Chapter 25: 025 Damn, How Did It Come to This

What did they just hear?

【???】

【Huh? Huh?? HUH?! That explosive?!】

【My eyes just flew open.】

【My brain just screeched to a halt.】

【Thank you, Ming Ruan, you really understand live stream impact. I’m wide awake now. You’re not allowed to shut off the stream. I want to watch you sleep with the white tiger tonight.】

【In one bed.】

【I’m seriously begging the commenters before me not to randomly split sentences.】

【Completely devastated, guys! Does this white tiger even know Ming Ruan?? Has Ming Ruan ever had any rumored scandals before?? Why is he not inviting the Council Speaker to sleep with him instead!!】

【Haha, the Wenming Party has been betrayed after all…】

【?? Is Ming Ruan deliberately isolating our Huai cub? Why didn’t he call Huai cub?】

【Don’t be so ridiculous, earlier commenter, hahahaha look, fans melting down and fighting over someone’s affections.】

Ming Ruan thought his plan was flawless. Yet, the netizens and the three fluffballs in the room clearly saw things very, very, very differently.

After an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly intense round of mediation…

Ming Ruan lay flat on his back on the bed, completely exhausted.

Below the bed: a wolf lying on the left, a white tiger lying on the right, and a little fox curled up at his feet. This was the result after everyone felt they had compromised a hundred steps, barely achieving a unified agreement.

The not-so-large little bedroom was instantly packed to the brim.

Having three fluffballs accompanying him to sleep was actually pretty blissful, too.

But. He truly couldn’t quite figure out how things had ended up like this.

Ming Ruan scratched his head.

In the live stream room, amidst a screenful of comments like 【AAAAHHH】, 【4P I’m dead】, 【Friends, see you all in the StarNet parking lot】, the screen went dark.

In the darkness, Ming Ruan’s breathing quickly grew long and slow. He unconsciously turned over. The hand that had been scratching his head slipped over the edge of the bed, his fingertip landing precisely on the white tiger’s fluffy, semi-circular ear.

In his sleep, Ming Ruan instinctively squeezed the soft, warm, springy thing between his fingers, not satisfied until his hand burrowed in deeper.

The white tiger whose ear was being touched opened its eyes. Its golden gaze held absolute clarity—more clarity than it had during the daytime.

It sat up. On the other side of the bed, it saw the gray wolf also opening its ice-blue eyes, returning its gaze.

The white tiger nodded at the gray wolf. The next second, the white tiger suddenly transformed into human form right before the gray wolf’s eyes!

Xie Gewen was stunned into utter immobility, incapable of any reaction.

The person before him had a head of white hair and indifferent golden eyes. Protruding from his short-to-medium length white hair were two round white tiger ears.

His Space Button flashed once. That uniform, with its dark gold insignia, recognizable to every person in the entire interstellar community, materialized onto his body.

Finally, with unhurried grace, he placed the black Military Cap onto his head, concealing the pair of beast ears.

This was… the Adjudicator—Su Yuyun!

Xie Gewen finally snapped back to his senses. He almost forgot about the sleeping Ming Ruan. The Light Brain around his neck flickered—he was about to speak out!

But he saw Su Yuyun make a silencing gesture towards him. Then, Su Yuyun looked down, gently cradled Ming Ruan’s restless arm, and tucked it back under the blanket. He even tucked in the corners of the blanket for him. Only then did he gesture to Xie Gewen, indicating they should speak outside.

Xie Gewen walked outside in a daze, only feeling fully awake when the cold wind hit him.

“Good evening, Mr. Xie.” Su Yuyun offered the customary greeting.

But Xie Gewen had no mind for such formalities. His voice urgent, he asked, “Adjudicator, Your Excellency, you, the beastification…”

It was widely known that the Royal Family, the Adjudicator, and the Council were the three pillars governing the Alpha Galaxy.

But royal authority could shift. The Council Speaker could be reelected.

The Adjudicator—no, one should say, Su Yuyun—his abilities and combat power were the pinnacle of the era. His existence was like the cosmic anchor of Alpha. If something happened to Su Yuyun, those Old Nobility, the Star Pirates, even the covetous Outer Galaxies, would likely all stir up trouble. The Legions and the populace would inevitably plunge into disoriented panic in a very short time.

What exactly was Su Yuyun’s condition now?

How could he switch back and forth between beast and human form? Had the Research Institute already mastered a method for Reverse Therianthropy?

Why had he personally come to stay by Ming Ruan’s side? What was the issue with Ming Ruan?

