Guang Yu could use her divine power to probe Little Qiu’s identity—no question about that. It was genuinely impressive.
But even more impressive was accomplishing the exact same feat without relying on divine power at all!
That’s right. The one in question was Yun’er.
At first, Ye Zhibai had been fairly curious. Just how was Yun’er planning to conduct her investigation?
She had assumed she would need to carefully probe Little Qiu for more information.
But who would have thought Yun’er would simply ask for a QQ number? Then she made a phone call, recited the number to the Maid Corps, hung up with a flourish, and declared everything was set.
That efficiency was probably on par with a cheating Guang Yu amped up on divine power.
Ye Zhibai’s mind immediately flashed to a perfect phrase to describe Yun’er.
With a mere mortal body, rivaling a deity!
Guang Yu’s divine power had been bested time and again in clashes with the might of cold, hard cash. It had left the Little Fox feeling somewhat humiliated.
Ye Zhibai didn’t want to dwell on how Guang Yu had angrily scarfed down two pounds of osmanthus cake in a fit of impotent rage, rolling helplessly on the floor.
When it came to eating, one had to admit the deity took the crown.
And so…
The day before Gaokao volunteering deadlines.
The day Ye Zhibai had scheduled to head out to Comic-Con.
Had arrived.
~~~
We had a rendezvous planned for the afternoon~ mornings were for continuing her salted-fish slacker life.
A respectable young beauty heading out in the afternoon to meet up with a friend—especially a netizen she’d never met in person—ought to dress up properly, tidy her appearance, and strive to make a great first impression.
But that sort of thinking had nothing to do with Ye Zhibai, even if it might apply to an amoeba!
What was there to dress up for? She hadn’t invested a single skill point in that across two lifetimes.
Only sissies fussed with makeup!
Going bare-faced, blending invisibly into the crowd—that was the true way of the world.
Unfortunately, some people looked prettier without any effort than others did at their absolute best, leaving no room for complaints.
Ye Zhibai fell squarely into that category.
She clutched her phone in one hand, scrolling through a Comic-Con guide, while her other hand roughly combed through her silky silver hair—which didn’t need combing at all—in a hasty, rough, waterfall-like frenzy.
Huh… it felt silky enough.
But the texture seemed off somehow? She stroked it again.
“Ah!! Eek… Ye Zhibai!! We’ve told you how many times: don’t touch our tail, don’t touch our tail! You keep doing it over and over—are you just ignoring divine will?!”
“I’ve told you how many times too… don’t pull big scallions, don’t pull big scallions. You never listen either. Pot calling the kettle black.”
It turned out to be Guang Yu’s tail.
Good thing she had diverted the topic quickly. Otherwise, she really would have been in the wrong this time.
Guang Yu took one look at the situation and knew her tail wasn’t getting free anytime soon.
Once Ye Zhibai started stroking a tail, she wouldn’t stop until she was fully satisfied.
The Little Fox’s face flushed red as she held her breath like a diver, swallowing her anger in humiliated silence.
Damn it… Ye Zhibai’s tail-stroking technique was getting scarily good. Fine, stroking the fur smooth was one thing—but why did she always have to poke at the base?!
In the past, Guang Yu would have turned into a cat and bolted by now.
But this time… Guang Yu actually endured it miraculously, without slipping away. That was the even stranger part.
Even so, it didn’t stop Guang Yu from saying this:
“Ye Zhibai, we’re about to bite you. Brace yourself.”
“No bracing here. Consider me reined in.”
Knowing when to advance or retreat was key to navigating life.
Ye Zhibai released the big, fluffy tail in her arms.
She brushed the fox fur off her palms, then pointed at the Comic-Con guide Little Qiu had sent on her phone. “Take a look. I think you could wander the Comic-Con venue totally carefree too. Flashy outfits like yours are a dime a dozen there.”
“This isn’t an outfit—it’s natural for us! Let’s see… hiss…! What the heck? Does that mean more than one deity got demoted to the mortal world? Where did all these guys come from?!”
“I already told you… it’s just costumes.”
The photos and videos from the Comic-Con venue showed plenty of cosplayers decked out with fox ears, cat ears, dog ears, and more. It wasn’t just the ears either—full professional outfits, right down to the details. Furry fans were in absolute ecstasy.
Ye Zhibai, however, wasn’t particularly interested.
