The Green Senior and the Ambush

“We definitely didn’t hit anyone!” The man slammed his fist onto the hospital bed tray. “You can check the street surveillance footage! That giant crashed into us!”

A nurse glanced over from the doorway. “Hey, calm down. Don’t pull out your IV.”

“We hit him?! No, he hit us! He attacked us! Check our dashcam!” the man shouted defensively.

The round-faced young police officer standing before him looked helpless. “Sir, your dashcam is broken.”

“Impossible! I just bought it two days ago!” The man took a deep, panicked breath. “You can check my phone. I was recording! The footage must be there!”

“There’s nothing on your phone.” The officer’s eyes were round, much like his face. He seemed like a rookie—kind, patient, and thoroughly unimpressed. “Our forensics team has checked everything.”

“You! All of you are in on this!” The man felt like he couldn’t catch his breath. “There must be surveillance cameras around that intersection! That person suddenly rushed up and literally flipped our van!”

“The nearby traffic cameras were also experiencing a malfunction at the time,” the young officer said smoothly. “That is our municipality’s negligence, of course.”

“You motherfucker!” the man roared, realizing the massive cover-up.

The patients on the beds to his left and right quickly tried to calm him down. “Hey! Why are you yelling at the police? It’s not like the kid broke the cameras.”

This round-faced officer looked far too harmless. Having such a good kid deal with this ferocious, lying thug was really a bit unfair.

Sure enough, the officer flinched slightly, then retorted softly, “Sir, you say a pedestrian crashed into you head-on, knocking your vehicle over? That would take a tremendous amount of force. It doesn’t make logical sense.”

“It was him!” the man kept shouting. “He suddenly grew massive, red arms out of his back! My neck is still bruised! There’s a giant handprint on it! Look!”

“The pedestrian you hit is currently in the ICU.” The officer lowered his voice sternly. “His family is planning to sue you for everything you own.”

“SUE ME?!” The man’s voice cracked.

The officer continued, “Later, you’ll need to come with us for a mandatory drug test. You claim someone knocked an SUV over with their body, and that they grew arms from their spine. Your mental condition seems highly questionable.”

The older patients on either side of the man’s bed widened their eyes simultaneously.

“Wait… he’s staying in our room?” the older patient asked the nurse.

The younger patient, with a cast on his arm, chimed in, “Staying with us? A guy who hallucinates monsters? That’s not safe!”

“I haven’t been drinking or taking drugs!” The man was breaking down.

“I’ll go speak to the head nurse,” the nurse said quickly. “We’ll arrange a secure room in the psychiatric ward for this gentleman.”

“Hey! I really haven’t touched any of that stuff!” the man shouted, but the nurse didn’t return.

“Your behavior is very irresponsible,” the round-faced officer continued to lecture him. “You have a wife and kids. If you won’t think for yourself, think for them.”

The man panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot.

He knew the authorities were probably in league with the Savior to cover this up, but he couldn’t understand why that big guy had suddenly attacked them in the first place. They weren’t inferior Differentiated Beings; they carried no aura of desire, and their talk of exposing his identity was just a bluff. How did that big guy discover they were a threat?

Besides, wasn’t the Savior’s bodyguard supposed to be a mindless drone? Could a mere bodyguard knock over a car? Grow hands from his back?! He was a terrifying monster!

The man, who had just been brutally assaulted by Zhuo, was now trapped in a psychiatric hold.

Meanwhile, Zhuo was currently with Yuan Anqing in a secure military base, acting incredibly spoiled.

“I don’t want to stay in this room.” Zhuo sat heavily on the guest bed. “It’s so boring.”

“It’s just for two days. I’ll stay with you,” Yuan Anqing comforted him.

“But I can’t be free here.” Zhuo didn’t mind being in the same place as Yuan Anqing, but doctors and nurses would occasionally come and go from their room to check on them. They had to put on an act and play the role of the recovering accident victims.

Although the surveillance camera in their room was turned off, Zhuo still felt a sense of deep insecurity, as if his territory was being constantly invaded.

Under these conditions, he couldn’t fully sleep with Yuan Anqing! They could only lie flat! Only hug!

