Chapter 10: The Brainwashing Plan

“You’re interested in that uncle?” The woman on the phone was full of confusion. “You didn’t seem to care when your father and I talked about him before.”

“I’ve gotten a little curious lately.” Wenren Fu had his phone on speaker. Meanwhile, his work phone displayed a picture of a smiling face.

Expressionless, Wenren Fu stared at the photo for a moment, then faced the mirror and smiled.

The woman on the other end of the line was silent for a beat before asking, puzzled, “You’re not thinking of picking a fight with him, are you? Let me tell you, he’s our colleague now.”

“I know he’s gone straight, but I’m genuinely curious how formidable his power is. Was he a genius? Was he already incredibly strong when you met him? Who was stronger when he was my age?” Wenren Fu took a picture of his own smile and meticulously compared it with the reference photo.

His smile was very standard and looked very gentle.

The curve of his lips matched the reference photo perfectly. Why on earth did those people think his attitude was bad?

Those troublemaking bastards!

“You can’t compare him and yourself,” the woman said.

Wenren Fu’s eyebrow arched slightly. “Compared to him, am I just mediocre?”

“No, I mean you two can’t be used in a controlled experiment together.” The woman sighed. She knew her son’s temperament. If he didn’t get an answer, he would obsess over it forever.

At the same time, Wang was asking Tao Fangyi about his past. After several rounds of talking at cross-purposes, Tao Fangyi understood that this little Fierce Ghost wanted his life story.

Wenren Fu, collecting information from both sides, continued to find other reference photos to adjust his own expression.

“My age is difficult to calculate. If we start from when I first became aware of ‘myself,’ then I should be dated from ancient times.” Tao Fangyi earnestly explained to Wang.

“You’re an ancient Great Demon?” Wang was shocked.

“No, not that.” Tao Fangyi waved his hands repeatedly. “Those have either gone to work in the heavens or are already dead.”

“I was a very, very thick tree branch,” Tao Fangyi said.

Originally, Tao Fangyi had no consciousness. But at that time, a Sage pursuing the Great Dao passed by. The Sage was famished and exhausted, so he picked up a branch to use as a walking stick.

“You were the one he picked up?” Wang understood.

“Yes. Actually, my original form was quite large back then, and that Sage was also a giant,” Tao Fangyi nodded.

The first consciousness Tao Fangyi ever had was the feeling of noise.

That Sage kept chattering endlessly beside him, never stopping.

Tao Fangyi couldn’t understand what the other was saying, only finding that person incredibly annoying.

“Looking back, that must have been a very powerful person. I followed him for too long, and he unintentionally sparked a bit of sentience in me,” Tao Fangyi said. “But back then, my thought process was rather simplistic.”

At that time, Tao Fangyi’s only emotion was “annoyance.”

He had no need to eat, nor any desire to explore this world. He only found those inexplicable sounds around him extremely aggravating. He just wanted to be a quiet piece of wood, to sleep, but he couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.

Later, Tao Fangyi realized that was his discomfort with “living,” a wish to return to being a mindless piece of wood.

But once sentience was sparked, it was very hard to turn it off.

However, Tao Fangyi was a solid piece of wood, and his sentience hadn’t fully developed.

“If I had to describe it, I was a bit like some artificial intelligences back then that couldn’t understand human speech.” Tao Fangyi couldn’t comprehend more complex emotions, much less express them.

“Later, the Sage Ascended to a higher realm. I hadn’t been quiet for long before I was taken away by a group of humans. I was carved into a Ritual Vessel for their imperial family. Those people called me the Wooden Cauldron; the full name was very long.”

That Wooden Cauldron witnessed the rise and fall of dynasty after dynasty. The cauldron also accepted the fact that it would always sense the chattering of outsiders.

Later, the wood was lost among the common folk, buried in some soil for a long time.

After that, someone else dug the wood up and carved it into a human shape.

“That person was a Puppet Master.” Tao Fangyi carefully recalled; these past events were all too fragmented for him. “After this, my contact with people increased. I was no longer a worshiped object, but began to be treated as a person. I became that Puppet Master’s family heirloom, passed down through over a dozen generations of their family.”

“It wasn’t until over five hundred years ago, when the second-to-last generation of successors I followed gave me the name Tao Fangyi,” Tao Fangyi said. “I also started calculating my age from that point.”

“I’m not quite sure at what exact moment I began to possess emotions. Perhaps this process was very, very long; I can’t figure it out.” Just as Tao Fangyi wasn’t really sure when he started to “live.”

At the earliest, Tao Fangyi felt he was merely a spiritual artifact. Then he was imbued with the fortunes of several dynasties. After that, he truly made contact with people.

