Chapter 405 |
Not another phone call!
Fang Qi grabbed his hair in irritation.
Can’t a guy just lie around in peace for a minute?
...Could it be Lin Xiaoyou?
Miss Genius, I really should let Liguang spank your little—!
[An Lian]
As he looked at the phone screen, Fang Qi’s finger hesitated slightly.
His gaze froze.
...?
An Lian?
He stared at those two characters, and the irritation in his heart... slowly began to settle.
He even...
started to feel a little nervous!
Of all people... it was her?
Why was she calling him?
Suddenly, he felt a bit...
afraid to answer this call.
He really didn’t know what to say!
Fang Qi gripped the still-vibrating phone, his eyes a little unfocused.
...Should he answer this call or not?
An Lian.
His... “Sister.”
In his mother’s notes, he had read...
everything about her.
In the orphanage, the black-haired girl who quietly sat in the corner reading books.
She had lost her parents and her brother—her whole family, leaving only her.
Her parents had been killed by Chenxi’s AI companion.
Her brother had saved the last bite of food for her, eventually starving to death on the street.
At twelve years old, she had said, “I want to protect Xiao Qi.”
She took the college entrance exam a year early but rejected the best university, coming straight to work at Chenxi because...
she wanted to become a maintenance and inspection specialist.
She didn’t want any substandard AI companions to harm anyone else.
In his mother’s notes, she had written about An Lian extensively.
About how mature she was, how heartbreakingly good.
An Lian.
She really had tried so hard.
From the age of twelve, she had been fighting for that goal.
And then...
“Ring—!”
The phone was still vibrating.
Fang Qi stared blankly at the flashing caller ID.
And then...
he had hurt her deeply.
That first timeline. In An Lian’s apartment.
He had made Liguang restrain her, yanked her by the hair, forced her to look at the wreckage in the hallway, and told her—
“All of this... is because of you!”
He remembered the look on her face at that moment.
In her clear, cold eyes, all her professionalism and composure had utterly shattered in that instant!
She broke down on the spot.
Screaming for him to kill her!
To kill the very person... she had always wanted to protect.
In the end...
she was struck by a sniper’s bullet right in front of him.
Dying in despair.
Fang Qi gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the phone.
...And then what?
After he rolled back from that timeline, she didn’t hate him, she didn’t fall apart completely, and she certainly didn’t seek revenge.
Instead, she came to his house on her own.
She just sat across from him, and in a voice that was calm but trembling, told him her story.
That dark orphanage, the man who rebuilt it, and the woman who had crouched down and stroked her head.
In the end, she said...
“If you want, you can call me Sister.”
He had called her “Sister.”
And she had quickly fled.
Fang Qi lost himself in thought for a moment.
That was probably...
the morning of the seventh day?
After that, the two of them hadn’t seen each other since, had they?
It was now the afternoon of the ninth day.
Fang Qi took a deep breath, slowly let it out...
and pressed the answer button.
“...Hello?”
His voice was a little hoarse.
But on the other end of the line, there was no immediate response.
He could only hear the faint sound of breathing.
Fang Qi opened his mouth...
but didn’t know what to say.
He didn’t know how to talk to this woman—the one he had hurt so badly, yet who still wanted to protect him.
Silence stretched across the phone line.
From the kitchen came the sound of running water. Liguang was washing fruit.
Fang Qi pressed his lips together and finally...
“Sister... An Lian?” he forced out.
The word “Sister” came out a bit strained.
On the other end of the line, her breathing noticeably faltered.
Then he heard a very, very soft...
“Xiao Qi...”
Her voice was trembling.
But then she quickly corrected herself:
“Mr. Fang.”
Her tone instantly returned to professional steadiness:
“Mr. Fang, I’m calling today to inform you of something.”
Her demeanor suddenly became calm:
“In the near future, I need to visit your home to perform a maintenance check on Liguang.”
...Huh?
Fang Qi’s eyes twitched.
Another maintenance check?
