Lin Juan was choked up.
He never imagined that a casual lie would come back around like a boomerang and hit him right in the face.
“Yes, you’re right.”
No matter how he listened, his words carried a flavor of gnashing teeth.
Lu Yanzhou’s lips curved slightly. “It’s already very late. Let’s rest first.”
The problem was, where was he supposed to sleep?
Lin Juan stood by the bed, gazing at the only large bed in the room.
He admitted that this bed was particularly comfortable. Normally, even during the day when he didn’t need to go out, he liked staying in bed, scrolling through short videos and playing games.
However!
That was based on the premise that the other person on the bed was unconscious.
Lin Juan could completely treat the comatose Lu Yanzhou like a large decorative piece. After all, the bed was big enough for two grown men with room to spare.
But now, Lu Yanzhou was awake.
With a conscious person, he couldn’t just treat him like a decorative piece anymore, could he?
Which household’s decorative piece could talk?
“I’ll sleep on the floor.” After thinking it over, Lin Juan found a solution.
He searched around but couldn’t find any extra blankets. Lin Juan returned empty-handed.
Lu Yanzhou leaned against the headboard, watching him bustle about to no avail before coming back. He spotted the issue. “Where do you usually sleep?”
Lin Juan was a bit annoyed. “On the bed.”
“Oh.” Lu Yanzhou realized. “Sleep with me?”
“The entire courtyard only has a bed in your room. Where else is there a bed?”
“Father didn’t arrange a place for you?”
“No.” On the first day he arrived, Lin Juan had asked to live separately. “Uncle said there’s only one livable room here, and only one bed.”
Lies.
Lu Yanzhou thought to himself. Lu Garden was so large; rooms were the last thing they lacked. How could there be no livable room?
What was Father really up to?
Arranging such a good-looking caregiver was one thing, but not even giving him a separate place to stay?
Wasn’t that mistreating him?
“You…” Lu Yanzhou originally wanted to say he could have Butler Cheng arrange a place for him, but for some reason, the words died on his tongue. “Come sleep like before. What if I need to trouble my caregiver in the middle of the night?”
Right, Lin Juan was his caregiver; it was only proper for him to provide close care.
At this moment, Lu Yanzhou conveniently forgot how unapproachable he used to be.
Lin Juan didn’t want to wrong himself by making do. One night was fine, but it looked like he’d have to stay with Lu Yanzhou for a while longer. He couldn’t just wing it every night, could he?
“Don’t worry, I sleep very well. I absolutely won’t roll over onto you.” Lin Juan climbed onto the bed and lay on his side, the outer side for convenience, as usual.
“I’ll leave a small lamp on. If you’re thirsty, hungry, or need anything, just call me.”
With that, Lin Juan chuckled to himself first. Setting aside the marriage of convenience, him telling Lu Yanzhou that he was his caregiver was pretty much spot on. He just had the extra side gig of bodyguard.
Thinking of the extra balance in his account, Lin Juan happily closed his eyes. He was long used to having Lu Yanzhou beside him and fell asleep in no time.
On the other hand, Lu Yanzhou found it hard to sleep.
Having slumbered for so long, he wasn’t in the mood. After handling some of the group’s accumulated work, he lowered his gaze to the youth sleeping peacefully at his side.
In the past, he could hardly imagine a day when a complete stranger would lie beside him.
That night, Lin Juan slept very well, but the Anomalous Affairs Bureau was lit up until dawn.
After confirming that the pollution values around the area were low enough not to affect humans, the Tailwing Squad returned to headquarters to report.
Headquarters attached great importance to this C-Rank anomaly incident. To resolve the C-Rank Anomaly [Fantastical Mushroom], they had formed a special task force.
By the time the Tailwing Squad arrived, everyone else was already in the conference hall.
Including Zhuang Yufeng, who had just awakened.
Having witnessed the terror of the [Fantastical Mushroom] in the future, he cared the most about this incident.
Vanguard Squad Captain Sheng Tianzong had already reported everything that happened during the day, with the vice captain supplementing details beside him.
The beginning was normal enough—weird phenomena were as difficult to deal with as ever—until the long-haired youth descended from the sky, and the tone abruptly shifted.
The difficulty of dealing with the [Fantastical Mushroom] dropped from special-grade to the simplest level in an instant.
Every subsequent sentence was unbelievable.
The headquarters lead tried to interrupt several times but held back, only speaking after the Vanguard Squad finished. “You’re saying that someone, without using any supernatural ability and with bare hands, killed the [Fantastical Mushroom]?”
He spoke slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his own words.
“Yes.” The Vanguard Squad vice captain forced the words out.
They were still in a daze about it.
As frontline fighters against weird phenomena, he had never encountered such a powerful anomaly, nor had he ever seen anyone resolve one so easily.
When had they ever dealt with a weird phenomenon without shedding a layer of skin?
Before this operation to eliminate the C-Rank anomaly, they knew exactly how terrifying the foe was and had prepared for a brutal battle. But in the end…
The vice captain glanced at his captain. If that youth named Lin Juan hadn’t shown up, it really would have been brutal—after all, their captain had been forced to use his ultimate move.
Thinking of this, the vice captain felt a surge of relief. “Fortunately, Mr. Lin arrived. Otherwise, Captain…”
No need to finish; everyone knew what he meant.
They all chimed in. “Yeah, I was wrapped up in mycelium at the time. Mr. Lin just yanked it, and damn, the mycelium that no supernatural ability could cut through snapped right off in his hands.”
