Eclipse Hunter Volume 4: Truth and Lies, Separate Worlds
Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)
Chapter Three: Sorrowful Anger —translated by Trespasserby
Dark Sun stopped in the doorway to the Principal’s office. By now he wasn’t dressed as a well-behaved schoolboy anymore, but wearing a red shirt, jeans, and of course, a visor that covered his face.
He politely knocked on the door.
Immediately from behind the door came an unusually enthusiastic shout. “Dark Sun? Come in, come in!”
Dark Sun entered the Principal’s office, being even more on his guard as soon as he did so.
The Principal wasn’t alone in the office. There was actually at least twenty people inside. One person, who happened to have their back to Dark Sun, sat in front of the Principal. Everyone else was standing in two rows.
Four people wearing austere black Western suits stood beside the person seated in front of the Principal. The others were dressed identically in clothes meant for movement or battle. They had rifles with high firepower slung across their backs and two handguns hanging from their waist.
Dark Sun guessed they would certainly be carrying knives but didn’t know whether they were carrying them under their shirts, in their pant legs, in a small pouch strapped to their thighs, or perhaps in all those places.
These people were the ones who had put Dark Sun on guard. They were all fighters and armed to the teeth. If they were all enemies, even Dark Sun would have a difficult battle.
Dark Sun stayed in the doorway where he would be able to leave at any moment.
“Dark Sun! Come inside already! Don’t be so afraid of strangers, child!”
Principal Ah Na Yi enthusiastically gestured at him. Seeing that Dark Sun wasn’t willing to come over, Ah Na Yi then explained it away as being afraid of strangers, in order to avoid having Dark Sun’s hesitation anger the VIP in front of them.
Dark Sun still wasn’t willing to budge a step. He couldn’t risk going into dangerous territory, regardless if it was rude or not.
Ah Na Yi’s smile went partially stiff. With particular emphasis, Ah Na Yi said, “Dark Sun, this is the person I told you about last time: Raines, the person with the most beautiful voice in the world! Have you forgotten? Come here!”
Dark Sun silently remained in the doorway, unwilling to take another step further this entire time.
Ah Na Yi’s expression was about as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Raines stood up and turned around to face Dark Sun. He was wearing a gorgeous Western-style suit with a long silvery white scarf wrapped around his neck. His hair went past his waist and his skin was nearly as pale as his clothes. The moment the light hit him, his entire person seemed to glow.
He took measure of Dark Sun with a scrutinizing gaze. But in the end, he still smiled lightly and said, almost as though he were singing, “A person worthy of catching my eye. Hair the color of moonlight. A slender figure. Your proud and unyielding refusal to obey orders only accentuates your frigid disposition. Ah! Beautiful beyond compare.”
Ah Na Yi’s face momentarily contorted after he heard that. His whole body was covered in goose bumps from listening to that. But it’s fine as long as he’s happy. It’s fine!
Dark Sun also took measure of Raines. His clothes were in a complicated style that wasn’t suitable for combat and had nowhere to hide weapons. His skin was in good condition; he hadn’t been through any rigorous combat training. An X-ray scan showed that he had no metal on him and was not a modified human. In short, this person was incapable of posing any threat.
Probably to demonstrate goodwill, Raines took the initiative to walk up. The faint smile was still on his face. He softly and melodiously sang, “Do not fear! I am not frightening at all. Although hearing my name may be intimidating, look! There is nothing about me that would be cause for fear, is there not?”
Ah Na Yi’s face contorted again. Does this guy sing instead of talk? Goose bumps that hadn’t been seen in decades broke out on his skin, each one standing out.
“It is truly a tragedy that a child this beautiful only knows to be a subordinate. Ah! It is such a sorrow.”
Raines held a high note and then switched to a low pitch. “Child, do not worry. Even if no one loves you, appreciates you, there is still me, Raines, who sees your beauty!”
Ever since the microchip had made the determination that Raines was not dangerous, Dark Sun had been watching the bodyguards and not Raines. However, he suddenly looked at Raines once he spoke those words.
Raines, seeing that he finally had Dark Sun’s attention, seemed to be in an especially good mood. His expression seemed especially gentle.
Dark Sun shifted his gaze to Principal Ah Na Yi. He formally inquired, “Does the bodyguard mission start today?”
Ah Na Yi didn’t even respond before Raines interrupted him.
“What a tragic child. Can you see nothing of the world’s beauty aside from missions?”
