Ji Wangcheng’s “万人迷” (Heartthrob) halo was still going strong.
At noon, the two of them went to a small, unassuming noodle shop in the backstreets for lunch. It was the sort of place that could barely be called a restaurant but the noodles were decent and the prices were cheap. All around them, people’s gazes seemed to cling to Ji Wangcheng like magnetic powder suspended in the air, drawn irresistibly toward him by some invisible force.
Ji Wangcheng, however, paid no attention to it. He simply continued eating his noodles as though nothing unusual was happening, even picking up the soft boiled egg from his own bowl and placing it into Li Xingchuan’s.
Li Xingchuan glanced around at the surrounding tables.
The excessive attention coming from the people nearby made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
He had always known that Xiao Ji was popular. After all, his appearance was practically a gift from the heavens. With those features, it was difficult for him not to attract attention wherever he went.
But… had things really been this exaggerated before?
Five minutes later, a tall, slender blonde woman from the neighboring table approached them. She lightly tapped her fingers against their tabletop and smiled at Ji Wangcheng.
“Hello.”
She was an international student and her pronunciation of the Chinese greeting was remarkably clear and precise.
“I want to be friends with you.” Although the girl’s Chinese was not entirely standard, she spoke fluently and with confidence. “Can I have your contact information?”
…She was a very beautiful woman and her manner was open and straightforward.
Li Xingchuan lowered his head and stirred his noodles with his chopsticks.
There was still nearly half a bowl left but his appetite had suddenly disappeared.
He picked up half of the soft boiled egg Ji Wangcheng had given him and put it into his mouth, chewing quickly as though he were doing it out of spite. He deliberately minimized his own presence, shrinking into the background as much as possible. He had no intention of interfering with whatever decision Ji Wangcheng chose to make.
Ji Wangcheng, meanwhile, felt a surge of irritation.
He lifted his eyelids and glanced at the person who had interrupted his meal with Shanshan.
A damn… potato.
Oh, right. She was a foreigner.
Then, in English, she was a potato.
“No.”
The girl looked surprised. She had probably not expected such a direct and decisive rejection. Her gaze swept over Li Xingchuan and she suddenly seemed to realize something.
“Is this your…” She could not find a suitable word, so she resorted to an English term. “Partner?”
Ji Wangcheng nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“Yes.”
Li Xingchuan choked on his noodles.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough…!!!”
Yes to what?
Did Ji Wangcheng even know what that girl had just asked him?
That word… in this context, it meant a same sex partner!
The foreign beauty graciously apologized, then wished them happiness in English before turning around and leaving without looking back.
Li Xingchuan was mortified.
At the same time, he felt that deliberately discussing the meaning of partner with Ji Wangcheng over such a minor incident would be unnecessary. It would only make the situation seem even more suspicious, as though he were trying too hard to conceal something that did not exist.
His thoughts were in disarray as he picked up another clump of noodles with his chopsticks and continued eating, mechanically repeating the same motions.
If they were to discuss the word partner, Ji Wangcheng might ask him what word should be used to define their relationship.
Li Xingchuan knew the standard answer was friend.
But he was not particularly willing to give that answer.
He felt that their relationship ought to be described by something a little more special than that. After all, they were so close and their relationship was much better than that of ordinary friends.
And yet, Ji Wangcheng misinterpreted his silence as a sign that he was upset.
Useless.
You can’t even make Shanshan like me. All you do is cause trouble.
He decided that, once Li Xingchuan was not paying attention, he would remove this useless ability.
Truly useless.
This attempt had failed.
In the blink of an eye, another day passed.
Soon, the day of Li Xingchuan and Ji Wangcheng’s internship registration arrived.
Yucheng Development Committee, Special Affairs Office.
A group of young people sat in a circle inside the office. A director in his forties or fifties sat among them, leisurely delivering a speech.
“Li Xingchuan and ‘Natural Disaster’ will report for duty at 2 p.m. this afternoon.”
