Ribbons and Confusion

“Ugh, blech!” Chen Jiao clutched a paper airsickness bag, retching violently over the side of her hospital cot without actually bringing anything up.

“Are you okay?” Yuan Anqing asked, gently patting her back.

“Not really,” Chen Jiao gasped, her face deathly pale. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this physically exhausted in my life.” She gagged again. She felt as though a mass of cold lint was stuck in her throat, but nothing would come out. “I feel like I’ve been awake for three days straight. My mind is completely scrambled.”

As she spoke, she reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear—and froze.

Chen Jiao slowly turned her head to look at her reflection in the glass of the IV stand. Her hair, which was normally waist-length, thick, and glossy black, was currently a frizzy mess. And on that single, tangled section of hair… there were about ten tiny, colorful ribbons tied into neat little bows.

The ribbons were crisscrossed and knotted into a complete disaster.

Chen Jiao’s pupils shook in horror. “I…” She wanted to say she remembered everything that had happened during the bickering in the basement, but when she tried to recall the details, she only remembered a sudden explosion of pure, petty rage. The actual events of the fight were a blank.

It was like waking up from a deep sleep and forgetting the details of a vivid nightmare.

“Did I… did I go crazy during my Awakening and tie tiny pink ribbons into my own hair?” Chen Jiao was utterly baffled.

“Oh, no. You didn’t do that,” Yuan Anqing corrected her flatly. “Those ribbons on your head were tied by Zhuo.”

Chen Jiao: “Huh?”

“You two were fighting,” Yuan Anqing pointed to Zhuo, who was standing meekly in the corner of the room. “I was afraid Zhuo would hurt you and trigger the pain link on my ring, so I told him not to fight back too hard. So, while you were trying to choke him, he spent the entire time using his extra hands to tie decorative bows in your hair.”

Chen Jiao released her hair, staring at the monster in a state of absolute, stunned silence.

Zhuo stepped forward from the corner, looking deeply aggrieved. “You punched me in the ribs several times, you know. I was very polite. I didn’t even use my fangs.”

“Does my punching you even hurt?” Chen Jiao asked through gritted teeth.

“Oh… well, no, physically it doesn’t,” Zhuo scratched his head. “But you kept attacking me! I couldn’t just stand there and let you hit me without doing something to defend my honor.”

“Never mind. Let’s never speak of this again,” Chen Jiao gritted out, her eye twitching.

“I’ll untie them for you,” Yuan Anqing offered, reaching out.

“No need, I—ugh!” Chen Jiao started dry-retching again, clutching her stomach.

Zhuo quickly slapped Yuan Anqing’s hand away from her back. Yuan Anqing gave him a warning glance, and Zhuo immediately pouted, folding his hands.

Zhuo turned his gaze to the two silver-haired figures lying on the concrete floor. Qin Xiao and his Reproductive Body both lay face-down, completely limp.

“Yuan Anqing,” Zhuo whispered, tapping his shoulder. “Don’t they look exactly like two frozen beltfish lying on a supermarket tray?”

Yuan Anqing: “…”

He’s not entirely wrong, Yuan thought.

“What happened to those two?” Chen Jiao asked, her head still full of bows.

“You beat them up,” Yuan Anqing said. He gave the tip of Zhuo’s tail a light pat, signaling the monster to watch his language.

“They’re still semi-conscious,” Zhuo noted, crouched over the silver-haired pair. “They really do look like beltfish! Look at the silver hair.”

“Mmm…”

A low, painful whimper came from the adjacent cot. Zheng Xiao’an was lying on their side, frowning and clutching their stomach.

“What’s wrong with you, kid?” Zhuo walked over, placing a large, warm hand on the teenager’s forehead to sense their emotional state.

“Does he actually have a good impression of Zheng Xiao’an?” Chen Jiao asked, observing him. Qin Xiao and the other assassin were in much worse physical shape on the floor, but Zhuo didn’t even bother checking their pulses.

“He’s not even pretending to be a fair guardian,” Chen Jiao coughed.

“WAAAH!” Zhuo suddenly screamed in terror.

