Tiger and Crane, Side by Side

Da He and Xiao Hu take two intelligent robots to a bar for a social test, only to learn from colleague Shu Yue that the machines have returned to the office and wrecked the boss's room. President's assistant Judy calls to press them on performance targets, and they now have fifteen days to recover the robots.

Da He and Xiao Hu track the robots to Tang City, a town of out-of-work sweet-drama actors who force passersby to accept candy. At a black market they find two green-screen romance robots and discover Judy, the president's assistant, being sold as a knockoff Transformer, prompting a rescue.

Da He and Xiao Hu enter Tang City, a town of out-of-work sweet-drama actors who force them to accept candy. At a black market they find two green-screen romance robots and discover Judy, the president's assistant, being sold as a knockoff Transformer, prompting a rescue.

Da He and Xiao Hu try to get their car's communication system backdated to the Ming dynasty, only to stumble into a medical-data dispute. They track down two sneaker resellers impersonating them and learn that Judy has been sold as a smart speaker; the president orders her destroyed once found.

Da He and Xiao Hu are mistaken for ride-hailing drivers and take a child to a math-themed restaurant. At the entrance, they face a bizarre seating system based on counting heads and feet. They are then mistaken for morning extras and rushed to change for a performance.

Da He and Xiao Hu are asked by the child to go to an amusement park, but the navigation again leads them to the math-themed restaurant. At the entrance, they face a seating system based on counting heads and feet. They are then mistaken for late extras and rushed to change for a performance.

Da He and Xiao Hu are beaten and scolded by two villagers, then learn that Laixu Village runs on a cable that, if pulled, traps it in an endless five-minute loop. They try to charge the men who have been cursing them, but are chased and forced to hide. They confirm time resets every five minutes and decide to help an aunt recover her stolen light.

In the lab, Lao Ma runs the Three Laws of Robotics test on two machines, only for the boss to suspect he is a robot himself. The boss then orders the robots to chat up strangers using Da He's face; after repeated rejections, Lao Ma claims it is meant to raise the social difficulty. The boss tells them to capture Da He and Xiao Hu and promises to transfer ten thousand yuan to No. 32 for using that face to make friends.

Da He and Xiao Hu are stopped in Wangbei Town by the mayor, who insists they must pay for the north wind they drank. Da He offers synthetic wind as a substitute, but the mayor demands a full hundred units. Lao Ma calls to report the robots' excellent test results; the boss plans to replace Da He with a machine and orders his capture.

Learning the boss would only pay ransom for a robot, Da He refuses to leave and admits he lied about his age when joining the company; he is already thirty-eight and has no partner. Xiao Hu fails to persuade him, and Da He insists on seeing whether his own life still counts. Shu Yue confides to Xiao Hu that her robot boyfriend has suddenly disappeared. She knows the relationship was not worth clinging to.

Da He and Xiao Hu stumble into a courier station run only by children and get their package by guessing the password. They find a Turing test certificate in the village and each accuses the other of being a robot. A group of children warmly invites them to a party, which turns out to be a queue to dismantle a robot.

Da He and Xiao Hu find a group of adults hiding in a warehouse to work overtime and dodge their children. They meet a childlike robot with damaged speech and resolve to take it back for repairs, but the robot refuses to leave the adults it cares for. Disguised as Santa, they hand out gifts and convince the wild children they are all good kids, but inadvertently upset another sensitive little robot.

Da He and Xiao Hu follow a signal to a city that forces everyone into pairs, making life impossible for singles. They find the discarded robots, one of whom has damaged memory and fails to recognize Judy. Judy appears, trying to win him back with past promises and wealth, but he remains unresponsive.

Da He and Xiao Hu realize the two discarded robots look exactly like them and deduce that the robots are unaware they are machines. Judy offers to restore the amnesiac robot’s memory with backup data but is turned down. Lao Ma receives their location and rushes over with backup, while the robots begin to sense something is off.