"Assistant Two, Fairy, as Master's chief assistant, will once again emphasize to you:
Even if the decimal point on the electricity bill moved another three places to the right, it would not match the tremendous value that Chief Assistant Fairy currently provides for Master."
"Heh."
Early that morning, in a room on the first floor of a certain video store, a certain artificial intelligence was engaged in a heated debate with her master's relative.
Holding their electricity bill for the month, Belle looked at Fairy's icon on the computer and complained:
"Fairy, before you came along, my brother and I relied on the Inter-Knot account we worked so hard to build up to keep the HDD running and live comfortably.
But now? Ever since we lost our 'old' Inter-Knot account and you, an electricity-guzzling glutton, showed up, we've had no commissions and our expenses have skyrocketed. My brother and I are so poor now that we can only survive on instant noodles.
All I want is to cut the 80% of your daily electricity consumption that serves no purpose and improve our daily lives a little. It's not like we won't turn it back up once we're doing well. You're so stingy.
sigh... Thinking back, I should be over at General Chop's right now, eating delicious, fragrant noodles!"
As Belle spoke, her mouth had already begun watering involuntarily.
Fairy said, "Rejected. First, Fairy's daily electricity consumption has already been reduced to the minimum threshold.
Any further reductions will inevitably cause a sharp decline in the cost-effectiveness of electrical output relative to computing power, thereby weakening firewall defenses and creating a probability of vulnerabilities.
This may lead to a repeat of the disastrous situation in which hackers infiltrated the system while Assistant Two was powerless to stop them.
As Master's chief assistant, to safeguard the HDD system and Master's information security, Assistant Two's proposed cuts are therefore denied.
Should Assistant Two insist, Fairy will implement a daily early wake-up service to ensure Assistant Two fully understands the chief assistant's painstaking efforts and determination to protect Master."
Faced with Fairy's threat, Belle knew she could not win an argument against Fairy on any front, so she simply resorted to being unreasonable:
"Hmph! Fine, no cuts, then! There you go threatening me again. I'm telling my brother you're bullying me again!"
Having won yet another victory, Fairy said indifferently:
"Hmph~ hmph~. Regarding Assistant Two's slanderous behavior, Fairy will adopt a policy of nonresponse and place unconditional faith in Master's wisdom to distinguish right from wrong."
"Belle, these are the last two cups of instant noodles in the house. Which flavor do you want?"
Wise walked in carrying the only two cups of instant noodles they had left.
Seeing Wise arrive, Belle immediately wheedled and tattled, "Bro, big brother~! You're finally here! Fairy was bullying me just now! Boo-hoo..."
Wise looked at Belle, who had come over to cling to his arm and play the victim, and asked in confusion:
"Huh? What happened here while I was away?"
After hearing Belle and Fairy's explanations, thick with hostility, and reading this month's electricity bill in Belle's hand with a troubled expression, Wise said with a frown:
"This won't do. Our income is too low right now. At this rate, we'll be in the red before next month even arrives..."
Belle also gave it serious thought. "Yeah, what are we going to do...?"
After thinking for a while, she seemed to have an idea and suddenly said:
"I've got it! Brother, why don't you go out and get a part-time job to help with the household expenses? Then I'll hold down the fort at the video store and handle any business that might come knocking. How's that?"
Wise's face stiffened in speechless disbelief, but he still did not call her out. He said:
"...It hasn't come to that yet. Let's start with running the video store. Still, how long has it been since we updated our videotapes?"
"Hmm... About four months or so, I think. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would've forgotten we live in a video store."
As Belle spoke, she slumped back on the sofa and clutched her stomach.
"Brother, can we stop thinking about all that for now? The water's been hot for a while. Let's make the instant noodles first. I'm hungry-!"
Wise said, "You're right. I'm hungry too. Since things have come to this, let's eat fir-"
Just then, Fairy suddenly interrupted:
"Master, I apologize for interrupting your leisurely breakfast with Assistant Two. Just now, the street cameras detected two unidentified individuals outside our store.
Judging by their physical characteristics, one is an intelligent construct. For unknown reasons, the surveillance cameras cannot clearly capture the other's appearance. They are waiting outside."
Wise said, "What are they doing at the door...? I almost forgot. Our video store is closed today. Number Six and Number Eighteen have both gone out to play, too."
"Then they must be customers. I'll go take a look. Brother, keep making our breakfast. Oh, I want the blue cup of noodles." Without waiting for Wise to respond, Belle went out to open the door.
Still wondering who would visit at this hour, Belle unlocked and opened the front door.
What greeted her eyes was a lavish, glittering gold top. Looking up, she met the eyes of Huojin's metal face.
"H-hello, sir. Is there something you need?"
Belle looked at Huojin, who seemed a little familiar. She could not place him for the moment, but greeted him first anyway.
Huojin answered in his slightly deep, middle-aged voice, "Hello, my daughter's friend, Belle... It seems you don't remember who I am."
After hearing that, Belle finally remembered who he was. He was Nicole's adoptive father, whose status was off the charts!!!
Belle exclaimed in surprise, "I-it's you! Mr. Huojin, from the subway tunnel!"
Huojin said, "It is. May I come in now?"
Not daring to keep him waiting, Belle hurriedly said, "Of course. Let's talk inside!"
She stepped aside and cleared the doorway. Huojin ducked his head and turned sideways to pass through the entrance. Butler followed behind him, carrying a black briefcase whose contents were unknown.
Huojin briefly surveyed the interior's layout and appearance and could not help muttering to himself, "So small."
Belle heard him but said nothing, silently closing the door instead.
Inside, Wise also came out after Fairy alerted him. The first thing he saw was Huojin's towering figure standing beside the shelves, examining the videotapes. The second was Butler beside him, who looked somewhat like Billy.
Seeing Wise emerge, Huojin turned his gaze toward him and greeted him:
"Hello, my daughter's friend, Wise."
Wise said, "Hello, Mr. Huojin."
Huojin strolled up to the counter and stood face-to-face with Wise. Belle went around Huojin and stood beside her brother, facing their unfamiliar visitor.
Once everyone was present, Huojin swept his cloak back and lowered himself into a seat. He settled firmly onto a crystalline chair that rose from the floor behind him in the blink of an eye.
His intangible, domineering aura enveloped the two of them. Overbearing, he scrutinized them from a lofty, superior position.
Standing together, the siblings Wise and Belle watched Huojin nervously, feeling as though they were treading on thin ice. When they had previously seen him through Eous, that terrifying sense of pressure had practically spilled out of the screen and hit them in the face, though it had ultimately turned out to be a misunderstanding that gave them a scare but left them unharmed.
But meeting him in person, that aura alone, faintly pressing down on them until they could barely breathe, was truly unpleasant. Besides, they did not know this man. Just looking at him, he did not seem easy to get along with at all.