Pixiu

Once bitten, twice shy. This time, Shi Yu kept a close eye on Han He's movements.

This deskmate of his, whom he was gradually getting to know, always struck in unexpected ways. After one surprise attack, Shi Yu had become more vigilant. Who knew whether this guy would try it again?

Sure enough, even without a warning from Thought, Shi Yu managed to stop the little persimmon himself.

"Nice. You really do have talent."

Han He gave a rare smile, then picked up his phone.

"Thanks for the compliment, bro."

Shi Yu reached out and "plucked" the little persimmon from the air, then tossed it into his mouth.

He chewed the little persimmon, and its sweet-and-sour juice burst in his mouth, making him shiver at the sharpness.

That suddenly reminded Shi Yu of the "gifts" Liu Yiyi had given them.

"Oh, didn't Yiyi and Shen Bai give us a starter pack today? We haven't looked yet. Let's open it and see what's inside."

As he spoke, Shi Yu turned and ran into the inner room, carried out the package he had left on the bed, and began unpacking it on the living room floor.

The two of them gathered around the carrier bag and took out its contents one by one.

There were two small iron beasts, their bodies like tigers or leopards, their heads and tails like dragons. One had a single horn curving backward from its forehead, while the other had two horns on top of its head. Their coloring resembled both gold and jade.

They were clearly little beasts cast from iron, yet their eyes shone as though they held life. Even their fur had been worked in fine detail. The single-horned one sat peacefully, while the two-horned one struck a mighty pose, both vivid and lifelike.

"Pixiu."

Han He recognized the iron beasts before him, which looked ready to leap up at any moment.

"The Pixiu that attract wealth and ward off evil?"

Shi Yu knew little about this subject, but some novels he had read mentioned that Pixiu had mouths but no anuses, swallowing gold without letting it out, and were used to gather treasure and attract wealth.

Han He confirmed it, reaching out to carefully pick up the seated Pixiu as he said:

"In ancient times, Pixiu were also divided into single-horned and double-horned types. The single-horned ones were called 'Tianlu,' and the double-horned ones were called 'Bixie.'"

Shi Yu picked up the Bixie Pixiu too. It was unexpectedly heavy; most of the weight in the bag had come from these two Pixiu.

Shi Yu examined the Pixiu in his hands.

It had already looked exquisite from a distance, but up close, its craftsmanship seemed even more extraordinary.

Every pattern and texture on the Pixiu was rendered in the finest detail, its pose and expression displaying its majesty to the fullest. It was hard to imagine that this was merely a cast object.

"It's so beautiful..."

Even a layman like Shi Yu could appreciate the technical skill this iron beast demanded. It was hard to connect its creator with the seemingly carefree Liu Yiyi.

And besides...

Shi Yu stirred his Thought slightly, reaching toward the Pixiu.

Sure enough, it contained a formidable power. Merely probing it was enough to sense how vigorous the power attached to it was.

Beside him, Han He did much the same, raising the Tianlu Pixiu to his nose and sniffing it gently.

"So this is what Smelting smells like..."

Han He murmured to himself.

Watching Han He sniff away beside him, Shi Yu remembered how Han He had also said he could smell Evil Sin back then, and found it rather interesting.

"You can smell the power attached to objects? What do they smell like?"

Hearing Shi Yu's question, Han He glanced at him and said:

"I've only smelled a few kinds of power, but they do have different scents. This ability comes from Hunter."

As he spoke, Han He leaned over to Shi Yu and sniffed.

"Your power has a very peculiar smell, like damp water vapor mixed with all sorts of strange scents.

"Evil Sin mostly smells foul. It's very distinctive, and the stench is more or less the same.

"And Smelting smells like sulfur and smoke after burning. Dry."

Shi Yu was taken aback that Han He could actually describe the differences between the scents of various powers. His deskmate had a surprisingly large stock of descriptive words, like a professional fragrance evaluator. So much so that Shi Yu forgot Han He had just sniffed him.

"Damn... not bad, bro. Never would've guessed you had such a way with words."

As he spoke, Shi Yu clapped his hands to express his admiration.

Han He remained entirely composed in the face of Shi Yu's praise, merely picking up a stuffed toy that was clearly Shen Bai's handiwork.

Seeing that he was unmoved, Shi Yu stopped joking around, smacked his lips, and turned back to pick up a stuffed toy too.

There were two stuffed toys as well, but compared with Liu Yiyi's Pixiu, which were exquisite enough to qualify as works of art, Shen Bai's toys were unexpectedly a little... plain?

Plain wasn't quite the word. More precisely, they were too standard.

They were two little stuffed squirrels. One was pitch-black; if its button eyes hadn't reflected the light, Shi Yu wouldn't even have been able to find them.

The other was a standard brown squirrel with black stripes, its form smooth and natural, its large, fluffy tail curled up behind its rump. Both stuffed squirrels had fine, even stitching, without a single flaw to be found.

Though they were perfect too, they didn't feel lifelike. Instead, one look told you:

"Ah, a standard stuffed squirrel."

They were excessively standard, far too standard. No squirrel in nature was that standard.

Did he sew everyone squirrels because we're "Snow Cedar"? They're pretty cute... but why does that feel a little grim...

Shi Yu silently grumbled to himself while slowly covering the squirrel's adorable cheek with his hand.

Though he knew it had to contain the power of "Tailor," Shi Yu still wanted to feel it for himself.

But before Shi Yu could probe it, he saw that Han He had already raised his squirrel to his nose.

"Tailor smells very... meticulous? Like the smell of wood in an old workshop, but more lively."

Han He's "fragrance review" came as he sniffed, and Shi Yu finished sensing it as well.

This power was more sustained, like thread.

Shi Yu's impression was an intuition that surfaced in his mind, without any particular reason behind it, but that was Thought. That was how idealism worked.

Shi Yu and Han He looked at the animals on the floor and discussed it, deciding to put them somewhere suitable in the house.

After all, according to Shen Bai, they offered protection and screening, so they needed to be placed properly.

After putting away the Pixiu and stuffed squirrels, Shi Yu and Han He had nothing else to do. Each occupied himself with his phone, exchanging a few words now and then. Han He also launched occasional surprise attacks on Shi Yu with various fruits, and time soon passed.

Shi Yu looked at the completely dark sky outside and gently stroked the ring he had been keeping carefully on his person.

It was something Huang Daye had left behind.

Shi Yu couldn't accept Huang Daye's belongings with an easy mind. He felt guilty toward Huang Daye.

Shi Yu looked at Han He, who was sitting on the sofa, and took the rings out of his breast pocket as he said:

"Han He, let's go bury Huang Daye's rings tomorrow. That'll fulfill his last wish, too."

Han He looked at the two rings in Shi Yu's hand, fell silent for a moment, then nodded and said:

"All right. Where?"

Shi Yu turned to look at the small hill outside the window. He remembered a place.

"Up on the hill. I know a place Huang Daye would probably like."

Han He followed Shi Yu's gaze. The nearby hill outside the window had already merged with the pitch-black night.

"All right."