Chapter 22

A image of the double-headed rat from a few days ago inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

Bo Ting’s expression grew a bit strange. Suddenly, he looked toward the house of the bear child who had run away that afternoon.

A few minutes later:

Xiao Wang had just prepared to “play games” at home when he heard a knock at the door.

His dad, who was at the entrance, walked over and opened it. He was caught off guard by the unexpected visitor.

Damn, why was he here again?

Xiao Wang’s dad startled for a moment, nearly letting a curse slip from his mouth. But upon seeing the young man wrapped entirely in a raincoat, he quickly swallowed it back and spoke in a mild tone.

“Mr. Bo, is there something you need? Why come so late?”

As he spoke, Xiao Wang’s dad couldn’t help but shoot a fierce glare at Xiao Wang, who was sitting on the sofa playing a handheld game console.

Since he wasn’t here to pick a fight this time, Bo Ting’s tone softened a bit.

“Is Xiao Wang home?”

“I’m here to ask him a few things.”

Hearing that it was just to ask some questions, the dad breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stepped aside.

“Then come in, Mr. Bo.”

“No need, just a couple of questions.”

Bo Ting shook his head and looked toward the sofa. “Have Xiao Wang come over.”

Xiao Wang: …

Even if he was extremely reluctant, the bear child still shuffled over hesitantly.

“Good evening, big brother.”

Bo Ting nodded politely and gave the kid in front of him a once-over.

“When you dug up the worms at noon, did they already have this thing on them?”

This thing?

Xiao Wang looked puzzled for a moment and followed Bo Ting’s gaze, only seeing the “Worm Uncle” in the bottle.

Was Big Brother Bo asking about this?

He scratched his head. “Big brother, we buried worms in the garden at noon.”

“But this one actually wasn’t dug up from the garden.”

“It came from outside.”

Worm Uncle rode a motorcycle in from the security post, so it must have come from outside, right?

Xiao Wang confirmed in his mind.

Bo Ting: …?

What? It wasn’t dug up from the garden but picked up from outside?

Wasn’t this just like the time Doudou caught that rat from outside?

Both were animals from outside the neighborhood.

Bo Ting’s expression turned serious as he began to suspect if something had gone wrong outside the neighborhood recently.

He had never thought in that direction before, but there seemed to be too many strange things popping up these past couple of days.

“Alright, I understand.”

“Go back and do your homework.”

“Okay, big brother.”

Xiao Wang nodded obediently. But the moment Bo Ting turned to leave, he eagerly dashed home and grabbed his game console.

The anti-theft door slammed shut with a “bang.” Bo Ting stood in the stairwell, gazing thoughtfully at the bottle in his hand.

Should he ask the netizen if things were okay outside recently?

…

Xu Qinglai had just prepared to “sleep like a human” that evening. As he emerged from the steamy bathroom, he saw the message from his netizen.

Thanks to growing familiarity, their chats had increased lately. Especially since Bo Ting loved sharing daily snippets.

Like what he ate that afternoon or what happened in the evening.

However, Xu Qinglai noticed the other’s activity range stayed confined to the neighborhood, hardly ever leaving home.

He seemed a bit like those “otaku” humans talked about?

The thought flashed through his mind. When he looked down again, he saw the message on his phone.

“Um, Mr. Xu, have you been in the city center lately?”

A cute cat peeking out emoji followed.

A hint of amusement flickered in Xu Qinglai’s eyes. His fingertips itched slightly—he had no idea where this guy got so many adorable images.

But…

In the city center?

Was there some implication behind that?

Xu Qinglai’s slightly upturned phoenix eyes lifted as he turned to gaze at the pattering rain outside.

“Still in the city center.”

Thinking Bo Ting liked sharing photos, the man who had just left the bathroom casually snapped one.

His distinctly boned left hand was slender and attractive. With his knuckles casually resting on the phone, it exuded a lazy sense of relaxation that drew the eye immediately.

Bo Ting was caught off guard by the exposed hand in the photo and instinctively tapped to enlarge it.

Ahem.

He wasn’t some hand fetishist, of course. He was just interested in what Mr. Xu looked like.

