Chapter 75

Chapter 75

It happened so suddenly that he didn't react at all at first.

When he finally realized what they were doing, he looked up in surprise.

Sang Huaiyu chuckled softly, "Feeling better now?"

What?

Shi Yu came back to his senses and checked how he felt—indeed, his exhausted psychic energy seemed to have recovered slightly, and his headache had eased too.

How was this possible?

Sang Huaiyu said, "Your abilities are powerful, but your human form is too weak, which means your mental strength hasn't fully developed yet."

"Once your abilities fully manifest and integrate with your body, things will normalize."

He paused, then looked at Shi Yu. "Until then, if you're willing, let me protect you."

The gentle words hung in the air. Shi Yu didn't know whether to be surprised by the evil god's analysis of his abilities or shocked by that last statement.

—Protect him?

The evil god wanted to protect him?

His mind was reeling, unable to comprehend why the other would say such a thing.

Was it... because of the Little Monster?

Because he wanted this offspring to be born safely, so he sought to protect him, the host?

Was that why he'd rushed over the moment he sensed they were in danger?

No matter how much he racked his brain, Shi Yu couldn't figure it out.

But when he met Sang Huaiyu's gentle gaze, he made up his mind—after all, protecting the Little Monster also meant protecting him. Either way, he came out ahead, so why refuse?

Besides, he could usually take care of himself.

"Well... thanks, I guess?"

Sang Huaiyu gave him a look. "You're welcome."

......

After holding hands for half an hour, Shi Yu lay in bed after washing up, still chewing on the day's events.

Thanks to the god's power transfer, his psychic energy had fully recovered.

But perhaps because of that, his mind started racing again late at night.

Without thinking, Shi Yu propped himself up and studied his palm.

The moment he realized what he was thinking, he muttered a curse.

Shit.

Why was he recalling that moment again?

Here's the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

What's wrong with two men holding hands? The Evil God was just alleviating his mental exhaustion. Besides, hadn't they touched before when transferring the Authority to the Little Monster?

This was just normal physical contact.

Shi Yu declared righteously to himself:

The one opposite is an Evil God—what else could he possibly be thinking? Do people get weird about petting cats?

Obviously not.

After convincing himself for a long time, Shi Yu took a deep breath and yanked the covers over his head.

Meanwhile, just a wall away in the living room, Sang Huaiyu, who had been reading under the lamp, raised his head and looked toward the bedroom door, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Still not asleep?"

The "ding-dong" of a message notification sounded. Shi Yu fumbled for his phone by the pillow and saw the Evil God's text.

"Does your head still hurt?"

Hm?

Shi Yu peeked toward the door, startled that his restlessness was detected. He quickly replied:

"It's fine."

"Maybe I slept too much during the day."

"I'm already feeling sleepy now. I'll go to sleep soon."

"No need to wait up for me. Good night."

After hurriedly sending a couple of messages, Shi Yu put down his phone, let out a quiet sigh, and lay motionless on the bed like a corpse.

Sang Huaiyu lowered his gaze at the words on his phone, running his thumb over the screen. He could vividly imagine Shi Yu's expression while sending those messages—probably all flustered and embarrassed.

...

The next morning, the Ability User Association's detector was going haywire.

The machine wouldn't stop beeping. Wen Jingjing almost thought it had malfunctioned. After giving it a once-over, she immediately called for Captain Fu and the team.

"Captain Fu, the detector shows that all these areas have exceeded the corruption levels!"

Huge red zones of corruption lit up on the map. The scale was alarming.

Wait, all of these?

Didn't we contain most of these yesterday?

Where'd all these new ones come from?

Fu Nanyao took one look and immediately called Han Chuyi, who was still out in the field.

"Beishan West Road and Shangying Road—any missing persons reports from last night to today?"

Han Chuyi answered with a frown, but after hearing Fu Nanyao's words, his eyes went straight to the detector beside him.

"No." "What's the situation?"

"Everything was normal last night."

Fu Nanyao double-checked. He only frowned and looked after Han Chuyi sent his data.

"Got it."

Han Chuyi was confused. What the hell?

Bringing this up at the crack of dawn, and now suddenly going silent.

