Ch 35 – Nothing Bad Can Happen To Him

Yu Xi had discovered a peculiar pattern: whenever he resolved the minor issues that arose between him and Kersz, he would always experience a surge of profound relief.

After having a good cry, Kersz had clearly begun to experience a certain emotion known as “embarrassment.”

Especially since Tau and Xiao Konglong were standing right there watching at the time.

Even once his tears stopped, Kersz still showed no desire to leave Yu Xi’s embrace, nor did Yu Xi speak a word to stop him. He simply continued to gently run a hand over his back.

Kersz savored the robot’s embrace, closing his eyes to immerse himself in it even more deeply.

And as he immersed himself deeper and deeper, he eventually fell asleep.

Everything that happened next could only be recounted through hearsay.

According to Tau, Yu Xi sat right where he was and held Kersz for quite some time. Then, right in front of Tau, he leaned in and kissed Kersz on the lips before walking around the room with Kersz in his arms.

There were only the three of them at home, plus Xiao Konglong, and it was difficult to tell what Yu Xi was actually doing as he walked around.

Tau felt that Yu Xi’s behavior contained an element of showing off, just like Tau sometimes liked to carry Xiao Konglong around to show him off.

Kersz then retorted that this couldn’t have happened. He was highly perceptive, and would have noticed Yu Xi moving him around.

“I don’t get it either.” Tau also found it quite baffling. He knew that Kersz was perceptive, and even suspected at one point that Kersz was feigning sleep to put Yu Xi at ease.

So as Yu Xi carried Kersz around, Tau had stuck to his side to discern if Kersz was merely faking it.

Subsequently, he learned that Kersz was genuinely out like a light.

This had surprised Tau. He didn’t understand how Kersz had fallen asleep: “After all, you’re a short-lived madman. You shouldn’t be so quick to let down your guard.”

“You have a terrible way with words.” Kersz scowled.

“You haven’t exactly been polite to me either.” Tau felt no need to observe courtesy with Kersz. After all, the man wasn’t one to be swayed by that kind of thing anyway.

“Yu Xi’s behavior is rather childish. He clearly hasn’t had many complex or authentic experiences. How in the world did he manage to calm you down?” Tau felt that this was somewhat unreasonable. “Don’t you think his attempt at pacifying you was a little ‘presumptuous?’”

“How did he pacify me?” Kersz didn’t understand.

“He pacified your mood.” Tau assumed that Kersz was trying to dodge the question.

“He let me have a good, long cry,” said Kersz. “What a wealth of experience that must take!”

“Didn’t you need it?” Now Tau didn’t understand.

He felt that this was irrational. Having played a multitude of characters, he was well-versed in the unwritten rules of human communication.

A wealth of experience was always helpful in social interactions. Individuals with such experience were capable of resolving numerous difficulties and offering solutions to the predicaments of those in distress.

Tau believed that Kersz’s current suffering could only be resolved by encountering a highly mature “veteran,” someone who had already walked that path.

Yu Xi had lived a very long life, yet it was abundantly clear that he had merely been a bystander to the lives of others.

How exactly had Yu Xi managed to comfort Kersz?

Kersz found it strange that Tau was agonizing over this question: “What kind of comfort do I need? Could that masterful, seasoned veteran erase my past? Could they bring the dead back to life? Could they wipe my memory and restore my innocence?”

“But he could ease your suffering,” said Tau. “Who knows, he might even help you let go of your hatred and start a new life.”

Yu Xi hadn’t helped Kersz let go of his intense emotions, nor had he resolved his problem.

It remained possible that Kersz would exhibit dangerous behavior in the future.

Kersz actually felt that there was no need to explain so much to Tau, but he was also aware that Tau’s current behavior was somewhat abnormal.

Tau was too proactive. An Illegitimate would never take the initiative to probe into matters outside the scope of their assigned mission, and would typically remain passive.

Kersz looked Tau up and down: “If there was actually someone with experience vast enough to make me temporarily set aside my hatred, what would their motive be for helping me?”

Tau fell silent.

