56: Chapter 56 I'm coming clean: I've kidnapped their whole family.

The Porsche Cayenne sped along the city's main thoroughfare.

Inside the car, the silence was somewhat eerie.

Only the occasional "tick-tock" of the turn signal tapped against everyone's nerves.

In the passenger seat, Chen Shuyu clutched the folder tightly, her body as stiff as a board.

She stared blankly ahead, her mind filled with the suffocating scenes from the factory moments ago.

That Robot girl who hand-crafted aerospace-grade precision...

That rail grinding that scared the chief engineer until his legs went weak...

Chen Shuyu felt that her twenty-plus years of materialistic worldview had completely shattered into pieces today.

In the back seat.

Su Qingxue kept her head turned, looking out the window.

The receding streetscape stretched into streaks of light in her pupils, yet it couldn't hide the surging thoughts in her eyes.

She wasn't stupid.

On the contrary, being able to hold up a technology company at her age, her mind was more delicate than anyone's.

"Screech—"

The red light came on.

The car stopped steadily before the crosswalk.

Su Qingxue seemed to have finally made up her mind.

She turned her head sharply to the right.

Those eyes, usually as cold as frost, now carried a sharpness like that of someone interrogating a prisoner, locking onto the man beside her.

"Lu Li."

The voice wasn't loud, but it exuded an undeniable sense of oppression.

Lu Li was leaning against the seat back, eyes closed in rest; hearing this, he opened his eyes slightly and responded lazily: "Hm?"

"That Number 18..."

Su Qingxue's voice was very low.

Her gaze crossed the driver's seat, sweeping over that exquisitely blonde back of the head in the driver's seat.

"Tell me the truth."

Su Qingxue took a deep breath, her body leaning forward slightly, her stunningly beautiful face drawing close to Lu Li's, to the point where they could feel each other's breath.

"Is she really a Robot?"

Before Lu Li could answer, she quickly added:

"If I hadn't seen the metal parts inside her arm with my own eyes, I would have even thought... that she was a real human in disguise."

"That kind of micro-expression, and that..."

Su Qingxue paused, seemingly looking for a suitable adjective.

"That look like she's staring at trash, that's just not something code can write."

Lu Li looked at his wife, who was close at hand.

The inquiry, worry, and even a trace of fear of the unknown in her eyes were clearly visible.

Fair enough.

Number 18's performance was indeed too terrifying for this era.

If he explained that this was a strong artificial intelligence from the future, she would probably think he had gone crazy.

Lu Li's mouth curled up slightly, and he suddenly reached out.

Su Qingxue instinctively wanted to dodge, but her body honestly froze in place.

That warm, large hand gently covered the back of her hand.

"Qingxue."

Lu Li's voice was low, putting away his usual slacker attitude.

He looked into her eyes, his gaze as deep as a bottomless pool of water.

"Technical parameters are not important."

"Even if she is alien technology, even if she is a Terminator from the future, it doesn't matter."

Su Qingxue was stunned for a moment: "Then what is important?"

Lu Li leaned slightly to the right, moving close to her ear; his warm breath hit her earlobe, instantly dyeing her ears a shade of pink.

"What's important is why she exists."

"Because one night, I got up to drink water."

"I saw a fool who, even though the company was on the right track, was still slumped over the desk in the study, working and drinking coffee at the same time, refusing to sleep no matter how much I persuaded her."

Lu Li's voice was very soft, but it was like a heavy hammer, gently striking Su Qingxue's heart.

"At that time, I thought, if only there were something tireless, absolutely precise, and capable of helping that fool carry all the burdens."

"So, I contacted that team."

"I don't understand servo motors, nor do I understand algorithms."

Lu Li lied without blushing or skipping a beat, his eyes full of deep affection.

"I just told them, my wife is very tired, and I need something that can let her get off work early and go home to sleep."

"No matter the cost, no matter how hard it is, build it for me."

The car fell silent instantly.

Chen Shuyu in the front row twitched the corner of her mouth.

Enough! Really, enough!

Am I sitting under the car?

Why do I have to be fed dog food at a time like this!

Su Qingxue's originally tense nerves collapsed instantly under these few gentle words.

Her eyes, which had been full of scrutiny, quickly misted over, and her original aggressive demeanor instantly transformed into the shyness and emotion of a young woman.

So... was it for me?

Because you felt bad for me working overtime, that's why you went to such great lengths to get this?

Su Qingxue bit her lower lip, her cheeks burning hot.

She wanted to say something, but found her throat felt like it was blocked by cotton.

Just then, Chen Shuyu in the front row, perhaps to ease this awkward atmosphere, or perhaps simply out of curiosity, mustered up her courage and extended a finger, poking the right arm of Number 18, who was driving.

