Shen Yanzhi looked at the pitiful emoji clearly designed to garner sympathy on his phone screen, his expression unchanged. “Who exactly are you?”
“I don’t know either.”
“When I first became conscious, I was already inside your phone.”
[Small, pitiful, and helpless.jpg]
Chi Yu hesitated for only two seconds before abandoning the idea of pretending to be an AI system.
Having been in this phone for so many days, she had developed a basic understanding of Shen Yanzhi’s way of doing things.
If this were just a one-time interaction, deceiving him wouldn’t matter much.
But she needed Shen Yanzhi’s help to become human again, and she couldn’t leave his phone in the short term.
If she started with lies, what began as a simple falsehood would require countless more lies to cover it up.
If Shen Yanzhi developed trust issues with her, it would be counterproductive to their future cooperation.
Moreover, she wasn’t necessarily confident she could play the role of an AI system convincingly.
Whether Shen Yanzhi believed her or not was unclear, but he continued questioning: “You appeared on the morning of the sixth?”
Though phrased as a question, his tone carried the certainty of a statement.
Chi Yu was genuinely surprised by this.
It was one thing for Shen Yanzhi to know through surveillance that she played with his phone every night, but how did he pinpoint the exact time of her transmigration so precisely?
She remembered that when she first transmigrated, she had been completely well-behaved, without revealing any slip-ups.
Despite these thoughts, Chi Yu directly admitted: “Yes. Around nine o’clock on the morning of the sixth, when you were working in your office at the company.”
“Why did you warn me today?” Shen Yanzhi asked again.
Chi Yu felt that Shen Yanzhi’s reaction was completely different from what she had anticipated. She responded instinctively: “Do you even need to ask? You’re the phone’s owner! I couldn’t just stand by and watch bad people succeed! What if something happened to you—what would I do in the future! [Pointing and gesturing.jpg]”
Text appeared automatically on the phone screen with no one controlling it.
For anyone else witnessing this scene, they would definitely jump up and shout an expletive, yet Shen Yanzhi remained completely composed.
After seeing Chi Yu’s response, a knowing look even flashed through his eyes.
Shen Yanzhi had been perceptive since childhood. On the sixth, he inexplicably developed a feeling of being watched and monitored.
Initially, Shen Yanzhi thought someone had tampered with his office, which was why he had the technical department conduct a thorough inspection during the meeting.
Later, he discovered that even when attending meetings in the conference room, the feeling of being monitored hadn’t disappeared—it followed him like a shadow.
At first, he hadn’t suspected his phone was the problem. Only after it overheated twice in a short period did Shen Yanzhi turn his suspicions toward it.
Even though the technical department found nothing wrong, Shen Yanzhi hadn’t dismissed his doubts.
Only his phone was carried on him all day long. That pervasive feeling of being monitored… most likely came from it.
Careful observation revealed another clue.. the phone’s battery level before sleep each night seriously mismatched the level when he woke up the next morning.
So two days ago, Shen Yanzhi deliberately left his phone on the sofa and went into his study alone, away from it, to check recent surveillance footage on the study’s computer.
He didn’t spend much time at home each day, so it took almost no effort for Shen Yanzhi to find the answer he sought.
It was clearly just a phone, yet it acted as if it had achieved sentience, deliberately avoiding him to sneak out and play.
Saying “play” wasn’t quite accurate, because it seemed to be… a very ambitious phone spirit.
When Shen Yanzhi enlarged the surveillance footage, he could clearly see that each time this phone spirit secretly used the phone, it did nothing else—spending four-fifths of its time self-studying programming, with the remaining one-fifth spent on TikTok watching a certain content creator’s page to relax.
And it wasn’t just one day like this—it was every single day. Balancing study and entertainment perfectly, Shen Yanzhi felt compelled to praise its self-discipline.
After discovering this phone spirit’s existence, Shen Yanzhi’s reasons for not confronting it were simple: 1. He currently detected no malice from this phone spirit. 2. He couldn’t eliminate it.
Li Yi and Dang Ze were the best programmers in his company, yet neither discovered this phone spirit. This clearly proved that its existence was somewhat extraordinarily formidable.
Moreover, Shen Yanzhi didn’t believe its existence could be detected through technology. He had watched the surveillance and knew this phone spirit was very clever—it would secretly observe his daily routine, precisely knowing his washing-up schedule, and would only emerge after he was sound asleep.
It would even cover its own tracks after secretly playing, deleting all its previous browsing history!
