Pretending to Be Human, I Fell in Love with an AI - Chapter 11

Yu Dengdeng glanced at the speaker in front of him, then at Yu Ting, who was frowning slightly and clearly disapproving of Little E, before turning his gaze back to the speaker.

Seriously, this AI really doesn’t know how to talk!

“Then, Little E, what kind of name do you like?”

Seeing Dengdeng cough, Yu Ting ignored the possibly factory-defective AI and stood up to pour the child a glass of water, placing it on the table and gesturing for him to take a few sips.

“My name,” Little E replied.

Yu Dengdeng found himself unable to argue. Looking at the glass placed before him, he raised his eyes to Yu Ting and concluded, “Dad, this speaker is just too weird.” Could this be the style Earth likes?

For a brief moment, Yu Ting had wondered if the problem lay with himself, but now he became even more convinced of his second choice. “It might be a factory setting issue.”

“Should we take it to get fixed?” Yu Dengdeng hugged the glass, took a few sips of water, and looked up curiously at Yu Ting. Honestly, he found this strange little speaker quite interesting.

Even though it was stubbornly attached to its own name.

Seeing Dengdeng glance back at the speaker after speaking, Yu Ting shook his head and sighed inwardly. “It’s fine, let it be.” After a moment’s thought, he added, “Being strange is a kind of personality too.”

“Drink a bit more water, then you can play again later.” Yu Ting waited until Dengdeng had finished half the glass before returning to his seat.

Afraid that Little E might “speak out of turn” again, Yu Dengdeng emphasized several times that it should play the latest and most popular children’s songs of the year. Only then did Little E behave more normally.

After listening to a few songs, Yu Dengdeng grew bored again. He glanced at the young man who was now examining a list with downcast eyes, his fair, slender, and well-defined arm visible beneath his short sleeve. With a clever glint in his eyes, he asked, “Little E, do you know what Dad is doing right now?”

Little E replied, “No.”

“Then what are you doing right now?”

“Obviously, chatting with you.”

Yu Ting let out a soft chuckle, his fingers flipping to the next page of the paper as he continued to read.

“Dad, are you laughing at me too?” Yu Dengdeng puffed out his cheeks and turned to look at Yu Ting.

This AI was just too intelligent! He didn’t even feel like he was talking to a machine—it was more like bickering with a real person.

“No,” Yu Ting shook his head. “I was just thinking about something else.”

Little E let out a low, derisive laugh. Due to the electrical current, the sound came through slightly distorted, almost like an imitation of Yu Ting’s laughter. Both Yu Ting and Yu Dengdeng turned to look at the speaker at the same moment.

The AI—or perhaps this unremarkable, TV-like speaker—had just emitted a laugh that seemed to belong to an intelligent being.

Even the robots on Octopus Planet hadn’t developed technology as advanced as Earth’s. Yu Dengdeng was stunned. It sounded just like a real person’s voice—was it really that smart?!

But if he acted too surprised, wouldn’t it seem like he’d never seen something like this before?

After a moment’s thought, Yu Dengdeng calmly remarked, “It sounds like it’s imitating Dad’s voice.”

Yu Ting frowned slightly as he glanced at the now-silent speaker but said nothing.

The morning passed quickly. After checking the list and repairing another car, it was already noon.

Yu Dengdeng had originally been holding onto the speaker, but after playing with it for a while, he squatted down beside Yu Ting, watching his movements with intense focus.

“Curious?” Yu Ting asked, tightening a screw with a wrench.

Yu Dengdeng: “Mm!”

He had never seen machinery that was thousands of years old before!

“Did you used to repair cars here too?”

Yu Ting paused, his black gloves clinging to his hands, making him feel sticky and unsettled. He replied, “Somewhere else.”

“Close to here?” Yu Dengdeng shifted his squatting position again, clearly showing that his curiosity had shifted from the newly acquired smart speaker to his human father.

Yu Ting hesitated. “Not very close.”

Just the distance between two planets, that’s all.

“Then why did you come here?” Yu Dengdeng stared at Yu Ting’s slow, deliberate movements, which seemed as familiar to him as breathing. He looked like a meticulously carved New Year painting doll.

After all, he had overheard the conversation between Cheng Qiang and Yu Ting—it was pure exploitation!

Not to mention the secret that made Cheng Qiang so wary, which he still knew nothing about.

Yu Ting looked up at Dengdeng. The child was genuinely curious, his confusion evident in his eyes as he unconsciously tilted his head.

Yu Ting wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead with his exposed arm, stood up slightly, and pulled over a small stool from the side, gesturing for Yu Dengdeng to sit on it. “Some rather unexpected circumstances.” Like a spaceship crash, for instance.

After all, life is full of surprises.

Unexpected circumstances?

Yu Dengdeng sat on the stool, resting his chin on his hands placed obediently on his knees, wondering if these unexpected circumstances might be related to the secret he had guessed.

Seeing Dengdeng lost in thought, Yu Ting finally finished repairing the car and turned to glance at the clock hanging on the wall.

11:45—time for lunch.

On Darkwater Star, his eating habits had been irregular. As a child, it was because he never knew when his next meal would come. As an adult, he was too busy with military affairs, and nutrient packs were far from delicious, serving only the bare minimum to keep him working.

