Chapter 231 Chapter 231 Socially anxious father 8

Zhong Qing's heartbeat stopped for half a second, and he subconsciously called out, "Zhuozhuo! Where are you?"

"Zhuozhuo is here."

A familiar voice echoed behind her. Zhong Qing turned to see Zhuozhuo standing on the sofa. She was delicate and graceful, dressed in a red, yellow, green, and white Tang Dynasty-style skirt with a distinct Dunhuang style. She looked like a little princess from a TV drama. Zhuozhuo jumped up and down happily, the gold, silver, and jade on her head and body jingling and tinkling. She said with a grin, "Dad Zhong Qing, Zhuozhuo's out!"

Zhong Qing saw a monkey escape from Five Finger Mountain for a moment. He was still a little slow to react and asked dreamily, "Zhuo Zhuo?"

"dad!"

"You really came out. You really are a real person."

"Yes, yes!"

Zhuozhuo was about to get off the sofa, and Zhong Qing stood up, ready to hug her. The next second, his expression changed, and he quickly backed away, as if avoiding the plague. He stood in the corner, pressed against the wall, and forced a smile at Zhuozhuo. "Zhuozhuo, don't move. What do you want to eat? I'll buy it for you."

After realizing that Zhuozhuo was a human, he had a social anxiety attack.

Zhuozhuo was completely unaware and shook his head, "Zhuozhuo, I'm not hungry."

"You can eat it even if you're not hungry. Zhuozhuo, if you can't think of anything, I'll just buy some for now."

As Zhong Qing spoke, he quickly slipped along the wall to a door, slipped in and closed the door.

Zhuozhuo looked at the closed door in confusion, jumped off the sofa, ran to the door, and banged on it. "Dad Zhong Qing, you've come to the wrong place. You need to go out to buy something. There's nothing at home!"

After a moment, a weak voice came from inside the door, "I ordered takeout on my phone."

"All right."

Zhuozhuo knocked on the door again, "Open the door, open the door, open the door——"

"Is there something wrong, Zhuozhuo?"

"Zhuozhuo wants to see daddy."

After a second of silence, the door opened. Zhong Qing held onto the doorframe with one hand and the doorknob with the other, looking at Zhuozhuo with a mixture of guilt and struggle. The little girl had finally come out of the game to find him, but he had abandoned her in an unfamiliar environment, hiding away himself, as if he truly despised her. Who knew how sad the little girl must be. What he had to do now was to quickly pick up Zhuozhuo and comfort her.

Just as Zhong Qing was preparing himself mentally, Zhuo Zhuo lunged forward and hugged his legs. She didn't notice that Zhong Qing had frozen, his legs like a log. She grumbled as she climbed up, landing in front of Zhong Qing's chest. She hugged his neck and grinned at him, "Daddy, hehe."

Zhong Qing held Zhuo Zhuo's buttocks with a stiff hand. Such real and close contact with a human being allowed his senses to capture her warmth, her beating heart, and her hot breaths without hindrance. Zhong Qing even had the illusion of hearing the sound of Zhuo Zhuo's blood flowing. His hair stood on end, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He said in a dry voice, "Zhuo Zhuo."

Zhuozhuo finally noticed Zhong Qing's abnormality. She looked at him in confusion, then said "Oh" in sudden realization and said in a baby voice, "Daddy, I'm tired. I need to sleep."

The sight of him so close made Zhong Qing feel overwhelmed. He said hurriedly, "Yes, Daddy wants to go to bed. Zhuozhuo can go play by himself."

"Okay."

Zhong Qing couldn't wait to put Zhuozhuo down and closed the door as if escaping. Listening to the sound of Zhuozhuo running away outside the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and was puzzled and admired at the same time: How could Zhuozhuo not be shy at all, and was as comfortable as if he had lived in this house with him since childhood.

He remembered the excuse to hide in the room and was about to buy some snacks and toys for Zhuozhuo, but then he realized that he had forgotten his cell phone on the computer desk.

“…”

"shining?"

