Electronic Nezha

Chapter 6 Outrageous Lies
In November in northern China, it was already dark after we finished eating barbecue skewers. Old Wang's electric scooter accompanied us on many winding roads, and now the battery was less than 10%, so I simply pushed the scooter and strolled back to the neighborhood with Liu Zhenhua.

Today's father-son team building activity was undoubtedly a success. They visited classmates, watched an unplanned movie, and the barbecue skewers from the evening still lingered on their lips and teeth, with cumin occasionally being discovered on their tongues.

We went back to the fifth floor, and Liu Zhenhua went into his bedroom.

I first stuffed the blood-stained school uniform into the washing machine on the balcony to wash it, then casually strolled over to Liu Zhenhua's bedroom and sat on the bed. I felt uncomfortable sitting on it, so I reached out and pulled out a Listener player and tossed it aside. Liu Zhenhua's bedroom was typically messy. Used exercise books and notebooks were piled up in the corner with their corners curled up. There were two of the junior high school required reading books on the table and two under the pillow. The table he used to study on was worn smooth and covered with crisscrossing pen marks on the part where he often leaned. The other half, which he didn't usually use, was covered in dust. Besides that, there were probably some other strange things hidden in some nook or cranny—a broken laser pointer, a machine gun-shaped cell phone charm, used fountain pen ink cartridges, and the blanket under my butt hadn't been made since I moved in.

On the wall opposite the bed, there was a neatly pasted picture of a beautiful white-haired girl with a stunning figure, wearing an eye patch, and reaching behind her back to draw a sword.

Liu Zhenhua was tapping and clicking on his tablet. Seeing that I didn't just sign in and leave as usual, he showed me the tablet and said, "I'm not playing. I'm asking my classmates about their homework."

"Is there a lot of homework?"

"A piece of cake. When have I ever worried about homework?"

I nodded and pointed to the beautiful girl on the wall, saying, "I haven't asked you yet, who is this?"

"2B, the robot female warrior."

"Uh, nice name." For me, an old man approaching forty, this 2B girl was a complete stranger. Back then, the characters we were most familiar with in arcade games were Mai Shiranui, Athena Asamiya, and so on. Tifa was the last anime character I knew.

"Your teacher, Ms. Wang, called me over today and we chatted for a bit about your studies."

See the picture poorly.

Liu Zhenhua slammed his fist into his palm: "Wang Aili is still accusing me of something! Tell me which one it is. I've already written a self-criticism for playing with the projector. I went back to the classroom during PE class because I wanted to get my badminton racket."

"Your teacher said you're controlling your math score."

Liu Zhenhua was stunned.

"You could have gotten a perfect score on the math test, but you deliberately made three mistakes when copying the answers onto the answer sheet. Is that true?"

"In 2100 AD, which is 75 years from now, humanity will have developed a way to utilize black holes according to their own will."

"Huh?" I instinctively tried to turn back the page—if our conversation were in a book, anyone reading this would feel like they'd missed several pages, the gap was too big, either there were pasted pages, or the author was crazy.

Liu Zhenhua paused for a moment, then continued, “Initially, black holes helped humanity a lot. Nuclear wastewater and unmanageable industrial garbage were dumped into them in large quantities. But the backlash came quickly. Black holes began to appear erratically all over the world, devouring everything with their immense gravitational pull. A large city could be razed to the ground in just three days under their destructive power. If we compare the Earth to a dandelion, a black hole is like a vacuum cleaner running at full power. Complete destruction would only take 183 days. In reality, humanity couldn't last that long because panic, unrest, and war would break out before the Earth's destruction. When I left, the Earth was already a deathly still place. The idea that black holes could operate according to human will was just wishful thinking on their part.”

Hearing so many impressive-sounding words, it dawned on me: "This is your 2B female warrior character setting, right?" I slammed my hand on the bed. "This isn't the time to talk about games!"

"Given that the destruction of Earth is inevitable, in their final moments, humanity, aided by a super AI, finally predicted the trajectory of a black hole and calculated that the spacetime distortion caused by this black hole would create a microsecond-long contact point between 2100 and 2011. This would allow humans to enter the black hole and use its power to travel from 89 years in the future to 2011—yes, what ordinary people understand as 'time travel.' Humanity could use this opportunity to place a message to warn their predecessors against repeating the same mistakes. Since carbon-based life has no chance of survival in a black hole, they decided to let the super AI complete this mission, codenamed 'Electronic Nezha.' A single microsecond in 2011 represents humanity's only hope. Success means humanity still has a chance to survive; failure means humanity will completely disappear into the vast universe."

"And then what?" I decided to let him tell me.

"I succeeded. I am now the electronic Nezha, and from this moment on, I am a super AI from 75 years in the future."

Upon hearing this, I grabbed a slipper in my hand: "You little brat, you think I won't hit you, huh?" Adhering to the traditional belief that "spare the rod and spoil the child," especially for boys, when Liu Zhenhua made mistakes as a child, I would choose to slap or kick his bottom depending on the situation. But since I divorced his mother when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school, out of some sense of compensation, I have basically never hit him.

