CH 2

Chu Shici struggled to say “wind power generation,” and there was a stronger sense of mockery in Su Zheyan’s eyes.

The tip of the dagger squeezed into the gap next to his head, and as long as a few strong prying motions were made, his skull could be pried open.

Chu Shici had used a dagger many times before in his life, but it was the first time someone had used a dagger to pry open his head.

The system pulled out a handkerchief to wipe sweat, “Now you are a robot, even if you are dismantled into pieces, you won’t die.”

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s similar to dismemberment for a living person, but I can block it.”

The system activated the pain suppressor, and Chu Shici slumped in the palm of the male protagonist’s hand, motionless.

He waved his hand, “Go ahead and dismantle me, but remember to assemble me back.”

Just as his skull was about to be pried open, he suddenly spoke, “Why are you the only one left? What about your family?”

The dagger paused, and Su Zheyan’s voice remained cold, “It has nothing to do with you.”

Chu Shici jumped up, “Your father bought me, how can it have nothing to do with me? When your father bought me from the toy store, he said that I should accompany you well. You played with me a few times before, and after more than ten years, I’m still 70% new, but I didn’t even have a chance to perform.”

Su Zheyan lowered his gaze and looked at him, “My father’s facial features.”

Chu Shici gestured towards the metal box, “How would I know? I was packed inside the packaging box, I could only hear voices.”

The man didn’t say anything, and it was unclear whether he believed him or not.

Looking at his character settings, the system said, “Wait a minute, his father didn’t go to a physical store, you were purchased online. Same-day delivery, free shipping to your doorstep.”

Chu Shici just didn’t want his skull to be opened. “I was bluffing him.”

He originally thought Su Zheyan would have a lot of questions for him, like why he, as a machine toy, possessed human intelligence, and why he couldn’t speak human language before.

Chu Shici had already prepared drafts in his mind, but Su Zheyan didn’t ask a single question.

It seemed like he planned to uncover the truth through his own efforts.

The male protagonist didn’t seem easy to get along with, and Chu Shici hadn’t figured out his temperament yet, so he didn’t dare to speak casually.

He was afraid that any word would irritate Su Zheyan and result in his disassembly right there.

He hadn’t studied robots before, so if he finished self-assembly and found a few extra screws, he wouldn’t need to live either.

……

Possibly due to the filter of his father’s legacy, after Chu Shici’s reminder, Su Zheyan didn’t pry open his skull again.

He set the dagger aside and instead studied him in a relatively gentle manner.

The new method was tormenting. If it weren’t for the vast difference in size, Chu Shici really wanted to crack open the male protagonist’s skull.

Su Zheyan cradled him in his left hand and used his right hand to touch and explore his body.

The slightly cool fingers brushed over his limbs, occasionally kneading them.

Chu Shici had a mechanical shell but a human soul, and he was still completely inexperienced.

The sensation of being touched was transmitted to him accurately, and he was being driven crazy by it.

The overall examination was almost complete, and Su Zheyan spread apart his fingers, wanting to pry open his mechanical leg.

The leg was made of pure metal, cylindrical in shape, with shallow seams at the joints.

Chu Shici kicked him and clenched his fist, smashing the fingers in front of him forcefully.

“Enough! Consider my feelings!”

Su Zheyan lowered his head, looking at his reddened fingertips, his voice still devoid of fluctuations, “Only humans have such shame. You are a robot, why would you feel embarrassed? Or is it that when I touch you, you also feel something?”

Chu Shici hadn’t thought about how to respond, so he pretended not to hear.

The fingers that had been exploring his limbs suddenly jabbed towards his eyes.

Instinctively, Chu Shici leaned back, and he heard a soft chuckle from above.

He looked up to see Su Zheyan squinting, scrutinizing him.

Chu Shici’s heart tightened, and he called out to the system, “Oh no, I think my human identity has been exposed!”

The system was puzzled, “But nobody said you couldn’t expose it.”

“Oh, right.”

The male protagonist was a man of few words. That long sentence just now seemed to have exhausted his quota for today’s conversation.

Whenever Chu Shici thought he was going to be interrogated, Su Zheyan would fall silent and immerse himself in his research.

He didn’t miss a single spot as he touched, causing Chu Shici to tremble under his touch. Although he knew he was just a tin toy in the eyes of the male protagonist, he still felt angry.

Chu Shici endured for a while, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He jumped up and started attacking the fingers in front of him.

He had frequently fought with people in his previous life, so even though his size had significantly shrunk now, he should still be able to handle a single finger.

Perhaps one of his strikes hurt, as Su Zheyan’s brow subtly furrowed.

Although it was just a simple frown, it still gave Chu Shici a strange sense of accomplishment.

The system asked him, “Have you come to terms with it? Have you accepted the fact that you’re not human so quickly?”

Chu Shici stared warily at the fingers swaying back and forth and replied, “Well, at least I can still move for now. If I look at it positively, you didn’t turn me into a Xiaomi speaker, so I’m already quite happy.”

The system responded with a guilty “Oh.”

Just as Chu Shici had finished chatting with the system, he was picked up and shaken back and forth by someone.

He grabbed onto the finger beside him and said, “Stop shaking, I’m getting dizzy and nauseous.”

