Chapter 36

Chapter 36

At that moment, Su Jianglou was like a frantic father watching his well-behaved child being lured away by a slick-haired rogue. The instant he lashed out, his already fragile rationality shattered completely.

He knew he harbored intense possessiveness toward Xiao Mu—but saw nothing wrong with it.

Xiao Mu had entered this world through him. Within this exclusive instance he’d crafted, Xiao Mu was the sole player.

In this anomaly-ridden world, he alone watched over Xiao Mu with unwavering focus.

Even his own elder brothers failed to fully understand him and held deep-seated hostility toward Xiao Mu.

How could he not devote even greater attention to Xiao Mu?

But now…

Forget his elder brothers—he couldn’t yet defeat them. Yet how dared even stray anomalies from beyond target Xiao Mu?

Seeing this wild anomaly deliberately lure him away, Su Jianglou didn’t resist. He followed its intent and left Guiyi Island alongside it.

All the better—he couldn’t have gone all-out on the island anyway.

Meanwhile, the assistant director—who had just been energetically berating the editing team in the editing suite—suddenly trembled violently, as if sensing something. In an instant, he crammed his stocky frame beneath the computer desk, leaving only his quivering rear end exposed.

No one had time to notice the assistant director’s abrupt retreat—the rest of the staff were barely half a step behind him, already panicking.

Like timid herbivores acutely sensing approaching danger, even the faintest whiff of threat was enough to send them into full-blown panic—even before the danger had actually arrived.

At a time like this, stepping outside was clearly unwise.

Beneath the computer desk became the safest shelter, offering everyone a fleeting sense of security.

Some of the slimmer staff curled themselves into tight balls; after crawling under the desk, they even dragged office chairs over to block the entrance.

Those slower to react—and unable to secure space beneath the desk—frantically scrambled for other suitable hiding spots.

The assistant director, who’d been first to squeeze underneath, covered his ears with both hands and whispered, “Just passing through… just passing through… just passing through…”

He—Blue 534—had taken a massive risk switching from the Tourism Park to the entertainment industry, driven solely by his bleak prospects for promotion. What had sustained him all this time? Naturally, his caution and his knack for staying on good terms with anomalies!

These two certainly weren’t here for him.

Just passing through—they *had* to be!

Inside the editing suite, chaos reigned; outside was no better.

It wasn’t even 10 p.m. yet.

Some trainees walking back from the practice room to their dormitory witnessed firsthand what it meant for all hell to break loose—anomalies running rampant everywhere.

Lin Lan felt a chill. He grabbed Rao Fei—the nearest person—and used him as a human shield.

In such a situation, he wasn’t foolish enough to simply gawk at the chaos. If even these normally sinister, malicious anomalies were behaving like this, it could only mean something major was unfolding somewhere beyond their awareness.

Lin Lan’s abilities were relatively weak, and since neither Blue 242 nor Su Jianglou had intentionally targeted Guiyi Island, he sensed nothing.

Rao Fei, however, felt a vague unease.

He shoved Wang Xingxing behind him and signaled to the two other agency enforcers—slightly stronger than himself. The three formed a protective barrier around Director Lin and Wang Xingxing, taking cover in nearby greenery.

Though slightly weaker than the two enforcers, Rao Fei remained calm—composed, as if he’d weathered countless such crises before. He whispered to the others, “Easy now. Easy.”

“If it’s your fate, it’s your fate. For elite players, adaptability is paramount. If something truly happens, Director Lin and Wang Xingxing will definitely be the last to die.”

Then he reminded Wang Xingxing, “When the time comes, we’ll cover you and Director Lin. Don’t forget to protect Director Lin too.”

“Hold on until the very end. If we really meet our end here, the instance will be nearly cleared. Director Lin—if you can hang on, you’ll clear it outright.”

Truly brute-force clearance.

Wang Xingxing nodded. It was his first time facing a crisis of this scale—and he was still somewhat nervous. He whispered, “Deputy Captain—you’re incredibly experienced.”

Rao Fei offered a faint smile, revealing nothing of how he knew.

***

Su Jianglou chased Blue 242 for a long time. In his rage-fogged mind, only one thought burned: *If I can’t defeat Su Xuanxiao or Su Juzi, how could I possibly fail against a stray anomaly?*

Only when he unleashed a full-power punch—having locked onto his target with his ability beforehand—only for the other to narrowly evade his fist, did Su Jianglou’s rationality gradually return, and his attacks slow.

His gaze upon the wild anomaly across from him grew increasingly complex.

After several more minutes of chaotic combat, he finally seized an opening—and tentatively reached for the other’s face.

Then he was struck hard, his entire body slamming flat against the sea surface.

Su Jianglou’s dark golden pupils contracted into slits as he roared, “Su Juzi! Are you enjoying mocking me?!”

The moment his rationality returned, understanding dawned.

