Pretending to Be Human, I Fell in Love with an AI - Chapter 12

Time on Earth passed so slowly. After finishing his meal and putting Dengdeng to sleep, Yu Ting sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at his hands, which had just been soaked and rinsed under running water, palms facing upward.

The skin on his hands was thin, with veins pulsing visibly beneath the surface like two streaks of red stained by rose juice for a long time.

Over that redness lay thin calluses, and when his fingers brushed against them, it felt like rubbing against an uneven surface.

Yu Ting lowered his gaze, studying his hands intently. These hands, which had never paused for a moment on Darkwater Star to be examined, turned out to look like this.

Beside him, the child’s breathing was soft, but to his ears, it was heavy and steady, like the rhythmic, reassuring tolling of a temple bell, one after another. It suddenly made him come to a decision.

Although Cheng Ze was also a member of the shop, having just reached adulthood and barely stepping into society, he knew nothing about auto repair.

Yu Ting never assigned him particularly heavy tasks, mostly just having him organize parts.

Having just finished sorting three boxes and planning to go back to sleep, Cheng Ze went upstairs and happened to see Yu Ting closing the door with the utmost care.

Knowing Dengdeng was likely asleep, he lowered his voice. “Brother Yu, are you going back to work? You just finished eating—take a break.”

Cheng Ze, who neither understood nor sympathized with the culture of overwork, always suspected that Cheng Qiang had some kind of hold over Brother Yu, or perhaps Yu Ting had invested in this small auto repair shop to be so dedicated.

Yu Ting looked at the young man frozen mid-step on the stairs. “No. Could you watch Dengdeng for me for a while? I’ll be back soon.”

Cheng Ze nodded instinctively, watching Yu Ting’s tall, straight figure gradually recede into the distance. Only then did his stunned thoughts slowly return to him. Remembering a familiar suspicion, he suddenly took two steps forward, about to call out “Brother Yu,” but swallowed the words back down.

Forget it. Brother Yu probably knows what he’s doing.

…

There weren’t many people on the road in the afternoon. It was Saturday, and the supermarket owner’s grandson, on vacation, was sitting beside a recliner scrolling through Douyin, the volume so loud that Yu Ting glanced at him.

The boy was physically more mature for his age, a few years older than Dengdeng.

Thanks to his unapproachable demeanor and his widely known mental state, Yu Ting made it to the landfill without any trouble.

He stood at the entrance of the landfill.

It was called a landfill, but it was just a space enclosed by black railings, trapping bags of various-colored plastic bags inside, like a giant source of pollution constantly emitting foul odors.

The rain from the past few days did nothing to mask the smell of the garbage; if anything, it helped ferment it.

His tall figure stood against the backdrop of the garbage, like a scene on the verge of destruction.

If he couldn’t find the box today, the hope of returning home was almost nonexistent.

Yu Ting sighed softly and walked in, searching the spot where he had fallen and the areas he had combed through countless times before. As expected, there was nothing.

He hadn’t held out much hope to begin with, especially since there were people waiting for him at home.

After checking the last possible location, Yu Ting tossed aside the wooden stick he was holding. He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when he felt a slight sensation under his foot. It was the feel of something metallic, like silt trapped inside a clam—tiny yet impossible to ignore.

He paused for two seconds before looking down.

This garbage dump wasn’t built the day after tomorrow—it had naturally become a dumping ground over time. As such, it wasn’t paved with concrete but was instead a patch of natural soil that easily trapped filth after rain.

He lifted his foot. The piece of silver metal was buried in the yellow earth, its sharp corner glinting and reflecting Yu Ting’s face. It was a fragment of the spacecraft he had lived with for years—Yu Ting recognized it at first glance.

He let out a somewhat mocking laugh, bent down to pick up the fragment, but didn’t search further. Instead, he left the dump directly.

On his way back, he sent a text to Cheng Ze, but there was no reply. Just as Yu Ting tucked the fragment into his pocket, Cheng Ze called.

