Chapter 44 The snake's tail had nowhere to hide.
"...Instead of merely treating the symptoms, it's better to address the root cause. The 'Monster Encyclopedia' short drama series aims to promote peaceful coexistence between humans and monsters—and further, harmonious and loving coexistence—by influencing people's mindset to prevent the recurrence of heinous incidents like the Huiyao Group's..."
"This is mainly to change the social atmosphere and increase the cost of crime, so as to deter capital." Shu Qing was very nervous at first, but after speaking for a while, she found her rhythm and spoke more and more smoothly. She even made a witty remark, "Obviously, we don't live in the fantasy world of teenagers, and we can't just rely on love to fight against interests."
Upon hearing this, several of the high-ranking audience members smiled.
Director Yang didn't laugh at all, staring at Shu Qing with a serious expression.
"This is a summary of data I compiled after researching various short video platforms." Shu Qing pulled up her data page. "Judging from the current traffic, people have a very high level of enthusiasm for the topic of monsters, and cute interactions between humans and monsters are also very popular. Please see, here are the relevant statistics."
The pie charts, a vibrant mix of red and green, collided under her cursor. Shu Qing continued, "However, currently, there's been no official guidance or helpful popular science education regarding this enthusiasm, resulting in people having a strong desire to learn but lacking the channels to do so..."
Today, she wore a formal suit and light, tasteful makeup. Standing beside the large LCD screen, she spoke eloquently, radiating brilliance like a pearl cleansed of dust.
Jiu Su sat at the lower end of the table, looking up at her. It was strange; her words were full of unfamiliar modern slang, some of which he could barely understand, yet he could remember every single word she said without missing a single one.
In fact, he had been in this era called "modern" for far longer than Shu Qing had thought.
He had wandered alone through the streets and alleys many times, from mud houses and brick buildings to skyscrapers. Across the vast chasm between life and death, he had seen many people as radiant and eloquent as her, young and old, male and female, but none of them shone as brightly as she did today.
However, Shu Qing did not look at him.
Her gaze politely and kindly met everyone's—Director Yang, Xie Heng, Jin Wanli—but she deliberately avoided him, ignoring him with extreme intent.
Shu Qing wasn't ignoring him on purpose; it was just that her day hadn't started off very well, and she'd only just found her footing. She was afraid that looking at him would make her mind go blank, so she intentionally avoided eye contact with him.
She had put a lot of effort into this presentation and didn't want to mess it up because of a distraction.
"...Minister Jin has probably already told you all that I possess a rather rare 'talent'," Shu Qing finally confessed. "And the naturally disabled and sick monsters bred by the Radiant Group are still living in the Super Management Bureau's containment facility. In the worst cases, they cannot even be entrusted to citizens who want to adopt them."
“I hope to use this ‘talent’ to help them. May all sentient beings in the world not be reduced to commodities for profit, not suffer from man-made diseases and disabilities, and not be trapped by racial differences.”
After she finished speaking, she glanced at the time—30 minutes, no more, no less.
A handwritten "Thanks" appeared on the screen, and Shu Qing bowed deeply to the crowd, which was met with thunderous applause.
“I agree with Miss Shu’s proposal.” Xie Heng set the tone for her speech first. “We should indeed do our best to guide the public’s understanding of supernatural beings. Even if we can only reduce people’s purchase of disabled supernatural beings, it is itself a protection of the public’s life and property safety.”
Another expert nodded in agreement, saying, "A popular content creator with 100,000 followers is a great voice."
The other bigwigs nodded slightly, and Shu Qing maintained a polite smile while inwardly cheering.
Perfect! Just like me!
Just then, Director Yang suddenly said in a deep voice, "But my opinion is different."
He was the one who truly made the decisions here; you could say he had a veto. If he disagreed, no one else's opinion mattered. Shu Qing's heart immediately skipped a beat.
She remained calm, but Jin Wanli lost his temper first, glaring at her and about to jump up.
Jiu Su silently pressed him down, indicating that she should listen to what Director Yang had to say first.
“There’s no precedent for this,” Director Yang said, seemingly uttering a useless statement. “Besides, while your dream is admirable, humans and monsters are different after all. Forcing two different races to merge might not be a good thing.”
Jin Wanli said sarcastically, "So, according to that logic, I should now lead the Special Operations Department to break away and start my own independent operation?"
