Little Pink Starfish

When Gu Bai saw this little bottom with such a look on his face, he immediately knew he must be worrying about the black-hearted lotus. Just as he was about to ask something to bait out a tragic story about the black-hearted lotus, he had barely opened his mouth when a creepy sensation suddenly rose from his back, making goosebumps spread across his whole body.
Damn, where was this danger intuition coming from!?

Instinctively, Gu Bai turned to look.
Hmm, he was looking at Qiguan Rui.

But, in Gu Bai’s eyes at the moment, Qiguan Rui still looked as gentle and harmless as ever. Aside from his gaze toward himself being a bit too scorching, there was no hint of danger—damn it, it was all just cheesiness!
So it must have been a false alarm?

Gu Bai turned his head back again.
Qiguan Rui restrained himself a little.
How nice. Even though gege had lost most of his memories, he was still this sharp…

Because of that one glance, Qiguan Rui, who had calmed down, realized Gu Bai’s true intent and shifted from his initial full-blown malice toward Meng Qiao to a light displeasure.
Gege liked watching dramas. He would remember that.

Compared to Qiguan Rui, this pervert who could turn terrifying at any moment, the reaction of the more normal Yin Jiu was very reasonable—he merely stretched out an arm to tug at Meng Qiao’s wrist, expressing his jealousy.
Meng Qiao realized it, glanced down at Yin Jiu, his face flushed, but he ignored him. Turning his head with slight pride, he spoke to Gu Bai: “Expert, I’ll tell you…”

With several smooth guiding phrases like “Mhm,” “I know,” “And then?”, Gu Bai finally understood what had recently happened to the black-hearted lotus.
↑
This little bottom was actually pretty chatty.
Of course, that also had to do with Meng Qiao previously treating Gu Bai like a tree hole, always talking his ears off.

So, it was a few days ago—Su Qingyan had gone out. Originally it was supposed to be for tempering and killing zombies, just like all his previous outings. But when he came back, his clothes were tattered, and his face was pale—clearly injured, looking especially pitiful.
Meng Qiao, being so concerned, of course asked immediately. That’s when he found out—Su Qingyan had terrible luck this trip and encountered a very fierce level-four mutant beast that severely injured him!
—Right, ever since the last time mutant beasts attacked the city, the major safe bases had begun categorizing them. The kind that could speak were basically level six and above.

Although Su Qingyan had healing ability, he desperately tried to heal himself, but unfortunately ended up overdrawing his power… When he woke up, he had barely escaped the mutant beast, but his ability was completely gone due to the overuse. From then on, he was just an ordinary person.

If you never had powers, that’d be one thing—but gaining them and then losing them later, the pain was obvious. No matter how calm Su Qingyan acted, he locked himself in his room for several days. Meng Qiao had been trying to comfort him, but Su Qingyan refused to come out, which made Meng Qiao worry terribly.

Gu Bai: “……”
Wocao this black-hearted lotus really knew how to make up stories! Telling lies without even blinking!
Though, well, it made sense. If he weren’t so scheming and deep, how could he have fooled Meng Qiao from childhood, and in the original nearly fooled him to death?
This string of lies was seamless—no one could find a flaw… losing abilities from overuse, what a perfect excuse!

What Gu Bai didn’t know was, Su Qingyan had locked himself in not just for others to see, but to forcibly suppress his panic and unwillingness over losing the space, and to calm his emotions.
Besides that, he was absolutely fuming…

Why fuming? Because even though he, the so-called healing “ability user,” was gone, people who used to come for healing merely felt a bit of pity—none of them were deeply affected!

Just because Meng Qiao still had powers.
He could go to Meng Qiao for healing instead!

…Meng Qiao! Again it’s Meng Qiao!
Could Su Qingyan not be mad?
He was mad to death okay!
And the more he thought, the angrier and more irritable he became!

Since he couldn’t perfectly fake his state right now, Su Qingyan could only grit his teeth and keep hiding.

After listening to Meng Qiao’s story, Gu Bai was very satisfied. His goal this time was achieved.
What would the black-hearted lotus do next? Anyway, without his space cheat, he was just a normal person now. Even if he wanted to seize Meng Qiao’s other golden fingers, like those plants that enhance powers, he couldn’t go collect them on his own! If he wanted to get them, he’d need mercenaries or hunters to go with him. But did he have anything to attract them? Any extra crystal cores?

Nothing.
He’d have to rely on pure bluffing to trick others into taking him along, and then snatch the opportunity at the right moment—what a tough job.

Gu Bai recalled where those enhancement plants were… He should find a time to tell Yin Jiu and have him take Meng Qiao to collect them early!

