Electronic Sprite?

"Ah!"

Shangguan Wanwan's piercing scream echoed through the entire room.

"What happened?" Hearing her cry, Fan Qiulin hurried over in her wheelchair. When she looked into Fan Qiuming's room, she too was stunned.

"Fan Qiuming, you filthy pervert! You degenerate! May you die a miserable death..."

Fan Qiulin called him out by name, cursing without pause.

Because there, sprawled on Fan Qiuming's bed, lay a young girl with not a stitch on her. The blanket barely covered her, exposing vast stretches of bare skin.

"Why is there a naked girl on his bed?" Shangguan Wanwan could hardly believe her eyes, but the truth was right before them.

"What happened? What's going on?" Hearing the commotion outside the washroom, Fan Qiuming rushed out.

Shangguan Wanwan quickly hurried to the bedside, pulling the blanket over the girl to shield her from his sight.

He hastened to reach Fan Qiulin, only to be met with a sharp slap.

Smack!

The sound rang out across the room.

Fan Qiulin's scolding followed hot on its heels.

"Pervert! Freak! Kidnapper! Tell me, where did you hide her this morning?"

That slap left Fan Qiuming utterly dumbfounded.

"What did I do? What’s going on?" he asked in confusion. He had done nothing, yet here he was, condemned as a pervert and deviant by Fan Qiulin.

But when he looked into his own room, he was just as bewildered.

"Who is that? Why is she in my room?"

"You dare ask? Don't pretend you don't know what you did! Pulling up your trousers and pretending nothing happened?"

Fan Qiulin glared at him, furious. She never imagined her brother could be that sort of person.

"What did I do?" Fan Qiuming was at a loss. A strange girl had inexplicably appeared on his bed, and he had no idea how.

Moreover, she had appeared after he left the room—nothing made sense.

"I never thought you were this kind of person, Fan Qiuming. You’ve truly disappointed me," Shangguan Wanwan said, her face full of resentment and disappointment.

"You always act so proper, but behind closed doors, you’re vile and filthy."

Just then, the girl on the bed suddenly woke up. She opened her eyes, sat up, clutched the blanket to herself, and looked around.

Shangguan Wanwan immediately asked, "Are you alright? How do you feel?"

"Me? I'm fine, I feel great." The moment the girl saw Fan Qiuming standing in the doorway, her eyes sparkled. She leapt up, wrapped in the blanket, and dashed toward him.

"Master..."

With that, she threw herself onto Fan Qiuming, knocking him to the ground and straddling him.

His head hit the floor with a dull thud.

"What on earth did I do to deserve this?"

"Master?" Shangguan Wanwan and Fan Qiulin gasped in unison.

"Now you’re into role-play?" Fan Qiuming was at a total loss for words.

But as he looked at the girl before him, he was certain he had no recollection of her.

She wore playful pigtails, delicate eyebrows like willow leaves, sparkling large eyes, and a face as soft and innocent as a baby’s—she seemed as though she had stepped out of an anime, embodying every otaku’s fantasy.

Even wrapped in a blanket, her curvaceous figure was impossible to miss.

"Who are you? I don’t think we’ve met," Fan Qiuming said, rubbing the back of his head, squinting in pain.

"Me? I have no name—please, Master, give me one."

Her voice sounded oddly familiar, but Fan Qiuming couldn’t recall where he’d heard it before.

"It’s all thanks to you, Master, that I could come here."

At this, Fan Qiulin leaned in, pulling his ear and scolding him.

"What kind of nonsense did you feed her? She calls you 'Master' and asks you to name her?"

"Just as Shiyi said—you really are a pervert."

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Qiulin, let go! I swear I don’t know anything!"

Pinned beneath the girl and having his ear pulled, all while being clueless about the situation, Fan Qiuming felt utterly wronged.

"Why don’t you ask her how she got here? Asking me won’t help!"