Raines shook his head and sighed. Although he had said “world,” his hand was placed over his chest, as though he were the world.
Dark Sun completely ignored Raines and only looked at the Principal. He reminded the Principal that he had yet to reply, “Ah Na Yi?”
Couldn’t you add the “Principal” on? An Na Yi grumbled silently as he replied, “No. Mr. Raines is only here to handle some formalities. He will officially begin class tomorrow. I wanted to introduce you two.”
“We have been introduced.”
As soon as Dark Sun finished speaking, he turned around and left, not even giving the people in the room the chance to save a bit of face.
Ah Na Yi said a bit awkwardly, “Mr. Raines…”
“Do not fret.” Raines smiled in pity and sighed, “I understand that this child is full of pride and lacks the nourishment of love. But do not worry. As long as we have music! Beautiful music will surely cause him to change. In this singular month, my music shall certainly allow him to be filled with love.”
Ah Na Yi stretched his face into a smile and said, “Indeed!”
“Then until tomorrow, Principal Ah Na Yi.”
After Raines left, Ah Na Yi suddenly sat back into the principal’s seat. He covered his face and wailed, “This is awful! Even though it seems like Dark Sun ignores everyone, he doesn’t particularly hate anyone. Why does he seem to hate that guy so much? He won’t even look at him… How is he going to carry out this mission?! He wouldn’t deliberately let Raines die, right?”
After saying that, he muttered, “That guy is really annoying. Even though he acts like he really wants to help people, what he actually says infuriates people more than helps them… This won’t do. I should have Elian pretend to be Dark Sun’s best friend and frequently go to find Dark Sun to chat. Ah, ah! Or even better, pretend to be Dark Sun’s fanatical stalker who can’t bear to be more than half a step away from Dark Sun. That way I can rest easy!”
Ah Na Yi immediately pressed the broadcast button to summon Elian.
“Dark Sun’s fanatical stalker?”
Elian was completely dumbstruck. In all his years, he had never been fanatical over anything before. How could he accurately pretend to be a fanatical stalker? He tactfully tried to suggest to the Principal, “Wouldn’t it be better if you had Eloise go?”
“No. It absolutely cannot be Eloise. She is a genuine Dark Sun fanatic.”
The Principal grimaced and said, “If Raines provokes Dark Sun, even before Dark Sun does anything, Eloise might actually kill Raines first.”
Provoke Dark Sun? Isn’t that exactly the mission the Sun Emperor gave us? If he really does provoke Dark Sun, the Sun Emperor might even thank him.
Elian dryly smiled and shook his head. “That won’t happen, Principal. Dark Sun is completely professional. He won’t be angry.”
“Nonsense!” Ah Na Yi instantly refuted, “He hates Raines.”
Elian froze. He doubtfully asked, “Dark Sun hates Raines? How is that possible?”
“What do you mean how is that possible? He doesn’t even want look at Raines.”
Hearing that, Elian skeptically thought, Could Dr. An Te Qi’s hypothesis be correct? That currently Dark Sun isn’t really the emotionless Dark Sun but is actually…
If that were the case, then he couldn’t stay by Dark Sun’s side and ruin the whole thing. Elian hastily said, “Principal, maybe you should have Eli stealthily follow them. Eli is very skilled at stealth and won’t be noticed by Raines. And I’ll be nearby. If a situation arises, Eli will immediately notify Eloise and me.”
Ah Na Yi frowned.
Elian further urged, “Like this, I can guarantee that I won’t be driven away by Raines either, which would leave him unprotected and also offend him.”
Ah Na Yi paused to think. Considering Raines’s bizarre personality and tremendous influence, it was hard to say that he wouldn’t forcefully use his bodyguards stationed outside of campus to drive Elian away.
“Alright. Don’t leave their side for even a moment,” Ah Na Yi stressed.
“Understood.”
Elian cautiously nodded. Although he hoped that Raines would really provoke Dark Sun, if Dark Sun really became so angry that he killed Raines with a single swipe, that wouldn’t be good either.
After Dark Sun left the Principal’s office, he changed back into his school uniform and returned to class.
Ezart was still sprawled out across the desk and had slept the whole day. Even during lunch, he had only gotten up to take two bites of bread, take a swig of water, and then sprawl back out to sleep. The whole time, he hadn’t even glanced at Dark Sun.
Dark Sun also didn’t bother him and went to the cafeteria on his own to eat lunch.