"Zhuozhuo is here!"

Zhuozhuo was leaning on the back of the sofa, trying to reach the decorative vase on the wall. When he heard Zhong Qing calling him, he felt guilty for a moment, then ran over and said enthusiastically, "What's wrong, Dad?"

"Zhuozhuo, can you help me get the phone next to the computer?"

"able!"

"Thank you, Zhuozhuo."

The sound of thanks was drowned out by the thumping footsteps. Zhong Qing breathed a sigh of relief, but then he suddenly remembered that Zhuozhuo was not even as tall as the table. He quickly shouted, "Zhuozhuo, don't take it."

"Get it soon——"

How to get it? Zhong Qing instantly imagined the scene of Zhuo Zhuo climbing up and down, but the computer chair was a swivel chair. Even if Zhuo Zhuo could climb up, when she clung to the table and exerted force, it would likely cause the swivel chair to spin and she would fall down.

Zhong Qing opened the door as quickly as possible and rushed out. He rushed to the computer desk, picked up Zhuozhuo, and then found a row of chairs at the desk: a small 20-centimeter plastic stool, a 50-centimeter wooden stool, and an 80-centimeter high chair. With these stools, Zhuozhuo could climb onto the desk and reach the phone at the back.

"dad?"

"...Zhuozhuo is so smart." Zhong Qing took a deep breath and said seriously after praising him, "Zhuozhuo, it's easy to climb up but hard to come down. You couldn't see the stool when you came down, so you might kick it over. Not only would your feet hurt, but you might also fall. Don't do that again in the future."

Zhuozhuo looked up at Zhong Qing and said softly, "Zhuozhuo climbed up high to get Daddy's phone."

Zhong Qing was immediately overwhelmed by guilt. He didn't even react much when Zhuozhuo hugged him again. He said solemnly, "Zhuozhuo, you don't have to do any work from now on. I'll do it."

"OK."

Zhuozhuo held onto her and wouldn't let go. She watched Zhong Qing buy a lot of things with his phone, and she picked a lot herself. Then Zhong Qing held her and sat on the sofa, forcing a kind smile. "Zhuozhuo, I'll take you to the police station later and ask the police to help you find your parents. Now think carefully about where you live, what your parents look like, and what their names are."

Zhuozhuo hugged his phone, tapping it back and forth like Zhong Qing, and without looking up, he said, "Dad is Zhong Qing, and home is here."

Zhong Qing knew he couldn't get anything out of her, but Zhuozhuo was already here. He could just send her to the police station, and the police would figure it out. He rubbed his temples, told Zhuozhuo not to move, and went to the bathroom to wash up. He then dug out some milk and bread from the refrigerator that had expired today and ate them without batting an eyelid.

"Dad, what is this?"

Zhuozhuo opened a video app called Tik Tok and saw the livestream of the holographic helmet and cabin launch event. She watched the cool product displays and user demonstrations, listened attentively for a while, and then excitedly said, "Dad uses this and plays games with Zhuozhuo. It's a real dad, not a fake one."

Zhong Qing realized it was almost ten o'clock, and the holographic helmet was about to go on sale. He'd originally been overthinking it because of Zhuo Zhuo, and hadn't planned to buy it, but Zhuo Zhuo's sudden appearance at his house overturned all his previous assumptions. The holographic helmet, cleared of its accusations and re-emerged as a groundbreaking new product, piqued his interest again, and he added it to his purchase.

He looked at Zhuozhuo, whose eyes sparkled, and felt sorry for her when he thought about sending her away later. He decided to buy two and give one to Zhuozhuo so that they could play games together later.

However, this epoch-making product is in great demand, so purchases are limited, and each person can only buy one.

Zhong Qing sighed.

Zhuozhuo looked over and asked, "Dad, why are you sighing?"

Zhong Qing talked about the troubles of purchase restrictions.

Zhuozhuo: "Dad buy one, Zhuozhuo buy one."

"You need real-name verification to purchase something, but Zhuozhuo, you don't even know your own name, how can you verify your real-name?"

