A black SUV was parked by the trash cans, and Liu Shuo’s ponytailed head poked out the window. Seeing her turn, his face lit up. “It really is you! I thought I recognized you from behind. I called twice, but you didn’t respond—I almost thought I was mistaken.”
Xu Ye marveled at how life worked. Despite living near Liu Shuo’s pet store, she’d never encountered him before, yet now she ran into him everywhere.
“You were calling me?” Xu Ye touched her non-existent mustache in disbelief.
Liu Shuo got out of the car, shivering as the wind hit him. “Yeah.”
Perhaps due to the cold, the word “Ye” quivered in his throat, changing its intonation slightly.[mfn]Tl’s note: This one’s pretty tricky, the Ye in Xu Ye 许椰 is close to the pronunciation of jué 爵, which basically means lord. I couldn’t be too sure, but i did my best.[/mfn]
Rubbing his hands together, he asked, “You work here? Are you heading home now?”
Xu Ye nodded. “Yes.”
“Hop in. I’m heading back to the pet store anyway. The roads are under construction—you won’t get a ride here.”
He opened the rear door, gesturing with a chivalrous “please.”
“Don’t worry, this is my personal car, and I haven’t transported any animals in it. The front mats are peeling, so only the back seat is available.”
Xu Ye didn’t hesitate, thanking him as she shut off the ride-hailing apps showing “No response.”
Compared to Liu Hao’s chaotic driving, Liu Shuo’s felt like riding a baby bus. He drove so cautiously that it bordered on excessive.
From her vantage point, Xu Ye could see Liu Shuo’s rolled-up sleeves, exposing the faded red scars on his hands—still prominent despite healing over time.
Her gaze lingered briefly before Liu Shuo, catching her glance in the rearview mirror, smiled apologetically. “Looks scary, huh? I’m used to rolling up my sleeves while driving. Otherwise, it feels like they’re restricting my hands.”
Xu Ye shook her head, stopping him from lowering his sleeves. “No, I was just casually looking. Don’t mind me.”
As they stopped at a red light, a cheerful child’s voice rang out:
“A little pug~ sitting at the door~”
“I’ve got a call to take,” Liu Shuo said, unfazed by his unique ringtone, pulling over to answer his phone.
His ringtone might have been amusing, but it suited a pet store owner like him.
Taking advantage of the pause, Xu Ye pulled out her phone to browse the forum, curious about new posts from the afternoon.
The system immediately sent her a notification:
[Congratulations! Your registration has exceeded 72 hours. You now have access to all forum posts.]
Xu Ye calculated backward. Did this mean she officially became a forum user at 7:30 p.m. on Friday?
She’d thought she’d registered on Saturday, so she wasn’t sure how the forum tracked time.
Perhaps the forum was installed on her phone the moment she encountered that black cat—possibly Huo Shuyan’s—on Friday night.
Shrugging off the timeline, she clicked into the dog section and scrolled through post after post, only to feel increasing despair.
The posts were listed chronologically, and most users were prolific posters. A social butterfly like Snowball alone could post over twenty times a day. Xu Ye’s fingers were cramping, but she still hadn’t scrolled back to Friday.
Previously, with her registration under three days old, the forum had only shown a few hundred posts. Now she realized that was just the volume of posts from a single day.”
Xu Ye’s gaze gradually turned resentful. She hadn’t even worked this hard when deleting her cringy, emo-era social media posts.
“Do you mind if I swing by A University to pick up Huo Shuyan? He’s at the campus gate,” Liu Shuo hung up his call and glanced back. “If you’re busy, I can drop you off first.”
The car interior was pitch black, and the glow from Xu Ye’s phone illuminated her gloomy face, giving her a rather eerie, otherworldly appearance.
“Xu Ye?” Liu Shuo waved a hand in front of her lifeless eyes.
Xu Ye locked her screen and tried to sound less dejected. “Nah, no biggie. Let’s go pick up junior Huo first.”
The A University wasn’t far from Fuli Mansion, picking up Huo Shuyan was just a minor detour.
As Liu Shuo turned onto the road toward A University, Xu Ye suddenly recalled something and asked, “Liu… brother, aren’t you and Huo junior in the same year?”
The two seemed about the same age, but according to Huo Shuyan, he was a fourth-year about to graduate, while Liu Shuo already owned a pet shop.