“Brother Yu, come to Huimin Supermarket quickly! Dengdeng got into a fight with another kid!” The panicked voice of a young man came through the phone.

Yu Ting hung up and swiftly ran toward the location Cheng Ze had mentioned.

…

Yu Dengdeng was half-crouched in Cheng Ze’s arms, glaring fiercely at the chubby boy still crying in front of him.

Though it looked like an embrace, Cheng Ze was actually restraining Dengdeng to prevent him from taking further action.

Cheng Ze never expected a child who had just turned five or six and had only recovered from a fever yesterday could knock a ten-year-old chubby boy to the ground. When he had picked Dengdeng up earlier, he had almost failed to hold him.

“Where’s Yu Ting? Call his father over right now! How could anyone hit a child like this? What if our Cong Cong gets hurt?” Li Jinhua sat on the ground, holding her grandson and wailing, while clutching his arm—though there wasn’t a single mark on it.

Startled by his grandmother’s earth-shaking cries, the little boy stopped crying and stared at her in astonishment.

Seeing the child across from her still glaring fiercely, Li Jinhua grew even angrier. “I always said someone with a mental illness shouldn’t raise a child! Who knows if the kid’s mind is even normal?”

Cheng Ze, who had been comforting Dengdeng with “It’s okay, it’s okay,” immediately turned to look at the still-wailing Li Jinhua, his face filled with impatience.

“Old lady, that’s enough. Don’t you know what your grandson just said? Do we really have to wait for Brother Yu to come and settle this?”

Yu Ting.

Hearing the name, Li Jinhua instinctively recalled the image of the young man—coldly watching everyone.

Having run this supermarket for so many years and met countless people, Yu Ting was the first person who made her instinctively feel danger. She mumbled something under her breath.

So what?! Even if her grandson had called him a lunatic to Yu Ting’s son’s face, wasn’t it true?

Her grandson was just telling the truth. If Yu Ting was a lunatic, how could his son’s mind be any better?

She looked at the child in Cheng Ze’s arms and, mustering her courage, raised her voice. “Let him come! Can he kill me when he gets here?”

“Is that so?” The voice carried a hint of questioning but silenced everyone present. They all turned to look at the young man walking in.

The weather was hot. The young man wore a short-sleeved shirt and leaned against the wall, his gaze sweeping over them.

“Brother Yu.” Though an adult, Cheng Ze had never seen such a scene before. He breathed a sigh of relief as if seeing a savior and let go of Dengdeng’s hand.

Yu Dengdeng looked at Yu Ting, his human father. His lips twitched slightly, his pitch-black eyes unblinking. His voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, carrying an indescribable sense of grievance. “Dad.”

Yu Ting quickly walked over and crouched down in front of Dengdeng, checking the child’s body. Only after confirming there were no injuries did he let out a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?”

He gently ruffled the child’s hair.

Dengdeng truly wanted to nod, but feeling the warmth on his head and seeing the concerned eyes looking at him, he opened his mouth only to feel tears welling up uncontrollably.

He was an octopus, not a human—how could he cry? Yu Dengdeng thought to himself, yet the tears flowed even more freely.

Cheng Ze stood awkwardly to the side. When Dengdeng hadn’t cried earlier, he had assumed the child was fine. Who would have thought that now, in Yu Ge’s arms, Dengdeng was nearly sobbing like a fountain?

Yu Ting’s hand clenched tightly, the veins beneath his skin visibly bulging, yet his touch on Dengdeng’s face remained incredibly gentle.

He thought to himself, even on the day he found Dengdeng, the child hadn’t cried.

“Tell Dad what happened?” Yu Ting leaned close to the child’s ear, his voice much softer than usual, even carrying a hint of feigned calm.

Upon hearing Yu Ting’s question, Li Jinhua tugged at her grandson’s arm and glared at Yu Ting’s back. “Look, just look! Yu Ting, your son pushed my grandson over! How did you raise him?”

Yu Ting paused in wiping away the tears and stood up, turning to face the blustering woman before him. His gaze shifted to the boy beside Li Jinhua. “Can you tell me why he pushed you?”

