Translator: Lordbluefire
Below the dilapidated residence was a dirty alley.
The middle-aged man knelt there with puzzlement on his face. “She is just an android. She has no human rights!”
It was like killing someone for destroying a mobile phone. It wasn’t worth it.
“Sorry, I’m an android as well!”
Sun Mo shrugged.
“Ah?”
The middle-aged man started. After that, he began to tremble.
“Remember, it’s shameless not to pay after having fun with a prostitute!”
After Sun Mo finished speaking, he pulled the trigger.
“AHH!”
The middle-aged scream and peed uncontrollably due to fright. After that, he almost fainted until he discovered that Sun Mo’s gun was stuck. He felt joy as though he had just escaped from a calamity.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The middle-aged man kowtowed as he pleaded for mercy.
“Leave your wallet and scram!”
Sun Mo berated.
This type of person was like a cockroach. It would only dirty your hands if you killed them.
The middle-aged man was like he had received a great amnesty. He took out his wallet and gave it to Sun Mo before hurriedly fleeing the area.
After stuffing some money into the wallet, Sun Mo returned to his level and knocked on the door of Fei Suzhen’s home.
Emma was still consoling her.
“This is what that middle-aged man is paying you!”
Sun Mo passed the wallet to Fei Suzhen.
Although Fei Suzhen was an android, she was very kind and principled. She glanced at the wallet that was filled with cash and shook her head.
“Sun Mo, you are a kind man. I cannot take your money!”
From the way of speech and dressing of that middle-aged man, she could tell that he was just a small staff that didn’t make a lot of money. How was it possible that he would have so much cash?
Evidently, Sun Mo wanted to help her secretly.
(Sigh! I really envy Emma for finding such a good boyfriend.)
“Just keep it. At the very least, don’t let your kids experience something like this ever again.”
Sun Mo persuaded but Fei Suzhen didn’t agree.
Emma invited the three of them for a meal, but she also got rejected.
“She’s very determined and hardworking.”
After returning to their rented house, Emma sighed ruefully. “She shouldn’t suffer!”
Emma knew that Fei Suzhen was suffering so much in life because she had to raise two kids.
“Sometimes, working hard cannot earn you any money.”
Sun Mo didn’t want to discuss such a heavy topic.
Emma fell silent. She always felt that earning money was easy. It was like the servants of her family, a month of their salary was many times more compared to what Fei Suzhen was earning.
…
The days of living in the subterranean world gradually weren’t happy anymore.
Because Emma was a girl with a heart filled with sympathy.
In this place, she saw hunger, poverty, sickness, and a lack of law and order…
One could say that the soil here gave birth to plenty of unpleasant things. And if one saw too many of such things, their entire mind would involuntarily become gloomy and depressed.
If it wasn’t for her being together here with Sun Mo, Emma would have long since fled such a place.
Getting robbed five to six times a week? Who could bear with this? If not, when walking on the streets, she would always be approached by guys who wanted her to go to love motels with them.
It was another evening. Sun Mo rode his motorbike and sent Emma back home. When they arrived, they saw a police car parked underneath the building.
“What happened?”
Emma was somewhat worried. Because only someone dying would cause such a huge commotion that would make these policemen move out.
The two of them went up, but they discovered that a lot of people had gathered in the corridors, watching a good show.
“It’s Sister Fei’s family!”
Emma was shocked because she saw Fei Suzhen’s home door wide open.
“You return first!”
Sun Mo frowned.
Emma didn’t go home because she heard the discussions of the crowd. Fei Suzhen was killed. Also, one could see a corpse through the opened door.
“May I ask what happened?” Sun Mo asked.
“You are?” The police officer surveyed Sun Mo.
“I’m her neighbor!” Sun Mo explained.
“She was killed by her lover!”
The policeman shrugged. “If you know the phone number of this woman’s relatives, please inform her family to collect her belongings, as well as to take care of those two kids!”
“Was it done by him?”
Emma could see a man that was being cuffed at a leg of the table in the room. It was none other than the drunken man who wanted to make trouble that day.
“Mn, this is a very simple case. He failed to get her love, so he killed her due to his emotions!”
The policeman no longer wanted to waste time talking. No matter how complicated the case was, they would do their best to simplify things. After all, they wouldn’t be able to make any money from this case.
“From what I know, Fei Suzhen has no relatives!”
Sun Mo mentally mused. (It would then be strange for an android to have relatives.)
“So?” The officer counter-asked.
“Those two children…”
Sun Mo stared at the pair of siblings. They had lost their mother, so their lives in the future would be very difficult. “You guys can make some arrangements, right?”