He frowned, finally hearing the voice on the other end say, "These areas have been hit hard, with widespread signs of Horrors appearing."

"I'll head over as soon as possible."

"We'll talk then."

Fu Nanyao hung up the phone. However, confirming there were no missing persons was some small comfort in this unfortunate situation.

Han Chuyi paused, just as shocked by the extent.

Despite their tight security, had the Horrors contamination still leaked into residential areas?

Half an hour later, Fu Nanyao took a team to North Mountain.

The detector's critical alert location was in the mid-section residential area of North Mountain. He glanced at it and followed the signal inside.

Sure enough, they found heavy Horrors contamination in the residential area.

"Captain Fu." Zhao Wen approached, pointing ahead. "Building 19, Baohua Community."

Fu Nanyao could feel it too and nodded, leading the team upstairs.

Zhou Qingqing had been startled the night before when her legs inexplicably went numb and she blacked out briefly. Early in the morning, she went to the hospital for a check-up, but fortunately, all her tests were clean with no major issues.

Though she still felt a bit odd upon returning, after lunch she shrugged it off, rested for a while, and planned to meet up with friends.

Just as she settled on a time, Zhou Qingqing heard a knock at the door.

Three sharp knocks, then silence.

Who could it be?

Puzzled, she peeked out, thinking she hadn't ordered any delivery—where was the knocking coming from?

As soon as she opened the door, she saw three or four men dressed in black, unfamiliar uniforms standing outside.

Zhou Qingqing: ???

A few minutes later, Zhao Wen, a natural at dealing with civilians, stepped forward with a rehearsed cover story while fishing for details.

Meanwhile, Wang Shan took careful notes from behind, amazed at his people skills.

"Wait, why do you need to know that?"

Though confused, Zhou Qingqing told them everything she could remember about what had happened yesterday.

Here's the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

Zhao Wen: "You're saying that yesterday at noon, you suddenly felt your legs go numb, as if they had solidified, and then you lost consciousness?"

Zhou Qingqing nodded: "That's right."

"It was really bizarre—I couldn't explain it myself."

Zhao Wen paused his pen: "When you came to, everything was normal?"

"No strange feelings or physical issues?"

According to the girl's account and the residual Horrors energy all over the room, she had undoubtedly encountered "Stone Seal pollution," even showing signs of petrification similar to the pollutants they had been destroying these past few days, indicating a higher level of contamination.

Yet now, she stood before them perfectly fine.

No one said anything, but they all found it peculiar.

Not knowing what the Ability User Association members were thinking, Zhou Qingqing thought about how she'd felt since waking up and shook her head.

"Nothing uncomfortable."

"Just in case, I even went to the hospital earlier, and the doctor said everything was fine."

Fu Nanyao glanced at her from the side.

"Mind if I take a look inside?"

"Sure."

With her parents home, there was no inconvenience. After exchanging a few words with them, Zhou Qingqing let them in.

Fu Nanyao first looked around the living room before turning his attention to the bedroom—where the contamination was strongest.

Seeing where he was looking, Zhou Qingqing explained, "This is where I usually watch livestreams."

"You can check if you want."

"Livestreams?"

Zhao Wen suddenly stopped, seeming curious.

Zhou Qingqing nodded: "Just mukbangs."

"I'm usually busy with work and don't have time to eat, so I watch mukbangs while I eat."

The two continued their standard questioning.

Fu Nanyao said, "Can I check the computer for records from yesterday around noon?"

Just from yesterday noon...

She hesitated, but looking at Captain Fu's expressionless face and figuring he wasn't just being curious, she agreed.

Wang Shan and Zhao Wen kept asking questions from Zhou Qingqing.

At the computer, Fu Nanyao opened the records and searched around the time when the girl outside had fainted. Sure enough, he found Shi Yu's ID in the livestream clips.

The words "Xiao Yu Blowing Bubbles" stood out clearly on the screen. Fu Nanyao hesitated for a moment before clicking on the video. He saw that after this fan named Zhou Qingqing suddenly posted in the chat about her legs going numb, Shi Yu left the camera for about ten minutes, and the stream went dark. Ten minutes later, Zhou Qingqing came to after fainting, her legs weren't numb anymore, and there was no sign of contamination left on her body.

