The woman on the phone screen had a delicate oval face, her alluring peach blossom eyes carrying a hint of laziness and hazy charm, as if teasing whoever was looking at her.
“This was me before,” the little yellow duck said, pointing at the screen with a plastic wing.
Wang looked at the duck’s face, then at the woman in the photo, then back at the duck again.
Finally, Wang concluded, “Did your oval face hatch?”
“I prefer my current look,” the little yellow duck said, doing a twirl.
“Oh, right, right, listen to this!” The duck leaped high into the air and then slammed hard onto the ground, its body letting out a sharp “Squeak!”
Wang: ?
Little Yellow Duck: “My body is squeaking.”
She jumped up and down repeatedly, the squeaking of a children’s toy sounding endlessly.
Tao Fangyi and the other two clapped along to the squeaking rhythm, very supportive.
They had already come out of the theater. Even the opera singer there was a ruthless character ranked on the Combat Department’s list; Wang was no longer shocked.
“Come on, come on, perform that one thing!” Tao Fangyi pulled out his phone and aimed it at the duck. “Your ultimate move!”
The little yellow duck’s beady button eyes turned serious.
What ultimate move? A Seductive Ghost’s technique?
Wang was baffled.
Then he heard Tao Fangyi yell, “Sparrow Hawk Flip!”
The little yellow duck suddenly performed a backflip.
Wang: ????
Tao Fangyi continued: “Do an Inverted Purple Gold Crown Kick!”
The little yellow duck performed another backflip.
Every martial arts move name Tao Fangyi shouted out, the duck answered with a backflip.
The “Squeak! Squeak!” sounds continued, and the surrounding dolls never stopped clapping.
“What… is this?” Wang couldn’t figure it out.
“We’re filming short videos,” Tao Fangyi said. “We have our own internal social app, and our own internal short video app, too.”
Tao Fangyi opened the short video app on his phone; the thumbnails of the videos were all toys.
Tao Fangyi then tapped on one. Inside, a bouncy ball was hopping about, showing off its new body.
“Everyone has a desire to share, and toy bodies are genuinely cute.” These types of videos with zero nutritional value had incredibly high view counts.
Wang understood now.
“Are there any videos of Tao Fangyi?” Wang wasn’t interested in other toys.
“There are, there are,” the Salted Fish said.
The Salted Fish pulled out its phone and tapped on a video.
Wang saw a little plastic mushroom holding up a phone, filming itself in front of a mirror.
Saying it was “holding” it wasn’t exactly accurate, because the phone was floating in mid-air, obviously held by a completely transparent hand.
The little plastic mushroom spun around once in front of the mirror before asking softly, “What species is this?”
It was indeed Tao Fangyi’s voice, speaking in his usual tone.
The videos Tao Fangyi made were utterly boring, lacking the joyful madness of his peers wildly exploring their own possibilities.
But this gave him an extra layer of contrasting charm.
Judging by the comments and likes, everyone seemed to really go for this sort of thing.
Wang tapped open the comments, and was surprised to find that Tao Fangyi had actually replied to every single message. The commenters had noticed it too, but they were former villains who had seen the big picture; they didn’t tease him too excessively.
Someone said Tao Fangyi seemed very domestic, and Tao Fangyi had earnestly thanked them.
Serious and proper, it was truly amusing.
Wang decided right then to buy the same model of plastic mushroom to keep at home.
Wenren Fu’s house now had three new types of toys: a black-haired doll in a suit, a super-deformed doll with blue hair wearing overalls, and a short-armed Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Now, he felt he needed a mushroom.
The feeling of having a reliable elder was truly quite nice.
Wenren Fu was experiencing, for the first time, the desire to collect official elder merchandise.
Of course, there were no officially produced Tao Fangyi models. Except for the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the other doll appearances were designed by the Wardens responsible for appearance changes in the Nineteenth Level.
So if Wenren Fu wanted these dolls, he had to buy the materials himself and sew them.
He wasn’t working lately, so he simply stayed at home and sewed a few Tao Fangyi dolls.
But he felt he was still missing a life-sized body pillow of Tao Fangyi’s True Form; otherwise, he always felt an emptiness beside him.
He couldn’t get a picture of Tao Fangyi, so Wenren Fu was currently sewing an even larger black-haired, suit-wearing doll.
He wanted this doll to take up two-thirds of his bed, so the moment he lay down, he’d be squeezed right up against it.
Just as he finished drafting the pattern for this giant doll, Tao Fangyi’s side was preparing to take on a new mission.
After saying goodbye to his friends, Tao Fangyi first went to the Team Leader’s office to pick up the files, then went to alter his appearance.
This time, Tao Fangyi’s appearance was that of an AI robot that looked like an astronaut; he could use emoticons on his display screen to express his emotions.
“The Mission Target this time really is an old acquaintance of mine.” After returning this time, Tao Fangyi had carefully reviewed his memories to prepare for future missions.
Now, the memories Tao Fangyi had unearthed were coming in handy. He pointed to the sweetly smiling girl in the file data: “In her past life, her name was Yu Xianyun, and she was…”
“She was the older sister of the Twin Rakshasas.” Wang knew this one.
The classic White Bone Contemplation battle to capture the Twin Rakshasas was something they’d even put in the training manual.
As expected, the further he went, the more terrifying the missions became. These two Rakshasa sisters took pleasure in devouring humans; their ending could only be death.
“Correct,” Tao Fangyi nodded.
“How did you get to know them?” Wang asked, confused. “They were captured before you entered your rebellious phase, right?”
