Chapter 14 A Familiar Resemblance: This person and the nine-colored figure she casually sketched that day...
Shu Qing slept all day, and when her temperature was taken in the evening, it was 38.6 degrees Celsius. It seemed that the antipyretic had not worked.
But she didn't take it too seriously—she considered herself a respectable office worker, and the last time she had a fever, it reached 39.3 degrees Celsius, yet she was still working overtime to save the day. This time it was less than 39 degrees, and she'd only gone out for a meal and was back in less than two hours; it was nothing.
The little snake demon was very unwilling, crawling all over her face and neck, nervously flicking its tongue.
"It's alright," Shu Qing patted the little snake demon's head, closed her eyes to deal with the dizziness, and told it with a smile, "Be a good girl and wait for me at home. I won't be gone for long. I'll pack you something delicious when I come back."
That's what she said, but just to be on the safe side, she swallowed another ibuprofen tablet and put on a light jacket over her skirt before going out.
The Hidden Town Japanese restaurant was very close to her place, just across the street. Although Shu Qing still had a fever, walking there wasn't difficult for her.
She met up with the impulsive Miss Qi at the entrance of the Japanese restaurant. Miss Qi said indignantly, "She must have been messed with!"
Shu Qing stiffened her neck and turned her whole body around to give her phone number to the waiter who came to greet her.
"It's probably that lousy merchant, or maybe some studio trying to cause trouble since we're popular," the young lady analyzed meticulously. "You don't know how fierce the competition is right now..."
Shu Qing made a "shh" gesture, indicating that she should lower her volume.
This Japanese restaurant emphasizes high-end living, and the entire decor pursues an elegant "Zen style." Speaking loudly here is too conspicuous; just a few words were enough to attract the attention of two nearby tables.
“Oh,” the young lady looked around, lowered her voice, and continued her rambling, “I’ve looked at all the studios around us, and a few of them seem particularly suspicious…”
The waiter who had been leading the way turned around and greeted them, "We've arrived. This way, please."
He knocked on the sliding door, pulled it open, and the bamboo door slid open slowly, revealing a snow-white silhouette inside the private room.
The man looked over at Shu Qing.
The young lady abruptly stopped mid-sentence, and Shu Qing instinctively reached for her paintbrush and camera. Back when she was a lowly office worker, creating characters and animation was so tedious it made her want to vomit. But meeting this person today, she surprisingly felt an itch to use her skills.
He sat there with long, flowing silver hair, his clothes were snow-white, and even his face and the small part of his collarbone that was visible in his shirt collar were so white that they seemed to be glowing. He looked so clean and spotless that he was almost eerie.
This person seems to have ascended from a two-dimensional world; all the sophisticated backgrounds have been given a blurred depth of field, while only this one person shines brightly in the field of vision.
A glass of lemon cola was held in his hands, and its value seemed to increase a hundredfold, almost no longer a high-end drink provided by this Japanese restaurant where the average price per person is 500 yuan.
Shu Qing's head was no longer spinning—not because she was overwhelmed by his beauty; with the internet so developed, good-looking men are nothing to worry about. What surprised her was that this person looked seven or eight parts like the Jiu Su she had casually drawn that day.
Is it a coincidence, or is there really some predestined connection?
Jiu Su even called her "A Shu" as if they had known each other for a long time.
Shu Qing snapped out of her daze, introduced herself, and then introduced, "This is Nian Nian's owner, Qi Yun."
Because she was sick, her voice was a little hoarse, so Jiu Su poured her a cup of warm ginger tea.
He nodded to Qi Yun, skipping the extra pleasantries, and once the waiter had served all the dishes, he got straight to the point: "Did you bring everything?"
Shu Qing hummed in agreement, signaling Qi Yun to close the door to the private room. She then opened her backpack, revealing four special "instruments" inside.
In Qi Yun's view, those were some modern equipment that the Supermarket Management Bureau had given to Shu Qing. Although she knew that the purpose of these things was definitely different from what she imagined, she felt that she recognized them all—a net with an unknown pattern, a miniature "umbrella", a "bowl" engraved with a special pattern, and a small mirror with electronic control.
Shu Qing's memorization of the information was not in vain. She quietly explained to Qi Yun: "Energy Purification Device, Concentration Amplification Device, Energy Guiding Device, Spiritual Energy Manifestation Device."
Qi Yun: "..."
I'd never even heard of her, but she'd brainwashed me so much that my mind was filled with "Auntie."
Jiu Su casually placed them one by one on the tatami mat. The moment he put down the last small mirror, a cold wind seemed to suddenly rise in the entire private room.
The "aunties" formed a very peculiar pattern, like a tiny, tangible magic circle; a single glance at it was almost chilling. The temperature in the private room plummeted, while the numbers on Shu Qing's electronic watch jumped wildly upwards, the decorative hands spinning erratically, and the dial even emitting a sharp red light.
It wasn't an ordinary watch; it was an energy measurement dial.
"Don't look," Jiu Su said calmly. "Close your eyes and you won't feel cold."
The two people opposite were both monster enthusiasts, so how could they not watch? They were shivering and each holding a large cup of hot tea, huddled together under Shu Qing's coat, their four eyes wide open, with no intention of closing them.