Zheng Xiao’an had snapped his eyes open and bolted upward, their hands instantly grabbing Zhuo’s neck in a vice-like grip.

Zheng Xiao’an hadn’t yet differentiated their gender. They weren’t particularly tall, and their hands were small—one hand couldn’t even fully wrap around Zhuo’s thick neck. Yet, Zhuo acted as if Zheng Xiao’an was a massive, burly giant trying to choke him out, while he himself was just a frail, helpless youth.

“Zheng Xiao’an’s late differentiation has started?!” Yuan Anqing noticed the aura of Savior-derived desire flaring around the teenager.

They were still in Senior Qing’s underground green room. Yuan Anqing didn’t know Zheng Xiao’an’s specific biological mutation. If it was an explosive or corrosive gas like the CEO’s nephew, Senior Qing’s vines could be in danger.

Yuan Anqing pushed Chen Jiao back a step. She was still feeling unwell, but her mind was sharp. “Zhuo and Zheng Xiao’an are right next to each other. What are you afraid of, Mr. Savior?”

The situation was actually perfectly safe. Zhuo’s mental strength was second only to Yuan Anqing’s, and his physical durability was absolute. No matter how violently Zheng Xiao’an’s energy ran amok, they couldn’t possibly turn into a monster capable of hurting Zhuo.

Zhuo was squealing and shouting, acting utterly terrified, but Zheng Xiao’an’s gaze was entirely vacant. The teenager couldn’t even control their own movements; they were being yanked left and right by Zhuo’s dramatic flailing, nearly falling off the cot.

“You know exactly how strong Zhuo is, right?” Chen Jiao asked Yuan Anqing.

He nodded.

“So you’re telling me you were actually misled by his acting? You genuinely think this giant is weak?”

Yuan Anqing said nothing, adjusting his glasses.

“Come on! Even if you ignore his muscle mass, look at his height! There is absolutely nothing frail about him!”

The scene before them was like a tiny Pomeranian trying to kidnap a five-hundred-pound tiger. No matter how pitifully the tiger whimpered, no one in the room was buying the performance. Because the tiger’s trembling, deep voice was still far louder than the Pomeranian’s squeak.

“What are you going to do to me?!” Zhuo wailed, looking at Zheng Xiao’an with wide, teary eyes.

Zheng Xiao’an, being dragged back and forth by Zhuo’s dramatic movements, finally focused their vacant eyes on the monster. Their late differentiation wasn’t external; their power didn’t try to project desire onto others. Instead, it seemed to trap the teenager within their own domestic fantasies.

This result was definitely not what the rebel organization wanted. To them, Zheng Xiao’an’s mutation was a complete, useless failure.

Zheng Xiao’an’s expression was hollow. They stared at Zhuo’s face for a long time, trying to process his features, before whispering, “Mom…?”

“I AM MALE!” Zhuo immediately slapped the teenager’s hand away from his throat. “What kind of mother would I be?!” He fought desperately to defend his tough-guy persona. Besides, he doubted any mother in history was over two meters tall and had horns.

“Then… Dad?” Zheng Xiao’an immediately corrected themselves, gently stroking their slapped hand. “Are you my father?”

Zhuo didn’t know how to reply to that. He looked at Yuan Anqing for guidance.

Zheng Xiao’an also followed his gaze, staring at Yuan Anqing. “Big Dad!”

“Hey! His brain is actually working!” Zhuo was surprised. He hadn’t expected the teenager to remember his and Yuan Anqing’s co-parenting roleplay during the math homework session.

Yuan Anqing walked over and placed his cool hand on Zheng Xiao’an’s forehead. The teenager didn’t resist, leaning into the touch.

“Nothing major,” Yuan Anqing sensed that Zheng Xiao’an’s desire was superficial. After all, their mother had been infected with Savior flesh while pregnant, so their mutation was just a lingering echo. “No need to reconstruct their personality in the void. They’re just delirious. We just need to wake them up.”

“Or we can just wait two or three days; they’ll recover on their own,” Yuan Anqing released his hand and crouched down to meet Zheng Xiao’an’s round eyes. “Zhuo is male. If he is your father, and I am also your father, how exactly do you think you were born?”