He didn’t ask “why would they need a motive?” Because he knew full well that such interactions often hid another purpose.

Of the two of them, Tau was the one who least believed in the concept of ‘unconditional.’

“A person who has such a wealth of experience, such immense vitality…..for what reason would they go to such lengths for me?” Kersz smiled. “Are they like your father? Would they want to control me, to use me as a weapon?”

Tau said nothing.

“Or maybe they just had a sudden surge of benevolence, and want everyone in the universe to live a good life? If it’s the latter, maybe their goal is to be everyone’s ‘spiritual mom.’” Kersz hadn’t encountered a deity like that. At least, not yet.

Taking in Tau’s expressionless face, Kersz said: “Comforting a nutcase like me doesn’t take a wealth of experience.”

Tau tilted his head.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me and Yu Xi,” Kersz said. “But when the idea of  ‘our future’ crosses my mind, I’m just reminded that here and now, he’s by my side.”

Kersz: “I have parents, or rather, I did at one point. I don’t need someone else to fill the void they left.”

“He likes me, and not in the way a parent does.” Kersz spread his hands. “This is something really precious.”

Tau didn’t consider this precious: “Everyone has someone they like.”

“Hahaha, it’s precisely because it’s something precious that there are so many counterfeits. And because there are so many counterfeits, it seems like something that can be found everywhere.” Kersz felt a persistent prickling sensation, like there was someone behind him.

Turning his head, he spotted a pair of greenish-blue eyes staring at him around the corner.

The light in Yu Xi’s eyes seemed very bright. Almost alarmingly so.

But based on past experience, Yu Xi was likely bashful.

Upon being discovered, Yu Xi neither hid nor ran away.

He hesitated for a moment, and once he sensed that Kersz was indeed no longer embarrassed, he inched his way over step by painstaking step.

“Why are your eyes flickering?” Tau asked Yu Xi.

“Because I’m happy,” said Yu Xi.

Yu Xi felt like an impressive robot. 

He had identified the obstacle, then confronted it head-on, and in the end, he had managed to get Kersz to completely lower his guard while in his presence.

Kersz had fallen asleep.

And now, at this moment, Kersz was even able to confidently tell someone else that he liked him.

Yu Xi came to the realization that he was practically a genius at conveying emotions, and tilted his head higher and higher.

“I’m actually starting to look forward to our next minor conflict,” he told Kersz.

Kersz: ……

There was no need to look forward to it.

Tau was still watching them closely.

Kersz was also observing Tau.

He was very curious as to why Tau was asking him so many questions, much like an interviewer.

Did Tau want someone to comfort him?

But despite his curiosity, Kersz didn’t open his mouth and ask.

When Yu Xi brought Kersz back to their room, Kersze spoke in detail about Tau’s abnormal behavior.

As an Illegitimate, Tau’s current inquisitiveness was a little too intense.

“Is he also longing for a friend?” Yu Xi grew excited.

Kersz: “Uh…..I don’t know.”

“But I can help him!” At this moment, Yu Xi felt as though he was capable of anything. “Don’t you think I’m a healing-type robot?”

“You’re incredibly healing.” Kersz nodded. “But Tau is a bit different from me. You can’t use the same approach to solve his problems.”

Kersz rather liked Yu Xi’s current air of proud self-assurance, but worried that he might hit a wall with Tau.

“I wouldn’t use the same approach. You’re my most important friend. I certainly wouldn’t touch and feel him everywhere.” Yu Xi patted Kersz on the shoulder.

Kersz: …..

Come to think of it, ordinary friends wouldn’t touch each other the way they did.

“What I mean is that what he says might not be very pleasant to hear.” Kersz wasn’t entirely keen on letting Yu Xi heal Tau.

He felt that Tau would upset Yu Xi, but Yu Xi was very confident.

Upon learning that Tau might be waiting for his own “great hero,” Yu Xi made an inventory of his strengths. Then, with a sweeping gesture, he instructed Kersz to await the good news.

Yu Xi had actually spoken privately with Tau on numerous occasions, though more often than not, he had to resort to the line “you wouldn’t want your father to be captured and used as a breeding stud, would you?” in order to forcibly elicit a response from him.

