“I know.” Wenren Fu’s voice was already unsteady.
Other non-humans handling business also gathered around.
“How did you make him cry?” someone condemned the cat demon. “The reserves here are all young, you old thing, and you’re still bullying him?”
“I used to have a bad attitude toward this Little Fu too, and he never cried. What exactly did you say?”
Someone patted Wenren Fu on the back to comfort him.
Wenren Fu still wanted to control himself, but his brain wouldn’t listen.
In his fantasy, Tao Fangyi had already died pitifully, saying before death only that he wanted to go home.
How could he be so pitiful?
On the other side, the worried Tao Fangyi was pulled into Wang’s embrace.
Even though this was the toy room, Liu Xuanyong didn’t come back much anymore.
Liu Xuanyong was brave; Tao Fangyi still hadn’t collected any Fear Value, and those moving toys had been lazy lately.
Tao Fangyi had to think of another way.
Wang had run in at this moment, and was hugging Tao Fangyi, rubbing and touching him all over.
“Please don’t fall in love, okay?” Wang asked him.
“That’s not something I can control.” Tao Fangyi didn’t know what Wang had been through, but he felt that if fate could be artificially controlled, life wouldn’t have so many uncertainties.
“There aren’t many good people in this world,” Wang said.
Tao Fangyi didn’t think so: “I think you’re pretty good.”
Wang felt even more hopeless. Tao Fangyi couldn’t even see through his true nature; how could he dare to get into a relationship?
The Blade Spirit slowly drifted through the wall into the room.
While stroking Wang’s face with a front paw, Tao Fangyi said to the Blade Spirit, “This child seems to have some separation anxiety.”
“Maybe because he cares about you,” the Blade Spirit said casually.
Tao Fangyi became even happier.
The Blade Spirit still felt that there was something wrong with Wang’s head, but it wasn’t convenient to discuss it in front of Tao Fangyi, as Tao Fangyi would get angry.
The Blade Spirit sighed.
An old robot that had been climbing the frame suddenly fell to the ground with a bang.
Tao Fangyi was startled; he hurriedly broke free from Wang’s embrace and ran over to check on the robot.
Tao Fangyi turned the robot over; its face was still lit, but there was no expression anymore.
“What’s wrong?” Tao Fangyi nudged the robot with his paw.
The robot didn’t move.
The other toys also crowded around to observe the robot’s condition.
After about thirty seconds, the robot convulsed, then immediately scrambled up: “Ah! What happened?! What’s wrong with me! Why am I on the ground? Wasn’t I rock climbing just now?”
Tao Fangyi pointed to the battery compartment on the robot’s back: “Maybe the batteries are dead?”
“I can still move even without batteries,” the robot said.
There were lots of toys here that didn’t need batteries; they could all move.
The Blade Spirit slowly walked over, crouched down to look at the robot: “You were his birthday present when he was three, right?”
The robot nodded: “I’ve already accompanied my owner through most of his life!”
“Mm…” The Blade Spirit shut his mouth and was silent for a moment. He tried to make his words less cold, but if he was too tactful, these toys wouldn’t understand.
“You’re about to be forgotten,” the Blade Spirit said.
The robot yelped in fright.
“Forgotten?” Tao Fangyi looked at the Blade Spirit.
“These toys came alive because before elementary school, this toy room was Liu Xuanyong’s whole world, his favorite place.” The Blade Spirit’s obsession had followed the blade spirit’s reincarnation, but he wasn’t lodged in the blade spirit’s body; rather, he relied on the blade spirit’s new obsession.
“He recently started elementary school. Elementary school is different from kindergarten.” Kindergarten children still valued their own world more, but the older they got, the more they were drawn to friends and the more they cared about others’ thoughts and gazes.
Liu Xuanyong’s attention was more focused on his friends, and a small child’s mind is limited; when new things come in, old things always get sent away.
This robot, which had accompanied Liu Xuanyong for most of his life, was about to leave.
“But, but we’re not Liu Xuanyong’s fantasies either!” Sophia was the fantasy of a middle school student, so her logic was more rigorous. “We’re all still alive!”
“That’s because someone remembers you, even if they need to be reminded to recall you, that still counts as remembering.” The Blade Spirit said, “But this robot’s story is about to end. Not many children have memories from before age four.”
“So… I’m going to be abandoned by my owner?” The robot gently touched its chest. “We’ve been through so many adventures together, but my owner is going to leave me behind?”
Everyone else was silent. At this moment, no one could give him an answer that would soothe his emotions.
The robot sat in one position for a long time; no one knew what he was thinking.
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
At five o’clock that afternoon, Liu Xuanyong happily returned home with his schoolbag on his back, constantly telling the nanny stories about his school, friends, and teachers.
After he finished, he put his schoolbag on the sofa, then led the nanny to find his mother, asking if she could buy him a new toy.
