CAT Chapter 11: Sonnet (3)

The other two hadn’t yet experienced Ling Yi’s small temper. Lin Si thought for a moment. He was probably the only one who understood—it was likely because someone had taken the seat Ling Yi wanted.

Before Lin Si could act, Zheng Shu smiled gently. “I’ll sit across. LingLing, come sit here.”

Zheng Shu moved to the opposite seat, and Ling Yi sat beside Lin Si, looking curiously at Zheng Shu.

He remembered Lin Si had told him before. On the spaceship, the first person he should trust was Lin Si himself, and the second was Zheng Shu.

Lin Si introduced them. “This is Zheng-ge. He’s from Zone 5, and many of the experiments I’ve collaborated on have been with him.”

Then he introduced the other person. “This is Tang Ning, the most famous genius on the ship. The core program of ‘Lucia’ is his creation.”

Tang Ning looked up from the clacking of his mechanical keyboard and greeted Ling Yi. “Hello.”

Unlike Ling Yi’s clear and lively eyes, Tang Ning’s gaze carried a unique brilliance—a quality shaped by prolonged and intense concentration. Sometimes it was mistaken for neurosis, but to seasoned judges of character, it was the unmistakable aura of a genius.

Zheng Shu chuckled. “Lin is a genius too, but unfortunately, neither of them pursued fields like mathematics or physics, which are best suited for prodigies.”

Tang Ning shrugged. “I prefer things where I can see results immediately.”

Lin Si set down his wine glass. “When I was very young, I already hoped to become a doctor in the future.”

Ling Yi’s gaze flitted between them. He could already tell that Lin Si’s conversations with these two were more relaxed and casual than with others on the spaceship.

Tilting his head, he asked, “Are you and Lin Si very good friends?”

Zheng Shu replied, “We’ve known each other since our time on Earth. Tang Ning is Lin’s junior, and Lin’s mentor’s daughter was my fiancée.”

As he said this, his warm smile faded, and he locked eyes with Ling Yi, a faint sorrow in his gaze. “I miss her every day.”

Tang Ning said nothing. He grabbed Lin Si’s wine glass, downed it in one gulp, slammed it back on the table, then picked up his keyboard. “I’m heading back.”

Ling Yi watched his hurried departure, puzzled and unsure why he left so abruptly.

Zheng Shu rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry. That was a lapse on my part… I just can’t help bringing her up.”

A brief silence followed.

Ling Yi looked at Zheng Shu, blinking as if in thought. Finally, he reached out and gently smoothed the crease in Zheng Shu’s brow.

The warmth of his soft fingertips was an innocent yet sincere comfort that no one could refuse.

Zheng Shu’s brow gradually relaxed. He said softly to Ling Yi, “Thank you.”

Ling Yi blushed slightly, leaned over, and buried his face against Lin Si’s chest, refusing to move.

Zheng Shu said to Lin Si, “You’ve raised him well.”

“I never taught him these things,” Lin Si replied, absentmindedly stroking Ling Yi’s hair. “Maybe it’s just his nature.”

When the topic shifted to child-rearing, Lin Si finally brought up something himself.

“Do you know any lady with extensive experience in this? I’d like to seek her advice.”

Zheng Shu laughed.

“I’ve always thought it’s something you can figure out instinctively,” he said. “When Xiao Ning was fourteen at the start of our journey, I was given custody. I don’t even remember what I did, he just grew up.”

“As long as Tang Ning has enough math problems and a keyboard, he could live his whole life.” Lin Si smiled. “LingLing’s psychological age is younger than Tang Ning’s was at the time, and he hasn’t found something he’s passionate about yet.”

“Then you’ll need to spend more time teaching him the basics—like a middle school curriculum back on Earth,” Zheng Shu suggested. “Children are easily entertained. The ship’s database has plenty of cartoons and simple documentaries for kids.”

Lin Si nodded. “Alright.”

They chatted aimlessly for a while longer until Ling Yi rubbed his eyes, clearly growing sleepy.

Zheng Shu smiled understandingly. “Take the little one to bed.”

Lin Si held Ling Yi’s hand and bid farewell to Madam Chen before returning to Zone 6.

At the central console of Zone 6 stood a familiar figure—Tang Ning, who had left earlier.

Ling Yi, fond of Lucia, was naturally curious about her creator. His drowsiness faded as he asked Lin Si to go ahead without him and approached Tang Ning. “What are you doing?”

Tang Ning gestured to a flat, black storage module on the floor, about a meter square. “Here. Lucia’s upgrade.”