“But by the time I was with the last Puppet Master, my emotions were definitely quite well-developed. Because when that Puppet Master passed away, I had a complete mental breakdown. I even tried to sabotage the Underworld’s Reincarnation mechanism to grant that Puppet Master eternal life.” Tao Fangyi lowered his head in shame. “That was the first time I raised a child. I couldn’t really accept death as a parting.”

Wang: “…Are you saying you actually possessed the power to cause trouble for the Underworld?”

Tao Fangyi curled up into a ball.

On the other side, Wenren Fu received his mother’s explanation.

Wenren Huaishu still remembered the oppressive pressure Tao Fangyi had given her back then: “His power developed far, far faster than his mental maturity! Much faster!”

“That feeling was like, in this modern era, handing the launch buttons for all the world’s weapons of mass destruction to a rebellious kid trying to act cool.” Wenren Huaishu said, “He didn’t understand what consequences his actions would bring. On a whim, he’d dare to do anything.”

“Your father and I are indeed geniuses, but that situation was like a divine artifact gaining sentience. There was no way to fight.” Wenren Huaishu took a deep breath. “Thankfully, he could still be reasoned with. Plus, at the time, he only focused on beating us up; he didn’t harm ordinary humans, so there wasn’t too heavy Karma. He spent some time in prison and was released again.”

Wenren Fu couldn’t even be bothered to practice his smile anymore.

So now they had put someone like that in the position of a Warden? As a prison guard?!

“Why isn’t that man in the Combat Department?” Wenren Fu wanted to bring this matter up.

“He’s on the Nineteenth Level. Guarding that group of dangerous prisoners also requires a very high level of combat power. Many people there are like him, though few are as formidable as he is.” Wenren Huaishu said directly, “Didn’t he compliment you recently? If you’re not worried about nightmares, you could bring a gift and visit him on the Nineteenth Level.”

Wenren Fu fell silent again.

What did she mean, many people on the Nineteenth Level were like him?!

What kind of place is that?!

“But I feel like your Uncle Tao has never actually established a truly intimate relationship,” Wenren Huaishu added. “Although he says the child whose loss devastated him was the one he raised, that person had parents. His parents had him before they were even eighteen and lived well into their nineties. Tao Fangyi didn’t need to raise a child at all. You could say he was more like the one being raised alongside the child.”

“The way he raised that person was like raising a pet. He had only just acquired emotions back then and probably didn’t know how to handle feelings of grief.”

“Why did the Puppet Master’s family line cease?” Wang asked Tao Fangyi.

“That’s something I only recently figured out.” Tao Fangyi patted his own head.

Tao Fangyi stood on the small windowsill, and Wang crouched beside him.

Hearing Tao Fangyi’s words, Wang thought this was perhaps Tao Fangyi’s tragic flaw. Perhaps he could only understand many emotions in hindsight.

“Because for many generations, their family practiced marriage between cousins. Infertility was likely a problem caused by generations of inbreeding,” Tao Fangyi explained.

Wang: …

Oh. So “recently figured out” meant “recently” being introduced to modern medicine?

“You didn’t have feelings for any of the people you encountered before?” Wang was very curious about Tao Fangyi’s method of growth.

Tao Fangyi shook his head.

“Really no emotional lag?” Wang tapped his own chest. “You never suffered so intensely from a missed connection that you wished yourself dead?”

“Occasionally, I might sigh with a little regret, but I can’t say I grieved, because I simply never invested emotion.” Without investment, there was none of that feeling of emotions being abruptly terminated when the other person disappeared.

Tao Fangyi felt that many times, it was like watching a story. It was just that some stories could only be understood in their entirety after his own emotions became richer.

“And here I thought I’d get to hear a really tragic story,” Wang clicked his tongue.

“In a really tragic story, the only one being tortured would be me,” Tao Fangyi crossed his arms over his chest. “After all, I’m the one who lives longer.”

The child on the bed smacked his lips twice in his sleep. Wang pointed at the child: “Even this little water buffalo could mistake ordinary familial affection for love. Haven’t you ever had a situation like that?”

“To mistake one kind of emotion for another requires a relatively rich set of experiences. I’m still learning.” Right after Tao Fangyi finished speaking, he felt Wang tug at his overalls, trying to peek inside.

“What are you trying to do?” Tao Fangyi asked him.

“Just taking a couple glances, couldn’t see clearly,” Wang said.

“Oh, then wait a moment.” Tao Fangyi started to take off his overalls.