However, since Yu Xi had chosen to be accommodating this time, he certainly couldn’t use threatening words like those.

After spending some time worrying, Kersz reassured himself.

It was just a routine conversation. Tau wasn’t the type to curse anyone out, so there shouldn’t be any major mishaps.

Kersz wanted to sneak over and take a peek at how their conversation was going, but he knew that Yu Xi’s senses were just too sharp. He stood absolutely no chance of observing them in secret.

Fortunately, Yu Xi was quick to return.

Yu Xi pursed his lips and pushed the door open. Upon seeing Kersz, he raised his eyebrows and turned to close the door again.

“How did it go?” Kersz asked.

“P….Pretty good,” Yu Xi answered without turning around.

“Did he say anything nasty to you?” Kersz asked again.

“Nope.” Yu Xi still didn’t turn around.

Kersz: “Yu Xi?”

This time, Yu Xi turned around with tears sliding down his cheeks: “K-Kersz.”

Kersz gasped. He hastened forward to wrap his arms around Yu Xi, patting his back: “What happened? Was he mean to you?”

“N-no.” Yu Xi’s lips trembled. “He ignored me.”

“I said so much.” While in Tau’s room, Yu Xi had shared all the comforting wisdom he possessed, explaining that as a robot who had lived for a very long time, he served as a mirror through which Tau could discover his true self.

Yu Xi wouldn’t criticize any of Tau’s actions. He could rest easy.

But Tau had ignored Yu Xi, continuing to tinker with a homemade cabbage.

Yu Xi had continued to wrack his brains, spouting lofty principles while pacing back and forth, occasionally giving Tau a pat on the head.

“I kept talking, and he eventually responded…..to say that I’d stepped on his white latex paint.” Yu Xi’s tears fell even harder. “He didn’t listen to a word I was saying.”

Kersz: “….He’s so mean.” Speaking of which, how had Yu Xi’s attempt to comfort Tau suddenly turn into a lecture on lofty principles?

Did Yu Xi not realize that his success in comforting Kersz stemmed from his sincerity, rather than any grand principles?

“Heavens, he’s essentially nothing like a human at all,” Yu Xi choked out.

“He really isn’t.” Kersz felt that in general, Illegitimates didn’t have much humanity about them at all.

“You’re still the best, Kersz.” Yu Xi reached out to caress Kersz’s face, then trailed his hand down his throat and further downward.

“Please don’t say things like that at a time like this.” Kersz felt a strange sense of deja vu. It was as if Yu Xi had gone out in search of a new love interest, only to fail; and looking back, he realized that his old flame back home was still the one who truly appealed to him.

“I don’t want anything to do with him ever again.” Yu Xi’s attempt to sow affection had failed, and suddenly, that affection curdled into resentment. “I want him to realize that I’ll never speak to him again.”

Kersz: “Ah…..”

“By the time he realizes, I will no longer offer him a smile, and what he’ll face will be nothing but an emotionless robot. When that time comes, he’ll have no time for regrets, because it was all his own doing. He was the one who ignored me first.” Yu Xi extended his index finger toward the ceiling, as if making a solemn oath.

Kersz felt a bit like smiling, but he knew he couldn’t.

Because at this moment, Yu Xi truly felt disgraced.

Kersz suggested: “How about this? Instead, we kidnap his father and beat him up right in front of him until he passes out? No, when he passes out, we toss a bucket of water on him and keep beating him once he’s conscious again.”

Yu Xi looked a little stunned.

“Not only do we beat his father, but we beat his little dinosaur as well. Beat the hell out of it right before his eyes.”

“No way, no way.” Yu Xi hurriedly tugged at Kersz’s sleeve. “That’s going too far.”

“I’ll just ignore him.” Yu Xi didn’t want to beat up Xiao Konglong.

“But he himself doesn’t pay much attention to emotions, so he might not even notice that you’re giving him the cold shoulder.” Kersz worried that in the end, it would be Yu Xi who ended up hurt again.