Guang Yu examined them and wagged her tail, still puzzled. “Costumes, huh… Whew, you scared us. We thought there were others like us. So if it’s decorations, where are those tails connected? They’re not attached to the clothes… How do they stay on? And they even move? Don’t tell me…!”
“Stop guessing wildly. They’re just clipped inside the costume with fasteners. What are you imagining? Your mind’s in the gutter.”
“Uh… that’s in the gutter? We were just wondering if the tails were stuck to their legs or something. We didn’t mean anything else!”
“……”
Fine.
Guess the gutter mind was hers after all.
Guang Yu leaned against Ye Zhibai’s side, flipping through the on-site Comic-Con photos one by one with gleeful fascination.
Entertainment had been scarce in the Heavenly Realm. Tens of thousands of years of just drifting through the skies—it got boring. These novel mortal contraptions never failed to spark the Little Fox’s curiosity.
Guang Yu’s little feet bumped together playfully in midair. She flashed her tiny tiger fangs in a grin at Ye Zhibai.
“Look at these people, all dressed up flashy like that. What do you call it?”
“Cosplay.”
“Oh, cosplay! How come you’re not cosplaying? Don’t you have the clothes?”
“You’ve got decent English but your Mandarin sucks—or good Mandarin but English goes to pot… Sigh. I don’t have any cosplay clothes, and even if I did, I wouldn’t wear them. Comic-Con’s a normie thing. I just want to stroll through, not actually join in. Too noisy.”
“In short?”
“In short, social anxiety. Got a problem with that?”
“Nope.”
Good. Social anxiety or not, she was plenty bold at home—so mind your words, Little Fox.
It was ten-thirty in the morning now. She was set to meet Little Qiu at two in the afternoon, so after a quick lunch, she could head out.
Little Qiu’s meticulously compiled Comic-Con guide was incredibly detailed—detailed to the point where Ye Zhibai was almost lost.
VR venues? Esports arenas? Ye Zhibai’s idea of esports was still stuck in the claw-machine era!
Before long, the sound of Yun’er’s footsteps echoed down the hallway. Guang Yu smoothly shapeshifted into a cat and scampered out to the courtyard.
She knew that when Ye Zhiyun showed up, it was when Ye Zhibai was most undivided in her attention.
And…
It was prime time for some scallion-pulling!
Guang Yu’s analysis was spot on. Every time Yun’er appeared, Ye Zhibai instinctively snapped to full alertness.
Just in case she launched an unfair sneak attack!
What she feared even more was Yun’er showing up with a bag in hand.
That bag was stuffed to the brim with all sorts of divine artifacts—tools Yun’er had once used to shatter Ye Zhibai’s defenses, unleashing the floodgates like nobody’s business.
And right now…
Holy crap?!
She had actually brought the bag again!
Come on, Yun’er—this was broad daylight, and she had to head out soon! Surely Yun’er wouldn’t torment her right before she needed the stamina to walk!
Ye Zhiyun wasn’t quite that diabolical.
She strolled in grinning ear to ear, hefting a bag even larger than usual. She set it down on the floor, squatted in front of Ye Zhibai, and unzipped it.
Ye Zhibai craned her neck forward for a peek.
Wow… gold…!
Pfft, no golden legend here. Just a neat stack of folded clothes.
It was hard to make out the styles when they were folded like that.
But the cat ears and jingly bell perched on top? Impossible to miss.
These… weren’t these cosplay outfits?!
Ye Zhibai sensed where this was going and beat Yun’er to the punch, frowning preemptively. “Yun’er… I’m going to Comic-Con. I don’t want to wear any of this. Too flashy.”
“Eh? Ah… no, no, no! Sis, you’ve got it all wrong. You’d never need to wear these out! If anything, if you wanted to, I’d strongly object!”
“Hm?”
“Ehehe… Sis in cosplay mode… that’s something Yun’er wants to keep all to herself. No way I’d let others get a cheap peek~ You mentioned Comic-Con yesterday, and it jogged my memory. I hear tons of people wear cosplay there? I know sis’s personality—you’d never wear any.”
“Then what are these clothes for…?”
“These are for when sis gets home tonight… um… y’know… could you… maybe wear them for Yun’er to see? Ah! Of course, if sis doesn’t want to, that’s fine too. The custom-made outfits won’t go to waste, ’cause I can wear them for sis instead!”
“……”