The shaking immediately stopped, and he heard the cold voice of the male protagonist, “You haven’t been speaking all this time, and I thought you were broken.”

After confirming with the system, Chu Shici pointed to a small golden dot in the center of his forehead.

“A steady gold light means I’m running, blinking indicates sleep mode, and a red light means low power. If the light goes out, then you can dig a hole and bury me.”

Su Zheyan didn’t react much, and it was unclear whether he had listened or not.

Chu Shici decided to take the initiative. He had just made up a little story that he had to tell the male protagonist’s father, hoping to use the filter of paternal love to increase the male protagonist’s favorability.

However, it seemed that Su Zheyan had finished his examination. Without waiting for Chu Shici to speak, he directly stuffed him back into the metal box.

As the lid closed, the world plunged into darkness once again.

Chu Shici scratched at the lid and thought, “I came up with so many stories in anticipation of possible questions, but he didn’t ask me a single one.”

Checking the backstage in 2047, the system commented, “Because the male protagonist’s vitality is too low, he doesn’t have the energy to be interested in anything. His curiosity has significantly diminished. If it weren’t for you being so special, he probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to you at all.”

The night on the desolate planet was unusually silent, occasionally interrupted by the sharp cries of monsters piercing through the sky.

A solitary capsule lay in the barren wilderness, with the emblem of the Empire, shaped like a lightning bolt, imprinted on its exterior.

The wind was strong at night, carrying dust and sand particles that could easily injure a person with their hard stones.

The transparent cover of the capsule was hit, making a banging sound. Su Zheyan lay on his side inside the capsule, his gaze falling on the white walls.

Someone had carved several messy lines on it with stones, resembling some kind of pattern or perhaps a map.

Su Zheyan looked at it for a while but couldn’t make sense of it, so he decided to stop thinking about it altogether.

He was about to sleep when the small box placed beside his head started buzzing again.

The robot trapped inside was desperately scratching the lid.

Annoyed by the noise, Su Zheyan knocked on the box and said coldly, “Be quiet.”

There was a moment of silence, and then a lively male voice came from the box, “Let me out, I want to sleep on you!”

Su Zheyan ignored him.

Chu Shici continued scratching the door.

Half an hour later, Su Zheyan, with a dark expression, opened the box.

A small platinum figure quickly jumped out and hugged his finger, swiftly climbing upward.

When it reached the pocket on Su Zheyan’s left chest, Chu Shici prepared to crawl inside.

He had just extended one leg when Su Zheyan, as if catching a chick, lifted him up. He wrapped a few rounds of tape around him and stuffed him back into the metal box.

Lying in the pitch-black box, Chu Shici fell into contemplation.

The male protagonist didn’t communicate with him, didn’t listen to him, and didn’t let him get close.

The task was more difficult than he had anticipated.

“What’s the male protagonist’s vitality level now?”

[5/100, no change.]

The next morning, the box was opened, and Su Zheyan let him out.

The tape that was wrapped around Chu Shici’s body had not been removed, but fortunately, the robot had wheels on the soles of its feet.

One foot has two, four-wheel drive, runs particularly fast.

Su Zheyan opened the cabin door and went out, but the cabin was too high for the small robot, and Chu Shici couldn’t get out.

He wandered around inside the cabin and discovered a few interesting things.

The interior of the capsule seemed to have been modified by the male protagonist, with a handmade three-layered bookshelf placed at the front.

On the top shelf was a small pot of plastic flowers, with a hand-drawn family portrait next to it.

Chu Shici struggled to climb up to the third layer and looked at those two things, feeling puzzled. “Taking care of flowers and drawing pictures, is this really the male protagonist’s house?”

[It must be his. Isn’t the little child in the painting him?]

The painting depicted a man and a woman in military uniforms, holding hands with a little boy.

The boy had a joyful smile on his face, and he was holding a transparent gift box in his arms, with the words “Third Generation Robot Doll” written on it.

Looking at the cozy and vibrant capsule in front of him, and then thinking about the lifeless male protagonist, Chu Shici tilted his head in confusion.

The second shelf of the bookshelf was empty, covered in dust. Faintly visible was a mark in the shape of a long object, but it was hard to tell what had been placed there before.

Underneath, Chu Shici could squeeze in, so he ran inside for a few seconds and saw a notebook that had been stuffed in the corner.

It was hidden quite discreetly, and if he hadn’t been so small, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it.

The notebook was very thin. Chu Shici bit onto the cover and dragged it out of the bookshelf.

After opening the notebook, he realized it was the male protagonist’s diary.

More than half of it had been torn off, which explained why it was so light.

Chu Shici struggled for a while and then flipped through the diary.

There were only four pages with writing, and the first three pages were just daily records.

From the weather to meals, there was no personal sentiment recorded, as if it was the log of an emotionless machine.

It wasn’t until the fourth page that the diary changed.

This was probably what Su Zheyan had written just before going out.

“The robot is alive and even talks in its sleep. It bares its teeth and warns me not to touch it anymore. Even though it’s just an iron doll, it makes it seem like I’m molesting it. It scratches people, so I won’t touch it anymore.”

“The diary is missing many pages. Did he tear them?”