His mother agreed, but after seeing the toy he wanted, she couldn’t help frowning: “Another robot? You already have so many robots.”
“But this one is different!” Liu Xuanyong pointed at his mother’s search bar. “It can transform! All my classmates have one! Mom! Mom!” He tugged at his mother’s arm, swinging it back and forth.
The woman let him swing for a while, then made a small request: “Then you have to tidy up all the toys scattered in your room, and you can’t let the nanny help.”
Liu Xuanyong looked back at the nanny, who smiled gently at him.
“Okay!!” He excitedly ran toward the toy room.
The lady of the house laughed and told him not to trip.
Liu Xuanyong ran to the toy room, pulled out the toy boxes, and began stuffing the scattered toys on the floor into them one by one.
He recalled the cool, big ball that could transform into a robot in his classmate’s hands. He absolutely had to get his mom to buy an even bigger one!
Then all the kids would gather around him.
Liu Xuanyong hadn’t had time to watch that cartoon yet, but all his friends had seen it, and everyone was talking about it.
As he thought, the toys on the floor were picked up one by one and put into the boxes.
Both large boxes were filled to the brim.
Liu Xuanyong walked around to make sure no toys were left behind.
The nanny auntie watched him tidy up from the doorway, then offered to help carry the boxes back.
“I want to help too!” Liu Xuanyong said.
“Okay.” The auntie smiled and stepped forward, but at that moment, Liu Xuanyong suddenly called for a stop.
Liu Xuanyong looked at the two filled toy boxes.
There didn’t seem to be any room left for his new toy.
“Auntie, wait a moment.” Liu Xuanyong started rummaging through the toys again.
The auntie crouched down beside him.
Liu Xuanyong frowned as he took the toys out one by one.
“Mecha Dragon, this is a fire truck.” He softly recited the toys’ names; some he’d named himself, and some were based on the toy’s appearance.
As he searched, he suddenly flipped over a huge robot with scratches all over its paint.
Liu Xuanyong stared at the robot for a moment. He’d forgotten which cartoon character it was, and he’d forgotten the name he’d given it.
There were parts of the robot that had been colored black with a watercolor pen.
Liu Xuanyong felt that this robot was a bit too dirty.
Liu Xuanyong put the robot aside and put the other toys back into the toy boxes.
Each time he picked one up, he would recite its name again.
In the end, all the toys except that robot were put away, and there was finally some empty space in the toy boxes.
The lids of the toy boxes were closed. Liu Xuanyong picked up the robot again, looked around, and found that there was still a little space in his older cousin’s box.
The nanny auntie opened that box for him, and Liu Xuanyong tossed the robot inside.
This box was semi-transparent; the robot watched as the nanny led Liu Xuanyong away.
“My name is Blazing Flame,” the robot said quietly.
The door to the toy room was closed.
The robot pressed tightly against the toy box.
His name was Blazing Flame, the ultimate weapon in a children’s cartoon, a handsome hero.
He was Liu Xuanyong’s third birthday present.
Back then, Liu Xuanyong knew him; Liu Xuanyong would turn on his switch and make his lights shine.
He also had built-in voice lines; when the lights came on, he would say that classic line—”I am Blazing Flame, and I will fight for justice!”
Liu Xuanyong would imitate his cool lines.
He used to be the hero who protected all the toys; he would use his laser to defeat all the villains.
Later, as there were more and more toys, the role of the hero gradually passed to other toys.
Liu Xuanyong used a black watercolor pen to cover Blazing Flame’s red paint, and he became the most frequently used villain.
But Blazing Flame didn’t mind; a hero’s job was to accompany his owner in all kinds of missions.
Blazing Flame’s name also changed to “Dark War God.”
And later on, “Dark War God” no longer had any chance to appear; he became the passerby saved by the new heroes, turned into a hostage.
But the story always continued.
A true hero must learn to accept being ordinary.
Even if ordinary to the point of… being forgotten?
Blazing Flame stared blankly outside the toy box.
Someone patted his shoulder; it was a fantasy creature from the older cousin’s story.
“Ha!” Blazing Flame put his hands on his hips. “No need to comfort me, I’m an old warrior!”
He raised his head proudly: “Flip the switch on my back! You arrived late, so you haven’t seen my true form.”
In front of his owner, Blazing Flame could play any role, but he himself was still a cool hero.
He wanted to shock these fantasy creatures with his dazzling light and cool catchphrase.
The fantasy creature reached out and pressed his switch.
Blazing Flame proudly waited.
But nothing happened.
No lights, and no “I am Blazing Flame, and I will fight for justice.”
Blazing Flame patted himself.
A fantasy creature opened the battery cover on his back: “…How long has it been since you had batteries?”
Blazing Flame looked up, a bit dazed.
So, after the batteries were taken out that one time, no one had ever put them back in for him?