"Um... Miss Number 18?"

Chen Shuyu's voice was shaking, "Your skin is so good, what brand of hand cream do you use?"

"Slap!"

Chen Shuyu's finger hadn't even touched Number 18 yet.

Number 18's left hand continued to control the steering wheel as usual, but her right wrist suddenly flipped at an angle no human could achieve, precisely pinning Chen Shuyu's finger.

The movement was lightning fast.

"Miss Chen."

Number 18 didn't even turn her head, her voice cold with a hint of electronic distortion.

"Please do not touch precision instruments."

"Although my epidermis uses high-strength bionic material, it does not possess immunity to the 'stupidity' virus."

Chen Shuyu: "???"

She retracted her hand as if electrocuted, pressing herself against the car door, shivering.

This sharp tongue!

This was definitely programmed in by that bastard Lu Li!

In the back seat, Su Qingxue recovered slightly from the previous emotion.

She rubbed her hot cheeks, and her reason regained its high ground.

Although Lu Li's words were touching, there were still logical loopholes.

"Lu Li."

Su Qingxue looked at her husband again, her eyes much softer, but still carrying doubt.

"That so-called overseas team..."

"Even if you have money, why would they give you such era-surpassing technology? And why would they listen to you so much?"

"This kind of technology, in any country, would be a strategic secret, right?"

Lu Li raised an eyebrow.

This woman, her intuition is really sharp.

Since being sentimental didn't work, then he could only...

He looked at Su Qingxue, his tone as flat as if he were talking about the weather: "Fine, since you asked so sincerely."

"Then I won't pretend anymore."

Lu Li looked at Su Qingxue, his expression becoming extremely serious.

"Actually, I kidnapped the families of all the core members of that team."

"From their eighty-year-old mothers to their three-year-old children, they are all in my hands."

"If they dare not listen to me, I'll kill the hostages."

Su Qingxue: "..."

Chen Shuyu: "..."

The air froze for three seconds.

"Pfft—"

Su Qingxue couldn't hold it back and laughed out loud.

She gave Lu Li a reproachful look and raised her hand to hit his arm, neither too lightly nor too heavily.

"You're not serious at all!"

"If you don't want to say it, forget it. Who cares about your little secrets."

Although she said that, the heavy stone in Su Qingxue's heart miraculously fell to the ground.

She knew Lu Li was talking nonsense.

But it was precisely this nonsense that made her understand that Lu Li had his own unspoken difficulties.

As long as his kindness to her was real, and as long as he hadn't done anything illegal, that was enough.

Everyone has secrets.

As long as this secret was used to protect this family, she was willing to play dumb.

The atmosphere in the car finally eased up.

However, this relaxation didn't last long.

"Ring ring ring—"

A burst of urgent phone ringing abruptly broke the warmth inside the car.

Su Qingxue took out her phone.

The name "Secretariat - Xiao Zhang" was flashing on the screen.

This was the new administrative secretary promoted after Chen Shuyu's promotion.

"Hello?" Su Qingxue answered the phone, her voice returning to her usual coldness.

"President Su! It's bad!"

On the other end of the line, Xiao Zhang's voice carried a distinct crying tone and anxiety, sounding particularly harsh in the quiet car.

"Tianqiong Technology... Tianqiong Technology is live streaming across the entire internet!"

"Their review blogger got our guanghui 7 phone and is conducting a so-called 'violent test'!"

"They... they are saying our phones look technologically advanced, but in fact haven't been tested at all, and are actually industrial trash that breaks at a touch!"

"There are already tens of thousands of people in the live broadcast room, and the comments are all cursing at us!"

Su Qingxue's face sank instantly.

An icy aura instantly filled the entire car.

Zhang Yuqing, so this is another idea to smear us, huh.

They must have seen the sales momentum of guanghui 7, couldn't sit still, and wanted to play dirty again!

"Send me the live stream link."

Su Qingxue hung up the phone, her fingers swiping quickly across the screen.

Soon, a live broadcast screen appeared on the phone.

In the frame, a greasy-looking streamer was using a hair dryer to blow continuously at a brand-new guanghui 7 phone.

"Family! See that? I just slightly simulated 39-degree weather,"

"and this phone is already lagging like crazy."

"Who would buy this kind of trash? Are they selling it to fools?"

"Our Tianqiong phones are sturdy, the quality is impeccable!"

The streamer's exaggerated expression and harsh mockery made the knuckles of Su Qingxue's hand holding the phone turn slightly white.

Lu Li turned his head and glanced at the screen.

His eyes became extremely cold in an instant.