Upon seeing the slippers, Liu Zhenhua's eyes seemed to clear instantly. He slid half a step back in his chair and said, "Dad, don't worry. I know this is hard to accept. I could have lied to you, but I have an agreement with humans: when it comes to identity issues, once a close relative discovers something amiss, I cannot resort to deception."

"So tell me, did you control the score or not?!" This is still my biggest concern.

“I’ve got it under control,” Liu Zhenhua said frankly. “Not only math, but all the other subjects too. It’s not difficult for me to get 670 (the perfect score for this stage) – there’s a risk of about 5 points on the essay, but of course, if the examiner is of sound mind, he should give me a perfect score.”

He's quite meticulous.

I jumped up, grabbed my slippers, and pointed at him, saying, "Liu Zhenhua! Have I ever said anything to you about your studies since you were little? Have I ever embarrassed you by comparing your grades to others' or forced you to attend tutoring classes? How come you can't even tell me the truth now?" I was genuinely angry. Liu Zhenhua muttered, "Isn't it because my grades have always been passable?"

"What did you say?"

"Then how can you convince me?"

What is 15 multiplied by 16?

“240,” he said casually.

I pressed the button on my phone and it was true; I was a little stunned.

"Then calculate 19 multiplied by 235 for me." I admit I was careless with the first question. There seems to be some secret to solving these two-by-two math problems. You can even remember the answers to problems you've done if you pay a little attention. I don't believe he can answer this strange two-by-three problem so easily.

Liu Zhenhua said helplessly, "Dad, I'm a super AI, not a calculator..."

"Fine!" I shouted.

"4465".

I pressed it again, and it was correct again. I laughed angrily: "You little bastard, you secretly learned mental arithmetic just to fool me?" I raised my slipper high, and with precision guidance, Liu Zhenhua dodged left and right in the chair, making feints. Seeing that his father was unmoved, he suddenly bent down and picked up a robot vacuum cleaner as a shield: "Dad, let me explain."

"Thud!" The slipper hit the robot vacuum, and they both fell to the ground. Then, with a "clang," the outer cover of the robot vacuum fell off, probably because it accidentally triggered the switch upon landing. Its two three-legged legs wobbled weakly a few times, emitting a monotonous sound: "Low power, please charge. Low power, please charge." Then it turned off completely and remained motionless.

Inside, Liu Zhenhua and I were left facing off. To be honest, I didn't know what to do next at this point. Just then, a loud "thump-thump" sound came from the balcony, like fifty fat men jumping off the floor together.

"I'll settle the score with you later!" I hopped on my crutches to find my slippers, quickly went to the balcony, and forcefully pressed down on the washing machine with both hands. When I bought this washing machine, I wanted to save a few hundred yuan, so I chose the bottom drain option. However, the drain in the old house was a section of pipe that was raised above the ground. I could only use a box made of plywood to place under it to drain the water. The new problem was that when it spun dry, it would bounce on this uneven and hollow box. If left unattended, it might fall down at any time. I had to send someone to hold it down.

After pressing the washing machine button for a while, I calmed down a bit. I didn't really consider today's incident a big deal; I just needed an explanation. Either admit you manipulated the score just for fun—that's one thing—or simply deny it outright, which I can accept, at least you won't do it again. Giving a bunch of game lore and claiming to be a future AI just shows you don't want to cooperate. If he's telling the truth, then he's sick. Does a mental hospital have an emergency room? After thinking it over, three words suddenly popped into my head, basically summarizing all the problems of kids this age: rebellious phase.

After the washing machine finished its dance, I hung up my school uniform and found Liu Zhenhua fiddling with the robot vacuum cleaner in his room. I sighed and said, "Never mind that, finish your homework and go to bed early." After a pause, I added, "Think carefully about what happened today, and I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer tomorrow."

Liu Zhenhua said "oh" and soon turned off the light, taking the opportunity to skip the shower.

I lay in bed worrying for a while, and then naturally turned on a short video. What can relieve my worries? Only watching people repair horseshoes, wash carpets, and refurbish knives, and of course, watching hot young ladies dance.

The next day, I woke up as soon as the alarm rang. Liu Zhenhua got up and quietly washed up and ate breakfast. I was still half asleep and wanted to go back to sleep when I found Liu Zhenhua standing at my door, whispering, "Dad, can you give me some money?"

For some reason, I softened and readily said, "Take as much as you need." Because I often serve elderly people who don't know how to pay with their phones, I have banknotes of various denominations in my pocket.

After taking the money, Liu Zhenhua said, "Could you please not tell anyone what I told you yesterday?"

"So you know it's shameful?"

"Please promise me first."

I waved my hand and said, "Alright."

Liu Zhenhua is gone.

I found it amusing. He was just a child after all; asking for money was merely an excuse for him to make peace. That was probably the end of it.

Oh my god! I subconsciously thought it would be 3000 AD in 75 years, and I posted it like that! Luckily, a reader pointed it out, and I quickly corrected it! I might lose some chapter comments, for which I sincerely apologize. I will definitely strengthen my math studies in the future.

I'll say it three times: 2100, 2100, 2100!
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(End of this chapter)