The little boy, Dandan, who was lying on the sofa slowly opened his tightly closed eyes. In an instant, he connected with his new body and sat up.
Dandan’s new body looked like that of a ten-year-old boy. He had thick, naturally curly black hair that reached his ears, a pair of large lake-blue eyes, long, curled eyelashes, a high and straight little nose, and chubby cheeks.
He was both adorable and handsome.
A-Wu was extremely satisfied.
But she never expected Dandan to sit on the sofa and suddenly start crying!
A-Wu hurried over and gently touched his soft, silky hair.
“Dandan, why are you crying? Don’t you like this body?”
Dandan said nothing. He tightly grabbed A-Wu’s sleeve and cried for a while.
Only when the water inside his body was almost used up did his tears finally stop.
He shyly covered his eyes.
“Thank you, Master! You’re so good to me!”
A-Wu was both amused and helpless. She gently pinched his incredibly soft cheeks.
“As long as you like it! I thought you didn’t like it!”
“I like it! I really, really like it!”
Dandan jumped off the sofa and ran around it for a while, experiencing the completely different feeling of his new body.
After getting his new body, Dandan had absolutely no attachment to his old one.
With A-Wu’s permission, he gave his old body to Luther.
Although it was broken, it could still be sold for a few credits at a recycling center.
Dandan considered it a thank-you gift for Luther.
After seeing Luther off, A-Wu drank a tube of nutrient solution and returned to her room to cultivate.
When she came out again, she saw little Dandan holding a machine that was even taller than himself while cleaning the house.
Seeing this scene, A-Wu pressed a hand to her forehead helplessly.
Looks like she needed to buy another housekeeping robot.
Although she knew Dandan was a robot, watching him do this kind of work gave her the feeling that she was making a child work!
A-Wu immediately placed an order on the Star Network for a new model of housekeeping robot.
Hmm… one that could cook.
After placing the order, she walked over to the sofa and sat down, calling Dandan over as well.
Dandan put down the machine and hopped over to sit across from A-Wu.
He looked no different from a real child.
A-Wu looked at him thoughtfully.
Remembering the original owner’s final wish, she decided to take care of everything while she was at it.
“Dandan, I’ll apply for a citizen ID for you!”
Mechanical lifeforms could apply for citizen IDs.
It was basically the equivalent of applying for an identity card.
Once approved, they would officially become citizens of the Federation.
However, in cases like Dandan’s, where a robot awakened halfway through its existence, the owner’s permission was required. Without it, the robot could not apply.
For most robots like Dandan, their owners would simply set them free after they awakened.
But some owners were unwilling to do so.
Therefore, Federation law stated that an awakened mechanical lifeform only needed to continue serving its original owner for one hundred years before it could automatically obtain citizenship.
Most mechanical lifeforms longed to become a real “person.”
That was one of the fundamental differences between life and artificial intelligence.
Who would have thought that Dandan would not be happy at all when he heard A-Wu’s words?
Instead, he looked as though he was about to cry.
His big eyes became watery, as if tears could fall at any moment.
“Master… don’t you want me anymore?”
A-Wu suddenly got a headache.
She could not help regretting buying him such a realistic body.
She quickly explained,
“I’m not abandoning you, Dandan. I just want you to become a real person instead of remaining only a machine!”
“You’re not trying to get rid of me?”
Dandan looked at her expectantly.
A-Wu could only continue explaining helplessly.
“Of course not! I just want you to become an official citizen of the Federation as soon as possible. And of course, if you want to go somewhere in the future, you’ll be free to go wherever you want…”
As soon as A-Wu finished speaking, Dandan wiped away his tears and smiled through them.
“I’m not going anywhere! I want to stay with Master forever! Whether you’re my former master or my current master!”
The moment Dandan finished speaking, the smile on A-Wu’s face disappeared.
Her heart tightened.
Could Dandan know that she wasn’t the original owner?!
She thought back over everything she had done recently.
