Chapter 28

Because the little troublemaker broke the medical robot on the spot, Shi Yu twitched the corner of his mouth and, in the end, couldn’t complete the check-up.

He frowned and took a deep breath while looking at his belly, thinking: I absolutely can’t let this go on anymore!

He had to arrange some prenatal education for this little troublemaker.

A few minutes later, Shi Yu reported the broken robot for repair.

The customer service of the robot company, who had just received an order and hadn’t even had time to celebrate, now had to deal with repairs again: …

Wait a second—did this person buy the robot just because they broke it?

That would explain why their medical robots never sell well. Usually, after people try them once, there’s no follow-up. So why would someone suddenly buy one?

The repair department thought they had figured it out. Someone coughed and replied responsibly on their phone:

“Dear VIP customer, don’t worry. Since this is your first repair, we offer it for free as a special benefit.”

“Please send us your delivery address. We’ll send someone to pick it up and repair it this afternoon.”

The medical robot company had great customer service and quickly handled the problem, not giving Shi Yu any chance to back out.

Shi Yu relaxed only after seeing the word “free” on his phone. He let out a long breath.

That was close. If the repair cost money, he’d have to live super poor for the next few months.

That naughty kid.

He had to teach it today what it can and can’t play with!

He moved the small robot outside the door, stuck a note on it, and waited for the repair team to pick it up.

Then, after checking his bank account, he searched for nearby baby product stores.

Perfect. There was a large baby section in a mall about one kilometer away. He had time to shop and still return in time for his livestream.

Shi Yu covered himself up well, pressed the elevator button, and went out.

The little troublemaker inside his belly had no idea what just happened. It only knew that after scaring that weird robot a bit, the robot stopped moving.

Wow, did it break?

So weak.

Not like itself—it never breaks no matter what.

The little monster pulled back its feelers, looking a bit unimpressed.

But then it tilted its head: Why did mom seem kind of weird?

Shi Yu rode straight to the mall and went right to the baby section. But since he was a guy alone in the baby area, it looked a bit strange.

Most people here were families or husbands shopping with their wives. It was rare to see a young man like Shi Yu alone.

A store assistant noticed and was surprised. She thought he was probably buying something for a pregnant family member.

“Hello, can I help you with anything?” she asked politely.

Shi Yu had made up his mind—he was going to correct the little monster’s bad behavior today.

But once he arrived at the baby section, he realized… this was kind of awkward.

Oh no… he seemed to be the only young man around.

Shi Yu touched the mask on his face, eyes shifting around.

When the store assistant asked again, he replied awkwardly, “No, it’s okay. I’ll just look around.”

“You can go do your work.”

The assistant noticed he didn’t want to be followed, so she smiled and said, “Alright, sir. Let me know if you need anything.”

Shi Yu nodded. After a while, when a couple walked in and the assistant went to help them, he finally felt relieved and looked around.

To be honest, it was his first time in a baby store. He didn’t even know what to look for.

He glanced at the baby clothes and shoes, then noticed a toy dog on the table.

Even if babies wouldn’t like it, Shi Yu thought it looked kind of cute in a silly way.

The fluffy white toy dog could run and jump with a remote control, and it even barked like a real dog.

He picked up the remote and tried it. The toy dog started spinning in circles chasing its tail.

Tsk. Shi Yu couldn’t help but imagine the little monster playing with the toy in its mouth… but since he didn’t even know what it really looked like, his imagination went wild with scary movie monsters.

He rubbed his arm, set the remote down, and was about to look away when he heard footsteps behind him.

At the border between the regular mall area and the baby section, Fu Nanyao had just finished asking the mall manager some questions and was ready to go downstairs.

Then he saw a familiar back.

He wasn’t sure at first since it was a bit far. But when the person turned slightly, Fu Nanyao was sure.

“Shi Yu?”

His deep voice spoke hesitantly. The person turned around right away.

—It really was him.

The young man wore a light blue hoodie and a mask, standing at the baby store entrance looking confused.

Fu Nanyao walked over and stopped. “What are you doing here?”

Shi Yu: …

He was stunned at first when he heard his name. When he looked up and saw the tall figure, he froze.

Fu Nanyao?

Why was he here? Wasn’t this powerful team leader of the ability-users’ association always on missions or at HQ?

Shi Yu was shocked. But then something more terrifying hit him.

Wait… did he see me?

Did he see me shopping in the baby section?

Trying to stay calm, Shi Yu took a deep breath, steadied his heartbeat, and acted normal. He said casually, “A relative of mine is about to have a baby. I came to buy something to send back home.”

