Chapter 37: The Toys’ Worries Part 1

“Starting today, I am your leader.” Morning Star stood with his hands behind his back, addressing the toys.

The toys: …

The Fire Truck and the Armored Car were locked in a rock-paper-scissors match. After countless rounds with no winner, they gave up. They flattened themselves against the floor, emptying their minds.

“Is this how you greet your leader?” Morning Star asked them.

“Reporting for duty, sir!” The Maniraptor raised a forelimb. “This is the seventh time you’ve reminded us you’re our leader.”

Morning Star and the other mechs froze. They exchanged glances before Morning Star asked uncertainly, “Really?”

“Yeah!” This time, it was a puzzle toy from before age three who spoke up. “You introduced yourself soooo many times!”

A silicone rattle drum wedged between some shelves wailed, “Leader! I’m stuck!!”

“Huh?” Before Morning Star could process it, the drum’s cry for help rang out. He had to put his doubts aside, hurrying over to the shelf to rescue the drum.

A Little Puzzle Piece waddled across the tabletop and accidentally knocked a marble off the edge. It froze for a second, then flopped onto its front and sobbed, “Leader! I pooped my pants!”

Still busy freeing the rattle drum, Morning Star looked up with a confused “Huh?”

Another Little Puzzle Piece corrected its friend with a childish voice: “You can’t poop your pants! You’re a puzzle piece.”

“But something fell down!”

“That was a marble!”

“I can!”

“You can’t!”

“Ah!” The puzzle piece who claimed it had pooped its pants suddenly lunged at the other, and the two started fighting.

As they brawled, they unleashed teakettle screams that filled Wang with a profound sense of connection.

Wang clutched the spot where his ears should have been. “Oh my god, how many times a day do they fight?”

These pre-age-three toys chattered, argued, split up, and made up all day long.

Wang couldn’t even handle one child. Having so many gathered together… This place was pure hell.

But luckily, these kids weren’t his responsibility. Now that Morning Star had taken on the role of “leader,” he’d be the one handling these “veterans.”

“My old comrades are quite lively, aren’t they?” Blazing Flame sat down beside Tao Fangyi and Wang. “Haha, they’ve always been this way.”

Morning Star and his comrades had finally managed to pull out the rattle drum, and now they had to separate two brawling puzzle pieces.

But three-year-olds, when angry, are simply beyond reason. Morning Star scolded the two puzzle pieces in a harsh, cold tone, and as a result, he made both of them cry.

And the moment they started crying, all the other pre-three toys caught the emotion and started wailing too.

“Oh my god.” Wang frantically pressed his fingers against his temple.

Blazing Flame sniffled, his voice choked with emotion. “My comrades tend to be a little emotional.”

Tao Fangyi glanced at him. “Do you want to cry too?” Blazing Flame, after all, was a toy from when their child was three.

“N-No…” Blazing Flame struggled to control himself.

Tao Fangyi brought out his Briefcase. His arms were too short right now, so he had to get Wang to help him rummage through it.

The Briefcase expanded in Wang’s hands, and Wang dug through it until he found the Toy Beverage Bottles Tao Fangyi wanted.

He took out three bottles. “You don’t have any alcohol in your briefcase?”

“I don’t like alcohol,” Tao Fangyi said. “I can’t experience the feeling of being drunk. All I taste is an unpleasant spiciness.”

“Fine.” Wang couldn’t get drunk either, thanks to his parents. Wang had been born with innate cultivation; alcohol had no effect on him.

The three beverage bottles were set out, and they began to chat against the background noise of the three-year-old toys’ crying.

Tao Fangyi tried to grab his bottle with his forepaws, only to discover he had no way of bringing the drink to his mouth with them.

Wang took the bottle from Tao Fangyi and tipped the little bottle to feed him.

“Thank you,” Tao Fangyi told him.

“I just want you to know what’s truly good.” Wang needed to be good to Tao Fangyi, so that Tao Fangyi wouldn’t be fooled by bad men in the future.

“You’re the best child.” Tao Fangyi patted one of Wang’s fingers.