That was no fun!

“It’s all those guys’ fault,” Zhuo hung his head, regretting not biting the thugs to death.

“You’ve never had the experience of sleeping with anyone before,” Yuan Anqing comforted him, understanding the source of Zhuo’s frustration. “You never had such hobbies either. Just think of it as going back to the past before your second differentiation.”

“That’s different! My biology has changed!” Zhuo said. “You’ve remade me! There’s no going back!”

Yuan Anqing quickly covered Zhuo’s mouth. “You can’t say that carelessly.”

“Why not? I’ve been remade, so I’ve been remade!” Zhuo pulled Yuan Anqing’s hand away. “If I didn’t like you, how could I have developed this kind of physical desire?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Yuan Anqing lowered his voice.

“You said it weirdly.”

“I didn’t have anything lewd in my mind when I said it,” Zhuo looked proud.

At that moment, he couldn’t fathom Yuan Anqing’s thoughts. He had assumed Yuan Anqing didn’t care about these things.

“You want to sleep with me too, don’t you?!” Zhuo’s last word came out in an excited, high pitch. He felt like he had discovered the class’s top student secretly playing video games all night. “You’re holding back too, aren’t you?” He pressed his face against Yuan Anqing’s chest.

Yuan Anqing helplessly pushed his claws away. “My feelings for you aren’t fake. How could I simply turn off my desires?”

Seeing Zhuo’s red eyes grow brighter, he added hastily, “But we are only staying here for two days.”

Zhuo didn’t answer. He just smiled mischievously.

“What are you planning?” Yuan Anqing grew wary.

“Nothing.” Zhuo rolled over onto his stomach, his eyes still fixed on Yuan Anqing. “I just suddenly think what you said makes a lot of sense.”

Yuan Anqing remained alert.

He watched Zhuo toss and turn, as if needles were poking him in the bed. After nine full, dramatic rolls, Zhuo returned to his original position and continued staring at Yuan Anqing.

Yuan Anqing: “…”

Was Zhuo performing some kind of mating ritual?

Seeing Yuan Anqing unresponsive, Zhuo pulled the blanket over himself, then deliberately pulled it down a little.

Yuan Anqing tilted his head in confusion.

Zhuo seemed a bit frustrated. He threw off the blanket, turned half a circle to lie flat on his back, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and yanked it up.

Yuan Anqing had to ask, “Is there something itchy on your stomach?”

“I’m seducing you!” Zhuo huffed, feeling defeated. “Seducing you!”

Yuan Anqing took a deep breath, deeply shocked.

Zhuo’s shirt-lifting gesture was bold and swift, with absolutely no seductive eye contact. Moreover, when Zhuo had made the move, his expression was that of holding back a mischievous smile. Yuan Anqing genuinely thought Zhuo was about to play a prank.

“Isn’t this alluring?” Zhuo was making a great effort to flex and show off his body.

“Why did you need to roll so many times on the bed?” Yuan Anqing asked him.

“I was languidly tossing and turning!” Zhuo explained.

“But you rolled clockwise exactly nine times.” Yuan Anqing didn’t see any languor in the precise, dizzying motion.

“Then I casually revealed my shoulder!”

Yuan Anqing reminded him, “You deliberately covered yourself with the blanket and then pulled it back down. That wasn’t casual. And the blanket got all wrinkled from your clockwise rolls; even the inner lining shifted.” Yuan Anqing really cared about this lack of neatness.

“Before, you would come over and pinch my abs even without my seduction,” Zhuo pursed his lips in a pout. “You must not fall for this kind of seduction.” He didn’t think his seduction method was the problem; he blamed his audience.

“Maybe.” Yuan Anqing didn’t want to argue with Zhuo in a military hospital room. “Being more direct is more attractive.”

Zhuo blinked. Then he lay on his stomach again, aggressively raising his bottom and lifting his tail into the air.

“Enough! Enough!” Yuan Anqing quickly pushed Zhuo’s tail down. “You don’t have to be that direct!”

“You’re not reacting at all. I feel like I’m the only one uncomfortable,” Zhuo complained. “Show a little restraint on your face.”

