“I earn my salary precisely for this.” After finishing communicating with her husband, Wenren Huaishu quietly moved beside Wenren Fu. She nudged him with her huge head, making him stumble.
“Can we first talk about why you were crying?” Wenren Huaishu said.
Wenren Fu: …
He was silent for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh. “I… recently made a friend.”
Wenren Huaishu sat on the floor and tilted her head.
“You can’t investigate them. Just know I made a friend!” Wenren Fu refused to meet his mother’s eyes. He felt this was humiliating. “But my friend recently encountered a crisis. He’s about to fall in love.”
Love was a crisis?
“Love is a pretty good thing.” Wenren Huaishu said. “I was quite happy falling in love with your father.” Mutual appreciation, mutual affection. They even created Wenren Fu.
Alright, even though Wenren Fu had an endless obsession with death and suffering, he was overall a cute kid… at least cute in appearance.
“You don’t understand!” Wenren Fu raised his voice. “You’ve only been in one relationship! You don’t get it! And you’ve always kept to yourselves, never truly trying to understand human society outside.”
His tone suddenly spiked. Wenren Huaishu and Wang Qiang instinctively shifted closer to each other.
“Do you understand what love is in human society? It can’t be summarized by just being lovey-dovey!” Wenren Fu paced anxiously.
Wenren Huaishu couldn’t help reminding him, “Little Fu, you’ve never been in love yourself.”
“But I’ve seen far too much of it.” Wenren Fu clenched his fists.
Wenren Huaishu: “Oh…”
“My friend will be ruthlessly deceived by his future lover—deceived emotionally, financially, robbed of everything—and then die a miserable death.” Wenren Fu spoke faster. “And he has zero sense of crisis! I can’t accept it!”
Wang Qiang: “So you idealize your friend’s future partner as some bastard with zero redeeming qualities?”
“This isn’t an idealization! This is fact! Because he’s just too easy to deceive!” Wenren Fu slammed the desk.
“I pictured his miserable death. That’s why I cried! I was crying for my friend, NOT that weirdo cat demon!”
Wenren Fu pressed his temples. “But now they’re all saying I was driven to tears by a cat demon. They are insulting my character!”
“So he’s angry out of embarrassment?” Wang Qiang asked Wenren Huaishu.
Wenren Huaishu: “Mhm.”
Wang Qiang continued: “Do you think he’ll actually leave?”
“No. I’ve been embarrassed into fits before. It passes.” Wenren Huaishu said. “My breakdowns were witnessed before too.”
Back when she had sobbed loudly on a mountain peak and a coworker saw her, she too had wanted to return to the forest and just be a free, wild tiger.
“Let him handle this himself. I’m more worried about something else.” Wenren Huaishu was a bit scared.
Wang Qiang understood his wife’s meaning. “…True. He seems to care a little too much about this friend.”
“He never makes friends. He thinks he’s stronger than everyone and looks down on every peer his age.” Wenren Huaishu said. “But now… most people don’t react this strongly when a friend is about to fall in love, right?”
“At least, they wouldn’t imagine their friend’s partner to be so awful.” Wang Qiang said.
Wenren Huaishu: “We’re doomed.”
Wang Qiang: “Our child might one day try to be the other man.”
“Mom, why are your ears pinned back like an airplane?” Wenren Fu asked.
Wenren Huaishu: “Huh? Oh! I was just worrying about your friend.”
“My friend is indeed worrying. He’s too naive.” Wenren Fu nodded in agreement. He turned to go skin and butcher the deer, then put it in the fridge.
Wenren Huaishu and Wang Qiang met eyes again.
The big tiger’s ears, just perked up, flattened once more. Wang Qiang’s hands unconsciously clenched.
“Do you think Xiao Fu, with his personality, would tolerate it?” Wenren Huaishu still clung to a sliver of hope.
“I think the story will go like this: his friend or his friend’s lover—more likely the lover—will come knocking. Things will get ugly. Little Fu will feel humiliated. Then… the friend’s lover might just disappear.” Wang Qiang said.
“And the friend will also be tied up by him.” Wenren Huaishu was distressed. Her child hadn’t even normalized, and he was already facing a love tribulation. “We will lose Little Fu.”
Once Wenren Fu lost control, he would certainly be locked in Level 19. If the friend’s future lover died at his hands, Wenren Fu would have to reincarnate.
Wenren Fu stuck his head out from the kitchen. “One more thing: my friend’s future lover is also a fat, big-mouthed HAHAHAHA!”
Wenren Huaishu and Wang Qiang awkwardly forced out a couple of dry “ha ha”s.
“Sometimes I really suspect his aesthetic judgment is flawed.” Muttering to himself, Wenren Fu returned to the kitchen.
Wenren Huaishu’s ears pressed flat against her scalp.
Wang Qiang wrung his hands.
Doom…
…
Wang slowly raised his head. He had somewhat recovered. “Oh! So you just resurrected all those old toys?!” He looked at Tao Fangyi in his arms.
Tao Fangyi: …
How long ago was that topic?
“Ah, yes.” Tao Fangyi nodded.
Wang: “How nice.”
Tao Fangyi: “Mm-hmm.”
Wang’s gaze swept the room. He found no male toy with a big mouth or large build. He sighed in relief.
It wasn’t some cliché grooming plotline.
“Were you spacing out just now?” Tao Fangyi touched Wang with his little paw. Wang had been rubbing Tao Fangyi’s claw all this time, friction generating heat.
“Yeah, I was thinking about some problems. Like, I think I should get an education.” Wang said.
So he wanted to study.
Tao Fangyi relaxed a little. “What would you like to study?”
“Finance.” Wang said.
Tao Fangyi: “Huh?”
“I want to be a Boss!” Wang continued.
