I Want to Take You to New York

Seven thirty in the morning.

Xi Nian stood before the mirror, watching his pupils change from catlike vertical slits back to the brown of an ordinary human's.

He tried holding a fresh bar of soap in his hand. No tentacles appeared to devour it like they had last night.

The devouring ability had finally disappeared.

Xi Nian breathed a sigh of relief. This unexpected incident had also given him a deeper understanding of his ability—the Lord of Kin.

Twelve hours.

If he directly exchanged bodily fluids with someone of the opposite sex, Xi Nian could possess that person's abilities for half a day. Compared to the previous four hours, the duration was a full three times longer.

Beside him, Little Huang, the sleepy Essence Devourer Cub, looked at Xi Nian in front of the mirror with a strange expression. In its unique senses, Xi Nian, who had become one of its kind, had changed back again, and it could not help feeling a little disappointed.

If I bite him again, could he become one of my kind again?

Little Huang was eager to try.

As though he had seen through its intentions, Xi Nian sternly warned, "Little Huang, you can't bite me whenever you feel like it anymore. Otherwise, you won't be allowed to eat for a whole day!"

"Meow~" Little Huang, in the form of a little orange cat, immediately drooped its ears and swished its tail listlessly.

His aunt had gone out.

Xi Nian lounged half-reclined on the living room sofa, bored yet oddly pleased.

Too much had happened these past few days. He still preferred this easy, ordinary life.

Whoever wanted to save the world could go do it. He was no superhero, anyway.

After lying around for a while, Xi Nian simply picked up his phone and started scrolling through Facebook.

If he had not checked, he would not have known. But once he did...

Forget being startled—Xi Nian was completely dumbfounded!

He had assumed that the discussions and hype would gradually die down after a day or two.

Instead, the Washington war zone incident from two days ago kept growing in popularity online. Related news coverage flooded the internet, vaguely reaching the astonishing level of nationwide discussion! Plenty of people had even taken screenshots from the footage of him fighting in women's clothing—mostly shots of his back—and turned them into all kinds of profile pictures, covers, and reaction memes!

Xi Nian held his breath as he stared at them, only letting it out after a long while. "Holy crap."

The only fortunate thing was that Xi Nian had not exposed his real identity that night. He had watched the footage circulating online and in news reports. Either it was too distant and blurry, or it only captured his back.

No one knew that the new superhero, the Silver-Haired Goddess, who had slain the monster Abomination, was actually an ordinary Chinese-American male high school student.

The only ones who knew the truth were Aunt Diana, Spider-Woman, and the already dead Abomination.

Still.

Seeing his cross-dressing photos plastered across every corner of the internet, Xi Nian nearly dug a hole through the sofa with his toes.

What did a full-scale social death scene look like? This was it!

Xi Nian quickly opened Twitter, the messaging platform he used most often online.

When he saw his classmates posting almost identical messages like "I want to be the sword held by the Silver-Haired Goddess" and "Public announcement: I'm a Silver-Haired Goddess fan," his last shred of hope was utterly crushed.

And what the hell was this classmate's post: "I want her to step on me"?

Even one of the male teachers who supervised their class had quietly changed his Twitter profile picture to a photo of Xi Nian in women's clothing, subtly expressing his admiration.

Xi Nian's lips twitched.

There was no saving it. This world was beyond saving!

Maybe he should start considering whether to destroy the world or move to another planet!

Xi Nian looked utterly dead inside.

Just then, a private message suddenly popped up on Twitter.

Xi Nian slumped on the sofa and opened it weakly.

Gwen: "What are you doing?"

Xi Nian: "Shutting myself off from the world."

Gwen: "???"

She quickly sent a second message. "Fine, I'm not mad at you anymore."

Xi Nian was speechless. He still did not know why she had been angry that morning.

Gwen: "But you have to promise me something!"

Xi Nian: "What is it?"

"Come to New York with me."

"New York?" Xi Nian froze.

Washington and New York were not that far apart. The straight-line distance was only three or four hundred kilometers, and with convenient transportation like trains and buses, it could take as little as three hours to get there.

But they were still different cities. Even if they were going shopping, surely they would not go that far?

Xi Nian: "Going there to buy something?"

Gwen: "Of course not! Did you forget? At the end of this semester, in January next year, our class will be organizing a group trip. The class advisor has already decided on New York as the destination. As class president, I want to take advantage of this break to go over there and plan the route and stuff."

Afraid that Xi Nian would refuse, Gwen hurriedly added, "You know, it's not very safe for a girl to go out alone..."

"Fine." Xi Nian agreed.

Gwen: "Then today it is. We'll meet at the train station at ten! The earlier we go, the earlier we get back!"

"Today?" Xi Nian frowned. He had thought Gwen would go after Christmas, but she had chosen to go before it.

Then again, that made sense. Christmas Day and the days after it were for family dinners, not long trips.

With that thought.

Xi Nian was about to get up from the sofa and prepare for the trip when another private message arrived on Twitter.

This time, it was not from Gwen.

Kara: "Good morning, Senior."

It was Kara Danvers, the junior he had added yesterday.

"Morning." Xi Nian replied, "Sorry, I forgot to give you an answer yesterday. I thought about it seriously. You're a very good girl, but I have absolutely no experience with dating or relationships, so I can't accept your confession."

Ding. The good person card had been issued.

Xi Nian inwardly relaxed, but before he could even put down his phone, another message came from her. "Then let's try going on a date!"

A date?

Xi Nian did not react in time.

Before he could reply, Kara's messages continued on Twitter. "How about today?"

The train station.

Xi Nian had a headache.

In front of him stood two girls facing each other. Naturally, they were Gwen and Kara.

Gwen was dressed as usual today in beige jeans, black knee-high boots, and a fitted hooded jacket. Beneath her dazzling short blonde hair, she looked both capable and possessed a rare coolness for a girl. In the words students at school often used, she was an incredibly badass, domineering older-sister type!

As for Kara.

At first glance, both Xi Nian and Gwen had nearly failed to recognize her.

Today, Kara was not wearing her usual black-rimmed glasses, nor had she tied up her hair. Her slightly wavy dark blonde hair fell over her shoulders and down her back, and when she slightly raised her head, it revealed a youthful, sweet face. She wore a pair of small white canvas shoes. Although she was still dressed in an utterly ordinary jacket and long pants without any extra effort put into her appearance, her natural beauty still made her an exceptionally youthful and pretty sweet-looking girl!

The two beautiful girls of entirely different styles standing together immediately drew the attention of many travelers in the station.

But when they saw the boy standing between the two girls, all the travelers quickly wore the same grief-stricken, indignant expressions.

What a sin!!