“You want to see that?” Yuan Anqing finally caught up with Zhuo’s bizarre train of thought.

Zhuo nodded eagerly.

“I don’t know how to show a ‘restrained’ expression.” Yuan Anqing was most accustomed to a totally blank, corporate face. He wouldn’t let anyone see him struggle. So, Yuan Anqing had no idea what a ‘restrained’ expression should look like.

“Frown a little,” Zhuo pointed at Yuan Anqing’s brow.

Yuan Anqing did as told, gently furrowing his brow.

He actually did it? Zhuo was a little surprised. Then he added, “Press your lips together tightly.”

Yuan Anqing’s thin lips tightened slightly.

He looked at Zhuo seriously. Yuan Anqing genuinely wanted to play along with Zhuo’s little roleplay game, but Zhuo couldn’t continue directing.

Yuan Anqing’s features were of a cool, distant type—very handsome, but with a strong sense of ascetic detachment. His personality indeed wasn’t approachable. Yuan Anqing’s gaze was naturally indifferent, as if nothing in this world could catch his eye. But now, he was earnestly cooperating with Zhuo’s absurd game, as seriously as if completing an important management task.

Zhuo swallowed hard. He reached out and removed Yuan Anqing’s glasses.

Yuan Anqing didn’t stop him, but his expression showed a bit more puzzlement.

Zhuo set the glasses aside. Yuan Anqing felt his vision blur and squinted instinctively.

Zhuo stared at him. The surroundings weren’t very bright, and Yuan Anqing’s eyes looked pure black now. His black hair and dark eyes contrasted sharply with his pale skin, making him seem almost unreal. And this version of Yuan Anqing was looking at him seriously, waiting for him to speak.

“You’re seducing me!” Zhuo felt his thoughts turning impure. He suddenly wanted to devour Yuan Anqing’s lips.

“How am I seducing you?” Yuan Anqing was completely unaware. He only thought Zhuo’s emotional shift was inexplicable.

“You are seducing me! You’re too good at it!” Zhuo finally understood why his own physical seduction hadn’t worked—because Yuan Anqing’s passive methods were even more powerful. “You just need to move your eyes to seduce people!”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

He reached out, grabbed both of Zhuo’s crystalline horns, and started shaking the monster’s head back and forth, trying to rattle Zhuo’s thoughts back to normal.

Zhuo let out a few ‘ow’s but didn’t stop Yuan Anqing.

“What are you even thinking about?” Yuan Anqing asked. “Can you be normal?”

“You are seducing me!” Zhuo held firm to his view.

Yuan Anqing shook harder. Zhuo put up no resistance. After a moment of verbal protest, he actually laughed, apparently finding the shaking fun.

A nurse pushed open the door, saw the giant monster being violently shaken by the horns by the expressionless man, then quickly closed it and left.

Now wasn’t the time for her to check their vitals.

In the government building office, Bai Tian, having just finished arranging the cover-up work, called the contact at the military base again. The person in charge had messaged him early on, saying Zhuo looked very unhappy and in low spirits about being confined.

That person in charge knew Zhuo’s background and didn’t dare provoke him when he was obviously upset.

“Is Zhuo still throwing a tantrum?” Bai Tian asked.

“No, he’s playing a head-shaking game with Mr. Yuan.” The person in charge sounded relaxed over the phone. “He’s not as dangerous as you described. He just seems like a big, goofy guy.”

Bai Tian: “…You should be glad you met him after Yuan Anqing.”

Bai Tian rubbed his temples, glanced in a mirror, and noticed his already bluish skin seemed darker, making him look more melancholic. Yuan Anqing had messaged them that the former Saviors’ bodies were concentrated in six locations, but he didn’t know exactly which six or give a general range. They had to figure it out themselves.

Bai Tian sighed, then hung up.

But before he could fully put his phone away, it rang again.

“Tsk!” Bai Tian felt his nerves jump, but after seeing the caller’s name, he immediately deflated.

Bai Tian answered, “Hello, Governor Cao.”