Although Nian Nian's reaction was a bit slow, it was still the most perceptive creature here. The small magic circle felt cold and unsettling to humans, but it held an inexplicable attraction for demons. Three seconds later, it pinpointed the source of this strange attraction, jumped off Qi Yun's hand, and tentatively moved towards the area between the instruments.
Qi Yun grabbed it. Shu Qing patted her shoulder reassuringly, and she released her grip with surprise and uncertainty, watching as Niannian slowly moved to the "umbrella".
Shu Qing looked down again and found that the dashboard on her wrist had stabilized at an alarmingly high value.
At this point, Jiu Su asked, "Do you have any suspects?"
The two exchanged a glance, and Qi Yun immediately told them his guesses in detail.
Jiu Su didn't comment on this guess, just nodded calmly and asked, "Is there anything related to them?" After thinking for a moment, she added, "Online accounts are fine too."
He had just performed a grand ritual, and Qi Yun, completely convinced of his abilities, immediately presented him with a pile of miscellaneous items that had come with Niannian—this corresponded to "that lousy merchant"; Shu Qing opened her phone, found a short video account, and browsed its homepage—this corresponded to "the studio that came to cause trouble".
Jiu Su placed Shu Qing's phone in the "energy guide"—the small bowl—diagonally opposite the mirror, forming a triangle with Niannian. Then, he made a very strange hand gesture.
Qi Yun didn't understand anything, so she didn't feel anything special. However, Shu Qing had already memorized all the hand gesture diagrams the Super Management Bureau had given her, and when she saw Jiu Su's gesture, she almost got goosebumps and felt a chilling, eerie feeling that went straight to her heart.
She quickly drank another sip of hot tea, trying to suppress the chill, but to no avail. She could only close her eyes and then feel her limbs warming up.
A question began to surface: Who exactly is Jiu Su?
Just then, Nian Nian let out a scream, and its dark pupils shone with a silvery-white light. The light grew brighter and brighter, and after a few seconds, its eyes were almost completely covered with a layer of silvery-white.
Shu Qing even forgot that she was feeling unwell, and she and Qi Yun held each other tightly, staring in disbelief at the scene before them.
The small mirror, which had originally reflected Shu Qing's phone screen, suddenly began to reflect the text backwards in a silvery light. The flow accelerated, and gradually, even the outline of the phone changed, transforming it into the latest Apple phone.
Shu Qing nudged Qi Yun, "Record it, record it!"
Qi Yun dropped the sushi and hurriedly turned on her phone's camera. The screen in the mirror already showed a new image, easily recognizable as the private chat interface of the shopping app.
The person speaking had a system-generated avatar and a name that was a string of random gibberish, clearly just a secondary account that didn't want to reveal their identity.
Abw3275: "[Video Link: Can a fluffy person be a great detective?]"
Abw3275: "Post comments like 'Monsters forced to work,' 'First time seeing such a refreshing and unique whitewashing,' and 'Abusing monsters to create a CP.' I'll post these comments at midnight sharp, creating a new wave of discussion every ten minutes."
Chen: "OK"
"Chen" quickly sent another link, which had no title or signature, and the content was unreadable, so it didn't look like a normal website.
The speaker clicked the link, and the screen redirected. The interface the link led to wasn't as easily recognizable as a shopping app's; Shu Qing realized she'd never seen it before. She looked up at the erudite Su, who shook her head; then at the worldly-wise Miss Qi, who also shook her head.
The shopping app in the background popped up a notification that "the seller has shipped the goods," and then the screen cut off.
A silver light swept across the mirror, and soon, only a now-off cell phone screen was reflected in the mirror.
The silver light in Niannian's eyes went out, and it lay wearily on the spot, rubbing itself against the "umbrella" again.
"I...I'm going to swear," Qi Yun stammered for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out, "Am I dreaming?"
Shu Qing swallowed the red dates from her tea, took the video, and asked hesitantly, "Can this be used as evidence?"
“Who cares,” Qi Yun said. “Even if we can’t sue them, we can still stir up some controversy! Although these two use very common online names, there’s still a link, right? I’ll search for it.”
She quickly took a screenshot of the video, identified the link in the image, clicked on it, and exclaimed, "Huh? No permission?"
Shu Qing peeked out and said, "I'll shake someone."
She forwarded the link to a former programmer colleague—a close friend from college, someone she'd known for cosplaying together in the anime club—who left a message saying, "Hack it in! I need your help, three cups of milk tea!"
The "wild sister" quickly replied: "Get lost, I'm on a diet!"
That meant she agreed. Shu Qing shrugged and told the other two, "She said tomorrow."
Jiu Su: "?"
He suspected that there were some mistakes or omissions in his learning of modern Chinese.
"Okay, then transfer it to me once it's done." Qi Yun could understand this kind of encrypted call between best friends. "Let me admire who this brave and resourceful warrior is."
She also opened her messaging app and started calling for reinforcements. Judging from Shu Qing's understanding of her and her current facial expression, she was probably calling for some highly destructive outside help.
By this time, Nian Nian had recovered from her exhaustion. Jiu Su followed the same method and had it read through the miscellaneous items Qi Yun had brought. However, these items probably hadn't passed through the merchant's hands much, and only some invalid information about Nian Nian's past daily activities and physical examinations was gleaned.
As the silver light swept by, the thoughts clinging to the merchant's hand disappeared from the mirror, and the "Spiritual Energy Manifestation Device" returned to being an ordinary small mirror.
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