Chapter 133
Zhong carried the meal he had bought back home. This was a notorious slum; there was no warmth to speak of here, and the cold assaulted everyone indiscriminately.
The room he rented was the worst of the worst. Zhong changed his shoes and turned on the light. The bright light barely made the room feel somewhat cozy.
Zhong walked over to a glass vessel covered by a cloth. He gently lifted the cover, revealing what was inside.
It was densely packed with black bugs.
Some of the black bugs had sunk to the bottom of the vessel, motionless. Those had frozen to death.
Zhong gripped the edge of the table, and seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but curse, “Damn Amor!”
He hadn’t expected winter on Planet Amor to be this cold. These bugs couldn’t withstand the chill here. He had been carefulâcareful upon carefulâyet he still couldn’t stop the bugs from dying.
Zhong took a deep breath. He had to get his hands on that thing as soon as possible.
His coming to Amor was an accident. He had inadvertently discovered that Shen Xili was here. In order to snatch back what Shen Xili had taken from him before anyone else could, he had secretly smuggled himself onto Planet Amor. He had thought it would be a quick battle, but he hadn’t expected Shen Xili to refuse to hand it over, even while being bitten to death by the Gu bugs.
The matter had reached a stalemate. But both humans and bugs needed to eat, and raising bugs consumed a lot of resources. With the arrival of winter, it had become even harder to endure.
Zhong looked at his beloved bugs for a while longer, then covered the vessel with the cloth again. After doing all this, he walked to the crude table to eat the breakfast he had bought.
After working all night, he was sleepy and exhausted. Zhong took a bite of his mantou bun in anger. Once I get the item, I will definitely let the larvae eat Shen Xili clean!
Alerted by the System, Shen Shuyu walked silently to the area outside Zhong’s room. Coincidentally, this building was the same one Wen Jiafei had rented before, but Zhong’s room was deep in the corridor on the first floorâdamp and cold.
Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but shiver when he arrived. He blew warm air into his cupped hands and looked at the window on the wall. He moved carefully, hugging the wall as he walked. He intended to pass by, but he didn’t notice a glass bottle placed on the ground. As he walked past, he accidentally kicked it over. The crisp sound of shattering glass was exceptionally loud in the dim corridor.
Shen Shuyu was startled and looked toward the room.
The soundproofing here was poor. Sure enough, the person inside called out vigilantly, “Who is it?”
Shen Shuyu wanted to find a place to hide, but the corridor was empty and straight; there was absolutely nowhere to conceal himself. Even if he ran, it would be too late. Listening to the footsteps, Zhong was already approaching.
There was only the closed window next to him. If he opened it and jumped out, maybe he could escape. Shen Shuyu took a deep breath and was just about to move when someone grabbed his hand. Before he could react, his back was pressed against a cold, hard wall.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the other person pressed an index finger against his lips. A tall body shielded him, blocking him from view. The stranger slowly lowered his head; the scent of rose perfume on him smelled very pleasant.
“Shh,” he said.
Just as he finished speaking, the door behind them opened. Zhong looked warily at the person leaning against the wall by his door. The tall man turned his head lazily and whistled at Zhong. “Sorry to disturb you, new neighbor.”
Zhong’s expression was ugly. He loathed this man. He had seen him when he first moved in. This man was a “duck”âa gigolo. Every day he would bring different people home to do things that would make one blush, but to Zhong, these things were annoyingâvery, very, very annoyingâand seriously affected his sleep.
But his status as a stowaway prevented him from calling the police. Moreover, going to the police station was a common occurrence for this man. Using the bugs was also out of the question; his bugs were cultivated for maximizing profit, not for dealing with a gigolo.
Zhong said with a cold face, “Be quiet.”
The man blew him a kiss. “Okay, new neighbor~”
Then came a bang as Zhong slammed the door shut. The loud noise shook Shen Shuyu’s heart, which had been hanging in his throat, but fortunately, the crisis of discovery was averted.
He breathed a sigh of relief and focused his gaze on the man. Just as he was about to say thank you, the man put his arm around him and led him away from Zhong’s door.