Shi Yu returned to the livestream at the same time.

So was there any connection between the two? He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring thoughtfully at the young man on the screen.

After watching for a bit, he logged out.

"Captain Fu, any findings?"

When Captain Fu came out, Wang Shan quietly asked.

Fu Nanyao shook his head. "Got some hunches, but nothing solid yet."

"Let's go."

Catching Wang Shan's meaningful look, Zhao Wen wrapped up the conversation and walked over.

"Mr. Zhao, is my daughter really okay now?" The Zhou parents asked again, still uneasy.

Zhao Wen shook his head. "She'll be fine, no need to worry."

Since Captain Fu didn't say anything, it meant the contamination was truly gone—no need for concern.

As the group left the neighborhood, Wang Shan was still muttering to himself when the captain ahead spoke. "Put in the report: The Horror contamination in Baohua Community has died out and poses no harm."

Wang Shan: No wonder. He'd thought it was weird—the detector clearly showed large traces of Horror markers, so how could everything be fine? Turns out it had already died out.

Wang Shan and Zhao Wen got it, but after recording the details, new questions arose.

But how could such strong Horror contamination just disappear like that?

Captain Fu didn't elaborate further, so the two had to swallow their doubts.

In a single morning, the Ability User Association visited three locations.

What had Fu Nanyao frowning was that while the Baohua Community case might connect to Shi Yu, the other two locations differed in both method and extent of Horror elimination.

Almost like... two different people were behind it?

After going over it again, Fu Nanyao frowned slightly, puzzled, his gaze lingering on his phone.

...

Shi Yu lounged in bed after waking up before remembering something. He grabbed his phone to check the backend comments for any messages from "Loves Lamb Skewers."

This fan checked in every day—if they'd signed in today, it meant they were fine, right?

After logging in, he scrolled down and spotted the ID "Loves Lamb Skewers." He sighed in relief.

Looks like they're fine.

Good. He was about to put it down when his phone pinged.

To his surprise, it was from Captain Fu.

When that blank profile pic popped up, Shi Yu froze—why would Captain Fu be messaging him? Baffled, he opened the message.

"Are you free?"

"Can we meet up tomorrow to talk?"

Shi Yu: ...?

Talk about what?

He stared at the message, replaying it in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He suddenly got a bad feeling.

Wait, could Fu Nanyao have... figured something out?

The original story mentioned this guy was persistent and good at tracking. After all this time, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d noticed something.

Shi Yu became more alert after seeing the message.

No need to jump to conclusions. Maybe Fu had something else in mind.

He comforted himself briefly, then answered pretending not to understand.

"Fu?"

"Sorry, I’ve got plans tomorrow—probably can’t make it."

"Was there something you wanted to discuss? We can talk on the phone."

When the polite but confused reply came through, Fu Nanyao frowned.

Yet he couldn’t shake the memory of how his corruption readings always dropped after seeing Shi Yu...

And this time, that fan’s abnormal condition had vanished—almost like it was connected to him.

Way too many coincidences.

No matter how you looked at it, Fu Nanyao thought, this many coincidences was suspicious in itself.

What surprised him most was that despite this, he felt no hostility toward Shi Yu.

Not even when suspecting Shi Yu might have powers the Association didn’t know about.

Weirdly, he didn’t feel worried at all.

This wasn’t like him at all.

Fu Nanyao knew he usually shared President Chang’s temperament—suspicious of anything unknown.

He stared at the screen, thinking.

"Then just let me know when you’re free."

You can’t really explain this stuff over the phone, and it’d leave traces. Fu Nanyao needed to see Shi Yu in person to figure things out.

......

Shi Yu sighed in relief when Fu didn’t push it. But the words "let me know when you’re free" made him uneasy.

If he never had time, would Fu just wait forever?

Eh, he’d figure it out later.

He flung his phone, aiming for the bedside. But the throw was too forceful—the phone bounced off the pillow and almost toppled to the floor.

Shi Yu fumbled to catch it, heart racing.

Just then, Sang Huaiyu knocked on the door.

The half-shut door creaked open.