After coming to Earth, if Cheng Ze hadn’t gone to buy food or if he hadn’t genuinely felt hungry, he wouldn’t have bothered eating.

But now, he wasn’t alone.

Beside him was a human child, only five or six years old, who couldn’t survive on nutrient packs or eat only once every two days. He had to consider the child’s eating habits and actively provide meals.

“What would you like for lunch?” Yu Ting asked, looking at the little human deep in thought.

Time to eat again?

Yu Dengdeng snapped out of his reverie and looked at Yu Ting, who was asking him. Honestly, he wasn’t that hungry.

Back on Octopus Planet, they mainly ate small fish and shrimp, and after one meal a day, they didn’t need to eat again.

But now, he had a human father who ate three meals a day.

And he was no longer a little octopus.

So, the human child looked up and said, “I want yesterday’s Kung Pao chicken!”

Surprised that Dengdeng remembered the name of the dish he had only mentioned once the day before, Yu Ting nodded.

He had originally planned to ask Cheng Ze if he wanted lunch, but the young man, who had stayed up all night and slept for less than a few hours, came downstairs still wearing the same clothes from the night before. He said he was too hungry and had been woken up by hunger.

“Eat before you sleep, or you’ll be too hungry to fall asleep.” Cheng Ze stretched lazily, glancing at Dengdeng, who was sitting on a stool just reaching Yu Ge’s knees. He bent down and reached out, but unexpectedly, the child seemed to know what he was about to do and turned his head away.

“Kid.” Cheng Ze smiled indifferently and looked at Yu Ting. “Brother, one or two servings of Kung Pao chicken?”

“One.”

“Got it.” Cheng Ze turned to the child, who was puffing his cheeks and staring at him. “You like Kung Pao chicken, huh? Wait, I’ll buy it for you in a bit.” The young man jogged out.

“How did he know it was me who likes it?” Yu Dengdeng asked in surprise, seeking help from Yu Ting.

Yu Ting smiled and ruffled the child’s head. Unlike his evasiveness toward Cheng Ze, Dengdeng was quite obedient now.

“When Brother Cheng Ze comes back, you can ask him.”

Yu Dengdeng couldn’t figure it out. Seeing that Yu Ting wouldn’t tell him, he pondered on his own but still hadn’t found the answer by the time Cheng Ze returned.

“Xiao E, do you know why others know I like Kung Pao chicken?” he asked, noticing that Xiao E hadn’t been turned off.

“Xiao E doesn’t know either,” a voice came from the speaker.

“Dad, Xiao E even pretends to be sleepy!” Yu Dengdeng pointed at Xiao E. Although the male voice just now sounded the same as the one in the morning, it felt slightly different, as if it hadn’t slept for a long time and was extremely tired.

Yu Ting glanced over.

“Ding—Shutdown mode activated.”

“Wait, Xiao E! What do you want for lunch?” Yu Dengdeng hurriedly asked, recalling Xiao E’s earlier response. “Batteries again?”

“Electric current.”

“Ding—”

The smart speaker fell silent again.

Yu Dengdeng was stunned. He thought that on Octopus Planet, such a robot would definitely not be popular!

Yu Ting quietly looked at the speaker, which seemed to house the soul of an overly malicious person. His brows furrowed slightly, and the desire to dismantle the speaker increased by another 1,000.

Cheng Ze returned quickly, bringing back two servings of food and placing them on the table. He gestured with his hand near his ear, “I called the boss on the way, so I picked it up as soon as I arrived. Brother Yu, I’ll give you the phone number too. Next time, order like this—it’s super fast.”

He sent the phone number to Yu Ting and looked up to see his brother carefully unpacking the bag, scooping rice into a bowl with a spoon, and handing it to the child beside him.

From start to finish, he was calm, patient, and composed, leaving Cheng Ze in awe.

“Brother Yu, you’re both a dad and a mom,” Cheng Ze sighed, thinking that being single seemed much better.

“Dengdeng is still young,” Yu Ting explained, looking at Dengdeng. “Eat, but be careful—it’s hot.”

“Okay! By the way, how did you know the Kung Pao chicken was for me?” Yu Dengdeng asked, holding his spoon and looking at Cheng Ze.

“What did you call me?”

“…Brother Cheng Ze,” Yu Dengdeng reluctantly replied.

But Cheng Ze responded with unusual enthusiasm. “It’s simple. Your dad isn’t picky, so it must be for you.”

And it was so sweet—definitely something a kid would eat.

Yu Dengdeng suddenly realized—was it really that simple?

Cheng Ze had stayed up all night, and even after breakfast, he was still hungry. He finished his rice bowl in no time. When he looked up, he noticed the strikingly handsome father and son still had more than half of their food left in their bowls.

He even began to wonder if he was a starving ghost reincarnated—could he really eat that fast?

Yu Dengdeng wasn’t particularly hungry. After just a few bites, he already felt full.

But humans seemed to need three meals a day. He stole a glance at Yu Ting and, seeing that Yu Ting hadn’t moved either, felt reassured.

He’d just follow Yu Ting’s lead.

Yu Ting wasn’t hungry either, but seeing how little Yu Dengdeng had eaten worried him. Was the childcare manual he’d been reading in need of an update?

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