The trio who occasionally stopped by to make trouble didn’t make an appearance today.
Aside from Xiao Ai, no one said a single word to Dark Sun. While the teacher was lecturing, he diligently took notes, and while the teacher was hiding from stray bullets, he played with Xiao Ai.
Why hasn’t the bell rung yet? The teacher thought as he hid from the stray bullets and wiped his sweat.
Why isn’t class over yet? Ezart was sprawled out on his desk but wasn’t able to sleep. No matter how skilled he was, it was impossible to sleep from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon! But he really couldn’t act. If he had to pretend to hate Ah Ye… He would rather continue to sprawl there!
Class needs to end quicker… For the first time, the teacher and the terrible student Ezart shared the same thought.
Dong dong dong dong.
The teacher grabbed his briefcase, jumped out from beneath the podium, and dashed out of the classroom door while shouting, “Class dismissed!”
Meanwhile, Ezart was debating over whether he should continue to play dead or to get up and icily say something like “I’m busy. Walk home yourself,” when he heard the chair next to him move. He raised one arm very slightly and peered out through the gap, only to see Dark Sun shoulder his book bag and directly leave.
Ezart raised his head in astonishment and watched Dark Sun’s departing figure leave the classroom. The brat didn’t even say bye? Even if he were Dark Sun, he should have still followed the protocol to notify a classmate that class had ended and that they should leave together.
“Stupid brat. You’re pitching a fit at me?”
Dark Sun walked back home directly. As he pulled out his keys to open the door, the door opened on its own first, revealing a beaming, adorable boy’s face.
“You’re back, Dark Sun?”
DSII giggled and said, “Xiao Ye made dinner! It’s super tasty. Hurry and eat some!”
“DSII.”
“Mm?” The boy cocked his head and looked at him, showing a slightly puzzled expression.
“You are DSII. Not Xiao Ye,” Dark Sun expressionlessly replied.
Xiao Ye emphatically shook his head. He smiled as he explained, “Gēge said that I’m to be called Xiao Ye, not DSII, from now on. You better remember that, Dark Sun! Don’t say it wrong.”
“He is your master. Not your Gēge.”
DSII beamed and said, “Gēge likes it when I call him Gēge, so I decided to call him Gēge.”
“DSII, return to using the proper form of address.”
After a second’s pause, DSII smiled and reported back, “Dark Sun does not have the authorization to command Xiao Ye. Only Gēge and Daddy An Te Qi can command Xiao Ye.”
This time, Dark Sun was the one who paused for several seconds. Then he harshly said, “DSII, return to using the proper form of address. Otherwise, I will determine that you have malfunctioned and must be immediately destroyed to protect the master’s safety.”
DSII stared with wide eyes and was silent for about ten seconds. Then he displayed an expression with just the right amount of confusion as he reported, “Basic self-assessment complete. Name changing sequence was personally initiated by the master to change nickname to Xiao Ye: correct. With the emotions suppressing switch off, voluntarily selecting to call the master by the name ‘Gēge’: correct. All operations functioning properly. Dark Sun, Xiao Ye isn’t broken!”
“You are already damaged. Recommendation: immediately destroy.”
As the words left his mouth, Dark Sun extended his sharp nails and used his hand like a piercing weapon aimed at DSII’s abdomen.
But DSII wasn’t an average person either. No matter how you put it, he was a copy of Dark Sun. Dark Sun’s attack was sudden, but reacting to it was still completely within DSII’s capabilities. He immediately dodged the strike, and at the same time, retreated two steps to put some distance between them.
He issued a warning. “Under attack. Dark Sun, cease attacking or I will retaliate.”
Dark Sun sent another claw his way.
DSII dodged and said, “Dark Sun has intentionally attacked. Ignored warning. Analysis: Dark Sun has malfunctioned. Recommendation: immediately destroy.”
After he finished saying that, he also extended sharp nails and stabbed in Dark Sun’s direction. His speed and precision were almost exactly the same as Dark Sun’s.
The two of them fought with lightning-fast motions. Their figures and appearance were exactly the same: they used the same sharp nails, identical plasma hair strands, and the two of them were even wearing the same school uniform. Furthermore, Dark Sun’s book bag had fallen to the floor long ago, so there was no way to tell who was who.
Their strength and speed were shocking. Also, neither of them wanted to cause a commotion, so they fought while advancing into the house. The house’s entrance and living room were soon unrecognizable.