Their eyes met, and Shi Yu went rigid.

"Ahem, how did you get in?"

*My dignity...*

Shi Yu slowly retracted his hand and sat up, cringing at the mental image of his desperate lunge.

Sang Huaiyu watched him, lips quirking despite himself.

"If you need something, you can call me."

"You’re showing now—it’s inconvenient for you."

"No need."

"I caught the phone," Shi Yu feigned casualness, lifting his head.

Sang Huaiyu tilted his head at Shi Yu’s discomfort. "Something wrong?"

When He’d walked in, Shi Yu had seemed troubled.

According to the pregnancy manual, stress isn’t good for the baby.

Well, since the Eldritch God had seen this embarrassing scene, Shi Yu decided there was no point hiding it. It’s not like it was a secret anyway.

"Captain Fu from the Ability User Association is sniffing around about yesterday. He just messaged me."

*Fu Nanyao?*

Sang Huaiyu narrowed his eyes. A flicker of satisfaction at the formal "Captain Fu" crossed his mind, but He still paused before speaking. "Mind showing me the texts?"

Huh?

*Since when does a god care about texts?*

Shi Yu hesitated slightly, but Sang Huaiyu continued, "I’ve worked with him before. I can read him pretty well—might help figure out if he’s genuinely suspicious or just bluffing."

That… actually made sense.

Shi Yu handed over his phone, tracking the god’s fingers on his screen.

Sang Huaiyu scrolled through, lingering on some two-month-old messages—when Fu Nanyao had sent him food—before continuing.

The latest exchange, two months later, was from just now:

The Ability User Association’s Captain Fu had requested a meeting. Shi Yu... had refused.

A smug warmth curled in his chest as He handed the phone back.

Shi Yu looked curiously at the other side: "So?"

"Did you find anything?"

Sang Huaiyu nodded: "He does suspect you."

"Okay."

Relieved, Shi Yu sighed, worrying about what to do next. What if the Ability User Association found out? Would there be consequences?

His face kept shifting, changing every moment, like a groggy cat saddled with worries.

Sang Huaiyu watched for a while before giving a quiet laugh.

"Don’t worry."

"If he’s suspicious about last night’s vanishing Stone Deities corruption—"

"I can help you."

"How?"

Shi Yu immediately looked up.

Was the deity planning to blur Captain Fu's memory or something?

Unbidden guesses surfaced in his mind.

Sang Huaiyu, however, raised an eyebrow, his voice laced with amusement: "I could just tell them who I am."

"Then they’d stop suspecting you."

Shi Yu: "...Huh???"

What?

For a second, Shi Yu thought the deity was messing with him. But Sang Huaiyu’s face made him second-guess.

"Are you serious?"

Sang Huaiyu: "Take a guess."

Shi Yu: "......"

"Seriously?!"

He stared wide-eyed at the deity, momentarily forgetting his fear. All he could think was—what kind of deity was this? What a jerk.

Picking on him now, of all times?

Seeing Shi Yu about to snap, Sang Huaiyu finally said, "Relax. Fu Nanyao might be suspicious, but he won’t go to the Association."

"Him texting you directly proves it."

"If he meant to turn you in, he’d have done it outright—no warning."

As much as he hated that human’s interest in Shi Yu, Sang Huaiyu wouldn’t stoop to lying here.

Shi Yu’s anger stalled mid-outburst. Snapping out of it, he looked torn—now he didn’t know if the deity was telling the truth.

Here's the edited translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

What's even worse is that Shi Yu suddenly realized the creature across from him was scarily good at messing with his emotions.

He kept feeling like he was being played like a fiddle.

The key was, upon calming down and thinking it over, he realized the guy was right!

Shi Yu took a deep breath, muttering under his breath—don’t fall for the temptation, don’t fall for the temptation.

Death-gripping the pillow, he said firmly, "Fine, I get it."

Sang Huaiyu nodded. "Mm, what do you want for lunch?"

Before he could stop himself, Shi Yu blurted out, "Sour fish soup."

Their eyes met, and Sang Huaiyu gave him a meaningful look before turning to close the door.

By the time the door clicked shut, Shi Yu’s face was on fire.