“This is a routine company arrangement,”
An Lian continued.
“As a custom model, Liguang requires regular deep inspection and emotional core scanning.”
The sound of paper rustling came from her end, as if she was flipping through some documents.
“According to company regulations, this inspection covers an emotional core stability assessment, routine bionic body maintenance, and...”
“some updates and maintenance on... certain secondary modules.”
“There are quite a few specific items; it will probably take up about half a day of your time.”
“So I’d like to confirm when you’ll be available soon.”
“I can arrange my schedule around yours.”
Listening to An Lian’s rapid stream of technical jargon, Fang Qi blinked.
...Why a check-up all of a sudden?
He subconsciously looked toward the kitchen door, at the slender silver silhouette behind it.
An Lian must already know that Liguang has awakened, right?
So what was the purpose of this inspection?
To confirm that Liguang is safe?
Mm...
After all, she wants to protect him.
To protect anyone who might be harmed by an awakened AI.
But, what if she found out that she herself was also an “awakened AI”...
What would her reaction be?
...Damn it!
Fang Qi quickly shook his head!
Forcefully pushing that bit of dark amusement out of his mind!
Then he narrowed his eyes slightly.
Or maybe...
she was using the inspection as an excuse to see him?
To tell him something?
...An Lian was a maintenance specialist at Chenxi. Inside the company, she definitely had access to information he didn’t!
Fang Qi pressed his lips together.
To be honest, he really did want to have a good talk with this “Sister” of his.
Even though he’d just been thinking about slacking off...
He couldn’t very well turn down information that was coming straight to him, could he?
Besides...
He did owe her a proper, face-to-face meeting.
After reading his mother’s notes, he had a lot he wanted to say to her.
Still...
the timing right now isn’t great!
He looked down at his ankle.
A heavy chain, wrapped in a fluffy pad, was locked firmly around it!
Uh...
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
Looks like today is definitely out of the question...
He quickly spoke with an embarrassed smile:
“Sister An Lian, I might not... be able to do that in the next day or two.”
There was silence on the other end.
He quickly added:
“When I can, I’ll contact you myself, alright?”
He felt a little guilty saying it, because he himself had no idea when he would “regain his freedom”...
That would depend on his crazy woman’s mood at home...
There was another long silence on the phone before she spoke calmly:
“Alright. I hope you can do it as soon as possible.”
“And...”
An Lian’s voice grew a little softer.
“Mr. Fang, I heard...”
Her tone suddenly became hesitant.
“The security situation around your neighborhood has been a bit... unstable lately.”
Fang Qi was taken aback.
Huh?
Security around their neighborhood?
“So, for the next few days...”
An Lian continued, her voice still soft.
“It would be best if you... didn’t go outside.”
Fang Qi blinked in confusion.
Then his pupils contracted!
...Ah!
He suddenly reacted!
An Lian was... hinting at him?
She was telling him in her own way that he might be in trouble soon!
...Someone was going to make a move on him?
Fang Qi squinted slightly.
He suddenly remembered something.
Last cycle, on the way to that desolate mountain research institute...
Liguang had noticed a car tailing them the whole time.
Lin Xiaoyou had analyzed back then that only "people from Dawn" or "people from Dusk" would specially install signal-blocking systems to track them.
Later...
He used traffic lights to shake them off.
Then they never seemed to appear again.
Now, An Lian had specifically called to warn him not to go out...
Tsk.
Was it... Dawn...?
But...
Perfect timing!
Fang Qi couldn't help curving the corners of his mouth slightly, his foot moving...
The chain clanked loudly!
Perfect, he was currently "imprisoned" at home by Liguang!
Since he couldn't go out anyway!
What a coincidence!
"Okay, Sister An Lian!"
He immediately swore solemnly!
"I'll lock myself at home for the next couple of days!"
"Absolutely won't go out!"
His tone was earnest and sincere!
On the other end of the phone, An Lian seemed to softly hum in acknowledgment, then fell silent again.
