Chapter 8
The cotton doll creaked and rustled around for a long time before it finally managed to flip itself over by its own efforts. Sprawling its limbs out wide, the plush doll lay face-down on the soft blanket in the shape of a spread-eagle star. It rubbed its head against the fabric, then turned its face to one side, its eyes blinking as it found itself in an intimate staring contest with the “fallen” snow globe.
Don’t look at Cotton like that. Cotton is powerless right now too… Once Cotton learns to walk, Cotton will definitely get human to come rescue you!
The cotton doll cheered itself on. It raised its head, propped its two tiny hands on the blanket, and sticking its bottom up in the air once again, it clumsily shuffled backward while straining to straighten its legs. With its back held stiff and straight, it gave a mighty “heave-ho!” and stood up.
Cotton’s sky! Has Cotton already mastered the art of standing up?!
It was just that moving in this body seemed… a little bit slow?
Was it slow? Cotton felt that wasn’t entirely it.
It couldn’t quite put its finger on what it was, only knowing that with every move it made, its body gave a subtle hitch accompanied by a sharp “creak.” But unlike the soft, squishy, powerless feeling from before, Cotton could feel that something inside its body seemed to be supporting it.
This new discovery instantly fired up the cotton doll’s fighting spirit. Tentatively, it stretched out a stiff leg and carefully shuffled forward a tiny step.
Great, Cotton, you can do it!
As an outstanding Cotton, it was not going to fall twice in the same spot.
The cotton doll focused all its concentration on mobilizing its trailing leg. Still lifting it stiffly, it stepped forward. Its body tilted slightly out of control from the effort, and it even closed its eyes in sheer nervousness.
After waiting a few seconds, the anticipated tumble didn’t happen. It was still standing firm—its legs weren’t squishy, nor were they wobbling or trembling. It was unbelievably stable.
The cotton doll slowly opened one eye in disbelief.
Awesome! Cotton loves this body!
Though it was only a distance too short to be shorter, for its entire cotton life, this was one giant leap!
It was definitely going to learn how to walk, and when the time came, the human would surely look at it in a whole new light.
And so, the cotton doll carried on its “walking practice” in a stiff, somewhat awkward fashion, shuffling aimlessly and slowly around the storage room. Gradually, however, the excitement on its face faded, replaced by a growing annoyance.
Creak… creak…
Cotton was making noise non-stop. Cotton felt it was a bit too loud.
The 20-centimeter cotton doll had a low altitude and moved slowly, but it could spot things that had been forgotten in the corners for a very long time.
Just like right now: the cotton doll discovered a massive cardboard box where the human had stacked it at the very beginning. However, unless one stood at its “height,” it was hard to tell that something was being pressed underneath the box.
Cotton was very curious. Cotton was going to check it out.
It shuffled over inch by inch, its two hands touching the edge of the cardboard box. The cotton doll bent its body low in an attempt to see what on earth was trapped beneath.
…Dark… can’t see clearly… but it seems like something is emitting a faint light…
The cotton doll flopped straight onto its stomach and tried sticking its head into the gap between the floor and the cardboard box. Finding that it could squeeze through, it used both hands and feet to slowly crawl toward the place where the faint light flickered.
The thing glowing green was right before its eyes. The cotton doll had no idea what it was, only knowing there was a raised, round button. It reached out a tiny hand, tried pressing it once, and then blinked expectantly.
Why was there no reaction? Could it be that Cotton’s strength wasn’t big enough?
There!
Keeping its hands and feet still, the cotton doll pulled its body backward with all its might, gathered its strength, and slammed its head forcefully against it.
Ding~
After a light chime, a clearer green light illuminated this long-silent corner, accompanied by the faint, mechanical hum of a motor.
Cotton is an absolute genius!
It was just about to crawl out to see what on earth this thing was when it suddenly noticed something was off.
Why… was this corner getting brighter and brighter?
The cotton doll slowly raised its head, only to find that even the obstruction above its head was gone. It tilted its head to the side: a round, flat white machine was dragging the “overburdened” cardboard box as it moved.
So magical!
The cotton doll watched this creature—which moved quite a bit faster than itself—with a look of open envy in its eyes.
Before the round, flat machine could move a few more steps, however, it went on strike with a loud clack right on the spot. The seemingly heavy cardboard box wobbled from the sudden movement and stop, and the cotton doll even heard the sound of items clashing inside. In the next instant, the entire cardboard box lost its balance and came crashing down right toward where it was standing—
Wait, Cotton hasn’t crawled out yet—
Having finally managed to “pull” its trapped leg out from under the cardboard box, the cotton doll wore an exceedingly terrible expression, carrying even a trace of… gloominess… : Is there not a single “good thing” in this human’s house…
Throwing a little tantrum, it kicked the cardboard box a few times in harmless retaliation, then crawled inside through the opening.
Before long, glass marbles—each looking as big as a human fist—rolled out of the cardboard box one after another. Finally, a round iron box with a lock was nudged out by the cotton doll using its head, bump by bump.
Round balls, round and flat things…
Why did this human like round, chubby things so much?
The moment the door closed, Shang Che turned around immediately, taking three steps in two to rush upstairs straight for the storage room. As he pressed down on the handle, he was already prepared to face all sorts of chaotic scenes.
