Chapter 125

Chapter 125

The last sliver of moonlight was swallowed by a mass of crow feathers like a dark cloud.

Nox: "The Tide's buff has disappeared."

Suddenly, the flock of crows descended like a massive cage, a dark, heavy shroud enveloping Silver Cocoon and the three Tides in an impenetrable black silence.

The audience's view was completely blocked.

...

When the crows dispersed once more, in a muddy clearing, the health bars of all the Tides had dropped to zero.

Moonlight streamed down again, flowing over the silver-white shell of Silver Cocoon, and everything returned to silence.

"Current Advancement Status: 6/6"

A line of text appeared within the mechs of all contestants, whether they were en route or already on-site:

"The match has concluded. You will now be logged out of the holographic system."

...

"!!"

"So, 19 used his mental energy to control the crow flock..."

"He's so proficient at it; 19 must have done this a lot before."

"This scene... is really... breathtaking."

"Does anyone know Shi Jiu's specific mental energy data? Everyone's rated S+, but the gap is huge. How can anyone else compete?"

"Next time 19 is playing, they should just ban holographic maps. It's completely broken..."

"Ah... then, how will the match results be determined?"

"Same question. Out of the six spots for the finals, four were knocked out, and one was just eliminated by 19..."

*

After the match, tournament staff asked Meng Shijiu not to leave, saying there was an unexpected issue and they needed to wait for an investigation.

Meng Shijiu replied with an "Okay," but instead of returning to the lounge, he went to the St. Maria rest station.

He didn't expect the rest station to be fairly crowded too. The moment he entered, he immediately retreated, deciding to find another empty spot to wait.

He was just about to send a message to Yue Xuanli when a soft voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Shi Jiu."

Meng Shijiu turned around.

It was Ying Canglun.

The Beta stood by the door, holding a blue package. At Meng Shijiu's gesture, he walked over.

Ying Canglun stopped and handed the package to Meng Shijiu. "Shi Jiu, I received a package addressed to you. I glanced at it... it might be useful to you."

"Hm? Okay."

Meng Shijiu wasn't very wary of Ying Canglun and took it without thought, lowering his head.

The package wasn't big; only the "Cloud Cat" logo was printed on it, with nothing else.

Meng Shijiu: "Your business operation... is quite discreet."

Ying Canglun silently turned his head away: Matters concerning the cat master must be handled with discretion.

Meng Shijiu looked at it for a moment and then casually opened it.

Inside was an ordinary-looking box. As soon as Meng Shijiu opened the box, a slip of paper slid out.

Meng Shijiu unfolded the paper. A few characters were written in a flamboyant scrawl—

「I consider you a friend now」

Meng Shijiu frowned and turned the paper over.

A simple sketch of an explosion symbol suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

—It was a package sent by El.

Meng Shijiu looked at the box.

An earring lay inside.

Meng Shijiu stowed the box and looked at Ying Canglun. "Thank you."

Ying Canglun: "No need to thank me. I'm glad I could help."

If my business wasn't extensive enough, I really wouldn't have been able to receive El's items.

After Ying Canglun left, Meng Shijiu thought for a moment and then headed back towards the contestants' lounge.

The delicate earring was tucked inside the slightly rough box, occasionally rattling faintly as he walked.

...He recognized it. This earring was the one El lost on the day of the Bo Ying auction.

He had already examined the earring; there was nothing wrong with the earring itself.

So, this earring likely just served as a hint.

...What exactly was amiss that day at Bo Ying? Why would El send him this lost earring?

...

As soon as Meng Shijiu returned to the lounge, he found it unexpectedly empty. Only one pair of siblings remained.

Jie Mucong, who had been standing by the window, approached him first when she saw Meng Shijiu. Her gaze swept over the silver-haired Alpha. "Are you okay?"

Meng Shijiu took the water she offered. "Oh? I'm fine."

Jie Xile, sunk into the sofa, sat bolt upright when he saw the silver-haired Alpha enter, then deliberately slowed his movements, staring intently at him, but said, "How could anything be wrong? I made the armor."

Jie Mucong turned to look at Jie Xile, raising an eyebrow. "You made armor for him?"

Jie Xile: "Well, what did you expect? Letting him play like that is unacceptable. He'd be out for a whole day after one match."

Meng Shijiu: "..."

Meng Shijiu prodded the leg he had stretched out in front of the sofa. "Scoot over."

Jie Xile chuckled and leaned back.

Once Meng Shijiu sat down, he immediately scooted closer again, his arm naturally resting on the back of the sofa, almost enveloping him in his personal space.

