Chapter 2: Whose Child Is This?

The Supervisor slid a dossier with an attached photo toward Tao Fangyi. “This is your next Mission Target.”

Tao Fangyi lifted the file with his two round hands. It detailed the man’s height, weight, species, and the reason for his imprisonment.

“Locked up for violent crimes?” Tao Fangyi blinked his beady, bean-like eyes.

A past life’s personality can influence the present one. Children under five haven’t fully forgotten their previous life’s memories.

A child with a volatile temper might cause irreversible damage to a doll’s body before the mission is complete.

“He shouldn’t be considered volatile. Take a look at his life history,” the Supervisor said.

Tao Fangyi flipped through a few more pages, then let out a soft “Oh.” “It’s another love story.”

Thirty percent of the inmates currently detained are locked up because they couldn’t handle personal romantic issues properly. The Love Tribulation is a great catastrophe for these Cultivators. If they can’t overcome it, they go mad. Once mad, they hurt people, and then they’re captured by the Combat Department for rehabilitation.

This time, Tao Fangyi’s Mission Target was a Buffalo Spirit.

Over two hundred years ago, this Buffalo Spirit fell in love with a tenant farmer’s daughter.

It was a chaotic era, full of war and famine. It was difficult for those at the bottom rung of society to survive with any dignity.

The Buffalo Spirit protected the girl all the way until she was thirty-six, but in a moment of negligence, she was torn apart in the chaos of battle.

After that, the Buffalo Spirit lost all reason. Countless people died beneath his trampling hooves.

It was a rather cliché story.

Tao Fangyi noticed that the girl knew the Buffalo Spirit was a Demon, and they had long since confessed their feelings for each other. “So they formed a bond of affinity. Will they meet again in this life?”

“Oh, they already have.” The Supervisor stood up and leafed through the stack of papers in Tao Fangyi’s hands, pulling out the Buffalo Spirit’s identity information for this life.

In this life, the Buffalo Spirit had reincarnated as a little girl. Round face, big eyes, just turned four years old.

The Supervisor pointed to the little girl’s family registry column. “Here, this one.”

Tao Fangyi glanced at it. “Her Love Affinity from her past life became her… grandfather in this life?”

“That’s right. Truthfully, there wasn’t that much romantic love between them to begin with.”

“Otherwise, their relationship in this life wouldn’t be like this.” The Supervisor sighed. “And objectively speaking, he didn’t exactly meet the necessary conditions to be her husband.”

“Because he’s a bull? And she likes humans?” Tao Fangyi was puzzled.

“Because he was a male bull. Generally, to control a bull’s temper, people geld them,” the Supervisor explained. “We always suspected he may have misunderstood something… like misunderstanding that his hormones could support a high-difficulty experience like falling in love.”

Tao Fangyi fell silent. He felt his Supervisor was getting more and more sarcastic.

After listening to the detailed information, Tao Fangyi placed his briefcase on the table, then took the stack of documents and tapped them against the table to square them up. Once neat, he put the files into his briefcase.

“Speaking of which…” The Supervisor took a sip of tea and suddenly remembered something. He spat a tea stem back into his thermos with a “pah.” “Xiao Yi, you don’t have any experience with romance, do you?”

Tao Fangyi made an affirmative sound. “After all, my True Form isn’t technically a living being, so it’s normal to lack desires in that area.”

“You could give it a try after your Permanent Employment is confirmed. The bureau holds regular matchmaking events. Having one more kind of experience is a good thing, right?” The Supervisor smiled.

Tao Fangyi thought it over seriously for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

“Adding a few more branches to the tree of your life is a fine thing. A tree needs many branches to be beautiful.” The Supervisor patted Tao Fangyi on the head. “But before that, you have to handle your current mission.”

“Good luck! You’re the junior we have the highest hopes for.”

“I still have to keep working hard.” Tao Fangyi was very modest.

The Supervisor grew even more satisfied, his gaze upon Tao Fangyi softening further.

Of course, due to the Terror Buff, the Supervisor just ended up looking like a hypocritical creep.

“Right, Team Leader,” Tao Fangyi said, initially about to say goodbye. But then he remembered the matchmaking event the Supervisor had just recommended.

Regarding these kinds of activities, Tao Fangyi had a worry. “Won’t terrifying-looking Wardens like us be ostracized in the matchmaking market?”

The Supervisor’s smile slowly vanished.

