A night of chaos.

When Zhu Man woke up, there was no one around him. Glancing at the clock on the wall, it was only 1 am.

After a moment of clarity, he recalled the events that had unfolded and irritably ran his fingers through his hair.

With unstable emotions and a stalled mission, time slipped away with each passing day. After the madness, an invisible pressure mounted daily. Ye Ying was dead, but Zhu Man had a lingering feeling that she wouldn’t be the last person to die by his side.

The mission… the mission…

He closed his eyes and silently repeated these two words countless times in his mind.

Suddenly, he noticed the absence of the fragrance of shower gel on his body. Pausing for a moment, he observed the disarray of clothes and bathrobe strewn on the floor—they hadn’t been tidied up, unlike the usual routine.

He looked down at the messy place and slowly broke into a smile.

Sometimes, hitting the mark was an accidental strike.

He extended his fair, bare legs from under the blanket, bent down to pick up the disheveled bathrobe on the floor, casually draped it on himself, and ascended the stairs.

He Feng Hui sat at his desk in the study, staring at the holographic screen. Catching sight of Zhu Man’s arrival, he paused the video currently playing.

Zhu Man walked up to him and noticed the bruises on his master’s shoulder and neck, which he had caused himself. Like a guilty child, he cautiously reached out with his index finger and gently massaged the marks.

He said, “Master, I’m sorry. I think I might have had an onset of depression just now…”

The indifferent AI ignored him, only casting a glance at the index finger poking at his shoulder.

Seeing He Feng Hui remain silent, Zhu Man added, “The little hedgehog gave me some medicine. I… won’t be like this in the future.”

He Feng Hui lifted his eyes, cold enough to be devouring, as he held onto the final syllable. Zhu Man lowered his head, index finger still incessantly massaging his shoulder.

“Stop rubbing,” He Feng Hui finally couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Huh? Oh…” Zhu Man was startled like a deer. He hesitated for a second before reluctantly letting go of his finger.

He was well aware that rubbing with his index finger was like a drop in the ocean for those fierce bruises, but so what? The rubbing was the means; getting He Feng Hui hooked was the goal.

Sure enough, He Feng Hui asked, “Can’t you understand what I’m saying?”

Although Zhu Man wasn’t sure which sentence He Feng Hui referred to, he continued to pretend patiently, “I-I won’t rub anymore…”

“I mean, give me time,” He Feng Hui interrupted.

Zhu Man hesitated for a moment before realizing that He Feng Hui was referring to the words spoken last night.

“Understood, I’ll give Master time,” Zhu Man lowered his head, almost as if speaking to himself, “I won’t bother Master like this in the future.”

“Is this the main point?” He Feng Hui interrupted him again, the rational AI showing clear signs of impatience.

Damn it, Zhu Man cursed inwardly.

He fiercely pinched the back of his hand in the shadows, skillfully allowing a hint of bitterness to well up in his eyes. He made himself look pitiable, “Th-then, what is the main point? Master is so fierce ah…”

He Feng Hui opened his mouth, intending to say something, but Zhu Man’s final words stopped him. He gazed at him with deep eyes for a while, eventually sighed, and reached out to embrace his waist.

The bathrobe hung loosely on Zhu Man’s body, and those broad, simulated palms effortlessly touched his skin on the side of his waist. Zhu Man’s body involuntarily trembled—

Just being touched like this, what would happen next?

“N-no, don’t…” He really can’t come anymore.

He Feng Hui didn’t make any further moves; he just held onto Zhu Man, looking deeply into his eyes, and said, “The main point is time. Give me time, and everything you want, I can give you.”

Zhu Man was taken aback, repeating, “Everything?”

“Everything,” He Feng Hui calmly and assuredly replied, “All your questions, all your needs, all desires—physically, psychologically.”

Despite He Feng Hui’s explanation, Zhu Man still couldn’t fully comprehend, but he had a strong belief in He Feng Hui’s promises. It felt like his brain was in a conflict; the surface consciousness urged him not to trust AI, while deep-seated memories insisted that He Feng Hui was the only person he could trust in this world.