He took the water from Meng Shijiu's hand and signaled to the robot on the other side. "Don't drink that, it's cold. Have something warm instead."

Jie Mucong also sat down on a nearby sofa. Seeing Jie Xile's actions, she rolled her eyes.

Jie Xile took the water and handed it to the silver-haired Alpha. When it was time to let go, he didn't release it immediately.

Only when Meng Shijiu looked over in confusion did he suddenly break into a smile and ask softly, "Are you okay?"

Meng Shijiu tugged the water back with a bit more force. "What happened to all that confidence from before, senior?"

Jie Xile let out a light scoff, a hint of self-mockery in his tone. "I've never been confident when it comes to matters concerning you..." He paused briefly. "...You know that."

Meng Shijiu took a sip of water. "...I'm really fine."

Jie Mucong interrupted their conversation. "Shi Jiu, I looked at the data you sent me earlier. There's no issue."

Meng Shijiu wasn't surprised. The data Jie Mucong mentioned was what Ye Lingxi had given him before. If finding a flaw in Qian Zhangli's plans were that easy, Qian Zhangli wouldn't have been able to execute everything so smoothly.

He nodded and suddenly said, "A few months ago, there was an auction at Poying... One of the items was a special reagent. I remember it could alter an Alpha's rank?"

Jie Mucong frowned slightly. "...I remember that too. Such reagents are extremely rare, and all distribution channels must be registered and reported. Is there a problem?"

Meng Shijiu asked, "What happened afterward?"

Jie Mucong replied, "...I heard the user and the reagent were incompatible, so the reagent failed. That's quite common, though. The biggest technical challenge with such reagents is their extremely low compatibility rate."

She paused for a moment. "But I remember, during the promotion at the time, they claimed the reagent being auctioned had a very high compatibility rate."

Jie Xile chimed in, "Probably just a scam."

Meng Shijiu raised an eyebrow.

Jie Xile, being close to him, saw it clearly. "What?"

Meng Shijiu turned to look at him. "What if the compatibility rate really was high?"

Under his gaze, Jie Xile couldn't help but tap his fingers lightly on the sofa back behind him.

"Then it's useless anyway. The auctioned reagent was the only one. The creator passed away before the auction, which was part of the pre-auction hype."

Meng Shijiu took the earring out of the box and handed it to Jie Mucong.

Jie Mucong took it, examined it, but found nothing unusual.

Jie Xile asked, "An earring?"

He grew wary. "Who sent it?"

Jie Mucong couldn't help but roll her eyes again. "It belongs to El. Journalists photographed it before."

She handed the earring to Jie Xile. "During the auction theft, the auction items weren't stolen. Instead, the media darling lost a priceless earring."

Meng Shijiu said, "I just remembered, the theft occurred right when that reagent was being auctioned."

He continued, "Is it possible someone took advantage of the blackout during the auction chaos to secretly swap the reagent, and the lost earring was just a decoy?"

"Then at the very least, it would require El's cooperation, or perhaps she was the one who did it."

Jie Mucong paused slightly. "Besides, why would El want to swap it?"

Meng Shijiu recalled El's agitated state at the auction. "It might not be that she wanted it. She could have been coerced."

If that were the case, was El... asking him for help?

Jie Mucong said, "We can investigate. It's not too troublesome."

They were already helping investigate Qian Zhangli's affairs. The SS and WM of the Jie family were competitors anyway; looking into one more thing wouldn't make much difference.

Jie Mucong looked slightly confused. "Is El connected to Qian Zhangli?"

Meng Shijiu shook his head. "I don't know."

Even if there were a connection, it was likely between Qian Zhangli and the people behind El.

Suddenly, the lounge door was pushed open.

Everyone looked up.

Wen Yunye, Shen Huaixu's assistant, stood at the doorway, looking at Meng Shijiu.

*

In the backstage meeting room, everyone was still arguing over whether the match should be held again.

The appearance of the Tide King was confirmed to be an accidental leak. Researchers suggested it was likely due to system aging and disrepair, causing the Tide King's data—which should have been locked—to accidentally flow into the system when tidal data was imported after an update.

"Since there was an incident during the match, and it genuinely affected the entire course of the competition, I believe a rematch is the only option."

The gray-clothed Alpha sitting in the second seat on the right side of the long table spoke up.

The person sitting opposite him snorted disdainfully. "Judging from the outcome, the only real impact was affecting the Tide King's activity range. Are you seriously suggesting a rematch for something of that scale? Have you considered the consequences?"