Luckily, this house didn’t just have ordinary soundproofing. Although it sounded like their fight was about to demolish the house, hardly anyone noticed and it didn’t cause any alarm. Or else they would probably have to move after the fight.
Although no ordinary citizens had been alarmed, this was where the Sun Emperor lived, after all. There were actually many bodyguards hidden within the vicinity. They had noticed as soon as the fight broke out and immediately notified their superiors.
However, they had their hands tied when it came to figuring out what to do next.
They had already determined early on that one of the two was the target the Sun Emperor had ordered them to protect with their very lives. But since there was no way to tell which of the two identical people was the target the Sun Emperor wanted protected, they could only treat both of them as the target. Therefore, they couldn’t open fire.
But they couldn’t move in to break up the fight. Despite having undergone elite training, the bodyguards were left dizzy from watching the maneuvers used by the two fighters. They also understood that the instant they went over, they were guaranteed to die on the spot.
With no other alternatives, they were preparing to throw tear gas when they received a command from their superiors.
From the leader of the bodyguard’s cell phone came An Te Qi’s voice saying, “Don’t take any offensive action. You can’t beat them, and you’ll just get marked as an enemy by them. Basically, don’t move. Wait for the Sun Emperor to come instead and protect him so he can get closer to the two of them.”
An Te Qi spoke to the bodyguards outside over his cell phone as he came up from the basement. Before he could even take stock of the situation, he realized a piece of rubble half the size of his body was flying in his direction. He had just cried out in alarm when he was immediately shoved aside by someone and dodged the fatal piece of rock.
After a moment of lightheadedness, An Te Qi managed to pick himself up. He took a good look at the situation. By then, the person who had pushed him aside had already returned to the battle.
Was it Dark Sun? Or DSII? An Te Qi couldn’t tell. But he knew that the most important thing was to get the two cyborgs to stop destroying the house.
He shouted, “Stop! Dark Sun, DSII, I command you to stop!”
The two of them replied in an almost identical manner.
“Dark Sun is out of control. Potential danger to the master. The danger level exceeds An Te Qi’s authority. Unable to stop.”
“DSII is out of control. Potential danger to the master. The danger level exceeds An Te Qi’s authority. Unable to stop.”
Hearing that, An Te Qi froze. Just who went out of control?
Following that, he realized that actually the most important thing wasn’t figuring out who had gone out of control, but that there was flying rubble and furniture everywhere that would probably crush him to death. He hurriedly hid in the kitchen and then sneakily poked his head out from behind the wall to observe.
“DSII’s combat strength is almost exactly the same as Dark Sun’s!”
Even at this kind of time, An Te Qi didn’t forget to take note of how the battle progressed. He nodded and said, “Whether it’s the design of their bodies or their microchip, Dark Sun and DSII are exactly the same. Even though the sturdiness of their makeup isn’t the same, this isn’t something that can be determined without them fighting until their bones break.
“Even though Dark Sun can learn new things, DSII can only improve when I make upgrades. However, Dark Sun doesn’t seem like he has learned a lot more on his own yet. He fights about the same as DSII.
“But DSII is still a robot. When the microchip can’t determine what to do in a situation, he often malfunctions, so he can only be used on bodyguard or assassination missions… But most people make robots for battle power anyway!
“Sigh, DSII is much more economical! Only the two crazy people who held the Ri family’s power in their hands in succession would spend so much money to create ‘Dark Sun.’”
As he muttered this to himself, he suddenly remembered that DSII had attacked Dark Sun!
An Te Qi’s eyes went wide. Hadn’t the Sun Emperor issued an order long ago that Dark Sun was absolutely not to be harmed? But DSII automatically determined Dark Sun was damaged, that he posed a risk to the Sun Emperor, and decided to destroy Dark Sun.
Logically speaking, because the Sun Emperor’s “absolutely forbidden from attacking Dark Sun” command plus “Dark Sun is a danger to the Sun Emperor and must be destroyed” command directly conflicted, DSII should crash again. Why did he attack Dark Sun this time?
An Te Qi couldn’t help recalling the manufacturing process for DSII…
After his former employer—the Sun Emperor’s father—found out about the high probability of failure to create Dark Sun, he insisted on using clones to create backups for Dark Sun.
“We can’t place all of our hopes on that worthless son,” the father had coldly said.
