Chapter 9: The Peculiarities of a High-Performance Android

“Master.”

It seemed that with her full activation, Lidoa’s voice had gained a remarkable fluidity.

“Huh? Me?”

Cheng Lan, a look of utter confusion on his face, pointed a finger at himself.

The silver-haired girl offered a slight nod.

“Why do you address me as such?”

“According to the log report uploaded by the system, Master, you were the one who awakened me using the highest-level authorization key. As per system directives, Master possesses supreme administrative authority over me. Therefore, ‘Master’ is the appellation that most accurately reflects your status.”

‘Good heavens!’

‘What in the world is this?’

‘Could it be that the mysterious string of numbers Lidoa had constantly muttered to him in his previous life was, in fact, her supreme authorization key?’

‘Wait, weren’t we supposed to be arch-nemeses?’

‘And you just casually spoke of something so crucial to you, day in and day out, right to my face?’

Cheng Lan’s head throbbed, leaving him utterly bewildered and unable to comprehend the situation.

“Hold on! Just give me a moment to collect myself.”

He vigorously massaged his temples.

Lidoa remained seated obediently on the bed, waiting in silent patience.

Cheng Lan’s gaze fell upon the silver-haired girl, still unclothed and vulnerable, and he sighed with a profound sense of helplessness before offering her the garments.

“Do you know how to dress yourself? It’s fine if you don’t; just look it up online. Connect to this Wi-Fi network.”

Cheng Lan pulled out his phone, gesturing towards his home’s network name.

“As for the password… never mind, you can probably crack it yourself. Once you’re dressed, come find me.”

He spoke as he exited the room, gently pulling the door shut behind him.

Reaching the living room, he retrieved a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, taking two long, “glug-glug” gulps.

The icy effervescence surged down his throat and into his stomach, bringing a measure of calm to his agitated mind.

Subsequently, he sank onto the sofa, his mind immediately consumed by a profound contemplation.

‘Where exactly had things gone awry?’

Lidoa—his second most formidable arch-nemesis.

She was the sole android in the “Mecha World”, capable of perfectly mimicking a human if she so desired, to the extent that Blue Star’s current technological capabilities would be utterly incapable of discerning any deception.

In his previous life, the two had first encountered each other in the “Mecha World” during a fierce battle over a rare weapon.

Subsequently, Lidoa found herself cornered and gravely wounded by a large organization on Blue Star, left clinging to life.

It was Cheng Lan, acting alone and risking his own life, who had intervened just in time to spirit her away to safety.

Following that, he had dedicated an immense amount of time and effort to meticulously repair her, restoring her to her former state.

Yet, this girl had then stubbornly latched onto him, refusing to depart, under the pretext of, “I intend to use you as a template to observe and assimilate human behaviors and emotions.”

Ultimately, just as Cheng Lan was on the verge of taking his final step on the Stairway to Godhood, she, in concert with several other arch-nemeses, had conspired to drag him down from its summit.

Cheng Lan reflected on his impressive maneuvers from his previous life, and even after meticulously replaying every past event in his mind, he still couldn’t fathom why Lidoa would have entrusted him with her authorization key.

“Ta-da~!”

A cheerful voice, light and bright, drifted from the bedroom, abruptly shattering his reverie.

Lidoa, now clad in a freshly changed white sailor-style dress, bounded out of the bedroom with an air of buoyant delight.

Her pristine, snow-white feet tapped delicately on the floorboards, and then she executed a graceful pirouette.

The hem of her skirt swirled gleefully with her movements, offering a fleeting glimpse of pure white beneath.

“Master! How is it?! How is it?! Do I look pretty like this?!” she queried, her face alight with eager anticipation.

Having successfully connected to the network, the android girl, who had previously seemed a touch stiff and robotic, now exuded a remarkable “humanity.”

“It’s certainly beautiful, but how to put it… it truly is worthy of my discerning taste.”

Cheng Lan observed his meticulously chosen attire fitting Lidoa perfectly, and a satisfied nod graced his features.

“However…”

He paused, his eyes slowly drifting downwards. “Why aren’t you wearing any socks?”

