Chapter 3

Shi Yu was stunned. He didn’t expect that just after a good night’s sleep, the second male lead would suddenly show up at his door.

Now there was a problem—should he open the door or not?

As just a background character, Shi Yu didn’t want to get involved with the main cast at all. But the person outside seemed to really need something.

While the person outside waited, Shi Yu bit his lip, and finally put on a mask again:

“Sorry, just a moment. I’ll open the door right away.”

One minute later, the security door opened from the inside.

They’d seen many residents who didn’t like talking to strangers. The team members from the Ability Users Association, who had waited all night, breathed a sigh of relief. They thought they would have to explain a lot more. The person inside stayed silent at first, and Zhao Wen was already thinking about calling for an official permit. Luckily, once Dr. Shen explained who he was, the person finally trusted them enough to open up.

Facing so many story characters all of a sudden made Shi Yu a bit nervous. Luckily, the mask on his face hid most of his expressions.

The young man in a blue hoodie had pale skin and round cat-like eyes that looked a bit red at the corners, as if he had just woken up.

“Sorry, I slept too deeply and didn’t hear the doorbell.”

“Please, come in.”

Shi Yu stepped aside to let them in.

“Uh, it’s okay,” Zhao Wen and Wang Shan quickly waved their hands. As long as no one was hurt and nothing serious had happened, waiting all night wasn’t a big deal for them.

Shen Yan kept looking around the apartment. For some reason, after hearing Shi Yu speak, his heart felt a little moved.

He thought—this little livestreamer’s voice… was surprisingly nice?

No one knew that Shen Yan suffered from insomnia. During the day, he worked at the hospital; at night, he handled strange supernatural cases. It had been a long time since he had a good night’s sleep. In the past, he had no time to rest. Now, even with time, he just couldn’t fall asleep.

Thankfully, after merging with a strange power, his physical body had gotten stronger, so not sleeping for days didn’t hurt his health.

Still, it didn’t feel good. The dryness in his eyes made his temples twitch. He had stayed up another night, and even Zhao Wen’s team, who only worked one task, were exhausted. Shen Yan had been working nonstop for a week.

Yet somehow, after hearing this little streamer’s voice, the discomfort in his head seemed to ease a bit?

If he remembered correctly, Shi Yu was a food streamer, not a voice-focused one.

But… his voice was really calming.

Thinking quietly to himself, Shen Yan was a step behind the others. Just as he was about to go inside, he suddenly remembered something, frowned, bent down, and picked up an eyeball on the ground, silently putting it into a bag.

Shen Yan’s movement was subtle, so Shi Yu didn’t notice. He was too busy wondering what exactly was going on.

Once everyone sat down, Shi Yu couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked, “Um, gentlemen, can you tell me now why you came to find me?”

They had insisted on speaking in person earlier, so Shi Yu had no choice but to let them in. Now looking at these well-dressed people, he quickly became alert.

He always lived very carefully—he only went out once a week.

Did something still happen?

As his restless thoughts began to settle, Shen Yan calmly withdrew his hand, glanced at the mask on Shi Yu’s face, and spoke:

“It’s not a big issue.”

“It’s just that you might have heard about the recent delivery incident on Chenghua Road.”

“Last night, we got a notice that someone sent a strange package to your account. We were worried you might be tricked, so we came to check.”

“These are the ones in charge of the delivery case. I’m the team doctor.”

After speaking, Shen Yan asked without changing expression, “Did you hear anything strange last night?”

Wang Shan was a little surprised—wasn’t he the one supposed to ask these routine questions? Why was Dr. Shen doing it today?

But since it was a serious question, he immediately became serious too.

Strange sounds?

With several eyes staring at him, Shi Yu shook his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

“No.”

“I fell asleep early and didn’t hear anything. I only heard you knocking in the morning.”

Shen Yan nodded. Once Wang Shan had finished noting down Shi Yu’s answer, Shen asked again,

“Mr. Shi, could we take a look at your phone?”

“The delivery info would show up there.”

Before acting, the mysterious delivery usually sends a message to the victim’s phone. Even though Shi Yu wasn’t hurt yet, Shen Yan wanted to confirm.

Shi Yu hesitated for a moment, then went to grab his phone from beside the pillow.

He had gone to wash up earlier and hadn’t noticed. Only now did he see that he had two or three missed calls from an unknown number.

The red number showed on his screen, and he frowned. Hadn’t he set his phone to block unknown calls? How did this one get through?

Thinking of what these people had said about a strange delivery…

Shi Yu pressed his lips together and handed over the phone.

As soon as Shen Yan took the phone, he felt something was wrong.

There was a cold, eerie aura left on the phone. Normal people couldn’t feel it, but as an ability user, he could clearly sense it.

The moment he touched the phone, his psychic senses picked something up.

Noticing Dr. Shen’s change in expression, the others from the association also became serious.

So… the strange object from last night did target this place?

Then Mr. Shi… Zhao Wen looked at Shi Yu. Thinking about how it was their mistake that let the “undeliverable package” get through, he felt guilty.

