Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 63 The Meaning of Life

She stood firmly at the door, greeted him respectfully, and when her gaze fell on the elder, she didn't wander off, but simply replied naturally, "I've long admired your name. It's truly a surprise and an honor to meet you, especially Professor Orion."

The words were spoken very politely.

Master Tai looked at her, his gentle smile unchanged, and simply gestured for her to sit down.

"Have a seat," he said. "There's no need to stand and talk. Orion has mentioned you many times; it's great to finally meet you today."

Vector then sat down, his movements slow and unhurried, without appearing restrained. Orion sat beside him, his expression still calm, as if he hadn't been the one who had kept her completely bewildered outside.

The titanium expert asked in a very casual manner.

"How have you been lately?" He looked at the vector. "Orion told me you've been quite busy."

The vector key replied steadily, "It is a bit busy, but it's all within my control."

"What are you busy with?"

"It's a bit of everything," she said. "I have to look at some documents, follow up on some things, and sometimes I help out with other things. It's a bit of a jumble, but it's not all for nothing."

This answer wasn't very long, but it sounded quite natural.

Master Titanium nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the answer, and didn't press further, simply asking, "Are you usually alright during your rest periods?"

Upon hearing this, Yin Xiang paused for a moment before replying, "It's a little better than before."

"Were things bad recently?"

"It's not bad," she replied. "It's just that when things pile up, it's easy to forget about everything else."

After listening, Master Titanium responded softly.

Orian, who was standing nearby, then chimed in, "She's much better now than before."

Yin Xiang glanced at him sideways and said, "You make it sound like I was about to break down recently."

"I didn't say that," Orion said calmly.

"It was in your tone."

Orion's eyes held a hint of amusement, and he didn't continue arguing.

Master Titanium watched from the side, smiled slightly, and then steered the conversation away from there.

"So, how did you and Orion meet?"

Yin Vector withdrew his gaze and answered steadily: "At first it was about checking information and permissions, but after we had more contact, we gradually got to know each other."

"How have you felt about spending time together?"

This time she paused, as if seriously considering her words, before saying, "It's fine."

She paused, then added, making it even clearer: "Calm, reasonable, and not annoying; he's the kind of person who can get a machine to speak normally."

Orian sat quietly to one side, listening without interrupting, but his smile was noticeably deeper than before.

Master Titanium smiled slightly: "This is already quite a high compliment for him."

"It's quite high," the vector said frankly.

"Looks like Orion hasn't been mentioning you to me for nothing lately."

Upon hearing this, Vector subconsciously looked up, glanced at Master Titanium, and then turned his head to look at Orion.

Orion's expression remained calm, as if nothing had happened, but his gaze flickered to the left, a look he couldn't hide.

Yin Xiang's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't expose him on the spot. Instead, he turned back and said, "Then his description of me must have been quite embellished."

Master Titanium looked at her and said gently, "He said you are capable, have your own ideas, and are not the type to easily follow anyone's lead."

After listening, Yin Xiang's expression didn't change much; he simply replied calmly, "Well, he didn't exaggerate too much this time."

Master Titanium's smile widened: "You're quite the impolite one."

"Being overly polite can easily seem insincere," she replied.

The atmosphere in the room finally relaxed a little here, but not by much.

Master Tai saw it all clearly. The child before him was impeccably polite, spoke calmly, accepted all the responses he was given, and spoke eloquently, yet he revealed nothing truly crucial. It wasn't a deliberate attempt to give the cold shoulder; rather, he naturally kept the conversation at a safe point.

Instead of immediately dismantling her defenses, he steered the conversation elsewhere.

"Besides looking at documents and being busy," he said in a calm tone, "do you do anything else? You can't just immerse yourself in work all the time."

After thinking for a moment, the vector thought for a moment: "Yes."

"for example?"

"It depends," she said. "Sometimes I go out for a walk, sometimes I find something to eat to recharge, and sometimes I chat with people I know well. When I'm really too busy, I'll just space out for a while."

"Does spacing out count?"

"Yes," the vector replied seriously. "At least it's beneficial to the brain module."

Orian, standing beside him, finally chuckled softly.

Master Titanium laughed too: "That's quite practical."

Yin Xiang didn't say anything more, just sat there, her posture very steady, leaning back slightly. She seemed to have relaxed a bit, but if you looked closely, you could see that she was still holding back, still not truly letting herself slip into a completely relaxed state of casual conversation.

Of course, Master Titanium could tell.

But he didn't rush to ask deeper questions. He simply finished the conversation calmly, as if he were just looking at a young man that Orion had brought to see him. He would ask a few questions, chat for a bit, and take a look at what kind of person this kid was.

And the vector is also very clear; the other party certainly wouldn't just ask casually.

But precisely because of this, she answered more steadily, responding appropriately and subtly, without being abrupt or revealing too much.

-

The casual conversation continued for a while longer before Master Tai casually steered the conversation away from the main topic.

"Orion told me you've been in contact with quite a few people and things lately." He looked at the vector. "So, what do you think of Cybertron now?"

Yin Xiang raised his eyes and met his gaze.

This is no longer just casual conversation.

She didn't answer immediately, but remained silent for two seconds before slowly saying, "Not too good."

"What's not quite right?"

"Some things are out of balance," she replied. "They haven't done what they should have done, but they've done a lot of things they shouldn't have. And some responsibilities in certain positions haven't been properly shouldered."

