Chapter 41: Vulnerability (1)
41 – Vulnerability (1)
Lin Xun picked up the tip of Zhi Zhen’s tail.
“Continue,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
The tail tip remained motionless.
Lin Xun manually wrapped the tail tip around his arm.
The tail retracted.
Zhi Zhen: “Meow.”
“Meowing won’t help,” Lin Xun stared at it. “I’m starting to doubt your species now.”
Zhi Zhen: “Meow…”
It stepped on Lin Xun’s chest a few times, its gaze innocent.
Lin Xun chuckled at its steps and picked the cat up again. “Can you understand human speech?”
Zhi Zhen acted as if it hadn’t heard anything.
Lin Xun set it down, facing it directly.
Zhi Zhen then extended its paw, touching his neck with its pad. Lin Xun didn’t move, letting it touch him.
Lin Xun: “Do you usually play like this with Dong Jun too?”
Zhi Zhen showed no reaction.
Lin Xun: “I’m jealous.”
Zhi Zhen: “Meow.”
It hugged Lin Xun’s finger and gave it a gentle bite.
Lin Xun: “Maybe you really are just a cat.”
He placed his hand on Zhi Zhen’s belly and gently closed his eyes.
The System Space appeared.
Today, he had eliminated quite a few demons in the gymnasium, completing his daily tasks.
The Spiritual Power reward for daily tasks was 5. By this calculation, he now had 105 Spiritual Power, just 15 short of lighting up the skill tree.
Fifteen more—after completing Xiao Xiao’s side quest, he would obtain it.
However, this quest remained unfinished.
After subduing Xiao Xiao in the broadcasting room, the progress increased to fifty percent. After Brother Chang Ji purified all the demons in the venue, the progress reached seventy percent. This afternoon, when Senior Xiaoyaozi forced the demon out of Xiao Xiao’s body and killed it, the progress increased by another twenty, reaching ninety percent.
Only ten more remained. Yet, theoretically, Lin Xun had done everything he could think of.
He went over the entire incident again from start to finish.
The quest hint was: “On a certain night, Xiao Xiao obtained a special ability.”
The special ability referred to Xiao Xiao’s singing. So, on which night and where did this happen?
The appearance of demons always had a source.
Lin Xun had a rough idea.
He then reviewed the skills he currently possessed.
Light Body Technique—the most practical skill book so far. He now possessed quick reflexes and could even float around in the air.
The keyboard and the portable hard drive were both related to reading and writing programs, allowing him to call upon almost all C language programs.
But there was another skill book, “Heavenly Eye Technique,” obtained from completing the Qingcheng Mountain side quest. Lin Xun still hadn’t figured out how to use it or even what it did.
He kept this in mind and opened his eyes.
—As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Zhi Zhen sitting on the pillow, staring at him without blinking.
Lin Xun: “You’re quite scary like this.”
Zhi Zhen wagged its tail, its ice-blue eyes—a color so serene that Lin Xun felt the kitten was scrutinizing him.
He patted Zhi Zhen’s head. “I’m going out for a bit. I’ll come find you later.”
Zhi Zhen meowed and followed him out the door.
“Good kitty, come let Daddy hold you,” Wang Anquan accurately scooped up Zhi Zhen.
Lin Xun: “?”
He asked, “When did you become its dad?”
Wang Anquan: “During your absence, both Jia Gou and I became its dads.”
Lin Xun: “I don’t understand why you people are so determined to be something’s dad.”
Wang Anquan: “Jia Gou says this is the reproductive instinct in male biological genes. You don’t have this instinct, which proves your sexual orientation is abnormal.”
Lin Xun: “Your argument is full of holes—do you have any papers?”
“No papers.” Jia Gou also moved closer to Wang Anquan, affectionately stroking Zhi Zhen while saying to Lin Xun…: “See, you’re starting to demand papers now. This shows you’re guilty, you never really believed in your own orientation to begin with.”
Lin Xun: “What are you implying? Actually, my orientation is quite vague; I don’t know either.”
Zhao Jiagou: “I still remember in our freshman year when many senior sisters pursued you, and you declared yourself a ‘code-sexual,’ saying their code was too ugly, so you couldn’t accept them. That year, the average grades of our entire college improved.”
Wang Anquan: “By sophomore year, you were pursued by a junior from the sports college, and you dismissed him with the same excuse. He then worked hard to learn Python, got into BAT, and is now a senior engineer. And he’s not the only case.”
Lin Xun: “…”
“Magnificent, algorithm.” Zhao Jiagou clapped: “You’ve contributed to the development of our country’s computer industry.”
Lin Xun asked sincerely: “Why have you been so keen on attacking me lately?”
Zhao Jiagou: “That godforsaken improved algorithm you wrote made us spend two whole days coding.”
“Sorry.” Lin Xun said: “Next time, I’ll think about it from a code perspective.”
“Alright.” Wang Anquan’s expression softened: “You can go now, enter your idealist world.”
Lin Xun was also calm.
Mutual attacks had been their daily routine for years.
He was about to leave.
Just then, Zhi Zhen, who had been restrained by Wang Anquan, began to resist, wanting to follow him.
—It started scratching Wang Anquan.
Wang Anquan fought with it.
Back and forth, several rounds.
Lin Xun: “…”
He said to Wang Anquan: “Be careful.”
Wang Anquan: “This cat fights for fun; it doesn’t extend its claws.”
Lin Xun walked over to check, and it was true. The sharp nails were retracted into its paws, completely harmless.
He thought about it. Over the past three days, Zhi Zhen seemed to have grown quite familiar with Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou. Even though it had only been fostered for three days, it felt like they had raised the cat together.
—So, was this little cat truly that sociable?
Thinking of the stray cats on the university campus that never warmed up no matter how much they were fed, he felt the diversity of species.
But he still had to leave.
He had new ideas about that side quest.
Brother Chang Ji once said that demons appear because the barrier between the human world is weak, and cracks have formed between the demon realm and the human world. These cracks are the birthplace of demons.
He thought perhaps Xiao Xiao’s infection by a high-level demon was no coincidence, nor was her father’s, or even the group of young people on the eleventh floor who were infected while taking drugs that day.
Following his memory, he entered the basement of the residential building where Xiao Xiao lived.
Several motion-sensor lights were broken, and one flickered intermittently. The basement was pitch black. He turned on his phone’s flashlight and walked into the labyrinthine basement corridors. The building had over a hundred households, each with its own basement, so the underground structure was like a maze with many rooms. However, as long as he walked in one direction, he could eventually reach the underground parking garage and return to the surface through its exit.
The door at Xiaoxiao’s place was lit, and voices could be heard, a scene that seemed quite harmonious. Without that violent, alcoholic father, their lives should have improved significantly.
“Lo,” he said, “record the route.”
The phone chimed: “Command executed.”
He began walking deeper into the basement, turning off his flashlight as he headed toward the darkest, most remote part.
He walked for what felt like an eternity, yet there was no sign of an exit. An ominous feeling crept over him.
Lin Xun picked up his phone: no signal, the compass spinning wildly, unable to locate his position.
The arrangement of the doorplates in the surrounding basement was unlike anything he had seen before, and the color of the plates seemed different too—he couldn’t quite describe it.
He opened the route map drawn by the Goddess of the Luo River and suddenly frowned.
If his estimation was correct, he was currently right beneath the building where he lived.