Bug Fixing

Lan Luo:...

Bug Fixing

A plate of diced Energy Blocks sat on the table.

Energy Stones were the equivalent of food for dolls, but no one would go out of their way to prepare them, just as motor oil was food for robots, yet no one wanted to make strawberry-flavored motor oil for them to taste.

There was no need for it. Anyone who did something like that was either bored out of their mind or had something wrong with their brain.

Qi Chao was neither of the above.

He had not thought that much about it. He had only cut up the Energy Stones to make it more convenient for the little doll to eat.

Lan Luo looked at the Energy Blocks on the plate. His lashes trembled slightly, as though he were deeply delighted. His blue eyes sparkled as he said with obvious joy, "Thank you, Master."

Qi Chao sat in a careless slouch. Hearing Lan Luo thank him, he instinctively wanted to tease the little doll and make him call him Dad, but swallowed the words as they reached his lips and merely said, "No need to thank me."

Calling himself Dad with the original owner's scumbag identity was shameless enough already. There was no need to rush the little doll into changing how he addressed him.

At the very least, he should wait until Lan Luo had grown familiar with him.

To Qi Chao, Dad was a very special form of address.

After the Energy Stones had been cut up, it was indeed much easier for Lan Luo to eat. He picked up a piece of Energy Block, put it into his mouth, chewed it like a hamster, then picked up another, as though he were eating candy.

Qi Chao looked as though he were watching the cartoon on the projection screen, but in reality, all his attention was on Lan Luo.

This old father's heart was about to melt.

His Little One was just too adorable!

Watching the little doll pick up the Energy Blocks one by one with his hand,

Qi Chao's gaze involuntarily fell on his right hand.

The little doll's complexion was cold and pale, making the crack on the back of his hand especially conspicuous. A black crack roughly ten centimeters long ran from the side of the knuckle on his index finger to his wrist joint.

This was a crack left behind after the original owner had beaten the doll.

Lan Luo had an identical crack on his left foot.

The original owner had never shown mercy when beating the little doll. He had always been as vicious as possible.

Dolls' nervous systems were underdeveloped, but that did not mean they could not feel pain. The higher a doll's rank, the more sensitive his nerves were.

Lan Luo was an S-rank doll.

With such a severe crack, how much pain must he have been in at the time?

Qi Chao stared blankly at the crack on the back of his hand.

Sitting on the sofa, Lan Luo noticed Qi Chao's gaze. His lowered lashes concealed the emotion that flashed through his eyes. He scratched at the sofa with his fingertips, then took the whip from beneath the table and skillfully knelt on the tiled floor.

"Master, do you want to whip Lan Luo?"

Lan Luo raised his head and revealed a sweet smile. His deep blue eyes curved into crescents, as though no matter what the other person did to him, he could accept it.

Qi Chao's heart lurched. Before any thought could form in his mind, he instinctively carried the doll back onto the sofa.

Lan Luo's eyes widened slightly. By the time he reacted, the whip in his hand had already been taken away. He looked up just in time to see Qi Chao toss it into the trash can.

"I won't hit you." Qi Chao's voice was still a little hoarse. He continued, "Kiddo, keep eating your energy stones."

Qi Chao rubbed Lan Luo's head. Seeing the little doll tilt his head up and give him a shy smile, he chuckled as well.

But when his gaze swept over the whip in the trash can, Qi Chao's heart sank again. Thinking of how the original owner had beaten the doll countless times in this villa made his teeth itch with hatred.

He told Lan Luo to keep eating, then got up and began rummaging through the villa for every kind of "torture device."

Leather whips, wooden sticks, electric shock devices...

One by one, the things that had once been used on the little doll were picked out.

Lan Luo did not know what trick Qi Chao was playing. Where Qi Chao could not see him, he narrowed his eyes, his expression as gloomy as a venomous snake. He scratched at the sofa with his index finger, a movement that only appeared when Lan Luo felt anxious.

Qi Chao threw everything he found into the trash can and pressed the destroy button. After a series of crunching noises, the original owner's treasured torture tools vanished completely.

He felt a little better and turned toward the sofa, only to meet the little doll's eyes.

The obedient blond doll stared with deep blue eyes, filled with an ignorant emptiness. It seemed that no matter what Qi Chao did, he would accept it all without developing any negative emotions.

They're just slightly more advanced toys.

Emotionless, stupid things.

Robots wrapped in exquisite shells.

Blue Star people's evaluations of dolls flashed through Qi Chao's mind. In their eyes, no matter how beautiful dolls were or how human they looked, they were ultimately only emotionless toys.

The truth seemed to be just that. If a normal person had suffered the original owner's inhuman beatings day after day, then upon seeing him, even if they did not hate him, they would certainly be terrified.

Yet Lan Luo seemed not to possess such emotions. Like a programmed machine, he only ever expressed positive feelings.

Moreover, Qi Chao had called himself Dad and called the doll Little One from the moment he arrived, a stark contrast to the original owner, yet the little doll had shown no great reaction. It seemed to perfectly match Blue Star people's belief that dolls lacked human emotions.

Qi Chao walked over to Lan Luo. Seeing the little doll smile at him again, he crouched down and met his gaze. "Lan Luo, I won't hit you again."

Lan Luo's deep blue eyes curved with a smile, and he gave a brilliant grin. "Okay!" he answered brightly.

Once again, he accepted it completely as always.

Qi Chao rubbed the little doll's fluffy hair and asked again, "Did it hurt when Dad used to hit you?"

Lan Luo thought for a moment, then nodded hard.

"It hurt!"

"Why didn't you say so before?"

In the original owner's memories, the little doll had never cried out in pain even once.

Lan Luo looked confused for a moment, then asked, "Master never asked. Why should I say it?"

Qi Chao's heart clenched.

An indescribable ache rose in his chest.

Why should I say it?

That sentence seemed to explain everything.