As they walked, the man raised his voice, “Baby~ Let me show you the new skirt I bought. I’ll wear it for you, okay? And I’ll dance a hot dance for you.”
He was only halfway through his sentence when Shen Shuyu heard the sound of curtains sliding shut.
Zhong had been standing by the window watching them!
Zhong’s vigilance was truly not to be underestimated. It seemed his visit today was indeed reckless.
Shen Shuyu was deep in thought and was unknowingly led into the adjacent apartment by the man. He only reacted once they were inside. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the man make a ‘shh’ gesture again. The man walked further into the room and turned on some light music before saying, “Come and sit.”
Truly rigorous.
Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but want to give the man a thumbs up.
Seeing his thumbs-up, the man couldn’t help but smile. He poured Shen Shuyu a cup of hot water and turned on the air conditioner.
Shen Shuyu thanked him for the water. “Thank you for just now.”
“Small matter,” the man said. “But what is a rich young master like you doing here? Didn’t Wen Jiafei already move out?”
“Just wandering around.” Shen Shuyu lowered his head to sip the hot water, then looked up to survey the room. It was much simpler than he had imaginedâvery few items, cold and deserted. It was hard to tell this was an… indescribable workplace.
Seeing him looking around, the man chuckled softly. He picked up a remote control from the table and pressed something. The sound of ambiguous, wet noises filled the room.
Once Shen Shuyu realized what the sounds were, he wished he could plug his ears.
The man couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Shy already? Aren’t you an adult?”
He had been an adult in two lifetimes, but he had never seen such a wild scene. The key point was that the perpetrator didn’t change his expression at all and didn’t feel it was inappropriate.
Shen Shuyu put down the cup. “By the way, what’s your name?”
He still didn’t know his name.
“Lin Qi. People here call me Brother Qi.” Lin Qi crossed his legs. “Do you know the person next door?”
Shen Shuyu shook his head. “I don’t.”
“You don’t know him, yet you were following him.” Lin Qi didn’t buy it.
Shen Shuyu was rendered speechless.
Seeing him mute, Lin Qi laughed again and kindly said, “Forget it, you probably won’t tell me anyway. But my new neighbor hasn’t been home at night recently. If you want to avoid him to do something, I advise you to come back at night.”
Shen Shuyu had actually thought the same thing at first. He only wanted to peek through the window, then come back to investigate at night when the man went to work. The System said there were many bugs in his room. Although Shuyu didn’t like bugs, if he could find a way to solve the black bug inside Shen Xili’s body, he could endure it.
Shen Shuyu put down the cup. “Thank you. I’ll be going now.”
He thought for a moment, took out his wallet, removed all the cash inside, and placed it under the cup. “I don’t know how to thank you, but I can’t delay your… business. Consider this money my consultation fee.”
Lin Qi looked at the money under the cup and smiled. “That’s half a month’s salary for me. I won’t be polite then. Thanks.”
Shen Shuyu smiled back at him and pointed to the door. “I’m leaving. Goodbye.”
The man made a gesture of invitation. Shen Shuyu turned and left quickly.
It was much safer now. He stood on the wide main road looking back in, thinking that Lin Qi was actually a good person.
He tightened his scarf and walked toward his home.
That said, Lin Qi was right. If he wanted to find anything, he had to wait until Zhong went out.
Shen Shuyu rubbed his hands together. It seemed he really had to find a time at night to come back and explore.
He asked: ăCan you get Zhong’s work schedule?ă
This was no trouble for the System. It quickly obtained the schedule, generated electronic information, and imported it into Shen Shuyu’s mind.
Because Zhong had no ID, his factory job was the hardest and most tiring temporary labor. Recently, the factory had received a large order, so as a temp, he was naturally busy.
Three shifts. This week, Zhong happened to be on the night shift for all of them.
Shen Shuyu actually hesitated a bit. Should he tell Shen Xili about exploring Zhong’s room at night?
After all, he felt the bugs on Zhong might have some use. But if he told him, how would he explain that he knew Zhong?
Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but sigh. It was really difficult.
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