QT: The Host is Listless

1.3

There indeed was a public AI cleaner outside, sweeping the leaves on the sidewalk pavement cleanly. Technological advancement was more backward than he remembered, Shen Yi looked amused. What world was this world created in? As he remembered, these are all worlds formed by the emotion and investment of different pieces of creative writing. So, in what kind of world was this world formed from?

Was it a world created by an author that was imagining the future? Or a world that was formed by an author who doesn't know too much about history. Feeling more interested now, Shen Yi hummed as a reply to Shiba and then shook his head.

"No. It's not that smart of artificial intelligence, even if you communicate with it, the robot will only provide you with programmed responses."

Shen Yi closed his eyes after that, so he didn't see the stunned look on Shiba. Shiba looked a bit startled, host actually spoke so much? Was his Host finally enlightened? Maybe Host was finally going to do more work! Great, now he can relax. (Silly kid.)

As the van turned into the driveway of their flat, Lan Xing reached out to wake her brother up. Just as her hand was about to touch him, the cold eyes of her brother stared back at her. For a second there, Lan Xing couldn't breathe. She froze in the drive way as if she was being looked down upon by an otherworldly, superior being. Then, she snapped out of it. What otherworldly, superior being. This was her brother, the same kid who used to cry over falling off his bed!

"Ming'er, have you fully awakened?" Lan Xing asked. Flashing a hand sign at the security guard who nodded back at her, she turned back to him and smiled. "We've arrived."

Shen Yi closed his eyes for a second, when he opened them again it was the same languid gaze once more. He looked out at the scenery around him and let out an emotionless, "Oh."

"Come on, let's go, it's been such a long time since you came home!" Lan Xing cheered. Shen Yi looked at the girl who was attentively taking care of him and his eyes softened. Well, this was a sister who essentially gave everything for her brother, after all.

"Your room is still not painted, remember you said you wanted to colour it bright purple! And then changed your mind for pastel green, you used to be really indecisive over the colours for your room," Lan Xing faltered. "But it's been almost six years, I'm not sure if you still remember... Haha, anyway, what do you want for lunch? I have some chicken breast at home and rice. Do you want ginger scallion chicken rice*? I can make some."

Shen Yi let her babble, following after her slowly as she talked her way through the entire journey up to their house. Only when they arrived in front of the door with the number A4-08, did she stop talking, fishing out the keys. Shen Yi walked in with her and blinked, the house was very clean and modernised. There wasn't television but there were two large desktop monitors in one corner along with a long table for them to sit on.

Clearly, this was supposed to be a place for the siblings to sit in. Shen Yi took a seat on the small couch and blinked at the cold air which suddenly hit his face. He looked up and the air-conditioning above was switched on. Lan Xing grinned at him when he gazed at her in curiosity.

"Nice, right? I installed it not too long ago! Since I do work often, I just end up sleeping here almost every day," Lan Xing talked.

The female lead was incredibly talkative, Shen Yi understood this. Give her a topic and she could run with it for hours, don't give her a topic and she could still run with it for hours. A talent, something not everyone can do. You can talk, but can you keep talking without repeating your words and rendering yourself speechless after hours of talking? Shen Yi couldn't, he'd get bored of hearing himself talk. He'd rather sleep, really.

"Where do I sleep?" Shen Yi asked. Sleep was important, therefore the place he slept in was important too.

Lan Xing rolled her eyes, this brother of hers seem to be turning into a complete lazy bum who did nothing but sleep! Ridiculous. Well, whatever, so long he's happy. He's her only family left in this world, after all. Lan Xing walked over to the couch and sat down beside him, she reached for the button by the side and the couch slowly unfolded itself and turned into a bed.

"With me, we can just sleep together," Lan Xing grinned.

Shen Yi shrugged, "Sure, but if you kick in your sleep, I'll kick you off the bed."

"...Are you really my biological brother?"

.

That night, when Lan Xing was sound asleep beside him and Shiba curled up quietly on his lap, Shen Yi was wide awake. His eyes fixed on the laptop screen which shone like a beam in the pitched black darkness of the room. His fingers tapped against the table by the couch soundlessly, lips thinned. On the laptop screen, it can be seen that the familiar interface of a social media platform is displayed.

He scrolled through the site, eyes reading through each and every comment. On the same screen, minimized in the corner, was a data screen that was rapidly typing itself out. At first glance, it appeared undecipherable to the ordinary. But those who studied would know that this was a program developed through the study of a way to mimic the algorithm of the network and manipulate it to a certain extent.

Shen Yi drummed his fingers against his thigh rhythmically, his mind going through different things before closing his eyes. A satisfied smirk made its way onto his lips, fingers typing on his keyboard to finish up his job for the night. Another hour later, the computer screen began to shut down and Shen Yi tucked himself back into sleep.

Job over, time to laze around again for another two to three days.

"Host!"

Fuck. Shen Yi pried open his eyes with immense difficulty, looking down at his system with an expression filled with dissatisfaction. Can this kid not call for him every time just as he was about to conk out? Seriously. It's not like he's going anywhere for the next four years. Sighing, Shen Yi asked. "What is it?"

"I just checked the internet, it seems like the situation isn't as bad as the plot makes it out to be! Sure enough, authors like to exaggerate," Shiba reported enthusiastically. "Maybe it'll be really easy to whitewash the female lead, after all! Host, you're so smart. We really don't need to do anything!"

... Shen Yi, who has been working for the past few hours on the situation, closed his eyes and pretended to not know this system.