Chapter 66.1 – Underachievers tend to buy lots of stationery (1/2)

Chapter 66 – Underachievers tend to buy lots of stationery
Translator: Xena

Wu Qinghe hadn’t made a move yet, but Jian Xie received a phone call after school.

An unknown number was displayed on the screen.

However, as soon as he answered the phone, a familiar voice came from the other end, sounding a little nervous. “It’s me, Lu Xueya.” 

Judging from her expression when they parted last time, she didn’t seem to be looking forward to their next meeting.

The fact that she was contacting him now on her own meant something unexpected must have happened.

“……”

“I got your contact information from Cheng Li.” Lu Xueya noticed his silence and mistakenly assumed he was displeased, so she explained how she got the phone number. “He’s your recommender. Generally, if they can’t reach you or need someone to take responsibility, he’s the second person they’ll contact.”

Though it may sound harsh, given the special nature of investigators, who seem to exist in a gray area and whose true character couldn’t be easily discerned, the team was a mix of good and bad people. Therefore, it was understandable that the Bureau has set up a system of joint liability.

It was evident that Cheng Li was aware of his abnormality, yet still agreed to become his recommender, thus taking on a great deal of responsibility for him.

Jian Xie gave a noncommittal hum, showing little reaction, which left Lu Xueya feeling uneasy.

“…There are some things that are inconvenient to say over the phone. You have your own account now, for the forum, so… just take a look.” She subtly suggested, “It’s best to check the private messages directly. Oh, right, remember to check your email first.”  

Given the limited time, she guessed that Cheng Li probably hadn’t had a chance to tell Jian Xie some things yet.

The Bureau has an internal forum, but only those with an ID can log in. It served as a medium for employees to exchange information.

She thoughtfully sent the link to the email address listed on the resume.

Lu Xueya waited a few seconds. When Jian Xie didn’t ask any more questions, she knew that the other party had understood her meaning, so she felt relieved.

So, without wasting any more time, she hung up the phone decisively.

The sound for a busy signal soon filled her ears.

Jian Xie changed his shoes, casually placed his phone in the hallway, and walked to the living room to sit down.

He opened the drawer and took out another phone.

It was the one left behind by Wu Qinghe.

He had used it specifically to browse forums, looking for C-level pending missions so he could devour monsters to improve his abilities.

However, Jian Xie hasn’t opened it for a while, for many reasons.

On one hand, senior year of high school had become increasingly intense with the arrival of the final sprint phase. He had neither the time nor the inclination to follow the investigators’ gossip, especially since the casual chat section offered limited insights, and extracting useful intelligence from it proved difficult.

On the other hand, while the task section looks promising, the selection process took time.

Exploration-type C-level missions were extremely rare, and despite setting keyword alerts, Jian Xie has yet to receive any related notifications.

Furthermore, now that monsters have learned to deliver takeout, he didn’t need to spend any time on it anymore, making this function, which should have been its primary function, even more useless to him.

Speaking of which…

Should Jian Xie thank these monsters for their dedication which spare him the trouble of lifting a finger while they practically handed themselves over one by one?

From another perspective, it was as if the monsters knew he had a lot of homework and lacked free time so they sacrificed themselves for his sake, which was truly considerate towards his status as a senior high school student.

He shed a few non-existent crocodile tears in his heart.

Seeing him engrossed on his phone, the tentacles that emerged from the shadow behind him put away his backpack, then helped Jian Xie take out the books he needed and spread them out on the table.

【How annoying.】

Qin Zhuo clicked his tongue.

Jian Xie had been in class all day and didn’t have time to talk to It. It didn’t want to disturb him, so It also kept It’s presence to Itself.

It was no big deal.

He had spent the previous year in the same way after all—trapped in Jian Xie’s body, forced to observe the world through his eyes.

But now, as soon as they got home, before It could even do anything, other things came looking for him.

Although his expression remained impassive, Qin Zhuo’s face turned cold.

At the same time, a sense of gloom appeared between It’s handsome brows and eyes.

The displeasure in the heart of the ever-unruly evil god was constantly building up, It’s violent emotions were on the brink of erupting like a volcano. However, after squinting and staring at Jian Xie’s figure for a few seconds, the anger in It’s heart vanished, leaving only a sense of compromise.

……Forget it.

This was It’s own choice, and It had long been prepared.

Despite having his back to the other party, Jian Xie keenly sensed It’s displeasure. He paused for a moment, and decided to appease It.

“Let’s resolve this sooner rather than later. You’ve got a body to think about.” He subtly reassured, “If we don’t see this as a hassle but as just a game between the two of us, it will be easier.” 

Although calling feeding on monsters a game sounded a bit scary…

It was practically true.

Just as people needed shared activities to get to know each other, it was much better to think of eating as a two-player game.

【……】

After a moment, It whispered something terrifying, 【I really want to kill everything and leave only you and me. That would bring so much more peace.】

In the face of absolute power, all schemes were as insignificant as weeds easily swept away by a whirlwind.

If it weren’t for his concern for Jian Xie, he would have done so long ago.

Unlike the previous cold and menacing “How annoying,” this sentence seemed to simply express dissatisfaction without any hidden meaning.

Although they hadn’t spent much time together, he had already figured out most of the unpredictable evil god’s habits.