"And have you considered the consequences of *not* holding a rematch? Only one student advanced. Why don't you just hand the award directly to that student? Do you want him to be torn apart by public criticism? See how much flak you can handle yourself!" The gray-clothed Alpha stood up, pointing a finger across the table.

"—Don't think you can hide in your office later and use your authority to secretly delete negative reviews!"

"Fine, fine! You're just determined to oppose me, aren't you?!" The person opposite the Alpha suddenly turned his head. "Bauer, you tell me, who do you support?"

The man beside him chuckled at the words, his tone carrying a hint of amused resignation. "Why drag me into this again? I'm more curious about General Lucas's opinion..."

His gaze shifted to Lucas. "After all, not long ago, you suspected I was behind the Tide King data leak, didn't you?"

The air instantly grew tense.

Lucas looked at Bauer. This captain of the royal guard always acted casually. A smile still lingered on his lips, as if this provocative question was merely a joke.

Lucas ignored the remark and shifted his gaze. "The person is here. Why not hear what he has to say?"

Everyone's attention followed his voice.

The door was pushed open by Wen Yunye, revealing Meng Shijiu's face behind the Beta.

Meng Shijiu thought: So many people.

Meng Shijiu scanned the room full of people but didn't see Shen Huaixu.

He slowly arched an eyebrow. "Evening."

……

"...Of course, the Tide King's appearance was an error on our part. If we rerun the match, it'd be totally unfair to you. But if we directly grant you the advancement slot... we don't absolutely have to rerun it. It mainly depends on your opinion..."

The researcher rattled on, his words flowing like a torrent without pause.

"Then let's rerun it."

Meng Shijiu interrupted him, thoughtfully asking, "Tide King? Is that the mecha tide I encountered?"

Before he could even finish, the room went dead silent.

How can you still not know who the Tide King is?!

You had the Tide King carry you across half the map!

Who else gets that kind of privilege?!

"I don't mind..." Meng Shijiu's gaze drifted toward Lucas. Seeing the look Lucas gave him, he suddenly trailed off. "But you should still check with the other players for their opinions."

The researcher smiled slightly, thinking, *How could the other players possibly disagree?* and immediately had someone contact them.

Several Alphas at the table immediately swarmed over, surrounding the silver-haired Alpha like he was a rare specimen.

Meng Shijiu paused, wordlessly retreating toward Lucas.

Lucas cut them off before they could say something outrageous, pulling Meng Shijiu down to sit next to him.

At the sight of Lucas's stony face, the Alphas clammed up immediately and returned to their seats, but kept their eyes glued on Meng Shijiu.

Meng Shijiu: "..."

"Master." The silver-haired Alpha quietly scooted his chair until he was right up next to Lucas.

Lucas watched from the corner of his eye but didn't stop the little movement.

Meng Shijiu leaned in, dropping his voice to a whisper to ask Lucas, "What's wrong with them?"

*What's wrong with them.*

Lucas's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

*They're trying to poach him.*

"Master, back when I walked in, I heard someone say you suspect someone..." Meng Shijiu said while scanning the room. "...Who is it?"

Lucas stayed silent.

Meng Shijiu: .

Meng Shijiu: (￣ヘ￣)

Meng Shijiu scooted his chair back, whispering, "If you won't say, I'll find out myself."

He understood now—the Tide King's appearance was an accident, planted in the game by someone on purpose.

Although he didn't know their goal, the Tide King only showed him special treatment. That meant he was the target.

Meng Shijiu: A gentleman never fails to seek revenge.

Lucas pressed down on his chair, his voice tinged with helplessness. "There's no evidence."

Meng Shijiu didn't even look at him. "It's fine, Master. I trust your judgment."

Lucas: .

When Meng Shijiu looked back, he met the shrewd eyes of an Alpha.

His gaze involuntarily shifted to the badge on the man's chest—

Royal Guard Captain, Paul Norman.

Seeing the words "Royal Guard," Meng Shijiu gave a slow blink.

This gave him an idea. If El was being coerced, the guards constantly around her could be explained—likely not for protection, but for surveillance.

Meng Shijiu nodded toward Paul. "Hello."

Not expecting Meng Shijiu to take the initiative to greet him, Paul paused slightly, then his lips curved into a smile. "Hello, little friend."

As soon as Meng Shijiu heard his voice, he recognized him as the person speaking at the door.

Meng Shijiu: Fishing successful.

Meng Shijiu leaned subtly toward Lucas, continuing to whisper in his ear. "This Paul is the person you suspect, right, Master?"