After praising Wang, Tao Fangyi turned to Blazing Flame.

Blazing Flame was clearly drinking happily. The drink had no physical form, but Blazing Flame could taste the carbonation. He loved soda.

“Blazing Flame, why do you have all your memories?” Tao Fangyi asked.

“Hmm?” Blazing Flame snapped out of his soda-induced bliss.

“I mean, toys lose their memories when they leave the Toy Room, don’t they?” Tao Fangyi said. “They even forget who they are.”

“When I was created, the Savage Lands didn’t exist yet,” Blazing Flame explained. “Back then, we could go anywhere, and our owner would take us to all sorts of different settings.”

Blazing Flame waved a hand. “The whole world was our playground.”

Several Fantasy Creatures shuffled closer.

Tao Fangyi offered them drinks too.

“It’s a shame we weren’t around then,” one Fantasy Creature said. “The notebook containing our stories was still in another house at the time. If we’d existed, maybe our creator wouldn’t have grown up.”

Tao Fangyi glanced at the Fantasy Creature that had spoken.

“I didn’t mean I’d do anything bad!” The Fantasy Creature threw its hands up in fright. “I was just thinking!” It was terrified Tao Fangyi would make it write another ten-thousand-word Self-Criticism Essay.

Blazing Flame continued, “And I was the first powerful Human Form toy. Back then, I was our owner’s favorite.”

“But that happiness didn’t last long before the environment turned harsh,” Blazing Flame said. “I remember the day our owner was taken to a prison by his parents.”

“Prison?” Wang didn’t understand.

“Kindergarten,” Blazing Flame said.

“Oh…” Wang understood now.

“From that day onward, this world changed. The areas beyond the Toy Room became uninhabitable, and my comrades and I were pushed back step by step.” Blazing Flame explained, “Eventually, we were confined to the Toy Room.”

“I never tried to venture out, because I watched our territory shrink with my own eyes. And after that, our owner never took me out of the Toy Room again.” Blazing Flame always warned every new toy how desolate it was beyond the Toy Room.

Tao Fangyi understood. “Because your owner grew up.”

At first, Liu Xuanyong had believed the entire world was his Toy Room. He could express his thoughts to the world without restraint—at that age, children even verbalize their thoughts directly as they think them.

But gradually, Liu Xuanyong’s emotions grew more complex. He began to notice “other people,” and his own personal space began to shrink.

So the world beyond the Toy Room was no longer Liu Xuanyong’s paradise, nor a paradise for these toys.

“Does this happen to everyone?” Blazing Flame looked toward the Fantasy Creatures. “Did Older Cousin and the other one go through the same thing?”

One Fantasy Creature raised a hand. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know. I never knew the toys my creator had when he was little.”

Another Fantasy Creature pursed its lips. “I’d love to give you an answer, but our creator was a middle schooler when she made us. Middle school, you understand? Not a first-grader.”

Watching this bunch of childish fantasies comparing and looking down on each other, Wang massaged his temple.

【Are you annoyed?】 Tao Fangyi asked him through Sound Transmission.

【A little.】 Honestly, Wang had plenty of reasons to be irritable, but right now he had to maintain a relatively positive persona. He absolutely had to show Tao Fangyi what a truly good intimate relationship looked like.

Just as Wang was thinking this, he suddenly felt a hand press against one side of his face.

He froze for a moment, then saw Tao Fangyi, face veiled by Black Mist, sitting beside him.

A Barrier again?

Why did Tao Fangyi always throw up Barriers so casually? Wasn’t this thing meant for fighting?

Tao Fangyi was seated on his left, but his hand reached around behind Wang’s back and pressed against the right side of Wang’s head, gently guiding him down.

Wang didn’t resist, lying down until his head rested on Tao Fangyi’s lap.

And Tao Fangyi’s hand settled on the curve of Wang’s waist, patting it softly now and then.

Oh…

Wang carefully adjusted himself, making his position more comfortable.

