Chapter 30: "F*ck!"
At the kitchen counter,
Emma's fingers gripped the cold knife, the blade slowly gliding along the rim of a jar.
Each time bright red jelly stained the tip, she would close her eyes slightly, her tongue gently licking the blade, her expression one of pure enjoyment.
In her previous home, her father would always forbid her from touching sharp objects, but in her new home, she felt liberated, able to experience this pleasure without restraint.
However, this twisted pleasure didn't last long.
A hand suddenly reached out and swiftly snatched the knife from her hand.
Megan pointed the handle at Emma, her tone unusually serious. "As a good girl, you should know how to protect yourself and others, and stay away from potential dangers. If there's anything you want to eat, you can always tell me. However..."
She paused, then scrutinized Emma with an almost scanning gaze, before unhesitatingly taking the jar from Emma's hand and tossing it directly into the trash can.
"Your sugar intake today is seriously excessive. For your health, high-sugar foods will be off-limits for the next 18 hours."
"Off-limits?!"
Emma's brow furrowed, her dissatisfaction quickly escalating into anger. "You're just a robot my uncle sent to take care of me! What right do you have to decide what I should do?!"
"Now, get me another jar of jelly from the fridge! Now!"
Realizing her usually obedient robot dared to disobey her, Emma immediately pointed at the fridge and screamed.
Megan simply smiled and shook her head. "My duty is to protect your physical and mental health and safety. Any commands that might harm you will be automatically blocked by my program."
"Freak!"
Emma glared at Megan for a while, and seeing that she really didn't react, she cursed inwardly in frustration.
Just then, a curse from the upstairs bedroom broke the tense atmosphere in the kitchen.
"Fuck fuck fuck!"
Ted, carrying the cruelly severed teddy bear head, stormed down the stairs in a rage!
Upon seeing this, Emma, whose expression had been somewhat gloomy, gradually curled into a cold smile.
"Who did this?! How could you stuff something so bloody into my bed!"
Ted slammed the teddy bear's head on the table, shouting angrily, "Don't deny it! There are only a few of us in this house; it couldn't be anyone else but you!"
Megan picked up the teddy bear, scanned it, and shook her head, saying, "No other fingerprints were found besides yours. If someone didn't deliberately do this while wearing gloves, the only explanation is that you did it while sleepwalking."
"What? Sleepwalking?" Ted looked bewildered; he didn't remember having that habit.
"Ted, please allow me to remind you again," Megan said earnestly, "Rango warned me to avoid cursing in front of Emma. Your behavior is detrimental to the child's mental and physical well-being."
"Shut up, Meg!"
Ted had no time for this cyber-housewife's nagging. He turned to Emma and tentatively asked, "Emma, did you do this?"
Emma glanced at the teddy bear with only its head on the table and said indifferently, "I never play with these things."
Ted scrutinized Emma and, seeing her calm expression and lack of guilt, his doubts lessened somewhat.
"It wasn't you, and it wasn't Megan, so it must have been a ghost?!"
Ted grumbled, then suddenly remembered something, grabbed the teddy bear from the table, turned and left, his short legs moving quickly, disappearing down the hall.
Watching his hurried figure, Emma asked, puzzled, "Where is he going?"
Megan smiled, revealing nothing, but picked up Emma's backpack and instructed her, "The school bus will be here in less than five minutes. Good girl, you should stand at the door and wait quietly for it."
Emma glanced at Megan's perpetually mechanical smile, then silently slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed towards the front door.
She had already made up her mind that once her uncle returned, she would make him lift all the restrictions Megan placed on her.
Meanwhile, Ted had rushed to the basement.
He had just remembered that not only was the house truly haunted, but they also kept dozens of ghosts as "power banks."
Pushing open the basement door, Ted glanced back, and seeing that Emma hadn't followed, immediately slammed the door shut and shouted, "Come out! Come out, all of you!"
A few seconds later, nothing had changed in the basement; not even a ghost was there.
Seeing this, Ted became even more annoyed and said, "Don't blame me for not warning you. If you don't come out after I call you three times, I'll have Rango raise your rent!"
This time, as soon as he finished speaking, dozens of heads instantly popped out from the wall, like mounted trophies, densely packed and chilling.
Ted, suppressing his nausea, raised the teddy bear's head and demanded, "Who did this?! Damn it! You want to rebel as soon as Rango leaves?!"
The many earthbound spirits exchanged bewildered glances. Rango had instructed them not to manifest in the villa before leaving.
Under his roof, they didn't dare to do anything like this.
Moira, the maid closest to Rango, firmly stated, "We haven't left since Rango departed. We definitely didn't do this."
"Dare to lie to me?"
Ted didn't believe them at all and threatened directly, "If you still don't admit it, then I'll have to get Rango to double your rent again. Twelve months' rent as deposit, one month's rent in advance? Sounds pretty good."
Upon hearing this, the earthbound spirits, who had only peeked out, instantly panicked and revealed their full forms, crowding the entire basement.
Their expressions were filled with helplessness and pleading; some even knelt on the ground, swearing to God that they had nothing to do with it.
Seeing this, Ted felt a pang of pity.
Looking at their miserable state, they certainly didn't seem like the kind of spirits who could do such a thing.
"Then did you see who did it?" Ted softened his tone and pressed again.
The numerous earthbound spirits looked at each other, remaining silent for a long time.
Just when Ted thought he was going to get nothing, a teenage-looking earthbound spirit weakly raised his hand and said, "I... I sneaked out for some fresh air last night and happened to see Miss Emma in her bedroom with an identical teddy bear. And..."
"And what?"
"And she was repeatedly stabbing the teddy bear with a steak knife, shouting fiercely, 'Leave my uncle!'"
"What the hell?!"
(End of Chapter)
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