Chapter 28 Parents: Is this my daughter's pet?

The door behind him opened, and Jiu Su, having caught up on his sleep, transformed into human form and pushed the door open to walk out. He saw Shu Qing and Qi Yun sitting across from each other at the table, each with their own worries, so he sat down next to Shu Qing and asked with his eyes: What's wrong?

Qi Yun subconsciously sat up a little straighter, but quickly remembered the shocking news that "Jiu Su is Xiao Hong," and leaned back down.

“Nan Nan helped me find out who leaked my information. Do you remember her?” Seeing Jiu Su nod, Shu Qing relayed Tu Nan’s words to him and then said, “But I feel something is strange, the two of us were discussing this.”

“It is quite strange,” Qi Yun agreed. “We are discussing his criminal motive. If it is a revenge motive, although Ashu’s departure was a complete falling out, what is the value of such a ‘falling out’ in the workplace? It’s over if you just stop talking to each other. The criminal motive and the cost of the crime are completely mismatched.”

Shu Qing said helplessly, "Please, Xiao Hong is a monster whose thinking and cognition are still stuck in the classical era."

"Oh," Qi Yun understood. Shu Qing thought she used too many modern technical terms, which Jiu Su found difficult to understand. "Do I need to speak classical Chinese?"

"Yes, it's a parallel structure with four or six characters, perfectly balanced, and don't forget to rhyme."

Jiu Su: "..."

Birds of a feather flock together; these two unreliable individuals coming together is also a sign of fate.

Qi Yun certainly didn't have the ability to compose a poem in seven steps. She reluctantly put away her crime drama terminology, and what she said was indeed much easier to understand: "Or maybe it's for money, but this matter is also a bit criminal... I mean, this matter violates the law. A middle-aged man with a wife and children and a stable income is a rare breed, and the possibility of him taking this risk is not high."

In just a few words, Jiu Su understood Qi Yun's reasoning logic without any instruction: "Does he urgently need money recently, or does he have any debts?"

"Not really," Shu Qing said. "You still don't quite understand modern society. If you really need money urgently, you can legally borrow from a bank. There's absolutely no need to break the law. Besides, this kind of thing will land you in jail, and it will affect his child's future civil service exams..." Seeing Jiu Su's puzzled expression, she added, "It means it will affect his future job search."

As she said this, a thought suddenly flashed through Shu Qing's mind: Jiu Su's understanding of modern society is also quite strange.

He showed no curiosity about modern language or everyday devices, and even possessed some basic knowledge. On the contrary, he was completely ignorant of gaming jargon, everyday memes, and the thoughts and habits of modern people, as if he had diligently studied modern society but had never truly lived in the present.

When it comes to things he doesn't understand, Jiu Su always prefers to listen to the opinions of those who do. He nodded, stopped talking, and quietly listened to the two girls continue their analysis, one after the other.

“And people like this,” Qi Yun said, “are bullying their superiors and currying favor with their subordinates, which means they’re not very bold and generally wouldn’t do anything high-risk. Besides, the IT industry generally pays well. He’s been in this field for over ten years, so he should have an annual salary of five or six hundred thousand. If it’s just five figures, it’s not enough.”

“Ashu only registered basic information with the company, including bank details and even some contracts. It’s not like we absolutely have to find him, so how much price can the buyer ask for? We both think about it and find it strange, we can’t figure it out.”

As expected of a rich heiress, she has a keen eye for people and money, which Shu Qing wholeheartedly agrees with.

The two of them stared at Jiu Su with four bright eyes, hoping that he could offer some new ideas from his professional perspective.

As a monster expert, Jiu Su couldn't offer any insights, so he offered his opinion from the perspective of an outlaw: "Perhaps they are under threat."

"Personal threats" are not the norm for contemporary young people living in big cities, and even though the two people had just experienced a similar incident, they subconsciously ignored this point.

Qi Yun asked, "Is it possible for the Supermarket Management Bureau to find his police report? If he has reported a crime, then it can be confirmed."

Jiu Su nodded. The new phone Shu Qing had bought for him had arrived. He looked down and sent a message to Jin Wanli.

Jin Wanli replied with "ok", and three minutes later, he received a clear answer - "No police report recorded".

If no police report has been filed... then it's hard to tell.

"Or is there another possibility that he doesn't even realize he's committed a crime?" Shu Qing's thoughts wandered. "For example, those people who want to get rid of me might use mystical methods to fool Yu Ming, making him believe that I'm incompatible with him or something, and he would definitely believe it. Then they might trick him into changing my files..."

Qi Yun already understood: "Use a monster like Nian Nian to spy on him, or hack his computer like Nan Nan did?"

Shu Qing nodded solemnly.

They discussed it back and forth, but couldn't reach a conclusion, and Shu Qing worried about it all night. The next day, when Shu Tong and his wife arrived in H City, they saw that their daughter had big dark circles under her eyes.