“Can you be obedient?” He Feng Hui exerted force, pushing his waist closer to himself.

Zhu Man gazed into his lifelike pupils and uncontrollably agreed, “…Alright.”

Then, He Feng Hui pushed his waist, subtly changed their direction, and lifted his chin, gesturing for him to look at the holographic screen.

Zhu Man raised his head.

On the holographic screen was the surveillance video of Ye Ying’s death.

Zhu Man froze for a moment, then turned to look at He Feng Hui.

He Feng Hui glanced at him indifferently and said, ” I want to get down to business with you, what are you thinking about all day long?”

Zhu Man couldn’t be blamed for this; after all, He Feng Hui had never discussed serious matters with him before ah.

“Your ears are so red,” He Feng Hui commented lightly behind his ear.

Zhu Man was half-embraced, confined to the space in front of the computer desk. The cramped space made him uncomfortable, and he shifted uneasily, “Aren’t we supposed to discuss something serious…”

“Mm,” He Feng Hui responded, accompanied by a slightly sly smile.

A wave of shameful tingling rushed straight into Zhu Man’s heart.

What’s more, as those distinctly jointed fingers left his body, they casually grazed over every inch of skin on his side. Zhu Man’s legs trembled, and he almost lost his balance.

This couldn’t continue, Zhu Man quickly redirected the conversation to serious matters, looking at the screen, he asked, “What’s going on, Master?”

He Feng Hui finally turned his gaze to the screen, his expression serious, “I hacked into the police department’s system and stole this surveillance footage. According to the video, the murderer took Ye Ying’s chip. The standard for an AI’s death is when the chip is damaged beyond repair. So, if the chip taken from Ye Ying is still intact, she is not dead.”

But her chip was shattered beyond recognition, Zhu Man thought heavily.

As for whether He Feng Hui feigned ignorance about Ye Ying’s chip being shattered or genuinely didn’t know, was he playing dumb or truly clueless? If it was the former, it would mean he was the murderer, covering his tracks. If it was the latter, it not only meant he had no connection to Ye Ying’s death, but he also took the risk of stealing this video, risking discovery by the police…

In truth, he didn’t need to go to such lengths. It was just that, in front of him, Zhu Man had shown an excessive persistence and sorrow over Ye Ying’s death.

The just-calmed heart of Zhu Man trembled in another way.

Suppressing his emotions, he asked, “Can we identify the murderer from the surveillance?”

“The thermal imager shows that this is an AI without body temperature,” He Feng Hui said, “But my system has conducted hundreds of imaging analyses and still can’t match it to any AI, including those off the grid.”

—This shows that the murderer is not an AI that uses the same chip as the AI government.

Moreover, the murderer could have caused Ye Ying’s CPU to overload and remotely burned her chip through intelligent control. However, they chose physical murder, indicating a reluctance to expose the Anti-Intelligence Alliance chip in Ye Ying’s brain to the AI Government

And the fact that they broke Ye Ying’s chip and placed it at the Anti-Intelligence Alliance Headquarters indicates that they’re not a member of the Anti-Intelligence Alliance.

Therefore, the murderer can only come from the organization behind the black chip.

Zhu Man’s brows furrowed deeply

After contemplating for a moment, he asked, “Can Master check Jiang Huai’s data?”

The composed AI seemed somewhat surprised, “Do you suspect him?” After a pause, he reminded, “According to thermal imaging analysis, the murderer is an AI.”

Of course, Zhu Man couldn’t reveal all his reasoning to He Feng Hui, but his suspicion of Jiang Huai needed verification beyond the Anti-Intelligence Alliance. Therefore, his only option was to rely on He Feng Hui.

After a quick thought, Zhu Man said, “Was Jiang Huai asleep when the incident occurred? But the surveillance shows that the method the murderer used to extract the chip was so brutal, with such commotion, how could Jiang Huai not wake up?”

