My Roommate Was a Big Shot

The phone in the briefcase rang like a funeral bell, its every note striking Lin Fan's still-unsettled nerves in the deathly silent room. He practically scrambled over on all fours, trembling as he pulled out his phone. The unfamiliar local number on the screen seemed ominous now.

He took a deep breath, trying to ease the dryness in his throat and the frantic pounding of his heart, then pressed answer.

"Hello? Who's this?" His voice was still hoarse with shock.

A deliberately lowered, swaggering voice came from the other end. "You Lin Fan?"

Lin Fan's heart sank. "That's me. Who are you?"

"Heh, don't worry about who I am." The man on the other end sneered. "A few of us want to have a nice little 'chat' with you and that friend of yours at home who dresses in ancient clothes. You two were pretty cocky last night, huh?"

So it was those thugs! Not only had they given up, they'd tracked down his phone number too! A chill, like a venomous snake's gaze, crawled up his spine.

"What do you want?" Lin Fan tried to keep his voice steady, but a slight tremor gave him away.

"Nothing much," the other man said flippantly. "We're just a little short on cash lately, so we thought we'd borrow some from you. And while we're at it, we'd like to learn a thing or two from your friend who knows how to 'do magic tricks.'"

Learn a thing or two? Lin Fan sneered inwardly. This was obviously revenge and extortion!

"I don't have any money, and my friend doesn't know any magic tricks. You've got the wrong person." Lin Fan tried to refuse firmly.

"No money?" The other man's voice turned vicious. "Kid, don't push your luck! We know where you live and where you work! If you don't want to have an 'accident' outside your office tomorrow, or on your way home, you'd better do as you're told!"

The threat was completely blatant! Lin Fan's face went deathly pale. He wasn't afraid of getting hurt himself, but he was afraid of dragging the people around him into this—and even more afraid of what the "old ancestor" at home might do if provoked. The terror of the swordlight in those eyes was still fresh in his mind.

"You..."

"Listen up!" the other man cut him off, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Tonight at midnight, at the abandoned construction site behind the Residential Complex. Bring five thousand yuan, and bring your friend too! If you dare call the cops, or if you don't show up... Heh. You'll deal with the consequences!"

Then, without giving Lin Fan a chance to say another word, he hung up. Only the rapid busy signal remained.

Lin Fan stood frozen in place, phone in hand, his whole body cold.

Five thousand yuan... That was almost half a month's rent. Where was he supposed to get that much cash? And they wanted him to bring Tong Tian, too? Those guys had clearly set their sights on Tong Tian. They thought he was strange and wanted to use the opportunity to extort him—or worse.

What should he do? Call the police? They'd explicitly threatened him not to, and even if the police came and arrested these guys, there was no guarantee they wouldn't come after him again. They were like a festering thorn. Unless he dealt with them for good, they'd never leave him in peace.

Pay them? Leaving aside the fact that he didn't have the money, even if he did, a bottomless pit like this would never stop at one payment.

Not go? They already knew where he worked and lived. He might avoid them today, but he couldn't hide forever.

Despair and helplessness engulfed him like a rising tide. He was just an ordinary office drone. Faced with thugs like these, it seemed he had no third option besides giving in or going down with them.

He slumped into a chair and buried his hands in his hair, feeling more exhausted and insignificant than ever before. Why was the world always so harsh to the weak?

Just then, a calm, unruffled voice behind him broke the suffocating silence.

"What troubles you?"

Lin Fan jerked his head up. Tong Tian had finished meditating at some point and was watching him quietly. His eyes had returned to their usual depth, but the fleeting glimpse of swordlight from earlier was still burned into Lin Fan's mind. He could no longer look at him as if he were an ordinary person.

As he looked at Tong Tian, an absurd thought sparked to life in his despair, bubbling up beyond his control.

Maybe... maybe this 'roommate' really can solve the trouble I'm in?

He looked weak right now, but that swordlight in his eyes earlier... There was no way it had been a hallucination!

Lin Fan took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. He told Tong Tian everything about the thugs' call and how they'd been scared off the night before. He left nothing out, including their demand for five thousand yuan and the fact that they'd specifically asked to see Tong Tian.

"...That's what happened." When he finished, Lin Fan looked at Tong Tian nervously. "There are quite a few of them, and they're all thugs who'll do anything. Should we... call the police? Or... think of something else?"

He didn't dare come right out and ask, "Can you handle them?" Instead, he tried to hint at it.

Tong Tian's expression didn't change at all as he listened, as if he'd heard that the weather was nice rather than been told about an extortion threat. He didn't even ask what "call the police" meant. He merely raised an eyebrow and repeated two words:

"Ants."

The indifference and disdain in his voice were just like the night before.

Lin Fan: "..." All right. To this man, those guys really might be no different from ants by the roadside.

"Where did they arrange to meet?" Tong Tian asked.

"An abandoned construction site behind the Residential Complex. Midnight."

