the calico had battered Old Zhu for years without a hint of guilt.
For the first time, a flicker of embarrassment flashed in the prim cat’s eyes. She glanced at her owner, now immobilized in the chair, and subconsciously backed away a step.
Bo Ting finished applying glue and glanced over:
“Tang Yuan, don’t run off.”
“Careful, or we won’t find you later.”
“Meow～”
the calico pitched her voice obediently, nothing like her arrogance on the way up.
Bo Ting didn’t catch the shift in her tone. Satisfied, he turned back.
…
“Insuring” Boss Zhu took a full few hours, until the afternoon darkened. Only then did Bo Ting finish the job.
“Alright, Brother Zhu.”
“Stand up and try. I didn’t leave a single joint unsealed—tomorrow’s foolproof.”
Boss Zhu’s face stiffened as he stood straight. He did feel Bo Ting’s “care.”
His freaking knee joints were glued—he couldn’t bend his legs at all.
Was this turning him into a zombie?
Brother Zhu took a deep breath. But facing the devil before him, he couldn’t muster any resistance and could only say gratefully, “I get it, Little Bo.”
“It’s so late—head back for dinner.”
“Don’t go hungry.”
Bo Ting thought Brother Zhu was worried about his health and smiled faintly.
“Alright, Brother Zhu. I’m heading out.”
“See you downstairs tomorrow.”
He adjusted his face mask and stood, but was called back just before leaving.
“Wait, Little Bo. Take Tang Yuan back with you tonight.”
“I’ll pick her up in a couple days.”
In this state, Boss Zhu worried Tang Yuan staying home would spark a human-cat war!
Bo Ting paused hesitantly.
Eh, like that?
But…
Before he could refuse, Boss Zhu took the initiative to add.
“Including the boarding fees and cat food costs from the past two days, I’ll send a red envelope to settle it right away!”
“Alright, Brother Zhu.”
Bo Ting said no more. He scooped up the calico, who had performed well that day, and finally returned home.
It wasn’t until he heard the anti-theft door close completely that Boss Zhu painfully slumped back into his chair.
Propping up his pair of zombie-like legs, he quickly pulled out his phone and typed.
“I finally understand today why you’re all so afraid of Little Bo!!!”
The shout, complete with red exclamation marks, was sent out brimming with emotion.
Wu Ge from Lele Fast Food Restaurant cleared his throat lightly.
“You get it now?”
He sent out those heavy words in quick succession, almost furtively.
Boss Zhu sighed.
“I get it.”
“I completely get it.”
The fact that he was still alive was practically a miracle.
On the phone screens, the two men fell silent opposite each other.
After a moment, Boss Zhu propped up his hand and said, “Where’s the second group? Pull me in!”
“Got it, brother.”
Wu Ge nodded and pulled the pitiful old Zhu into the group.
But the next second, right after he successfully operated on his phone, a new message popped up.
Upon seeing the sender’s name, Wu Ge held his breath, his heart instantly leaping to his throat.
Fortunately, when he anxiously tapped it open, he realized it wasn’t Bo Ting realizing they’d created a second group and coming to hold them accountable.
The other side had just happened to place an order.
He let out a heavy sigh of relief. The man standing in the shadows wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling like he’d never had such a close call in his life.
After Bo Ting placed the order, he immediately organized his words and replied enthusiastically and politely.
“Braised pork, right?”
“Don’t worry, Little Bo. I’ll definitely add a few extra pieces for you today.”
The terrifying chat window went dark.
On the other side, Bo Ting felt a bit touched by Wu Ge’s reply. It wasn’t in vain that he’d been promoting Wu Ge in the neighborhood group all along—now orders came with extra braised pork.
Wu Ge really was a good guy.
Before long, the boxed meal for the day arrived.
After Bo Ting happily finished his portion, he didn’t forget to send a photo to his online friend.
“I hereby declare that Lele Fast Food Restaurant is the king of cost-performance!”
For just ten bucks, you could get a rice bowl loaded with twenty bucks worth of braised pork—what more could you want, a bicycle?
On the other end, Xu Qinglai glanced at the empty takeout box and oddly felt his appetite stirred for a moment.
But it was only an instant before he suppressed that strange urge.
“It does look pretty good.”
Moreover, Bo Ting seemed to be in a great mood today?
Xu Qinglai could tell even from those few short words.
Bo Ting nodded. “Probably because there’s good news.”
“Our neighborhood is planning a small cultural event tomorrow to let everyone relax properly.”
“Too bad we can’t invite outsiders.”
“Otherwise, Mr. Xu could come join the fun too.”
A cultural event…
Xu Qinglai slightly raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected a group of weirds to be so enthusiastic.