“Little Tian.” Governor Cao was over four hundred years old, but his voice remained young, just slower than normal. “Does Mr. Yuan have time to come see me lately?”

“Zhuo has to stay in the base ICU for two more days. He was hit by a car. We have to make it look real for the media,” Bai Tian explained, then asked, “Is there something urgent you need him for?”

“It’s not me looking for him.” Governor Cao sighed. “It’s Qing.”

“Qing?” Bai Tian’s single eye widened. “Has Senior Qing awakened?!”

“He has always been awake,” Governor Cao said. “It’s just that we can’t understand his form of ‘awakening’.”

“Why so sudden?” Bai Tian couldn’t understand. “Why does he want to see Mr. Yuan now of all times?”

“I don’t know.” Governor Cao was also worried. “He only said Mr. Yuan has changed.”

“He changed a long time ago.” Bai Tian was helpless, but he could only agree to find a way.

This so-called ‘Senior Qing’ was one of the authorities but not exactly a colleague. They called him Senior Qing because his whole body was cyan-green, yet he wasn’t a demi-human subspecies. He was technically a pure human.

Moreover, the authorities didn’t know Senior Qing’s real name, but a significant part of their knowledge about the Saviors came from him. How did Senior Qing know these things? How long had he lived? The authorities didn’t know.

Senior Qing didn’t need to eat. Most of the time, he was unconscious like a plant, and his color was plant-like, but he didn’t photosynthesize—they had studied that.

“Senior Qing?” Zhuo’s expression changed immediately after seeing Bai Tian’s message. “What kind of name is that? Bai Tian’s message is so vague. Why does he want to see you? Who is he?”

Bai Tian had only said a secure car would come to pick them up, without specifying the destination.

Zhuo composed a long paragraph of text, mostly taunting Bai Tian for being unclear and incompetent.

Bai Tian’s reply was brief: [The ring that controls you was forged by Senior Qing.]

[You mean he used my parents’ bodies to forge a weapon to control me?!] Zhuo demanded furiously.

[You ate your parents yourself. He just used the leftover bones,] Bai Tian reminded him.

“Does Bai Tian have a problem with me?” Zhuo pointed at the message and asked Yuan Anqing.

“He probably has had a problem with you for a very long while.” Yuan Anqing pulled his phone back.

He asked Bai Tian: [If we leave now, it might make those rogue organizations realize Zhuo is biologically abnormal.] They had temporarily controlled the perpetrators, and the organizations probably thought Zhuo had been genuinely injured by the van crash. But if Zhuo just walked out of the ICU, it might expose the fact that he was an unkillable monster.

[I remember Zhuo’s true form can’t be observed by humans, right?] Bai Tian replied.

Yuan Anqing and Zhuo exchanged glances.

After discussing, Zhuo transformed into his original form, swallowed Yuan Anqing into his domain, and simply walked out through the hospital’s main entrance.

“I forgot about that trick,” Zhuo said to Yuan Anqing inside his domain. “Actually, we could have left like this a long time ago.”

“We can’t go home.” Yuan Anqing was resigned. “There are probably people watching our apartment building too.”

“Then we can go to a hotel,” Zhuo suggested eagerly. “A hotel would be more exciting.”

“Hotels require ID cards.” Yuan Anqing added, “And the government building is out; your old residence there has surveillance.”

Zhuo let out a heavy sigh. “So vast a world, yet no place for us to be alone.”

“You just want a place to sleep freely.”

“That’s a perfectly normal biological desire!” Zhuo spotted the government car waiting. Its windows had privacy film, so you couldn’t see inside from outside.

Zhuo released Yuan Anqing into the backseat of the car, then shifted back to human form beside him. “You’ve turned me into such a weird shape!”

The driver: “…”

To the driver, the two had appeared out of thin air in the backseat. Only Zhuo’s last sentence had been clearly heard.

Wait. Was this going to be that intense right from the start?!

Zhuo wanted to say more, but Yuan Anqing quickly covered his mouth. “Read the room.” Then Yuan Anqing looked at the driver.

The driver showed no special expression. He just put the car in gear and drove, saying only, “Fasten your seatbelts.”

