The backdrop can also be propped up.

Chapter 168: We took that complicated route again.

They walked that tedious route once more. Zhao Wuyin and Lu Renkui, who was inside Sun Xi's body, stood before the rusty iron gate again.

Zhao Wuyin knocked on the door repeatedly, shouting as he did so, "David! We've come to return the skateboard! David!"

I knocked for a long time, but just like last time, there was no response from inside.

"Isn't he here?" Lu Renkui also tapped the door. "How about we meet again in a few days... What did you pull out of your pocket?!"

Under Lu Renkui's surprised gaze, Zhao Wuyin took out a wire, a screwdriver, and a hammer from his pocket.

Seeing Zhao Wuyin pick up a wire and try to pry open the keyhole on the iron door, Lu Renkui's eyes widened in surprise. "You're not going to pry this door open, are you?"

“Yeah,” Zhao Wuyin replied. “David is definitely here. He’s so rude. We’ve knocked on the door so many times and he hasn’t opened it. We’ll have to pry it open to see.”

A soft movement could be heard coming from inside the house.

Upon hearing this, Lu Renkui quickly stopped Zhao Wuyin's hand, which was about to pick the lock, and said, "Let's come back in a few days. Maybe he really isn't here."

The running sounds inside stopped. Lu Renkui felt that David really didn't want to see them, so she continued, "My blueprint isn't urgent for now, and David and I are only in high school. Even if he's very capable, he can only assemble small items according to the information. He might not even be able to build it. Don't make things difficult for him."

Zhao Wuyin thought about it and felt it made sense, so he put away the wire and other items, abandoning his plan to pry open the door.

Just as the two girls were about to leave, Lu Renkui heard footsteps coming from inside the door. She stopped and wanted to listen carefully.

Seeing that "Sun Xi" stopped after taking two steps, Zhao Wuyin, who was walking ahead, also stopped in his tracks, looking at the rusty iron gate.

Then the two girls saw the rusty iron gate open at an extremely slow speed.

The two girls took a step back simultaneously and stood on tiptoe to look into the room through the crack in the door.

A boy with dark gray hair wearing white clothes peeked out from under the door. The dark circles under his light gray eyes, combined with his pale face from not being in the sun for a long time, made him look a little scary.

"Come in." David's bloodless lips moved, uttering these two words as if chanting a mantra.

"Ah...ah?" Zhao Wuyin was shocked that David had opened the door for the first time and didn't hear what David was saying for a moment.

“I said, come in.” After saying this, David turned and left the doorway.

Now that Lu Renkui was certain that David had let them in, she quickly pushed the door open and went inside.

Zhao Wuyin then realized what was happening and followed him inside.

David turned on the switch, and the dim room was instantly illuminated, but it wasn't particularly bright; it was still quite dark.

However, this light was enough to see what was on the ground—besides the mechanical parts that I had shone the phone's flashlight on earlier, there were various tools, several computer monitors and several mainframes on the ground, with many wires running between each monitor and mainframe, which could be used as traps.

The empty room also has a bathroom, a bed, a wardrobe, and even a kitchen.

However, the kitchen utensils were covered in dust, indicating that no one used them much. In the corner of the kitchen, a relatively new-looking robot was crouching, with several takeout bags piled at its feet, presumably leftovers from David's meal.

Two of the computer monitors were lit. Lu Renkui glanced at them and noticed that one screen displayed something that looked like an editing software interface, while the other screen showed an anime character, though the artist's skill seemed rather poor. Even someone like Lu Renkui, who had only watched one or two tutorials, could see that the character's eyes were too far apart, making it look like a goldfish.

Upon noticing the dark brown-haired girl staring at his lit computer screen, David immediately turned off the screen, then turned to look at Lu Renkui inside Sun Xi's body, asking in a flat tone, "What do you want me to do?"

Lu Renkui quickly took out the blueprint he always carried with him and showed it to David.

David glanced at the blueprints, then took the first model made by Lu Renkui, examined it carefully, and said, "The blueprints are well drawn, but the model is a bit mediocre."

Lu Renkui scratched his head—"Let's just take it as David praising himself."

"What are your specific ideas?" David asked abruptly.

“Uh…” Lu Renkui said while scratching his head, “I hope it can be voice-activated, so that when I summon it to attack the instrument, I can separate it by hitting it once.”

Seeing that David had entered a thoughtful state, Lu Renkui quickly said, "If voice control is difficult to implement, then we can just use a button. I usually use this as a skateboard. When needed, I just step on the button, and the skateboard can scatter."

“It can be done,” David suddenly said again.

"Huh?" Lu Renkui didn't hear clearly.

