Wondrous objects?

Chen Xuan had heard Amy mention this term last night—only after the Angel Alliance opened access to wondrous objects did New Paris come into being. It can be said that humans have been thriving underground entirely thanks to the technological innovations brought about by wondrous objects.

But when he tried to inquire further about wondrous objects, Amy claimed she didn’t have the clearance to answer.

He initially thought it must be some high-end item; he didn’t expect to hear about it in a repair shop.

"Alright... where do I get scored?"

"I can score you." The man tapped the nameplate on his chest, "My name is Kael, a Level 2 operator of atoms and electrons. May I know your surname, sir?"

"Surname Chen." Chen Xuan took a damaged barcode scanner from his pocket and handed it to him.

Kael raised an eyebrow as he took it, "Oh? A century-old antique appliance? Such an item has probably lost its practical value. Hmm... the casing is shattered, looks like it’s from an impact, and the internal circuit is... hmm?"

His expression suddenly turned serious. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Is this... a cognitive chip?"

Huh? You’re asking me?

Chen Xuan was baffled; what even is a cognitive chip, something with the brain inside?

"Well, can it be fixed?"

"Where did you get this thing?" Kael couldn’t help but ask.

"Family heirloom." Chen Xuan made up, casually, "You don’t have to check the customer’s identity before fixing, do you?"

"That’s not necessary... If it were stolen goods, the security system would’ve alerted us the moment you walked in." He shook his head, "To be honest, I can’t discern its details, so I’ll give it a score of A+. The A-level repair room is currently unused, you can go directly there."

Chen Xuan was shocked, unable to discern the details... yet able to give it a score, which means the repair shop has accounted for scoring unknown items when setting their grading rules. The question is, can it still be repaired without knowing its principle and structure? Moreover, judging from his slightly surprised but not overly surprised expression, this shop seems to frequently encounter such items.

"Can’t understand it but can fix it?" He couldn’t help but ask.

"Of course, the world is full of things humans can’t comprehend." Kael replied indifferently, "Just take the wondrous objects nearby; no one has ever dared to claim complete understanding."

Well... that’s a good point.

"This is A+. Is there a higher score?" Chen Xuan suddenly got curious.

"Each level has three sub-levels, and above A-level is an S-level." Kael led him and Liu Shuyue to the A-level repair room, "And the wondrous objects are at least S-level."

In other words, they can even repair wondrous objects here.

The two entered the room, and the door was shut behind them. The so-called A-level repair room was almost like a bare room, about ten square meters, with all walls and the ceiling made of metal, facing the door was a wall with a movable gate installed centrally, and beside it was black and yellow paint delineating a caution zone, full of a rough industrial vibe.

"Hello, customer, I am the A-level repair assistant. Please listen to my explanation of the repair instructions." A female synthesized voice came from the speaker above the gate.

"First, you only need to place the damaged electronic product on the tray."

"Second, the product should be as complete as possible; if it is damaged, the repaired product may undergo unexpected changes, for which the store assumes no responsibility."

"Third, if the repair fails, please try again."

"Fourth, do not attempt a third time; otherwise, the product may disappear, and similarly, the store assumes no responsibility."

"Fifth, the probability of other unknown risks is approximately 0.001%, which will be borne by you."

"If you agree, please say ’I agree.’ Your commitment is considered a full understanding of the above rules."

"Is this really a repair shop?" Liu Shuyue questioned, "I’ve only seen places where they don’t charge if they can’t fix it, never where a bunch of rules must be followed."

Chen Xuan realized why A-level repairs needed a special room, instead of queuing at the counter. If it were just about repairing phones and such, it wouldn’t have been this troublesome. Even A-level rooms are like this; what would an S-level room be like?

"We’ve come this far; can’t retreat now, what if it gets fixed?" He rubbed his hands, even a bit excited, and said to the speaker, "I agree."

With that, the movable gate opened, and a tray extended from inside.

"Hold on, I’ll set up an array." Liu Shuyue took out four pieces of talisman paper and pasted one on each wall, "Alright, if anything drastic happens, it can help us escape immediately."

Chen Xuan nodded, placed the barcode scanner on the tray, and bent to glance inside.

Indeed, there weren’t any human repairers inside.

The passage was deep, with a conveyor belt following behind the tray out of sight. Surrounding the conveyor belt were lots of mechanical arms and metal pipelines, clearly indicating a massive industrial apparatus installed behind this wall.

But these things clearly can’t repair nanometer-level chips.

The barcode scanner would likely be sent to the depths of the repair shop, where the wondrous objects are housed.

No wonder the hall has so many counter windows—presumably, they are also connected to conveyor belts at the back.

The tray retracted, the gate closed, and now for the wait.

Chen Xuan thought he’d be waiting here for ten to twenty minutes; unexpectedly, it was less than three minutes before the gate banged open, spitting the barcode scanner out as if it were burning hot.

Whoa, what kind of customer service is this!

"Hello, customer, the repair failed. Please take your item." The electronic voice said promptly.

"Seems it doesn’t work?" Liu Shuyue was unsurprised.

Chen Xuan said displeased, "It shouldn’t have thrown my item out, should it?" He picked up the barcode scanner and slapped it back on the tray. The rules stated that after one failure, a second attempt is possible.

The tray smoothly retracted.

But this time the result came faster, as the gate closed and opened again within a second, throwing out the barcode scanner along with sparks shooting from inside! The synthesized voice changed its tone, "Hello, customer... don’t put it in again, get lost—"

Before the word ’lost’ was finished, the voice abruptly cut off, and the light overhead suddenly went out.

"Get close to me!"

Liu Shuyue was about to activate the array, but Chen Xuan held her hand, "Wait, don’t rush."

Just then, a commotion was heard from outside as well.

He pushed the door open, finding the once bright hall now in dimness. Customers were loudly clamoring, while employees were trying their best to calm everyone.

"Why did the power suddenly go out? It’s still bright outside!"

"It better not swallow my phone!"

"When will it be back? I’m in a rush!"

"Sorry, everyone, please be patient! We’ve sent someone to check the fuse box and meter! The outage is most likely a sporadic fault and definitely won’t affect the store operations!"

Liu Shuyue and Chen Xuan exchanged a glance, quickly heading outside.

"Hey, Mr. Chen, how did your item turn out?" Kael noticed him and quickly asked from behind.

"Not fixed yet, it just went out!"

"Sorry, once the power is back, feel free to visit again!"

He said and went back to handle other customer issues.

The two walked out of the repair shop hand in hand, then slowed down after a hundred meters or so.

Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue looked at each other wordlessly for a moment, then burst into laughter! Encountering an unexpected mishap in an unfamiliar city felt as thrilling as an adventure.

"Did we just cause trouble?" She laughed brilliantly.

"No way, clearly its inability, nothing to do with us." Chen Xuan said with righteous conviction, "A repair shop can’t blame the customer for causing a blackout while trying to fix something."

Besides, the attitude was poor enough to throw the barcode scanner at him.

But what was with that electronic voice?

He thought it was pre-recorded audio snippets, chosen to play based on the repair result, but the agitated ’get lost’ clearly isn’t something a shop would record as a prompt.

Wondrous objects truly are incredible things!