“There’s no need to be too nervous. Just behave like ordinary university students. You don’t need to accomplish anything extraordinary; as long as you don’t make any mistakes, that’s enough. Li Xuanzhi and Shan Bai will be guiding you. If there’s something you don’t understand, don’t speak carelessly. Just cooperate with whatever they discuss.”
“If there’s anything you’re unclear about, you can ask now.”
“I have a question!” Huang Shaohui spoke up. “Why do I also have to cooperate with this plan? My testing rounds have already been completed, haven’t they?”
The director replied, “They haven’t been completed yet.”
Huang Shaohui frowned. “Why not?”
The director explained, “Lin Haiyang is still unconscious and showing no signs of waking up. What if his ability suddenly stops working? The organization’s current focus is centered around Yucheng. If something unexpected happens, keeping you here means we’ll be able to help you immediately. It’s for your own good.”
Huang Shaohui muttered, “…Even so, you shouldn’t have arranged for me to stay next to Li Xingchuan. Can’t I remain in Yucheng and do something else?”
Shan Bai said, “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”
Huang Shaohui raised his voice. “Who’s scared?! You think I’m afraid of him?!”
His voice was extremely loud.
Every single person in the room turned to look at him in unison. No one said a word but their gazes seemed to carry a faint trace of pity.
Huang Shaohui: “…”
Shan Bai: “Pfft.”
Huang Shaohui: “…What the hell are you laughing at?”
“I wasn’t laughing.” Shan Bai covered his mouth with an expression of solemn dignity, inwardly howling with laughter.
Hahahahahaha, Ah Huang, you really are a coward.
Maintaining an affected, winding tone as though he were delivering a perfectly reasonable explanation, he said, “I just remembered something happy.”
Huang Shaohui drew a deep breath, his expression one of barely restrained patience.
“There is an important matter that I need to inform everyone about.” Li Xuanzhi spoke up, redirecting the attention of everyone present toward himself. “The Abyss has carried out several operations targeting ‘Natural Disaster’ recently. Every one of them ended in failure.”
Upon hearing this news, everyone stopped fooling around. Their expressions turned serious.
Li Xuanzhi moved his fingers and three brief autopsy reports appeared in front of each person.
They all concerned dangerous criminals who had been dealt with casually by Ji Wangcheng. Every one of them had committed heinous crimes and if any one of them were brought before the Superhuman Tribunal, a life sentence would be the minimum they could expect.
“They have never stopped their operations against ‘Natural Disaster,’” Li Xuanzhi said. “Therefore, the Special Affairs Office may also come under surveillance. We need to ensure Li Xingchuan’s safety.”
The organization known as the Abyss was extremely loose in its structure yet all its members shared the same goal.
They were committed to destroying the world and establishing a new order, replacing every official institution with the Abyss and making it the world’s new ruling power.
When it came to their operations, however, they acted independently, with no proper organizational structure. After all, none of these criminals was willing to submit to anyone else.
Those who shared similar goals might form teams and carry out operations together, setting fires and causing chaos wherever they went for their own amusement.
The situation was much like the deep reaching poisonous curse known as Pandora. It was obvious that more than one person was operating behind the scenes.
Most of the time, the members of the Abyss had little to no planning or discipline.
For the organization, this characteristic had both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was that the enemy lacked unity, giving the organization opportunities to isolate and eliminate them one by one.
The disadvantage was that these bastards were simply too reckless and willful. It was extremely difficult to predict where they would appear next or what kind of trouble they would cause. All they could do was remain vigilant and keep constant watch.
The fact that some members of the Abyss kept throwing themselves at Ji Wangcheng one after another, practically delivering their own heads to him like moths flying into a flame, was also an inevitable consequence of the organization’s inherent nature.
Li Xuanzhi continued, “Three days ago, the team monitoring Ge Wenbin reported to their superiors that this person had apparently taken an unlicensed vehicle and illegally entered Yucheng. His target may also be ‘Natural Disaster.’”
Huang Shaohui asked, “Who is Ge Wenbin?”
Shan Bai answered, “His alias is ‘Lao Liu.’ The one who can turn invisible. Back in Lincheng, he relied on his invisibility ability to bypass the security checkpoint and take a bag of explosives onto the subway.”
