Pretend to be crazy

Blaze and Shen Yan spent three whole days together, never leaving each other’s side.

On the fourth day, Blaze was forced to leave due to some unavoidable work.

Before stepping out, he carefully locked the door and set an extremely complex password for the room. Then, recalling Shen Yan and the hacker-like boss behind him, he still felt it wasn’t enough. He placed several modified companion robots inside as extra precautions.

These small robots stood only half a person’s height, with delicate designs.

Among them, the most exquisitely crafted and luxurious one—bearing an exact resemblance to Blaze himself—was named “Little Blaze.”

Little Blaze was something he had built overnight while Shen Yan was asleep, for a reason he wasn’t willing to dwell on. It was purely aesthetic, lacking strong combat capabilities.

The other robots, however, were not as harmless.

If Shen Yan attempted to crack the password and leave the room without permission, hidden mechanisms within the other robots would activate, administering a painless sedative that would put him into a deep sleep.

That way, he would have enough time to return home and have a proper talk with him.

Once everything was in place, he headed to the door but suddenly turned back, walking quickly to Shen Yan’s bedside. He stood there, staring at the peacefully sleeping figure, his mind running through the security measures once more.

Only after confirming that he wouldn’t be able to escape did he finally leave.

Shen Yan slept until noon.

He rubbed his eyes and heard a rustling sound beside him. Turning his head, he was startled to find a humanoid figure silently watching him, sending half of his sleepiness away in an instant.

Little Blaze: “Good morning, Xiao Yan.”

“Morning.” Shen Yan quickly gathered his wits, turned to face Little Blaze, and lazily guessed, “I’m guessing your name is Little Blaze?”

Little Blaze blinked its emerald-green eyes in an incredibly human-like manner. “Congratulations, you guessed correctly.”

Shen Yan grinned. “Where’s my reward?”

Little Blaze thought for a moment, rummaged through the decorative pockets on its outfit, then looked at Shen Yan with a dejected expression. “Sorry, Xiao Yan, I’m a robot. I don’t have money.”

Shen Yan was so amused he had to force himself not to laugh. He feigned irritation. “Then what do we do?”

“Sorry, Xiao Yan.” Little Blaze tilted its head blankly. “I’m a robot. I don’t know what to do.”

Shen Yan burst into laughter. Then, feeling mischievous, he teased, “This little robot doesn’t seem to know anything. Do you want me to teach you?”

Little Blaze brightened up. “Yes!”

Shen Yan originally planned to make him—wearing Blaze’s face—act cute and spoiled, just for fun. But the resemblance was too uncanny, and he suddenly felt guilty. The words changed at the last moment, and instead, he asked while getting out of bed, “What’s one plus one?”

Little Blaze: “Two.”

Stretching lazily, Shen Yan pulled open the curtains to let the sunlight in. Smiling, he continued, “What about two plus two?”

Little Blaze slowly got up and followed closely behind him. “Four. Do you need me to prepare a basic arithmetic chart for you?”

Shen Yan smirked. “Then what about 78645 plus 5122669?”

For artificial intelligence, this was no more difficult than simple addition.

Little Blaze quickly responded, “5201314.”

Shen Yan, brushing his teeth and foaming at the mouth, lowered his head and grinned. “I like Little Blaze too. Thank you.”

Little Blaze paused, then searched its database for the meaning of the number sequence. Upon understanding it, it immediately stored the information in its system as a future reward option.

At the same time, it compiled the morning’s events and synchronized them to Blaze’s terminal.

After wandering around the room, Shen Yan wasn’t surprised that Blaze was gone. He had mentioned last night that he would be busy today.

But Shen Yan was the type who couldn’t sit still.

After playing games with Little Blaze for a while, he started feeling bored. He poured himself a drink and went to the window to admire the view.

The castle was massive, with jagged Gothic spires piercing the sky. To distinguish the Mobius family from ordinary people, they had collaborated with other aristocratic families a hundred years ago to forcibly alter the terrain. What was once a flat and open Seventh District had been reshaped into a tiered, concentric structure.

They now resided above the clouds, surrounded by infrastructure that existed solely to serve their families.

To maintain an illusion of liveliness and to ensure a steady selection of slaves, they held an annual event where thousands of carefully chosen third-class citizens were sent to Eden Nine.

For those third-class citizens, this was a chance to rise in status. Their efforts were recognized, and living near the powerful and wealthy Mobius family was considered a reward.

If they were lucky enough to catch a Mobius’s eye and be chosen to serve them…

That wouldn’t just be wealth—it would be an unimaginable fortune. They could use the Mobius family’s power to become elite members of the Seventh District.

Shen Yan had heard many things about the Seventh District from Blaze over the past few days.

The Mobius family loved playing “salvation games.”

They would first set traps to push their chosen prey to the lowest depths, then dramatically swoop in like heroes. This method easily secured their victim’s admiration and unwavering loyalty.

They wrapped their decayed, twisted selves in the trappings of wealth and power, using love as an excuse to take whatever they wanted.

Their prey, terrified yet envious of the wealth just within reach, would—under the Mobius family’s relentless conditioning—desperately prove their “love,” slowly giving up everything they had.

And since they were rich enough, any lost body part could be replaced with cybernetics.

As long as they endured, they could get what they wanted—so why not?

Because of this, Blaze had sternly warned Shen Yan never to leave the room without him.

A completely unmodified, healthy natural human with a vibrant, lively personality was an irresistible temptation for the Mobius family, who lived in darkness and depravity.

Some mentally unstable family members, during their episodes, might even take the risk of bypassing Blaze to harm him.

Shen Yan took a sip of his drink.

In the distance, a lively commotion echoed from the forest.

Curious, he used the telescope function on his terminal to take a closer look.