“What about you, Captain Fu? Why are you here?”

He lowered his voice and looked around nervously. Could he really be this unlucky?

Just casually went to a mall and ran into trouble again?

Fu Nanyao noticed his thoughts. Though he shouldn’t say much, he still explained, “Don’t worry. There’s no danger.”

“I just came to ask about something.”

This mall was connected to the Haolai Building case. They found that the group of fake spiritualists who “cast spells” at Haolai had also been to this mall and met with the manager. So he came to check.

Fu Nanyao looked back at Shi Yu’s innocent face and slowly relaxed his hand.

He didn’t know why, but the moment he saw Shi Yu, he wanted to come over.

His body moved faster than his mind. When he realized, he was already standing here.

Fu Nanyao’s expression was hard to read. His usually cold eyes stared at Shi Yu. If he remembered right, they had only met twice before—once was in the hospital elevator.

His memory felt a bit fuzzy. As Shi Yu looked away, Fu Nanyao asked, “Have you picked something?”

“Huh?”

Shi Yu was confused.

Fu Nanyao frowned, “Aren’t you buying baby things? Have you picked anything?”

Shi Yu shook his head in confusion. Then Fu Nanyao calmly said, “I’ll go with you.”

Shi Yu: ???

He was completely puzzled.

What did he mean? Go with him? Was Fu Nanyao… this friendly?

Would he just join a random person he barely knew to go shopping?

Or was this some new mission from the Ability Users Association—maybe trying to help high-level users connect with people and reduce stress?

But even if that were true… in the stories, didn’t Fu Nanyao only care about Sang Huaiyu and ignored everyone else?

At first, Shi Yu thought he misheard. But Fu Nanyao didn’t leave. Instead, he checked the time, sent a message on his phone, and silently stood beside Shi Yu, thinking about something.

Even Fu Nanyao was surprised by what he had said. It wasn’t like him to speak without thinking.

But… he didn’t regret it.

There was still time, and the association said he couldn’t keep shutting people out, so staying in the mall a bit longer was fine.

Besides… he frowned slightly, then relaxed, and looked at Shi Yu again.

This person smelled really nice. So the scent Han Chuyi had on him before… came from Shi Yu?

Fu Nanyao pressed his lips together, then asked suddenly, “Sorry, have we met somewhere besides the hospital that time?”

“What?” Shi Yu turned his head, confused.

Fu Nanyao paused. He wasn’t sure why he asked either. Seeing Shi Yu’s confused face, he didn’t say more.

Shi Yu looked away again, realizing something strange: this team leader really was following him.

Wherever he walked, Fu Nanyao stayed nearby.

A tall, serious, handsome man standing there caught the attention of the sales ladies nearby.

Feeling awkward, Shi Yu walked over to the prenatal education section. Seeing that Fu Nanyao’s face didn’t change—thinking he really believed the story about the “relative’s baby”—Shi Yu relaxed and picked up a prenatal music device.

But just as he was about to take it, a hand stopped him.

Fu Nanyao picked up the other end of the prenatal education device and glanced at it.

“Even if it’s a gift, you should still choose carefully.”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

Shi Yu: …

“Oh.”

Who cares if he’s in a hurry!

Shi Yu just had a headache and didn’t know which one to choose.

With a blank expression, he put the prenatal device back and forced himself to carefully read the product descriptions. As he read, his brows furrowed.

The functions of each model were listed in detail. After reading carefully, Shi Yu found that—just as expected—the more expensive ones were better, with more complete features.

The most expensive one not only played prenatal music but also allowed custom content. It was very smart and convenient.

But… the price was really something.

Shi Yu glanced at it and was a bit tempted, but when he thought of his budget, he gave up right away.

Forget it.

Too expensive. Not worth it.

He looked away and planned to check out a mid-range one instead. But Fu Nanyao had noticed the way he looked at the pricey model. He casually picked up the one Shi Yu had just been looking at.

“I think this one is good.”

Normally not one to talk much, Fu Nanyao surprisingly said a few more words today. His voice was cool. But after saying that, he added, “It was my fault for suddenly asking about the hospital earlier.”

To a normal person, bringing up strange and scary past events could be traumatic. Fu Nanyao paused, then spoke again while Shi Yu looked at him in confusion: “Tell the clerk to ring this up.”

“Think of it as my apology.”

“No need.”

“I really didn’t mind…”

Shi Yu tried to refuse, but Fu Nanyao had already gone to pay. Not only that—he even tossed in the little white dog toy Shi Yu had looked at for the baby.

Shi Yu: Aaaaaahhh this is so embarrassing!!