“According to standard procedure, I can send them to children welfare agencies first. But trust me, if your relationship with that dead woman isn’t bad, just do your best to take care of these two kids. Going to the children welfare agencies is the worst choice.”
It was already considered an act of extreme benevolence for the policeman to say these things.
“Why can’t they go to a welfare agency?”
Emma didn’t understand. She had gone to volunteer in children welfare agencies before in the upper world. The environment there was very good.
“Hehe!”
The lips of the officer curled as he looked at this girl who was far too young.
Emma still wanted to argue, but she was stopped by Sun Mo.
Just when the policemen wanted to bring the culprit away, Emma stormed over.
“Why did you have to kill Sister Fei?”
“I don’t know either!” The man had a bewildered look on his face. “Maybe I’m angry at her foolishness?”
“Sister Fei isn’t foolish!” Emma shouted.
“Not foolish?” The man chortled. “If that’s the case, why would an android have to suffer and give up so much for two kids she picked up from the garbage dump?”
“Eh?” Emma was stunned. “They were picked up?”
Although she knew that the siblings weren’t birthed personally by Fei Suzhen, she felt that since their relationship was so good, there must be some emotional connection.
“It is very foolish, right? It isn’t easy for an android to get freedom. Shouldn’t she have lived for herself? Yet, she had to lead such a life of suffering for the sake of these two kids, even to the extent of selling her body, being abused by those men. Tell me, do you think her brain is damaged?”
The man had a dispirited look on his face. “My brain must have been damaged too. I actually fell for such a woman.”
“Are you a human or an android?” someone curiously asked.
“Me?” The man shook his head. “I’ve forgotten!”
“He’s a human!” the policeman explained.
The audience immediately grew excited. A human falling in love with an android and actually killing because of emotions, this was something very rare.
After all, for something like androids, even their personalities could be set beforehand.
(Do you really want one? Just purchase one then!)
After everyone had left, Sun Mo made a call and got people from the funeral parlor to collect the corpse.
The pair of siblings cowered in the corner, not saying anything. They only rushed out when the people from the funeral parlor wanted to put Fei Suzhen’s corpse in a body bag, saying that they wouldn’t agree to this no matter what.
“You two have to be obedient children. Please let go, Elder Sister Fei wouldn’t wish to see you two acting like this!”
Emma persuaded.
She applied for leave for the next three days. After helping out with preparing the documents, she took the time to check out the actual situation in the children welfare agency.
There were a lot of children welfare agencies in the subterranean world, but their situations were all worrying. Besides, through some details, Sun Mo discovered that these places were very terrifying.
Good-looking children would be adopted very quickly, but those without good looks would be sent to the factories to work.
As for crippled ones?
Sorry, no agencies would accept them.
“The siblings are quite good-looking, so they should be able to get adopted very quickly, right?”
Emma looked at Sun Mo, and he shook his head.
He didn’t want to tell this innocent girl that those children might not be having happy families.
“Let’s just take care of them.”
Sun Mo also didn’t have any good solution.
The salary paid by the restaurant boss was very good, and his character was extremely straightforward as well. Hence, Emma felt bad to keep resting. After she had confirmed that she would take care of the two kids, she immediately went back to work. However, she discovered that the atmosphere of the restaurant was strange.
The chef sat in the shop, not working. He would only head into the kitchen to prepare a bowl of noodles when there were customers.
“What’s the matter?”
Emma’s heart was filled with puzzlement.
Because these few guests were all dressed strangely. The guys were clad in black suits, while the girls were clad in black dresses. In this future city, this was the attire one would wear when they had to attend a funeral.
The chef looked at Emma. His lips moved a few times, but he didn’t know how to explain. In the end, he only said, “Just help out!”
Today, many people came by. They left behind flowers and left after eating a bowl of noodles.
Some of these people didn’t show their emotions, while others had tears streaming down their faces as they ate the noodles.
During the evening, when it was time to close the shop!
“Where’s the boss?”
Emma frowned.
“You can choose to come or not tomorrow. This is your salary for this month!”
The chef passed a thick envelope to Emma.
“It has only been eleven days since the start of the month. Also, why are you the one giving out the salary?”
Emma opened the envelope for a look and frowned even more. “Isn’t the money here too much?”
The chef didn’t reply. He turned and walked back to the restaurant and began to pack up.
Emma was completely clueless.
After she returned, she told this incident to Sun Mo.
Sun Mo started. After that, his expression fell. He had met the boss before. It was an uncle who was straightforward and generous. No one could have expected…
“I’ll accompany you to the restaurant tomorrow!”
…
During the morning, Emma arrived at the restaurant.
“Eh? Boss isn’t here again?”
