Chapter 47
Lin Ran, hiding under his pillow, made An Xun anxious. He chirped and nudged the pillow, admiring A-Ran’s fluffy tail.
“Beep—Beep—Beep—” His phone, however, lit up with a notification. He pushed it towards Lin Ran, urging him to look.
Lin Ran: A message? He peeked out, his ears twitching, his movements slightly clumsy as he walked on the soft blanket, making An Xun follow nervously, afraid he would fall.
Lin Ran was curious about the compensation. It better be good. O皿O
[Beep—Special Daily Task: Use the provided magic to collect 5 types of fruit within 3 hours and receive the S-Rank prerequisite item “Serene Earring.”] An earring, one of the two prerequisites for the Time Mirror, as a reward for a simple task? This was a great deal! And he knew the orchard well.
He jumped onto the windowsill, his tail helping him balance, and looked at Snowball. “Mew…?” Coming?
“Mew—!” An Xun, worried, followed. A-Ran was going outside! It was dangerous! He now understood Lin Ran’s anxiety when he and Sootball went exploring.
The night was quiet and peaceful, the moonlight illuminating the fields. Lin Ran headed towards the orchard, enjoying this new perspective, though walking on dirt was less pleasant. He held his tail in his mouth, carefully picking his way through the mud.
“Mew!” An Xun, seeing him holding his tail, chirped, delighted. He didn’t know what A-Ran was doing, but this nighttime adventure was exciting.
“Mew?” A loquat tree? Lin Ran reached the first tree and used the magic provided by the quest. A blue aura emanated from his paw, plucking a loquat, though it wasn’t quite ripe yet.
An Xun, seeing this, also summoned his aura, ready to harvest the entire tree, making Lin Ran quickly stop him. They only needed one of each fruit.
“Mew?” An Xun tilted his head, confused.
Lin Ran explained, and An Xun, understanding, helped him find the other fruits. Working together, they quickly found all five.
[Beep—Reward added to inventory.]
Lin Ran happily circled the fruits, relieved they didn’t have to carry them back.
“Hey! What’s that noise?! A thief!?” a familiar voice shouted.
Jiang Jie, returning from the village committee, thought someone was stealing from the orchard. He grabbed his phone, turned on the flashlight, and picked up a stick.
Lin Ran, realizing he had been heard, panicked. He didn’t want to be seen as a snow leopard by a third person.
“Mew…!” He grabbed Snowball and ran.
“Don’t run! Hey, it’s not a human!” Jiang Jie said, realizing it wasn’t a person but two fluffy kittens. He fumbled with his phone, trying to film them. One kitten, startled, stumbled clumsily, while the other turned and hissed at him. After making sure he wasn’t following, it led the smaller one away.
“So cute! Protecting its clumsy friend?” Jiang Jie chuckled, charmed by their interaction.
Lin Ran, back in the house, collapsed on the floor, exhausted. No bath, no bed. He hoped Jiang Jie hadn’t filmed too much.
“Mew!” An Xun, nuzzling against him, realized he was just tired, and, after watching him for a while, used its tail as a pillow for him.
Lin Ran snuggled against the warm fur, letting Snowball gently pat his head. So cute… A-Ran. An Xun felt a surge of happiness, A-Ran sleeping on his tail.
And A-Ran, busy, had forgotten to check on Sootball in “Demon World.” An Xun, slightly selfishly, didn’t wake him. There wouldn’t be enough space for his tail if Sootball joined them.
The next day, big news shook the village.
Even Lin Ran, back in his human form and accompanying An Xun to the set, heard about it.
“Lin Ran, two snow leopards were spotted in your orchard last night! It’s trending!” Liu Weng Gang exclaimed.
“Trending?” Lin Ran, who had assumed it was just villagers seeing them, was confused.
“Jiang Jie filmed them and posted it online! It went viral!”
“Your orchard is famous again!” Liu Weng Gang said, envious. After learning about Lin Ran’s story, he realized he was a natural trendsetter.
