Chapter 19: Strange Neighbor 19

The name sounded pretty nice.

After bumping into his non-human neighbor so many times, Yu Bai finally learned the man’s name—and that was his thought.

He had braced himself for some tongue-twisting string of unintelligible sounds, or maybe a foreign name that better matched those blue eyes. He was fully prepared to smile and nod along even if he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

This guy sure had a strong sense of adapting to local customs.

But a name with three “fang” sounds? That wasn’t common at all.

Yu Bai racked his brain for homophones, then asked uncertainly, “Which ‘fang’? Like the ‘fang’ in non-woven fabric?”

…Who the hell would use a word like that as a name?

Maybe after coming to this country, he’d just mashed together some random words he saw?

The neighbor blinked, a familiar blank look crossing his gray-blue eyes. “Non-woven fabric?”

Yu Bai responded on instinct. “Non-woven fabric is like…”

He trailed off, stumped.

How was he supposed to explain what non-woven fabric even was? He suddenly couldn’t put it into words.

It was just… that cloth you used all the time in daily life, right?

The air grew awkwardly still again as the two men stared at each other.

Seeing this, Master Wang—who had been quietly backing away—couldn’t hold back anymore. He stepped forward, frustration etched on his face as he prompted, “He’s asking how you write the third character in your name! Which ‘fang’ is it?”

Wasn’t this just some flirty banter between young guys? How did it veer off into fabric talk?

He was getting anxious just listening!

The non-human clearly had no concept of Chinese character radicals yet. The man thought for a moment before saying, “The ‘fang’ that means bright—the one with the sun radical.”

Only then did it click for Yu Bai.

Oh, the “fang” with the day radical.

If he remembered right, it also meant “beginning.”

He couldn’t help thinking that this character was a hell of a lot better than the “fang” from non-woven fabric.

As the answer landed, the air was thick with the mingled scents of fried chicken, grilled skewers, and hot and sour noodles. The elevator, stopped on the first floor and ignored, hummed to life when someone upstairs hit the call button and began its slow ascent.

Then, in a twist that was surprising yet entirely expected, it happened again.

This marked the beginning of everything—but a completely different beginning.

This time, Master Wang from the hardware shop, who had been so focused on fretting over these two strangers, didn’t collapse onto his butt in fright. He just widened his eyes a beat late and sucked in a sharp breath.

Amid the deafening screech of metal grinding against metal, the elevator plunged downward. The hot and sour noodles stayed safe in their bag, bright summer sunlight spilled over the shoulders of his gray-blue-eyed neighbor, and this man named Xie Wufang had just earnestly answered his abrupt question.

So Yu Bai laughed. His eyes curved as he pressed on. “Where’d you go just now?”

He couldn’t recall which loop it had been in, but he’d already been curious about that.

Xie Wufang answered him just as honestly. “I went to buy a phone.”

Oh, so that’s when he got the phone that could look up anything.

“What’s your number?” Yu Bai pulled out his own phone, ready to jot it down and memorize it later. “Do you remember it?”

The non-human’s memory was clearly sharper than his. Without hesitation, he rattled off the fresh eleven-digit number.

Master Wang, stunned by the plummeting elevator, reflexively whipped around for help—only to be even more shocked.

…Wait, they were already exchanging numbers?!

The pale-skinned young man with brown hair kept his head down, fingertips dancing lightly as he saved the long string of digits into his phone. Then he looked up, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

“I’ll give you a call.” Just not today.

With that, he slipped into the elevator car before the other one could shut down for maintenance too. He hit the button for the 12th floor.

He hadn’t slept in ages. He was exhausted, and his top priority right now was crashing for a full day.

Even trapped in a time loop, he was still just an ordinary human who needed food and sleep.

Just before the metal doors slid shut, Yu Bai waved at the blue-eyed man, who was still frozen in place.

“I’m Yu Bai,” he said with a smile as he bid farewell. “See you tomorrow.”

Which “yu” and which “bai” didn’t matter today. He’d have plenty of tomorrows to explain.

That sunny afternoon, Yu Bai slept the most satisfying, wonderful sleep he’d had in years—maybe since his father left.

He even felt happy when he woke to the familiar, repeated words.

“It looks like this move really helped your work.”

Chen Xiaoru, the silver-haired psychologist, gazed at the young man before her and forgot the teasing remark she’d had ready.

“Your creative drive is so…” She frowned in puzzlement, then chuckled despite herself. “What’s with you, kid? Why are you grinning like an idiot all of a sudden?”

The man curled up on the sofa rubbed his fuzzy head and blurted out, “Nothing. I just realized how great it is to see you every day.”

Chen Xiaoru froze.

It took her a long moment to recover. She muttered helplessly, “I should’ve stuck around longer instead of leaving. I was worried about you… But you insisted I go out more, enjoy retirement, and I’d already signed up for the tour group. Let me see if I can cancel—”

“Don’t cancel.” Yu Bai cut her off with a smile. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Hm?” Chen Xiaoru blinked in confusion. “If I go on the trip, how will you see me every day?”

Yu Bai mimicked her blink and whispered, “That’s a secret.”

Surprised but thoughtful, Chen Xiaoru perked up a little. “Do you mean video calls? Are you gonna call me every day?”