Damn it—why did he go out today of all days?!

He clutched his mask. Fu Nanyao paid naturally and turned back to look at him.

“All done.”

“This is for you.”

Shi Yu had no choice but to take it and awkwardly said, “Thanks.”

Fu Nanyao nodded. Before leaving, he glanced at Shi Yu one more time, then turned around and walked away when his phone started ringing.

The other members of the Ability Users Association were waiting downstairs. When they saw Fu Nanyao coming out so late, one of them scratched his head in confusion.
“Captain, was something going on upstairs?”

Why did it take so long? Could the mall manager be suspicious too? He started to imagine wild things, even thinking the mall owner might be in on something shady.

Fu Nanyao snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at him. “No.”

Qian Lin: ???

No? Then… what was it?

Faced with his quiet captain, Qian Lin tried hard to guess.

“Did the manager give you some useful clue you needed to confirm?”

Fu Nanyao was silent for a moment. “No.”

Seeing Qian Lin still wanting to guess, Fu Nanyao finally interrupted, “I just ran into someone and talked a bit.”

After saying that, he didn’t say another word.

Qian Lin was shocked after hearing that and looked at Fu Nanyao like he couldn’t believe it.

Was that really something Captain Fu would say?

If it were other teammates like Dr. Shen or Young Master Han, he wouldn’t be surprised. But this was Captain Fu! He usually barely spoke to anyone except Mr. Sang. And now he stayed behind and talked for a long time?

He held his phone with a complicated expression. Once they got in the car, he couldn’t hold back anymore and typed in the group chat:

“Guys, guess what huge secret I just found out!”

Most of the association members were in this group. It was quiet since it was around lunchtime. But when they saw Qian Lin’s excited message with three exclamation marks, everyone popped up.

“What happened?”

“@everyone? You’d better explain or we’ll mute you.”

Seeing the group blow up, Qian Lin quickly typed out everything that had just happened and asked curiously:

“Who do you think Captain Fu met?”

“Who?”

“Well, it can’t be Mr. Sang—he’s still at HQ.”

The group exploded with guesses. Even Shen Yan noticed the commotion and looked at the chat, wondering what Fu Nanyao saw upstairs.

Meanwhile, Shi Yu had no idea that in just half an hour, the Association was already gossiping about him.

After Fu Nanyao left, Shi Yu looked at the things in his hands with a strange expression. He decided to take them home. They were already paid for—he couldn’t just throw them away. Oh well, he’d just treat it like winning a prize today.

Still, the whole thing felt surreal.

Shi Yu’s eyelids twitched. The captain of the Ability Users Association just bought pregnancy supplies for the little monster in my belly. Who would’ve guessed?

If anyone found out, it’d be a miracle if he wasn’t caught and taken away.

Shi Yu sighed, glanced down at his stomach unconsciously.

Luckily, the group chat’s wild guesses only lasted a few minutes. A senior officer finally stepped in and gave a cough in the chat.

Once that happened, everyone quieted down and went back to discussing the case seriously.

The case involving “Haolai Plaza” was now clearly not an accident. It was a planned operation by a group.

They had discovered that after making a deal with Mr. Zhu, the boss of Haolai Plaza, a group claiming to “change your luck” approached another mall in the northern district—Yunxiao Mall. But Yunxiao’s manager didn’t believe in them, so the plan failed.

Fu Nanyao had gone there during the day to gather information. Even though he was delayed, he got what he needed.

The scammers clearly targeted large malls and clubs—places with lots of people—and their method was always the same: blood sacrifices.

One place might be a coincidence, but two places using the same dark method? Definitely a problem.

Even worse, this group went to Yunxiao Mall after the strange incident at Haolai Plaza. That made their intentions clear.

Fu Nanyao organized his notes. Unlike the greedy Mr. Zhu from Haolai, the cautious manager at Yunxiao Mall had paid attention and remembered what one of the scammers looked like.

The man was around 178 cm tall, short hair, square face, very average features—clearly trying to hide his identity.

But one detail stood out: his left arm was 20 cm longer than his right.

That was far from normal. The manager said just looking at him gave a creepy feeling.

Fu Nanyao wrote this down and handed the notes to Han Chu Yi:

“Search the internet based on this description.”

Han Chu Yi had just returned from class and hadn’t rested yet, but took the notes and began searching quickly online.

About ten minutes later, Han Chu Yi found ten people matching the height and face descriptions. But of course, arm length couldn’t be confirmed just from online info.

Both he and Fu Nanyao knew: this kind of body difference was probably caused by merging with some creepy, supernatural object. It wouldn’t show unless seen in person.