Yes—the anomaly world was vast, and there were always anomalies capable of humiliating him.

But in Tanzhong City…

Unless it was an outsider anomaly.

No exaggeration: given his eldest brother’s territorial nature, if an outsider anomaly had invaded his turf and beaten his brother, his eldest brother would have arrived within three minutes of the conflict erupting.

The fact that his eldest brother hadn’t yet appeared meant only two possibilities:

First: The one beating him *was* his eldest brother.

Second: The one beating him *was* his second brother.

Combined with this wild anomaly’s fierce protectiveness of its face—the answer was obvious.

“ROAR!!”

“SU JUZI!!!”

Seeing his brother’s skin crack with fissures, the young anomaly known as Blue 242—but in truth Su Juzi—sighed helplessly. Recognizing Su Jianglou’s current lack of rationality, he swiftly layered multiple protective barriers over himself and charged head-on at Su Jianglou.

…

A long time later, the turbulent seas finally calmed.

Su Juzi—his Blue 242 disguise nearly torn apart by the battle—dragged the unconscious Su Jianglou from the water.

He was also somewhat tired, so after coming out of the sea, he slowly dragged his younger brother behind him, trudging step by step toward the dormitory building.

Halfway there, Su Jianglou woke up. Noticing that he was being dragged headfirst with one leg held by his second brother, he put up no resistance. Instead, he took the opportunity to prop up the back of his head with both arms.

"Second brother, let’s make a deal—don’t kill Xiao Mu, okay?" Su Jianglou said calmly as he was dragged along, leaving a damp trail in the sand.

Su Juzi lowered his gaze and remained silent, continuing to walk forward.

He still wasn’t fully conscious.

"Look," Su Jianglou tried to persuade his second brother using moral arguments. "Xiao Mu was actually quite innocent. He didn’t provoke anyone, yet just because his name sounds similar to Xi Bao’s, I ended up bringing him here."

"Didn’t you also search for people with the same name as Xi Bao in those broken worlds before? And back then, you didn’t kill those people either, right?"

The reason Su Jianglou said "you" instead of "we" was that he had been too deeply assimilated by the eerie world at the time, his mind alternating between clarity and confusion year by year.

So, when his eldest and second brothers launched their search mission back then, they didn’t bring him along.

To this day, Su Jianglou still resented this matter.

"Second brother, as one of the eerie, one should still be kind," Su Jianglou opened his mouth and finally concluded.

He had originally intended to say that, given Xi Bao’s personality, if Xi Bao were here now, he would certainly not approve of Second Brother killing Xiao Mu.

He shouldn’t have used Xi Bao to persuade Second Brother.

Or rather, this was inherently a false assumption.

During the period after each outburst, Su Jianglou felt it was his clearest moment.

Seeing that Second Brother still remained silent, he finally sighed and relented, "As long as you don’t kill him, I can send him back."

Only at this moment did he realize that his feelings for Xiao Mu were actually quite deep. It had changed his initial idea of wanting to keep Xiao Mu forever.

Clearly, due to his fear of Second Brother, he hadn’t spent much time with Xiao Mu.

Had he failed to trick Second Brother and instead ended up becoming genuinely compassionate himself?

Su Juzi hauled his idiot brother all the way back, and gradually, the dormitory building came into view.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, the dormitory building was right in front of them.

Su Jianglou, craning his head back to stargaze as he was dragged, greeted the man standing not far from the dormitory building: "Big brother."

Su Xuanxiao remained silent.

These past few nights, whenever it crossed his mind, he would come here and stand for a while.

When the two sides finally came face to face, Su Xuanxiao finally cast a glance to the side.

He said, "Su Juzi, perhaps you were right."

Su Jianglou got to his feet and brushed the sand off himself. "Right about what, exactly?"

"Big brother, are you... also here to kill..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Jianglou’s entire body froze, and the feeling of exceptional clarity in his mind finally vanished.

First, what was his biggest concern when he initially brought Xiao Mu back?

It was that Second Brother would kill Xiao Mu the moment he saw him.

So, if Second Brother had already known about Xiao Mu’s existence and even pretended to be Xiao Mu’s Tourism Park colleague, accompanying him all these days, what was the reason?

Because...

Xiao Mu is Xi Bao.

Xi Bao is Xiao Mu.

He had meticulously constructed a replica, bringing home the younger brother he missed most.

As this conclusion formed in his mind, Su Jianglou didn’t even think about confronting Second Brother. Gazing at the small window on the third floor, he made a move toward it.

But he was yanked back.

Su Jianglou turned around.

"Look at yourself."

He heard his big brother say that.

What was wrong with him?

Su Jianglou looked down and realized that one of his hands was enveloped and melting into a black mist.

When he looked up again, his facial features were shrouded in a thin mist, blurring his features.

"Then... then I won’t go in," Su Jianglou muttered, at a loss. "I’ll just watch him from outside."

"I miss him."