Xu Chi was stunned, not understanding what You Chumu meant by that.
Was he simply telling him to be careful on the road? But every word that came out of You Chumu’s mouth felt layered with hidden meaning.
Xu Chi stood there, his pen dropped on the counter. His feet were cold. Outside the management office, an auntie passed by with a child holding a cotton candy. He didn’t know what they were doing, but they peeked inside for a couple of glances before leaving.
Xu Chi pulled up his hood to cover his face.
He turned and walked out.
He had to leave now, find a way to go as far as possible, head to the far east… somewhere You Chumu wouldn’t go in the early stages.
He didn’t know why he was so afraid of You Chumu, but in the plot, he was the first person You Chumu killed after leaving the lab.
Oh, and there was that slap he had given him. You Chumu might remember it at any moment.
But before he could get far, the male officer’s voice came from behind:
“Wait, wait!”
Just as Xu Chi was about to turn around, he heard a woman shouting from another direction. He immediately looked over and saw it was the auntie from earlier, waving her arms as if something had been snatched. Behind her, the child had a face red from crying.
Without thinking, Xu Chi sprinted after them.
The thief was a slender youth in a black hoodie, running and laughing, holding something in his hand… hard to make out what.
Xu Chi leaped onto a trash can with one foot, pushed off with force, soared over the youth’s head, and slammed him to the ground.
He held him down by the neck.
Even Xu Chi himself was shocked by the move.
Could he really jump that far and fly that high before?
Then he felt he might have been too impulsive… what if the guy had special weapons or was a superpowered individual? Then as an ordinary person, he’d be dead.
He steadied himself and cleared his throat. “What did you steal?”
The black-clad youth had high brow bones. With his hands twisted behind him, he howled in pain but growled stubbornly,
“I stole his cotton candy! So what?!”
Xu Chi froze, dumbfounded. Stole what? Cotton, cotton candy?
He shifted his gaze to a thin stick lying on the ground. On closer inspection, there were indeed traces of cotton candy, already eaten clean.
He stammered in surprise,
“You… why did you steal a kid’s cotton candy?”
The youth roared, “I’m about to evolve into a superpowered individual! Cotton candy is my catalyst! Catalyst, you understand! It’s so precious… how could that brat be allowed to eat it?!”
Xu Chi understood. In the original novel, every superpowered individual had some kind of trigger before their divergence… some by smelling a certain scent, others by eating something.
And those with a weak superpower constitution needed to keep ingesting catalysts, like certain foods or fragrances, to force out the superpowered individual constitution.
Xu Chi paused, then grabbed both of the youth’s wrists with one hand while pulling him up by the back of his neck with the other.
The youth struggled but couldn’t break free, snarling, “Let me go! Let me go!”
Seeing the male officer had also arrived, Xu Chi explained, “He was committing robbery.”
The male officer nodded, took handcuffs from his pocket, cuffed the youth, and subdued him.
Then he turned to Xu Chi, sizing him up with surprise. “Are you a superpowered individual?”
Xu Chi was taken aback. “No, I’m not.”
“No?” The officer raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at his lips. “That leap of five meters just now isn’t something an ordinary person could do.”
“I pushed off the trash can. I used leverage.”
“But it was very smooth.”
“I… I have long legs.”
Xu Chi didn’t flinch. The officer seemed amused, twitched his mouth, and nodded. “Alright.”
Then he pointed behind him: “Our office’s superpowered individual isn’t here today. Take this kid away first, leave a phone number at the management office, and when the superpowered individual comes, I’ll call you.”
You Chumu was about five meters away from them, standing motionless, staring at them. His gaze was partly hidden by his bangs, unreadable, but his lips were curved.
Xu Chi’s hair stood on end, his scalp tingling. He quietly moved closer to the male officer, wanting to say something, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the auntie holding the child by the wall on the left side of the road, not even daring to come near.
He paused, thought for a moment, patted his pocket, and quickly walked over to the auntie and child.
He crouched down. His skin was fair, his temperament gentle, with a high nose bridge and red lips… a face that instantly inspired goodwill.
He patted the boy’s head. “Don’t cry.”
He wanted to say more comforting words but suddenly didn’t know what to say.
So he stopped, stood up, pulled two bills from his pocket, and handed them to the auntie: “Buy another one for the kid.”
The auntie’s eyes widened; she wanted to take them but hesitated. “I can’t, I can’t!”
Xu Chi grasped her hand and pressed the money into her palm. “Consider it my treat for the kid.”
He turned to leave, but the child grabbed his pant leg.
The child looked about four or five, with a chubby, slightly dark face, a teary, childish voice, but his eyes were so bright:
“Brother, are you a superhero?”
“…”
Xu Chi was silent.
Superhero… in his original world, that word and identity only appeared in TV shows and novels. His own life was just a routine, unexciting, two-point-one-line office worker.
He reflected on his actions just now… they really were kind of cool.
But this was a world of superpowered individuals, so it was nothing. In the original novel, even more outrageous things happened.
He crouched down again, rubbing the child’s cheeks. They were so plump and soft.
He couldn’t help but smile, his voice warm and calm:
“I’m just an ordinary person. Grow up well, go buy some cotton candy with your mom.”
At those words, the child’s dark eyes brightened more: “Mm!”
The child left, waving at him all the way.
Xu Chi only realized later that his face was red. He covered it with his hands, feeling a little strange, because in his world, his country was very safe, with excellent city security. He had never seen anything in his life that caused panic, let alone something like jumping off a trash can to subdue a criminal in one leap.
Of course, he hoped he’d never have the chance, and that the child’s cotton candy wouldn’t be stolen.
“Hey, have you seen enough?”
“Take the kid away if you’ve seen enough. I’m taking this one back too.”
Xu Chi snapped back to reality and quickly called out, “Wait!”
“What?” The male officer paused, waiting for him.
Xu Chi stepped forward, about to ask if he could take You Chumu away too, and if You Chumu could stay at the management office until the superpowered individual returned.
They had accepted the case; it was reasonable to keep You Chumu there for observation.
In short, don’t let You Chumu go back with him.
But before he could speak, he turned his head and noticed that You Chumu, who had been far away, was now right beside him, without him even noticing when.