Han pointed at the screen: “These are the ones. Let’s check them all one by one. The culprit should be among them.”

“Tch. These guys clearly came to cause trouble. They won’t stay quiet for long.”

And just like Han said—the group called “Zhong Jin” had no plans to lie low.

After the Haolai Plaza incident, they knew the Association would come after them, so they quickly began planning another attack. They hoped to act again before being caught. Too bad Yunxiao’s manager didn’t fall for it.

That ruined their plan and wasted time.

In a secret basement in City B, a man named Wang Chenghe looked at his phone.

“Hm? A strange call just came in. It looked like a telecom number, but I think… it was a test from the Ability Users Association.”

A middle-aged man beside him, whose left arm was longer than his right, raised an eyebrow.

“What should we do?”

“They’re on to us.”

An old, short man with a raspy voice said, “Let’s split up and hide for now. Once things cool down, they’ll stop looking.”

They knew how the Association worked—when supernatural events happened, the priority was always stopping the threat, not chasing people. The Association valued protecting normal people above all.

The leader stood in the shadows. His face, shaped like a horse, showed a twisted smile.

“Well then, let’s give them a little trouble—delay their chase.”

“Looks like it’s time to release a little surprise.”

He grinned. “I’ve been raising a pet… haven’t tested it yet.”

He reached out and gently shook a bottle.

Inside the bottle, a strange butterfly became visible.

It had rotting wings and no head—a terrifying creature.

Green pus dripped from the rotten wings of the butterfly. Every drop that fell started to melt the bottle a little.

As the butterfly stood up and let out a strange cry, its back started to look more and more like a human…

Across from it, Wang Chenghe’s eyes became dazed for a moment. But he quickly snapped out of the butterfly’s strange influence. He was shocked — in just a few days, after absorbing some of the dark energy from the Haolai Building, this butterfly had grown so fast. It had gone from a B-level to an A-level creature in only a week.

If they gave it more blood or dark energy from other strange beings…

Wang Chenghe’s fingers started shaking from excitement. He felt they should have gone to the Haolai Building earlier to handle that fake mannequin. Then the ability users’ group wouldn’t have taken it away and spoiled their plan.

Since they didn’t know others had already been to the Haolai Building, Wang Chenghe and the others still thought the ability users’ group got rid of the fake mannequin before it was fully grown — making them lose a good food source for the butterfly.

The group of fusers had different looks on their faces.

The man with a horse-like face sneered: “Go.”

“Tonight, we’ll distract them.”

As they quickly left the room, the special bottle holding the rotting butterfly finally broke with a bang after a few minutes.

Then, the huge butterfly, about the size of a person, broke free from the broken bottle and slowly started to grow and spread its wings.

That night, Shi Yu had just finished his livestream. He looked at the baby music device he brought home and was about to check it out, but then noticed something strange outside.

It was around 8 or 9 PM — normally nothing unusual — but suddenly, the whole area became dark and gloomy, as if something was blocking the sky.

A strange, awful smell started coming from far away.

Shi Yu sniffed and almost threw up from how bad it was.

“Ugh!”

“What’s that smell?”

He rushed to the bathroom and gagged for a while. When he came out, holding his nose, he felt like the terrible smell of rotting meat was filling the whole area.

It wasn’t just him. People in the building and on the street smelled it too.

“What is that smell?”

“Did someone leave meat out to rot?”

The building manager asked in the chat group.

Shi Yu thought for a moment. It didn’t quite smell like normal rotten meat… it smelled more like…

Rotten bodies?

Shi Yu had never seen a real dead body, so he couldn’t be sure. But the smell was so strong, he told everyone in the group to wear masks.

“Not sure what it is, but everyone should wear a mask, just in case.”

Someone in room 1203 replied: “Thanks, bro. Already wearing one.”

“What do we do now? Should we send a security guard to check?”

The residents started talking nervously. The building management sent a team of guards to find out what was happening.

Shi Yu looked out the window. The sky didn’t look right.

At that moment, the strange baby inside his belly suddenly woke up.

“Wahh!” it cried, kicking around and wiggling its little tentacles. It made weird noises, like it was trying to say something.

Shi Yu: …

He regretted not teaching the weird baby how to talk earlier.

But as he felt the baby’s movement, he guessed what it meant.

“Are you saying… there’s something strange coming?”

The baby tilted its head, trying to understand what “mommy” meant — then happily nodded.

Food… There’s food coming!

It pressed against his stomach and opened its tiny mouth full of sharp teeth, drooling with hunger.

“Wahhh!”

Mommy, can I eat it?