Director Yang gave him a stern look, and even Shu Qing gave him a "shut up" look—this cannot be generalized at all. One is talking about grassroots integration, and the other is talking about official institutions. It's pure sophistry.
“It is precisely because there is no precedent that we must set one.” Shu Qing suppressed her anxiety and replied with a smile, “Humans and demons, after all, live in the same world and cannot be isolated from each other. Isn’t it much better to be friendly to each other than to use and hate each other?”
Director Yang said, "Your plan only encourages one-sided friendliness. If the public believes the impression that 'monsters are cute and harmless' and becomes completely unguarded against monsters, have you thought about the consequences? Do you know how many monster-related incidents occur nationwide each year?"
Jin Wanli clearly wanted to spout nonsense again, but reluctantly held back because Jiu Su was present.
Director Yang came from the field operations department of the Supermarket Management Bureau. Before becoming deputy director, he was responsible for handling incidents of monsters injuring people; he was a true combatant. The scar on his face was left by a vicious and ruthless monster.
Given his background, it's not incomprehensible that he would be suspicious and wary of monsters.
“I know.” Shu Qing met Director Yang’s gaze with composure. “Last year, there were 357 incidents of monsters injuring people across the country. Also last year, there were 49,000 cases of serious violent crimes such as intentional homicide committed by humans.”
The entire conference room fell silent. Although Director Yang was nominally the deputy director of the Supernatural Management Bureau, in reality, no one really treated him as the deputy director—the director mainly handled management and funding matters, and was completely ignorant about supernatural organisms themselves; professional matters were all handled by Director Yang.
Jin Wanli is one thing, he belongs to the category of monsters who don't understand etiquette. But it's rare to see someone dare to speak so directly to Director Yang.
Shu Qing ignored the expressions of others and continued, "The numbers differ by a factor of a hundred. But we won't be wary of all humans because of a few murderers. Similarly, we have no reason to be wary of all monsters because of a few demons who have hurt people. The underlying logic of these two is the same."
“You’re right.” Director Yang didn’t show any anger. “Because of these 49,000 violent crime cases, elders will teach younger generations to be careful when they go out and avoid people who look dangerous. The same principle applies to being wary of monsters.”
“What constitutes a dangerous person?” he said. “It could be someone who looks exceptionally strong and skilled in combat, someone who acts irrationally and impulsively, or someone who has a grudge against your family.”
When the words "hatred" struck, Shu Qing instantly recalled her old dreams. In that instant, it felt as if a blood-stained cotton ball was stuck in her chest, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Her expression clearly changed. Jiu Su stood up and handed her a glass of chilled honey milk tea. Even Jin Wanli didn't have time to get angry; he first glanced at her with some unease.
Shu Qing took a sip of milk tea, shook her head slightly at them, indicating that she was fine.
She glanced at Director Yang again—because Director Yang's words were practically tantamount to placing humans and demons on opposite sides, and there were two demons present.
“You mean,” Jiu Su finally spoke, speaking slowly and deliberately, “that the monsters in the containment chambers are all high-risk individuals who are ‘warlike’ and ‘extremist’? As for ‘hatred’, I can’t really argue with that, but if they had a choice, they probably wouldn’t want to have this hatred.”
Jin Wanli gave a sharp laugh. "It's not just them. If they had a choice, which monster would want to be your enemy?"
This was no ordinary rudeness; one of Director Yang's deputies immediately reprimanded him, "Minister Jin, please think carefully before you speak!"
Even Jiu Su couldn't stop him this time. Jin Wanli retorted, "I'm just telling the truth. What's there to hesitate about? Since you think it's unpleasant to hear today—"
"Minister Kim!"
Several people interrupted him, and the entire conference room erupted in a clamor, shouting, "Watch your words!"
"Do you even know what you can and can't say?!"
"Ms. Shu is also a business partner!"
A group of social elites, like ducks that had been stepped on, started chattering away. But Director Yang, seeing how inappropriate it was, coughed twice to quell the commotion from his human colleagues.
He frowned. He was experienced in fighting monsters, but he wasn't good at calming one. He could only say as gently as possible, "Wanli..."
"ha!"
Jin Wanli was already furious. Even Jiu Su had completely given up on holding him down, so it was obvious that he wouldn't give Director Yang any face. He sneered, threw down the milk tea, slammed the door shut with a bang, and stormed off.