Still, it piqued his interest too.
“Can we take photos on site?”
“Of course.”
“If Mr. Xu wants to see, I’ll take photos for you tomorrow!”
The two made an agreement.
Bo Ting set an alarm, stretched lazily, and placed his phone by the bedside before finally going to sleep.
…
Resurgence Management Office.
Lu Jingshan and the others reported the implied intentions from Taiping Luxury Garden upward. They didn’t think the higher-ups would agree at all—after all, the other side was an unknown weird with an undetermined personality.
However, unexpectedly, the higher-ups at the Resurgence Management Office approved it.
After receiving the notification, Lu Jingshan couldn’t help but click his tongue.
“Captain Zheng, you’re sure you’re not messing with us?”
Why did he feel a bit uneasy about this?
Zheng Shangyun: …
“Would I joke about something like this?”
“The meeting this afternoon did say exactly that.”
“If it needs information, keep feeding it to them.”
“Your previous contact plan has already succeeded halfway. How can you fish without putting out a little bait?”
That made sense, but wasn’t this bait a bit too bold?
Lu Jingshan sighed with emotion.
Still, having ample resources made things much easier for them.
“Then tonight we’ll screen clues related to ‘heart’ mutations in the database?”
“Yeah.”
Zheng Shangyun handed over the file and added after approval, “Let me know once you’ve selected them.”
“Don’t worry, Captain Zheng.”
Lu Jingshan took the file and left.
Back in the Third Esper Squad office:
The moment he returned, several gazes landed on him.
“How’d it go with the captain?”
“Did he approve?”
“He did.”
“Time for overtime tonight.”
He tossed over a few bottles of coffee, and Lu Jingshan prepared himself.
The entire night, the Resurgence Management Office stayed up, screening a total of three weird events related to “hearts.”
Multi-Person Shared Heart Event.
Lost Heart Event.
And Light Shadow Shatter Heart Event.
These were all incidents from recent years involving heart-related weirdness.
One B-class, one A-class, and one currently undetermined grade.
Lu Jingshan’s gaze shifted to the final Light Shadow Shatter Heart Event—the one with the least leads among them. So far, the Resurgence Management Office had only collected footage from the days the victims met their ends.
It was very strange.
The first victim was a singer. Right after finishing her performance on stage, under the spotlights and in full view of the audience, she suddenly suffered a fatal heart attack.
At first, everyone thought it was just an accident—heart attacks were unpredictable, after all.
But then, within a short month, multiple stage crew members met the same fate under the lights.
Only after examination did they discover it wasn’t the normal heart disease they’d initially assumed—it was shattered hearts!
Deaths spread across Mengjia City and several surrounding city-states, causing widespread panic.
Even now, many theaters had removed their spotlights, yet weird deaths still couldn’t be avoided.
Lu Jingshan looked toward Yin Liao beside him.
“What do you think of the ‘Light Shadow Event’?”
Yin Liao pondered for a moment. “I think it’s worth a try.”
“We don’t have any other leads right now, do we?”
Lu Jingshan twitched his mouth, feeling stabbed in the heart. “I’m just afraid Captain Zheng won’t agree.”
“But…”
Tsk.
“Maybe he will.”
…
The next morning, Bo Ting woke up from a comfortable full night’s sleep to the sound of loudspeakers and microphone tests downstairs in the neighborhood.
It was even livelier than a wet market.
However… with the sun half-hidden behind the clouds, it looked a bit like it might sprinkle rain?
Bo Ting couldn’t help checking the weather forecast again, only to find that in the blink of an eye, it had changed from sunny to showers.
Whatever.
The event was already happening anyway. If it got cloudy, they could just turn on some lights.
After changing clothes and heading downstairs, Bo Ting reached the garden to find the stage already set up overnight.
Not only that, there were rain shelters, and even professional lighting equipment had been hauled up, perfectly solving the dim light issue.
“Where did these spotlights come from?”
Bo Ting was baffled. He didn’t remember anyone in the neighborhood working in that field.
Elder Wen, who had just finished testing the lights, fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan and casually replied, “Eh, hauled out from the property management storeroom.”
“No idea when those guys bought them.”
“They were just gathering dust anyway—might as well put them to use.”
Bo Ting: …
Fair enough.
Once the lights on stage turned on, it lit up completely. Aunt Qian shouted something, stood up there organizing her sisters for rehearsal.
Bo Ting happily picked up a cup of taro milk tea, about to open his phone, when the next second, a push notification popped up before his eyes.
—”Attention citizens: On June 7th, a certain musician performed on stage and met with an accident, dying of a shattered heart under the spotlights…”
“Please stay away from stage light sources as soon as possible!”
Bo Ting: …???