Evidently, his preparation was still far from enough.
Through the crack of the opening door, he knew that this restless lump of cotton clearly hadn’t taken their agreement seriously.
The neatly flattened blanket had become crumpled and messy, looking as though it had been dragged around. Next, Shang Che’s pupils shrank slightly. He pushed the door open and stepped forward hastily, nervously picking up the snow globe that had fallen onto the blanket. After examining it carefully and confirming it was undamaged, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Setting the snow globe back onto the display shelf, Shang Che only then felt something slowly rolling to his feet. He lowered his gaze.
It was a galaxy glass marble.
Shang Che bent down to pick it up. As expected, the “gurgle, gurgle…” rolling sound he had heard earlier had been produced by this very thing. Looking off to the side, he saw the 40-centimeter cotton doll—which was supposed to be sitting on the blanket—now lying “on its side” on the floor.
“…” He couldn’t help pinching the bridge of his nose. He swept his eyes across the room: three cotton dolls. The 20-centimeter one was missing.
It wasn’t anywhere in this area. Shang Che followed the direction the glass marble had rolled from.
In the corner, the cardboard box he used to store old belongings was tilted on the floor, gaping wide open. Glass marbles were scattered in every corner of the room, and as for the “culprit” who caused all this…
Shang Che’s gaze slowly froze.
The 20-centimeter cotton doll was sticking its bottom up in the air, its entire plush body pressed almost flush against the gap between the round iron box and the floor. Without even lifting its round head, it used its hands and feet together to stubbornly nudge the iron box forward.
It seemed completely immersed in its own world, not even noticing that the human it had been anticipating for so long had already appeared before it.
“What…” Shang Che heard his own dry voice ring out, carrying an unbelievable raspiness, “…are you doing?”
The cotton doll’s wriggling body came to a sudden halt.
A jarring “creak” echoed through the room as the cotton doll raised its head inch by inch, its eyes sparkling bright: “Human, you came!”
“Is it tomorrow now?”
Seeing him, the cotton doll abandoned even the iron box, creaking and rustling as it tried to shuffle over to him.
Shang Che, however, suddenly took a step back and turned his body away.
The cotton doll didn’t understand his actions, calling out to him in some anxiety: “Human…”
A few seconds later, Shang Che hooked his fingers through the collar of the 40-centimeter cotton doll and hauled it over. Staring at those dull, lifeless eyes, Shang Che lowered his gaze and spoke to the dirty cotton doll on the floor: “Switch back.”
The cotton doll looked at its hands; its white fabric skin had turned dusty and gray, and the light blue suspender pants it wore had somehow gotten dirty with a stain, looking not the least bit clean or cute anymore. It struggled to turn itself around on the spot, falling face-down onto the floor.
Then Shang Che lifted the doll in his hand, staring into those golden eyes, his voice kept very low: “Is this what you meant by being good and listening to me?”
Shang Che’s gaze swept over the total mess across the floor—the glass marbles scattered everywhere, the cardboard box that had clearly been explored, the messy blanket—before finally settling back onto this cotton doll that looked incomparably “obedient and innocent.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his surging emotions: “Did I or did I not tell you not to move around recklessly?”
The cotton doll instinctively rubbed its small round hands together, its body swaying left and right as it argued its case: “Cotton… Cotton didn’t move around recklessly…”
“Then these glass marbles,” Shang Che supported its bottom, forcing the cotton doll to look at the floor with him, his toe lightly tapping a red glass marble that had stopped in front of the cardboard box, and then touching the iron box, “and this iron box—did they grow legs and run out of the box all by themselves?”
“Did they come alive just like you?”
The cotton doll blinked its eyes, seemingly processing Shang Che’s words quickly.
A few seconds later, it raised its head, its expression carrying a touch of pride: “No, only Cotton is alive.”
“Cotton is the awesome-est!”
Awesome?
Shang Che was so exasperated he almost laughed out loud.
“Cotton properly… helped you protect… the snow globe, you know~” The cotton doll still paused every few words, a trace of dejection creeping into its tone. “But the snow globe… fell over… and Cotton couldn’t lift it…”
It pointed a soft hand toward the machine on the floor and continued, “It was pressed… by the cardboard box. Cotton just wanted to… rescue it.”
“Plus, Cotton learned how to walk!”
It then raised its face, looking up at Shang Che expectantly, a picture of waiting to be praised.
In an instant, all of Shang Che’s scolding words got stuck right in his throat.
This cotton doll actually thought the snow globe he used to “coax” it was something given to it to protect. And the reason it had switched to a smaller body and gotten itself all filthy was for the sake of that robot vacuum he had long forgotten in the corner.
…He genuinely didn’t know what to say. Even the most towering rage couldn’t find a way out now.
Shang Che squatted on one knee, reaching out to flip the face-down 20-centimeter cotton doll over and set it onto the iron box. Looking at the dust rubbed onto its body, he turned his face to meet those pure golden eyes that held not a shred of guilt—only the subtle pride of having accomplished a “grand feat.”
…Forget it. What was there to argue about with a cotton doll?
Having not received his answer, the cotton doll kept babbling away with its questions:
“Human, you haven’t said whether Cotton is awesome or not.”
“Human, is Cotton awesome or not after all?”
“Human—”
