Star Rank Hunter
chapter-263

Chapter 263: It Really is a Vege-Fritter

Vege-Fritter wasn’t the first ever super AI flying car to be created, but its predecessors were all custom-made vehicles that were used for other purposes than racing. After all, its demand for manufacturing skill, excellent circuit design and technology was far higher than a conventional flying car. It was also why Fleka didn’t think highly of their idea to add a super AI into the car.

Moreover, it was bad to grow over reliant on a super AI as it would affect the racer and the navigator’s ability to make decisions. That was why most racing cars had defense or computational AIs, but not super AIs — the equivalent of a high end robot — that was far superior in terms of intelligence.

The addition of super AI would definitely attract more attention, but it wouldn’t be the good kind of attention. After all, anyone who knew the intricacies of the industry would be aware that a super AI was costly, disruptive, and not worth the effort that was put into it.

Of course, Cillin and Naimi had their own way of thinking.

“Will it really work?” Naimi walked circles around Vege-Fritter before asking Cillin, “That plan’s pretty risky, don’t you think?”

Cillin sat on the floor directly and watched Vege-Fritter tossing and turning around like a coin. He smiled, “It was an attempt from the beginning, wasn’t it?”

“I’m so looking forward to perform and enjoy all of their expressions.”

“You’ll know them once the race begins.”

Naimi chuckled at that. There were a lot of people in the Sizer Family who thought they knew Naimi pretty well, but in reality there were only a handful of people who truly understood him. Fleka wasn’t one of them, or he wouldn’t have been nearly as surprised.

Cillin didn’t drive Vege-Fritter out of the factory immediately. All the work he had done for the past few days — not to mention that he was just done building Vege-Fritter — had taken a lot out of him. In fact, he was so tired that he rested next to a pile of parts without even bothering to change out of his work clothes.

Yep, there was still a pile of parts remaining after Cillin was done. His list included spare parts just in case he failed to assemble some of the more challenging components of the flying car, but to his surprise the assembly had gone unusually smooth overall. In fact, Cillin felt like he had never been more focused when assembling a machine, not even when he was studying at Mo Heng’s workshop. When Cillin was finally done with the assembly and verified that all of Vege-Fritter’s systems were fully functional, he abruptly realized that it had been nine days already.

Naimi rubbed his hands together, clapped once and called out to Vege-Fritter, who was tossing and turning excitedly in celebration of its own birth, “Come, Vege-Fritter. Sing a song for your bro, will you?”

Vege-Fritter stopped turning and asked in a baby voice, “What do you want to hear?”

Naimi thought for a moment before answering, “I want to hear the traditional version of the empire’s national anthem!”

Cillin felt amused as he continued to rest with his eyes closed. Naimi was young, and most youngsters preferred the popular version of the national anthem far more than the traditional one. Normally, only an adult would prefer the latter.

And so Cillin fell into sleep while listening to the music played with classical instruments; one that symbolized a distant era.

The next day, Cillin woke up feeling refreshed and energetic. Although he hadn’t slept for a very long time — he had certainly slept way for way longer in the past before he entered this part of the universe — his sleep quality was unusually good.

It was the tenth day. Fleka had purposely set aside his work so he could visit Cillin and Naimi in the factory they were working in. He had been waiting at the front door for more than thirty minutes now, and he had no idea what was going on inside because he hadn’t activated the interior surveillance system. Since he found it too embarrassing to ask the two brats to open the door and admit him, he pretended to instruct the factory personnel on their car maintenance skills not far away. However, not only was there none of the kindness he usually carried himself with, his aura was so terrible that everyone present was shivering in fear.

Naturally, the unfortunate people who were caught up in Fleka’s lesson understood what their boss really wanted. They thought: Little ancestors, please come out already, we can’t take this much longer!

The door finally opened when Fleka was forcing down his irritation. Everyone stopped working and turned to look at the door, and if this was any other day Fleka would’ve criticized them to the ground for halting in the middle of a repair. Luckily for them, Fleka’s attention was completely absorbed by the seven-meters wide disc-shaped flying car flying out of the entrance.

Most of the workers were aware that Cillin and Naimi had spent the last few days assembling a flying car, but they had no idea what car they were actually making. That was why the same question popped into everyone’s mind except Fleka’s when they saw Vege-Fritter: A Vege-Fritter? But why?!

“Vege-Fritter” was without a doubt a negative term in the flying car industry. In fact, one might say that it was a laughingstock from the start. Therefore, one might say that Naimi was shaming the Sizer Family just by creating it. They could already imagine Naimi’s father and grandfather’s reactions when they heard this; at the very least his father would definitely regret his earlier decision to let Naimi participate in the race.

Unlike the workers, Fleka couldn’t stop staring at the Vege-Fritter. He noticed that there was a pile of leftover parts inside the workshop immediately while Vege-Fritter was making its exit. They were unused parts, not broken parts. Was this a sign that the car’s construction cost was lower than fifty million MB?