“I said, it can be done, voice-controlled.” David put away the drawing Lu Renkui had made and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Come pick it up in a week,” David said, and began sitting on the floor fiddling with something.

Lu Renkui and Zhao Wuyin looked at each other in silence for a while. Then Lu Renkui put down the skateboard and said, "Then we're leaving."

“Wait a minute,” David stopped what he was doing, turned his head slightly and said to Lu Renkui, who was inside Sun Xi’s body, “Take the skateboard away.”

"Hey, you don't want it anymore?" Zhao Wuyin asked curiously.

“No need, I don’t use it.” David said, turning his head back to fiddling with the tools in his hands. “Instead of wasting energy on some boring outdoor activities, I’d rather tinker with robots.”

Lu Renkui and Zhao Wuyin exchanged another glance.

"Then...then I'll take it?" Lu Renkui said, hooking the skateboard on the ground with his foot and looking up to confirm David's reaction.

Once Lu Renkui confirmed that David really didn't want the skateboard, she took it away—she would use it for a few days to familiarize herself with it. After all, Lu Renkui knew how to skateboard, but the original owner, Sun Xi, didn't. She would need to practice a few more times to deepen her impression, so that when the board David made was finished, Sun Xi could use it with ease.

After closing the rusty iron gate, Zhao Wuyin said to "Sun Xi" as they walked, "This is the first time I've seen him give someone something. A little cake, you're amazing!"

“He didn’t give me anything at all,” Lu Renkui said helplessly. “He was just throwing away things he didn’t want.”

“That’s quite rare. Look at him, he even accepted the task you gave him, didn’t he?” Zhao Wuyin said. “I asked him to help me assemble a small robot before, but he refused.”

“It must be quite difficult to assemble a robot,” Lu Renkui said. “It’s understandable that he didn’t want to assemble it—what kind of robot did you make him assemble?”

“Well, a robot that can sing and dance, do housework, and accurately predict what time I’ll eat and cook for me every day,” Zhao Wuyin replied, somewhat embarrassed. “Now that you mention it, I do seem to be going too far.”

Lu Renkui remained silent: This is more than just excessive; it's practically like creating a nanny.

After the two girls left, David had just finished drawing the advanced version of the blueprints when he received a phone call.

David hung up the phone without even looking at it.

The phone rang again.

David died again.

This went on for several times until David got tired of the phone ringing, picked up the phone, and was about to turn it off when another call came in.

David's hand, which was about to press the power button, paused.

Because the phone screen clearly displayed two words—Mother.

As if possessed, David pressed the green answer button.

The phone screen flickered, and a gentle female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hi, David."

Upon hearing that voice, David immediately hung up the phone. Why? Because it wasn't his biological mother's voice, but his stepmother's.

David immediately shut down his computer and began dealing with the troublesome matters he had taken on voluntarily.

David placed the advanced blueprints he had drawn in front of him, and then began searching for the tools he needed among the scattered tools on the ground.

Having gathered all the tools, David flipped through the materials again and discovered that the materials requested by the dark brown-haired girl were almost gone.

If we run out of materials, it means we need to buy more; and to buy more materials, we have to go out.

I need to go out...

David can actually be purchased online, but the items delivered online are often unsatisfactory.

Even if everything is done to the best of one's ability, no matter how sturdy the materials are, they will still break in various ways—after all, David is a bit unlucky.

Send that little robot in the kitchen to buy it? Come on, it's a miracle that the little robot doesn't get lost.

David took a deep breath, then exhaled. He walked to the wardrobe, opened the door, and took out a black hoodie, putting it on. He then picked up his phone from the floor, turned it on, and began to mentally prepare himself:

I'm just going out to buy something, going out to buy something, going out to buy something. I'm typing on my phone, typing, typing. Don't talk, don't talk, don't talk. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. I won't answer anymore, I won't answer anymore, I won't answer anymore.

After mentally preparing himself, David put his hand on the doorknob of the iron gate. Just as he pressed it down, his phone rang again, startling him.

David picked up his phone to hang up, only to find it was his mother calling again.

Even though he knew the caller might be his stepmother, David still answered the phone, intending to tell her to stop calling and that he wouldn't be coming home.

If there's anything to say, have the stepmother use her own phone number instead of the mother's—because David doesn't want to blacklist his mother's phone number.

But this time, it wasn't the stepmother's voice coming from the other end.

“David Vince.” A deep, middle-aged male voice came through the receiver; it was David’s father, Van Vince.

David's face darkened further. He hung up the phone almost without hesitation.

But the phone rang again; it was still the mother's cell phone number.

And so it went, Davis answered and hung up repeatedly. Finally, he managed to infuriate his father, Van Vince.