“Will we be asked strange questions?” The moment Tao Fangyi said this, he saw the Supervisor’s face fall. He quickly asked, “Team Leader, were you bullied?”

“No.” The Supervisor’s tone was flat. “No one bullied me.”

“Because no one approached me to communicate at all.”

“It’s as if I exist in a different space-time continuum from them.”

Tao Fangyi: “…I’m sorry.” It seemed he had accidentally poked at the Supervisor’s sore spot.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” The Supervisor’s spine slumped as he sat in his office chair, radiating a sudden, inexplicable desolation. “You can go now.”

Carrying his briefcase, Tao Fangyi walked to the office door, glancing back every few steps.

As he pushed the door open, he heard the Supervisor mutter again, “Not a single person came looking for me.”

Should he turn around and offer comfort?

No, comforting him would only make things more awkward. Better to pretend he didn’t hear it.

In the future, he would go to the matchmaking event himself. When he got back, he’d drag the Supervisor out for drinks at a tavern, complain a bit, and this small, unintentional transgression would be evened out.

Tao Fangyi carefully closed the door, then toted his briefcase to the Appearance Modification Department.

His current appearance was far too dull for a child. Before every mission, the department would design a new look for them based on their Mission Target’s preferences.

Most children liked brighter, more colorful dolls.

Tao Fangyi’s plastic, bean-like eyes were transformed into cute, beautiful, droopy blue ones, with a light-blue, cross-shaped star pattern sewn into them.

Tao Fangyi touched them with his round hand. “Is this the popular anime style nowadays? They actually used thread to stitch a blue gradient.”

“Not sure. We’re just trying to keep up with trends,” the Warden in charge of appearance modification shrugged. “Your fabric-scrap hair needs a change, too.”

His hair became long blue plush fabric. Then the Senior put a hat with bull horns on him, and dressed him in brown overalls, with a little bull pattern sewn onto the large pocket.

These children always instinctively harbor a sense of closeness toward the True Form of their past life.

“And a shoulder bag… oh, right, you’ll clutch a large plush lollipop in your hand.” The Senior piled one small accessory after another onto Tao Fangyi. Then, walking in a circle to inspect Tao Fangyi standing on the display platform, and after confirming the appearance was up to standard, the Senior packed Tao Fangyi into a plastic display box.

The next step was to deliver him into the hands of the Mission Target.

The box containing Tao Fangyi was handed over to an employee at a budget supermarket.

It was an ordinary community convenience store. Eighty percent of these ubiquitous budget supermarkets served as gathering places for special lifeforms.

The Mission Target’s mother entered the supermarket one day to buy daily necessities. The employee told her the store was running a promotion, and her purchase amount qualified her for a lucky draw.

That’s how Tao Fangyi was drawn by her.

He had started reviewing the Mission Target’s detailed files the very moment the woman stepped into the supermarket.

For some reason, Tao Fangyi found the woman’s name somewhat familiar.

And upon seeing her face, Tao Fangyi grew even more confused.

He must have seen this woman somewhere before. But this woman was just an ordinary human, and she was only thirty-six years old.

How could he possibly know such a young human child?

A former Mission Target?

No, that shouldn’t be it. Even if a Mission Target had grown up, he should remember them.

He was certain he had never accompanied this human.

He was still pondering this when the woman suddenly fished him out of the plastic bag and studied him seriously.

Tao Fangyi remained motionless, staring back at the woman through the plastic wrap.

Thirty seemed to be a watershed age. After that, whether life had been good or bad starts to show clearly on a person’s face.

The woman jiggled the doll she’d won. Then she smiled, the wrinkles on her face deepening. She tucked the doll back into the plastic bag.

She seemed quite satisfied with the prize she’d drawn.

Placed back into the plastic bag, Tao Fangyi moved his eyeballs slightly.

This child’s gaze looked so weary.

She probably hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.

Where exactly had he seen her before?

Tao Fangyi kept mulling it over, but before he could piece together an answer, a sudden change occurred.

Tao Fangyi caught the scent of Resentment.

A Ghostly Aura mixed with Resentment, and it was growing thicker and thicker.

Tao Fangyi couldn’t crawl out of the plastic bag to investigate. He could only tell by sound that the woman was now walking upstairs.

Then the footsteps stopped, and the clinking of keys sounded.

Finally, with a “creak,” Tao Fangyi was nearly knocked out by the wave of Resentment that hit him in the face.

What was going on? Was this a haunted house?!