“If he doesn’t notice, that just proves that he’s a cold, heartless, unreasonable person!” Yu Xi clenched his fists.

And then?

What consequences would this ‘cold, heartless, and unreasonable’ behavior bring upon Tau?

Judging by Yu Xi’s reaction, it seemed there would be no consequences whatsoever, just a verbal reprimand.

Having made up his mind, Yu Xi began to put his ‘cold shoulder’ plan into action.

Not only did he ignore Tau, but whenever Tau was present, Yu Xi would raise the volume of his voice when speaking with Kersz. He wouldn’t even let the conversation end. Even when there was nothing left to say, Yu Xi would still scramble to find something to talk about.

He wanted Tau to know that he was deliberately ignoring him.

Early the next morning, Tau began to actively seek out Yu Xi.

“How do you think I did with this chicken leg?” Tau asked, holding the chicken leg he had constructed himself.

Yu Xi pretended not to see him, and continued to talk to Kersz: “We had such a fun time last night, didn’t we?”

Hadn’t Yu Xi been explaining his grand “cold shoulder” plan last night?

They hadn’t done anything fun at all. In fact, Kersz had originally intended to investigate just how many spatial folding devices Yu Xi had on his person, but as Yu Xi chattered on with the firm resolve to make Tau ‘regret it,’ he eventually drifted off to sleep.

“Yeah, it was lots of fun.” Kersz played along.

“I also made a fish,” Tau chimed in again.

Kersz fell silent and looked at Tau.

Why is ignoring you actually working?!

Wasn’t this just one of Yu Xi’s childish little whims? How had this Illegitimate realized that Yu Xi was ignoring him?

It would be one thing if noticing it was all he did, but he was repeatedly trying to initiate conversation in such an awkward, stiff manner.

Yu Xi shifted his gaze away from Tau once again.

“I also made a tomato.” Tau brought out another food item.

Yu Xi still paid him no attention.

Holding his three food items, Tau seemed somewhat at a loss.

So was this the extent of his conversational skills?

Kersz was astonished. Couldn’t Tau just think back to the previous roles he’d played and strike up a conversation more tactfully?

Tau’s mind disconnected for a moment, and then he cut straight to the point: “You’re angry.”

Yu Xi still didn’t speak.

“If you’re so angry, why don’t you just kidnap my father and bring him here as a breeding stud?” Tau asked with genuine emotion.

Kersz: “Huh?”

Yu Xi: “Ah?”

Did Tau know what he was asking?

Was the Supreme Governor aware of what his Illegitimate was asking?

“You were angry when you left my room yesterday,” said Tau. “And I’m the one who made you angry. At this point, to keep me in line, you should kidnap my father and make him a stud.”

“You’re capable of it. You even managed to snatch the Facai system., so why haven’t you?” Tau didn’t understand.

Kersz: “It’s a pity that I don’t have a close relationship with your father, otherwise I’d have recorded what you just said and sent it to him.”

“Do you hate your father that much?” Yu Xi was considerably shocked, and immediately forgot about his cold shoulder plan. “You actually want to make him a prisoner using such a roundabout method?”

“I don’t hate him. I just don’t understand why you’re not using him to blackmail me.” Tau felt that he still held his father in high esteem. “I didn’t give you a chance to become my ‘savior.’”

“What do you mean by ‘savior?’” Kersz asked.

“You kept preaching those obvious platitudes to me, truths that everyone understands, in an attempt to make me open up and become a normal person. Aren’t you really just trying to play the savior?”

“You want the thrill of changing my life, of me viewing you as my salvation.” Tau’s tone held little inflection.

Yu Xi: “I’m a healing-type robot.”

“Did you suddenly turn into a ‘healing type’ after your relationship with Kersz improved?” Tau asked.

Yu Xi glanced at Kersz, falling deep into thought.

He felt that his thoughts had been laid bare, but this seemed illogical: “Are you Illegitimates really so sensitive to these types of emotions?”

“I’m not a fool.” Tau had watched Yu Xi comfort Kersz, and Yu Xi hadn’t been nearly as composed back then.

