleasing to the eye, with a blue light on top and emitting soft beeping sounds. "I'm not a 'what.' I'm Little White, the cleaning robot! Pleased to serve you!" the cylindrical object spoke in a mechanical voice.

It could talk!

Nanson jumped.

Little White continued, "Sir, may I assist you with anything?"

Still in shock, Nanson managed to say, "The kitchen's a mess; could you clean it up?"

"Right away."

Little White glided towards the kitchen.

As Nanson watched it disappear, he turned to Anthea in disbelief, "How does it know where the kitchen is?"

Anthea took a sip of her soda, "I programmed it with our house layout when I was coding."

Programmed? House layout?

"Huh?" Nanson was confused.

Just then, Little White emerged from the kitchen, "Report: the kitchen is now clean, and the trash has been taken out. Do you require cleaning elsewhere?" Holy cow!

It's done already?

Nanson was amazed, "It can even take out the trash? That's quite advanced!"

Little White responded with a hint of pride, "Indeed, sir! I am the most sophisticated cleaning robot in the universe!"

The most sophisticated in the universe?

Nanson raised an eyebrow. That proud demeanor, that self-admiring tone, why did it feel so familiar?

"It even understands me!" Nanson looked at Anthea, "Where did you get this robot?"

Anthea's expression remained calm, "I built it from the one we had at home. Didn't you just see?"

What?

Nanson thought he was hearing things.

"The one we had before?" Nanson was incredulous, "Are you sure?"

The previous robot was also purchased by Nanson.

Three hundred bucks.

Although it was "smart," it only had basic sensors and repeated cleaning patterns, couldn't talk, couldn't self-empty its bin, and definitely couldn't understand human speech. "Yep," Anthea nodded, "The one you bought before."

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