Yu Ting was tall, and his mere presence naturally carried an air of intimidation.

Was this Yu Dengdeng’s father?

The boy widened his eyes, cautiously looking up at Yu Ting. So tall, he thought to himself, but what came out of his mouth was something entirely different: “He doesn’t look like a lunatic.”

Hearing the boy’s voice, unusually loud in the quiet surroundings, Li Jinhua instinctively tightened her grip on the warm skin in her hand.

“Grandma, why are you pinching me? It hurts!” the boy cried out dramatically.

Cheng Ze, who had been holding his breath nearby, stared at Yu Ting’s back, half-expecting him to lash out. Instead, he heard Yu Ting let out a soft, mocking laugh. “You think I have mental problems?”

The young man’s lips curved slightly, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his face as his eyes locked onto the two before him.

“My grandma said so,” the boy blurted out tearfully. “I just said it to him once—why did he have to push me?”

His grandma had said Yu Dengdeng was the child of a lunatic—what was wrong with saying it once?

Yu Ting nodded casually, his gaze shifting to the other person.

Though he didn’t seem angry, the atmosphere felt more severe than if he were. Li Jinhua, who had always been successful in dealing with others, suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

It wasn’t her who started it, after all. She had only repeated what others said. If anyone was to blame, it should be them.

Li Jinhua quickly forced a friendly smile. “Don’t take what children say seriously.”

“What children say may not be taken seriously…” Yu Ting glanced around the supermarket, his voice rising lightly as if merely asking a question. “But did you know that mentally ill people aren’t held legally responsible for breaking things?”

“Don’t!” Whether Yu Ting had mental problems or not, Li Jinhua didn’t know. But now, she could sense that his words weren’t empty threats.

She hurriedly patted her grandson. “Quick! Apologize to Uncle. Don’t ever say such things again!”

“Grandma?” The boy looked up in disbelief, surprised by his usually unyielding grandmother’s sudden one-eighty-degree change in attitude. “Why?!”

“Hurry up! Be good!” Li Jinhua urged anxiously. “Don’t ever say things like that again.”

Yu Ting added, “Yes, if you keep talking like that, someone else will have to teach you a lesson. Someone like me.”

The young man’s voice carried a light, almost amused tone, yet it sent a chill creeping up from the feet of both Li Jinhua and Cheng Ze.

They could tell he wasn’t joking.

Though reluctant and dragged by his grandmother, the boy eventually walked over and muttered, “Sorry.”

“Not to me,” Yu Ting said, stepping aside to reveal Dengdeng. “Say it to Dengdeng.”

He crouched down, pointed at himself, and tilted his head slightly. “Kid, if you say I have mental problems to my face, I won’t blame you. But you shouldn’t insult other kids’ parents in front of them. Right?”

“R-right… Waaah… I’m… I’m sorry.”

Li Jinhua watched her grandson’s pitiful display, her face alternating between pale and flushed. Knowing she was in the wrong, she said nothing and hurriedly pulled the child back.

Yu Ting wiped Dengdeng’s tears and looked at the boy, who had calmed down considerably.

Unlike the others, Dengdeng didn’t find Yu Ting frightening at all.

Staring at Yu Ting’s concerned eyes and the man who had suddenly connected with his surroundings, Dengdeng felt as though his father had finally landed on solid ground.

It was a strange feeling—like his father had become more human. But his father was already human, wasn’t he?

“Do you forgive him?” Yu Ting asked.

Yu Dengdeng shook his head and looked at the boy who had just said, “Your dad is a psycho” and “Your dad has mental problems.” His voice carried a hint of apology. “I shouldn’t have pushed you earlier.”

Then he added, “But if you say that again, I’ll hit you.”

Yu Ting was taken aback. The shard in his pocket pressed uncomfortably against him, reminding him that this was the first time someone had ever stood up to protect him.

He took Dengdeng’s hand and walked a few steps away before stopping to glance at Cheng Ze, who was still standing there dazed. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Huh?! Yeah, coming right away.” Cheng Ze snapped out of it and hurried after them.