The toys and Fantasy Creatures were still chatting, their conversation underscored by the crying of the pre-three toys and Morning Star’s frantic, overwhelmed voice.

Incredibly noisy.

But…

Wang nestled against Tao Fangyi’s thigh, slowly turning his head to look at him.

Tao Fangyi wasn’t looking at him. Tao Fangyi was paying attention to the toys. And with his face still shrouded in Black Mist, all Wang could see was his jawline and Adam’s apple.

When Tao Fangyi spoke, his Adam’s apple moved. When he laughed, Wang could feel the subtle vibrations.

There was a feeling that was both familiar and strange.

When Wang was little, he used to burrow under Wenren Huaishu’s belly.

Wenren Huaishu was a Big Tiger, and she loved to press her cubs down to sleep.

Wang Qiang was much the same. When taking care of a child, he liked to curl around his son, keeping him in the middle.

But this current situation felt different somehow.

Wang nuzzled against Tao Fangyi’s chest. Tao Fangyi didn’t know what he was doing, but subconsciously lifted his other hand to support Wang’s head.

Tao Fangyi looked down at Wang briefly, then raised his head to continue chatting with the others.

What a strange feeling.

“Can you understand?” Wenren Fu paced back and forth inside his own Barrier. “I mean, his hand was on my waist. He clearly wasn’t holding me tight, but I felt like I was being held fiercely.”

“Before, I only ever felt that when my parents squished me.” Wenren Fu tapped his own head.

“I don’t know how to describe it.” Wenren Fu’s hand circled in front of his chest. “My attraction to him is because of his strength, his unparalleled strength. Everyone admires strength, right? It’s only human nature.”

Trapped in a corner, covered in wounds, the Fierce Ghost stared at Wenren Fu in terror. The Fierce Ghost was trembling, utterly incapable of answering Wenren Fu’s question. It tried to shuffle away slowly, desperate to escape.

“But his behavior is nothing like a strong person’s. I mean, he’s too… too gentle. And a bit clueless.” Wenren Fu was still pacing. “Honestly, the first time I discovered that side of him, I was a little disappointed. He must have been repressed.”

“He’s been repressed, hasn’t he?” Wenren Fu dragged the Fierce Ghost back.

The Fierce Ghost shook even harder.

“You’ve killed so many people, what are you so afraid of?” Wenren Fu threw the ghost back down.

“But now something feels weird.” Wenren Fu resumed his monologue. “Even though he coaxes people like they’re children, but, but still…”

“No! I can’t think about such rational questions right now!” Wenren Fu couldn’t deconstruct Tao Fangyi’s personality at this moment. All he wanted to do right now was touch Tao Fangyi’s Adam’s apple.

He just wanted to play a little prank.

He wanted to do something mischievous to Tao Fangyi.

At that moment, Wang, nestled in Tao Fangyi’s arms, suddenly reached out a hand and tickled Tao Fangyi’s waist and stomach.

After a few tickles, Tao Fangyi caught his wrist.

Tao Fangyi looked down at him. Even with the Black Mist concealing his face, Wang could feel Tao Fangyi smiling.

Tao Fangyi pulled Wang’s hand away, leaned down, and spoke very, very softly: “I’m not ticklish, you know.”

“Whoop!” Wenren Fu hurriedly pressed a hand against his own ear.

Tao Fangyi’s voice was deep. When he spoke softly like that, Wenren Fu felt like his brain had been gently stroked.

“I knew it. Ha!” Wenren Fu knew Tao Fangyi would react to his inappropriate behavior.

This action, which didn’t even qualify as a prank, made Wenren Fu feel exhilarated. “I knew he’d do that!”

The Fierce Ghost whimpered.

And Wenren Fu was already preparing for a repeat performance.

On the other side, Wang poked Tao Fangyi’s knee.

Tao Fangyi looked down and asked what was wrong.

Wang indicated nothing was wrong at all.

Once Tao Fangyi looked up again, Wang started poking him again. Poke, poke, poke.

After this repeated four or five times, Tao Fangyi was getting a little annoyed by Wang. “If you don’t want to rest, then get up.”