Time ticked away, drip by drip, as dawn’s first light shone once more upon the earth.
But today, it was a little dim, the gray and hazy sky blocking most of the brightness, and in the distance, a layer of mist wrapped the city in a gentle embrace.
“You.”
“Peaceful Years! I told you not to put your underwear on your head!”
“I refuse!”
Today’s story begins, as always, in a flurry of chaos.
“Listen up, today I’m going to teach you how to distinguish the ranks of anomalies.”
“I don’t wanna hear it, I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Fine, if you manage to eat a single grain of rice today, I’ll admit defeat.”
“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
I slid to my knees at lightning speed.
“Sigh…” Lu Xiu pressed his forehead.
The stubble on his chin had been partly shaved, so he didn’t look as scruffy as usual, though his hair still clumped like seaweed.
“The specifics of today’s lesson are related to our current mission.”
“Mission? What mission?”
I asked in confusion.
“Huh? Aren’t you going to ask if it’s tasty or edible?”
He looked surprised.
“Hah? Do you have a pig’s nose or something? You can’t eat a mission, sigh…” I shook my head. “You really are too dense, do I even need to explain something like that to you?”
***
The next moment, I caught Lu Xiu’s forced smile—and his hand stealthily reaching into Miao Miao’s pocket to grab something.
In order to avoid getting smacked, I settled down.
“…It’s a local-type oddity. We’re just the Guide Group, here to instruct the newcomers and give you a little science lesson on the side.”
“Oh… but I just got out of the hospital yesterday.”
The unspoken meaning was, I don’t want to go, I’m still a patient.
“The doctor said you’re fine. That’s not an excuse to avoid this. Besides, you still have those prayer beads on your wrist. That subway incident won’t happen again. More importantly—!”
He suddenly changed tone, “Do you know how much that bracelet cost me? I’m drowning in debt now! If we don’t pick up some extra missions to earn money, we’ll be sleeping on the streets tomorrow.”
“Wah! No way! I haven’t even slept in a proper big bed yet!”
“That’s your main concern…”
The veins on his forehead twitched.
“Anyway, we’re both busy lately, not just me but you too, so keep your spirits up, alright?”
“Okay.”
For my red fruit, for Kuyan Fire Village, for a big soft bed, and for all those delicious foods I haven’t tasted yet in that white box…
Lu Xiu said our destination was a small park by the river, and our goal was that very river.
Besides us, there was also a Male and a Female.
By the way, this Female had horns just like me, but they were plain little horns, looking sharp as awls—nothing pretty about them at all, probably not even tasty.
She wore restraints too, but only two.
“Captain Lu.”
The man greeted Lu Xiu first.
“Hey, what about me? I’m here too!”
I was a little disgruntled—couldn’t he see me standing beside him? Should I eat him to teach him a lesson?
“Uh…” The other party was clearly taken aback.
“Her name is Peaceful Years,” Lu Xiu suddenly spoke up. “Peaceful Years, as in ‘Peaceful Years’.”
“Oh, okay, alright… Um, Miss Peaceful Years, hello.”
“Hmph.”
I crossed my arms, finally satisfied.
Throughout, the horned Female never spoke. She only hid timidly behind the man, head lowered, watching the ants crawl on the ground.
But I didn’t care. In my world, only Lu Xiu and food mattered.
“Three days ago, some residents reported seeing many human-shaped figures floating in the river like bottles, but they vanished instantly.”
“If it were just one person, we could call it a hallucination, but several residents reported witnessing the same strange phenomenon, so our goal is to determine if this is an anomaly.”
When he entered work mode, Lu Xiu’s entire aura changed. His tone lost its usual laziness and became calm, radiating a mysterious air.
“So… what should we do first?”
The newcomer was clearly intimidated and subconsciously deferred to his opinion.
“First, of course, is to probe.” Lu Xiu looked at the Female behind the newcomer. “She’s your Hound, right? What’s her ability?”
“Uh… her ability is to detach parts of her body at will. The missing part can regrow over time, but it usually takes four or five days. The more vital the organ, the longer it takes.”
“Wow…”
My jaw dropped.
Doesn’t that mean… endless refills of delicious meat?
“Ow!”
My head was knocked again.
“Focus.”
Lu Xiu withdrew his hand. “Have your partner test the river, see if anything unusual happens.”
“Okay.” The newcomer nodded, then whispered with the horned Female.
After a moment, the Female nodded, grabbed her other arm, and tore it off directly.
Ouch.
My eyes widened.
But there was no bloody spray—the cross-section was smooth and neat, just like a wax figure. Apart from her slight frown, enduring the pain, the scene looked strangely calm.
For some reason, I didn’t like it.
Instinctively, I edged closer to Lu Xiu.
The Female, with her remaining arm, carried the severed limb to the river and threw it in. With a splash, it sank, and the river returned to calm.
“All done. Now we wait.” Lu Xiu said, sitting down on the grass and biting a blade of grass.
“Yes.”
The newcomer led the Female aside.
With some distance between them and us, I sidled up to Lu Xiu and whispered, “Seaweed Ball, I feel weird.”
“Mm? Weird how?”
He glanced at me.
“It’s just… that…” I pointed vaguely at the one-armed Female, miming the tearing motion on my own arm. “That. It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Hah, you really are interesting.”
“What do you mean?” I didn’t understand.
My head was suddenly ruffled hard.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
My hair! It’s going to be a mess like your Seaweed Ball!
Only after I protested did he finally, reluctantly, let go and look away. “Do you know what she is?”
“What?”
“A Hound, just like you. Some are oddities, some are weak demons, some are strange creatures.” He took the blade of grass from his mouth and twirled it between his fingers.
“A Hound must be useful to be a Hound; otherwise, they end up as the Hunter’s lunch, or part of a leather sofa.”
“I don’t get it.”
“If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. Just get used to it.”
His tone was calm, as vague and shrouded as that distant mist, lingering in my heart.
“But I’m uncomfortable.”
To be uncomfortable and still get used to it… then I’d never be happy, I’d be sad every day.
This time, he finally looked at me, tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Then remember this discomfort, and never forget it. That’s your most precious thing—don’t lose it.”
After saying these mysterious words, he returned to work mode, no longer chewing the grass.
Time passed, the mist gradually dissolved under the sun, and the distant sky brightened once again.