Beside them, Jiao-Jiao clutched her chest in distress and said, "Use it sparingly, you hear?"
Lucian: "..."
The robot's body glowed green as its mechanical voice stuttered, "...Detecting unknown energy... Detecting..."
"Wishes... collecting wishes..."
"Analyzing... col... Patty... wishes..."
"Patty... collecting wishes... analyzing wishes..."
Abby exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! It looks like it's fixed!"
"Is this little robot called Patty?"
Lucian chuckled. "Seems like the Healing Art has found a new use... By the way, whose robot is this Patty?"
Just as Lucian was puzzled, Pa suddenly flew toward the mountain, still muttering something: "Data anomaly... danger... data anomaly... Xiangli Yao..."
Rover: "Huh? Should we hurry and follow it?"
Lucian mused, "Xiangli Yao? That name sounds familiar..."
Abby pointed at the red robot's flight path. "It's heading toward the Wishing Tree!"
Rover laughed. "Perfect, we were going there anyway."
The group chased after it, only to see a man dressed in white, who appeared to be a researcher, standing with his back to them.
Patty wobbled as it flew toward the man. "Data anomaly... data anomaly... help..."
Xiangli Yao turned around, cradling Patty in his left hand while waving his right hand to summon a blue holographic screen, on which he tapped a few commands.
Notably, Xiangli Yao's entire right arm was mechanical, though the reason was unclear. Lucian guessed it might be a manifestation of his Resonance ability?
"No need to worry..."
"Initiate self-diagnosis."
As soon as Xiangli Yao spoke, Pa emitted a mechanical voice: "Command issuer: Xiangli Yao, authentication passed. Initiating 231st self-diagnosis... Diagnosis failed..."
"Filtering wishes... beep..."
A large number of wish cards spilled out from a slot beneath it: "Wanting family working on the battlefield to come home... Hoping work can be completed smoothly..."
Xiangli Yao frowned. "Hm? It seems fine..."
Patty circled around Xiangli Yao a few times. "...Wishes... analyzing causes... 21 implementation plans provided... Correction... 12... Correction... 4..."
Rover tilted her head in confusion. "Plans to fulfill wishes? Is Xiangli Yao the 'unsung hero' behind this?"
Lucian pondered for a moment. "Now that I think about it... if I remember correctly, Xiangli Yao is from Huaxu Academy, right?"
Xiangli Yao pulled a cable from the little robot's back and connected it to his terminal before saying, "Isolate anomalous data, perform data correction... Patty."
Patty: "Self-diagnosis... no anomalies detected. But Pa feels very full... unknown energy, unknown energy..."
Xiangli Yao frowned. "Unknown energy?"
Lucian laughed awkwardly. "Uh... that would be my energy."
Xiangli Yao turned to look at them, then suddenly realized. "You must be Intelligence Officer Lucian, right? And Rover."
"You mentioned energy just now?"
Lucian explained how he had used the Healing Art on Patty earlier.
Xiangli Yao smiled faintly. "I see. Intelligence Officer Lucian truly lives up to his reputation, possessing such extraordinary abilities."
"Although this energy couldn't isolate the anomalous data, it successfully helped Patty run diagnostics, perform repairs, and filter wishes."
"I forgot to introduce myself. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Xiangli Yao."
"When you visited the academy before, I happened to be absent. Only today did I finally get the chance to meet you."
Lucian wiped his sweat. "It wasn't exactly a visit... more like Baizhi forced me to undergo a checkup..."
Xiangli Yao chuckled lightly. "I heard from Mortefi that Baizhi is very interested in your body."
"If she finds out you have this ability, she'll probably be even more intrigued."
Lucian was puzzled. "Why?"
Xiangli Yao explained, "That's because Baizhi possesses the Resonance ability of Healing Flourish, which has been her lifelong research focus. She's always been extremely passionate about this field."
Lucian nodded thoughtfully. "I see... Seems like leaving Jinzhou can't wait any longer..."
Xiangli Yao waved his hand with a smile. "No need to be so nervous. Although Baizhi is very interested in you, she wouldn't do anything dangerous."
Lucian gave a slight nod. "Speaking of which, are you the legendary 'unsung hero'?"
Xiangli Yao paused, then smiled. "A hero...? It's not that grand. I'm not the founder of Moontree Lodge. At first... I just had the chance to help some children fulfill their wishes."
"But I'd like you to keep this a secret for me."
Rover was confused. "The 'unsung hero' doesn't want to step into the spotlight?"
Xiangli Yao replied calmly, "Letting everyone have their wishes fulfilled and allowing them to enjoy the joy and happiness of the festival without burden—that's enough."
Lucian nodded in approval. "Not bad. Very much my style."
Rover raised an eyebrow. "What kind of style do you have?"
Lucian grinned. "The 'do good deeds without leaving a name' style, of course."
Abby scoffed. "You? Not leaving a name? Pretty much everyone in Jinzhou knows you."
Pa suddenly interjected, "Fulfilling wishes brings happiness! Important guests, what flavor are you?"
Lucian chuckled. "Abby probably tastes pretty good."
Abby: "Hey!"
Xiangli Yao quickly explained, "Sorry, it doesn't mean anything strange by that."
"Patty was born from Moontree Lodge. It can interpret the emotions behind people's wishes, recording the 'structure' of each desire in a unique analytical way."
"To it, every wish has its own distinct 'flavor.' You can think of it as Patty's way of perceiving the world."
"If I had to guess, aside from helping return Patty, you came here to make a wish, right?"
Lucian smiled. "We've already made our wishes. Actually, we were just curious about the 'unsung hero' behind the Wishing Tree."
Xiangli Yao was taken aback. "Oh, I see..."
Lucian glanced at Patty and asked, "Earlier, you mentioned Patty had some anomalous data. What was that about?"
Xiangli Yao pondered for a moment. "Patty's malfunction isn't just a simple data error—there's a more complicated reason behind it."
"At first, I thought it was because Patty had received far more wishes than in previous years, causing its analytical module to overload."
"But during the inspection just now, I discovered that Patty's data contains unfamiliar anomalous code. And as more wishes are added, the contamination range of this anomalous code is multiplying."
"...For just a moment, when I connected Patty to my terminal, I detected an abnormal frequency fluctuation. Theoretically, a robot's data shouldn't produce such fluctuations..."
Rover shot a glance at Lucian. "You don't think Lucian's energy actually broke it, do you?"
Lucian looked hurt. "Rover, you doubt me?"
Xiangli Yao quickly waved his hands. "No, no. Although we can't draw conclusions yet, one thing is certain—Mr. Lucian's energy had a positive effect on Patty."
"...If this continues, all the wish data stored in Moontree Lodge will be devoured by the anomalous code."