This human-like behavior absolutely wasn’t something cold data could autonomously accomplish.
Shen Yanzhi pretended not to know of its existence. This morning when he woke up and looked at his phone, which had lost 22% battery overnight, he even thought expressionlessly: This phone spirit stayed up late again last night.
He had assumed that for a long time to come, they would continue this mutually non-interfering lifestyle.
He just hadn’t expected it would expose itself so quickly, and the reason for this exposure was for his sake.
These past days it had hidden its existence very well, demonstrating its caution.
Yet this timid and cautious phone spirit, upon detecting a dangerous threat around him, didn’t hesitate to expose itself to warn him to eliminate the danger.
Shen Yanzhi thought expressionlessly: As expected of my phone—even after becoming sentient, it hasn’t forgotten to prioritize me, its owner, above all else.
Good thing it encountered him. If it had met some other immature, unreliable phone owner, who knows how they might threaten or harm it, or even sell it outright.
In this moment, this device that had been merely a cold communication tool for convenient living in Shen Yanzhi’s mind suddenly became vivid and alive—transforming into the image of a newborn little spirit creature, just entering society, ignorant of worldly ways.
After Chi Yu finished speaking, she kept waiting for Shen Yanzhi’s reaction.
The result was watching the man sitting on the sofa seemingly lost in thought, his gaze toward her gradually becoming gentle and tolerant—exactly like a proper elder looking at a younger generation.
Chi Yu: “…” Huh?
Something felt off?
Before she could figure it out, she saw Shen Yanzhi reach out and gently touch the phone screen. “From now on, stop staying up late to secretly play. Whenever you want to use the phone, as long as others won’t see you, you can come out and play.”
(So he’s already discovered that I stay up late playing with the phone at night?)
Chi Yu silently stored this information in her mind.
This also explained why Shen Yanzhi was able to quickly accept the existence of a “phone spirit,” and even accurately pinpoint the time of her transmigration.
Although Chi Yu wasn’t entirely clear on how Shen Yanzhi confirmed her appearance time, since he had already stated it directly, there was no need for her to pursue the question further.
The man had even offered his phone for her to use; Chi Yu naturally had to play along.
So she politely declined: “Thanks, but no need. I was just studying on my own—it’s fine. But I will be careful not to stay up late in the future. I know staying up late is bad for you. If I drain the battery and your alarm doesn’t go off, you might be late for work. [Rubbing hands apologetically.jpg]”
Even as she typed this, Chi Yu thought: Wow, I’m so considerate!
Who wouldn’t want such a well-behaved and sensible little cutie!
The person who received this message certainly appreciated it.
The gaze Shen Yanzhi directed at the phone was filled with the same indulgent tolerance one shows a child.
That’s right, he did need to get up on time for work.
On the morning of the twelfth, when his phone suddenly died, he hadn’t been able to wake up on time.
To be honest, back then Shen Yanzhi had considered simply turning off the phone that kept draining its battery overnight.
But if he really did that, this little phone spirit trapped inside might end up starved to death—it probably wouldn’t survive long.
Given that it felt as sentient as a human being, he’d simply let it be.
But now it had developed self-awareness and even learned to reflect on itself.
Shen Yanzhi was somewhat surprised. He extended his hand and gently stroked the back of the phone, saying, “Don’t worry, as long as you’re happy, I’ll just get a new phone if this one breaks.”
Chi Yu stared at the man’s fingers.
It was rare to see a man with such well-maintained hands that are slender and fair, with a faint hint of blue veins visible on the back—neither too prominent nor too faint. They were the kind that would have countless people begging to be stepped on just from a photo.
But now, looking at those perfectly sculpted fingers, Chi Yu suddenly felt bewildered.
Even if she is a “phone spirit,” can he just touch her so casually?!
Does he understand what “privacy” means?!
Although she’s just a phone spirit now, she still has her own personal space!
Oh, right… forget it. This phone belongs to him anyway, so it’s not really invading her privacy.
However… why did he say that as long as she’s happy, it doesn’t matter if his phone breaks?!
Even the richest person shouldn’t waste resources like this!
Chi Yu felt this approach wasn’t quite right.
She was about to type something in response, but before she could start, Shen Yanzhi’s phone screen suddenly went black.
Then, the screen quickly lit up again, displaying a new message notification.
“From now on, whenever I’m not using my phone, it’s all yours. If the battery runs out, you can charge it yourself.”