Vege-Fritter’s exterior was a metallic color. Naimi’s proud voice rang through Vege-Fritter’s — the ridicule of the flying car industry — speakers, “Vege-Fritter, say hello to everyone!”

A simple smiley face made of two dots and a curve appeared at the naked chassis of the flying car. The sky blue colored lines made the onlookers feel like it was a warm smile that came straight from the heavens,

“Hello, everyone! My name is Vege-Fritter. I was born yesterday. I’m very happy to meet all of you!”

The sound of sudden inhalation happened at the same time.

Everyone here was a professional who had worked in this industry for five years at minimum, so of course they understood what this voice really meant. A super AI system! This flying car wasn’t built with a main-sub operating system like all other flying cars. It actually had a super AI system in it!

Fleka only needed to listen to its voice to know that this machine was truly equipped with a super AI system, and how well done it was.

It was almost impossible to think that a flying car that was considered a wash out and ancient history could be equipped with a super AI system! Even if this super AI system wasn’t particularly high end, it was definitely not scraping the bottom of a barrel. Everyone here knew what it meant to equip a racing car with a super AI system. Are we sure this car hasn’t exceeded the cost?

Right now words couldn’t begin to describe the level of shock Fleka was feeling. He could scarcely believe his eyes. How on earth did Cillin make it? Did he seriously complete both the ring design and the super AI system in just ten days?!

Fleka had to admit that his occupational disease was starting up again. There was nothing more he wanted to do than to drag Cillin over and research this flying car right away. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about his itch because Naimi had said, “I’m heading out to test it” before driving away.

Neither Cillin nor Naimi were driving the car. Vege-Fritter would fly along a test flight path they had agreed to earlier, and they would observe if it could respond properly to the obstacles it would encounter with its mid-end equipment.

The flying car first travelled to a rainforest. The forest beneath the car was dense, and birds occasionally took flight into the air. The light markers that made up the racing circuits were only a dozen or so meters away from the canopies, and there were a lot of moving plants in this forest that swung their thick, branch-filled rattans to strike down their prey. The rattans would then wrap around their prey and stick their sharp barbs into its body to absorb nutrients.

Occasionally, a flying car would run into some big birds as well. On a good day, these birds would ignore the foreign entity, but on a bad day they would attack anything that passed before their eyes even on a full belly. It was basically nature’s version of “you’re an eyesore and I’m attacking you”.

Moving trees, big birds, predatory animals that could fly and so on — these were all obstacles that would slow down a racing car’s progress.

Since the racing circuit was currently blocked off by an electric web, no birds or animals came within fifty meters of that area.

A hundred or so meters away, Vege-Fritter was flew at the same flight level as the racing circuit. It travelled at a leisurely pace, recording everything it saw, heard and received (external signals) while refreshing its database constantly.

“Eh? That isolation web emits a kind of frequency that repels all nearby animals, but it doesn’t actually affect the plants. In fact, some of these moving plants seem to be attracted to it!” Vege-Fritter exclaimed in surprise.

Cillin was very satisfied with Vege-Fritter’s initiative to analyse without needing a command.

“In the past, a self proclaimed smart ass tried to emulate the isolation web’s frequency while they were passing through this area. Although they were successfully in repelling the birds and the animals, it was the exact opposite with the plants. In the end, they were dragged away by a rattan tree and had to await rescue.” Naimi explained with a smile.

“Vege-Fritter, continue to collect all external signals as you are doing, and pay special attention to the audible and non-audible frequencies emitted by the animals and plants at the top of the local food chain.”

“Okay!”

Cillin and Naimi weren’t doing nothing as they watched Vege-Fritter avoid the attacking birds and branches. They also jotted down noteworthy places so they could prepare countermeasures after they got back to the factory to avoid screwing up during the actual race.

The deeper they travelled into the forest, the more attacks they received. In the end, Vege-Fritter failed to dodge all the attacks and was whipped twice by a tree. Suddenly, Vege-Fritter’s exterior began to transform into another form. Although it still looked like a round disc, it was now covered in tree branches and leaves. The rattan tree’s appearance wasn’t the only thing it emulated, it was giving off the same scent as well.

As a result, the rattan trees and other plants’ attacks had diminished considerably. Its load lightened, the only thing Vege-Fritter needed to focus on avoiding now was the animals’ attacks.

“Not bad, you’re pretty smart!” Cillin praised.

Vege-Fritter let out a proud laugh, but it was immediately cut off by a big bird’s attack. A scratch mark was left on its exterior.

“It’s bad to be complacent. Retribution is swift, isn’t it?” Cillin slapped his car seat once while saying.

“Oh.” Vege-Fritter spoke like a child who had just been caught doing bad things.

Naimi laughed loudly before patting the walls of the car, “Let us go on the offense then! Take the fight to the bullies and show me what you’re capable of!”

Cillin shot Naimi a glance but said nothing.

Seemingly emboldened by Naimi’s words, Vege-Fritter began analysing its surroundings. Both Cillin and Naimi could see what it was planning through the control panel’s display.