It was clear that he was merely comforting himself, the truth being that Yu Xi had found a sense of self-confidence through his emotional interaction with Kersz, and dropped in on Tau to show off his progress.

Yu Xi: …..

Yu Xi pursed his lips. He had still been angry just moments before, but now a trace of guilt crept in.

Humans were still too terrifying.

“So why haven’t you done anything to me?” asked Tau. “I spoiled your fun and made you lose face. Aren’t you furious?”

Yu Xi immediately hid behind Kersz, ducking his head as he admitted: “I got defensive out of embarrassment.”

Tau: “So have you already kidnapped my father?”

“No.”

Tau: “Don’t tell me you took my Xiao Konglong?!”

“Also no.”

Tau didn’t understand: “Then what did you do?”

“I came up with a plan to completely ignore you.” Yu Xi extended a trembling hand toward Kersz, who reached out and grabbed it.

Feeling as if he had regained some strength, Yu Xi mustered his courage and continued: “I….I wanted to make you sad, to make you feel that you had lost a healing-type robot as a friend forever.”

Tau considered this for a moment, then said: “That doesn’t seem like much of a loss.”

“Kersz!!” Yu Xi retreated to Kersz’s side. “Too cruel….this Illegitimate is absolutely heartless. Next time, don’t pick up such a human!”

“I just mean that it won’t cause me any substantial loss,” Tau corrected.

Yu Xi gasped sharply.

Kersz couldn’t take it anymore: “Can you stop attacking the robot?”

Tau: “What I mean is…..”

“No need to rub it in anymore!” Yu Xi straightened abruptly. “I’m not healing you!” 

Then he turned and ran straight for the bedroom, leaving Kersz and Tau to exchange a bewildered glance.

“I was going to say that I never had a ‘healing type’ robot friend to begin with…..” Tau hadn’t finished speaking when Yu Xi, who had just ran to the bedroom, rushed back out again.

Yu Xi hauled Kersz up off the sofa, even reaching out to brush some non-existent dust from his body before wrapping his arms around him and towing him back to their room.

Tau reached out a hand, his lips parting.

But Yu Xi’s door had already closed once again.

It seemed he had offended Yu Xi even more deeply. By now, he must be absolutely seething with humiliated rage.

He had still ended up ruining his father.

Tau sighed and went to prepare some toiletries for the Supreme Governor.

Even after completing his preparations, Tau received no word of the Supreme Governor’s capture, and waited alone for a long time thereafter.

He even managed to convey a message to the Supreme Governor right under Yu Xi’s nose.

[Father, have you been captured?]

[Have you been caught yet?]

[Father, would you like any antiques displayed in your prison cell?]

[I’ve prepared a golden cup for you.]

[How have you not been caught yet?]

[Have you been kidnapped now?]

The Supreme Governor: ?

Why was 152 in such a rush? Why did he seem so eager?

He must have offended 152 at some point in the past.

*

*

Tau didn’t wait for the Supreme Governor to arrive. After a while, he went to knock on Yu Xi’s door.

It remained closed at first, but after he knocked many times, it finally opened.

But it was Kersz who opened the door. Tau tried to peer into the room, but Kersz blocked his view.

Tau asked: “Did Yu Xi go to capture my father?”

“That’s enough out of you! Yu Xi won’t fall for your provocation and kidnap your father just so you can reunite with him!” Kersz scowled.

Tau: “I don’t want to reunite with my father.” He simply couldn’t understand why Yu Xi hadn’t given him any sort of actual punishment.

In fact, Tau was capable of playing the role of someone who needed saving, and had indeed taken on such a role before.

But yesterday, he uncharacteristically chose not to cooperate.

It wasn’t until this morning that he began to worry that his father might come to harm due to his willfulness.

But his father was unharmed, and so was Xiao Konglong.

This reality once again sent Tau into a panic.

Tau was completely unable to accept anything happening to his Xiao Konglong.

But why was his father still unscathed?

It wasn’t like he wanted anything to happen to him.

But how was he still safe?

This was simply too strange.

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Chapter 34 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 36