TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 103

Lin Mingfei often wondered whether Xia Tong’s innocent cluelessness was a good thing or a bad thing. It might cause plenty of obstacles in his interactions with others, but it also spared him from quite a few troubles.

Holding the little Omega’s wrist, he kneaded it gently—not too hard, not too light—warming the ointment as it melted into the skin, and asked softly, “Does it still hurt?”

“It’s much better,” Xia Tong said.

“Then I’m relieved,” Lin Mingfei replied. “If you’re ever alone at the base again, don’t open the door for strangers, okay?”

“Mm.”

“We all have keycards, so normally no one would need you to open the door.”

“Mm.”

“So—”

“Then can you stop leaving me alone at the base so casually?!” Xia Tong cut him off, launching a serious accusation first.

Lin Mingfei froze on the spot, completely caught off guard. It took him a while before he managed a soft, “Ah.”

“What do you mean ‘ah’?!” Xia Tong leaned forward, moving closer to him. His delicate brows lifted easily, and his soft pink lips puffed out in displeasure. “You have no idea how bored I get staying at the base alone when you’re out. Can you really bear to let me be that bored?!”

Flustered, Lin Mingfei raised a hand to rub his nose, his ears turning red from being teased. In a low voice, the Alpha said, “My fault. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“As long as it won’t happen again!” Xia Tong brightened up instantly, clapping his hands. Then he seemed to remember something. “Oh right—you went out to buy me milk tea, didn’t you? Where is it?”

Lin Mingfei: “!”

Oh right… he got a call from Shi Ya halfway through and rushed back in a panic. As for the milk tea—

“Well… I thought about it later. Drinking milk tea at night isn’t good for your teeth, and it can affect your sleep,” Lin Mingfei coughed guiltily, putting on a serious, lecturing tone.

“Ah…” Xia Tong looked disappointed. “I thought you sensed I was in danger and rushed back specially to save me.”

Lin Mingfei: “!!!”

“Well… you’re not wrong, I did come back because I was worried about you—” He opened his mouth, trying to defend himself a bit more, but Xia Tong had already stood up with a wronged expression.

“You don’t have to explain. I’m not blaming you. I’m going back to sleep now. Good night.” The little Omega forced a smile, then trudged back to the bedroom, dejected.

Lin Mingfei stood there in a daze for a moment, then smacked his own face.

Damn it—how did he manage to perfectly avoid the right answer?!

—

With a heavy heart, Lin Mingfei returned to his bedroom. After a quick wash, he received follow-up calls from Shi Ya and He Youjin one after the other.

After briefly explaining everything that had happened that night, Shi Ya angrily tore Ping Shuai apart over the phone, while He Youjin remained composed, carefully thinking things through and saying he’d come by tomorrow to check Xia Tong’s injuries, then go through the regulations and settle accounts with Ping Shuai one by one.

After the calls, Lin Mingfei lay in bed staring at the ceiling for a long time, wide awake. Xia Tong’s disappointed figure lingered in his mind, like a tiny thorn stuck in his chest, causing a dull ache.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt incredibly foolish in this regard. Finally, he flipped over, sat up, and walked out of his room.

As if on autopilot, he went straight to Xia Tong’s bedroom door. A faint sliver of light leaked out from the crack.

He’s not asleep yet?

Lin Mingfei hesitated. Rationally, he knew this wasn’t appropriate, but he still leaned in, pressing his ear against the door to listen carefully.

With his sharp hearing and no one else in the base, the place was silent. Through the thick door, he could faintly make out intermittent sobbing.

“Debon… sob…”

Debon?

Lin Mingfei paused, then realized.

Right… that black-hearted AI that couldn’t even speak properly had been kicked to pieces by Ping Shuai earlier.

That was Xia Tong’s only companion growing up—his one and only good friend. Left broken like that for so long without anyone fixing it… how could Xia Tong not be upset?

Lin Mingfei sighed inwardly and raised his hand to knock lightly.

Knock knock.

A moment later, the door opened. The little Omega stood there, clutching half of a pink robot in his arms. His eyes were swollen from crying like little peaches, instantly tugging at Lin Mingfei’s heart.

“Gege…” Xia Tong sniffed hard, then burst into tears. “Debon died!! Waaaah!!”

“D-died?”

Before he could finish speaking, Xia Tong threw himself into his arms, wrapping around his waist and smearing tears and snot all over his clothes.

“Debon won’t talk anymore, no matter how I call him he won’t respond, charging him doesn’t work either, waaah…”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry yet.” Lin Mingfei gently pressed the back of his head with his palm, patting him softly. “Let me come in first, and we’ll figure something out slowly, okay? There’s always a way.”

