Xiao Nian was frantically typing on the other end. “How can this be? Even Xiao Jingfeng is useless? Wasn’t he supposed to be the strongest in the whole story?”

“Who told you that?”

“…I guessed.”

“…” Xiao Zhenyun asked, “How about I go ask Duan Fei for help?”

Xiao Nian hesitated, then whispered, “Alright, he does have a role in the final battle, but it’s supposed to be later. If he enters the town early because of your influence, it won’t change the plot too much.”

Xiao Zhenyun didn’t listen to Xiao Nian’s inner monologue. As soon as he heard the words ‘alright,’ he went straight to find Duan Fei. This fresh graduate from the military academy was already in charge of the situation. Upon hearing Xiao Zhenyun’s tip, he immediately led a team in, full of confidence.

Three days later, Duan Fei’s entire squad went missing.

Xiao Zhenyun and Xiao Nian were speechless. “Well, that was a total wipeout.”

“Who can we call now?” Xiao Zhenyun asked. “How about we temporarily bring Xiao Jiali back? Once this is over, you can put him back in the grave.”

“Do you hear yourself? Have some respect for the dead.”

Xiao Zhenyun thought for a moment. “How about Duan Pei?”

“He’s a brain cancer patient. Don’t mess with him. It’s a miracle he’s still alive.” Xiao Nian slumped in his chair, infuriated.

A little over a year ago, Harold Xiu took Duan Pei abroad. They opened a flower shop, and while business wasn’t booming, it was enough to get by. Their life was peaceful and relaxed. Maybe because he was happier, Duan Pei’s brain tumor grew much slower than expected. To this day, he could still run and jump around.

Two days later, Harold Xiu called Xiao Zhenyun to say that Duan Pei had gone missing. The curly-haired man spoke in a slightly panicked tone, switching between two languages but managing to clearly explain the situation. It turned out that Duan Pei was a witness to the killing of the villain professor’s son by the special individuals years ago. He was also one of the jurors who voted not guilty for the special individuals in court.

Recently, Duan Fei had been consulting Duan Pei about the town’s situation. They often exchanged clues and information. When Duan Fei received Xiao Zhenyun’s request for help and planned to enter the town, Duan Pei felt extremely uneasy and bought a plane ticket to return overnight.

Somehow, Duan Pei, relying on his elite education, managed to piece together the town’s location from scant clues. He disguised himself as a backpacker touring the country and ventured in alone.

Then he went missing.

Xiao Nian was furious. “A brain cancer patient, and he’s causing so much trouble?”

Harold Xiu started explaining in his native language, talking about how desperate Duan Pei was to save his brother, and emphasized that ensuring their safety was the most important thing now. Xiao Nian thought to himself, “The whole world is becoming unsafe; who cares about these things?”

After hanging up, Xiao Zhenyun calmly asked, “What now?”

“…What else can we do?” Xiao Nian, feeling utterly helpless, had to resort to a desperate measure. Normally, he wouldn’t use such a strategy that harms both the enemy and themselves, but there was no one left to call. If they kept sending people like this, they’d be wiped out.

“You, pack your things and ride from the countryside. We’ll meet at the airport.”

“Parachute jump?”

“…You still have the energy to joke? It seems you don’t think the situation is urgent enough,” Xiao Nian snapped, exasperated.

Xiao Zhenyun hadn’t been in the countryside recently. He’d been staying in a single room in town, so within minutes, he was in the car heading to the airport. Xiao Nian moved quickly, too. It’s unknown what reason he found to make Si’s parents agree to let him leave home late at night. It is even possible that he jumped out of the window and escaped. Xiao Nian reached the airport earlier than Xiao Zhenyun and had already bought two tickets.

After they landed, a brand-new, mid-priced self-driving car awaited them in the parking lot. Xiao Zhenyun and Xiao Nian smoothly got into the driver’s and passenger’s seats, respectively. Xiao Nian didn’t stop typing the entire time. Ten minutes into the drive, he finally explained, “Your cover identity is as a college friend of the bride at the Li family wedding on the east side of Yao Town today.”