Although she had never deliberately tried to hide anything, surely she had not done enough to make a robot suspicious of her, right?
Wait!
Dandan was a mechanical lifeform!
He could be considered a real person now.
Maybe it was perfectly normal for him to notice that something was different about her…?
It was all because the original owner’s memories had influenced her!
They had made her trust Dandan too much!
A-Wu hesitated, unsure of what to do.
The thought of killing Dandan directly was something she truly could not bring herself to do.
Besides, the original owner’s lingering wish hung over her like a sharp sword.
If she really destroyed Dandan, her cultivation would probably be ruined as well.
A-Wu cautiously asked,
“Dandan, what did you mean? What do you mean by your ‘former master’?”
Dandan sat on the sofa, swinging his two pale little legs.
He blinked his large eyes, looking completely innocent and harmless.
He looked at A-Wu hesitantly.
“Master, don’t be scared. You’re just sick! It’s okay! You’re still you. You’ll always be Dandan’s master!”
A-Wu thought she saw pity and affection in his eyes.
She swept him with her spiritual sense.
After confirming that he was truly speaking from his heart, she finally relaxed.
At the same time, she could not help laughing.
So Dandan thought she had some kind of mental illness!
Did he think she was a new personality?
She smiled for a while before becoming silent again.
Ever since she had stepped onto the path of cultivation, she had always walked alone.
Perhaps she was naturally cold-hearted, because she had never really felt lonely.
During the time she had spent with Dandan, she did not know whether she trusted him without reservation because of the influence of the original owner’s memories, or because she had lowered her guard simply because he was not human.
Whatever the reason, she was willing to let Dandan stay with her forever.
But today, she suddenly realized that the original owner was like a huge gap standing between them.
If Dandan continued to believe that she was the original owner, she would never be able to truly be honest with him.
After thinking it over several times, A-Wu made a firm decision, just as she would have in the cultivation world.
She told Dandan the truth.
The whole matter was not complicated.
A-Wu concealed the fact that she came from the cultivation world.
She only said that she had encountered an accident and only her spiritual body had escaped. Later, by another accident, she entered the original owner’s body.
After explaining everything in a few sentences, she quietly watched Dandan’s reaction.
At that moment, she was suddenly glad that she had bought him a new body.
At least now, she could see his facial expressions.
After hearing the whole story, Dandan stood there frozen, like a lifeless wooden doll.
A-Wu did not rush him for an answer.
She let him take his time to process everything.
After all, the original owner was the person Dandan had raised from childhood.
Although he had awakened relatively late, he still had all of his memories.
A-Wu tried to put herself in his place.
If a child she had personally raised died and an outsider took over that child’s body, she probably would not be able to accept it either.
While waiting, A-Wu prepared for the worst.
She thought that if Dandan could not accept her, she would help him apply for citizenship and then transfer the original owner’s house into his name.
After that, she would find another place to live.
Living alone and cultivating by herself was not a problem.
Hadn’t she lived that way before?
She also was not worried that Dandan would report her to the Federation.
Her current body was still the original owner’s body.
If Dandan reported her and she was taken away, anyone could imagine what would happen to the original owner’s body afterward.
But for some reason, A-Wu still felt uncomfortable.
She suddenly could not even bring herself to cultivate.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Dandan finally raised his head weakly and looked at her pitifully.
“So… after you fulfilled Master’s wish, are you going to leave me?”
“Of course not. This has always been your home. If you don’t want to live with me, I’ll leave. This is the house your master left for you.”
A-Wu felt that perhaps the situation was not as bad as she had imagined.
After hearing her words, Dandan nervously twisted his fingers.
He had suddenly lost his master.
And now he had suddenly become a “person” who had to make every decision for himself.
He was not used to it yet.
He had once thought that if his master died, he would simply sleep forever beside her.
But what was he supposed to do now?
His master had died, yet she had left behind a wish that he should continue living well.
He should listen to his master…
Dandan thought and thought until his chip was practically tangled into a knot.
Finally, he stammered,
“Then… what should I call you?”