The shorter and more unrelated the sentence, the more likely it was to carry murderous intent. It was the type that didn’t mince words. They won’t say they’d kill you, they’d just strike unexpectedly.

But if it weren’t so, there was a 50% chance it was just talk.

Of course, it was only half.

After all, It’s thoughts were difficult for ordinary people—constrained by human thinking—to fathom.

Not to mention that strange personality, ordinary people would simply never have the chance to guess what It was thinking.

【How ambiguous,】 Qin Zhuo scoffed, 【a mere verbal thank you would be ridiculous.】

It’s words were full of disdain.

Jian Xie: “…”

Now that we’ve changed the subject, I suppose you’re not angry anymore?

“Not necessarily.” Jian Xie thought for a moment, “It’s also possible that she received some information that she had to tell me. Her voice didn’t sound as urgent as last time. It’s very likely that it’s a follow-up to the last meeting—related to your body.”

Qin Zhuo remained noncommittal in response. 【Perhaps.】

It couldn’t care less about her condition.

Then, the tentacles formed from black mist opened the pencil case, took out the pen that Jian Xie used most often in class, opened the cap, and placed it on the exercise book.

His approach was quite casual and natural, yet within seconds he had already set up a well-organized learning environment.

Because It was so bored, even when It was sitting on the windowsill with It’s chin in hand during the day, It could still remember most of the assigned homework. It was a piece of cake for Him.

After doing all this, Qin Zhuo’s gaze fell on the person on the sofa.

Jian Xie lowered his head and waited for his phone to turn on. He had already taken off his coat, and his simple white shirt was slightly disheveled, vaguely revealing the clean skin on the back of his neck.

The black mist disappeared from its spot, and when it reappeared, the figure of the other party had already flashed directly behind Jian Xie. Qin Zhuo leaned down slightly, and the entire black mist pressed against him like a toppled dark cloud. Although the evil god had no physical form, it gave people the illusion that all its weight was bearing down on him.

This oppressive force was almost suffocating.

The screen, which had been off, lit up, and Jian Xie instinctively gripped the phone in his hand tighter.

However, the culprit acted as if completely oblivious to his sudden stiffness, simply saying lazily, “I need to prepare some things for tomorrow.”

“……”

Prepare what? For the parent-teacher meeting? 

Jian Xie was taken aback.

Suddenly, he felt a soft touch on the back of his neck. It was as if It had reached out and caressed him there, then pressed It’s lips to it.

【As for my body—I’ll leave it to you, alright?】

It’s tone was quite casual.

A cold breath brushed against the back of Jian Xie’s neck, while ambiguousness mingled with the words drifting from It’s lips, gradually raising the temperature of the air.

He even ended with a question.

Jian Xie’s nape was a sensitive area, and the sudden attack caused his body to tremble involuntarily.

Qin Zhuo chuckled upon seeing this.

The black mist that had been suppressing Jian Xie vanished into thin air in the next instant.

The slight sensation of being touched lingered on his skin, making him unable to resist reaching out to touch the back of his neck and pressing down hard.

“……”

He seemed to have underestimated Qin Zhuo’s influence over him.

Even though the other person has done similar actions countless times, he still felt as if he was encountering it for the first time each time, and needed to freeze for a few seconds.

It wasn’t until much later that the stifling air finally cooled down.

Jian Xie touched his cheek with the back of his hand to make sure there was nothing wrong, then forced himself to calm down and logged into the intranet on his phone, turning his attention back to business.

This time, he did not log into Wu Qinghe’s account.

Instead, he opted to use his own ID, which was just the lonely number 7.

As for the initial password…

Jian Xie opened his email.

Although Jian Xie left his email address on his resume, he rarely paid attention to it. His inbox was overflowing with spam, numbering in the hundreds at first glance.

Upon opening, the email at the top was marked as being from Lu Xueya.

But Jian Xie didn’t open them immediately. Instead, with a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency, he scanned the titles of the other unread emails.

His gaze lingered on something that looked like an advertisement.

The reason he described it as such was because of its title, “Time and Space Post Office”.

Jian Xie knew about this website.

He had heard some classmates mention this website a long time ago. Emails on it could be sent on a schedule, usually with a timeframe of one year or more. In a way, it was like having a conversation with your future self, a kind of time capsule game.

Although it did become a trend at the time, he didn’t remember filling it out.

But the email title was clearly written.

[Look back at the beautiful wishes you left behind in an email you wrote a year ago.]

[Time and Space Post Office]

Was it sent to the wrong person?

Jian Xie paused for a moment, and after a long while, decided to click on it.

At first glance, it was just a bunch of meaningless nonsense, followed by a link to Time and Space Post Office, which looked suspiciously like a virus-ridden website.

Perhaps he himself knew how unreliable it was to leave a link, so at the very bottom of the email, a sentence beginning with “his own message” was displayed.

[Don’t do things you’ll regret.]

Seeing this, Jian Xie narrowed his eyes and changed his mind about quitting.

That was something he would say to himself.

Because his memory had indeed been distorted, Jian Xie didn’t trust his own brain. Perhaps, he really had written that email.

He clicked on the link directly.

The website didn’t load quickly; he waited several minutes before the entire email was displayed.

The text was brief, but there were a lot of pictures, no wonder it took so long to wait.

[Don’t do things you’ll regret.

……

Don’t forget me.]