Yang Chaoyu hurried over and pulled Wen Xiaoxiao into the bedroom.
Before closing the door, she glanced at Wen Shaoqiao and said in a low voice, “Don’t cause trouble.”
Wen Shaoqiao nodded very obediently.
She had braided her hair into two little pigtails, which swayed adorably whenever she nodded.
Yang Chaoyu reminded herself inwardly: Don’t be deceived by Wen Shaoqiao’s cute appearance. This girl is a genuine ghost!
“Yang Chaoyu, I never thought you were this kind of person! What kind of mindset would make you have a child call you master? Are you perhaps a little… perverted?”
Wen Xiaoxiao did not finish, but Yang Chaoyu understood instantly.
Calling herself master and all—wasn’t that more than just a little perverted?
It might be exciting in novels and card games, but wasn’t it completely inappropriate in the real world? If someone else heard it, she would probably be hauled off to the police station.
“No, no, this child… has been a little obsessed with anime lately. Don’t take what she says seriously.”
“So, who exactly is this child?”
Having recently unlocked the ability to lie, Yang Chaoyu immediately began making things up.
After listening, Wen Xiaoxiao was half-convinced and half-doubtful.
“She’s really your distant relative? Didn’t you say that only you and your grandmother remained in your branch of the family?”
“That’s what I thought too, before she appeared.”
“Then who brought her here? They just left a child in the home of someone who’s practically a stranger? More importantly, how did the other person prove that you’re related by blood?”
“I’ll take her for a paternity test in a couple of days, and that’ll settle it.”
“What? You dared to bring her home without even getting a test?!”
Yang Chaoyu decided to unleash her ultimate move. “She’s such a young child. Was I supposed to abandon her? If I left her alone outside, I’d probably be collecting her corpse the next day. It’s just one extra mouth to feed. It’s not that big a deal.”
Wen Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. “You can’t even support yourself, and you still want to raise someone else?”
Yang Chaoyu rubbed the tip of her nose and said, “The matter with work will be resolved soon. Children don’t eat that much, so it should…”
“Should what? She’s at the age for elementary school, isn’t she? Do you really plan to keep her at home all day? The nine-year compulsory education is written into law, okay? She has to go to school! Tuition is free, but there are still miscellaneous school fees and all kinds of other expenses. Do you really think you can afford to raise her?”
“There’s no need to rush this. Isn’t it summer vacation now?” Yang Chaoyu felt as though her head had split in two.
Seeing that she could not persuade Yang Chaoyu, Wen Xiaoxiao stopped trying.
She stared at Yang Chaoyu for a while before suddenly saying, “You didn’t abduct a child and bring her home to play a real-life version of a card game because you can’t play card games anymore, did you?”
Yang Chaoyu: That isn’t it, but it does seem somewhat close.
“Leave it alone. I’m twenty-four, not fourteen. I have basic judgment.”
Wen Xiaoxiao gave up completely.
She did not stay long either. She said she had only come to deliver some fruit and drinks because she was worried Yang Chaoyu would try to save money by not buying them and would become vitamin-deficient from eating instant noodles every day.
Yang Chaoyu responded awkwardly, saying she would pay her back later.
After Wen Xiaoxiao left, Wen Shaoqiao said, “You two have such a good relationship.”
“Hahaha, she has three younger siblings at home, so she’s used to worrying about others and dotes on me like I’m her younger sister.” After saying this, she remembered that Wen Shaoqiao also had the status of an older sister, though her ending had not been a good one, so she comforted her by saying, “Her younger siblings also give her plenty of trouble. I guess she wants a younger sister as well-behaved as me, haha.”
Yang Chaoyu: What the hell am I even saying?
Wen Shaoqiao, however, showed no reaction. Instead, she turned around, opened the microwave, and brought over the warmed milk.
“Master, drink it quickly.”
When Yang Chaoyu heard that form of address, the cup in her hand nearly slipped.
She said, “We need to change that form of address.”
“What should I change it to, master?”