His attitude had become much gentler.
A-Wu had also come to terms with the situation.
She smiled.
“I have the same name as your master, and I’m also older than her. You can call me Sister A-Wu.”
“Sister A-Wu, you can stay here forever. This is your home too! Master’s wish never said that she wanted to leave the house to me, right?”
Dandan remembered very clearly what A-Wu had said about the original owner’s final wish.
It was only that she wanted to give him a new body and set him free.
She had never said anything about giving him the house.
Besides, this house had belonged to his master and his two former masters.
Although none of them were here anymore, he would continue to protect it.
A-Wu felt a little touched.
Perhaps this was one of the advantages of mechanical lifeforms.
Once they trusted someone, they did not keep suspecting them.
Humans were different.
They seemed to live forever surrounded by doubt, never able to give someone their complete trust.
A-Wu leaned forward and gently stroked his hair.
“Then I’ll be counting on you from now on!”
Dandan looked at her smile.
He wanted to hug her like he used to.
But after remembering her true identity, he became a little reserved and simply clasped his hands together while smiling.
A-Wu did not mind.
Dandan’s reaction had already gone far beyond what she expected.
Perhaps because he had awakened so late, he still had the mentality of a child.
He was innocent, adorable, and quick to trust others.
The two of them sat together in silence.
A-Wu directly opened her smart ring and went through the application process for Dandan’s citizen ID.
But when she reached the section asking for his name, she became troubled.
She could not exactly write “Dandan.”
That was far too informal!
She looked up and asked,
“Dandan, what name would you like to have from now on?”
“Ah…?!”
Dandan’s eyes widened, and his eyelashes trembled slightly.
He looked completely flustered.
He had never thought about becoming a “person” before.
Naturally, he had never thought about giving himself a new name either.
At that moment, his chip felt completely blank.
He could not think of anything.
“I… I don’t know…”
A-Wu smiled understandingly.
Leaning back against the sofa, she rested her cheek on her right hand.
“Then let me choose a name for you?”
Dandan nodded in relief.
A-Wu lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before saying,
“How about this? You can take your master’s surname, Lin. The sound of ‘Dandan’ reminds me of the word ‘dawn,’ and dawn means the rising sun. From now on, your name will be Lin Xu.”
She looked up at Dandan, who was already visibly excited.
Her expression softened.
“Your master always treated you like family. From now on, be her younger brother.”
Tears began to gather in Dandan’s eyes again.
He nodded hard and said loudly,
“From now on, I’m Lin Xu!”
A-Wu entered the name Lin Xu into the application and submitted it.
All she had to do was wait for a staff member to come and verify everything tomorrow or the day after.
With her, the registered owner, present, there should be no problem getting the application approved.
She planned to register Lin Xu as a member of the Lin family and make him Lin Wu’s younger brother.
She would also transfer the house into his name.
That way, no matter what happened in the future, she would no longer have to worry.
After receiving the housekeeping robot she had ordered, A-Wu told Lin Xu that from now on, he only needed to handle customer service for the Pill Shop and receive and send packages.
After taking care of everything, A-Wu swallowed a Fasting Pill and entered meditation.
After fulfilling the original owner’s final wish, she felt that her cultivation had become much easier.
An instinct deep inside her kept urging her to cultivate harder.
A-Wu trusted this instinct completely.
It was a cultivator’s sensitivity to the workings of fate, and it had saved her life many times in the past.
Although she vaguely sensed that danger might await her in the future, A-Wu felt no fear.
The path of cultivation had never been smooth.
It was a process of survival through countless trials, like gold being separated from sand.
Countless unqualified people were ruthlessly eliminated, while those who successfully ascended had always been few and far between.
A-Wu’s Dao heart had always been as firm as a rock.
She cultivated only to become stronger.
Strong enough to do everything she wanted.
Strong enough that no one could control her fate.
With an unshakable Dao heart, her cultivation naturally progressed smoothly.
The fifth level of Qi Refining—
breakthrough.