Yao Town was a remote, sinister place covering countless crimes, with a population of just 30,000, where the final big villain was hiding.

The villain wasn’t just the professor; it was a small organization. Along his path of revenge, the professor gathered like-minded individuals with his ideals and eloquence, hiding out in Yao Town, their main base.

“The bride’s college friend has a ten-year-old son?”

“Second marriage,” Xiao Nian glanced at him, “Don’t question the knowledge of the script-holding administrator.”

“Won’t the bride expose my identity?”

“No, she despises evil. Her son from her first marriage often mixed with those people, picking up bad habits and ideas. She wants to take down the villains but can’t expose herself because of her young son. She’s the one who sent multiple anonymous tip-offs that provided key clues to the protagonists. Later, when Ye Feiran was injured and escaping, she even helped divert the pursuers.”

Xiao Zhenyun vaguely remembered this character, a minor one without even a name, simply referred to as the bride of the Li family. Typically, if the author gave such characters names, readers would flood the comments asking who they were, making the code name ‘Li family bride’ more recognizable.

“She’ll gladly help us stay undercover,” Xiao Nian asserted confidently, adding, “I told you, don’t question the administrator’s decisions.”

Xiao Zhenyun sighed, “Alright, you have the script. Check where Si Di is now, see if he’s missing any limbs.”

“I’m on it,” Xiao Nian replied, not lifting his head.

“You’re definitely not looking for Si Di.” Xiao Zhenyun knew his crafty companion too well. “These days, you’ve been tracking Si Chu and Ye Feiran’s movements, locating the remaining members of the Blaze Team, focusing on the biggest wild card in this storyline, Hedgehog, before even thinking about Si Di… Xiao Jingfeng might be higher on your list than Si Di. You get along well with Uncle?”

“That’s the fairness and principle a world administrator should adhere to,” Xiao Nian replied seriously. “Besides you and me, Si Di is the only one aware of the plot. He’ll avoid the storyline in the town. He’s the least of our worries. The plot centers around Si Chu and his Blaze Team. Any issue with me focusing on them?”

“Yeah, that’s logical, but do I look like someone who follows logic?” Xiao Zhenyun opened the car window, lit a cigarette, and leaned against the door, half-closed eyes glinting. “I want the first person I see in the town to be Si Di, or I’ll tear up your script.”

Xiao Nian quickly closed his hardcover book and angrily accused, “You’re acting like a lovesick fool!”

“You’ve got five minutes to find his location through the world’s source code.”

“…Fifty minutes.”

“Deal.”

Xiao Zhenyun closed his eyes. “I’ll take a nap. Wake me when you’re done.”

Resigned, Xiao Nian spread his hands in the air, and a dark screen filled with chaotic symbols and incomprehensible text appeared before him. He flexed his fingers and started typing furiously.

It actually took Xiao Nian a total of 90 minutes to track down Si Di’s recent whereabouts.

In fact, by the 70-minute mark, he had already found the answer. However, because it seemed difficult to accurately describe this tangled journey with words alone, Xiao Nian hesitated for half a minute before deciding to convert the source code into a video format. He then woke Xiao Zhenyun to let him watch it for himself.

In the video, Si Di lay sideways on a bed, looking a bit disheveled with slightly messy hair and a longer beard than the last time Xiao Zhenyun had seen him. However, his spirits seemed relatively good, and his eyes were still as sharp and lively as ever.

A large black wolf tail hung behind him, its tip lazily swaying up and down—a telltale sign that he was deep in thought.

Suddenly, Si Di’s wolf ears twitched. He heard something, and his eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up, his calm expression turning cold.

The camera zoomed out to reveal the whole room. It was dimly lit, sparsely furnished with just a bed, two chairs, and a wobbly wooden table propped up with bricks.

The door suddenly creaked open, and a small, fluffy face appeared.

To be precise, it was a cute girl wrapped in a fluffy white scarf and a fur-lined coat. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the person inside the room, and the two rabbit ears on top of her head perked up as she slowly approached with a tray in her hands, placing it on the table.