The moment the woman set down the plastic bag, she immediately pulled Tao Fangyi out. With his field of vision finally freed, Tao Fangyi could at last make out the structure of the room.

He didn’t have time to observe his surroundings. His attention immediately snapped to the place where the Resentment and Ghostly Aura were thickest.

Swathed in black mist, a tall, large man crouched in the northwest corner of the room.

The corner where He crouched was covered in mold, the wall damp, the paint peeling and flaking severely.

The man’s clothes were tattered and seemed to be caked with dried blood.

His silver hair was sopping wet, dripping water steadily, drop by drop.

His face was wrapped in layers of gauze, revealing only his mouth.

The corners of His mouth seemed to be slashed open. The moment He grinned, triangular teeth like those of a shark were exposed.

There were likely no facial features beneath the gauze, as His face was very smooth, lacking the normal structural features of a human face—no protrusions or indentations.

The woman clearly couldn’t see the existence of this monster.

Joyfully, she pushed open her child’s door and placed Tao Fangyi on the child’s bedside table.

The monster had already noticed Tao Fangyi. His grin grew wider and wider, the corners of His mouth nearly splitting to His ears.

This tall, large monster stood up. His joints emitted strange “creaking, grinding” sounds with His movements.

He limped, dragging His feet, as He followed behind the woman.

Even though He didn’t even have the structure of eye sockets, Tao Fangyi had the distinct feeling the monster was looking at him.

Tao Fangyi’s Mission Target was still at kindergarten and hadn’t come home. The woman probably wanted to surprise her child.

After setting Tao Fangyi down, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Tao Fangyi watched with his own eyes as the woman walked right through the monster’s body. The monster did not follow the woman out.

The monster stared at Tao Fangyi.

The monster’s posture was a bit strange. His hands were clasped behind His back, feet shoulder-width apart.

It resembled a standard parade-rest stance, but Tao Fangyi felt something was off about the monster’s body. Perhaps His spine wasn’t held perfectly straight.

However, judging by the monster’s habitual stance and powerful physique, His identity was probably somewhat special.

Drip. Drip.

The monster just smiled but didn’t say a word. The liquid from His hair dripped onto the floor. That was the only sound left in the room.

Tao Fangyi hadn’t moved from beginning to end, but he was quite certain the monster had already made out that something wasn’t right about him.

This target was very sharp. That just went to show just how powerful his strength was.

“Ha.” The monster finally made a sound. His voice was harsh and grating, as if His vocal cords had been sandpapered. “A little bug has crawled in.”

A tricky big problem on the very first day of the mission.

Tao Fangyi’s head was starting to ache a bit.

He watched as the monster’s mouth opened wider and wider. The already eerie smile turned even more bizarre.

Then, that mouth took up nearly half His head. Row after row of fangs stretched back behind a front set of fangs.

The monster let out a “keh keh keh” kind of laugh.

Tao Fangyi briefly felt a moment of relief for the monster’s dental health, then he began to ponder the possibility of normal communication with the other party. After all, the monster had just spoken, which meant He should have some capacity for reasoning.

“Hello,” Tao Fangyi said.

The monster: “Hm?”

Tao Fangyi: “Could we perhaps talk…”

“Ha ha ha ha! You’re scared stiff, aren’t you! You little rag doll!” The monster roared with manic laughter.

Tao Fangyi: “I’m not, I’m…”

“Pretending to be calm!” The monster’s laughter grew even more sinister.

“Such a little thing, putting on such a good act. You must be terrified out of your wits, afraid I’ll devour you. How pitiful~”

“But you guessed right. No matter how you struggle, you’ll end up as my food!” The monster suddenly leaned in close and opened His mouth wide again. Tao Fangyi once more beheld the rows upon rows of fangs inside His mouth.

Then came another wave of bizarre laughter.

This really is a monster with an exuberant need for self-expression, Tao Fangyi thought, having now gotten a second good look at those horrifying teeth.

“Are you scared?” the monster suddenly asked Tao Fangyi.

Tao Fangyi obliged tactfully. “I’m terrified out of my wits.”

“Being scared is useless!” The monster’s voice pitched higher.

Tao Fangyi played along, placing his hand over his chest and putting on a frightened look. “How can this be?”

The monster was delighted again. The teeth inside his mouth moved. A chorus of clattering sounds mixed with his bizarre laughter. It seemed this monster’s vocal apparatus was very busy.

Tao Fangyi: …

Whose monster kid is this?