God dammit!!

Why was his mouth so quick?!

Falling onto the bed, Shi Yu was so done with himself. All that pep talk—total waste in an instant, huh?!

Half an hour later, after washing up, Shi Yu zombie-walked out of his room and got walloped by the aroma of sour fish soup wafting from the living room.

Damn, that smells good... His nose twitched, eyes darting back and forth between resisting the eldritch temptation and the thought—*Didn’t I order this? Why not eat it?* The scales in his mind slowly tipped, and he slunk over to the dining table.

Then, on autopilot, he served himself a bowl.

Sang Huaiyu lowered his eyes, biting his lip to keep from laughing. He couldn’t tease the human who had already succumbed to temptation.

Resting his chin on his hand, he said, "Just caught fresh fish, deboned. Not sure if it affects the taste."

"Wanna taste test for me?"

Shi Yu cleared his throat. "Yeah, whatever."

Screw it, food first.

The tangy, savory flavor of the sour fish soup seemed to transmit directly to the Little Monster. The moment Shi Yu took a sip, the Little Monster let out an excited "Wah!"—practically drooling pools.

(internal) *Mom, what... is that?*

Shi Yu patted his stomach. "Sour fish soup."

"You can’t have it."

The Little Monster was disappointed, left to watch its mom enjoy the delicious meal while getting zapped inside.

A prismatic glow flickered in Shi Yu’s abdomen, and when he accidentally glanced down, it almost fried his retinas.

Wait, what was it doing?!

Sang Huaiyu noticed it too. Their cozy lunch interrupted, he zeroed in on the human’s stomach.

"Quiet."

With just one sentence, Little Monster wilted and didn’t dare make any more thunder.

Shi Yu: "..."

Damn, why do I suddenly feel kinda bad?

He hesitated—the little guy didn’t actually do anything wrong, right?

Shi Yu started to speak but held back, then looked up at the Horror across from him.

"Would you try talking to it properly?"

You two barely know each other, and if you keep scolding Little Monster, you’ll never bond as father and child, right?

Besides, Shi Yu felt that the Horror and Little Monster had nothing in common.

He pondered—didn’t Horrors care about their kids?

It wasn’t too late to change now.

Sang Huaiyu froze, not expecting Shi Yu to say this. His expression behind the white silk was unreadable. When he saw the young man genuinely concerned about the "father-child relationship" between Him and that Little Monster, He hesitated briefly.

He didn’t tell Shi Yu that, among non-human beings, blood didn’t mean much—some Horrors would even kill their own family in struggles for power.

This was common in the world of Horrors.

He only cared about this Little Monster because it was inside Shi Yu.

Yet, in Shi Yu’s perception, He seemed to be... a good father?

Sang Huaiyu lowered his eyes and, in an instant, decided to roll with it.

His face softened a little as He looked at Shi Yu’s abdomen.

"My apologies, I don’t know how to handle kids."

"Did I come on too strong just now?"

Shi Yu: "..."

How to phrase this?

"It wasn’t too harsh."

"Just a little intense—might freak it out."

Though Shi Yu had also been stern with Little Monster at first, he could feel what it was feeling, so it wasn’t a problem between them.

But the Horror couldn’t do that, could he?

Little Monster was clearly bummed out earlier.

Shi Yu eyed him skeptically.

Sang Huaiyu narrowed His eyes, actually listening.

"Point taken."

Shi Yu sighed in relief—he hadn’t thought the Horror would actually listen.

He blinked, trying to communicate his feelings to Little Monster, unaware that it was totally confused.

"Dad's acting... really weird today?"

"Is He usually like this?"

Little Monster - scolded countless times by the evil god while Mom slept - was completely lost.

Sang Huaiyu then said, "Can I feel its emotions and explain things to it?"

Shi Yu, caught off guard, nodded without thinking and reached out to take the evil god's hand, pressing it against his abdomen through the fabric of his sweatshirt.

"Okay, that's enough."

"Be gentle, it doesn't hold grudges."

After all, he'd scolded Little Monster many times too.

He looked at the evil god, not realizing he now truly resembled a "mom."

This made the divine being across from him darken His eyes, fingertips itching with strange desire.