“Brother Yu, sorry about earlier. I just wanted to buy some water, so I brought Dengdeng out. I didn’t expect something like this to happen.”

Seeing Yu Ting’s silence, Cheng Ze scratched his head apologetically. He had just grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and looked up to find the two kids shoving each other.

“I wanted to find Dad,” Yu Dengdeng explained softly. After waking up and finding only Cheng Ze beside him, he had begged Cheng Ze to take him to Yu Ting.

He hadn’t expected to overhear the chubby kid in the supermarket insulting Yu Ting, saying he had mental problems. Dengdeng didn’t catch the rest of the words, but the tone certainly wasn’t friendly.

He looked up at Yu Ting, whose brows were slightly furrowed. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

Now that he thought about it, Cheng Qiang’s wary expression and those rumors—this was the truth behind them. How absurd.

No, he thought, it wasn’t at all like what they were spreading.

Cheng Ze looked at Dengdeng’s earnest face and held back his words. He was just glad he hadn’t told Dengdeng where Brother Yu had gone.

Still, he didn’t think Brother Yu was as outrageous as they made him out to be. But people don’t care about the truth—they only want to hear rumors that entertain them.

“It was my fault. Next time, I won’t go out without telling you,” Yu Ting emphasized, tightening his grip on Dengdeng’s hand. “But Dengdeng is stronger than I imagined.”

That kid looked like he was one and a half times Dengdeng’s size, yet he could still be pushed over.

Yu Dengdeng thought to himself that back on Octopus Planet, he used to play games by wrapping his tentacles around hundred-pound objects and tossing them around—this was nothing.

Besides.

“I was just too angry at the time.”

Yu Ting had wanted to say “it wasn’t worth it,” but he swallowed the words.

It might not have been worth it to him, but in a child’s heart, it must have felt incredibly important.

He ruffled the child’s hair. “Wait a moment, I need to throw something away.”

So Dengdeng only watched as Yu Ting pulled something from his pocket—an object that glinted briefly in the sunlight, its shape unclear—and tossed it into the trash bin.

“Dad?”

“Hmm, let’s go back.” Yu Ting turned and took the child’s hand, walking toward the setting sun.

…

As evening approached, Cheng Qiang surprisingly returned home, bringing a business opportunity with him. It was urgent, though, requiring Yu Ting to work overtime that very day.

After giving his instructions, Cheng Qiang went back out to play mahjong.

Having been caught slacking off by Cheng Qiang and scolded a few times, Cheng Ze stood nearby handing parts to Yu Ting, watching the young man lying on his back under the car, focused intently on the repairs.

He was nothing like he had been that afternoon, Cheng Ze thought inexplicably.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Ting called for the wrench twice, but Cheng Ze hadn’t handed it over, so he glanced over.

“Brother Yu, Dengdeng is really well-behaved, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What if Dengdeng’s parents come looking for him?”

“It’ll depend on Dengdeng’s wishes.”

“What about you…?” Cheng Ze handed the wrench to Yu Ting but still didn’t ask the question.

He still didn’t believe Yu Ting was the person others described.

“Brother, do you really not have to pay for breaking things?” Remembering what Yu Ting had said, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity and blurted it out.

Yu Ting raised an eyebrow. “Do pies fall from the sky?”

Cheng Ze: …

Upstairs, the air conditioner hummed steadily, set to a temperature that was neither too cold nor too hot.

Yu Dengdeng lay on the bed, propping his chin with both hands. His eyes, red from crying that afternoon, had mostly recovered. Beside his pillow sat a speaker, playing back the events of the day.

Even though he knew Xiao E might not respond, Dengdeng still asked, “Xiao E, do you think Dad was angry?”

Just as he thought Xiao E wouldn’t answer, a voice came from the speaker. “No, your dad loves you very much.”

Dengdeng let out a soft hum. Of course, he does.

But then he heard Xiao E’s brief chuckle. “Though your dad is pretty crazy.”

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