Fortunately, she was eating well; not only had she not lost weight, but her cheeks were even showing signs of becoming rounder. Shu Tong and her father, Zhao Yuqing, looked her up and down from both sides, and Shu Tong even insisted on taking her pulse, finally managing to put their minds at ease.

"What exactly happened?" After the group of parties involved and official Jin Wanli took their seats, Shu Tong asked, "I heard there's been some progress on your privacy breach case?"

They were currently staying at a hotel near the photo studio—after all, the photo studio wasn't a proper residence and couldn't possibly accommodate so many people living together. Miss Qi, being wealthy and powerful, simply booked several rooms at the hotel across the street, providing accommodations for both humans and monsters.

Shu Qing wanted to transfer the money to her, but Qi Yun refused, saying, "Come on, you're richer than me. If you feel bad about it, just consider this as compensation for your Xiao Hong's employment fee."

That makes a lot of sense, but Xiao Hong doesn't entirely belong to her either...

Jiu Su herself seemed completely unaware that "I don't belong to her." She not only asked the waiter to bring chairs and arrange luggage for her parents, but now she is even sitting at the table brewing tea.

He took a common kettle and surprisingly performed a set of ancient aristocratic tea-making etiquette, from brewing tea to serving it in one go, taking equal care of everyone present.

After he finished serving the tea, and Shu Qing finished explaining her guesses from yesterday, he smiled and said, "I can try to use magic to investigate, and maybe I can find out the truth."

Shu Qing rolled her eyes at him.

In front of them, she always talks about "sorcery" and "magical power," but when she's with her parents, she switches to the high-class "magic." Does she have to be so two-faced?

Shu Tong and Zhao Yuqing were meeting Jiu Su for the first time and couldn't connect this extraordinary young man with his identity as "the pet of their daughter." They could only regard him as their daughter's friend.

Therefore, Shu Tong was quite polite: "Thank you, I'm counting on you."

Jiu Su smiled at them; it was a very beautiful smile, even with a hint of docility.

Qi Yun objected: "What if Niannian gets hurt? I heard from Ashu that those people have a counterattack formation."

Before Jiu Su could speak, Jin Wanli spoke up in dissatisfaction: "What are you saying? If it weren't for this worry, would this have dragged on until today? I brought protective equipment!"

He slammed the bag he'd brought onto the table with a bang, unzipped it, and revealed a motley collection of devices. Shu Qing glanced at them and recognized most of them, except for one tiny VR headset that looked completely unfamiliar.

Although she didn't recognize it, she knew that this was the "protective equipment" that Jin Wanli had mentioned. Watching him put the small glasses on Nian Nian, she couldn't resist taking out her phone and snapping a couple of pictures.

"It was custom-made," Jin Wanli boasted. "We started working on it as soon as we discovered that counterattack formation. The technical department worked overtime all night for three days straight!"

Shu Qing: "..."

I don't want to praise him; only those who are truly working-class can empathize with others who are also working-class.

Jiu Su began to form an array.

He seemed nonchalant when setting up the formation, yet every movement he made was perfectly in sync with the rhythm of nature. The others, unfamiliar with the art, simply found it visually appealing; Shu Tong, with her superb medical skills, did have a vague sense of it.

When the image was reflected in the small mirror, the two elderly people were quite surprised; however, as the image was obscured by the noise of the fluctuations and could not be seen clearly, their expressions inevitably became puzzled.

“It was the same last time,” Shu Qing explained. “Because the other side was on guard, it takes some time to break through their defensive spells.”

Shu Tong glanced at her daughter with considerable annoyance, feeling that her daughter was getting more and more fluent in using terms like "monster" and "magic".

Jiu Su pursed his lips, his expression somewhat solemn. He made some adjustments, and in an instant, the tremors in the mirror grew stronger and stronger, forming a whirlpool of turbulent water, as if a storm and giant waves were fighting. Just one glance was enough to suck your mind in.

The two sides were locked in a thrilling battle within a small mirror, the scene violently churning and even causing tiny cracks to appear on the mirror's surface. Half a minute later, Jiu Su suddenly reached out and covered Nian Nian's eyes with her palm.

Shu Qing looked closely and found that the VR glasses had cracked in the middle. In just one second, the high-tech glasses shattered completely, turning into a table full of fragments with a crackling sound.

...It seems that the quality of this product, which was rushed out after working all night, is really poor.

For about half a minute, the room was silent. Everyone stared at the shards on the table without saying a word.

Shu Tong asked again, "And this is...?"

Shu Qing wasn't quite sure either, and tried to guess, "Has the other side increased their defenses?"

Jiu Su hummed in agreement, her lips still slightly pursed, her expression not very pleasant—in fact, this kind of remote combat was at most a probing exchange, and since Nian Nian was still crippled last month, it was perfectly normal that she hadn't been able to detect it.

Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. But this time, it happened in front of Shu Qing's parents...

He felt a little awkward.