Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 256

Chapter 256

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Big Ben pointed at the motionless robot Conrad had brought over, not even powered on yet. “You mean that trash?”

Everyone was stunned.

They thought, ‘T-Trash?

‘Is this how robots roast their own kind?’

Conrad’s face turned stormy. “Ms. Carter, care to explain what you mean by that?”

Stella was speechless.

No one would buy it, but this was all Big Ben’s doing.

‘Great, now I’m taking the fall for this,’ Stella thought.

“Exactly what you heard,” Stella replied coolly, her tone making it clear that she couldn’t care less, even if everyone could tell she was just brushing him off.

“Did I get you in trouble, Stella?” Big Ben asked.

It kept tilting its head, looking absolutely adorable.

“Nope, not at all,” Stella replied.

‘Seriously? This is nothing,’ Stella thought.

Big Ben patted its chest with its little hands and let out a dramatic sigh. “You scared me to death!” It whined, snuggling up to Stella’s shoulder like a big baby.

Everyone was stunned.

‘So… so cute!’ they all thought.

Blake’s eyes went wide. “Stella, is this…?” He stammered for a while, then reached out and poked Big Ben’s squishy, jiggly butt. “Is there a person inside this thing or what?”

That was exactly what everyone else was thinking,

Stella was speechless.

She gave him a weird look, but before she could say a word, Big Ben, just moments ago acting all cute, shot up like a spring and, without hesitation, slapped Blake right in the face.

“Robots have dignity, too, you creep!” Big Ben yelled.

‘I’m stained!’ Big Ben wailed inside.

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Blake froze.

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Xander snickered from the sidelines. Stuff like this happening to Blake was nothing new. He was secretly hoping Blake would keep making a fool of himself in front of Jaxon.

Xander was busy plotting his next move, but before he knew it, Big Ben socked him right in the eye. The punch was so hard that his eye turned black and blue in seconds.

Everyone was stunned.

Xander gaped, “What… Did you just punch me?”

Xander’s voice was dripping with disbelief.

Big Ben said, “System scan shows your laugh just hit a 99% maliciousness level. Were you making fun of me?”

Xander froze.

He couldn’t just blurt out in front of everyone that he was actually laughing at Blake.

He was stuck, unable to say a word.

Jaxon stared at Big Ben for ages, eyes wide. “Whoa, it can even detect people’s maliciousness?”

But before he could get another word out, Celia cut in, “Stella, are you saying you don’t respect the robot Dr. Kramer and his team made?”

The crowd kept quiet, but the old hands from Haliville’s business circle started piling on the praise. “Who doesn’t know Dr. Kramer is Clusia’s top chip guy!”

Another one said, “Yeah, totally!”

“That little girl is just laughable!” someone sneered.

Conrad’s face eased up a bit with all the praise, but before he could play the gracious guy, Stella just shot Celia a calm look, cool as a cucumber.

“Yeah,” Stella replied.

Everyone else stood frozen in painfully awkward silence.

Stella was playing with Sebastian’s black prayer beads under her sleeve, tilted her head and tossed out, “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I look down on you…”

She was talking to Conrad, and just when everyone thought she was about to back down, she finished her sentence, “I can’t even be bothered to spare a glance at that kind of junk.”

She sounded so chill, like she didn’t care who she offended.

Big Ben let out a cheeky giggle.

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Everyone was thinking, ‘Seriously, what’s so funny?’

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Sebastian lowered his gaze, a faint smile playing on his pale, handsome face.

Celia stammered, “You…”

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Stella just looked away, clearly not interested in responding. But Big Ben perked right up, hands on its chubby hips, and challanged Celia, “Don’t believe me? Let’s have a competition!”

Celia shot back, “Fine, let’s do it! Dr. Kramer…” She turned to Conrad.

Conrad and his team didn’t know what to say.

They thought, ‘Well…

‘No way we can compete!’

They’d only brought HomeBot 1.0 here today to show it off to Haliville’s business crowd and reel in some investors. No one expected Big Ben to crash the party and leave Conrad and his team squirming in the spotlight.

Everyone turned to Conrad, waiting to see what he’d do.

After a while, Conrad put on his usual gentlemanly smile. “This project is still in the—”

“Big Ben,” Stella drawled, cutting him off without a care. Big Ben obediently reached out its hand.

Big Ben started chanting, “Ta-da!”

It waved its chubby little hands at the ugly, clunky robot nearby, like it was casting a spell.

Everyone was confused.

‘What on earth is it doing?’ they all wondered.

But then, something unbelievable happened.

The clunky, motionless robot suddenly sprang to life, its mechanical eyes snapping open. At the same time, a robotic voice echoed through the place, “Initializing…

Conrad’s smile froze on his face.

His team members gasped, shouting, “No way!”

Celia’s face twisted in shock.

Everyone else was shocked.

Jaxon took a deep breath and snapped his head toward Stella. “Ms. Carter…”

Stella just went, “Yeah?” She was barely even listening.

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Jaxon blurted, “What… What is that?”

Stella answered coolly, “AI.”

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“Huh?” Jaxon blurted out, looking confused.

Stella arched an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. “Artificial Intelligence. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it?”

If he really was that clueless, Stella might have to reconsider whether Ion Wing Drones should keep partnering with his family.

Jaxon was speechless.

He thought, ‘Don’t look at me like I’m clueless, please.’

Celia shrieked, “No way!”

Big Ben didn’t even bother to look at her. “Hey, trash bot, get over here!”