Halfway through taking them off, Tao Fangyi suddenly realized something was off: “Wait! What were you looking at just now?!”

“Exactly what you’re thinking,” Wang spread his hands.

“How could a doll possibly have something like that?!” Tao Fangyi hurriedly pulled his overalls back on. “What were you thinking?! Who would make something like that?!”

“Then does your True Form have one?” Wang propped his head up and continued asking.

“Yes, the original body had one, and the new body also has one,” Tao Fangyi said.

A new body? It seemed Tao Fangyi still had secrets.

But Wang was no longer in a hurry.

He had discovered a weakness in Tao Fangyi.

“It must be nice to have a complete body,” Wang pretended to be dejected.

Tao Fangyi, who had just finished putting on his overalls, was startled. He hurriedly comforted: “But I also really like my current body. This appearance is very cute. It’s the same for you, Wang. Your appearance is very handsome, uniquely handsome!”

Wang leaned his head closer to Tao Fangyi. “Really?”

“Really!” Tao Fangyi nodded repeatedly.

“Then can you hug me?” The corner of Wang’s mouth turned down.

“You can accept me touching your face?” Tao Fangyi remembered the strong reaction Wang had last time he touched him.

“I can,” Wang nodded.

Tao Fangyi opened his arms, and soon Wang’s face was buried in his embrace.

The pale blue cross-star in Tao Fangyi’s eyes trembled slightly. Although he didn’t know why, this strange child seemed to have been somewhat moved by him.

Wang, held in Tao Fangyi’s arms, couldn’t control himself any longer. His smile grew wider and wider.

From excitement, Wang’s lips quivered slightly, his teeth knocking against each other, emitting a “click-click” sound.

Tao Fangyi heard it. He released Wang’s face, then lifted it in front of him to carefully observe.

Wang’s mouth now occupied more than half his face. His bandages were also floating slightly.

Wang’s face had no other features. Right now, his appearance could only be described as terrifying.

“Are you happy?” Tao Fangyi asked him.

“Mhm~” Wang’s teeth were still chattering.

“Your smile…” Tao Fangyi touched Wang’s face.

Was the click-click sound Wang made similar to a cat’s purring?

But if Wang were a cat, he felt like no one would risk adopting him.

Tao Fangyi noticed Wang’s silver hair. It reminded him of his old friend’s child.

Also a silver-haired child, with one red and one gold Heterochromia eye. That kind of cat would probably be very popular.

Thinking about it that way, Wang seemed a little pitiful.

Wang tilted his head, waiting for the rest of Tao Fangyi’s words.

Tao Fangyi continued, “Is really very gentle.”

The frequency of Wang’s teeth chattering increased.

On the other side, Wenren Fu collapsed onto his bed, laughing.

“Gentle, hahaha, to actually say that sort of expression on my face was gentle.” Wenren Fu clutched the blanket tightly, tossing and turning on the bed.

Suddenly, Wenren Fu stopped.

“You really are good at lying through your teeth,” Wenren Fu said, looking at the blanket beside him.

A dull block of wood with high moral standards.

And an extraordinarily powerful block of wood at that.

Powerful…

For someone that strong to completely whitewash and walk the righteous path was such a waste.

Essentially, Tao Fangyi had just been brainwashed by his parents. Such a formidable person, now running around scaring little kids.

The Special Administration was wasting great talent on petty tasks.

As long as he didn’t confront him head-on, Tao Fangyi was very easy to communicate with.

Act pitiful, show dependency, and Tao Fangyi wouldn’t easily betray him.

What was it Mom said?

She felt Tao Fangyi hadn’t ever formed a close, intimate relationship with anyone…

“Ha… haha!” Then he would be the first to seize the position of best friend.

Then, wouldn’t this obtuse uncle, bad at processing and understanding emotions, be held in the palm of his hand?

Someone so powerful should, of course, completely reveal the full extent of their power.

It seemed this wasn’t a restraint; this was an opportunity!

On the other side, Wang was also continuously making “click-click-click” sounds.

Tao Fangyi had originally thought Wang was just excited for a moment, but Wang kept making the noise until daybreak.

This truly was a strange Fierce Ghost.

Over these past few days, Tao Fangyi had also noticed a pattern. Wang always had a period of emotional low, and this low period was very regular, basically from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon.

But today, Wang didn’t seem low at all, even though it was clearly past nine.

Why was that?

“Hey, Xinxin, don’t go wake up your sister.” Yang Hongling stopped Ren Xinxin’s motion to knock on the door. “It’s Saturday. Let your sister sleep in a little longer.”

Tao Fangyi, still held in the child’s embrace, was still pondering.

Why exactly?