The night before (1)
It is the season when thorn flowers bloom, and the short autumn vacation is coming to an end. Students are returning to school in groups of three or two, dragging their luggage and walking on the cobblestone road.
The contract registration point authorized by the Phantasmal Hall was located in a corner of the central square, a quaint stone building. Linyin stood at the entrance, wearing her autumn academy uniform, arms folded across her chest, looking at the trio and their respective Phantasmal companions, a slight smile on her face.
The kitten seemed to have grown a little bigger, nestling affectionately beside her legs, its furry tail circling her calves from time to time.
The familiar central square appeared before her eyes. Linyin gently raised her toes and shook the kitten. "The other day, the Fire Lark and the Jade Wind Fox were fertilizing their owner here. Were you secretly doing something bad?"
The kitten puffed out his chest proudly and admitted it directly without any hesitation.
"Good baby." Linyin rubbed its head.
Although she had a vague guess in her heart, but when she thought about how the kitten had been protecting her in its own way since the first day they met, her heart felt like it was immersed in grapefruit tea with triple sugar, sweet, warm, and a little sour.
Around her, the three-person and three-beast group was still very lively.
"Cuicui, my name is Cuicui!" The parrot, whose fur had been dyed green with a modified dye, flapped its wings and attacked Kaia. Kaia quickly grabbed it and said, "Shut up! A kitten is a kitten, and a snake is a snake. You're a worthless parrot, why are you being so special? You're called—Bird!"
"Hold on, both of you." Yu Zhu held her forehead with her hand, one arm around Ah She. These creatures were publicly known as Xuan-level mythical beasts. It wasn't surprising for Xuan-level parrots to mimic human speech, but it was incredibly strange for them to want to change their names.
After Crystal came back, she quickly improved the dye formula. The parrot's green feathers no longer needed to be re-dyed every day, and the snake's white scales finally stopped turning white.
Among the three mythical beasts, the mountain giant is the most obedient one. After all, it used to stay quietly in the forest without moving, and now it can be said that it is pretending to be a turtle perfectly.
"249, 250, 251, yes, just the three of you, come in."
Staff members wearing masks, face shields and goggles came out to call numbers. The trio and their boss waved and drove their respective phantom beasts into the house.
Linyin stood outside waiting for them to come out, feeling like she was picking up a child from after-school class. She kicked the pebbles around her feet idly when a pair of men's uniform shoes suddenly caught her eye.
Song Baiyue, wearing the same autumn uniform as Rin's, stopped quietly in front of her and said, "Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon." Linyin said, and suddenly leaned in and sniffed, with a smile in her eyes.
Seeing her smile, Song Baiyue froze again, pink spreading from his cheeks to his ears. He subconsciously took a step back: "What are you laughing at... Did you smell it again..."
Rinyin nodded.
Song Baiyue was depressed. No one else had ever smelled him. If his scent was always this strong, how could he go on missions? He couldn't hide himself at all. Wouldn't that be courting death?
After he returned to the dormitory yesterday, he not only took three showers, but also threw all his clothes and sheets into the washer and dryer, giving them a thorough cleaning - and there was still a smell?
Rinyin didn't know why, but she liked seeing him getting flustered by her. "Maybe it's because I'm particularly sensitive to Mr. Song."
Song Baiyue's face was almost burning, and he didn't dare to look at her again. His eyes were so burning that they seemed to penetrate the cobblestone road, "You are always like this..." He said some words that made people not know how to respond, and then turned around and forgot everything.
Fortunately, the smell she smelled was fragrant.
She praised him for smelling good.
Song Baiyue couldn't deny that, besides the shame and anger, the rest was a bittersweet joy. He didn't say anything else, just stood quietly beside her.
The picture of two people in the same frame is quiet and beautiful, and even the air around them becomes soft.
………
Inside the contract registration office, number plates were scrolling on the electronic screen, and the old stone benches were bulging with several students who had just completed their contracts and were resting with their eyes closed.
It seems that many students got their hands on mythical beasts when they went home during the autumn break, and there were long queues to register them.
The staff member led the three people in and threw the manual on the desk. "Numbers 249 to 251, the phantom beasts are kept here. Find your own compartment and go in quickly!"
Yuzhu and the other two squeezed into the narrow compartment, listening to the three mental resonance devices humming beside them.
"Name, phantom beast, please tell me." The staff member tapped on the projected keyboard through the glass, not even bothering to turn his head to look at them.
Ah, I have to cover for my colleagues as soon as I get back to work after the holiday. It’s like working overtime but without overtime pay. It’s so annoying.
"Lin Yuzhu, Xuan-level horn python."
"Crystal Diya, Xuan-level Stone Spirit Turtle."
"Kaya White, Yellow-level Emerald Parrot."
Three metal helmets tied with spring ropes fell from the ceiling. The three of them fumbled to put them on their heads. Through the glass, they saw the staff member in charge of registration turned off the keyboard projection and was putting EEG patches on Ah She and the others one by one.
"Do you remember your respective contract oaths? If you don't remember, tell me now and I'll help you check."
