Chapter 16: Opening a Shop is More Worthwhile

[What’s wrong with our cub!! Was it an emotional outburst? Wuwuwu, I’m really heartbroken.]

[Those on the floor are Ming Ruan’s clothes, right? His kitchen utensils seem to have been dug out too.]

[Why did Ming Ruan charge over so aggressively? He’s not planning to settle accounts with Shi Huai, is he?]

[Beastmen can’t control themselves during an outburst! If Ming Ruan dares say one word against Shi Huai, I’ll send an official complaint right now!]

Just then, Shi Huai sobered up a bit. He realized he had just fallen into a state of Rampage.

After Rampage came an endless sense of plummeting. His mood seemed to go flat and listless all at once, unable to muster any energy. Everything felt gray and meaningless.

Would Ming Ruan fly into a rage at him? Would he fail to maintain his false front and directly tear off all pretense with him? It didn’t matter. The live broadcast room could get a good look at Ming Ruan’s true colors now. Shi Huai thought this with extreme apathy.

He watched Ming Ruan walk quickly over, tower over him, and extend a hand, casting a large shadow.

Shi Huai tensed his body warily. Fangs and claws were ready to spring.

But that hand merely landed gently on his back.

“Baby?”

Ming Ruan crouched down to look at the little fox. His body wasn’t trembling. No abnormal signs. He probably hadn’t injured himself.

Ming Ruan’s tense heart relaxed.

But that wary look in the little fox’s eyes…

Ming Ruan smiled. It looked fierce enough to break your heart, but it was actually exactly the same expression some puppies made after making a mistake.

“Come! Let’s go lie down on the sofa!” Ming Ruan stood up, walked to the sofa edge, and patted it.

Shi Huai: ?

Live Broadcast Room Audience: ? The complaint letter they’d half-edited suddenly seemed a bit ridiculous.

The tense, sword-drawn atmosphere suddenly relaxed.

Shi Huai didn’t grasp Ming Ruan’s meaning. He still remained lying there, wary and unmoving. Man and fox faced off for a moment, then Ming Ruan compromised and walked back. He reached out to pick him up. “Alright, alright. Let me carry Baby over, okay?”

Suddenly finding his four paws in the air again, Shi Huai: ?!

Not a single drop of the anticipated storm had fallen. Instead, they were met with a warm, gentle breeze.

Shi Huai and the StarNet masses were collectively stunned by this breeze.

[Wait, so why did he look like he was about to come out swinging earlier?]

[He was really in a rush just now. And he’s seriously not angry?]

Ming Ruan picked up the items on the floor one by one and put them back in their places. Finally, he picked up the few crumpled pieces of clothing to examine them.

They seemed to be the ones stuffed in the original owner’s suitcase. There were some very cyberpunk, abstract decorations on them. Perhaps the little fox had seen them, taken a liking to them, and started playing.

A wave of guilt surged into Ming Ruan’s heart.

He had been so focused on thinking about the White Tiger today, he’d completely neglected the little fox’s needs. Even a pet fox back on Earth needed to be accompanied and play around, but he had shut a fox accustomed to the wild indoors all afternoon without any interaction.

Favoring one over the other because of his own preferences.

Ming Ruan knocked his own head. Truly deserving of punishment!

What the tiger got, the fox had to have, too!

Ming Ruan removed the accessories from the original owner’s clothes and dangled them before the fox’s eyes. He crouched down to meet the fox’s gaze at eye level from the sofa. “Does Baby like these?”

Shi Huai’s little paws kneaded the sofa.

What did Ming Ruan mean by this?

He watched Ming Ruan put the accessories back, neatly fold the clothes, and place them into the cleaning machine. Then Ming Ruan fiddled with his Light Brain.

A short while later, he ran cheerfully over to the Teleporter and came back carrying an armful of things.

“Ta-da!” Ming Ruan showed Shi Huai, then placed the items in his arms onto the coffee table.

[What’s this? What’s he doing again?]

[It’s retro toys, hey. A friend of mine who likes ancient culture bought a set too. I think it’s called a sewing machine. And there’s fabric.]

[I’ve seen a really impressive ancient history researcher demonstrate how to use this stuff. What’s Ming Ruan doing with it?]

Amidst the crowd’s confusion, they saw Ming Ruan measure the cloth this way and that, then snip-snip-snip with scissors. A few pieces of fabric were joined together and passed through that tiny retro toy sewing machine! No one could see clearly exactly how he moved—it just went like this and like that—and then, a pile of materials had actually been synthesized into a single item!

[!! What is this! It looks so mysterious!! Damn it, how am I tempted again?]

[Ming Ruan knows how to use this??!! Did the Ming Family even make him learn this stuff?]

[He’s probably just messing around. Why’s he leaving Shi Huai off to the side? Can we get a statement about what just happened or not?]

“Here, Baby.” Ming Ruan leaned back on the sofa, propping himself up with an elbow and turning sideways toward Shi Huai. Taking the little fox by surprise, he slipped the thing in his hands onto him.

It was a tiny pet cape.

The main fabric was an interstellar white cloth that shimmered with flowing light. The edges were trimmed into tassels. The corners and edges were appropriately adorned with those accessories from Ming Ruan’s clothes. A soft, floppy hat with a single horn was resting on the little fox’s head.

“Now you have your own little clothes to play with!” Ming Ruan reached out to fiddle with the tiny accessories and loudly praised with exaggerated cadence, “Baby’s so pretty!”

[!!!]

[Oh my god!!!]

[So beautiful. Shi Huai really is worthy of being a top star. Even his beast form can get to me.]

[Oh, my goodness. I think I must let the chief editor see this scene. I feel like I’ve discovered a whole new world!!]

[That horn! Just like the creatures in those legendary stories!]

[I want this! I want this too! Ming Ruan, I’m telling you: it’s not that being an Executor is impossible, it’s that opening a shop is more worthwhile!!]

Meanwhile, Shi Huai had stiffened into a little fox statue.

This… was for him?