He was completely bewildered by the events unfolding before him and could only turn to the girl for answers.

"Fine, I’ll let you off for now," Fan Qiulin said, releasing his ear and turning to the girl.

"Where did you come from? How did you end up here? Did that pervert bring you against your will?"

"Don’t be afraid—tell us the truth. We’ll stand up for you!"

The girl stared blankly at Fan Qiulin, tilting her head as if thinking hard.

"Since Master bought me, I’ve always stayed by his side!"

Everyone was stunned by her answer.

Bought her? Was Fan Qiuming trafficking people now?

"Be careful with your words!" Fan Qiuming protested. He’d done nothing—how had he become a trafficker?

"Shut up!" Shangguan Wanwan shot him a cold glare, her eyes flashing with something close to murderous intent. Then, turning back to the girl, her expression softened into a gentle smile.

"It’s alright. Can you tell us where your home is?"

But the girl shook her head.

"No, I don’t want to leave Master. I don’t want to go back to that dark box."

With that, she clung tightly to Fan Qiuming.

He raised his hands in innocence, but the two women seemed unconvinced, their eyes practically boring holes into him.

Suddenly, the girl’s eyelids drooped and she fainted against Fan Qiuming’s chest.

A flash of light burst forth, and the girl vanished—leaving only Fan Qiuming’s phone resting quietly on his chest.

"What? Where did she go?" The three were too stunned to react.

"What just happened? Where is she?" Fan Qiulin looked at Fan Qiuming lying on the floor, the blanket empty atop him.

She was filled with confusion and disbelief.

"She was just here—how did she disappear in the blink of an eye? Am I seeing things?"

"No, she was just pressing down on Fan Qiuming and then vanished," Shangguan Wanwan said, circling Fan Qiuming. There was indeed no one else there.

But Fan Qiuming’s gaze was fixed on the phone. He suddenly remembered—the girl’s voice was the same as the one he’d heard in his dream before waking up last night.

He picked up the phone and sat up, discovering it was out of battery. He hadn’t charged it the night before.

"Spiritual energy?" he wondered silently. He recalled that his phone was the only thing that had received his spiritual energy before it dissipated.

Could it be that a trace of spiritual energy had given it consciousness and form?

"Well? Where did you hide her this time?" Fan Qiulin demanded, yanking his ear again.

"Ow, ow, ow! You saw it yourself—I did nothing! Let go! It hurts..."

Fan Qiuming swore this was the most unjust morning of his life. He was in the bathroom, and the trouble came from his bedroom—all of this, though indirectly, seemed to be his fault.

"Hmph!" Fan Qiulin relented, finally letting go. Indeed, Fan Qiuming had done nothing just now.

"Could it have been a hallucination?" Shangguan Wanwan wondered aloud.

"But if it was, why did all three of us see the same thing?"

"Did we eat poisonous mushrooms and start seeing things?" Fan Qiulin ventured.

"I did have a bit of mushroom with dinner yesterday," Fan Qiuming admitted sheepishly, scratching his head.

"Tsk..."

The two women were immediately disappointed.

"How boring!"

"Let’s just go."

With that, the two went about their own business, leaving Fan Qiuming sitting there.

"Is that all?" he asked himself in disbelief.

"They’re so casual about it. If it really was mushroom poisoning, shouldn’t we go to the hospital?"

But only Fan Qiuming knew that what had happened was no mere hallucination—it was all real.

That girl seemed to be his phone, transformed into human form. Now, with the battery dead, she’d reverted to her original state.

"So... she’s a phone spirit?"

"No, no, that sounds awful—an electronic sprite? That’s better. I’ll call her that."

He got up, straightened the blanket on his bed, and stared at his phone, unsure if he should recharge it.

After some thought, he decided to leave it for now—there was lunch to worry about first.

However, no matter what, Fan Qiulin and Shangguan Wanwan refused to let him cook anything with mushrooms that afternoon.