Sui Han arrived at Xu Songyan’s building according to the navigation. The sound of water behind him was still intermittent, like a very regular tide, rushing in with surging waves every time, but then quickly receding again, as if it was worried about something.

From start to finish, it dared not reveal its true self.

It was just that the moisture scattered in the air was a bit uncomfortable. Taking a few low sniffs, it didn’t smell like real seawater.

It had an indescribable metallic and corrosive feel.

Sui Han ignored it, greeted the guard, and the other party immediately called Xu Songyan when he heard he was looking for the movie star. After getting permission, he let the boy in.

After being alert for a while, the little fox realized that the danger was slowly being eliminated, and then turned over and sprawled in the boy’s arms.

Its long tail was spread out in a flower shape, squinting its little fox eyes, humming one sound after another.

Its warm body was wrapped in thick fur, like a small dumpling, restlessly making pancakes in Sui Han’s arms, its little jio kicking against its owner’s waist from time to time.

Sui Han glanced at it, and the little fox was so bold that it rubbed him with both jio.

Clusters of flowers were blooming everywhere, creating a somewhat irregular community structure reminiscent of a small botanical garden. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and the songs of birds, while elderly ladies strolled with their children throughout the area.

As Sui Han passed by, the eyes of the older men and women looked over secretly.

He took large steps, completely blocking the little fox. Fortunately, it was utterly dark, and he couldn’t see the cub with just the streetlights in his arms.

He didn’t want to be the object of onlookers.

After all, there were people walking dogs and caring for children, but he seemed to be the only one walking a fox.

Sui Han walked quickly, cutting in from a side path, but unexpectedly ran into the two older men walking on the street just now. The two older men looked in the direction he was going and hesitated to speak.

Sui Han turned a corner and walked back, standing next to the two older men. “Can’t go in that direction?”

The two older men shook their heads in unison, and looked at each other, their mouths tightly closed, as if they had a big secret they didn’t dare to say.

Sui Han looked at them thoughtfully and said bluntly, “I heard what you two were chatting about just now. This building was rebuilt after the bungalows were torn down, and you are all relocated households.”

“Yes, yes.” The two older men nodded quickly.

“So, can you go in that direction?”

“…”

One of the old men saw that he was not very old, looked around, and found no old neighbors nearby so that he couldn’t help but kindly remind him, “You can’t go, take a detour.”

“Haunted?”

Sui Han just guessed based on the expressions of the two people, and the evil things he encountered along the way were enough to illustrate this point.

Because he found that the closer he got to this community, the more obvious the humid smell became.

The older man was startled, dropped the dog leash, and turned around to run, and the other man, seeing this, also hurried to follow, almost losing his slippers.

“Oh, looks like I guessed right.”

The boy tilted his head, ignoring their advice, and walked towards that side again. He walked neither fast nor slow, except for the restless moisture floating around, he was completely unharmed.

He was a god; even if there were ghosts, they probably wouldn’t dare to challenge him.

Sui Han glanced at the address on Xu Songyan’s message and muttered in a low voice, “Middle Building, Unit 2, Seventh Floor, Door 2, this location is cleverly chosen.”

In this community, only three buildings were located on the left, in the middle, and on the right. Each building was limited to just 14 floors. Although the community was marketed as a high-end luxury development when it first opened, this was merely a gimmick intended to impress potential buyers.

The high cost was likely due to its proximity to the city center.

Sui Han found the location of Xu Songyan’s house interesting: the seventh floor of the middle building, which was the center floor, and Unit 2, Door 2, also positioned centrally.

In other words—

　　The house Xu Songyan purchased was located in the center of this community.

“Ding-dong—”

“Sui Han is here, come in and sit down!”

As soon as the door opened, Xu Songyan’s big smiling face flashed out from behind the door. He was wearing comfortable home clothes, and the fragrance emanating from his body indicated that he might have just taken a shower.

Xu Songyan was genuinely approachable and lacked pretense. His excellent personality made him particularly suitable for raising a small pet.

As soon as Huan Huan entered the door, it jumped from Sui Han’s arms onto the soft carpet.

The little guy held up its nine bright tails, tilted its head to look here and there, warming Xu Songyan’s heart.

If he could see such a small fur ball waiting for him to come home every time he returned from work, what kind of happiness would that be? He couldn’t help but start to envy Sui Han.

After Sui Han entered the door, he casually sat on the sofa, and Xu Songyan immediately poured him a cup of tea.

“I asked the aunt to buy a lot of fresh ingredients. Can we have hot pot tonight? Drink some tea first and take a rest.”

Xu Songyan wanted to turn around and communicate with Huan Huan, but Huan Huan twisted its body, jumped onto the sofa, and went straight into Sui Han’s sleeve.

“…”

The boy reached out, pulled it out, and took off his coat.

Fortunately, the clothes the organizer gave were bigger, and the cuffs were open. Otherwise, he would have had to pay for clothing after the competition.

The little fur ball didn’t want to be pulled out by its owner, and stubbornly arched into the sleeve again.

Xu Songyan’s fingers stopped mid-air, and after a long while, he could only comfort himself, “It’s okay, it’s not familiar with me yet, I can wait slowly, it will always like me.”

After saying that, the excellent movie star smiled again, “Huan Huan, do you like hot pot—um!”

Before Xu Songyan could finish speaking, he suddenly squatted down in pain, covering his face with one hand, in so much pain that he was about to curl up into a ball.

Sui Han got up and asked him where the medicine was, found it, and handed it to him.

The Nine-tailed Fox peeked out from the cuff, its dark eyes blinking as it regarded the movie star. It soon emerged, swaying its tail and circling Xu Songyan before quickly jumping away.

Sui Han glanced at the little fox’s movements and couldn’t help but cover his face.

Huan Huan duang duang duang bounced to the French window, and then looked up with its small face.

A light gauze curtain hung before the French window, casting a gray-blue hue that reflected the moonlight outside like a dream.

On the wall beside the window, a large painting was hanging.

The smoky surface rippled with a fierce blue light in the depths of a dark sea, creating a suffocating sensation as if falling into a deep valley. Above the sea, several magnificent temples were slowly rising.

In the painting, the temple doors were tightly closed, and green smoke billowed out of the windows, as if it were smoothing the layers of rolling sea tides, attempting to suppress them and force everything back to peace.

The painting features a signature consisting of two neatly written minor characters—

　　Sea Temple.

---

The sun was shining brightly, and Shanyang Square was bustling with people. Rows of seats surrounded the competition venue in the center.

Xu Songyan, as a guest, sat among several others in the guest area. Opposite them, four judges were seated at the judges’ table.

Sui Han took Huan Huan to draw lots for their eagerly awaited first opening game.

Bai Bai, accompanied by his arrogant white peacock, had obtained his number and was currently conversing with several streamers.

“Don’t worry, Brother Bai, Sui Han will be eliminated today.”

“No matter how special the pet is, even if it’s Daji(a legendary concubine in Chinese mythology, known for her beauty and wickedness) in this world, we will squeeze it out of the competition!”

Sui Han stared at the lottery box, held Huan Huan’s small paw, and squeezed the paw pad. “Since you are the protagonist today, you can draw the lot. Isn’t it said that foxes always have good luck? Come on, let me see your strength.”

“Aoo aoo.”

Huan Huan confidently stretched its paw into the lottery box and touched number 26.

As everyone knows, only 26 streamers are participating in this competition.

Luck is truly remarkable.