Although they were annoyed, the staff still did not dare to be too careless when it came to brain waves, especially since there was a violent creature like the horned python among this batch of mythical beasts. Reading the oath incorrectly could lead to serious consequences.
All three of them waved their hands and said no - it was just a formality. Although the cubicle was old, it had excellent sound insulation and no one would notice if they rapped.
As the machine beeped three times, Yuzhu began to stammer out her lines, "I swear... I will never withhold your mythical beast food. Not only will I ensure you're well fed, but I'll also ensure you eat well... I'll provide you with at least three packs of frozen rat jerky every week!"
Ah She's brainwaves came, "It's embarrassing to say this, but this patch makes me itch so much, I really want to shed my skin."
No!!! You have to hold back!! You’re still covered in white paint!! You can’t shed your skin now!!
Yuzhu tried desperately to give signals, but Ah She no longer responded.
Kaia, number 250, was assigned to the middle compartment. He raised his hand nonchalantly: "I promise not to discriminate against parrots, not to use you as a dartboard, and to keep your bath water no hotter than 80 degrees—but only if you don't read 'The Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Birds' aloud before bed!"
The parrot's voice echoed through my brainwaves, "My name is Cuicui. You must call me Cuicui, otherwise I'll make a scene. Hurry up and call me Cuicui. I must call you Cuicui. I'm Cuicui. Hello, are you there? My name is Cuicui..."
The crystal in the last room looked much more relaxed than the other two. Mountain giants have good tempers and eat little, except for—
"I promise not to force you to exercise, and I won't dry blankets or pile packages on you while you're pretending to be a rockery."
The Stone Spirit Turtle pushed away the snake that was scratching its shell. Brain Crystal said, "Add one more, and it will help me drive away any creature that uses me to tickle me!"
Amidst the unseen chaos, the three couples finally completed the process. The staff laid out three insurance bills in front of each of them: "Lin Yuzhu 50 gold, Crystal Diya 37.5 gold, Kaiya White 30 gold—payment is accepted in cash or at the terminal."
Crystal studied the publicly available rates and discovered that a Yellow-level contract only cost half the price of a Black-level contract. "It would be great if the snake's horn could be removed. I'll paint it cream-colored, and then pay for insurance at half the price of a Yellow-level Cream Snake."
Yuzhu shook her head and said, "Forget it, forget it. The child endured the itch and didn't shed his skin. It's unfair that such a sensible child can only be classified as Xuan level in his household registration."
Kaia's insurance premium was the lowest, but it still hurt. The parrot observed his wrinkled face and wasn't about to let him go. It bombarded him with demonic voices: "What's wrong? Do you dislike me? Do you think I'm not worth your 30 gold? But the primary responsibility for this expense is yours. It's your fault for having such a low mental stability index."
Kaiya covered his head, "Shut up, it's not like I won't pay!"
His mental index wasn't the lowest... Kaiya thought, and there was still the boss to back him up. This was the true boss, giving people the most lasting sense of security from being the last one.
………………
Late at night, on a stable armored hovercraft, Old Hans woke from his coma. He was chained to a metal chair, bent backwards. The long contortion had made it almost impossible for him to feel his body.
The guards hadn't injected him with a drug to knock him out, but the residual force of the snake's lightning still raged through his body, leaving him with limited strength. He bit his lip, trying to use the pain to stay awake, and then slowly began to feel his body again from the coldness, dismantling his joints one by one until his entire body slid out of the high-strength alloy shackles one by one.
When he finally broke free, he felt like he'd been fished out of water, his entire body drenched in sweat from tension and pain. Fortunately, the Bright Moon City Guards weren't equipped with the latest iris-marking locks; otherwise, even if he'd torn himself to pieces, he'd still be brought back to the Guards for cremation.
He fished out a small bottle from his trouser pocket, the very thing he had been stopped from using. Gently unscrewing the cap, a puff of very light smoke drifted out. Old Hans held his breath, and after two or three minutes, all the guards on the car lost consciousness.
There was still some in the bottle. Old Hans carefully screwed the cap back on and put it in his inner jacket pocket. It was his homemade anesthetic smoke for animals. The raw materials were so hard to find, so he used as little as possible.
The armored hovercraft was still in autopilot mode. Changing its route would alert the security detail, so he wouldn't be so reckless. He raised the hand of one of the guards and used his fingerprint to unlock the door.
The strong wind blew against him, making him feel a little scared. Fortunately, the hovercraft was traveling on ordinary city roads. Old Hans estimated the height and found that he was only about one floor above the ground. With a resolute heart, Old Hans curled up into a ball, trying his best to protect his head, and suddenly jumped out.
The wind whistled in his ears, and his body briefly lost control in the air before crashing heavily into a narrow alley. He ignored the excruciating pain and immediately rolled into the shadows.
Seeing that the armored hovercraft was still flying forward steadily, Old Hans gritted his teeth, dragged his falling apart body to his feet, and walked through several dim streets step by step.
Finally, he found a shop with lights on and pushed the door open.
There was an old communication terminal in the unattended store. He dialed a number with trembling fingers.
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