“Is it going to…”

Suddenly, Vege-Fritter fired off a bunch of laser blades and cut off the rattan trees’ branches before Naimi could finish his sentence. The chopped rattans were thrown into the air, and Vege-Fritter grabbed them as it was passing by using the mechanical arms it popped out of its exterior. Then, it swung the branches straight at the attacking birds.

Cillin: “...”

How violent.

The birds’ incessant cries could probably be heard a couple miles away from here.

That being said, Vege-Fritter’s counter attack was pretty effective. The birds and the animals weren’t stupid, so most of them moved far, far away after deciding that Vege-Fritter was a real threat.

A long silence later, Cillin said, “You’re not going to be able to do this when we’re speeding in the actual race.”

Vege-Fritter’s movements halted for a second. Luckily for them, the whipping had been so terrible that no birds had decided to jump on the opportunity, not to mention that they were about to exit the rain forest area pretty soon.

“That’s another mistake you just made.” Cillin said.

Obviously, Vege-Fritter was also well aware that its earlier pause in movement was a mistake.

“It’s okay, it’s not like we’re racing yet. For now, Vege-Fritter’s performance is adequate.” Naimi said.

“It’s adequate, but I’ll be driving when we’re actually in the race. You should record what you learn from the race, there are many important things that you’ll learn only when you’re actually competing.” The latter half of the sentence was directed at Vege-Fritter. From the start, he wasn’t planning to rely on the super AI he created for the entirety of the race. It really was made for a particular section of the race.

“Okay!” Vege-Fritter sounded like it looked forward to this very much.

And so the flying car passed through the sticky swamp area, the howling snow area, the vast desert area, the meandering mountain area and so on at the same pace.

Three flying cars were parked at a cliff at a section of the mountain area. A few people could be seen leaning against their cars, laughing, drinking and chatting a little about the race.

Suddenly, one of them spat out the alcohol in their mouth.

“Holy shit! A Vege-Fritter! Is my eyes playing tricks on me?”

“Are you getting drunk already? How… Holy shit! It actually is a Vege-Fritter!”

“There are still people who parade themselves in a Vege-Fritter at this age and era?” The man who said this seemed to find it very difficult to believe.

“Where did that car come from? A museum? Or an exhibition hall?”

Vege-Fritter flew past the mountain they were on in an instant. None of them noticed that Vege-Fritter wasn’t flying during the first part of the circuit because it had transformed back to flight mode after detecting their presence.

In his seat, Naimi watched the people standing at the cliff on the display and tabbed the back of his chair once.

What’s so shameful about a Vege-Fritter? Naimi felt like gifting these people a brick to the face when he saw their disgusted looks.

Technically, flying cars don’t have shame. It wasn’t a term that it should be burdened with either. It was a product that carried humanity through an era, and no one should deny its achievements even if it turned out to be flawed in many ways. It wasn’t a failure, and it even had its moment of glory once upon a time. It was the brightest star of its era, and ‘improved’ versions of it such as Crescent or Knife* wouldn’t have existed if Vege-Fritter hadn’t come first.

*referring to the crescent-shaped and knife-shaped flying cars mentioned during earlier chapters

The first time Naimi saw a Vege-Fritter, he was just a young kid. When he saw it sitting alone in his family’s — also the empire’s biggest and most complete — flying car commemorative museum while being frequented by no one, he suddenly felt like he could hear its sorrowful cries. All other exhibition areas were surrounded by at least six circles of people as the self-proclaimed professionals boasted about their favorite flying cars. Naimi had felt that the flying car everyone derogatively called a ‘vegetable fritter’ was just waiting for someone to save it from this lonely abyss.

Compassion, understanding and dignity were all basic qualities of a person. However, these qualities normally weren’t reflected on an object such as a flying car. A lot of people couldn’t understand the Sizer Family’s obsession with flying cars and thought that it was just their way to earn money, but not everyone in the family was actually like that. At the very least, Naimi himself didn’t love flying cars for the sake of profit.

That emotion had come too quickly and too strongly to Naimi that day, and he had never forgotten about it. It was why Cillin had smiled when Naimi suggested to name their new flying car “Vege-Fritter”. Cillin thought from the bottom of his heart that the name was really good.

A successful person didn’t need to give themselves a deep sounding name because their name would become shiny on its own the moment they succeeded. Just the same, a successful flying car didn’t need a name so flamboyant it almost seemed like it was afraid that people wouldn’t recognize its depth. If it succeeds, then depth will come to it naturally.

Naimi went to Cillin because he wanted to bring this discarded car back to the peak once more. He wanted to accompany it on its journey to the top, force everyone to recognize their own errors and take that heavy term of its back once and for all.

“We’ll win, Vege-Fritter!”

“Of course. I think I’ll win too!” Vege-Fritter said affirmatively.

“Can you stop dreaming? There’s a problem we need to solve right away.” Cillin cut off the duo’s conversation.

“What is it?” Naimi asked in confusion.

“Did you bring any food along?” Cillin looked at him.

Naimi: “... Fuck!”