“I want to see,” An Xun said, and Liu Weng Gang, flattered by his attention, showed him the video. Being close to Lin Ran clearly had its perks.
Lin Ran, frowning, also watched the video: Jiang Jie’s footage of them running away. And the caption: Thought it was a thief, but it was two kittens! One was fierce, the other clumsy!
He wanted to hide. He had been so flustered he had been running with his paws all tangled, and Snowball had hissed at Jiang Jie to stop filming. But Jiang Jie had continued, oblivious. He should have deleted the video last night.
An Xun, however, saved the video and opened the comments.
[Those aren’t cats! They’re snow leopards! Protected animals!][So cute! The smaller one is so clumsy! And the bigger one is protecting it!][They’re both so beautiful! Better than the ones at the zoo! [Screenshot]] Many wondered where the snow leopards had come from, but most were simply gushing over their cuteness.
“Aren’t they beautiful? The smaller one is so clumsy,” Liu Weng Gang said, oblivious to their presence.
Lin Ran quickly turned off the phone, his face burning. An Xun looked up at him, his eyes filled with wronged.
“No more phone! It’s bad for your eyes,” Lin Ran said, covering his eyes, not wanting him to see the embarrassing video. Liu Weng Gang was surprised by his boldness. He had seen An Xun’s icy glare before, even his mother fearing it.
But An Xun obediently handed him the phone and quietly followed him to study. He secretly downloaded the video and watched it repeatedly.
“He’s more effective than his mother,” a crew member said to Liu Weng Gang, gesturing towards Lu Ya, who was frowning.
“Indeed. Perhaps young people are easier to connect with,” Liu Weng Gang said, thinking he would pay a fortune to keep Lin Ran around as an emotional support human for An Xun.
An Xun’s performance today was exceptional, even Director Sai Ban noticing it, praising his improvement. His emotions were so genuine they captivated everyone on set. He couldn’t wait to see the final product. He looked at Lin Ran, tutoring An Xun, then at the script, an idea forming in his mind.
A few minutes later, he approached Lin Ran.
“Young man, Lin Ran, right? Interested in a small role? A summer job?” he asked, smiling.
The crew members stared, surprised. Even established actors wanted a role in Director Sai Ban’s movie. And he was offering it to an outsider?
“Thank you, but I’ve never acted before…” Lin Ran said, startled. He had no aspirations for an acting career.
“No need for acting. Just be natural. You’re perfect for this role. Here’s the script,” Director Sai Ban said, handing him the material. He had been struggling to find the right person for this role, crucial for An Xun’s performance. The previous actors hadn’t been quite right.
An Xun guessed which role it was: the young teacher who died in a landslide, protecting the textbooks and exam papers he had bought for the young protagonist. A brief but impactful role, his body found clutching the books. No acting required; it was a corpse role.
Lin Ran, reading the script, understood. And it was strangely fitting; he was a tutor.
“A-Ran, please?” An Xun pleaded, hugging him. He wanted A-Ran to play this role.
Director Sai Ban, seeing this, smiled. Perfect!
“And a big red envelope. What do you say?”
Lin Ran knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, thanks to Snowball.
“I’ll try my best,” he said, accepting the unusual summer job. From livestreamer to actor… his summer jobs were getting stranger. He needed to find a proper internship after school started.
“Excellent! Finally!” Director Sai Ban exclaimed, his only concern being Lin Ran’s handsome appearance. The character was described as ordinary-looking. But perhaps being handsome would make his death more tragic. He imagined the dramatic close-ups in the rain.
The crew members, seeing his smile, felt a chill. Whenever he smiled like that, it meant tragedy for the characters and tears for the audience.
Meanwhile, the “Demon World” development team, called in for emergency overtime, discovered the task was simply adding a confirmation button for transformation skills. They almost fainted.
“Couldn’t this wait until morning?!” And it was a top-priority request from the game’s core consciousness, even summoning Shao Mian.
“It’s done!” Tao Shu said, annoyed. Any programmer could do this! But he didn’t dare complain. What if he lost his admin privileges? He felt like a toothpick bird cleaning a crocodile’s teeth.