She said a lot of this, but it still only stayed at her own level of understanding, without relating it to any specific people or events.

After listening, Master Titanium simply nodded slightly.

"So, does that make you particularly dislike the machines that people sit on now?"

After thinking about it, the vector did not try to avoid it.

"It's not that I particularly hate it," she said. "It's just annoying. It's not that whoever sits in that position is necessarily wrong, but that once they're in it, they don't do what they're supposed to do, and instead always push things in a more complicated direction."

"So you're more bothered by the result?"

"It's not just the result," Vector said. "The process itself is quite troublesome as well."

Upon hearing this, Master Titanium's eyes flickered with a slight smile, as if he found the remark quite amusing: "You've got it pretty clear."

"We can't just lump everything together and criticize it all," she replied naturally.

Orian sat to one side, still not saying much, just listening quietly. He could sense that the conversation was starting to move from the surface to a deeper level, but the teacher didn't push, nor did she dodge; she remained steadfast, firmly guarding the boundaries in her own hands.

Master Titanium looked at her, paused, and then steered the conversation down a level.

"Life on Cybertron, in essence, all comes from the Spark," he said. "The Spark originates from the Spark Well, each with its own unique characteristics, and then gradually absorbs the surrounding metal to form a body, to form consciousness, and to form all the paths that will follow."

He spoke plainly, recounting this ancient and fundamental fact.

"In that case," he looked at the vector, "what do you think life itself should be like? Or rather, what do you think the meaning of life is closer to?"

The room fell silent for a moment.

This time, Yin Vector didn't speak immediately. She lowered her optical glasses, as if seriously considering how to explain the issue clearly. After a while, she slowly said, "Life should first and foremost be treated as life."

She raised her head, her voice not loud, but this time she answered earnestly from the depth of her understanding.

"The most basic respect and the most basic protection should be provided. It shouldn't be about whether something is worthwhile or useful before deciding whether it deserves to be kept."

Master Titanium did not interrupt, but listened quietly.

Vector continued, "I don't think life is something that should be defined by anyone from the beginning. After all, life is very complex and cannot be explained in a few words. What it experiences, what it comes into contact with, what it thinks, and what it becomes are often things that grow little by little later on."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"So I don't like to directly focus on function and results when it comes to life. It's not that efficiency isn't important, nor that order is unnecessary. I think necessary constraints, controls, and even punishments are all required. But these things shouldn't end up with just one purpose: to treat life as a tool, squeezing it out into something that only looks at function and output."

Her tone was calm and serious, but not heavy.

"Everyone will eventually come to an end; no one can escape that." She looked at Master Tai. "But I think what matters is not whether the end is the same or different, but what you experience in between. What the process is like, what the experience is like—these are all very important."

The room was silent for several seconds.

Master Titanium looked at her, his gentle gaze deepening with each word she spoke. He didn't rush to praise her, nor did he immediately make a judgment; he simply continued along with what she was saying.

"Yes," he said slowly. "The end of life may be similar for everyone, but the experience itself is different, the feelings are different, and the paths we take are different. If we only measure by the result, many truly important things will be lost first."

Upon hearing this, Yin Xiang realized for the first time that the person in front of her was indeed quite different from the Supreme Council members she had originally imagined.

At least, not everyone is willing to take such a statement seriously.

Master Titanium looked at her, his tone still calm.

"Some things are indeed different from before," he said. "Cybertron is now severely unbalanced in many ways. Power is still operating, but it's operating in the wrong direction. Some of the machines in certain positions have long forgotten what they were supposed to be doing."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"As one of the thirteen progenitors, and the only one still remaining on Cybertron, it would be a lie to say I'm not heartbroken to see it gradually deteriorate to this state."

After those words were spoken, the room remained quiet for a long time.

Vector didn't respond immediately; she just looked at Master Titanium again for a while.

Since the other party told me about this, it would be really unreasonable for me not to follow up.

Judging from Master Tai's words, actions, and attitude, she could somewhat guess that besides being a member of parliament, he was also a man of considerable stature. However, she never expected him to be a figure like the Thirteen Ancestors of mythology.

She barely managed to suppress her shock; the defenses in her eyes finally loosened considerably, though not entirely.

After a while, she spoke very seriously: "Given your position and status, seeing things turn out like this... must be quite painful."

Master Titanium did not deny it, but just looked at her quietly.

The vector continued speaking, his voice a little softer, but very firm.

"But Cybertron isn't beyond saving yet," she said. "At least not all machines are just letting themselves rot away. There are still machines holding on, and there are still some things that haven't completely died out."

She didn't say who it was, but the meaning behind her words was clear to both Master Titan and Orion.

The room fell silent again for a while, and the gentleness in Master Titanium's eyes became clearer, as if he had only just confirmed certain qualities in the child in front of him.

He then slowly turned his head to look at Orian, who had been listening quietly beside him.

Orion.

"teacher?"

"Go and fetch that old file from the storage room for me," Master Tai said calmly. "It's the one I asked you to organize last time."

Ollie paused for a moment, clearly a little surprised, but quickly agreed: "Okay."

Before he stood up, he subconsciously glanced at the vector. The vector also glanced at him, said nothing, and nodded slightly.

After Orion left and the door closed again, only the Vector and the Titanium Master remained in the room.