Decision made, Gu Bai then walked off with Qiguan Rui, high and aloof.
At Qiguan Rui’s door, a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes.

What level-four mutant beast? Beasts above level four were never allowed near this safe base—much less attacking it.
Gege was here to watch the drama—how could he allow it? How could he let powerful mutant beasts approach? Aside from gege, all other threats had already been blocked.
And that little bug over there… dared to slander him!

Qiguan Rui lowered his eyes, suppressing the surging killing intent.
Once gege got bored of this so-called “plot,” that actor could go enjoy a real attack from a mutant beast…

---

Recently, Yin Jiu had been a bit troubled.
As a cold handsome man, he had always secretly liked the awkward boy next door, and had great ambitions that he’d win him over with his strength.

But he never expected wave after wave of rivals.
First came the boy’s life-saving benefactor, respected and relied on. Then came the boy’s childhood friend, cared for and also relied on. Even though it was later confirmed that the first one had the same… orientation as the boy—yes, the connection between gong and gong was real, and he felt it!—the latter still gave him a huge sense of threat.
Made him really want to eliminate that pretty boy.

Fortunately, that pretty boy had lost his powers and locked himself away out of shame. Everything was heading in a good direction. The boy even blushed around him now—it looked like the day he would win him over was coming soon…

But then—conflict arose.
Why?
Because suddenly, that ice block started sending him information!

Originally, just some info—Yin Jiu didn’t really care. If the ice block wanted to use it as leverage, he’d picked the wrong guy. But once he opened the message, he found it was a huge temptation!
—It described a specific location where a treasure could enhance mutated water powers.

Yes, after the apocalypse, some mutant plants evolved powerful abilities, while others evolved medicinal effects—great for ability users.
Though he didn’t know how the ice block knew this stuff, it was clearly useful to his A Qiao—how could he not be tempted? He couldn’t resist!

So…
Yin Jiu had to hold his nose and, using that favor, took his awkward boy on a grand journey—ah no, a treasure hunt.
What’s more, they really found it! And it worked so well! As soon as A Qiao ate it, he made great progress!

When they returned to the base, barely rested for two days, and—bam, another message from the ice block. Another medicinal mutant plant location.
Yin Jiu hesitated for a moment, took Meng Qiao again, and again—they found it.

Over and over.
The ice block gave him several tips. Through his own efforts, he obtained them all, pushing his boy’s difficult-to-upgrade mutated water ability higher and higher. He was on the verge of breaking through level five, and his healing power was significantly stronger now—so useful!

While happy about his boy’s progress, Yin Jiu was also frustrated that he still had to rely on the ice block’s intel. He sent many people out to investigate but none could match the ice block’s efficiency.
This frustration…

Still, for that beloved boy, Yin Jiu gritted his teeth and kept owing favors.

Gradually, moved by this sincerity, the boy’s attitude softened. He seemed to believe in Yin Jiu’s genuine intentions and even looked at him differently.
Finally, one day, Yin Jiu confessed!
And his boy… agreed…

Yin Jiu’s previous conflict vanished on the spot.
Screw manly dignity! Screw all that nonsense—seizing the person you love was what mattered!
All that resentment toward the ice block disappeared in an instant.

Hugging Meng Qiao, Yin Jiu secretly thought: That ice block face… really is a national-level best friend…

---

Gu Bai leaned on the sofa, watching the handsome young man perform.

He had tone variation, emotion, and vivid imagery—damn it, he acted it out so well and told it so precisely it was even a bit scary!
He laid out all the recent schemes of the black-hearted lotus.

Though Gu Bai’s face stayed poker-straight, inside he was rolling on the floor, pounding the ground with laughter.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

So while Gu Bai had been feeding intel to Yin Jiu, and Yin Jiu had been very efficient, the black-hearted lotus had spent half a month brooding, and then more time searching for suitable ability users and hunters. After all that trouble, when he finally worked hard to get Meng Qiao to come and ask someone—of course using the excuse that he wanted to cheer up and get back into the hunter scene or whatever—Meng Qiao apologetically told him: He had already eaten that thing!

The black-hearted lotus was fuming, but still showed great generosity and didn’t blame Meng Qiao. He turned around like he’d go study more. But when he thought the timing was good and was about to ask Meng Qiao again… Meng Qiao told him again: He had already eaten that thing!

Then the third time… fourth time…
He eventually stopped asking Meng Qiao directly since that drew too much attention. The last two times he went to eavesdrop on the intel himself—and found out every time, Yin Jiu had already gotten it, and given it to Meng Qiao!

Meng Qiao had eaten it!
Eaten it!
Eaten it!

Su Qingyan: “……”
I. So. Hate.
Meng Qiao!