Tao Fangyi couldn’t fathom how a fierce ghost could become a boss. He could only chuckle. “Well, that’s quite a big dream you’ve got there.”
“It’s decent. I’ve always been smart.” Wang hoped to get rich, so that Tao Fangyi, his friend, wouldn’t starve to death after being scammed of his wealth and virtue.
Tao Fangyi, completely unaware that in Wang’s mind he had already run through an entire tragic narrative, clapped for Wang with his tiny T-Rex foreclaws.
The harmonious atmosphere couldn’t last. Liu Xuanyong came home from school again.
The toys scrambled back into their boxes, waiting for Liu Xuanyong to enter.
This time, Liu Xuanyong didn’t push the door open directly. His mother’s voice came from the doorway.
His mother had bought him new toys. Liu Xuanyong thanked her excitedly.
Now, Tao Fangyi was also hiding in a toy box. Wang, unable to see Tao Fangyi, could only turn to observe Blazing Flame.
Blazing Flame’s hand pressed against a semi-transparent toy container. He seemed envious.
Soon, Liu Xuanyong pushed the door open. The nanny and his mother followed him in.
Liu Xuanyong tore open the toy packaging and pulled out a flashy robot.
“Morning Star!” Liu Xuanyong shouted the toy’s name.
Morning Star had silver-blue paint, massive mechanical wings on its back, and a greatsword in its hand.
It looked truly magnificent.
“Son of the Galaxy!” As Liu Xuanyong played with Morning Star, he explained the toy’s story to his mother.
The woman responded with a smile. She exchanged a look with the family nanny.
“Ahem.” The woman coughed twice and spoke in an official-sounding tone. “We heard that student Liu Xuanyong scored a 98 on his test today.”
Liu Xuanyong looked at his mother. “Yes! I was careless and misread a question.”
“Then, next time, can student Liu Xuanyong score a 100?” the woman continued.
Liu Xuanyong raised both hands high. “Yes!!!”
The nanny moved to the doorway. His mother pulled him into her arms. “If Xiao Yong keeps his promise, then…”
The nanny re-entered carrying multiple packaging boxes.
Mom: “Then all of these will be yours~”
Liu Xuanyong was rendered nearly speechless. “The whole set?! A WHOLE SET of Interstellar Warriors!!!”
“Thank you, Mom!! Mom, I love you!!”
Wang propped a hand against his temple. “Oh~ Just great. More toys that need to be given prime spots.”
Liu Xuanyong spent over an hour in the toy room. Then he ate dinner, did homework, and had to sleep early.
The toy room lights went out. The new toys scattered around pulled themselves up.
The Interstellar Warriors looked at each other, then grouped up.
Blazing Flame climbed out of his Older Cousin’s toy box.
The dinosaurs and cars also crawled out of their boxes and approached the new toys.
Morning Star eyed the gathered toys, hands clasped behind his back. “Very well. Is this all the warriors here?”
The round-headed robot Tao Fangyi first encountered couldn’t help but let out a “Heh.”
That robot pointed at Tao Fangyi. “This is our Commander-in-Chief. How dare you speak to us in that tone! Rookie!”
“Rookie?” A green-painted robot chuckled. “We are no rookies. We are warriors of the Interstellar Battlefield. Spokesmen for justice.”
Morning Star bent down to observe Tao Fangyi. “You are the Commander-in-Chief?”
“I’m not.” Tao Fangyi really couldn’t get used to that title.
“Excellent.” Morning Star straightened his back. “From now on, I am your leader. I will command all the toys.”
“On what grounds?!” The old toys were defiant. “You’re the newcomer!”
“Because I am superior to you all.” Morning Star gestured at himself. “I am already the leader of the interstellar domain. I am the strongest line of defense against the Mecha-Bugs.”
The fire truck stomped its tires. “We’ve never even heard of any Mecha-Bugs.”
A pink-painted robot sneered. “That’s because you’ve never been to interstellar space.” Her voice was actually a girl’s.
A dinosaur exclaimed in shock, “How can there be a girl?!”
“Is that weird?” The fantasy creatures observing from the side spoke up. “We’ve got all sorts here.”
“But we’re all the same gender as our master!” The dinosaur couldn’t accept it.
“That’s because your master grew up.” The middle-schooler’s fantasy creatures were ultimately more mature. “Good news: he’s no longer entirely self-centered.”
An armored car protested loudly, “I refuse to accept a girl joining our army!”
“Hey!” The pink robot and Sophia shouted at the same time.
The group of beauties imagined by the Older Cousin didn’t react at all.
Wang couldn’t help but comment, “Adolescent teenagers are less inclusive than six-year-old little boys.” Although both creators were male, the female characters imagined by the older male cousin were clearly more devoid of personality than the girl robot imagined by Liu Xuanyong.
“I refuse to accept you!” Another fire truck shouted. “Your arrival means we lose our comrades!”
Morning Star glanced at that cluster of dumb-looking larger toys in the far corner. “When you first appeared, didn’t you also replace them?” He pointed toward those toys from before age three.
Those old toys, thinking Morning Star was waving hello, swayed and responded with childish voices: “Hiiii~”
“Don’t be naive. This world is survival of the fittest.” Morning Star clasped his hands behind his back again and slowly paced.
Finally, he stopped in front of Blazing Flame.
He looked at the chaotic marker scribbles all over Blazing Flame and narrowed his eyes.
Morning Star said nothing directly to Blazing Flame. He turned on the spot and announced, “There are always newer, better toys appearing. Isn’t that right?”
Blazing Flame: …
Blazing Flame touched the obscured lamp on his chest.
“I know this is childish of me.” Wang leaned close to Tao Fangyi’s ear and whispered, “But I hate these flashy, gaudy toys.”