“Oh, then I know who you’re talking about. Your memory is pretty good.”
Shan Bai gave a reserved nod, inwardly thinking that of course he knew the details. After all, he had been the one who handled that incident.
Compared to the other members of the organization, Lao Liu preferred operating alone. He was not particularly intelligent and the social impact of his crimes had been relatively limited. On several occasions, he had attempted to plant homemade bombs in public areas but his actions were discovered in time. His attempt to rob a bank while invisible had also failed.
Relatively speaking, he was a small minded and rather idiotic criminal, the kind of person whose ambitions were limited and whose methods were clumsy.
However, the security risks posed by an invisibility ability were enormous. They could not afford to lower their guard.
After everyone finished discussing the serious matters, the clock moved toward 1:50 p.m.
Li Xingchuan and Ji Wangcheng entered through the main entrance of the small building.
The moment their figures appeared on the surveillance monitors, the several people who had been sitting upright in the office immediately scattered to their respective positions, putting on an act as though they were barely acquainted with one another.
At the staircase, Li Xingchuan happened to run into his two roommates. The four of them walked toward the office together.
Several training chairs had already been arranged inside the office in advance.
When Li Xingchuan pushed open the door and entered, he immediately saw two heads, one red and one green, with an empty seat between them.
It looked as though the middle seat had been deliberately left for some unknown yellow haired individual.
A traffic light missing one of its three colors.
Unfortunately, there was no one with yellow hair among those present.
The red haired head belonged to the red haired guy who had previously gotten himself stuck in a wall.
The green haired head looked very familiar.
That day at the KTV, the lighting had been dim and hazy. Li Xingchuan only remembered that the young man had short hair so brilliantly green that it practically shone, along with an outfit that was inexplicably non mainstream and rather flamboyant.
As for his actual appearance, Li Xingchuan could not remember it clearly.
In order to determine whether the other person was Ou Ruoyao’s cousin, he took an extra couple of glances.
Unfortunately, the other man glared at him.
Huang Shaohui thought viciously:
What the hell are you looking at?! It’s all your fault that I had to be a stray dog for several days!
And so, he glared right back.
Huang Shaohui considered himself someone who clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment.
Li Xingchuan was the enemy who had humiliated him and forced him to live like a dog.
Lin Haiyang, on the other hand, was his benefactor, the person who had risked his own life to save him.
Over the past few days, Huang Shaohui had gone to the hospital to visit Lin Haiyang every single day. He had watched as the other man gradually transferred from the intensive care unit to a regular ward and he had finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Lin Haiyang still had not woken up.
Huang Shaohui felt that he was undoubtedly responsible for at least part of what had happened.
And Li Xingchuan was the mastermind behind the entire situation, the person who had harmed others without even realizing it.
The most infuriating part was that this terrifying troublemaker had absolutely no idea what he had done.
And they could not tell him.
The two of them sat in the row directly in front of him.
As the director began delivering the usual formalities to the “interns,” Huang Shaohui continued to condemn Li Xingchuan with his eyes, repeatedly sending him accusatory looks.
Half a second later, he noticed a shadow spreading across the floor from the area in front of the seats.
It resembled a pool of black water with an intensely corrosive quality, spreading slowly toward him from the front row.
Huang Shaohui was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body.
He instinctively shifted backward a little, no longer daring to continue cursing Li Xingchuan inwardly.
The red haired guy beside him, Hong Xuan, made almost exactly the same movement.
The wheels of their chairs made faint noises as they rolled backward. The two of them turned toward each other at the same time.
Huang Shaohui thought, Ah, isn’t this the idiot who got himself stuck in a wall? I’m fucking dying. What a moron.
Hong Xuan thought, Ah, so this is the idiot who turned into a dog. I’m fucking dying. Ah Huang, you really are something.
The two of them exchanged polite smiles while mercilessly mocking each other in their minds.
Meanwhile, Li Xingchuan, sitting in front of them, remained completely oblivious to everything.