“I think I scared him,” Zhuo whispered to Yuan Anqing. His voice was fully audible to the driver, but the driver pretended not to have ears.

“Stop making indiscriminate attacks,” Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo.

“I wasn’t attacking.” Zhuo propped his head up. “I’m just worrying about our future.” By ‘future,’ he meant only the matter of sleeping together without interruptions.

Zhuo didn’t worry for long. His attention was soon captured by something else.

The car drove farther and farther out of the city, until an empty road before a heavily fortified checkpoint appeared.

The driver rolled down the window and presented their classified credentials for inspection.

“Where is this?” Zhuo stuck his head out the window, looking past the checkpoint. Inside, he saw rows of people in tactical uniforms.

“It’s a military base, originally dedicated to sealing off areas with massive desire vortexes,” the driver explained. “Recently, there haven’t been many out-of-base missions, so they’re stationed here.”

“Oh? Is this Senior Qing a big shot?” Zhuo’s eyesight was excellent. His gaze shifted and found something of immense interest. “You even have helicopters here!”

“After you meet him, you can ask them to take you for a fly-around,” the driver said. “They won’t refuse.”

“Pfft. Flying…” Zhuo said dismissively, but his red eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Good. He had already forgotten about his earlier romantic frustrations.

Yuan Anqing sighed. He really thought Zhuo was childish.

The car drove deeper into the base, and Zhuo’s eyes got even brighter. His head was still sticking out the window like a golden retriever. “Is Senior Qing a military officer?”

“No.” The driver stopped the car in front of a large, brutalist building. People were already waiting there.

The door opened, and a short-haired woman extended her hand to Yuan Anqing. “Savior.”

“Just call me Yuan Anqing.” Yuan Anqing shook her hand.

“Mr. Yuan.” The short-haired woman smiled and nodded, then extended her hand to Zhuo. “Mr. Zhuo.”

“Hello.” Zhuo shook her hand vigorously. “Can I ride your helicopter later?”

“Of course.” The woman smiled. “We also have armored vehicles. If you’re interested, we can teach you to drive a tank.”

“I love this place!” Zhuo immediately declared. “Can you arrange a room for me? I want to stay a few days. Without surveillance.”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

He was wrong. Zhuo hadn’t forgotten about sleeping together. He was still plotting.

“That’s no problem. We just need to discuss it with Mr. Bai Tian.” The woman gestured toward the building. “For now, please come with me.”

“We only need one room!” Zhuo grabbed Yuan Anqing’s hand and followed.

The woman chuckled. “Of course. We know you two are a couple.”

She entered the lobby, pressed the elevator button, and after Yuan Anqing and Zhuo stepped in, she pressed B1.

“Another basement floor? Is he locked down here too?” Zhuo asked.

“He’s not locked up. He grew here,” the woman explained cryptically.

“Grew? Is he a plant?” Zhuo didn’t understand.

“Something like that.” As her words ended, the elevator chimed.

The doors opened, and Zhuo saw a vast sea of green.

The underground space was massive and empty. Green ‘roots’ covered the floor and walls. ‘Roots’ wasn’t quite accurate, because these were twisted bundles of incredibly thin threads.

Those threads were likely the hair of the green man standing in the center.

The man’s lower body consisted entirely of such ‘vines.’ He was entirely cyan-green; his hair spread like a spiderweb, twisting into thick vines about a meter from his scalp, embedding deep into the concrete walls and floor.

The green man had beautiful, serene features. When the elevator opened, he looked up.

His eye sockets were empty, pitch-black, but Yuan Anqing felt that the man saw him perfectly.

Yuan Anqing stepped forward, but Zhuo immediately blocked him, shielding him with his body.

“Zhuo!” Yuan Anqing quickly warned him to mind his aggressive tone.

But Zhuo didn’t listen. He clenched his molars, and a dark fog representing pure desire burst from him. “You’re not human! How long have you lived?!”

Senior Qing tilted his head, then his lips pulled into a stiff, unused smile. “My perception of time differs from yours.” Meaning he himself didn’t know how long he’d lived.

“You’re a monster!” The scales on Zhuo’s tail clicked softly, red electricity coursing through the tip.