“Oh! It was way before that. I had just been taken away by humans not long before,” Tao Fangyi said with a grin.
Back then, Tao Fangyi’s face hadn’t fully formed yet; he still had the appearance the Puppet Master had carved for him: a broad face, long, thin eyebrows, and half-closed eyes.
“At that time, I was passing through the forest where they lived. They mistook me for a living statue of a deity and followed me the whole way burning incense,” Tao Fangyi recalled. “Later, when they found out I wasn’t a Buddha, they got so angry they tried to eat me. Then their teeth shattered.”
Wang was no longer shocked; he just thought, That’s Tao Fangyi for you.
“After their teeth broke, they sat on the ground and cried. I squatted down to comfort them, and they took a few more bites out of me, and a few more teeth fell out.”
Wang: “How exactly did you comfort them?”
“…My way of comforting was extremely inappropriate, but I had just gotten a Human Form not long before and hadn’t adapted yet,” Tao Fangyi gave himself a disclaimer, then took a deep breath. “I said their broken teeth looked like shooting stars.”
Wang: “Ahahahahaha!”
“After that, every time I passed by, they had to take a bite out of my arm. I got used to it. It was only much later, after the local hegemon of that territory changed, that I realized the two of them were gone.”
“So this time, your Mission Target is this pair of sisters. This time, it’s their turn to bring us some trouble.” Wang just hoped it wouldn’t be another bunch of toys coming to life; dealing with toys was also a hassle, and Wang hated trouble.
“Not them, just her. In this life, her name is Wu Qing, and she’s six years old. She lives at Wenchan Residential Area, Building 5, Unit 3, Room 312. Her father is a Doctor, and her mother is a teacher,” Tao Fangyi explained. “She’s an only child, no younger sister or older sister.”
“These two Rakshasas didn’t reincarnate together?” Wang had assumed they’d still be entangled in this life.
“If they’re together, it’s very troublesome. Just one will be much easier,” Tao Fangyi was still quite confident.
Wang didn’t share his confidence; he always felt the mission wouldn’t let Tao Fangyi have it too easy.
He recalled the last time Tao Fangyi had shed tears.
However, this time, the entire process was indeed without any mishaps.
After changing his shell, Tao Fangyi was safely delivered to Wu Qing’s home, into Wu Qing’s hands.
Wang tested all of Wu Qing’s toys, confirming they were fine.
Also, Wu Qing didn’t come from a blended family. In the short term, there was no sign of hidden conflicts between her parents, and the two of them genuinely enjoyed chatting, so their relationship likely wasn’t bad.
As for Wu Qing herself, she was an absolute goody-two-shoes. She didn’t destroy toys, never yanked harshly on Tao Fangyi’s arm, and she ate her meals properly and did her homework diligently.
She seemed like a very well-behaved and obedient little girl.
Tao Fangyi was very gratified. At night, after the little girl fell asleep, Tao Fangyi quietly said to Wang, “Maybe we just need to help her solve some little kid problems, like difficulties with her studies, or if she’s in a new environment and needs to make new friends.”
“I don’t need new friends,” Wu Qing said.
“Why not?” Tao Fangyi was puzzled.
“I don’t need a bunch of kids who smear snot on their faces as my friends,” Wu Qing walked over and sat down right next to Tao Fangyi.
“You can’t say that. As long as they’re taught well, six-year-olds won’t smear snot on their faces,” Tao Fangyi corrected Wu Qing.
Wang: “Uncle Tao!!”
Tao Fangyi finally realized what was wrong. He looked up at Wu Qing.
Wu Qing looked at him, smiling: “Just what kind of Demon are you?”
Tao Fangyi retreated two steps and turned to run, but Wu Qing grabbed him with one swift motion. “Daring to come into my territory? It seems you don’t value your life, either.”
The robot’s legs were utterly inflexible; Tao Fangyi flailed his jointless short legs uselessly. He watched as the other party slowly opened her mouth, preparing to stuff him inside.
What was going on?!
Had Wu Qing’s Reincarnation gone wrong?
Tao Fangyi didn’t dare struggle too violently. Unsure if it was an illusion, he couldn’t sense the faintest trace of spiritual energy from this child.
Wu Qing’s teeth bit down hard onto Tao Fangyi’s hand.
And then.
Crack.
One of her already loose lower incisors suddenly flew out.
Tao Fangyi: …
Wang: “Uncle Tao, look! A shining shooting star~”
Wu Qing covered her mouth, staring at Tao Fangyi in astonishment.
Lost tooth? Shooting star? Surname Tao?
“Which one of you two is Tao Fangyi?” Wu Qing asked.
Tao Fangyi raised his hand.
“Tao Fangyi? You really are Tao Fangyi?! I can’t believe I ran into you again!!” Wu Qing was overjoyed, her speech getting faster and faster. But she was missing a bottom tooth, so whenever she got excited, she turned into a sprinkler.
Tao Fangyi felt he was being indiscriminately sprayed by a child.
“It’s good you’re here! I’ve checked it out. That department has been renamed the Special Administration now. Soon, jailers from there will probably come to supervise me. You have to help me cover things up,” Wu Qing whispered.
Tao Fangyi grabbed a tissue to wipe down his shell: “I am the jailer.” Albeit a Reserve one.
Wu Qing let out a booming laugh.
Tao Fangyi looked at her with sincere eyes.
Wu Qing giggled nervously.
Tao Fangyi continued looking at her.
Wu Qing stopped laughing.