“Eat.” The bunny girl looked like a snowball when she wasn’t speaking, but when she did, it seemed a bit odd. She opened her mouth wide and enunciated forcefully, as if she were glaring at someone.

Si Di remained still, his wolf tail swaying from left to right. The bunny girl grew anxious and took action holding a spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other, desperately trying to feed him while loudly repeating, “Eat!”

“Are you deaf? My sister told you to eat,” a cold voice sounded from behind the door.

Xiao Nian’s smart tracking shifted the video feed, focusing on the face of the man standing at the doorway. His face was marred with extensive burn scars, the skin shriveled and pitted, with an unsettling color. His harsh tone upset the bunny girl, who immediately jumped up like an angry snowball, shouting, “No! No!”

The man had no choice but to step inside and calm her down, “Alright, alright, I won’t be harsh on him. I’m already being generous by feeding him.”

He turned to Si Di, his expression still hostile, but his tone shifted from hatred to a more subdued disdain. “Eat your food and keep my sister happy, or else none of your friends will make it out alive.”

Si Di remained silent for a long time before finally speaking his first words, “How are they now?”

The burnt man sneered, “The professor is taking good care of them. You don’t need to worry.”

The bunny girl, oblivious to the world’s cruelties, dragged a chair over for Si Di, hopping up to him and shyly tugging at his sleeve, “Eat, eat.”

Si Di treated the little bunny gently, not shaking her off roughly. He merely glanced at her quietly, causing the bunny girl to blush and hide her face with her fluffy scarf, though she clung to his sleeve even tighter.

“Don’t be ungrateful,” the burnt man said. “Eat the food. If my sister didn’t like you, I’d have shot you by now.”

“If it weren’t for that professor threatening my brother’s life,” Si Di stood up coldly, “do you really think a C-Class sentinel like you could beat me?”

Something in Si Di’s words hit a nerve with the burnt man. His face twisted in rage, and he raised his fist to strike, but the bunny girl threw herself between them, shaking her head furiously. “No fighting! Fighting is bad!”

The burnt man, red-eyed with anger, yelled, “Xiao Bai, get out of the way!”

“Xiao Hui, bad!” The bunny girl hammered her tiny fists on the burnt man’s shoulders, “I won’t talk to you anymore!”

“You—” the scalded man seethed with frustration, “Fine, just ignore me for some wild guy you’ve only known for a few days. S-Class sentinel, truly impressive. Even you like… Fine, just ignore me, ignore me for the rest of your life!”

With those words, he stormed out angrily, leaving the bunny girl, Xiao Bai, unable to stop him. She fretted inside the room, hopping in agitation. She was about to chase after him but was stopped by Si Di, who grabbed her wrist.

Si Di, who had been wearing a cold expression all this time, now surprisingly wore a smile. “Xiao Bai.”

“Xiao Hui…” Xiao Bai anxiously tried to shake off Si Di’s grip.

“It’s okay, he’s just throwing a little tantrum. He’ll come back on his own later.” Si Di was definitely stronger than her, so he forcefully pulled the girl to another chair. “It’s rare for just the two of us. Can you keep me company for a while? Xiao Hui will be back soon.”

Xiao Bai anxiously glanced at the door, seeming too naive to understand the concept of refusal. Under Si Di’s deliberate guidance, she obediently nodded.

“You’re done for…” Xiao Nian’s ghostly voice appeared by Xiao Zhenyun’s ear. “Si Di has his eyes on another bunny. He doesn’t want an old, faded deer like you anymore.”

TL: Two new characters have been introduced in this chapter: Xiao Bai and Xiao Hui. You might have noticed that they share the surname ‘Xiao’ with our Xiao family. Despite looking the same in English, these surnames are actually different in the original Chinese. The Xiao family’s surname is 萧 (Xiao), while Xiao Bai and Xiao Hui’s surname is 小 (Xiao). They’re distinct characters, but both are rendered as ‘Xiao’ in English for simplicity. This might be a bit confusing or make you think there’s a hidden plot, so I wanted to clear that up for you!

Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters.  (๑>ᴗ