Chapter 16

Then he fled, and the other gave chase—there was no escape even with wings. That way, Shi Bochuan's exercise volume would shoot up, and all his hormones would soar.

Perfectly achieving "rekindling passion for the White Moonlight."

But no matter how much he calculated, he never expected that Shi Bochuan was afraid of ghosts!

What kind of domineering CEO was afraid of ghosts? That totally went against his character setting!

The three people present each had their own breakdown, while Shen Qinghuai remained calm from start to finish. Using the dim light of the underground garage, he made out the ghost's face and asked uncertainly, "Are you the person from the restaurant last time?"

Shi Bochuan calmed down a little too. Pressed close against Shen Qinghuai, he looked over and realized it really was him. The person shouting "Boss" was his own employee.

No wonder he had appeared in his company's underground parking garage.

Still, he asked, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

Watching his boss desperately signal at him, Zhou Zeyang tried to interpret the gestures. "I... worked overtime?"

Shi Jihan panicked. What overtime? He was telling him to say, "I miss you even more."

And don't call him Boss, damn it! He'd blow his cover!

But Shi Bochuan had already made the logic work in his head. The fear had not yet faded from his eyes, but his approval was even stronger than before.

What a perfect employee! Not only could he promptly resolve his boss's private relationship troubles, he even worked overtime voluntarily without complaint.

But thinking about how his image had been utterly ruined in front of a subordinate, he still cared enough to ask, "Why did you paint your face so white and wear white clothes?"

Shen Qinghuai said, "Maybe it's his personal preference. It's already good enough that he's willing to wear clothes. Stop asking so many questions."

Then he helped Zhou Zeyang up from the ground and asked gently, "Are you okay? He didn't really hit you, did he?"

Still shaken, Zhou Zeyang stared at the fire extinguisher and slowly backed away to maintain a safe distance from Shi Bochuan. He shook his head. "He only gave me a shoulder throw. But it's fine. It didn't hurt."

000: [It's over, Host. Don't give him a workplace injury. We'd have to pay compensation for that.]

The moment he heard they might have to pay, Shi Jihan reacted. "Big brother, you hurt him. You should take him to the hospital. If there's really a problem, you'll have to cover the medical bills."

Zhou Zeyang waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no, no, there's really no need. I'm used to getting knocked around on the basketball court. This is just a minor injury."

"No, you should still get checked out. We'll take you there." Shen Qinghuai pulled him over and had him get into the car.

"Th-then, all right."

Shi Bochuan stared darkly at the hand resting on Zhou Zeyang's forearm.

[Ding, Malice Points +3]

Shi Jihan was somewhat delighted. How could there be an unexpected bonus like this?

He opened the front passenger door and got in.

He did not see his big brother's hand reaching out a beat too late.

Shi Bochuan silently withdrew his hand and was forced to sit beside Zhou Zeyang. The distance between them was so great that a delivery driver would have charged extra for an out-of-province shipment.

Zhou Zeyang sat restlessly. He could not understand why Shi Bochuan's gaze toward him was so complicated. Whenever Shen Qinghuai spoke to him, that look became even more complicated.

He had never found a hospital so adorable. The moment they arrived, he could hardly wait to get out of the car.

After the group gave him a simple examination, they found nothing wrong. He had not even scraped a bit of skin. Zhou Zeyang insisted that his family would come pick him up and sent the three of them away first.

On the way back, Shi Jihan looked at the Malice Points he had earned and lavishly praised himself. Shi Jihan, amazing! Even a fabricated White Moonlight can complete the mission perfectly!

000 scattered flowers over him with a little basket. Host, amazing!

Neither of them felt there was anything wrong with how the mission had been completed.

At the hospital.

Zhou Jingcheng searched the first floor with resentment radiating off him. Once he found Zhou Zeyang, he immediately launched into a barrage. "Zhou Zeyang, do you know what time it is? You went to the hospital in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Who did you fight with this time?"

When he saw Zhou Zeyang lift his face, his ranting program lagged for a moment. "Is employment in the Underworld really that bad now? Are ghosts working part-time as flour salesmen too?"

"...Is it really that white?" Zhou Zeyang wiped his face. "Did I choose the wrong shade?"

But with so many shades, how was he supposed to know which one to buy?

"White. Like flour tried to assassinate you." Watching him scrape a layer of plaster off his own face, Zhou Jingcheng frowned in disgust. "Let me wish you an early New Year. Scrape off a little less and you can still use it to make dumplings when you get home."

Zhou Zeyang pretended he was deaf and raised his hand. "Brother, I'm injured. Very, extremely, seriously injured."

Zhou Jingcheng looked at his completely unharmed younger brother. "So?"

"I'm not walking the dog tomorrow! You walk it!"

"..."

Zhou Jingcheng sat down beside him and gently tried to talk him through it. "Little brother, persistence is valuable. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?"

Zhou Zeyang instantly played dead.

It was past four in the morning, and Shi Jihan was still surfing the internet.

First, he calculated all his Malice Points and discovered that he had amassed the enormous fortune of 125.6. Then he recalled the housing listings from his previous life and realized he could buy a bathroom in the city center.

