Chapter 23 Part 1

Zhu Ming blinked her meticulously made-up Carslan big eyes. “Don’t you like my loving breakfast? Even though it’s just microwave-heated fast food, I pressed the buttons with my own hands!”

Yun Zouchuan quickly shook her head. “No, no, it’s just… when you act like this, I find it terrifying, really strange.”

“How mean.” Zhu Ming giggled and poked her forehead, then twirled around, letting her skirt bloom like flower petals. “But I think this outfit looks pretty good. Don’t you?”

No, how could it not look good? The pure and pretty pink floral dress was a little old, but it perfectly complemented Zhu Ming’s fair skin. Today, she had her hair in a bun, wore makeup, and had a friendly smile on her face. It made her look several years younger, sunny and beautiful, and full of energy.

But… Yun Zouchuan looked at her warily, feeling like she’d been possessed by something. “It does look good, but this was never your style before.”

Zhu Ming clasped her hands together, bathed in the morning sunlight, smiling beatifically. “One must always try new things. It helps us embrace a brand new life faster.”

Yun Zouchuan sort of understood but not really, but Zhu Ming had already twirled away.

For the rest of the day, Yun Zouchuan suffered one shock after another. Not only did Zhu Ming start humming songs while cleaning, but even when weeding the little vegetable garden, she was overcome with sympathy and started comforting the weeds:

“Little weeds, it must hurt when I kill you, right? Don’t be afraid, once you’re dead, it won’t hurt anymore!”

Yun Zouchuan couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing Zhu Ming head into the kitchen to personally prepare lunch, she hastily packed her schoolbag, grabbed her letter, and ran out. “Boss, I was stuck in the instance a few days ago and missed several tutoring classes. I’m going to find my teachers to make up the work! And you… take care of yourself. If the kitchen explodes, remember to call 119.”

A stingy and violent boss might make you want to punch her, but a gentle and caring boss was even more unbearable.

For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Yun Zouchuan spent her time alone outside.

Communication with the outside world was impossible while in the Dark Realm Space, so she owed work for several tutoring classes. She was always very serious about her studies, so she contacted every teacher whose class she had missed, proactively explained she’d had an accident, and asked them for the assignments.

It wasn’t until nine in the evening that Yun Zouchuan finished all her make-up work. She sent the assignments to her teachers online and packed up two fast-food meals from a roadside stall to bring back.

She had absolutely no hope that Zhu Ming could make an edible meal. As long as she didn’t blow up the pot, that counted as improvement.

When she returned to the studio, only the streetlights were still on outside. The living room was dark, as if no one was there.

Yun Zouchuan found it a little strange. At this hour, Zhu Ming shouldn’t have gone to bed yet. She put the boxed meals on the table and went upstairs to find Zhu Ming. The door was shut.

Something was off.

Not just now; Zhu Ming had been acting strange all day.

Yun Zouchuan knocked on the door. “Boss, I brought you dinner. It’s on the table. Remember to eat if you get hungry.”

There was no real response from inside. Pressing her ear to the door, she could faintly hear the tremor of music. Yun Zouchuan decided to leave her be. After putting her schoolbag away, she went to the gym room to start exercising. But soon, she couldn’t help but glance at the ceiling.

The house was old, and sometimes water leaked from the upstairs. This position… the leak was coming from Zhu Ming’s bedroom!

As the boss, Zhu Ming naturally claimed the largest room in the small building. Remembering the things she’d done before, Yun Zouchuan huffily climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.

“Boss, Boss! Your floor is leaking!”

Still no response from inside. Yun Zouchuan tried the doorknob; luckily, it wasn’t locked.

She went straight in. The moment she opened the door, a wave of loud, bustling rock and roll music hit her, chaotic enough to scramble one’s brain. Yun Zouchuan turned off the stereo, looked left and right, and understood. The bathroom door wasn’t even shut.

They were both girls, so Yun Zouchuan didn’t think much of it. She went to the bathroom to call her.

Pushing the door open, she saw the bathtub filled to the brim with water, two wine bottles floating in it. Zhu Ming was lying inside in the same pink floral dress she’d worn during the day. Her body was slowly sliding down; when she moved, the water in the full tub sloshed over the edges.

Zhu Ming held a bottle of red wine, half-drunk, the other half probably spilled into the bathwater, which was why the water had a reddish tint. Several other bottles were scattered on the floor, both red and white. The smell in the bathroom was truly unpleasant.

Afraid her boss might drown and leave her with no one to pay her salary, Yun Zouchuan quickly dragged Zhu Ming out of the bathtub.

The water in the tub was ice cold. She knew Zhu Ming’s habits; a high body temperature wasn’t actually comfortable for her. Zhu Ming was heat-resistant but preferred cooler temperatures. She had a habit of adding ice cubes to her bathwater.

The woman who had been as quiet as a dead fish a moment ago suddenly came back to life, thrashing about wildly when touched. Yun Zouchuan’s dry clothes got soaked, and the soaking wet Zhu Ming was slippery. Yun Zouchuan had a hard time preventing her from sliding down again.

Who knew Zhu Ming would start acting out a drunken fit? She threw her arms around Yun Zouchuan, howling excitedly, emitting loud, bizarre tunes from her mouth. Yun Zouchuan was driven to exhaustion and nearly wanted to push her back into the bathtub and abandon her.