It was undeniable: after Lin Juan appeared, not a single person in their team had died.
“Save the praise for later.” Director Liu cut them off. “Do you think there’s anything unusual about that Mr. Lin?”
What Director Liu really wanted to ask was whether they could confirm Lin Juan was human.
Catching the implication, the pale-faced Zhuang Yufeng spoke up. “Not long ago, Mr. Lin got checked at First Hospital. Based on current detection methods, he’s fully human.”
Zhuang Yufeng was conservative in his wording. After weird phenomena emerged, the nation had quickly established specialized organizations and developed various detection devices. Though far from the future’s standards, they sufficed for the current anomalies.
After all, the weird phenomena that could perfectly mimic humans hadn’t appeared yet.
As the situation grew more dire, humanity’s pace quickened too.
Faced with any adversity, humans never gave up easily.
“Regardless, he saved people—that’s a fact.” Director Liu concluded. “We’ll take a conciliatory approach with Lin Juan.”
“Yes!”
The Tailwing Squad arrived just as the meeting was wrapping up.
After reporting the on-site situation, Director Liu frowned deeply. “How did it suddenly vanish?”
This was unprecedented.
“A C-Rank anomaly with evolution potential. Perhaps we underestimated it from the start.” Zhuang Yufeng’s expression was grim.
The matter of his rebirth involved too much; he wasn’t foolish enough to blurt it out. Even in peaceful times, such a thing would attract covetous eyes, let alone in the chaotic world to come.
Right after his rebirth, he encountered the Lu Family incident, which already diverged from the future. The time spent purifying the Lu Family gave him a buffer to think. After a day, Zhuang Yufeng decided to disguise himself as having awakened a second ability: a precognition-type supernatural ability.
This way, he could make up for many regrets without becoming a target.
Thinking of the Lu Family, Zhuang Yufeng said, “Director Liu, you agreed to handle the Lu Family matter last time. The Lu Family’s weird phenomenon was also resolved single-handedly by Mr. Lin.”
“We need to pay attention to the Lu Family.” Director Liu tapped the table. “Once we catch the fake master who deceived them, have Mr. Lin handle it too.”
“I want to meet him.” Director Liu’s True Vision Eye could see through all illusions.
“A younger member of the Lu Family is receiving treatment at First Hospital. I’ll arrange it now.” Zhuang Yufeng agreed that Director Liu should use his ability to check. If Lin Juan was human, all would be well.
“Little Zhuang, your health…” His face was too pale; Director Liu looked concerned.
Among all the ability users they had recruited, Zhuang Yufeng was the only one with a purification-type supernatural ability. Now he had also awakened the Precognitive Dream related to precognition—he was indispensable to the bureau.
“I’m fine. Just supernatural ability overuse. I’ll recover with some rest.”
“The park’s pollution values have dropped. What about the hospital side?” Director Liu was asking about Lu Mingxuan and the others.
“I had someone test them.”
There were ability users on duty at the hospital. Following orders, they immediately went to the ward and tested the group, sending back results soon after.
Everyone’s pollution values had returned to normal.
“It seems there’s still much we need to learn about weird phenomena.”
Everyone nodded.
Good news kept coming. The next morning, the Lu Family received a call from the hospital saying Lu Mingxuan’s recovery was going well and he could be discharged.
Old Master Lu thought for a moment and had his eldest son and daughter-in-law pick up their child. They would wait at Lu Garden.
Lu Yanzhou had woken up but had a minor lingering issue: he couldn’t use strength in his legs and needed a wheelchair.
Though Lin Juan claimed to be a caregiver, Old Master Lu had arranged two additional ones specifically for his youngest son. Now that he was awake, Lu Yanzhou refused to let others near him, so Lin Juan had to help.
Lin Juan helped him into the wheelchair.
The man’s full weight pressed onto him—over a hundred and some kilos—and Lin Juan handled it effortlessly.
Lin Juan had originally wanted to just carry him straight to the wheelchair, but Lu Yanzhou refused.
The customer was always right. Since Lu Yanzhou insisted, Lin Juan settled for supporting him.
“I didn’t see you being this picky when you were unconscious.” Lin Juan muttered.
Lu Yanzhou pretended not to hear.
Having a youth who was a size smaller princess-carry him? He couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Even if no one saw.
The reverse, however…
After breakfast, Lin Juan pushed the wheelchair out the door. Lu Mingxuan had already returned.
Hearing that his little uncle had woken up, he came rushing to Lu Yanzhou’s courtyard.
“Little Uncle, you’re finally awake!”
His voice arrived before he did, full of excitement.
Lu Yanzhou was directing Lin Juan to place the books in their proper spots. He had a touch of OCD; things had to be exactly where they belonged.
After Lin Juan moved in, the room’s layout had changed quite a bit. Some things Lu Yanzhou ignored, but others always grated on him.
Like the books that should be neatly arranged on the desk.
“Little…” As soon as he entered, Lu Mingxuan cried out in alarm. “Little Uncle, how can you order people around like that?”
Lu Yanzhou: “?”
Lu Mingxuan was heartbroken. He rushed to Lin Juan in a few steps and shot his little uncle a scumbag glare. “Little Uncle, even if you don’t like the marriage Grandpa arranged, you can’t treat Little… uh…”
Lu Mingxuan paused, choosing a more direct term. “You can’t treat Little Aunt like a servant!”