His mind was filled with thoughts like I’m so sleepy, I want to take a nap and I can’t yawn. He struggled to keep his eyelids open, desperately preventing himself from falling asleep.
The benefits of this internship were quite good.
Since it was a semi public welfare internship, the hours worked could be converted into volunteer service hours on a one to one basis. They could also issue an internship certificate, which would count toward credits for the extracurricular practice module. On top of that, each day came with a meal allowance of twenty five yuan.
Just these few benefits alone were enough to make Li Xingchuan wholeheartedly committed to the internship.
Even better, he could apparently receive eight hundred yuan every month.
If he managed to set aside three days a week for the internship and worked four to five hours each time, he would be able to accumulate at least 192 working hours by the second half of the semester. With just one semester’s worth of effort, he could directly qualify as a five star volunteer.
That would be a significant advantage when it came to evaluations and selection for honors. A scholarship would practically be within reach.
He would not even have to worry about finding a company during the summer vacation where he could get a stamp and write up a report just to scrape together credits for extracurricular practice.
What a wonderful way to accomplish several things at once!
Li Xingchuan raised his hand slightly.
“May I ask what our work responsibilities will be?”
“Under normal circumstances, they will be tasks that can be completed while sitting in an office. We cooperate with quite a few public welfare organizations. For example, we might help organize donations of secondhand clothing. In that case, you would need to prepare inventory spreadsheets and…” The director continued speaking at length, as though such an arrangement genuinely existed.
In reality, the entire Special Affairs Office had been hastily established just over ten days earlier for Li Xingchuan’s sake.
Even the office employees Li Xingchuan had encountered at the entrance were nothing more than a group of hired extras brought in to fill the space.
The director continued, “Besides that, we will also assist with handling certain unconventional tasks.”
Li Xingchuan asked, “Such as?”
“For example, reporting cults and cracking down on feudal superstitions. We need to become active, cooperate with the official authorities in promoting materialism and spread the brilliance of Marxism…”
, This was a precautionary cover story for any members of the Abyss who might appear.
Li Xingchuan did not quite understand what the director was getting at but he strongly agreed with what the man had said.
Feudal superstition was indeed not something worth encouraging.
And so, the first afternoon of their registration passed amid the director’s long winded promises and grand descriptions of the future.
Once Li Xingchuan and Ji Wangcheng left together, Huang Shaohui finally no longer had to maintain his serious, proper expression.
He pushed two chairs together, turned them into a makeshift bed and lay down on them.
“Is it really necessary to be so careful around Li Xingchuan?” he complained. “Couldn’t you just fool him a little whenever necessary and leave it at that?”
Shan Bai said, “You’d better not talk badly about Li Xingchuan behind his back.”
Huang Shaohui scoffed. “Can he beat me to death or something?”
Shan Bai answered sincerely, “Ji Wangcheng can.”
“…”
Huang Shaohui fell silent for half a second.
“I know. Everyone has to go through this process.” Shan Bai clasped his hands together and it was almost as though a glowing halo had appeared above his head. His voice became ethereal and distant as he solemnly declared, “Slander Brother Shan, understand Brother Shan, worship Brother Shan.”
Huang Shaohui stared at him. “Are you an idiot? What’s there to worship? Have you really started treating him like a god?”
Shan Bai replied, “If you want to call him God Shan, that’s fine too.”
Huang Shaohui was thoroughly disdainful. “What the hell is he supposed to be?”
“Is that so?” Shan Bai asked. “Then why are you afraid of Li Xingchuan?”
“Huh?!”
Huang Shaohui sprang upright.
“Who’s afraid of him?! Why would I be afraid of him? What is there to fear?! If I turn into a leopard, I can bite him to death in one go!”
“Oh? Really?”
Huang Shaohui declared with earth shaking conviction, “If I’m afraid of him, then I’m a dog!”
Li Xingchuan tugged at Ji Wangcheng’s sleeve and pointed toward the roadside.
“Hey, look. A puppy.”
There was a small shoe repair stall by the side of the road and a little stray dog was sitting beside it. It was probably only one or two months old. Its face was dark and sooty, making it look like a little coal miner who had just crawled out of a mine.
