Shen Junyao’s car was parked in the underground garage. Chen Mo went down with him to retrieve it. It wasn’t the official vehicle with the special license plate that Zhang Tao had driven, but a private luxury SUV that looked incredibly powerful.
At first glance, Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat.
He had been eyeing this specific model for a long time, but because he hadn’t settled down yet, he had kept delaying the purchase. He hadn’t expected Captain Shen’s taste to be so similar to his own.
Men have no resistance to this kind of car. If he were better acquainted with Captain Shen, he might have even suggested taking it for a spin. However, for the time being, he could only suppress the itch in his hands.
Shen Junyao walked to the passenger side, pulled open the door for him, and said, “Get in.”
Chen Mo had actually intentionally slowed his pace to lag a few steps behind. After all, for some men, the passenger seat isn’t a place one can just sit in casually; yet, going directly to the back row would make it seem like he was treating the other man as a chauffeur, which would be quite impolite. Shen Junyao making the choice for him certainly saved him some trouble.
Once they were both seated, Shen Junyao asked for the address, set the navigation, and the vehicle drove smoothly out of the empty garage.
Looking at the vacant parking spaces, Chen Mo asked, “Has this place ceased operations since you took over?”
“Yes.”
“Then isn’t the loss enormous? Would the supermarket management agree to this?”
The car exited the garage and entered the main road. Shen Junyao glanced sideways at him and said, “The supermarket was already acquired by us before it was officially taken over.”
Chen Mo: ?!
Shen Junyao explained, “This is a regulation of the Administration. Any anomaly that poses a threat to human safety must be contained, isolated, and monitored.”
Chen Mo remarked with emotion, “Isn’t that a bit too wealthy and overbearing?”
Shen Junyao smiled slightly. “Once you deal with these so-called anomalies more often, you’ll find that money is the one thing you’ll never lack.”
Chen Mo: “…!!!”
Shen Junyao gestured for him to look outside the car. “In fact, besides this supermarket, the nearby shops have all suspended business, the roads are closed, and bus stops have been temporarily rerouted. If the threat of this supermarket cannot be completely neutralized in the end, the residents of this entire area might have to move away. This block will vanish from the map.”
Only then did Chen Mo notice that the streetlights and traffic lights on this road were not lit, and the areas on both sides of the road coming out of the supermarket were pitch black. Because it was night, it wasn’t very clear, so it turned out this place wasn’t remote or desolate, but rather the nearby residents had all been evacuated?
He couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bit of an overreaction.
But in the next second, he thought of the people trapped inside the supermarket’s Inner World, besieged every night by the blue-clothed faceless monsters. If the Anomaly Management Bureau didn’t adopt such extreme processing methods and allowed the supermarket to continue operating—letting ordinary people continue living nearby in ignorance of such an unknown threat, shopping in such a supermarket every day—what would the consequences be?
Chen Mo couldn’t help but murmur, “Looking at it this way, it really is good to be rich.”
Shen Junyao seemed to let out another soft laugh.
Chen Mo lowered his eyes, feeling a bit awkward.
In fact, from the moment Shen Junyao offered to drive him home, his mindset had been a bit subtle. The reason he asked so many questions was because he didn’t want the car to fall into silence.
Clearly, they had gotten along quite naturally in the Inner World over the past few days, but at that time, Zhang Tao was always there cracking jokes, and the situation had never been completely out of danger. His nerves had been constantly taut, so he hadn’t had the mind to think about random things.
Now that they had finally escaped danger, his spirit suddenly relaxed, and some deliberately suppressed thoughts surfaced unexpectedly.
Chen Mo didn’t dare to speak anymore, and the car fell into silence.
It was exactly as he thought—once it got quiet, the surrounding atmosphere became very strange and thick, with a trace of ambiguity floating in the air.
Chen Mo knew clearly that this ambiguity was entirely due to the “ghosts” in his own heart.
Captain Shen likely knew nothing about it; after all, he was naturally a man of few words. During the days they spent together in the Inner World, he hadn’t said many words in total—possibly fewer than what he had just said now.
Chen Mo thought that as long as he didn’t show any abnormality, it would be impossible for Shen Junyao to know what he was actually thinking. But he really lacked the confidence to maintain a facade of nonchalance for long, especially since his home was quite far away; the navigation showed it would take over an hour to drive there.