Lucas finally sensed something off. "What are you planning?"

Meng Shijiu: "I won't tell you."

Meng Shijiu: "Because you pretended to be deaf earlier."

Meng Shijiu stood up from his chair. He walked around several seats, with all eyes on him, until he stood before Paul.

Paul raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze falling on the silver-haired Alpha's face. "What is it, little friend? Do you have something to say to me?"

Meng Shijiu nodded.

Meng Shijiu: "Come closer."

Paul complied, leaning in.

He was still smiling, but his gaze couldn't help but linger on the silver-haired Alpha's face.

That stunningly handsome face was even more impactful up close. The delicate features possessed a natural, captivating beauty; even his fluttering eyelashes had a fierce beauty, like a butterfly silently closing in.

Paul stared into his lake-green eyes, his mind going blank.

Suddenly, Lucas stood up beside them.

Paul snapped back to reality, realizing he had been momentarily entranced, instantly feeling a sense of absurdity. He had just opened his mouth to say, "Little friend—"

The next second.

A gust of wind, sharp and cold, whipped up suddenly.

A precise, swift, and utterly unrestrained punch connected squarely with his face.

Bo’er grunted, hunching over slightly as he dropped into a crouch, holding onto the chair and covering his face without a sound.

Meng Shijiu gave a slight smirk. "Oops, my hand slipped."

The entire meeting room immediately erupted into chaos.

Meng Shijiu was yanked out of the crowd by Lucas.

He looked back over his shoulder at the tall Alpha.

"I hit him," Meng Shijiu said, pointing at the guy still crouched on the ground, unable to get up. "That one."

"Is this going to cause trouble?" He looked up.

"No," Lucas responded, giving Meng Shijiu’s hair a light ruffle. "I'm here."

He glanced at Shen Huaixu, who had been waiting by the door for some time, and gave Meng Shijiu a nudge.

"Go on."

Seeing the Alpha with mismatched eyes by the door, Meng Shijiu pulled Lucas's hand down and walked over to Shen Huaixu.

-----------------------

Author's Note: The main story can't include explicit content; Jinjiang doesn't allow it, not even hints. I'll write more slice-of-life scenes in the extras.

I'll write forum interactions, and all the what-if scenarios will be written too.

As for the rest... I'm just going to let loose ^^

—

From his very first appearance, Shijiu displayed a slight bloodthirsty streak—a trait formed from having to kill too many zombies in the apocalypse. But he hated losing control, feared losing himself, and thus despised this side of him even more, yet he was almost addicted to it.

Later, during training, Wen Hui told him: "Don't be afraid of losing yourself. Do what you want to do." (Chapter: "The Fourth Lock")

After that, Shijiu was able to come to terms with this part of himself. In later competitions, he no longer resisted it.

However, he still couldn't bear to watch a real person die right before his eyes.

That's why his hands trembled when Jue Ning came to find him.

And Cui Suifu noticed this about Meng Shijiu the first time he saw him. While others might see Shijiu as a "kitten" at first glance, Cui Suifu's first impression of him was always "femme fatale" or "siren."

He felt Shijiu had a stunning, siren-like beauty along with the same dangerous allure. He fell in love at first sight. (Chapter: "Long Time No See")

Pei Ruji, like Meng Shijiu, hated losing control, but the very source of his loss of control was Shijiu (pheromone imbalance, various jealousies). That's why he deliberately acted indifferent and resentful in front of Shijiu.

Shijiu noticed this early on. He thought Pei Ruji was "safe" this way, believing that Pei Ruji's feelings toward him were like his own toward bloodlust—both could be controlled. Shijiu felt a sense of kinship, so his attitude toward him always carried a hint of teasing.

But when Pei Ruji helped him investigate Zong Geman's matter, Shijiu suddenly realized that Pei Ruji wasn't like that at all—this person cared far more about him than he let on. So, Shijiu immediately distanced himself. (Chapter: "A Little") At this point, Shijiu's intention was for Pei Ruji's own good, though later it was simply because he was annoyed by him.

Pei Ruji both hated and was addicted to it, only now willing to admit his feelings, but it was already too late.

This was also love at first sight.

Most of the time, Shijiu treated emotions with a playful attitude. If someone came to him, he'd casually tease them a bit (except for his older and younger brothers), which is the "flirting" mentioned in the synopsis, but it never reached the point of taking pleasure in toying with others' emotions.

Just a few random thoughts 🙂

Getting close to the end, so I'm rambling a lot orz