Back then, An Te Qi was silently enraged on Ah Ye’s behalf. Almost all of the children had died. This kid looks like he has the highest chance of succeeding. With a will stronger than that of an adult’s and a tough and resilient body, even without modifications and using normal training, Ah Ye would definitely become an expert combatant.
No matter how you put it, Ah Ye’s far from worthless.
But the pitiful little doctor didn’t have the power to protest. He could only say embarrassedly, “I can only finish a crude backup. I don’t have time to make further refinements.”
“I’ll find someone else to make the adjustments.”
To that, aside from agreeing, An Te Qi didn’t say anything else.
In the beginning, after DSII was made, he made a few major adjustments. But the whole time, whenever there were commands in direct conflict with each other, it would cause DSII to crash. Before he could find a way to fix it, Dark Sun’s situation reached a critical juncture and he no longer had the time to mind DSII. The employer also took DSII and gave it to another lab.
Since then, An Te Qi hadn’t thought of DSII.
A few days ago, Dark Sun’s situation was particularly bad. But An Te Qi absolutely didn’t dare to randomly do stuff to “experiment around and see what happens.” If he made the slightest mistake and something happened to Dark Sun, then Ri Xiang Yan would definitely torture him and send him to the afterlife to accompany Dark Sun.
But if he didn’t experiment, then how would he figure out how to turn Dark Sun back to Ah Ye?
Pressured by both worry over Ah Ye’s state of mind and the Sun Emperor’s icy expression, An Te Qi finally remembered that there used to be a DSII.
As soon as he mentioned this, the Sun Emperor immediately ordered Kyle to search. Rumor had it that the poor secretary spent three days without sleep after going through innumerable secret laboratories, secret munitions factories, and secret underground economic organizations to find the secret laboratory that had taken DSII back then.
In a rare bout of kindness, An Te Qi had told the Sun Emperor, “The people from that laboratory are unable to command Dark Sun. They aren’t among the people Dark Sun was required to accept commands from.”
But the Sun Emperor had indifferently said, “Is that so?” An Te Qi didn’t dare to say anything further. As for the people from that laboratory, he assumed that they probably didn’t meet a good end.
“Could it be that the people responsible for adjusting DSII in that lab had already found a way to keep him from crashing?”
An Te Qi suddenly felt irritated. If he had known that sooner, he should have done everything he could to tell the Sun Emperor that the people who adjusted DSII might have been able to help him turn Dark Sun back.
“An Te Qi! What do we do? What do we do?”
An Te Qi, who had been spacing out, abruptly snapped out of it. With his neck being on the verge of getting snapped, continuing to space out wasn’t an option… Ri Xiang Yan was tightly clutching at his neck.
Before his neck could be snapped, An Te Qi said with difficulty, “You are the highest priority master, so your commands would be the most effective. At least DSII will be guaranteed to stop. Quick, give the command… No, you should let go of me first…”
As soon as Ri Xiang Yan heard that, he immediately rushed out. Naturally, the bodyguards next to him also accompanied him out, using their bodies to protect the master they couldn’t allow to die.
As soon as Ri Xiang Yan rushed out, he roared as loudly as he could, “Stop! I command you! Both of you stop! Stop!”
At this moment, one Ah Ye immediately retracted his hand. He stopped attacking and retreated several steps. But then the other Ah Ye still lashed out with a fist, sending the Ah Ye who had stopped attacking flying. His entire body slammed into the wall and then slumped to the floor.
“Ah Ye!”
Feeling his heart wrench, Ri Xiang Yan rushed forward. He used his own body to shield the Ah Ye who had fallen to the floor, preventing the other Ah Ye from having the chance to attack him again.
At this moment, the Ah Ye who had been attacked raised his head and looked at Ri Xiang Yan. He said, beaming, “Gēge. Welcome back home!”
Seeing that smile, Ri Xiang Yan froze. He immediately thought, Ah Ye doesn’t smile right now. T-This isn’t Ah Ye. It’s DSII…
Ri Xiang Yan instantly looked back. He was just in time to see Dark Sun fixedly watching him, his face still expressionless. However, as soon as Ri Xiang Yan’s head turned, Dark Sun immediately turned around and headed for the second floor.
“Stay there!” Ri Xiang Yan hastily shouted.
Dark Sun’s footsteps slowed. But right after that, he continued going up the stairs and walked up to the second floor.
Seeing that, Ri Xiang Yan was frozen where he stood. An Te Qi cried out, “H-H-He won’t listen!”