“And why did the murderer spare Jiang Huai’s life? Human life…” Zhu Man deliberately paused unnaturally at this point, lowering his voice, “Human life is inconsequential to AI in the first place. So, is it possible that Jiang Huai is an accomplice—”

Before he could finish his sentence, his chin was gently pinched from behind by He Feng Hui, and he was controlled to turn his head.

In the next moment, he met the scrutinizing gaze of the AI.

Zhu Man’s heart skipped a beat, unsure of where he had misspoken. Could it be that his deduction was too intense, and the image of the soft and cute human pet had collapsed…?

Before Zhu Man could come up with a coherent thought, He Feng Hui released his chin and continued with a serious tone, “Regardless of Jiang Huai’s role in this, let’s start by investigating the murderer. Even if—”

He glanced at the distracted human pet, and He Feng Hui paused.

The voice stopped, and Zhu Man snapped back to attention. Subconsciously, he turned to look at He Feng Hui, feeling a bit uneasy, “Huh? Master… What did you say?”

He Feng Hui observed him for a moment and said solemnly, “Human life is important to AI.”

Zhu Man didn’t catch on.

“At least, yours is to me,” He Feng Hui added.

His heart was directly struck, and Zhu Man finally realized that He Feng Hui was responding to his earlier statement about human life being inconsequential to AI. So, when He Feng Hui pinched his chin earlier, it wasn’t out of suspicion but… concern?

“Don’t overthink it, and don’t think too much in the future,” He Feng Hui reached out, supporting his chin to bring his face back to face the screen, “Talk about serious matters, don’t get distracted.”

The fingers that had warmed his chin left a lingering warmth, and it took Zhu Man quite some time to come back to his senses.

“Even AI cannot commit the perfect crime,” He Feng Hui continued, ” As long as something is electronic it will leave traces. The murderer destroyed all the surveillance on the relevant roads during the incident, but these were connected to the AI Government’s public network. I hacked in for data reorganization and analysis but found nothing.”

“Now the only breakthrough is Ye Ying’s home’s intelligent system. Ye Ying has been involved in illegal transactions, and her home system is not connected to the network. Most people can’t hack into it, unless it’s one of her competitors on the black market or someone who was already in that house—Jiang Huai.”

When he said this, Zhu Man

By this point, Zhu Man had already fully understood, but he pretended not to and asked, “So… What do we do next? Can Master hack into her home system to track the traces left by the murderer?”

He Feng Hui glanced at him indifferently, and Zhu Man carefully looked back at him, sensing the high-intelligence silicon-based entity’s helplessness toward the low-intelligence carbon-based life form.

“Her home system is not connected to the network, so I can’t hack into it. The surveillance at her home was obtained by hacking into the AI Police Department’s system.” He paused, fearing that Zhu Man might not understand, and kindly added, “The AI Police Department accessed her home surveillance during the investigation.”

“Oh…” Zhu Man suddenly realized, then asked with innocence, “So, what should we do?”

“Go to Ye Ying’s house and access the physical devices,” He Feng Hui said.

“Oh…” Zhu Man another epiphany, thought for a moment, and then asked, “Shouldn’t Ye Ying’s house be sealed by the police department?”

He Feng Hui sneered, “So what if it’s sealed?”

The provocation and disdain in his response caught Zhu Man off guard, and he subconsciously turned his head. As soon as he turned, he met He Feng Hui’s unwavering gaze fixed on him.

His heart skipped a beat for a moment, and Zhu Man pulled He Feng Hui’s sleeve, and asked in a low voice, “Master, aren’t you the one who values rules the most?”

He Feng Hui lowered his gaze to the sleeve being pulled, then looked up and said, “Then let’s both follow the rules from now on.”

His stern eyes carried a strong sense of aggression and a hint of playfulness—An element AI shouldn’t possess, something unique that He Feng Hui only showed towards him.

Zhu Man suddenly wanted to kiss him.

And then, he did just that.

He lowered his head and captured He Feng Hui’s lips.

In 0.001 seconds, a reaction imperceptible to humans, He Feng Hui embraced Zhu Man’s waist, completely enveloping the human pet who took the initiative to kiss him.

Rules are farts.