[Hmph.] The game’s core consciousness, as if hearing his complaint, typed a single “hmph” on the screen, making Tao Shu sweat, looking at Shao Mian for help. The game usually respected its investor.
But Shao Mian, lost in thought, was staring at the words “Transformation Confirmation.” Which demon in “Demon World” could even trigger this? They all entered in their beast forms. Even he hadn’t been allowed to transform, despite his generous offers. The only exception he had seen was…
“A-Ran—!”
“Lin Ran,” he and Abyss said at the same time.
“Demon World” was fixing a bug for A-Ran?! The game’s special treatment of A-Ran was evident; several updates were related to him. What was his significance? Why was a human allowed in a demon-exclusive game?
Back in his office, Shao Mian, holding the lion plushie, pondered this, his tail swishing across the carpet. And he didn’t mind the human’s presence, even his casual disregard for territorial boundaries, planting flowers and keeping animals in his territory. It was unusual for demons to be so tolerant. Had “Demon World” secretly altered his affection levels? Was that even possible?
[…That function does not exist!!] A red message popped up, and Shao Mian glared at his phone. Then why had the human appeared in his territory?
[Fine. We’ll prioritize this. Your feedback is valued.] The system replied, slightly annoyed.
What feedback? Before he could react, another notification appeared:
[@All demons~ NPC Affection Mode is in development! Participate in interactive challenges and earn points to unlock interaction features~]
Shao Mian: ? Was the game targeting him? So, all demons could now increase their affection with the NPC? And the only NPC was…
“Shao Mian, do you still want to know A-Ran’s secret?” Abyss asked, looking at the plushie longingly. Being a flame, it wasn’t allowed to touch the flammable plushie, which Shao Mian had protected with a powerful barrier.
“Let me touch it, and I’ll tell you,” it pleaded. It was the only one without a gift from A-Ran; being a flame made it difficult to receive physical gifts.
Shao Mian, feeling a flicker of pity, temporarily lifted the barrier, and Abyss, after touching the plushie with its fiery tail, spun around happily. It was so lifelike! It had been secretly admiring it for days, envious of Shao Mian.
“Tell me,” Shao Mian said, retracting the barrier.
Stingy! A-Ran will make me a better one! Abyss thought, then said, “I’ve seen a human identical to A-Ran! In the real world!”
Shao Mian thought it was just wishful thinking.
“Remember those peaches? When we went to the school to inspect the seal! Those peaches were grown by a human who looks exactly like A-Ran! I’m not lying!”
“And Shao Zi Jue saw him too! He thought A-Ran was handsome and kept staring at him, even forgetting to buy the peaches!” Abyss, trying to convince him, even threw Shao Zi Jue under the bus. It had another reason for revealing this secret. It couldn’t find A-Ran in the real world, but Shao Mian could.
Lin Ran, unaware of this, was about to scold Snowball. The “Orchard Snow Leopards” trend, which had been dying down, was suddenly trending again. Snowball had reposted Jiang Jie’s video on his official Weibo account, which had millions of followers!
[An Xun V: Cute, I want one. //Retweeted [Jiang Shan Orchard video]] He had even retweeted several other posts praising the cubs’ cuteness.
The comments and likes exploded.
[An Xun posted! He likes snow leopards too!][He wants a snow leopard! Someone get him one! Have they found those wild snow leopards yet?][They’re so adorable! The clumsy one and its protective friend! So cute!] An Xun’s repost had sent Jiang Shan Orchard’s follower count skyrocketing.
“Lin-zai, how did you get An Xun to repost that?! Did you steal his phone?” Jiang Jie asked, shocked. Celebrity endorsements were expensive!
“Busy, will reply later,” Lin Ran typed, ready to scold Snowball. He had done this on purpose, using his phone while he was filming. TwT
“Mew, mew—” An Xun, seeing him approach, transformed into a cub, looking at him innocently. He just wanted to share the video of them together, to show everyone how cute A-Ran was as a snow leopard.