After a long moment, she spoke:
"Alright then, Mr. Fang. That's all I needed to say, so—"
"Wait!"
Fang Qi suddenly interrupted her.
He called out to stop An Lian, who was about to hang up.
He could feel the impulse in his voice.
But he suddenly really wanted to tell her something.
Something...
He had read in his mother's notebook.
"Mr. Fang, is there anything else?"
On the other end of the phone, An Lian's voice had steadied again, cool and calm.
Fang Qi opened his mouth...
A little awkward.
He didn't quite know how to bring it up...
He scratched the back of his head and chuckled dryly.
"Haha, nothing much. It's just that recently..."
His mind stirred.
"I was rummaging through some corners at home, found..."
"My mother's notebook."
He deliberately made it sound casual and light, to ease any possible awkwardness.
"There's something about you in it."
The breath on the other end of the phone, which had already calmed, instantly became erratic!
Another silence fell, before An Lian said softly:
"...What did it say?"
Her voice was trembling faintly.
As if she was trying to control it, but couldn't at all.
Fang Qi's heart suddenly felt a little heavy.
He didn't want to make the atmosphere too somber.
So, using as light a tone as possible, he said:
"Well, my mom wrote in her notebook that she initially..."
"Almost took you home!"
"Back then, she wanted to adopt you, and even discussed it for a long time with my dad!"
"But in the end..."
"It was because she was afraid you'd be implicated by our family, so she didn't go through with it!"
He continued, his pace quickening slightly!
"She also wrote: 'I almost had one more sister in the family!'"
"Sister An Lian, back then you almost became my older sister!"
"Just that close!"
He said it all in one go.
Then held his breath.
Damn...
He really wasn't good at sentimental stuff!
And on the other end of the phone, there was another long silence.
The breathing was even worse than before, more trembling.
Fang Qi's nose felt a little sore. He remembered what his mother had written in her notebook...
An Lian waited outside the orphanage gate until dark, just hoping Aunt Su would come.
Really, she missed becoming part of this family by just that margin.
The living room was silent.
"...Mm."
An Lian finally spoke on the other end of the line.
A very soft sound, nasal.
"I see."
Her voice was a little hoarse.
"Xiao Qi... Mr. Fang."
Her voice gradually regained its steadiness.
"Try not to go out recently. And..."
"Contact me for an examination as soon as possible."
"Beep, beep, beep—"
The dial tone echoed in Fang Qi's ear.
He put down his phone and stared blankly at the call-end screen.
She had hung up in such a hurry.
But...
"...Phew!"
He let out a sigh of relief.
...Good.
How good this was!
Letting An Lian know about this—great!
His heart truly felt a lot lighter!
This could be taken as some form of atonement for what he had done before!
Although he knew it couldn't change anything.
It couldn't bring back the family she had lost or erase the darkness she endured in childhood...
Nor could it undo everything he had done to her in that apartment.
But at least...
At least he could let her know that his mother had seriously considered taking her home.
That she had really wanted her as family.
Fang Qi leaned back into the sofa, looking up at the ceiling.
Everything he could do for her was probably just this sort of thing.
Telling her something she ought to have known.
Telling her...
She had once been truly loved by someone.
...Sigh.
There was still a lump in his heart.
Thinking back to that time in An Lian's apartment, he really had been way too out of control...
...Damn it.
He stared hard at the floor, clenching his teeth.
The more he thought about it now, the more he felt like back then, he had been a complete animal!
A complete beast!
Then...
He was completely drained, limp.
...Better stay slack for a while.
Just a little longer...
...Liguang was taking so long just washing fruit!
Why wasn't she done yet...?
He suddenly noticed, in his peripheral vision, behind him...
A hint of frozen silver.
"?"
Slowly, stiffly, he turned his head.
He met that smiling face of hers!
Her fair nose was only a few inches from his.
Those mismatched eyes stared at him faintly!
"...Holy shit! "