"Mm." Tong Tian nodded to show he understood, then fell silent and closed his eyes again, seemingly returning to his mysterious "meditation."

Watching how unconcerned he looked only made Lin Fan feel less certain. Was he confident he could handle this, or did he simply not care?

"Um... Brother Tong Tian, are we... going tonight?" Lin Fan asked tentatively.

"Going." Tong Tian didn't even open his eyes. He uttered just one word.

"Then... the money?"

"Unnecessary."

Those two brief words carried absolute confidence.

Looking at Tong Tian's calm profile, Lin Fan suddenly felt that he might... really have picked up an extraordinary big shot.

He was still anxious, but for some reason, seeing Tong Tian act like this miraculously eased some of the tension coiled inside him. A strange sense of trust began to take root.

Maybe I can get out of this without losing any money tonight?

Lin Fan spent the next several hours in a state of anxious anticipation, with a strange hint of excitement mixed in.

He prepared simple lunch and dinner as usual—instant noodles with a sausage. Tong Tian seemed to have grown used to them. He ate quickly, but no longer made any comments about "impure energy."

A few times, Lin Fan wanted to bring up the evening again, but whenever he saw Tong Tian meditating with an air that said "do not disturb," the words died on his lips.

He secretly watched Tong Tian, trying to find signs of a "big shot." But aside from his bearing, which seemed completely at odds with modern society, and the unnerving depths in his eyes whenever he opened them, he looked... like an especially handsome, especially quiet shut-in.

Time passed second by second. Outside, the sky darkened and the city lights came on.

At around eleven that night, Tong Tian finally ended his long meditation. He opened his eyes and rolled his stiff neck, producing a faint crackle from his bones.

"The appointed hour approaches." He looked at Lin Fan, his tone even.

Lin Fan's heart leaped into his throat. "Are we... really just going like this? Should we... bring something to defend ourselves?" He looked around the room. The only things he could find were a fruit knife and... a fairly heavy ashtray.

Tong Tian glanced at the fruit knife and ashtray in Lin Fan's hands. A trace of something almost imperceptible flickered in his eyes... Was it exasperation?

"Unnecessary." He said those two words again and headed for the door. "Lead the way."

Watching his tall, composed figure, Lin Fan gritted his teeth, put down his "weapons," and hurried after him. He'd chosen to trust him, so he might as well see it through!

The Residential Complex was especially quiet late at night. Only the streetlights cast their lonely pools of dim yellow light. The evening breeze carried a chill. Lin Fan followed close behind Tong Tian, his heart pounding unusually loudly in the silence.

After passing through several alleys, they reached the abandoned construction site. Several buildings consisting of nothing but concrete frames loomed in the darkness like giant skeletons, looking eerie and terrifying beneath the bleak moonlight.

A few pinpricks of red flickered at the entrance to the site. Cigarette butts.

When Lin Fan and Tong Tian appeared, several shadows immediately surrounded them. They were the same unpleasant faces from the night before—four of them, no more and no less. Their leader was a burly man with a buzz cut and a tattoo on his neck. He had a cigarette in his mouth and a vicious look in his eyes.

"Well, look who actually showed up!" The buzz-cut man exhaled a ring of smoke. "You know how to behave, kid!" His greedy gaze swept over Lin Fan and Tong Tian, lingering especially on Tong Tian's unusual bearing and handsome face. His eyes grew even more lecherous. "Where's the money? You bring enough?"

Lin Fan took a deep breath, stepped forward, and forced himself to speak. "I don't have any money. I suggest you leave now, and we can all go our separate ways."

"Leave?" The buzz-cut man laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. The thugs behind him joined in. "Fuck, are you messing with us? You got no money and still dared to come?"

His gaze shifted to Tong Tian, who had remained silent and expressionless. His tone grew even more threatening. "Looks like we'll have to make your 'friend' put on a little show for us—one of those 'magic tricks' he pulled last night!"

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Tong Tian's arm.

The instant his grimy fingers were about to touch the sleeve of Tong Tian's white T-shirt—

Tong Tian, who had been as silent as a background prop, finally moved.

He didn't dodge. He didn't block. He didn't even look at the buzz-cut man.

He simply raised his eyes.

Like an ancient god awakening, after countless years, to gaze upon the mortal world for the first time.

There was no earth-shattering aura, no dazzling spectacle.

But the instant his gaze swept across the buzz-cut man—

"Ugh—!"

The man let out a short, shrill scream that sounded less than human! His outstretched hand jerked back as if he'd been electrocuted. It was as though an invisible hammer had slammed into him. He stumbled backward several paces, the color draining from his face as his pupils shrank to pinpoints in abject terror!

He seemed to see not a pair of human eyes, but mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the collapse of stars, and ten thousand swords piercing his heart! An incomprehensible terror, rooted in the soul and beyond anything he could understand, swept over him like an icy tide!

His mouth gaped as he tried to scream, but no sound came out. He could only point helplessly at Tong Tian, trembling all over like a leaf. A wet patch quickly spread across the crotch of his pants, accompanied by a foul, reeking smell of urine.