Astonished and dazed, Ri Xiang Yan looked at An Te Qi. Abnormally excited, An Te Qi began explaining, “Don’t you get it? Because you called DSII Ah Ye and then went to support DSII, he’s angry. He’s angry! And Dark Sun is emotionless so he’s unable to be angry and can’t disobey your orders.”
After Ri Xiang Yan had frozen, he suddenly understood An Te Qi’s words. He asked anxiously, “He’s able to be angry, so he’s—he’s Ah Ye?”
An Te Qi nodded. Ri Xiang Yan had an expression like he didn’t dare to believe this. Faced with that expression, An Te Qi clarified, “He attacked DSII, showing that he didn’t obey your command not to attack. Then he also didn’t listen to your order to stay put. Finally, he actually ignored you and went directly upstairs. He’s clearly angry! And Dark Sun isn’t able to be angry. How could a robot get mad! At most, it would just crash. So he absolutely isn’t Dark Sun, he’s Ah Ye.”
Ri Xiang Yan shook as he asked, “B-But didn’t Ah Ye refuse to turn off the emotion suppressing switch?”
“I believe that ever since you had him turn the emotion suppressing switch off, it actually can’t be fully turned on anymore!”
An Te Qi shrugged and explained, “Ah Ye can hide behind Dark Sun and let Dark Sun control his body. But he can’t avoid listening and hearing. When Ah Ye is angry, he instantly seizes control of his body again and then…”
Slam!
An Te Qi and Ri Xiang Yan looked up at the second floor. It was from Ri Xiang Ye’s room. The door was already shut, and it clearly had been shut extremely forcefully, resulting in the loud slamming.
“He’s mad.”
This time, even Ri Xiang Yan could clearly tell. He felt a bit of happiness mixed with some worry. He was happy that Ah Ye could still be angry, but also felt some heartache that Ah Ye was actually angry.
At that moment, he suddenly looked back at the bodyguards and icily said, “What are you looking at? Hurry up and clean up this mess, and confirm that none of this was noticed by anyone in the vicinity. Is this something I have to tell you?”
In an organized fashion, all of the bodyguards in the house immediately began doing what they were supposed to. Some people were communicating with other specialists. Others went straight to tidying up the broken furniture and other things on the scene.
“I’m going to go tell Ah Ye the truth.”
After hesitating for a while, Ri Xiang Yan was still unwilling to make his little brother angry for too long, and he hurriedly started going up the stairs.
“Don’t!” An Te Qi quickly shouted.
Ri Xiang Yan stiffened. He turned around, his face similarly stiff. He stared fixedly at An Te Qi. If An Te Qi didn’t give him a good explanation, there definitely wouldn’t be a happy end in store for him.
An Te Qi hastily explained, “Even knowing that Ah Ye hasn’t disappeared, he’s still hiding behind Dark Sun and isn’t willing to come out. If you tell him right now that we were just acting and trying to make him angry, then he might continue to hide behind Dark Sun and won’t come out.”
As soon as Ri Xiang Yan heard that, he cast a hopeful look at Ah Ye’s door. With great heartache, he resisted and walked down the stairs. He asked the doctor, “How much longer do we have to let him be angry?”
“How would I know—Not long!”
An Te Qi muttered, but halfway through, he saw that the Sun Emperor looked like he was about to tell the bodyguards present to torture him. He quickly amended, “Ah Ye was so angry today that he fought with DSII. After a few days, he’ll definitely be fine!”
Probably… An Te Qi silently added.
A few more days have to pass? Ri Xiang Yan became gloomy. But in the end, he still nodded and lifted his head, looking at Ah Ye’s door.
Just a few more days…
Seeing that the Sun Emperor had an expression like he would never be able to see Ah Ye again, An Te Qi couldn’t help but quietly remind him, “If you’re worried, at least you can have the bodyguards tell him to come downstairs. He should eat dinner anyway.”
Hearing that, Ri Xiang Yan froze. Then he prompted the bodyguard next to him to prepare dinner in the untouched kitchen.
Before long, dinner was finished. Under An Te Qi’s “Operation: Provoke Ah Ye,” the two of them specifically had DSII sit with them first. They even ate a few bites off of their plates before letting the bodyguards call Ri Xiang Ye down to eat.
A bodyguard promptly went upstairs to knock on Ri Xiang Ye’s door. But there was no response. He knocked several times. The whole time, no one opened the door. He returned to the kitchen and reported to the Sun Emperor, “Report: No response.”