The puppy stayed near the stall, looking left and right. It had a round, slightly foolish looking head, an adorably clumsy appearance and an innocent, endearing charm.
“So cute,” Li Xingchuan said. “I feel like I could put it inside the hood of a hoodie and take it out to play.”
Ji Wangcheng turned his expressionless face toward the stray dog.
It’s so ugly. It looks like a piece of coal that’s been flattened. How does that count as cute?
If his ability could not be neutralized by Shanshan, then Shanshan could also take a section of his shadow outside with him. Those shadows were much more useful than a dog and they were not nearly as ugly, either.
While they waited for the traffic light to change, Li Xingchuan spent the half minute holding up his phone to take pictures of the puppy. He made several soft, coaxing “tsk tsk” sounds, luring the little dog into turning its attention toward him before capturing a photograph of its fluffy face from the front.
Ji Wangcheng became somewhat unhappy.
What’s so interesting about taking pictures of it? Is he even planning to post them on his social media?
, Could it be that he wants to raise a dog?
The moment he considered the possibility of Shanshan getting a dog, Ji Wangcheng immediately tensed up.
Half a second later, he thought, There’s no need to worry too much.
Even if he raises one, the dog will either die soon or turn into a mutated creature. An animal this weak can’t withstand my magnetic field, just like that little goldfish named Lulu.
Li Xingchuan took several more pictures. Once he was satisfied, he lowered his phone and turned toward Ji Wangcheng.
“Would you ever consider keeping a pet?”
Ji Wangcheng answered without the slightest hesitation.
“No.”
Li Xingchuan blinked. “Why not?”
“Don’t like them.”
Li Xingchuan responded with an absent minded “Oh,” then casually added, “I actually like them quite a lot.”
For some reason, those words seemed to offend Ji Wangcheng.
His tone immediately turned cold.
“Why?” His brows drew together ever so slightly and his voice carried an unmistakable hint of reproach. “…Is having me not enough?”
Li Xingchuan: “??”
Since when did people compare themselves to dogs?
Li Xingchuan almost laughed.
“I never said I wanted to raise one, did I? Why are you getting so worked up?”
Ji Wangcheng replied, “You said you ‘like them.’”
Li Xingchuan looked at him. “Liking something doesn’t mean you necessarily have to raise one.”
Ji Wangcheng turned his head and looked once again at the loyal little stray dog standing guard beside the shoe repair stall.
He continued his cold hearted criticism.
“You even said it’s cute. It’s so ugly.”
Li Xingchuan glanced at the puppy.
…But it’s got such a silly, innocent little face. It really is pretty cute, isn’t it?
Li Xingchuan was just about to seriously discuss with him exactly where the dog was ugly when he raised his head and met the other man’s accusing, visibly displeased gaze.
In that instant, something clicked.
He had an epiphany.
He suddenly understood what Ji Wangcheng had been implying all along, so abruptly that the question he had been about to ask was swallowed back down before it could leave his mouth.
The problem had never been the dog itself.
Even if the animal standing by the roadside had been a championship grade dog worth tens of thousands of yuan, Ji Wangcheng would probably have said the exact same thing.
Xiao Ji is actually childish enough to get jealous over a little dog?
Li Xingchuan held back his laughter, enjoying the realization for a full half a minute.
Following Ji Wangcheng’s lead, he said, “Yeah, it’s so ugly. It’s unbelievably ugly. How could there be such an ugly little dog in the world?”
He was being exceptionally accommodating. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “, It’s not as cute as you, okay?”
Ji Wangcheng was satisfied.
However, he felt the need to correct one detail.
“I’m not cute. You’re the cutest.”
His tone was incredibly serious, as though he were stating an undeniable truth about the universe.
Li Xingchuan inexplicably felt his face grow hot.
“…Why are the two of us, both guys, even arguing about who’s cuter?!”
Ji Wangcheng emphasized once again, “There’s no argument. You’re the cutest.”
Li Xingchuan froze.
“…?!”
He took several deep breaths, trying to settle his emotions.