Conrad’s home robot jerked its head around like an old man in his eighties, moving stiffly. After what felt like forever, it finally seemed to get the message and started shuffling over to them.

Everyone fell silent.

Seriously, anyone could see how ridiculously clunky and heavy that thing was.

Half a minute passed, and it was still shuffling along.

One minute passed, still the same.

One and a half minutes crawled by, and it was still doing the same thing.

By the time people were about to doze off, Conrad’s home robot finally lumbered up next to Big Ben, creaking and squeaking as it looked up. “Hello, I am NC34…4…4…”

Everyone else didn’t know what to say.

They thought, ‘Alright, it’s stuck now!

Big Ben slapped its hands over its mouth, eyes popping. “Come on, you can’t even talk smoothly? You’re really useless.”

ConradBot stuttered, “…657. Nice to meet you.”

Everyone was speechless.

They thought, ‘Come on, it just called you useless, and you’re still greeting it?

‘What an idiot.’

Celia was speechless.

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She stared at Conrad in shock. ‘Wait, this is the HomeBot 1.0 they’ve been bragging about as a “smart butler”?’

“So…” Big Ben tilted its head, looking all cute and innocent at Conrad. Then, with a totally serious face, it hit him with the ultimate question, “So, where exactly is this trash bot supposed to be smart?”

It pointed at the bot.

Big Ben cocked its head. “Is the name supposed to be the smart part?”

Jaxon was speechless.

He thought, ‘Guess the robot really does take after its owner. Ms. Carter’s bot is as sharp-tongued as her!

Suddenly, Big Ben dropped down and started cranking out push-ups right there.

Big Ben smirked, “Hey, trash bot, can you even do push-ups?”

ConradBot just froze, “Uh…”

Big Ben bragged, “I can even do them one-handed!” It swapped hands so fast that it was just a blur.

Everyone was stunned.

Big Ben hopped up, cocked its head, and teased, “Hey, trash bot, you know any fighting skills?”

ConradBot just froze, “Uh…”

Big Ben lifted its chubby leg.

“Ah-da!” It struck a classic fighting pose.

Everyone stared at it in shock.

Big Ben waited forever, and then teased, “You can’t even do that?”

It shot the trash bot a look of utter contempt. “You are totally pathetic!”

This time, ConradBot actually understood and quickly blurted out, “Sorry!”

“Oh!” Big Ben gasped, covering its mouth in mock shock. “Trash bot, you finally decided to wake up!”

Everyone was speechless.

‘Where did it learn to be so mean?’ everyone wondered.

“Stella, it’s awesome!” Blake’s jaw dropped, and his crew behind him were nodding so hard that their heads might fall off.

Stella didn’t even bother with him. She just glanced at Celia and asked, sounding totally bored, “Still want to have a competition?”

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Celia was speechless.

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The folks who’d been laughing at Stella earlier were now totally silent. The difference between these two robots was just savage.

Anyone with eyes couldn’t even pretend to say something nice about. Conrad’s bot.

They were totally humiliated by the sharp contrast.

Everyone shot Conrad a complicated gaze.

Jaxon stared at Big Ben, looking thoughtful. “This robot’s a custom-built super concept model from a lab in Monterra…”

Just building it cost over 10 million.

Only one was ever sold worldwide.

Later, the lab shut down custom orders for all sorts of reasons, so this model became a one-of-a-kind collector’s item.

But it was definitely not this smart before.

Jaxon asked, “Ms. Carter, seriously, who was the genius that upgraded this thing?”

He was honestly dying to know the answer.

Everyone’s eyes locked on Stella. They all wanted to know the answer just as much.

Stella just gave Jaxon a blank look. He thought she was going to ignore him, but she just shrugged, cool as ever, and said, “Me.”

Everyone fell silent.

Then, after a beat, the place exploded with mocking laughter.

Jaxon’s crew from Haliville’s business scene was cracking up, some even wiping away tears.

Nobody could believe that a super-smart program like this could’ve been made by this girl.

They thought, ‘Seriously, what a joke!’

“What the hell are you laughing at?” Blake’s fists clenched.

He thought, “They have no idea just how badass Stella really is!’

But that just made them laugh even harder.

Jaxon was the only one not cracking up.

No one noticed when he glanced at Sebastian, who was sitting in his wheelchair, his eyes flickering with

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something unreadable.

Celia snorted, “Why not go all out and say you’re a hacker, too?”

Stella just raised an eyebrow. “I really am.”

Celia was speechless.

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Xander, who’d seen Stella’s skills firsthand back at the South District Precinct, didn’t know what to say.

‘Yeah, she really is!’ Xander thought.

Celia finally managed to speak, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You really think we’d buy that?”

Stella just shrugged, sounding totally unbothered. “Then don’t.”

Celia was speechless.

‘How does she always manage to leave people speechless like that?’ she thought.

Conrad’s team wasn’t having it. “Ms. Carter, how about you show us some skills right here and now?” They thought, ‘She’s talking big without even blinking.’

Stella shot them a slow, casual glance that sent chills down their backs.

After a while, she said, “Sure.”

Everyone was in shock.

They thought, ‘She actually said yes?

‘Is she really not worried about making a fool of herself?’

Not wanting Stella to back out, Celia quickly said, “I’ll go get you a computer!”

Stella didn’t even look at her. She just pulled out her phone and started casually tapping away, not even bothering to look up.

But Big Ben suddenly started sulking. “Stella, you can’t go spoiling other robots!”

It began to whimper and pout, looking like it was about to flop down and throw a tantrum right there.