Xie Gewen swiftly pieced together the key missing information, but before he could ask his questions one by one, Su Yuyun nodded, understanding clear in his expression.

“I know you have many questions, Mr. Xie,” Su Yuyun said. “I experienced signs of Therianthropy very early on. As for why I can freely switch forms, that is an issue the Research Institute has been working to solve, and I cannot give you a definitive answer for now.”

“Research into Reverse Therianthropy is likely about to enter a new phase. The Research Institute and I are in agreement—the breakthrough point for Reverse Therianthropy research lies with Ming Ruan.”

Xie Gewen’s ice-blue pupils contracted sharply! Even though he’d had a vague premonition, the sheer magnitude of the revelation still shook him to his core.

If this were true, then everything made sense!

The matter of Reverse Therianthropy was of colossal importance; whether cat or mouse, everyone coveted this piece of cheese.

The Adjudicator’s presence here, even exposing his beast form on the live stream, served two purposes: first, to interact with Ming Ruan; second, to set a trap for those restless rats skulking in the gutters.

Xie Gewen asked no more. Silence returned to the air.

Just as the two men stood in silence, the door behind them, which had been pulled shut, was suddenly nudged open a crack.

A little fox squeezed out.

Seeing the man and wolf before him, the fox gave a start, quivering.

Shi Huai had jolted awake from his drowsiness. First, he offered a respectful salute to Su Yuyun.

No, wait. Why was the Adjudicator here in the middle of the night? And… where was that tiger?

Shi Huai looked at Su Yuyun’s golden eyes. The image of the white tiger’s golden eyes surfaced in his mind.

Before he could piece it together, he saw the Adjudicator holding out his palm towards him.

In his palm lay a Light Brain.

Su Yuyun: “Mr. Shi, your Light Brain.”

Shi Huai paused at the words, then shuffled forward slowly to take the Light Brain.

Xie Gewen was about to find an excuse to send Shi Huai away. He wasn’t sure if Su Yuyun intended to reveal his identity in front of Shi Huai.

The next second, however, the clothes on Su Yuyun’s body flashed. Simultaneously, an enormous white tiger appeared in his place.

It walked right past the two of them, entering the house first, without the slightest intent to conceal anything.

Xie Gewen: “…”

Shi Huai: “…?!”

No matter how sleepless Xie Gewen and Shi Huai were that night, Su Yuyun peacefully settled back down beside Ming Ruan’s bed.

In the middle of the night, Shi Huai even saw it with his own eyes: As Ming Ruan slept, his pale, slender calf slipped off the bed, one foot landing squarely on the white tiger’s fluffy back, his toes even flexing and curling, kneading the fur.

And the enormous white tiger did not grow impatient or angry. It simply turned around, used its paw pad to push Ming Ruan’s leg back under the covers, then draped its tail over the blanket corner to hold it down before lying back down.

Shi Huai was mentally adrift.

Damn. How did things come to this?

…

It was another brand new morning.

Ming Ruan had slept wonderfully.

The newly arrived white tiger was, unexpectedly, not aloof at all; one might even call it clingy.

Wherever Ming Ruan went, half his body was being firmly pressed against—it was even a little too warm.

But the moment Ming Ruan set aside whatever he was doing and reached out to properly pet the tiger’s head…

The white tiger stepped back. Do not touch.

When Ming Ruan withdrew his hand, however, the white tiger would press right back against him with perfect, upright sincerity.

It was truly top-tier push and pull.

The gray wolf watched all this from the side, deep in thought. Then it, too, came over and glued itself to Ming Ruan’s other side.

Now Ming Ruan couldn’t take it. “Wait a moment, babies! It’s way too hot like this! Go play by yourselves for a bit!”

Ming Ruan nimbly slipped out from between the two flanking fluffballs.

But today, the third fluffball in the house was unusually quiet.

Shi Huai, the little fox, was hiding in a room, looking at the Light Brain he’d once thrown away in the wild, now retrieved once more.

He evasively cleared away the 9999+ unread messages. These were from various fans, industry peers, and his Agent, all sent after he appeared on Ming Ruan’s live stream. He wasn’t in the mood to look at them yet.

As Shi Huai was clearing them, his eye suddenly caught a special user.

【Anonymous (Nobility Verified)】: “Good day, Mr. Shi Huai. It is heartening to see your spirits so well. We fully understand the troubles you once suffered at the hands of the current District 12 Executor, Ming Ruan. We, too, are loath to see a ‘thief’ of questionable character lay his hands on the sacred position of Executor.”