Ri Xiang Yan frowned. He instructed, “Proceed to enter.”
The bodyguard left after receiving the order. Ri Xiang Yan was a little antsy. With great difficulty, he waited for the bodyguard to return. But the report was, “The young master is not inside the room. The window to the room is open. Conclusion is that the young master has left through the window.”
Hearing that, Ri Xiang Yan was so shocked that his expression was completely wooden. On the other hand, An Te Qi had his mouth agape. Ah Ye’s evolving too quickly! Not only did he learn to have a fight and get angry, he’s now learned how to run away from home!
Ri Xiang Yan looked expressionlessly at An Te Qi. An Te Qi felt a chill run down his back. He painfully stuttered, “I-It’s also progress. R-Robots can’t run away from home. So it shows A-Ah Ye still hasn’t disappeared!”
Ri Xiang Yan took several deep breaths. With difficulty, he said, “Eat. Don’t go look for Ah Ye. He’ll e-eventually come back.”
After he finished speaking, he looked to An Te Qi with uncertainty in his eyes. An Te Qi hurriedly nodded to bolster his confidence.
“Okay, let’s eat.”
Even though Ri Xiang Yan had said that, he himself didn’t eat. Instead, he kept on muttering, “O.K. Don’t look for Ah Ye. Don’t look for him. Letting him be angry for a bit isn’t a big deal. After a few days, Ah Ye will smile again…”
An Te Qi lowered his head and ate furiously. He only wanted to quickly finish eating dinner, to quickly return to his “safe” laboratory, and to avoid the Sun Emperor suddenly going insane from muttering. That way he wouldn’t have to face the consequences.
After going upstairs and returning to his room, Dark Sun went straight to his desk, sat down, and modified guns. The gun he was modifying at the moment was very small, only the size of a palm. It appeared to be very old-fashioned, but he carefully dismantled every component, wiped it clean, applied oil, and replaced any damaged components.
Not too long later, he stopped what he was doing. He tonelessly said, “Body abnormal. Conducting self-evaluation.”
Blood pressure elevated. Heart rate increased. Rate of breathing increased… Matches with physiological responses of “anger.”
Being angry violates the master’s earliest order: to be happy.
Find a method to be happy. Dark Sun sent a command to the microchip in his brain.
After several seconds had passed, Dark Sun opened the book bag hanging on the side of the chair and pulled out his virtual lover console and credit card. Then, he leapt out the window.
He walked quickly along the street. He was wearing a school uniform, which normally meant that he would have been accosted or mugged already, but today, his expression completely devoid of anger had scared off everyone, whether they had good or bad intentions.
Dark Sun followed the route he took to go to school. Not even five minutes later, he arrived at his destination.
He walked into his target location, raising the virtual lover console in his hand. He said to the person inside, “I want the latest upgrade.”
The shop clerk instantly recognized the VIP client. But today, he didn’t quickly crouch down to pull out the latest chip, fearing that he would slight the customer.
The shop clerk regretfully smiled and said, “About that… My apologies. We are out of stock for the latest chip! I am afraid it will be one week until the next shipment arrives.”
Dark Sun was silent.
The shop clerk hurriedly explained, “This time, the latest chip was an ultra-limited release. It adds the feature of having children, so the game could be played as both a virtual lover game and a child-raising simulation game. It would be like having two consoles in one, so there was very high demand. You arrived a moment too late, sir. Until noon today, I still had two copies. But after that, they were both purchased by the same customer. Currently, the entire country is out of stock. I can help you place an urgent shipment, but you will still have to give me at least two days. I will do my utmost to help you be shipped one, sir.”
Dark Sun was still silent. The shop clerk’s heart was about to jump out of his chest. He knew that he couldn’t neglect the customer in front of him, but he was only the shop clerk of a toy store. With his authority, it wasn’t even guaranteed that he would be able to obtain the ultra-limited latest chip within two to three days. What else could he do?
But this customer doesn’t seem to be in a good mood today? His expression looks as icy as a frozen fish’s. Wasn’t he always smiling? Don’t tell me that he’s angry that he really couldn’t buy the latest chip? The shop clerk silently vowed that no matter how limited the latest release was in the future, he would definitely reserve one for this customer.
“I want to look at the models,” Dark Sun finally said.
The microchip finally found a solution. Ri Xiang Ye had previously wanted to look at models. If he looked at them, he might be able to fulfill the command to “be happy.”