On the console screen appeared the image of a white-armored knight standing on an altar-like structure, eyes closed, holding a burning torch.

“I didn’t design her appearance. She generated it herself,” Tang Ning frowned. “I don’t like it much. I prefer beautiful little princesses… or something like that.”

As the slow progress bar finally reached its end, the knight opened her eyes.

A 3D projection of her materialized beside Tang Ning.

“Hello, Lucia,” Tang Ning said.

“Hello, Creator,” she responded.

Her voice had changed significantly, now imbued with tonal variation instead of the monotone of before—likely thanks to an upgraded sound system.

“The upgrade this time is minimal.” Tang Ning spoke, though it felt more like he was talking to himself than to Ling Yi—an eccentric trait common among geniuses.

“There’ll be many new functions needed after landing, but we’re short-handed and have no time to develop them… I want Lucia to learn on her own, starting by connecting her to Zone 8’s database.”

He muttered as he worked, lines of code flashing rapidly across the screen.

Ling Yi tilted his head, watching Tang Ning. For some reason, the sound and motion of typing felt strangely familiar, as if he’d witnessed it long ago. Unconsciously, he found himself watching for a long time.

When Tang Ning finally finished, he turned abruptly to Ling Yi. “I heard you don’t remember your past?”

Ling Yi nodded.

“That’s good,” Tang Ning shrugged. “Because after leaving Earth, many people on the ship have sad stories. I really hope Zheng Shu can forget about that damn fiancée.”

He packed up his things and grabbed the storage device. “I’m leaving now, Xiao LingLing.”

Ling Yi said goodbye to him, then stood in front of the control panel, extending his hands.

Tang Ning’s mechanical keyboard was just a special hobby of his, the ship now mostly used a virtual keyboard. As Ling Yi moved his hands, the virtual keyboard appeared beneath them.

He typed based on a faint sense of familiarity, but struggled to make progress. He had to rack his brain until a vague intuition emerged.

“…Dad?” he muttered quietly.

Lucia spoke at this point, “Would you like to check identity information?”

Ling Yi nodded slightly.

Lucia responded, “Connecting to the data system.”

The progress bar finished, and a retrieval interface appeared. Lucia automatically input the keyword: Ling Yi, family information.

A few milliseconds later, a prompt appeared on the screen.

“Insufficient permissions, unable to view.”

Lucia, “Checking current permission level.”

The screen displayed three red S’s.

Lucia, “Sorry, I cannot resolve your query.”

Ling Yi felt a bit disappointed. “Okay… It’s fine.”

He thought for a moment, remembering that Lin Si’s level was SS, which meant even Lin Si’s permissions were insufficient. He decided not to seek Lin Si’s help.

When he returned, Lin Si was sitting at the desk, wearing his thin silver-rimmed glasses, seemingly writing something.

Lin Si looked very handsome when he was focused.

Ling Yi watched for a while, then lazily rolled around on the bed.

Lin Si noticed the little one’s boredom and also saw Lucia return. He decided to follow Zheng Shu’s suggestion and let Ling Yi watch a cartoon.

After receiving the command, Lucia searched the database and randomly selected one.

A very realistic 3D projection appeared on the wall, making the viewer feel as if they were actually there, showing green grass.

Ling Yi had never seen real sky and grass before. He slightly widened his eyes, immediately captivated by the sight.

Lin Si thought to himself, Zheng-ge’s suggestion was indeed correct.

Then, a few pink cartoon pigs appeared.

Lin Si furrowed his brow, feeling something was off.

But for Ling Yi, this was very novel. He watched without blinking, even reaching out to try to touch the projection.

A family of pigs began talking.

Lin Si continued to frown, feeling that the dialogue was too childish and not suitable for Ling Yi anymore.

A minute later, one of the pigs suddenly made a loud oink after speaking.

Lin Si, “……”

He decisively said, “Lucia, stop.”

Ling Yi’s Peppa Pig was abruptly cut off by Lin Si, and he pouted in displeasure.

Lin Si started browsing the database himself, eventually selecting a more refined, mature, and visually pleasing cartoon.

He returned to his desk and continued writing a custom educational plan and schedule for Ling Yi, packed with lessons. Tomorrow, the plan would begin, covering all the basic subjects, from basic arithmetic to calculus in mathematics, theoretical mechanics in physics, and biology and chemistry, not to mention programming languages.

Meanwhile, the little one was hugging a pillow, leaning against the wall, absent-mindedly watching Barbie.

— Completely unaware of what he would face tomorrow.