“Sigh… Just call me Sis, or Cousin Sis. We’ll pretend to be sisters. Otherwise, if someone sees us, they’ll suspect that I abducted a child.”
Especially since you keep saying something as bizarre as “master”! There’s no way people won’t misunderstand. Yang Chaoyu silently complained as she drank her milk.
“Oh, okay, Cousin Sis.”
Yang Chaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Wen Shaoqiao was truly well-behaved.
The milk was at exactly the right temperature—not hot enough to scald her mouth, nor lukewarm—and Yang Chaoyu felt its warmth spread straight into her heart.
But when she thought of the reason Qiao Qiao was so well-behaved, she felt somewhat distressed. Some children were naturally obedient, while others became docile and compliant because they had been beaten too many times; their instinct to avoid harm made them behave.
Holding the cup of milk, she asked, “What would you like me to call you?”
Wen Shaoqiao thought for a moment and said, “Qiao Qiao or Shaoqiao are both fine.”
Yang Chaoyu wondered whether it was because she no longer liked the surname Wen.
“Then I’ll call you Qiao Qiao.”
Having resolved the issue of what to call each other, she became more interested in the extraordinary setting surrounding this paper person. But she was even more curious about why Qiao Qiao had become like this.
Qiao Qiao replied, “It’s a little complicated to explain.”
“Just as Cousin Sis saw during her debut, besides the real world where ordinary people live, this world also contains ‘Vortices’ formed by special magnetic fields. They are called ‘Vortices’ because, like whirlpools, they are born from special magnetic fields and can also influence those fields, causing themselves to grow larger and even affecting the real world.”
“Then what is MN Corporation?”
“MN Corporation is the organization that discovered the ‘Vortices’ and manages and eliminates them.”
“Manages and eliminates them? These ‘Vortices’ can be eliminated?”
“They can, but we generally don’t take measures to eliminate them,” Qiao Qiao said.
“Why?” Yang Chaoyu asked.
“That’s a little complicated.” Qiao Qiao stroked her chin with a mature expression. “If I have to explain it, it’s like how humans were initially afraid of fire, but cooked food was beneficial to their health, so humans learned to use fire. Wild boars are similar. At first, humans were attacked by wild boars, but they could also kill them for meat. Later, they even domesticated them into domestic pigs and developed animal husbandry.”
Yang Chaoyu: This is a grand lecture on A Brief History of Humankind.
“So, after discovering the ‘Vortices,’ we won’t take extreme measures as long as they haven’t begun producing harmful effects on the real world.”
“Using fire and raising pigs are both profitable.” Yang Chaoyu understood her meaning and continued asking, “Then what benefits do the ‘Vortices’ offer?”
Qiao Qiao nodded. “That’s what I was about to explain. ‘Vortices’ are also divided into levels. The ‘Vortices’ that Streamers usually use for livestreams are relatively safe, and the missions are simple. Their main purposes are, first, to observe the condition of the ‘Vortices,’ and second, to entertain the viewers and obtain merit points.”
“I don’t need to explain merit points, do I? They’re equivalent to RMB. MN Corporation isn’t a charity; it needs funds to operate, and merit points are the ‘funds’ it earns from the ‘Vortices.’”
Yang Chaoyu: Why does this sound a little suspicious?
“That’s the benefit to MN and society. For individuals, ‘Vortices’ can grant some people extraordinary powers.”
Yang Chaoyu froze.
“What kind of powers?”
“You could also call them Abilities, right?” Qiao Qiao shook her head with an air of importance. “The inherent qualities of the ‘Vortices’ attract certain extraordinary things, as well as extraordinary people. Under the influence of the special magnetic fields, these extraordinary people awaken their latent Abilities. This is also one of the reasons MN allows the ‘Vortices’ to develop. That’s what MN Corporation claims, anyway, and I think it’s quite credible.”
Yang Chaoyu could not help raising her hand.
Her gesture amused Qiao Qiao, who said, “Why are you acting like an elementary school student? Just ask if you have a question, Cousin Sis.”
“So, did I awaken an ability too?”
After saying that, Yang Chaoyu looked at Qiao Qiao expectantly.