Shen Yan said nothing. Wearing gloves, he checked the missed calls, then opened the delivery app. Sure enough, there was a new delivery message.

To anyone else, it looked like a normal delivery notification, but the people in charge knew: anyone who ignored this message… had already died.

The moment he saw the message timestamp, Shen Yan pieced together what had happened last night.

The “undeliverable package” had chosen its target: this man living alone in Room 1903. It sent a message and then tried to call.

But because of the phone’s call block settings, the first attempt failed. After a minute’s pause, the cursed call broke through the block and rang again. Just as it was about to kill its target, Zhao Wen’s team arrived, accidentally saving Shi Yu’s life.

If they had been even a minute later, Shi Yu would be dead.

But that didn’t mean he was safe now. The cursed package never failed. If it didn’t succeed last night, it would definitely come back tonight.

Shen Yan thought this and handed the phone back.

Shi Yu asked, “Dr. Shen, is something wrong?”

Seeing Shen’s calm face as he returned the phone, Shi Yu thought things were okay. But the next second, he heard:

“I just confirmed—there is a suspicious delivery message.”

“And it still hasn’t disappeared.”

“So based on my judgment… Mr. Shi, you’ve been targeted by the one behind the dangerous package.”

Shi Yu: … Like a bolt from the blue!

Why was he so unlucky?

He had been hoping this was just a scare. But no—he really had been targeted.

He had read the original story, but not every supernatural case was described in detail. Most were just briefly mentioned as something the main team solved offscreen.

So Shi Yu didn’t know much about this particular delivery curse. His mind blanked.

It’s normal for anyone to panic when they find out a dangerous criminal has their sights on them. And the young man wearing a mask definitely showed a flicker of fear.

Maybe because Shi Yu’s voice had eased Shen Yan’s long-term insomnia a little, he paid more attention to him than usual.

The others from the association also looked at Shi Yu with worry or sympathy. Anyone would find it hard to accept being caught in a situation like this.

Now that things had come to this, Shi Yu took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

“So… what do we do now?”

Across from them was the second male lead of the story — the one whose strength was on par with Fu Nanyao, the captain of the Ability Users Association, second only to the inhuman and god-like main character, Sang Huaiyu.

He should have a way to solve this, right?

As expected, Shen Yan nodded. “Mr. Shi, don’t worry. To stop the criminal from acting again, we’ll be staying with you until the culprit is caught.”

Behind him, Zhao Wen and the others also chimed in to comfort him, saying things like, “Although Dr. Shen is a special hire, his skills are top-notch. You can relax, Mr. Shi.”

Shi Yu: …

Was he showing his fear that clearly?

He lowered his eyes slightly, then quickly regained his calm. When he looked up again, he had already adjusted his attitude. Looking at the Ability Users Association members trying to comfort him, he suddenly remembered:

“Oh right, we’ve been talking this whole time — I forgot to offer you something.”

“Would you like some water? I’ll go get some hot water.”

Wang Shan quickly waved his hand. “No need to trouble yourself.”

Just as he was about to say something else, he saw Dr. Shen — who normally had a strong dislike for touching things used by others — glance at the young streamer and suddenly say, “That would be nice.”

Wang Shan: Huh?

Is Dr. Shen… thirsty?

Surprised, he turned to look at Shi Yu, who didn’t think much of it and headed to the kitchen to get water.

Just as Wang Shan was about to ask about it, he heard Dr. Shen speak with his eyes closed, “Send a message to Captain Fu.”

“Deduct one point from Han Chuyi’s internship score.”

Han Chuyi was the team’s new computer genius. The Han family was one of the top families in City B, so Han Chuyi was basically a rich young master. But instead of joining the family business, he had insisted on joining the Association after helping Mr. Sang with a case during his graduation. He wanted to impress Mr. Sang.

However, Han Chuyi was always rebellious, arrogant, and didn’t follow orders. Even during this mission, he was slacking off on purpose — which annoyed even the normally indifferent Shen Yan.

Wang Shan and Zhao Wen exchanged a look.

They didn’t understand how the rich kid had suddenly offended Dr. Shen.

Still, they quickly sent the message to the captain.

Just then, Shi Yu came back with cups of water.

Since he didn’t know whether they drank tea or not, he simply poured plain hot water for everyone.

He placed the warm cups on the table. As he pulled his hand back, he saw Wang Shan gratefully take a sip.

Everyone had been staking out all night in the cold and hunger. A warm drink was more than welcome. Everyone started drinking — except Shen Yan, who hadn’t even touched his cup despite asking for it.

Shi Yu: …

He knew it. How could the second male lead drink water from someone else?

In the novel, it said Shen Yan had a cleanliness obsession — he never ate or drank anything from outside. The only exception was once when the main character, Sang Huaiyu, gave him chocolate during a mission.

Shi Yu had already found it strange when Shen Yan asked for hot water earlier.

Now it made sense.

His face stayed calm, but he actually felt more relaxed.

Shen Yan had been watching and suddenly noticed something: he didn’t drink the water, but instead of being upset, Mr. Shi actually looked… relieved?