“I am human.” Senior Qing extended his arms; his wrists and fingers were wrapped tightly in his own green hair. “The Savior made me this way.”

Zhuo completely shielded Yuan Anqing. “The Savior who turned you into this wasn’t him!”

“I know it wasn’t him.” Senior Qing’s voice was gentle. “He’s still a child. He’s not my Savior.”

“Changing me like this wasn’t a punishment; it was a blessing.” Senior Qing ‘looked’ blindly into Zhuo’s eyes. “I adored the Savior. I rejoice in this eternal transformation.”

Zhuo took a deep breath, then looked at the short-haired woman, his previously courteous demeanor gone. “You brought us to see a stalker pervert?!”

“Senior Qing is not a pervert,” the woman looked helpless.

Senior Qing ignored Zhuo and asked Yuan Anqing, “There’s something extra in your soul, isn’t there?”

Something extra? Yuan Anqing touched his chest.

“Something trivial yet inexplicable,” Senior Qing reminded him.

“Suddenly knowing how to cook like a chef counts?” Yuan Anqing asked.

“Of course, child.” Senior Qing pointed blindly at Zhuo. “Does this monster child like good food?”

Zhuo, who had been bristling with wariness, froze. “What do you mean? Are you saying his biological change is related to me?”

“It’s not a change; it’s something he already had.” Senior Qing said. “He already has many things, more than you can imagine.”

“But you are certainly the most critical catalyst.” Senior Qing beckoned to them.

The woman turned and left in the elevator. Senior Qing didn’t want her involved in the classified conversation.

Zhuo walked ahead of Yuan Anqing, still shielding him resolutely. If this Senior Qing caused any trouble, he’d shift back to his original form and bite the plant-man to death. His wariness was obvious, but Senior Qing didn’t mind.

“You said you’re an admirer of the Savior? Which one?” Zhuo demanded.

“The previous one.” Senior Qing said, “The Savior’s soul was too beautiful. Many adored him.”

“And you adored yourself into this inhuman, rooted state?” Zhuo asked in disgust.

“There’s nothing wrong with me like this.” Senior Qing said. “Strictly speaking, my seven mortal emotions and six desires have been stripped away, and I’m restricted here forever. It is peace.”

“And if this little one lives peacefully until his death, then I can also die.” Senior Qing tried to look at Yuan Anqing, but Zhuo’s obstruction was too solid. He saw nothing.

He could only ask Yuan Anqing through Zhuo, “What is your view on life?”

Yuan Anqing paused. He felt this Senior Qing’s question heavily resembled the previous day’s ghosts’ point of contention.

“No view at all.” Yuan Anqing answered truthfully. “I don’t like grand, philosophical propositions.”

Senior Qing smiled softly. “Since you’ve experienced your first Awakening, you must have emerged from the nothingness.”

“If life is just an accident, and everything ends in absolute silence, then what is the point of living?” Senior Qing asked.

Sure enough, the sticking point was exactly the same as those two former Saviors.

“An accident is an accident.” Yuan Anqing frowned slightly. “What about it?”

“Explain?” Senior Qing asked.

“If life is like a splash of water from a wave hitting a rock, whether it’s an accident or not, whether it later merges back into the sea… from the moment it splashes out, it has already been seen.” Yuan Anqing really didn’t like discussing these things with others. “This is something that has already happened. If its existence has no grand meaning, then artificially erasing it also has no meaning.”

“I don’t like discussing meaning. If living itself is fundamentally meaningless, then what’s the point of discussing the meaning?” Yuan Anqing retorted.

“I emerged from that endless emptiness because young Zhuo was too annoying, and I wanted to hit him. At that time, I only wanted to vent my annoyance in that moment. That was enough.” Yuan Anqing pushed Zhuo aside to face Senior Qing directly.

Senior Qing’s empty eyes held no emotion, but he said, “You will become an excellent Savior.”

“Excellent?” Yuan Anqing was puzzled. “I don’t care about the lives of ordinary people at all.”

