TMLSG -Chapter 22 Why Are You Crying?

Tang Zhen felt guilty.

She had clearly done nothing wrong to the puppy—it was just an innocent mechanical dog. Yet now it had to bark and apologize to her.

It felt like bullying a child.

Tang Zhen bent down, cupping her knees in her hands. Her smooth hair fell around her face as she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Those three words were for the puppy—even though it was just a robot dog.

Ren Yanjing cupped her face in his hands, frowning slightly. “Why are you crying?”

Tang Zhen didn’t even realize she was crying.

000 spoke hesitantly, 【Xiao Zhen, what’s wrong? Was the mission too difficult? It’s okay, the mission is already complete. Next time, if it’s too hard, you can just give up.】

A beautiful person shedding tears is still beautiful.

Especially Tang Zhen. On her fair little face, a crystal-clear teardrop added a sense of fragility, like a delicate porcelain doll that had been broken.

Ren Yanjing’s eyes darkened with depth.

The teammates exchanged glances, silently leaving the lab to the two of them. Zhang Mian even thoughtfully closed the lab door behind them.

Tang Zhen didn’t even know why she felt sad.

Maybe it was because coming into this world and rushing to complete missions made her anxious. Maybe it was because this world still felt so unfamiliar.

Of course, the most immediate reason was that she had kicked an innocent mechanical dog to complete a mission.

And in the end, the robot dog ended up apologizing to her.

She was supposed to fit the supporting female character’s scheming, shallow, foolish persona—but she felt like she had failed at even that.

She couldn’t do anything right.

Ren Yanjing gently wiped the tear from her face with his finger. “Puppy is a companion robot. In theory, no matter what happens, it can’t bring any risk or trouble to its owner.”

“Even though it’s just a half-finished product now, it still needs to apologize properly.”

“You can’t just wait until it’s sold and let the buyer complain, right?”

This was the first time Ren Yanjing had explained so much.

He rarely spoke this much in one go, but at this moment, he broke his usual principle.

Ren Yanjing waved at the puppy. “Come on, cheer up our baby.”

The puppy clattered over on its mechanical legs and approached Tang Zhen. Its mechanical head nuzzled her leg, gently rubbing against her.

The puppy was really well-behaved!

It was so intelligent!

And this was still only a half-finished model—how smart would the finished version be?

Tang Zhen gained a clearer understanding of just how skilled Ren Yanjing and his team really were.

They were amazing.

And the puppy was wonderful, too.

【Ahhh, the male lead actually let a robot puppy cheer you up!】

【So sweet, so sweet!】

【Xiao Zhen, I’m about to be overwhelmed by the sweetness!】

Tang Zhen: …

Outside, Zhang Mian and the other teammates exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.

“Sister-in-law is really beautiful.”

“Today she was wronged and even hurt her hand.”

“The puppy’s algorithm still needs work—how could it make such a mistake?”

“Speaking of which, sister-in-law actually helped us a lot too.”

Shen Quanli chuckled. “What do you think Yange and sister-in-law are doing in there?” He smirked and gestured toward the lab.

Zhang Mian leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, smiling. “This is a lab. With the captain being so responsible, what do you really think they’re doing?”

At most, just comforting a few words.

The others were just joking, still trusting Ren Yanjing’s character.

The lab had cameras, and Ren Yanjing himself was a careful, responsible person who wouldn’t act inappropriately.

As they spoke, a female voice suddenly rang out nearby.

“Hello, is this the Future Team?”

Zhang Mian and the others instinctively looked up toward the girl who had spoken.

Two girls had arrived, both delicate and pretty. One of them had striking ice-blue hair.

Zhang Mian stepped forward from the group. “Yes, that’s us. What can we help you with?”

Li Ran’s eyes scanned their faces, but she didn’t see the one she wanted. She looked around and asked, “Is your team leader not here?”

Shen Quanli, impatient, blurted out, “The team leader is with his girlfriend. You can tell us what you need just the same.”

Hearing this, Li Ran almost couldn’t maintain her smile.

They had been together for so long today—Tang Zhen still hadn’t returned to her own school?

She had forgotten that her best friend hadn’t gone back either.

Li Ran paused for a moment, then asked, “Is your lab still looking for members?”

The team was momentarily stunned—they hadn’t put out any recruitment notice, had they?

Li Ran smiled gently. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Li Ran. I’m a sophomore majoring in Electronic Engineering, and I ranked first in my core courses for the past two semesters.”

Oh wow—a top student.

To be number one at B University—that’s a true academic elite.

But—

“Sorry, we’re not recruiting.”

Li Ran hadn’t reacted yet, but her friend couldn’t hold back: “Your team won’t even take such a talented person? You really have no eye for talent!”

Zhang Mian, with a good temper, didn’t show any negativity. “For one, all our team members are male. Adding a girl abruptly might not be appropriate. For another, we currently have no plans to recruit.”

Li Ran’s right hand tightened slightly. “I want to speak to your team leader.”

Shen Quanli grew impatient. “Talking to the team leader won’t help. He’s not some tyrant—he’ll definitely consider the opinions of us team members.”

Zhang Mian smiled. “Here’s the thing: if our team ever recruits, we’ll post the news on the campus network. If you’re interested, you can follow it.”

That was already a polite refusal.

Li Ran had always been an elite student, and her appearance wasn’t bad either. She had never been turned down before.

She was proud and ambitious. Coming forward today to request joining the team was unprecedented. After being rejected, she felt too embarrassed to stay and turned to leave.

Lu Yu couldn’t stand it and sneered at Zhang Mian and the others. “I’ll wait for the day you’re begging me to let my best friend join your team!”

After they left, Shen Quanli laughed angrily. “I admit that Li Ran is very talented, but begging for her to join? That seems unnecessary.”

After he spoke, the other team members chimed in with their own opinions.

When Zhang Mian hadn’t spoken for a while, Shen Quanli asked curiously, “Old Zhang, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Zhang Mian wore a thoughtful expression. “I was just thinking… the girl with ice-blue hair—could it be Lu Yu?”

“What? Lu Yu?”

“The one who went to warn sister-in-law?”

“I laughed. That has to be her!”

“She really knows how to make a scene.”

“Good thing our team isn’t recruiting—otherwise, we’d have brought trouble upon ourselves.”

Although Li Ran and Lu Yu had left, Zhang Mian suspected this wasn’t over.

Li Ran probably wouldn’t give up so easily.

Half an hour later, the lab door opened.

Aside from Zhang Mian, the other team members had gone to the library to study.

Zhang Mian glanced at Ren Yanjing, then at Tang Zhen behind him, and mouthed: “Cheered up?”

Ren Yanjing nodded.

A companion robot was naturally suited to cheering up a girl.

It seemed that in the future, such robots wouldn’t just accompany autistic children or lonely elderly—they could also cheer up young girls.

Zhang Mian tapped his forehead and said, “Someone came earlier asking if our team is recruiting and wanted to join.”

Before Ren Yanjing could answer, 000 spoke in Tang Zhen’s mind: 【It’s the female lead! In the original storyline, later the male lead invited her to join the team, but now she’s showing up on her own!】

Tang Zhen blinked in surprise.

It seemed the plot really had changed a lot.

But it didn’t matter—three rounds had already said, as long as the main plot doesn’t change, it’s fine.