He left the room in silence, everyone watching his departing figure, some frowning, some with ashen faces, some lost in thought.
Jiu Su looked at Shu Qing with worry. Shu Qing's face grew even paler—Jin Wanli was the true initiator of this cooperation, and with him gone, it would be difficult for the meeting to reach any conclusion.
"Damn it," Shu Qing cursed inwardly, "This unlucky golden retriever really is my nemesis!"
When Shu Qing got home, she felt dizzy and lightheaded. She took out the rose pendant that Jiu Su had given her and saw that it hadn't turned gray, which meant it wasn't a side effect of her golden finger.
That's simply because I've been exhausted these past few days, and seeing all my hard work about to go to waste has left me feeling depressed.
She sat on the sofa for a while, her eyes vacant, then washed her face with cold water and said to herself, "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work!"
Originally, while this was a good opportunity for her, it wasn't something she absolutely had to fight for. After the studio opened, she could have continued working on her "Yokai Encyclopedia" series, but she just wouldn't have received official investment, credit, or material support.
The most important thing is Jiu Su's secret... If the Super Admin Bureau doesn't approve it, then it's impossible to grant her access to the backend. If the Super Admin Bureau route is blocked, where else can she find an entry point?
She touched the feathers of the lucky bird she had specially brought today. It seemed that even good fortune wasn't a magic bullet; a level 1 lucky bird was clearly no match for the destructive power of a level 9 incompetent teammate!
"I need to get a good night's sleep first. I'll think about everything else tomorrow," she thought wearily. "Tomorrow is another day."
Jiu Su hadn't returned yet. He took her home and quickly returned to the Supermarket Management Bureau. He wondered if it was because Jin Wanli had publicly humiliated him, and he had to work overtime to deal with the mess. On the way back, he barely spoke, and Shu Qing herself remained silent, partly because she was feeling down and partly because she didn't know what to say to him.
At this moment, she felt a little regretful: if she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have kept avoiding him during the presentation.
The presentation failed, and it left both of them feeling awkward, pleasing neither side.
Shu Qing hesitated for a moment, then sent Jiu Su a message telling him that she was going to sleep first, so that he wouldn't have to ring the doorbell when he came back.
Jiu Su never had the habit of carrying keys—after all, locking the door wouldn't lock him out anyway. He would ring the doorbell simply because he liked Shu Qing to open the door for him. He liked seeing Shu Qing's face as soon as he opened the door, liked holding her hand as they walked through the courtyard, and felt that in this way, he had a place of his own in this bustling world.
This used to be a fun activity between young couples, and Shu Qing was always happy to participate. But today she really wasn't in the mood for it, so she told him to go and climb over the wall himself.
She didn't sleep soundly either, half-asleep and half-awake, almost unaware of whether she was asleep or not. Turning over, she felt empty; without her usual little white snake as a pillow, she felt even more uncomfortable, frowning in her sleep.
Shu Qing was startled awake by the slightest sound outside. She was not fully asleep, nor fully awake, and she wandered into the living room as if sleepwalking.
A familiar figure was curled up on the sofa in the living room.
No, it doesn't seem very familiar either. At least every time Shu Qing sees Jiu Su, he is either a complete human or a complete snake, never in this half-human, half-snake state.
Shu Qing stared in disbelief, completely snapping back to reality.
She saw Jiu Su's snake tail winding on the ground, estimated to be at least three meters long, a far cry from the little white snake she was familiar with. If it were just her little white snake, Shu Qing could still consider it a niche pet, but this snake demon in front of her gave her a real sense of an ancient, powerful demon.
Its tail tip was coiled up, appearing silvery-white and clean in the moonlight, like another moon that had fallen into her window.
However, his physical condition did not look very good.
Jiu Su was breathing rapidly, burying himself in the sofa cushions, his face hidden, only his bright red ears and the back of his neck were visible. He knew Shu Qing had arrived, but he didn't get up. He hurriedly tried to hide his tail, but with such a long tail, there was nowhere to hide it.
"Ah Shu..." His voice was a little hoarse, buried in the pillow, sounding somewhat unreal, "Why are you awake?"
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Author's Note: Tomorrow is another day. (A famous quote from Gone with the Wind)
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