Zhuozhuo was unhappy and puffed up his cheeks and said, "Just call me Zhuozhuo!"

"What's your last name?"

Zhuozhuo took a deep breath and said loudly: "Zhong!"

Zhong Qing covered his ears, which were almost deafened by the noise. "Okay, okay, if you want the surname Zhong, then go ahead. Just having a name won't do. I don't even know your ID number."

9972 whispered, "Baby, it's on the household registration. Let Zhong Qing check it."

Zhuozhuo then asked Zhong Qing to check his household registration book—not the paper one in the drawer, but the one online. Unable to resist Zhuozhuo's insistence, Zhong Qing checked the national government service platform and discovered his book had gone from one page to two. The extra page read: "Zhong Zhuozhuo, the head of household is my father and daughter."

Zhong Qing: “………………”

His first reaction was that a criminal had secretly added Zhuozhuo to his household registration, a move aimed at securing a school district spot. There were numerous similar cases online. However, Zhuozhuo's parents had gone even further, not only wanting her to be their "cyber daughter" but also wanting to have her in real life. So they orchestrated an in-game encounter and secretly brought her to their home while he was engrossed in the game.

This was not only an act of hacking into the national administrative system, but also hacking into the "Datong" game, and breaking into a private house to send Zhuozhuo to his home. It also involved the abandonment of a young child. Zhong Qing didn't even dare to think about how many years Zhuozhuo's parents would be sentenced to.

Zhong Qing silently checked the surveillance footage and found nothing suspicious. He squatted in front of Zhuozhuo and said seriously, "Zhuozhuo, your parents are suspected of committing a crime. If you can provide me with clues about them, I can issue a letter of apology to your parents in court and help reduce their sentences as much as possible."

Zhuozhuo's face was full of questions, knowing that Zhong Qing didn't believe she was his daughter again. She was about to repeat herself when she heard the host on her phone say that the sale would start in three minutes. She anxiously pulled Zhong Qing, "Dad, it's on sale in three minutes!"

Zhong Qing paused for a moment before deciding to buy the holographic equipment first. He used Zhuozhuo's name and ID number for real-name verification. He was worried that long-term use of the holographic helmet would put pressure on her shoulders and neck and affect her sitting posture, so he wanted to buy her a holographic cabin.

Zhong Qing's internet speed was fast enough and he had a lot of experience in shopping, so he made the purchase successfully. The purchase page showed that all the items would be delivered to his door within two days.

At the same time, a reporter's excited voice came from the phone, "The price of the holographic cabin is five times that of the holographic helmet, but we can see that the holographic cabin sold out 3 milliseconds earlier than the holographic helmet!"

Zhuozhuo tilted his head, "Dad, did you spend a lot of money?"

Zhong Qing rubbed her little head and said with a smile: "Dad is rich."

Reporter: "One holographic cabin can buy a cheap two-bedroom apartment in a third-tier city!"

Zhuozhuo immediately understood the "expensive price of the holographic cabin." Her eyes rolled around and she said childishly, "Dad has some gold. Zhuozhuo, give it to Dad!"

Zhong Qing laughed, "There's not a single piece of gold jewelry in this house. What did you see?"

After he finished speaking, Zhong Qing's smile froze and he stared blankly at Zhuozhuo disappearing.

"Zhuozhuo?" Zhong Qing stood up in panic, his chair kicked two meters away. He looked around with a pale face, "Zhuozhuo, what's wrong with you? Where have you been?"

"Dad, Zhuozhuo is here."

"Where are you? Can you please come out? Daddy is scared when he can't see you."

After Zhong Qing finished speaking, he realized that Zhuozhuo's voice seemed to be coming from the speaker. He looked at the computer screen and saw the familiar little man. At that moment, Zhong Qing's legs weakened with relief, and he had to hold on to the table to avoid falling to the ground. He touched his heart and said exhaustedly, "Zhuozhuo, next time you are going to go, tell me in advance."