Chen Mo gave a forced cough as a cover-up and, acting casual, reached out to turn on the car radio.
A slightly magnetic male voice came from the speakers: “…Many male friends might find this situation difficult to speak about, but I would like to remind everyone that early treatment is crucial. We have renowned experts here specializing in the treatment of sexual dysfunction…”
Chen Mo’s expression froze instantly, and he reflexively gave the tuning knob a sharp twist. This time, it was a gentle, timid girl’s voice:
“…Actually, I’ve liked him for a long time. He’s a very good-looking boy, tall, with a great temperament, and he’s very responsible. Every time I see him, my heart pounds. I’m afraid he’ll discover my feelings, but I can’t help wanting to be near him…”
Chen Mo couldn’t help but cough again. He stole a quick glance at Shen Junyao and hurriedly twisted the knob once more.
A deep baritone voice, carrying an affected tenderness in the throat, was reciting a poem: “I hear your breathing; every rise and fall feels as though it is drumming upon my heart…”
…
What is up with all you midnight programs?
Change the station!
This time he landed on a horror story segment. Upon entering his ears was a set of extremely eerie sound effects, and a woman with a deliberately low, creepy voice said: “She plucked up her courage and pushed open that dilapidated door. The door panel creaked… She constantly felt as though something was staring at her from the darkness…”
An involuntary chill ran down Chen Mo’s back.
The familiar-sounding plot reminded him of those nights in the Inner World. It hadn’t felt like much then, but thinking about it now, he got a delayed case of goosebumps.
He hesitated for a moment, preparing to turn off the radio, when Shen Junyao suddenly looked over and asked, “Are you scared?”
The corners of his lips curved slightly, as if carrying a trace of a smile.
Chen Mo’s ears turned slightly red, yet he stubbornly insisted, “How is that possible?”
He stopped changing the stations. The woman on the radio continued telling the rest of the story in that hair-raising tone. Chen Mo stared straight ahead, looking at the city night which had returned to being brightly lit, trying his best not to listen to the plot.
Unfortunately, the background music for this program was just too “hellish” and its presence too strong; his back grew increasingly tense.
“…She looked back once, but found nothing… But… that strange sound appeared again…”
Just as he was about to give in and speak, Shen Junyao reached out and changed the channel.
This time, a sweet voice came from the broadcast, speaking in a cheerful tone.
“Today I’m introducing a dessert that can absolutely satisfy your taste buds—the Iceberg Lava Chocolate Cake! For chocolate lovers, this is absolutely a soul-level way to eat. The moment it bursts, your heart melts along with it! The chocolate lava flows slowly while steaming hot. When eating, take a small piece of slightly crispy cake, dip it into the flowing chocolate lava, it’s warm and moist. Pair it with a cup of black coffee or hot tea, it’s simply perfect…”
Chen Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing the content, his eyes couldn’t help but light up.
“Iceberg lava cake? I haven’t had that in a while…”
Shen Junyao heard him and asked curiously, “Do you like eating that?”
During their days in the supermarket Inner World, they hadn’t really eaten proper meals, satisfying their hunger with items from the shelves. Shen Junyao had actually noticed that Chen Mo seemed to prefer desserts.
Chen Mo paused slightly, his ears heating up. He reacted a beat late, saying, “Um, it’s quite delicious. You should try it.”
Following this topic, the car didn’t fall silent again. The two of them chatted on and off, never letting the atmosphere slip back into awkwardness.
Chen Mo was almost filled with gratitude.
By the time they reached home, it was nearly midnight.
The sound of the vehicle entering the yard still alerted his parents.
Chen Mo noticed the lights in his parents’ room upstairs turn on. He unbuckled his seatbelt and said to Shen Junyao, “Thank you, Captain Shen. It’s too late today, so I won’t invite you in.”
Shen Junyao, however, looked at him and said, “Do you want me to help you?”
Chen Mo was puzzled: “What?”
Shen Junyao said, “Regarding your parents, how do you plan to explain yourself?”
Chen Mo: “…!!!”
Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel his face heat up. “You help me? How?”
He was thinking of telling his parents he had gone to a friend’s house temporarily, and that the place was in the deep mountains with no signal and so on.
Captain Shen said he’d help—did he mean he would help him lie?