Like grabbing onto a lifeline, Xia Tong clung tightly to him. Hearing that, he lifted his face and nodded vigorously. “Okay, gege, you have to help me think of something, waaah!”

Lin Mingfei couldn’t help but smile. He thought to himself, what’s the big deal? At worst, they could just send Debon back to the flagship store for repairs. That overpriced membership card he bought hadn’t even been used yet.

Though… this did give him a reasonable excuse to enter Xia Tong’s room.

Calmly, Lin Mingfei nudged the little Omega’s shoulder and slipped inside.

Xia Tong’s flannel mattress was scattered with a pile of parts—clearly all pieces of Debon. Lin Mingfei vaguely remembered that when he left earlier, Debon hadn’t been dismantled like this… how had it turned into such a state in such a short time?

Xia Tong quickly explained through his sobs.

“I tried to put Debon back together, but the more I assembled it, the more wrong it got… and it just ended up like this, waaah! It’s all my fault Debon turned out like this, waaah!!”

Lin Mingfei looked at the bed full of “Debon” parts, listened to the little Omega’s heartfelt, sorrowful sobbing, and somehow found himself genuinely starting to sympathize with Debon.

“Big brother, aren’t you good at everything…? Can you help me bring Debon back to life?” The little Omega clutched Lin Mingfei’s arm and shook it hard, pleading pitifully.

Lin Mingfei: “Hmm…”

It wasn’t impossible. After all, as a gaming addict who had spent years playing around with electronics, he understood a bit about how these devices worked. If something broke or needed assembling according to a manual, he could usually handle it. But staying up in the middle of the night, exhausting himself to piece together this artificial idiot that couldn’t even speak properly—wasn’t that a bit too much?

Lin Mingfei wavered internally.

Xia Tong kept wailing beside him, “Big brother, please save Debon! I’m begging you QAQ!! I can’t live without Debon QAQ!!”

He’s begging me like this… who could resist that? Lin Mingfei sighed inwardly in defeat.

“Alright, I’ll give it a try,” he said.

Xia Tong was overjoyed. “Thank you, big brother!! You’re the best, sob sob!” he said while wiping his tears.

Lin Mingfei clicked his tongue and sat on the bed with Xia Tong. He sorted the parts by shape, then casually looked up an AI assembly tutorial on his phone and started repairing Debon.

Xia Tong watched closely, barely daring to breathe, afraid of interfering and ruining any chance of saving Debon.

But to Lin Mingfei, the assembly wasn’t difficult. It was an older modular design—once he connected a few key components, the current flowed, and small lights began blinking.

He screwed on the outer parts and discovered the main issue: a cracked chip at one of the connections. After thinking for a moment, he went back to his room, dug out an old unused phone, dismantled it, removed a similar chip, and replaced Debon’s broken one.

That took care of most of the repair. All that remained was reassembling Debon’s flashy pink outer shell.

Debon had a round head and round limbs; all the shell pieces looked similar—pink everywhere. By now it was past 3 a.m., and Lin Mingfei yawned, truly feeling sleepy.

Still, because of Xia Tong’s expectations, he forced himself to speed up and finish reassembling Debon. Seeing the round-headed robot restored, Xia Tong was ecstatic. “Big brother!! How are you so amazing!! Ahhh my Debon is back!!” He dragged over a power strip and eagerly plugged Debon in.

Lin Mingfei’s eyelids were drooping. He collapsed onto Xia Tong’s bed and muttered, “Check if it can still talk. It should be fine.”

“Okay!” Xia Tong shouted excitedly. “Debon! Debon, can you hear me? It’s Xia Tong! If you can hear me, blink your eyes!”

Lin Mingfei turned over onto his side, propping his head up with one hand.

The pink robot’s LED light didn’t light up where it was supposed to.

Xia Tong’s smile gradually faded.

“Debon! Wake up!” he cried anxiously. “Why aren’t you opening your eyes?! Debon!!”

After a pause, the little robot finally responded with a creaky “gaga” sound.

“I’m here, Xia Tong.”

Xia Tong let out a long “Huh?” tilted his head, then lay down with his face near the bed, staring at the LED light blinking between the robot’s lower wheels. “Debon! Why are your eyes down there?!”

The robot looked like it was talking upside down, its voice flat and lifeless.

“Because you installed my head and butt backwards.”

Xia Tong’s eyes widened. Completely confused, he turned to look at Lin Mingfei.

The Alpha lay there lazily, half-lidded, sounding utterly unsurprised. “Yeah, I know.” After a pause, he added shamelessly, “I did it on purpose.”

Author’s note: Debon: I have something to say—MMP—

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