Honestly, what was there to be embarrassed about?
Could his face please stop feeling so hot already?
…Don’t think about it anymore. Change the subject in your head.
Think about the puppy.
Yes, think about the puppy. For example, the little stray dog they had just seen.
He genuinely felt that local stray dogs possessed a unique kind of silly, adorable charm. They reminded him of Ah Huang, the dog Ou Ruoyao had brought over previously.
That dog had been such a cheeky little rascal, with a peculiar blend of stupidity and cunning. He wasn’t even sure whether it had belonged to her.
Stray dogs were also fiercely protective of their homes.
Two weeks ago, when he had returned from the KTV, he had encountered another little stray dog on his way home, one that had barked at him…
Wait.
Was that…?
Had the thing he encountered actually been a person?
Ou Ruoyao’s cousin, the one with the green hair?
Hold on.
Could it have been a stray dog?
No, not a person?
It was a person?
A stray dog?
Something’s wrong. Why can’t I even remember something this simple?
Was it a person or a stray dog again?
“If I’m afraid of him, then I’m a dog!”
Words had power.
And in full view of everyone present, Huang Shaohui transformed back into a yellow and black stray dog!
“Woof, woof, woof, woof!”
Ah Huang himself was stunned.
“Woof, woof? Woof, woof?!!”
Shan Bai burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Holy shit?! Huh? Huh?! Hahahahahaha!”
The red haired guy was initially dumbfounded. Then he laughed so hard that he nearly toppled over.
“This… Brother… You really didn’t have to put on such a ridiculous performance… Why would you do this to yourself… Hahahahaha!!! Hahahaha!!”
The two men’s laughter, as chaotic and unstoppable as a mudslide, attracted the attention of Li Xuanzhi, who had been handling official business in the office next door.
Li Xuanzhi knocked on the door and issued a warning.
“Keep it down.”
Shan Bai: “Hahahahahaha, look at this…”
Red Haired Brother: “Sorry… Pfft…”
Ah Huang hurried to Li Xuanzhi’s feet and began barking anxiously.
“Woof, woof, woof, woof!!”
Stop laughing already! I can’t turn back! Help me, Monk! Monk, you can understand what I’m trying to say…
Then, all of a sudden, he transformed back into human form.
Huang Shaohui: “?”
Li Xuanzhi looked at him with an indescribably complicated expression.
“…Stop messing around.”
“No.” Huang Shaohui hurriedly tried to explain, his words stumbling over one another. “I didn’t turn into a dog voluntarily just now. I wasn’t even using my ability. I just suddenly… Woof, woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof!!”
And then, without warning, he turned back into Ah Huang!
“Woof, woof, woof!”
Huang Shaohui was so overwhelmed with despair that he could have cried.
This time, the others finally realized that something was seriously wrong.
Li Xuanzhi fell into thoughtful contemplation.
“…Could it be that ‘Memory Manipulation’ has stopped working? Li Xingchuan suspects that his memories are incorrect?”
Huang Shaohui barked anxiously.
“Woof, woof, woof!…”
He instantly transformed back into a human.
“…I don’t know either! What am I supposed to do a…”
Before he could finish the sentence, his human form instantly switched back into that of a stray dog.
Ah Huang let out a helpless, anguished howl.
“Woof, woof, woof!!”
Li Xuanzhi: “?”
Shan Bai and Red Haired Brother: “?”
What is this?
Randomly transforming whenever it feels like it? Isn’t that a little inappropriate?
_____________
Author’s Notes
Ah Huang: Fuck, why am I always the one who gets hurt?
After “competing with a girl over who could give birth to more children” and “getting jealous of himself,” Xiao Ji has now found himself a brand new rival in the competition:
The stray dog. =.=
Xiao Ji’s Cat Army (shouting loudly): We’re so pissed off! Anything a dog can do, we can do too! We can become doggies as well! Meow, meow, meow!
Hello, this is Pepper Demon! I was previously translating this novel on Chrysanthemumgarden but due to site closing down.. I’m moving my projects here.. Give me some time.. I will be uploading starting chapters soon.