“You don’t need to care about their lives; that’s their own lives.” Senior Qing turned his blind gaze to Zhuo, then continued, “But you must have feelings. Something without feelings is not a Savior; it is a stone.”

He only favors me? A thought from a trashy TV drama flashed through Zhuo’s mind. He realized he might be the “villainous concubine” who brings ruin to the nation.

“He will love you, but he will also care about ordinary people. That’s different.” Senior Qing waved his vine-wrapped hand at them, indicating they could leave. “You’ll understand later.”

Yuan Anqing felt Senior Qing’s words were somewhat contradictory. After entering the elevator, he discussed it with Zhuo, who surprisingly understood Senior Qing’s point.

“Now you do care about them, but you also don’t care about their lives,” Zhuo said.

“Is that so?” Yuan Anqing didn’t understand.

“I’ve said it many times: you correct my behavior, you make me respect Zheng Xiao’an, but you yourself have no intention of deeply participating in people’s lives.” Zhuo felt Yuan Anqing did have compassion and could empathize. He had been gentle with that inferior differentiated ghost, but he wouldn’t cry or break his own heart for them.

Zhuo had always found Yuan Anqing amazing.

Yuan Anqing frowned in thought.

“Stop thinking about that. Let’s go ride the helicopter!” Zhuo’s heart was mostly at ease now. Yuan Anqing suddenly learning to cook wasn’t a mutation; it was for him! Yuan Anqing really, super loved him!

And tonight they had a secure place to sleep together!

Zhuo felt completely refreshed. “I want to try skydiving!”

“Even if you jumped from the sky without a parachute, nothing would happen to you, right?” Yuan Anqing’s train of thought was interrupted again. He didn’t understand why Zhuo thought skydiving was exciting for an immortal.

“But if I jump straight down, it’s just like a big rock falling.” Zhuo said. “With a parachute, we can float down slowly, like in slow motion. We’ll have enough time to feel each other, like a lovers’ leap in slow motion, with romantic background music!”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

He thought Zhuo’s romantic analogy was somewhat inauspicious. But Yuan Anqing didn’t correct him. For an immortal monster like Zhuo, a lovers’ leap probably was quite romantic.

They had already snuck out of the hospital. In the eyes of those rogue organizations, Zhuo was still in emergency rescue. Since they couldn’t get into the ICU, they could stay at the military base for another day or two, treating it as a violent vacation.

The base personnel were happy to play with them—after all, it wasn’t easy to meet a live Savior.

Only the higher-ups knew their true identities. Zhuo quickly became fast friends with a base colonel. Zhuo could be cheerful when he wanted to, and the colonel also found the giant man highly likable. The two of them grinned from ear to ear all day long. Yuan Anqing felt like he was carrying two loud speakers that constantly played hearty, booming laughter.

They fooled around like that for a day. The next morning at breakfast, the colonel was waiting at their door.

When Yuan Anqing and Zhuo opened the door, the colonel told them, “Yesterday, several posts suddenly appeared online accusing colleagues and friends of being abnormal, suspecting them of being the Savior.”

Bai Tian and his team were pretty fast at muddying the waters.

“One of them actually seems extremely plausible.” The colonel took out his phone to show Yuan Anqing.

Yuan Anqing froze at the first photo in the post, then twitched his mouth.

“Is that brat Yuan Zhanhui?!” Zhuo was surprised. They still gathered with Yuan Zhanhui occasionally for the mission.

Yuan Zhanhui had spiritual energy, but it was pathetically weak. Zhuo had even deliberately taught him how to use it. Of course, Zhuo’s ‘teaching’ had just meant aggressively suppressing Yuan Zhanhui with his own energy to trigger a survival response. Yuan Zhanhui’s energy outbreaks mostly came from pure terror.

This post from Yuan Zhanhui’s “colleague” included a surveillance video. In it, someone came to cause trouble at their company. When they reached Yuan Zhanhui, the troublemaker suddenly went quiet and docile, while Yuan Zhanhui’s face turned incredibly ugly, as if he had expended a massive amount of psychic energy.

The authorities hadn’t disclosed information about conscious, second-generation inferior differentiated individuals. To the public, Differentiated Beings were just mindless monsters. So no one suspected Yuan Zhanhui was an anomaly. They actually thought he was the Savior!