The three thugs behind him were stunned by what had just happened.

"Boss!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"Fuck! What did you do to him?!"

They were both startled and furious. Though they had no idea what had happened, instinct made them turn their vicious glares toward the culprit—the long-haired man in ancient clothing, who still had no expression on his face.

One of them had the worst temper. Seeing their boss "ambushed," he roared, pulled a gleaming switchblade from the back of his waistband, and charged at Tong Tian!

"Fuck! Quit your creepy act! I'll stab you to death!"

The blade flashed coldly in the moonlight as it plunged toward Tong Tian's chest!

"Watch out!" Lin Fan cried, his soul nearly leaping out of his body.

Yet in the face of this deadly attack, Tong Tian didn't even lift an eyelid.

His gaze swept lightly across the charging thug with the knife, like an invisible Sword Domain.

"Thud!"

The thug's charge stopped dead, as if he'd run into an invisible wall. The switchblade clattered to the ground. His eyes rolled back, and without even a groan, he toppled straight forward and passed out, foam spilling from the corners of his mouth.

The two remaining thugs were completely dumbfounded.

They looked at their fallen boss, convulsing on the ground and out of his mind; at their companion, foaming at the mouth and seemingly dead or alive; and then at the man in ancient clothing, who hadn't moved a finger from beginning to end and seemed to have done nothing more than glance at them.

A bone-deep chill shot from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads!

What the fuck was this monster?! He could drive someone mad or knock them out with a look?!

Fear spread between them like a virus.

"G-Ghost...!"

"Run! Hurry!"

They no longer cared about loyalty or money. Letting out shrieks of terror that rose to a strangled pitch, they scrambled from the site like dogs with their tails between their legs. They wished their parents had given them two more legs. Within moments, they vanished into the darkness.

All that remained at the site was the buzz-cut man, slumped on the ground and dazed; the unconscious thug who'd wielded the knife; Tong Tian, standing there as casually as if he'd merely taken a stroll; and Lin Fan, staring in stunned silence, his mind all but shut down.

Only then did Tong Tian turn his gaze, calm and indifferent, toward the two "ants" on the ground, now unable to move.

He hadn't killed them. Not out of mercy, but out of disdain—and to avoid unnecessary trouble. He'd merely condensed a sliver of his own origin sword intent into a spiritual shock that struck directly at their souls and consciousness. To mortals with wills as weak as paper, it was an overwhelming attack on an entirely different level. The fact that they hadn't suffered complete mental collapse and turned into idiots was already the result of his exercising great restraint.

He looked at Lin Fan, his tone still even. "This matter is settled. Let us return."

Lin Fan turned his head stiffly and looked at Tong Tian's profile. In the moonlight, his face was so handsome he seemed otherworldly, yet it was also shrouded in mystery and authority. Lin Fan's throat bobbed as he swallowed with difficulty.

An unmistakable realization exploded in his mind like thunder—

My roommate...

Is a big shot!

A big shot who could drive thugs mad with a glare and resolve a crisis without lifting a finger...

A super big shot!

Every doubt and every bit of unease he'd felt vanished in that moment.

In their place came an indescribable shock, along with a faint hint of excitement that even he himself hadn't yet fully recognized.

He hurried to catch up with Tong Tian, looking at his tall, composed figure ahead of him and feeling safer than ever before.

The two remained silent on the way back.

But Lin Fan's state of mind had changed completely.

He looked at Tong Tian, his eyes filled with curiosity, awe, and countless questions.

Who was he?

Where had he come from?

Why did he have such unbelievable abilities?

Was having him stay by his side a blessing or a curse?

Countless questions swirled through Lin Fan's mind.

However, when he followed Tong Tian back to the familiar apartment building, a new discovery made him temporarily put aside all his questions.

Someone was leaning beside the mailbox at the foot of the stairwell.

It was a woman.

She wore a simple, elegant long dress. Her figure was slender, and her manner was gentle. Her features were indistinct in the dim light, but even her profile alone gave off a peaceful, comforting warmth—and an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

She seemed to have been standing there for a long time, gazing slightly upward at the night sky as if waiting for something.

As Lin Fan and Tong Tian drew near, she seemed to sense them and slowly turned around.

The light fell across her face, revealing breathtakingly delicate features and a tenderness that seemed to hold compassion for all living things. Her eyes were as pure as spring water, brimming with life and loving kindness.

Her gaze first fell on Lin Fan, taking him in with a hint of goodwill. Then it passed over him and landed directly on the person behind him... Tong Tian.

There was no surprise or shock in her eyes, only the relief and joy of someone who had finally found an old friend after crossing countless ages.

She gave Tong Tian a slight nod. Her lips parted, and in a voice as gentle and ethereal as a spirit's, she said something that nearly made Lin Fan's jaw hit the floor:

"Tongtian Shixiong, long time no see."