Netizens rarely talked about their surroundings, so he had no way to imagine Mr. Xu’s appearance.

Now with a hand sent over… Bo Ting figured he could at least speculate on the guy’s height or something from it.

Hmm.

Judging by the bones… the netizen should be pretty tall.

Bo Ting compared it to his own hand and height.

Ignoring his current square, 1.5-meter air conditioner form, back when he was a corporate drone, he was about 1.8 meters.

But Mr. Xu’s fingers and knuckles looked even longer and more powerful than his.

Height maybe 1.9 meters?

Tch.

That tall?

Bo Ting’s eyes widened in admiration. He stared at the hand draped at the edge of the photo for a few more seconds before coughing lightly and forcing his gaze away.

The other guy was male too—he couldn’t act this weird, right?

He wasn’t into guys or anything. Bo Ting nodded to himself, then forced his attention to the bustling street scene from Mr. Xu’s view. The next second, his eyes slowly widened.

“So bustling.”

He sent the message subconsciously.

Bo Ting blinked blankly at the view. This had to be taken from in front of floor-to-ceiling windows, right?

Xu Qinglai chuckled, the aloof air around him dissipating somewhat.

“Not bad.”

“Anya Street is always like this.”

As the central hub surrounded by dozens of smaller city-states, Mengjia City was undoubtedly the premier metropolis.

And within Mengjia City’s twelve districts, Anya Street in the bustling commercial zone was the most eye-catching, drawing countless office workers who dreamed of working there every day.

The human identity Xu Qinglai had arranged for himself came with no small social status.

After all, even non-humans wanted to enjoy life when conditions allowed.

Bo Ting’s attention was quickly captivated by his netizen’s wealth!

Bo Ting: …!!!

Even though he had sensed from their chats that the netizen was unusually knowledgeable and refined, he hadn’t expected him to be this loaded.

The poor corporate drone was utterly shocked.

But Anya Street?

Did Yunshan City have a place like that? It looked like a landmark, but Bo Ting, who had worked there for years, was certain he had never heard of such a street.

Was this one of those legendary spots only the rich knew about?

Bo Ting blinked his envious red eyes, regretting that he had come to confirm this late at night.

He knew the netizen wasn’t showing off, but glancing at his own bank balance, he fell silent in an instant.

A few minutes later, Xu Qinglai finally heard a voice message from the other side.

“So, are there this many rich people in the world?”

A clear, ethereal male voice laced with resentment came through the audio.

It caught Xu Qinglai off guard, making his ears tingle—a bit unexpected.

This was the first voice message from the netizen after all this time together.

His eyes paused slightly, and oddly, he tapped back to replay the message.

The crisp, cool-guy voice wasn’t entirely deep and cold; it carried a bit of the bright complaint of a young man.

Xu Qinglai’s throat bobbed as something strangely struck a chord.

Tch.

He touched his ear and tilted his head slightly.

Even after listening, his ear still felt a bit off?

After sending it, Bo Ting noticed no reply for a while and grew puzzled.

Huh?

What was up?

Why wasn’t Mr. Xu responding?

Bo Ting was wondering when the other finally snapped back.

Restraining himself, he sent: “I was a bit distracted just now, sorry.”

Bo Ting didn’t mind much. Remembering the main point, he quickly typed a few words on his phone, and his furrowed brow relaxed.

“By the way, Mr. Xu, if you’ve been in the city center lately, has anything strange happened there these past couple of days?”

Like some psycho carving designs in toilets or giving tattoos to wriggling worms.

Or maybe an invasion of foreign species, with unidentified creatures appearing in the city.

Bo Ting’s imagination ran wild.

Xu Qinglai on the other end, however, was a bit surprised.

Anything strange these past couple of days?

He twitched his lips, his expression turning odd: Weren’t all the incidents these days… connected to this “netizen” on the line?

Whether it was the Resurgence Management Office or that pet shop owner, they all tied back to Bo Ting.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Resurgence Management Office’s “Rebirth Pet Shop” case had likely circled back to Bo Ting again.

So, what was he trying to do by asking this?