Chapter 4: We’ve Passed the Most Dangerous Stage
Su Wudeng stayed at the shop all night.
The next morning, artificial sunlight filtered through the curtains, brightening the room. It was bright, but it carried absolutely no warmth.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Su Wudeng walked over to the incubator. She had been checking on the kittens around the clock and had barely slept a wink. She expertly lifted the lid to find the four kittens curled up into a tight pile. Their furry little chests rose and fell in a steady rhythm, accompanied by a chorus of soft, rhythmic purring.
“It looks like they’re doing much better.”
Su Wudeng carefully transferred them to the medical examination table to check if they still needed medication. The monitor flashed a reassuring result:
High fever has subsided. Bacterial infection controlled. Mild dehydration and malnutrition. Nutritional supplementation recommended.
A wave of relief washed over Su Wudeng. Thank goodness. The little guys had finally made it through the most dangerous stage.
The cubs began to stretch, letting out faint, milky meows. Su Wudeng looked down to see four pairs of large blue eyes staring up at her in perfect unison. They tilted their little heads simultaneously, a sight so heart-meltingly cute she couldn’t help but gently stroke their soft fur.
Gurgle, gurgle~
Their tiny stomachs growled at the exact same time.
“Hungry already, little pups?”
The kittens scrambled up on shaky legs, doing their best to climb up onto Su Wudeng.
She let out a soft laugh. “Alright, alright. I’ll get your food ready right now.”
She quickly grabbed the milk powder, carefully testing the water temperature. Once it was just right, she poured the powder into the warm water and stirred gently. The rich, fragrant aroma of milk immediately filled the air, making the hungry cubs sniff wildly, their tiny pink noses twitching in the air.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, everyone gets a share.” Smiling, Su Wudeng gently scooped up a pure white kitten.
Its fur was as soft as cotton candy, and its warm little body pressed against her palm, making her heart skip a beat. She sat down, cradled the little fellow on her lap, and began feeding it slowly with a syringe.
The kitten couldn’t wait. It clamped its paws around the syringe and swallowed greedily. Its cheeks puffed out, its sapphire eyes went wide and round, and its tiny paws instinctively kneaded the air.
“Drink slowly, don’t choke,” Su Wudeng coaxed softly, gently stroking its head.
Seeing their sibling enjoying such a delicious feast, the other three kittens cried out in pure anxiety.
“Meow! Meow~”
“Hold on, it’ll be your turn in just a second.” Su Wudeng reached out with her free hand to soothe them.
Before long, the first kitten finished its meal. Su Wudeng patiently fed the remaining three one by one. Each kitten ate with absolute relish until their bellies gradually swelled up, looking like round little balloons.
By the time the last kitten contentedly licked its lips, Su Wudeng realized the entire pouch of milk powder was empty. She gently rubbed their bloated bellies and nodded with satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad at all. You’re all just a bunch of greedy little gluttons.”
Having eaten their fill, the four kittens sprawled lazily across Su Wudeng’s lap. They squinted their eyes, purring contentedly, their little paws twitching every now and then.
Suddenly, the shop’s doorbell chimed.
Su Wudeng looked up to see Coco and Uncle Lan walking in.
“Big sis, how are the kittens?” Coco asked impatiently. The moment she spotted the kittens fast asleep on Su Wudeng’s lap, she instantly slapped her hands over her mouth, lowering her voice to a thrilled whisper. “Wow, they look completely fine!”
Su Wudeng smiled. “They’re doing much better now. Coco, do you want to touch them?”
Coco’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Can I really, big sis?”
Just then, one of the kittens rubbed its eyes and woke up. It looked at Coco and Uncle Lan with curiosity, let out a soft “meow,” and extended a tiny paw toward Coco’s face.
Estatic, Coco carefully reached out a finger and gently tapped the kitten’s paw. “Hello, little cutie.”
As Coco played happily with the kittens, Uncle Lan shook his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “This girl has been clamoring to come over since the crack of dawn. I really couldn’t stop her.”
Despite his words, his gaze had long been glued to the four furry little creatures. Su Wudeng smiled understandingly and didn’t call him out. She would have to be blind not to notice the raw affection in his eyes.
She gently placed the kittens back into the incubator. Coco immediately squatted on the floor, her cheeks flushed with excitement as she tapped her fingers against the glass to interact with them. In her eyes, these little things were the most adorable creatures in the universe. Their fur was snowy white, their eyes were as blue as the sky, and their tiny paws were so soft. They were still a little unsteady on their feet, and the way they bounced around was enough to melt anyone’s heart.
“Big sis, look!” Coco suddenly pointed at one of the kittens, giggling. “It’s chasing its tail!”
Sure enough, one of the kittens was clumsily spinning in circles, trying to catch the tip of its own tail. Another kitten seemed incredibly fascinated by Coco, making the little girl burst into soft giggles.
Right then, a heavy mechanical hum broke the silence.
A massive mechanical dog walked through the shop door. It was Uncle Lan’s mechanical pet.
Uncle Lan turned around, surprised. “War Hound? Why are you here?”
The mechanical dog was clad in silver-gray armor with sharp, aggressive angles. Its red electronic eyes flickered with a cold, artificial light.