Yuan Anqing: “…”

Bai Tian and the others wouldn’t use Yuan Zhanhui to muddy the waters; his role was to infiltrate the organizations. So this video genuinely came from Yuan Zhanhui’s unaware colleague.

Yuan Zhanhui had inadvertently become the first suspected Savior. The more people analyzed the post, the more plausible it seemed. Yuan Zhanhui was strong, fit, and handsome—perfectly fitting the fairy-tale hero image.

“Do you know this person?” the colonel asked.

“No,” Zhuo denied without thinking. He didn’t want to admit he knew such an embarrassing guy.

What was Yuan Zhanhui thinking? Using his powers in broad daylight? And getting caught on camera?
Why had his organization sent this idiot to lure Yuan Anqing? Did they think Yuan Zhanhui’s brain could handle such complex problems?!

“He’s a demi-human subspecies. Once that’s revealed, no one will bother him,” Yuan Anqing said smoothly. “They’ll just say the troublemaker was emotionally agitated and got dazed, and Yuan Zhanhui happened to be feeling unwell.”

“Who says no one will bother him after exposure?” Zhuo scrolled down the comments. “These people are ogling his body.”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

“Actually, if it weren’t for the next day’s incident—where a celebrity’s fans caused a car accident that seriously injured someone—there would also be many wanting to come after you, Mr. Yuan.” The colonel looked at him.

Yuan Anqing paused, then quickly caught on. “Because of my face?”

“Yes. You don’t read online comments, do you?” The colonel said. “They thought your cold, ascetic style was… well… hmm… very appealing.” He searched for professional words, finding none of those online comments fit to repeat without dirtying his mouth.

Zhuo’s smile vanished instantly. “Those bastards are wishful thinking.”

“Indeed.” The colonel nodded. “They targeted you, then Zhuo. But the very next day, you got into a car accident. That extreme incident awakened their conscience.”

Zhuo: “They should all be bitten to death.”

Yuan Anqing’s expression also darkened. “How is that little star now?”

“We’re not sure. He’s in the maximum security detention center.” The colonel scratched his head.

“Let’s sneak over and beat him up tonight,” Zhuo suggested to Yuan Anqing. His original form could go anywhere freely. That little star had conspired to harm them. Zhuo would make him see a ghost and scare the fool to death.

“Better not.” Yuan Anqing lowered his eyes. “I’ll go see him later officially.” He needed to find out what the little star wanted by cooperating with the rogue organization, willing to destroy his own future for them. After all, no matter if his plan succeeded, the authorities would make him pay dearly.

“Someone who would bet on his own future like that—going to physically beat him up wouldn’t scare him,” Yuan Anqing reasoned.

“I don’t want to scare him. I just want to vent,” Zhuo had spoken gently to that little star before. He still had that anger to let out.

“Then go,” Yuan Anqing stopped trying to dissuade him.

The colonel blinked, deep in thought.

Late that night.

The colonel arrived at Senior Qing’s basement location.

“How did you get along with them today?” Senior Qing asked blindly.

“Pretty well. Zhuo is very lively. The Savior is relatively quiet. When Zhuo makes a ruckus, the Savior just watches him and smiles.” The colonel pulled up a chair and sat down.

“That’s already the most intense expression of emotion the Savior can show,” Senior Qing understood.

“Well, I don’t think it’s the most intense.” The colonel scratched his head. “Zhuo took the Savior to ambush someone at the detention center.”

Senior Qing: ?

He tilted his head slightly, not understanding.

“Zhuo swiped two aluminum baseball bats from our equipment room. Two.” The colonel held up two fingers. “He gave one to the Savior. The Savior looked reluctant but didn’t refuse.”

“Isn’t the Savior being a bit too lively?” the colonel asked. “I thought he would comfort Zhuo and tell him to let it go.”

“I thought so too,” Senior Qing said.

The colonel continued, “No matter what, you can’t just ambush someone in a detention center!”

Senior Qing nodded. “I don’t understand.”

Senior Qing didn’t understand either.