He was extremely satisfied with this result. "I can buy a toilet after just a few months! Once I finish the plots of all three books, I'll be living in a huge villa!"

000 said, If you can get back the shares your original parents left you from your big brother, you could buy several huge villas here.

Shi Jihan said, "Listen to yourself. I've still got more than a billion gold coins in my game account. Why don't you withdraw those and cash them out too?"

They were not even in the same dimension. How could that be calculated like that?

In short, he still had to work harder.

He felt that, given the system's way of issuing missions, the next one probably was not far off. He needed to make some preparations in advance.

"Got it. When you're pursuing someone, shouldn't you give them gifts? Summer's coming up, so I'll have the little actor give him a warm scarf."

What is the logical connection?

"Love is like fire, making your sweat pour down."

After saying that, Shi Jihan opened Pinduoduo and skillfully set the price range to zero through eleven yuan.

He could not be so extravagant with Shi Bochuan.

This money had to be spent on the cutting edge, such as ordering barbecue for himself as a late-night snack.

He specifically noted not to ring the doorbell. When the delivery rider arrived an hour later, he sneaked downstairs and opened the door to get his barbecue.

By then, the sky had already begun to brighten. He saw the silhouettes of several pedestrians passing in the distance.

"Up this early? Even chickens would have to switch to the night shift after seeing that."

000 said, Probably people walking their dogs early in the morning.

Shi Jihan thought of the dog paw in Zhou Jingcheng's profile picture. Chewing on a beef skewer, he asked indistinctly, "I remember Dianjia Bro lives nearby, right? Does he walk his dog every day too?"

Detected that the Host wishes to track the mission target's real-time location. Would you like to exchange Malice Points to activate it?

Shi Jihan was speechless. Wiping his hands, he said, "Activate it."

Let him see what Dianjia Bro had been up to lately.

Once the real-time location was activated, Shi Jihan discovered that Zhou Jingcheng really was awake. The little red dot was at a fountain plaza between several villa complexes, moving rapidly.

Clearly different from the other dog walkers.

Shi Jihan immediately became interested. "Why sleep? Let's go farm points off him."

Zhou Jingcheng was about to lose his mind.

He had held an international conference in the latter half of the night, listened to several hours of gibberish, and still had to provide specific solutions.

Not long after he lay down, Pizza launched himself at his face after building up momentum, providing him with the most special morning wake-up service.

—Covering his entire face in drool.

At that moment, he was tugging on the leash, trying to hold back the unusually excited Pizza. "Slow down... Don't run anymore!"

Pizza enthusiastically responded, "Werwerwerwerwerwerwer!!"

The barking made everyone turn to look.

"Oh wow, someone keeps a Beagle!"

"So our villa complex has people who can endure anything too."

"Big-eared screaming donkey, hahaha!"

Zhou Jingcheng silently pulled his black mask higher.

He had wanted to quietly pass through this stretch of road as though nothing had happened, but someone patted him from behind.

He turned around and met a pair of familiar eyes.

The moment Shi Jihan saw that it really was him, he immediately smiled. "So the dog you keep is a Beagle."

Then he squatted down, let Pizza sniff his hand, and gave him an intense round of petting. He squeezed his paws, then his ears. "Wow, so cute."

"You like him?" Zhou Jingcheng immediately came to his senses. His headache was gone, his feet were no longer tired, and without even asking, he stuffed the leash into Shi Jihan's hand. "Don't be polite. You hold this for now."

Shi Jihan said, "Huh? I, no! Wait! Wait, stop first—!"

Watching the two dog-shaped cannonballs shoot away in an instant, Zhou Jingcheng happily took out his phone and began snapping pictures.

Beagles really were more enjoyable when someone else was walking them.

Shi Jihan's cries drifted over the plaza. "Zhou Jingcheng! Make him stop, stop! I can't hold him!"

Zhou Jingcheng drawled, "Pizza, slow down."

"Tsk, look at that tail wagging. Don't fan him so hard that he catches a cold."

Chapter 16

Shi Jihan had been forced to run a thousand-meter fitness test early in the morning. He had only just stopped and had not even caught his breath when he saw Zhou Jingcheng sitting on a bench by the fountain, leisurely eating breakfast as the dawn light gave him a golden outline.

Thinking about how the barbecue he had ordered was still lying dead-eyed on the table while the culprit was comfortably eating a sandwich and drinking coffee, anger surged up in him.

Was this reasonable?

Shi Jihan fiercely raised his middle finger at Zhou Jingcheng's back.

Zhou Jingcheng happened to turn around, the food bag swinging an enticing arc in his hand. "Want breakfast? I bought you—"

His gaze landed on that glaring middle finger, and he narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

[Ding, Malice Points +2]

Shi Jihan reacted as if someone had pulled his shrimp vein. He swiftly extended his index finger, pinky, and thumb as well, saying with a straight face, "Rock horns. Don't you know the rock gesture?"

Zhou Jingcheng pressed his middle finger back down for him. "That one was unnecessary."