Uncle Lan looked at his mechanical dog, then back at the soft, adorable Snow Crystal Cats. A complex surge of emotion hit him. In the past, he had always taken immense pride in owning such a mighty and powerful mechanical pet. The War Hound possessed no messy human emotions—only cold, calculated logic. It could precisely execute complex commands under the most extreme conditions, possessed limitless power, and never grew tired.
But looking at these soft, delicate kittens, a completely different feeling took hold of him. He squatted down, gently stroking the fur of one of the kittens, feeling the genuine warmth radiating against his fingertips.
The kitten was so tiny, soft, and sweet-smelling. It leaned into his hand, letting out a rhythmic, vibrating purr. It had been on the brink of death yesterday, yet today it was playing so happily.
The tiny lives before him were fragile—nowhere near as durable as a mechanical pet—but they had real feelings. They could act spoiled, get angry, and feel sad.
Uncle Lan watched his daughter play and suddenly asked, “Coco, do you think your mechanical Xiaomi is better, or these real ones?”
The question caught Coco off guard. Her small hand froze in mid-air, a trace of confusion flashing through her eyes.
Seeing his daughter’s hesitation, Uncle Lan felt a pang of bitterness. He thought of Coco’s mechanical pet, Xiaomi, the “companion” who had been by her side through countless days and nights. When Xiaomi’s core processor burned out, he thought they just needed to replace the part to fix it.
Instead, the cold customer service representative had told them, “Once the core is replaced, all previous memory data will be permanently lost. If you wish to restore the original Xiaomi, you must purchase a cloud backup package.”
But Uncle Lan wasn’t a naive child like Coco. The price of that so-called “cloud backup” was several times more expensive than buying a brand-new mechanical pet! It was sickeningly clear that those greedy manufacturers were exploiting children’s emotional attachments just to line their pockets.
Coco didn’t seem to notice her father’s shifting emotions. She stared down at the kitten playing behind the glass and whispered, “Dad… I feel like my Xiaomi wasn’t actually a real Xiaomi.”
Uncle Lan looked at his daughter’s clear eyes in surprise. He realized that even a seven-year-old child could tell the difference between what was real and what was artificial.
Coco continued, “These kittens are so soft and warm. They lick my fingers with their tiny tongues and rub their heads against my hands. But my Xiaomi… it never did any of that. Dad, is my Xiaomi just a moving piece of iron?”
Uncle Lan felt a sharp tug at his heartstrings. He squatted down and pulled his daughter into a gentle hug. If Su Wudeng hadn’t shown Coco what a real pet was like, his daughter might have been deceived forever.
Coco buried her face in her father’s chest. “Dad, I used to really love Xiaomi. It would talk to me and play games with me. But now… now I feel like those words were all fake. It feels like someone was hiding behind Xiaomi, talking to me. So, Dad… who was actually talking to me?”
The innocence of her words left both Uncle Lan and Su Wudeng completely speechless.
Meanwhile, at the grocery store next door.
Coco’s mother, Lin Meiling, was looking around in confusion. “Where did those two go?” she muttered to herself. “Disappearing first thing in the morning like that… what are they being so sneaky about?”
Suddenly, a realization hit her. Could they have gone to buy Xiaomi’s cloud backup?
Lin Meiling’s face darkened instantly. She remembered being tricked by the exact same scheme when she was a child. What cloud backup? It was all a scam. The love and affection children projected onto those mechanical pets were nothing but leverage for greedy corporations to exploit, using “emotion” as a tether to make parents willingly part with their money.
“No way!” she gritted her teeth. “I was fooled once when I was a kid. I’m not letting Coco suffer through that same heartbreak!”
This was the exact reason she had steadfastly refused to buy the cloud backup, no matter how much Coco cried.
“Her dad must have caved to her begging and taken her to buy it anyway,” Lin Meiling thought. She needed to stop them. At worst, she would just buy her a different model of mechanical pet.
She walked quickly to the corner of the room and pressed a button. With a mechanical hum, a massive robotic dog stood up, its red electronic eyes blinking into life.
“Go find your master,” Lin Meiling ordered. “Locate him and send me the coordinates.”
The mechanical dog emitted a synthesized electronic bark, turned, and trotted out of the store.
Lin Meiling sat back down on the sofa, unconsciously pulling up an old documentary. On the screen, a furry, living puppy was snuggled deeply in its owner’s arms. It wasn’t a machine; it was a real pet from centuries ago.
“A real pet,” she sighed, a flash of deep nostalgia crossing her eyes. “Such a shame they’re all gone now.”
Just then, her phone buzzed with the coordinates sent by her mechanical dog. She stared at the screen, stunned. “Next door? Wait, isn’t that the pet shop?”
Her expression shifted instantly.
She had felt so sorry for the young girl running the shop next door, thinking her business was so terrible she could barely afford to eat, and had even gone out of her way to help her. Who would have thought she was actually in league with those corporate scam artists!
Fuming, Lin Meiling marched out of her store and stormed toward the pet shop next door. She threw the door open, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Lan Tianwei!”
But the very next second, the scene before her eyes struck her completely dumb.
