A hundred kilometers away, at the site where the ‘meteor’ had fallen, Su Wuzi quietly closed his eyes. Beside him was his eldest brother, equally battered and bruised.
He was tired. Time for a quick battle.
This posture of neither resisting nor repenting instead dissatisfied Su Xuanxiao. He looked down from above at his younger brother sitting there, his tone unusually low. “I need reasons.”
Su Wuzi opened his eyes and looked up, seemingly with simple confusion. “What reasons?”
Along the way here, they had casually smashed three companies that showed signs of competing with him for business. Su Xuanxiao’s anger had mostly subsided, and he could now talk to his younger brother calmly. “Reasons for hiding it.”
“Jianglou aside—he truly didn’t know and was still working hard to hide it from you.”
“And you? Su Wuzi, you recognized Ximu at first glance, didn’t you? I know you could.”
Su Wuzi, still disguised under the skin of Blue 242, silently admitted it.
“So why?” Su Xuanxiao’s gaze locked tightly onto him.
Under his eldest brother’s scrutinizing stare like a criminal under interrogation, Su Wuzi simply shifted from sitting to lying down in this remote forest devoid of human traces.
He gazed at the anomalous sky, still half red and half black, and reached out to touch his heart.
Thump, thump, thump.
It wasn’t a real heartbeat—weirds had no heartbeats.
“Eldest Brother, we’re not the same as before. But Xiao Xi has just grown up.”
“I didn’t tell you all, of course out of selfishness. That’s the inherent flaw of Weirds. But also because…” Su Wuzi fell silent for a moment before continuing. “Because I don’t fully trust you all.”
The inherent flaw of Weirds.
What was the inherent flaw of weirds?
It was negative emotions amplified infinitely.
It was obsessions deepened year after year.
It was rationality nearly vanishing under intense emotional fluctuations.
“If you want to refute me, then tell me why your Su Corporation Building collapsed. Because you lost control.”
Now it was Su Xuanxiao’s turn to fall silent, then question back. “You wouldn’t?”
“I wouldn’t.” Su Wuzi’s tone was firm. “Eldest Brother, you’ve seen my dungeon. You know I wouldn’t.”
Su Xuanxiao’s glasses had long been knocked off, his gaze icy. “Even if I lost control, I wouldn’t harm family.”
Su Wuzi, whose body had been corroded over a large area and whose Blue 242 skin was nearly ruined, nodded.
He sat up again and patted the grass beside him, signaling his eldest brother to sit.
Now it was time to talk about Xiao Xi himself.
“Xiao Xi’s self-hypnosis runs deep. He can’t accept any weird phenomena. Some past memories are also very fuzzy.”
If he had seen similar phenomena before, like the Red-Clothed Bride that day, he would subconsciously forget them afterward.
“I’m not sure if repeatedly breaking such hypnosis would harm Xiao Xi. So, until we find a correct and gentle method, he should live in an environment that’s least burdensome to his mental state.”
That is: normal human society.
Even if this human society was a bit irritable and had slightly more negative emotions. That didn’t matter—it could be explained away as customs varying every ten li, traditions every hundred li.
So, Su Wuzi’s so-called lack of full trust meant he believed neither Su Xuanxiao nor Su Jianglou would harm Xiao Xi.
But when emotions occasionally spiraled out of control, could they truly restrain themselves from stimulating Xiao Xi? On this point, Su Wuzi temporarily put a question mark over his brothers.
Lack of trust, complete lack of trust.
No one could maintain emotional stability at all times in front of a younger brother missing for so many years.
Su Wuzi could, thanks to his own dungeon.
Su Xuanxiao took this seriously and decided to observe Jianglou after today as well.
However…
“Wuzi, I’m your eldest brother. Just as you understand me, I understand you.”
By his logic, did that mean he and Jianglou couldn’t appear before Xiao Xi until they fully controlled their emotions?
A jealous Weird sophist.
Brushing past his own flaws with a light touch.
“As your eldest brother, I’ll visit him often from now on.”
At most, he just wouldn’t bring the kid home to live full-time yet.
Emotional control—how hard could it be?
He simply hadn’t cared before.
Besides, if the Weird couldn’t pass, surely gifts could?
He was only temporarily at risk of losing emotional control, not dead.
The midday spectacle didn’t last long. By the time Su Ximu met up with Blue 242 Leader at the Tourist Garden entrance that afternoon, the sky had returned to its clear blue expanse.
Blue 242 Leader even explained to him that this was a natural celestial phenomenon in Tanzhong City, which had occurred a few times before.
The most spectacular one had fiery red sunset clouds nearly blanketing the entire Tanzhong sky, looking menacing.
“And then?” Su Ximu asked as they walked. “Did the sunset clouds disappear quickly like today?”