Finally, the woman stopped. Much of the bathwater had splashed out. Yun Zouchuan pulled the drain plug to let the water out. Zhu Ming clung to her neck, no longer caterwauling, but instead murmuring something unintelligible:

“Shh, A-Zou, do you hear it?”

After the water drained, Yun Zouchuan grabbed a bath towel and draped it over Zhu Ming to absorb the moisture. Buried under the large towel, Zhu Ming let out a low chuckle. “Crackle, crackle… Do you know what that sound is?”

Yun Zouchuan was exasperated. “Are you hallucinating again? Boss, whenever I asked what you were hearing before, you never told me. Now you’re asking me how would I know?”

Hearing this answer, Zhu Ming broke into a peal of laughter: “Ha ha ha ha!” She laughed with all her might, thoroughly and exhaustingly, until the sound abruptly ceased.

Zhu Ming closed her eyes, her body going limp, and fell asleep leaning against Yun Zouchuan.

…

The next morning, Yun Zouchuan looked warily towards the staircase, afraid that the boss coming down today would be as frightening as yesterday.

Thankfully, today’s boss seemed much more normal. Wearing slippers, a loose black T-shirt, and pants, she listlessly sat down on the sofa.

Or rather, lay down on the sofa. While playing on her phone, Zhu Ming instructed Yun Zouchuan to make her some oatmeal.

Yun Zouchuan breathed a sigh of relief.

But over the next few days, she slowly realized that Zhu Ming still didn’t seem quite normal.

She was too quiet, and too slovenly… Hmm, although the boss had always been lazy, she’d never been this listless before. She only seemed to have a slight interest in her phone, but not much of one. The phone was just a perfunctory toy; when she put it down, she would just stare blankly for long periods.

The boss no longer nitpicked at her and didn’t ask if she’d finished her homework. It was as if… she’d lost interest in everything—languid, dispirited.

When exactly did things start to go wrong?

It… it was when she’d been waiting for Zhu Ming at the foot of the instance mountain!

Yun Zouchuan remembered now. Before they split up to act, the boss had been fine. But after she came down the mountain, she was completely off. Zhu Ming’s expression had been very strange at the time, looking like she wanted to laugh but couldn’t, her eyes giving off an eerie feeling.

After that, they left the instance late at night and went straight to rest. When they woke up, Zhu Ming was acting hysterically abnormal.

Something must have happened before Zhu Ming descended the mountain, but she hadn’t been with her at the time and had no way of knowing what. Yun Zouchuan tried to pry, but Zhu Ming, watching cat and dog videos, casually dismissed it as nothing.

Left with no choice, Yun Zouchuan called someone.

“Sister A-Tu, help! My boss has gone crazy!”

A crisp, cheerful voice answered from the other end. “Is she dead yet?”

“Not yet.”

Wenren Tu then said, “Then what’s the rush? I’m not even rushing yet, wuwuwu—my girlfriend cheated on me, I don’t want to live anymore!”

Yun Zouchuan replied, “But it’s coming.”

Wenren Tu asked, “Huh?”

Yun Zouchuan looked at the woman sprawled on the sofa and sighed. “It’s like this. A few days ago, my boss suddenly changed into a different person. She not only put on makeup and dressed up but also wore a little floral dress. And then…”

After listening to Yun Zouchuan’s description, Wenren Tu was baffled. “There must be a reason, right?”

Yun Zouchuan said, “There definitely is, but I don’t know it. I almost forgot to tell you, the beginning of all this happened at a place called the Dark Realm Space…”

This time, Wenren Tu was exceptionally patient. After hearing Yun Zouchuan’s story, she suddenly became serious. “So you guys also entered the Dark Realm Space. It seems I have to make a trip there.”

“Sister A-Tu, you entered too?”

“Yeah, and not just me. A lot of people have.” Wenren Tu said, “The Management Bureau is investigating this. It’s very complicated and widespread. Wait for me at the studio; I’ll be right there. We’ll talk when I arrive.”

…

An hour later, the glass door of the Little Fire God Strange News Studio was shoved open with a whoosh.

“Zhu Ming! Your sister is here!”

A short-haired woman wearing a loose T-shirt with an exaggerated skull print strode in, bathed in light. A smile hung on her face. Her features were delicate yet heroic. Her short hair, cut to chin level, had a few streaks of blue-purple highlights. Her bangs were pinned up with a hairpin, revealing a smooth forehead. Each of her wrists was wrapped in a black, thick bracelet about the width of a finger.

The newcomer was none other than Wenren Tu, an intern at the Anomaly Management Bureau. Despite only being an intern, her Family Head, Wenren Bai, was the boss of the Management Bureau. The Wenren Family was the current leader in the Spirit Realm. If anyone was the most informed, it was the Wenrens.

Of course, above and beyond those identities, Wenren Tu held another very important one: Zhu Ming’s friend and partner in crime.

Coming here this time, besides asking about their experience in the Dark Realm Space, she also needed to check on her good sister. Wenren Tu was quite busy. She sat across from Zhu Ming and said, “Zhu Ming, let’s go to a bar.”

Zhu Ming glanced at her lazily and said nothing.