Chen Mo knew with his toes that if Shen Junyao really helped him lie, his parents would let their imaginations run wild. After all, they had already started arranging for him to go on blind dates with men.
Chen Mo wanted to say, better not.
But Shen Junyao said, “I can help modify their memories, making them forget the fact that you weren’t home these past few days.”
Chen Mo: “…Ah, so that’s it.”
Chen Mo smiled and said, “Thank you, Captain Shen, but there’s no need! It was my fault; it’s only right that I bear their anger. How can I arbitrarily modify their memories just to escape?”
Shen Junyao gave him a deep look and said, “Alright then. I’m leaving. Talk to you later.”
Uh, talk to me later?
An involuntary trace of pleasure bubbled up in Chen Mo’s heart, but he immediately thought that the “contact” Captain Shen mentioned was likely referring to the follow-up of this incident or the recruitment for the hunting group.
In any case, it probably wasn’t what he was thinking.
He pursed his lips, pressing back a trace of a smile, and said, “Okay, goodbye.”
Shen Junyao started the car. Chen Mo watched as the vehicle rounded the corner and disappeared, and the door behind him was pulled open.
“Chen Xiaomo! Where the hell did you die off to? You finally remembered to come back!”
Unsurprisingly, it was the “Lion’s Roar” of his mother, Song Anfeng.
This time, his father didn’t act as the mediator either. He looked at him with a face full of disapproval and asked in a heavy voice, “You’d better explain yourself clearly. You disappeared for six days without a word. Where exactly did you go?”
Chen Mo: QAQ
Chen Mo spent over two hours soothing his parents. Relying on the rough drafts he had prepared in the Inner World these past few days, he improvised a story that even he couldn’t convince himself of, eventually coaxing them back to their room to sleep.
Whatever happened, he’d deal with it tomorrow. So tired… Zzzzz.
The next day, Chen Mo found out that his family had actually reported him missing during the days he was gone.
The police investigation found that he had left with a man in a black uniform. After telling Chen Mo’s parents this result, there was no further follow-up.
Chen Mo knew that the police were aware this was someone from the Anomaly Management Bureau. Out of confidentiality, they hadn’t explained more details to the Chen family, but they had shown them the final surveillance footage.
After Chen Mo’s parents saw the surveillance footage, they weren’t so sure anymore.
In the recording, Chen Mo was talking and laughing with that tall, young man; he didn’t look forced at all, yet he couldn’t be contacted afterward.
On one hand, they worried about their child’s safety; on the other hand, they couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on.
Could it be that the youngster had found a place where no one would disturb them to go on a romantic getaway? But the duration was a bit too long, making one worry if he had been lured away somewhere to have a kidney harvested.
After waiting six days in such suspense, the person had finally returned.
Although the words spoken weren’t honest, they matched what they had guessed.
“Be honest with us. Are you actually in a relationship? That guy in the surveillance… he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”
Chen Siyuan and Song Anfeng had been so worried they hadn’t slept well for a week. They couldn’t hold out for more than two hours during the night interrogation and had gone back for some catch-up sleep. Upon waking, they continued the trial.
Chen Mo didn’t know how these two had come to such a conclusion after a night’s sleep. He felt bad for Zhang Tao’s sake, but he couldn’t explain it clearly, so he could only keep denying it.
“I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense!”
Song Anfeng, however, was dead set on having her son settle down. “If he is your boyfriend, take advantage of the fact that we aren’t busy during the first lunar month and bring him home for us to see. We didn’t plan to interfere with your freedom to love, but taking someone else’s child away for a week without being found—we must check him out.”
Chen Mo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “The problem is, he really isn’t.”
Song Anfeng then said, “If he really isn’t, then honestly go on those blind dates for me!”
During the first two days of Chen Mo’s disappearance, Song Anfeng had briefly suspected he had gone abroad. She was so angry she nearly passed out. She went home and turned the house upside down, finally finding his passport—which she had hidden so well she almost couldn’t find it herself—before she could be sure he hadn’t secretly run away.
But the incident had left a shadow on her.
This child had caught a high fever at the airport right after returning to the country, and before he could even settle for a few days, he had caused a disappearance. Even staying under her nose caused so many “moth” troubles; how could she feel safe letting him go abroad alone?
She still had to find someone to tie him down.
A child grows up and won’t listen to his mother, but perhaps a husband can keep him in check?