Joy crinkled the corners of her eyes, like a chatty mom. “I’d love to message you daily, but I didn’t want to bother you or make you think your old psychologist was still a nag even in retirement…”

Yu Bai replied, “If I call you every day, would you find me annoying?”

“Of course not!” Doctor Chen, who had watched him grow up, answered without thinking. “You’re like a son to me. How could I?”

“That’s why I wouldn’t find it annoying either.”

Once he left this loop, he might really start calling Doctor Chen regularly while she traveled the world.

But for now, he wasn’t ready to leave.

Chen Xiaoru stared at him for a good while, looking him up and down before stammering, “You’re different today… You’ve never said stuff like this before. You’ve never been this lively.”

Yu Bai just grinned.

“I’ve found a really fun place,” he said. “The perfect spot for me to vacation—the best in the world.”

The old Yu Bai had always feared that dramatic, unpredictable events would befall those around him, especially bad ones striking the people he cared about. Like the heroic act that had claimed his father.

So he kept his distance from others, unwilling to drag those uncertain twists into their lives.

His life goal had been to be the most ordinary person alive, with a bland, unremarkable existence—right down to a perfectly mundane death.

But who really wanted to live like that?

Chen Xiaoru asked curiously, “What place?”

“That’s a secret too. Can’t tell you.”

“…Oh.” She furrowed her brow, pretending to sulk, but couldn’t help worrying. “Are you going there to play? By yourself? Is it safe?”

“Very safe. I’ve got company.”

Everything here reset on schedule. Even if something went wrong, it would fix itself the next day. He could do whatever he wanted—no matter how weird—without anyone remembering. It was the safest setup imaginable.

His days always started with a chat with Doctor Chen in the consulting room. His best friend Yan Jing got off work in the evening, no need to stress about the next day’s job. And his brand-new friend lived right next door, earnestly answering every random, nonsensical question he threw at him.

The start and end were fixed, but the time in between offered endless freedom.

“That’s good, then.” Chen Xiaoru let out a relieved breath. “Is the transportation there convenient?”

“Super convenient. I could come back anytime.”

After so many loops, Yu Bai had figured out how to escape this endless repeat.

It started when he called out his non-human neighbor’s clumsy disguise to his face, demanding he fix everything or get lost.

The loop’s trigger point was the moment Xie Wufang used supernatural power to restore the exploded kitchen.

In those time-loop movies, breaking the cycle always hinged on the protagonist’s inner obsession—some regret that made them crave a do-over.

The answer was obvious. He wasn’t an idiot.

He just couldn’t let Xie Wufang realize his human disguise was a failure, or make him suspicious of the world—like noticing things had already happened before. After all, it boiled down to the guy being terrible at pretending to be human.

If there really was a way out, that was it. For Yu Bai, who now knew every move his neighbor made that day, it would be easy.

Conversely, as long as he avoided those conditions, he could stay in the loop forever.

To him, it was like the ultimate carefree summer vacation—no homework, no school dread, no apocalypse fears. Just pure fun.

He wasn’t ready to leave anytime soon.

Chen Xiaoru nodded at his firm answer, then recalled the lighthearted tone he’d used when mentioning his companion. Amusement deepened in her eyes.

In a tone that didn’t sound like a psychologist’s at all, she gossiped softly, “Who are you going with? Little Yan?”

Yu Bai thought for a moment before answering honestly, “Not just him.”

“You’ve made new friends? Someone you met online, or maybe a neighbor at your new place?”

Yu Bai replied, “It’s the neighbor who lives next door to me.”

What could be more fun than going on an adventure with a non-human neighbor who was hiding his true identity right next door?

This was the non-human’s first time in this world. He was naive and clueless about human society, yet he inexplicably trusted Yu Bai. On top of that, he possessed unfathomable powers—at the very least, he could silently move a watermelon the size of a yoga ball. He seemed even more entertaining than Yan Jing.

In any case, whatever they ended up doing together, Xie Wufang wouldn’t remember it.

Besides, this guy was the one who’d dragged him into the time loop in the first place. Letting him get a little roughed up here was only fair.

It was a bright, sunny summer. The perfect time for a chaotic, joyful vacation.

And for the first lesson of summer vacation, Yu Bai decided it was time to teach his non-human neighbor some basic knowledge about cell phones.

On another clear, warm afternoon, inside the spotless consultation room of Room 1105, the story of the water pipe and Little Star had just wrapped up. The brown-haired young man on the sofa shot to his feet, bid a bewildered farewell to the psychologist, and gave her a tight hug for good measure.

He couldn’t wait to leave the building. Striding down a bustling street teeming with pedestrians, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number he’d finally memorized.

On another crowded sidewalk nearby, the man who’d just emerged from a phone store came to an abrupt halt.

The brand-new metal brick in his pocket burst into song.

In stunned silence, he brushed past countless hurrying strangers before lifting the cold device to his ear and answering the unknown call with uncertainty.

“. . . Hello?”

The sky was a clear, endless blue. A crisp, bright voice traveled across the vast distance, surging through the airwaves to arrive right in his ear.

“Hello! Is this Mr. Xie Wufang?” Yu Bai said. “We’re running a one-day tour to experience the unique charms of city life. Would you like to hear more?”