“My second dad isn’t human,” Zheng Xiao’an explained with absolute, childlike certainty. “I was hatched from an egg.”

“He is biologically male. Males don’t lay eggs,” Yuan Anqing corrected them.

“Why not? There is no one else of the same species as my second dad in this world,” Zheng Xiao’an tilted their head. “How do you know my second dad can’t lay eggs?”

“Logical lecturing won’t work in this state,” Yuan Anqing stood up. “We’ll just have to wait for them to recover on their own.”

Zhuo didn’t answer. He was staring blankly at the wall.

“Zhuo?” Yuan Anqing called.

“Huh? Oh, oh, oh.” Zhuo snapped out of his daze. “Then… no big deal.”

“What were you thinking about just now?” Yuan Anqing asked.

Zhuo froze, his eyes drifting away guiltily. Yuan Anqing immediately understood. “Alright. I get it. You don’t have to say it out loud.”

Zhuo was definitely thinking about the biology of laying eggs for him.

“I hate how your mind works,” Yuan Anqing whispered, his face slightly red.

“I can’t help it! The teenager’s mind is full of very unhealthy things!” Zhuo lowered his voice, his tail tip twitching nervously. “They imagined me getting caught by you, controlled, and then… laying eggs. It’s too weird!”

Yuan Anqing: “…Did you add a lot of extra, adult plot to their delusion yourself?”

“I just… fleshed it out a bit in my head,” Zhuo defended himself.

“When we get home, I’ll play games with you,” Yuan Anqing patted Zhuo’s back. “For now, stop projecting your own desires onto a child.”

“Play the egg-laying game?!” Zhuo’s cheeks flushed bright red. “Are we having a second child? I’ll lay two at once. It’s more efficient.”

Yuan Anqing sighed, grabbed Zhuo’s horns, and started shaking his head back and forth, physically trying to dislodge the weird thoughts.

Every time he shook Zhuo’s horns, it made Zhuo laugh, and Yuan Anqing’s own deadpan lips curled up.

But their amusement made the other Differentiated Beings in the room highly uncomfortable.

Qin Xiao, the silver-haired youth, crawled up from the concrete floor. The sound of Zhuo’s hearty, hooting laughter rang in his ears, but his own head was spinning with the Savior’s residual energy. The joy of the “fathers” only highlighted his own misery. “Cough… cough… stop!”

Yuan Anqing paused.

Qin Xiao coughed repeatedly, finally coughing up a splatter of blood.

Zhuo’s eyes widened. “He got Senior Qing’s floor dirty.”

“I—cough, cough—I…” Qin Xiao wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes turning a faint, unstable gold from the resonance. “I do not accept a second child in this family.”

Zhuo: “Huh?”

“Isn’t having me at home enough?!” Qin Xiao demanded, his voice cracking with a child’s desperate jealousy. “Why do you need to adopt another one?!”

Zhuo took a deep breath, then patted Yuan Anqing’s arm. “Didn’t you say Zheng Xiao’an’s delusion wouldn’t affect the other mutants in the room?”

“It’s not Zheng Xiao’an’s influence,” Yuan Anqing said, his eyes widening slightly. The Savior energy in the room has mutated their emotional boundaries.

Meanwhile, the Reproductive Body (the assassin) also got up from the floor. He coughed lightly, his eyes also glowing gold as he stared at them. “I’m so envious that second dad can have children. I can’t even lay an egg if I want to.”

Zhuo, completely overwhelmed by the sudden family drama, silently hid his massive body behind Yuan Anqing.

Chen Jiao: “Did I beat their brains out during the fight, or did they always have this domestic delusion?”

“Fathers, I also have the right to marry and have children!” The Reproductive Body’s tone was especially mournful, tears streaming down his face as he stared at Yuan Anqing. “You won’t arrange any blind dates for me! You’re just keeping me locked up while you enjoy yourselves!”

Zhuo silently tugged Yuan Anqing’s sleeve. “Yuan Anqing… I’m scared. Let’s go home.”

Yuan Anqing’s face was completely expressionless. “Me too.”