At the border of the forest and grasslands, a few blonde Mobius members stood together, chatting while holding different types of leashes. The other end of the leashes was attached to a group of beautifully dressed, lightly modified humans.

The humans were also talking among themselves, their voices much softer than the Mobius’s. Their expressions showed no fear—just a trained sense of tranquility.

After setting the rules, the Mobius members removed their collars, handed them basic weapons, and drove them into the deep forest.

Each human was equipped with tracking and monitoring devices. The Mobius members could view their situation via their terminals.

Shen Yan glanced at the screen. The humans had been injected with stimulants, enhancing their agility and strength. Even when injured, they only screamed in pain but showed no intention of retreating.

Meanwhile, the Mobius members moved to the barbecue grills they had prepared on the grass. They laughed and joked under the sunlight, their sickly pale skin and light golden hair glowing.

Looking only at this scene, no one would guess that their mealtime entertainment was the suffering and death of their own kind.

Shen Yan watched for a while.

A tall young man among them sensed his gaze, turned, and pinpointed his location with uncanny accuracy. Their eyes met across the distance.

Shen Yan, unhurried, finished his drink, then closed the window, stepping out of view.

On the grass, surrounded by the group, the young man suddenly smirked.

“Is that Blaze’s new toy?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Aya hugged her rabbit tightly. “Brother played with him for three whole days! I made delicious cookies to share with him, but he just sent a robot to dismiss me. He wouldn’t even let me into his room, and he doesn’t treat me as his wife at all!”

Bosson gently patted Aya’s head. “Poor little Aya. Tell me, what’s the name of that toy?”

“His name is Shen Yan.”

“…Shen Yan.”

Bosson rolled the name on his tongue, savoring it. He looked as gentle and refined as his demeanor suggested—like a well-respected professor in a university classroom, admired by his students. His smile was warm and inviting, making people naturally want to draw closer.

But the Mobius family knew his true nature.

Someone was in trouble.

Aya’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him. The others also sensed something unusual and exciting, chattering away—asking if they were going to snatch Blaze’s toy, how they would do it, and what they would do with it afterward.

Bosson picked up a piece of cake, the soft texture melting into the rich cream as he tasted its sweetness. Then, with deep meaning in his tone, he said, “Indulging in toys leads to ruin. We’re merely helping Blaze solve a problem—how could this be called ‘snatching’?”

The younger Mobius members froze for a second before breaking into laughter. They all agreed wholeheartedly with Bosson’s words.

This was far more entertaining than watching slaves tear each other apart.

Aya, impatient, asked, “So when do we start? Blaze’s room is hard to access. What about the entry permissions?”

“Why would we need permissions?” Bosson kept smiling. “Why not have the little toy open the door for us?”

On the second day after leaving home, Blaze’s terminal received an alert that the front door password was being cracked.

He couldn’t quite tell if he felt disappointed or something else—his expression just grew colder.

He had repeated it to Shen Yan so many times: Don’t go out. Shen Yan had promised him.

But in the end, he still didn’t keep their agreement.

Just two days, and he couldn’t hold back.

Shen Yan didn’t seem to think of him as a friend.

Blaze wouldn’t be home until at least the day after tomorrow. The work he was doing these two days was critical—he couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake. Even a hint of misplaced emotion could be picked up by his rivals.

He shut off his terminal, modified the settings of his other robots, and stopped receiving reports on Shen Yan’s behavior, focusing entirely on his work.

By Saturday, he stood like a stone statue at the entrance to his bedroom, his entire body rigid as he stared at the violently demolished door and the chaos inside.

The robots he used to monitor Shen Yan lay twisted and broken on the floor, their internal sedatives completely depleted. Black footprints littered the ground, and every single item in the room had been ransacked.

It was clear how crazed the intruders had been.

He felt the world spinning. He gripped the broken wall to steady himself against the sudden dizziness, the veins on the back of his hand bulging viciously.

The imitation stone-like steel of the wall crumpled under his grip, leaving finger-shaped indentations.

Once the sensation finally passed, he straightened his back and stepped into the room.

His bedroom had been torn apart so completely that there was barely a place left to step.

He walked forward, mind racing.

Where was Shen Yan?

Had he, like Blaze’s home, been broken apart and destroyed by those people?

He shouldn’t have been so indulgent.

It had been the same ever since he was a child.

Whenever he showed a clear preference for something that didn’t align with the Mobius family’s aesthetic standards, that thing would mysteriously disappear.

And then, by the next day, it would reappear—bloodied, mangled beyond recognition.

After climbing to his current position, no one could do that to him anymore. So he had started to grow bolder, to want more.

But now, Shen Yan had become a disaster he had brought upon himself.

His eyes burned, yet they remained dry.

Standing in the ruins of his room, a deep, familiar urge rose within him—an impulse to set everything on fire, to burn it all to the ground.

Then, he heard a familiar voice.

“You’re finally back.”

He whipped around.

Shen Yan was clambering in through the window, his shoulder still carrying a frightened-looking Little Blaze.

For a moment, Blaze didn’t react at all. He stood there, staring blankly as Shen Yan walked up to him and gave him a light, casual punch on the shoulder.

“Your siblings are seriously insane. I told them I wasn’t opening the door, and they lost it—bringing out high-tech gear, bombs, lasers, the whole works.”

“Luckily, I’m smart. I just climbed out the window and hung onto the wall until they left, then came back.”

“Oh, right—why didn’t you answer my messages? I thought something had happened to you.”

Blaze stared at him, silent for a long moment.

Then, he suddenly said, “Let’s go.”

Shen Yan blinked. “What?”

“We’re leaving.” he grabbed Shen Yan’s hand, his gaze unwavering.

“Let’s go somewhere that belongs only to us.”