The Villain Is Too Popular

Monday, late afternoon.

"Caroline, Caroline, don't walk so fast! I really have something very important to tell you."

At the main gate outside the villa, Tendo grabbed Caroline's wrist, finally making her stop.

Though Caroline had stopped, she wasn't giving Tendo a pleasant look. His and Chen Xing's recent secretive actions had made her quite unhappy with him. Unless Tendo proactively explained the reason, she absolutely wouldn't forgive him easily.

Despite her seemingly cold expression, a hint of expectation still flickered in Caroline's eyes. She clearly thought Tendo had stopped her this time to explain the 'little secret' between him and Chen Xing.

However, Caroline was quickly disappointed. What Tendo said next wasn't about any 'little secret' with Chen Xing. It was about the details of their current 'guard mission.'

If this were before, she, known for her calmness and rationality, wouldn't have listened attentively if Tendo spoke of anything unrelated to the mission. She might even have chastised him to be a bit more serious. But today, for some reason, hearing that Tendo sought her out for a 'mission' actually made Caroline feel a little disappointed. This feeling was rare, but it had indeed happened.

Tendo, however, seemed not to notice any of this, and self-assuredly finished explaining why he needed Caroline.

"So, Caroline, due to Miss Isabel's sudden capriciousness, we have to take a day off from school tomorrow to scout the locations she plans to visit in advance. After all, both the Jellyfish Amusement Park and the Sunken Ship Grand Restaurant are places with extremely high foot traffic. If we don't familiarize ourselves with the environment beforehand, we won't be able to protect her well when she goes to play there on Friday."

Caroline looked at Tendo expressionlessly, calmly replying, "Okay, I understand."

With that, Caroline turned to go back into the villa. But this time, Tendo seemed to remember something else and called out to her again.

"Wait a moment."

Under Caroline's questioning gaze, Tendo suddenly brought up Caroline's Star Source—Quantum Ghost.

"Caroline, I heard from Sister Yun that you've decided to undergo the organization's arranged quantum computation after this mission, to significantly boost your Star Source development, right?"

Caroline nodded, not denying it. Although she had only told Yun Meng for now, considering Tendo's relationship with Yun Meng and her relationship with Tendo, it wasn't surprising that Tendo knew.

However, one thing perplexed Caroline: why did Tendo suddenly bring this up? The essence of quantum computation was for Caroline, with the organization's help, to allow her consciousness to enter the 'Supercomputer Space,' a place typically only accessible to Level 2 Automaton Star Envoys. While there were risks like 'personality formatting' and 'memory loss' associated with it, considering the organization's achievements in automatons, Caroline believed the risk of her 'Supercomputer Space journey' was very low.

Could Tendo be worried about her? Thinking this, Caroline's mood suddenly brightened considerably. Her previously cold face visibly softened, and she asked, "What's wrong, Tendo? Why are you suddenly talking about this?"

Facing Caroline's questioning expression, Tendo opened his mouth as if to say something. But in the end, he chose to keep those words to himself, saying in his classic, half-joking tone, "...Nothing, I just suddenly remembered that once your consciousness enters the Supercomputer Space, we won't be able to see each other for at least a month, and at most three months."

"And if that happens, for the first few months after we return to base, there'll be no one to help me get food from the cafeteria in advance."

Hearing this, Caroline unexpectedly laughed. She looked at Tendo, a rare teasing expression on her face.

"What, is that all you wanted to say?"

Facing Caroline's teasing, Tendo scratched his cheek, pretending to have been figured out, and reluctantly said, "Alright, what I really wanted to say is that I won't be able to legitimately have double portions of dessert for a while. That's the most crucial thing."

Watching Tendo's amusing reaction, Caroline couldn't help but laugh.

"I knew it. Alright, Tendo, don't worry, I've already arranged everything you mentioned."

"A long time ago, I told Instructor Yun Meng that during the time I'm in the Supercomputer Space, all my desserts will be counted towards you, so you don't have to worry about your double portions. Besides, it's only a maximum of three months. There's still plenty of time in the future; your desserts definitely won't be missing."

"Oh, is that so? Then I'm relieved..."

Receiving this 'desired' answer, Tendo immediately displayed a 'satisfied' expression in front of Caroline. Afterward, he reminded Caroline emphatically not to be late tomorrow, then walked into the villa ahead of her.

However, in the direction Caroline couldn't see, the happy expression on Tendo's face quickly changed to one of complexity. Although the 'Fireworks of the Year' plan was entirely orchestrated by Tendo and he intended to implement it firmly, as he spent more time with Caroline and the others, he had long ceased to treat them merely as cold tools for popularity. He truly considered them his comrades, his friends, his family.

Therefore, if he could, Tendo truly didn't want to deliberately harm his 'family' just for a bit of popularity. But if everything were to proceed according to the original plot, Caroline's 'computation' would be imperfect due to a sudden attack from the Star Envoy Association a few months later, leading to the fatal flaw of 'personality deficiency.'

While 'personality deficiency' isn't a flaw for most Automaton Star Envoys—it's actually a great advantage, allowing them to discard all 'emotional' factors and keep their minds in the most 'rational' state—in Tendo's view, if a person can't even feel basic 'joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness,' can such a person still be considered human?

Therefore, if Tendo wanted to make Caroline's 'computation' perfect, he not only needed to secure enough 'computation' time for her, but he also had to provide her with sufficient 'emotional' stimulation afterward. Only then could he be confident in diluting the excessively high rationality value brought by the Supercomputer Space, allowing her to retain her 'human' side to the greatest extent possible.

Although his approach was somewhat cruel to Caroline, letting her live as a human with hatred was still better than letting her become a pure, emotionless automaton, wasn't it? Moreover, Tendo didn't intend for Caroline to remain 'painful' and 'hateful' forever. Because once the painful memories disappear, the pain naturally disappears with them.

Thinking this, Tendo, who had reached the doorway, took a deep breath. The next second, the complex expression on his face vanished. It was replaced by his usual unreliable demeanor. This change in expression was undoubtedly meant to prevent others from seeing his true thoughts.

However, while his disguise fooled everyone in the story, it couldn't fool the dimensional viewers watching the anime. If there hadn't been the previous flashback, the dimensional viewers might have, like Caroline, been deceived once again by Tendo's superb acting, believing he was simply worried about his double portions of dessert, which was why he had that conversation with Caroline just now. After all, it perfectly aligned with Tendo's character as a severe sweet-tooth.

But with the preceding flashback as a prelude, the dimensional viewers understood that Tendo's words clearly had a hidden meaning. He had simply chosen to bury those words in his heart again, out of some consideration, rather than speaking them aloud. While this action made him incredibly popular, it also made the dimensional viewers very uncomfortable. This discomfort peaked when Caroline said, "there's still plenty of time in the future."

No, sister, are you still naively talking about the future here? It looks like there won't be a future soon!!!