Lidoa delicately tapped a fingertip against her lips, adopting a pensive expression. “According to the video surveillance report provided by the system, Master, upon our initial encounter, your gaze rested on my face for 4.17 seconds; on my body for 3.12 seconds; on my legs for 2.64 seconds; yet, it lingered on my feet for an exceptional 5.92 seconds.”

“From this, I can conclusively infer—”

She suddenly extended a finger, pointing it directly at Cheng Lan.

“Master, you have a foot fetish!”

“I am not! I do not! Don’t spout such nonsense!”

Cheng Lan frantically waved his hands, delivering a rapid-fire triple denial.

“But Master, your gaze is still constantly drawn to my feet, isn’t it~?”

“I instructed you to connect to the internet to acquire practical life skills! Why are you absorbing all this utterly inappropriate information at such an alarming speed?!”

He exclaimed, a hint of panic in his voice.

Lidoa, in stark contrast, placed her hands on her hips and proudly tilted her small face upwards. “After all, I am a high-performance model, am I not~!”

“Stop! That statement cuts deep , you are forbidden from uttering it again!”

“Understood!”

She nodded demurely, a sweet, radiant smile gracing her features.

“Then, Master, would you prefer that I go back and put on socks?”

Upon hearing her question, Cheng Lan’s gaze involuntarily drifted downwards once more—the girl’s toes, as smooth and perfectly formed as pearls, were delicately curling.

‘She was absolutely doing this on purpose!’

“Ahem!”

He cleared his throat, forcefully redirecting the conversation. “Just leave it. By the way, have you finished adjusting your body’s density?”

“Report! Adjustment complete!”

“In that case, come sit beside me.”

“Yay!”

Lidoa instantly flung herself beside Cheng Lan, embracing one of his arms and rubbing against him with affectionate familiarity.

“I told you to sit *beside* me, not to *cling* to me,” he stated, utterly speechless.

“But Master,” she countered, blinking innocently, “based on the data I’ve compiled from the internet, aren’t boys in your age bracket most eager for a beautiful girl to affectionately cling to them?”

“I am not like them!”

Lidoa’s gaze subtly shifted lower.

“Physiological responses do not count!”

Cheng Lan was instantly rendered speechless, suddenly recalling that in his previous life, he had never once triumphed over this high-performance android in a debate.

He decisively steered the conversation elsewhere. “In any case, you are to sit properly beside me for now!”

“Understood!”

Lidoa immediately straightened her posture, hands neatly folded in her lap, as though she had instantly switched to “obedient mode.”

“Do you possess a name now, or merely a unit designation?”

“Report! Currently, I only possess a unit designation. Therefore, Master, would you be willing to bestow a name upon me?”

Lidoa’s eyes sparkled with fervent anticipation.

“Lidoa,” Cheng Lan stated without a moment’s hesitation. “From this day forward, you shall be known as Lidoa. Your name consists of these three characters.”

He pulled out his phone, displaying the precise written form for her.

‘After all, he was the one who had named this girl in his previous life, so it felt only natural to simply reuse it in this one.’

“Yay!”

With a name now bestowed upon her, Lidoa beamed with unbridled joy.

“Oh, right,” Cheng Lan suddenly remembered, “what armaments are you currently equipped with?”

“Let me check… Ah, I’ve found them, Master. Please exercise a little caution.”

He nodded, his face alight with eager anticipation as he awaited the android girl’s demonstration of her combat equipment.

Lidoa’s forearm gave a slight tremor, and from either side, two sleek, pitch-black blades sprang forth.

‘Mantis blades? Not bad at all.’

“Are there others?”

Cheng Lan’s eyes gleamed with renewed interest.

“No more,” the girl responded, shaking her head.

“None? What about the EMP throwing knives?”

“None,” the girl reiterated, shaking her head once more.

“Fragmentation grenades? Flashbangs?”

“None.”

“Electromagnetic pulse cannons? A Sandevistan ?”

“Absolutely—none at all!”

Lidoa declared, raising both hands in exasperation.

“Then what in the world was the point of me going to all that immense trouble to get you out?!”

Cheng Lan exclaimed, his hands pressing against her shoulders as he began to shake her with fervent emotion.

“Mas—Master, be careful!”

Lidoa hastily retracted the mantis blades back into her forearms.