“Then, just like today, the sky quickly darkened. The east side went black, the west side went black, sandwiching the sunset clouds in the middle and beating them.”
This anthropomorphic description made Su Ximu chuckle. Following Blue 242 Leader’s words, he said, “Did the sunset clouds win in the end?”
“They didn’t lose, but it was a bit miserable—didn’t want to show its face for half a year.”
Its entire body had been corroded black, especially ugly.
That afternoon, perhaps because the morning trip to the Amusement Park had already drained some energy, Su Ximu felt a bit tired while touring the zoo.
But to avoid dampening the mood, he perked himself up, holding a tree branch and tiptoeing to feed the giraffes in the enclosure.
The branches were one of the zoo’s feed types for herbivores and were somewhat expensive.
But Su Ximu generously bought four: two for himself, two for Blue 242 Leader.
“Careful, it might bite you.”
Hearing Blue 242 Leader’s reminder from beside him as he fed another giraffe, Su Ximu pulled back his hand, which had gotten a bit too close.
The two giraffes in the zoo were beautiful, with big eyes, long upright necks, and fur with clear patterns and an excellent sheen.
At the giraffes’ feet hopped several rabbits munching grass—white, brown, gray, all colors.
These rabbits were smart and never got stepped on by the massive giraffes.
After feeding the giraffes, Su Ximu wanted to head to the bear exhibit to see the black bears, but Blue 242 stopped him.
The man, who looked full of energy, put on a convincingly realistic yawn, his eyelashes instantly glistening with physiological tears.
After yawning, Blue 242 said apologetically, “Xiao Xi, sorry, I’ve been too busy these past couple days and suddenly feel sleepy now. Can we come back another day?”
Su Ximu couldn’t tell if Blue 242 Leader meant it because he was truly tired or if he’d noticed Su Ximu’s fatigue and was accommodating him.
After all, Blue 242 Leader had indeed seemed busy lately.
Before he could say anything, Blue 242 took the lead. “The way out should be this way?”
Su Ximu stepped forward to follow. “Yeah, this way.”
As he walked, he looked down and split the other bunch of lavender in his hand into two parts—one he clutched himself, the other he handed over.
Blue 242, watching the path ahead for him, took the lavender and smiled. “I heard this helps with sleep.”
“I’ve heard that too.” As he replied, he gave a little hop to dodge a passing squirrel.
Su Ximu actually loved animals a lot, but he hadn’t had the conditions to keep any before. Now, he still had to work his summer job.
Bringing a potted mushroom plant to the new workplace was acceptable, but bringing pets along would be inappropriate.
Thinking of his planned new job, Blue 242 Leader beside him asked right then, “The Tonight’s Big Star production team is about to start up. Xiao Xi, have you decided which job position to apply for?”
Tonight’s Big Star—that was the name of the idol survival variety show. It sounded straightforward.
Su Ximu thought about it and felt he could do any of them. Then he reconsidered and asked back, “What position are you planning to apply for, Blue 242 Leader?”
He remembered Blue 242 Leader telling him he’d be going there to work in a few days too.
Su Ximu figured that if there wasn’t a specific job he had to do, he’d still prefer to team up with Blue 242 Leader.
“Logistics.” Blue 242 gave a versatile choice and recommended to Su Ximu, “I recommend you pick the first job position marked on the list.”
“Xiao Xi, your biological clock is very accurate—you don’t seem to have a habit of oversleeping. That’s a big advantage for that first position.”
Su Ximu thought of the position Blue 242 Leader mentioned and hesitated, lacking confidence. “Can I do it?”
“Of course.”
The unhesitating reply made Su Ximu feel the Blue 242 Leader’s recognition and trust in him.
He immediately got fired up. Great! I can do it!
Su Ximu had worked at the Tourist Garden for a little over half a month. After resigning, finance kindly rounded it up and paid him a full month’s wages—six hundred yuan in total.
But after receiving it, Su Ximu quietly returned three hundred yuan.
He hadn’t been there long, so his luggage was naturally light. For him, the biggest gains from this time—aside from his good friend Blue 242 Leader—were his mushrooms, still thriving vigorously.
Except for the central red mushroom, which occasionally wilted a bit, the others were all perky under his care.
Blue 242 Leader’s mushroom fertilizer was very effective.
On the day Su Ximu did his video interview, feeling his dorm was too plain, he specially placed his mushroom potted plant on the desk as background.
After introducing his personal situation to the Associate Director on the other end of the video, the Associate Director seemed very satisfied and immediately nodded, indicating the interview was successful!
He could officially start work in three days.
This smooth job success made the teenager’s waving goodbye at the end brim with joyful excitement.
The Associate Director abruptly ended the video like a dog chasing its tail. That night, he had nightmares full of that mushroom potted plant used as background decor.
His missing nephew for many days was in there! The short, chubby, blue one!