Emma followed the SOP. She wiped the tables and swept the floor. After that, she headed to the back kitchen to prepare the ingredients.
“There’s no need to prepare so much!”
The chef stopped her.
Today was the same as yesterday. There were still people bringing bouquets of flowers to the restaurant. But this time around, they didn’t order food. They were either sitting inside the restaurant, or being in a daze, or working.
There were no exceptions, it was still very quiet.
“What the hell is going on?”
Emma was speechless. She went to the back kitchen and asked the chef. “If this continues, how are we going to continue to do business?”
The chef originally wanted to say that they wouldn’t be doing business anymore in the future, but he truly couldn’t bring himself to say such things.
Luckily, at this moment, a group of people came.
There were over ten people in this group and they were wearing black mourning garments.
Emma came out and saw them standing at the entrance of the restaurant as they bowed in unison. After that, they placed the flowers in their hands at the door.
After doing this, they entered the restaurant. The leader of this group asked, “When will teacher’s burial be arranged?”
“A burial? For who?”
Emma had a look of panic on her face because she had a bad premonition.
“The day after tomorrow!”
The chef replied.
“It’s too early, there are still some school seniors who might find it impossible to rush here!”
The young man shook his head.
“Actually, Elder Brother Zhang wouldn’t want this as this would disrupt everyone’s time. It’s already good enough that you guys have the heart.”
The chef sighed. “Besides, it has been seven days. It’s time for him to be buried.”
The young man still wanted to argue, but a woman walked over and patted him on his shoulders. “You should understand our teacher’s character. He wouldn’t like things being so high-profile. Let’s just go with this arrangement, alright?”
The young man nodded. Tears of sadness could be seen glistening in his eyes.
After Emma served tea to everyone, she rushed to the back kitchen and grabbed the chief. “The boss is dead?”
She knew that the boss had the surname ‘Zhang’!
“Mn!” The chef choked with emotions.
“How did he die?” Emma continued to ask.
“He was stabbed to death by a few androids!” The chef covered his face.
“Don’t he know how to flee?” Emma also started crying.
The boss was such a good person. Why did he have to die?
Wasn’t this a little too unfair?
…
The quiet graveyard was covered by drizzling rain. The funeral had begun.
Sun Mo held an umbrella and stood together with Emma as they watched the coffin being lowered.
The surroundings were packed, and there were roughly over 100 people. Their faces were all filled with sorrow.
Some of these people were the boss’s students, and some were kids that the boss had sponsored before. More than half of them were actually androids.
“This joke by the heavens is simply too cruel!”
Emma sobbed.
The boss was a teacher in the past. His education concept was to treat everyone equally. Even androids could come and learn from him.
One must know that in this world, there was heavy discrimination against androids. Humans treated them as pets, toys, or even slaves. Because they weren’t humans, no one would want to give them any education.
The boss was an exception.
Hence, he got dismissed.
The boss didn’t give up and set up a private teaching class. It was just that he kept getting reported and harassed by extremists. As a result, he had no choice and could only go into hiding.
This lasted until a day where the androids were killed by humans who had always viewed them with hatred.
That time, the boss suffered an immense psychological impact. He gave up on teaching, but the kindness in his heart was still present and he decided to provide financial support for those helpless and homeless children, wanting to allow them to learn a skill or two so they could survive on their own in the future.
Today, all the people who came for the funeral were those who had once been helped by the boss.
The cruelest thing was that the boss had been killed by android extremists who hated humans immensely.
…
In the falling rain, Emma silently trudged forward. All of a sudden, she halted her steps and spoke with a serious expression.
“Sun Mo, I’ve decided!”
“What?”
A gust of wind came, and Sun Mo adjusted the position of the umbrella so Emma wouldn’t be splashed by the rainwater.
“I’ve decided to act in that uncle’s movie!”
Emma stared at Sun Mo. “Humans and androids shouldn’t be living lives like this. They should also have kinship, friendship, and even love!”
“I want to let everyone see these beautiful things!”
Sun Mo inhaled heavily. “Do you know the consequences of doing this?”
“Fearing death isn’t a reason for me to stop!” Emma did her best to squeeze out a smile.
Sun Mo no longer spoke. He gently patted her head.
(You’ve grown up!)
When that uncle, whose dream of shooting a movie hadn’t ended yet, came to look for them again, Emma agreed to him and began to shoot this movie that was named ‘Romance Holiday’.
Because they couldn’t find a male lead, Sun Mo could only act in it as well.
In order to show the best effect, Emma bought many movie-type books. Other than eating and sleeping, she would spend the rest of her time researching acting.
Sun Mo could only do the same as well!