The shop clerk sighed in relief and quickly said, “Yes, yes. The models are all displayed on the wall to the left. There are more models in the catalogue, which are in the warehouse since there was not enough room to display them. If you would like, sir, I can find them for you immediately!”
After he finished speaking, the shop clerk pulled out a very thick catalogue from beneath the counter. Dark Sun went directly to looking at the catalogue with no intentions of looking at the items on the wall.
Dark Sun flipped through it quickly, the pages going “fwip fwip fwip.” He was going so quickly that the shop clerk’s smile was slightly twitching. He was suspicious that this customer had come here to vent and not to buy anything.
Dark Sun had almost finished flipping through the whole thing when he suddenly stopped on a certain page and stared at the image.
The picture was of a silver-haired man wearing a visor. He was wearing a close-fitting red shirt and jeans. Behind him were two metal wings. He had a large scythe in his hand: a scythe with a huge claw at the top.
The shop clerk saw that Dark Sun had finally stopped to look at a picture. He hurriedly lowered his head to look and then explained, “Oh, oh. That was originally a customer’s—Ah! You would know him, sir. The one you nearly began arguing with in the store previously. He drew this design himself, then came over to custom order the model. However, many customers later saw the image and liked it. We could not ignore their requests, so we have been secretly making it for the customers who liked the model! If you would also like one, sir…
So it was Bai Lian Xing.
“No,” Dark Sun firmly turned him down. He went on to flip through the rest of the catalogue in an instant.
The shop clerk was stunned. W-What in the world does this customer want?
After flipping through the catalogue, Dark Sun continued to stay silent. Although his heart rate had returned to normal and his blood pressure was not as high, his body’s physiological responses were still showing that he was far from “happy.”
What would it take to make Ri Xiang Ye happy?
What sorts of things would make Ri Xiang Ye happy?
What exactly do you want?
I want…
Dark Sun lifted his head and asked the shop clerk, “Models. They can be custom ordered?”
“Of course they can.”
The shop clerk nodded and added as clarification, “We have the best model-making experts. As long as you have an image, whether it’s a specially designed illustration, a personal drawing, or an actual person’s photograph, we can help you create the model!”
Dark Sun nodded. He pulled out a photo from the inside pocket of his school uniform and said, “I want this one made.”
The shop clerk accepted it and looked at it. His eyes nearly popped out of his head.
This is actually a photograph of the Sun Emperor!
But this wasn’t anything too strange. Actually, there were a lot of photographs of the Sun Emperor on the market. Some people even specialized in collecting images of the Sun Emperor to sell to collectors. What actually made the shop clerk shocked was that the Sun Emperor in this photo was smiling…
Everyone recognized the Sun Emperor’s cold-hearted expression. Although it wasn’t like there were absolutely no photos of him smiling, at most it would be an icy smile or a faint smile out of courtesy. There absolutely weren’t any photos like this, with a smile so… So brilliant and warm.
A brilliant and warm Sun Emperor? He could bet that there would be a lot of collectors interested in this photograph.
“Can this be made into a model?”
“Of course.” The shop clerk snapped back to attention and faintly smiled, “May I ask in what dimensions?”
Dark Sun lifted up his thumb and described, “This big. Make it a locket. The outside of the locket has a switch. When the locket is open, the model can be seen.”
As the shop keeper wrote this down, he asked for more details, “Any particular style for the outer locket and switch?”
Dark Sun paused for a moment. Then he said, “Use gold for the outer locket. Antique-style. Use a ruby for the switch.”
“A ruby?”
The shop clerk squeaked. Using a ruby for the button? How big a ruby? Three carats? Five carats?
Although he was very alarmed, the shop clerk remembered that super rare Sun credit card… And no longer had any problems about it. With no more doubts, he only asked one final question, “May I ask if there is an upper limit on your budget?”
“No.”
As expected.
ArmadaTW
“He was wearing a school uniform, which normally meant that he would have been accosted or mugged already, but today, his expression completely devoid of anger had scared off everyone, whether they had good or bad intentions.”
In context, shouldn’t he be devoid of “happiness” or “joy” instead? The description conflicts with the shopkeeper’s thoughts of “His expression looks as icy as a frozen fish’s. Wasn’t he always smiling?”
Thank you as always for the chapter!
[PR]Trespasserby
I was wondering about that too… But that’s what it said in the text.
I can only imagine it as having the iciest resting b*tch face, where it’s intimidating but they’re not angry at you.