“No need to be formal, just call me by my name,” Liu Shuo fell silent for a moment before continuing, “We were in the same year, but he had some issues and took a two-year break.”
Xu Ye sensed it wasn’t her place to probe further and wisely refrained from asking what had happened.
She thought about asking Liu Shuo about the forum and its admin but hesitated and decided against it.
Liu Shuo didn’t elaborate further, instead suddenly saying, “Huo Shuyan is actually a really good guy.”
“Junior Huo is indeed a good person,” Xu Ye quickly agreed with the rather abrupt topic change.
Thinking of how Huo Shuyan and Liu Shuo had worked together to rescue stray cats, she added, “He’s a good man.”
Liu Shuo froze for a second and then burst into laughter. Xu Ye, puzzled by his reaction, leaned forward. “Did I say something wrong?”
Liu Shuo’s sense of humor seemed odd. He clutched his stomach, laughing so hard his body shook. Fortunately, they were stopped at a red light; otherwise, his baby-bus-level driving might have turned into a wild ride.
When the light turned green, Liu Shuo finally calmed down. He steadied his breathing, his lips curving into a grin. “No, you’re right. He really is a good man. My pet shop’s received a fair share of his donations. Don’t be fooled by his aloof demeanor; he’s got a very kind heart.”
Xu Ye nodded again in agreement. “True.”
They soon arrived at A University’s gate, where the kind-hearted Huo Shuyan stood under a tree with his hands tucked in his jacket pockets, exuding an effortlessly cool aura.
Nearby, several female students whispered to each other about him, and one even approached to give him something. He declined politely with a shake of his head.
Liu Shuo raised his chin, gesturing toward him. “Look, Mr. Nice Guy is charming the ladies again today.”
Huo Shuyan noticed the familiar SUV, opened the passenger door, and was about to get in when he locked eyes with Xu Ye, who was practically leaning over the passenger seat.
His previously relaxed posture stiffened immediately, and after a brief pause, he averted his gaze.
“Surprise!” Liu Shuo made a jazz-hand motion, grinning like a mischievous fox. “The front seat mat is broken. Hop in the back, my good-hearted bro!”
Huo Shuyan shot Liu Shuo a sidelong glance. “What’s with this new nickname?”
Liu Shuo didn’t answer and instead turned to Xu Ye, mouthing, “This is our secret.”
Huo Shuyan opened the other rear door, got in, and greeted politely, “Good evening, senior.”
Amused by Liu Shuo’s “good guy” comment earlier, Xu Ye struggled to suppress a smile and responded seriously, “Good… uh, good evening, junior.”
The car grew quiet after Huo Shuyan got in, with no one initiating conversation.
Xu Ye stared straight ahead, her peripheral vision frantically sneaking glances at Huo Shuyan, who sat primly with his hands on his knees like a model student.
Liu Shuo glanced at the two in the rearview mirror, barely holding back laughter. “Are you two being punished in my car?”
“Or rather, jointly sentenced to sit in silence?”
Hearing this, the two in the back simultaneously leaned an elbow against the window. Liu Shuo raised an eyebrow and let out a playful whistle that somehow didn’t sound inappropriate.
The awkward atmosphere was broken when Huo Shuyan received a phone call, which sounded like it was from his advisor or mentor.
The other two sensibly stayed quiet. Xu Ye opened her phone and discreetly returned to Cat and Dog Alliance to continue her unfinished task.
If she kept at it, she’d eventually reach posts from before Friday.
But just as she was about to resume, the cursed app seemed to reset itself after being locked. When Xu Ye reopened it, the page was flooded with only the newest posts.
Her earlier progress had been entirely in vain.
Utterly defeated, Xu Ye slumped forward and lightly knocked her head against the back of the passenger seat. Startled, Liu Shuo stole a glance at her and whispered, “What’s wrong?”
Xu Ye took a deep breath, sat back up, and whispered back, “Nothing…”
It wasn’t a big deal—just her post-scrolling mission ending in utter failure.
She regained her composure and was about to resume scrolling when her eyes landed on a new post.
[Someone save me, I’m about to drown… glug glug glug… right… glug glug… at the entrance of… glug glug… my neighborhood.]
Xu Ye: ???
Her attention was drawn to the series of “glug glug glug”. Thinking it was a joke post, she clicked in and read the replies, only to realize the original poster might genuinely be in trouble.
[2F: Where exactly near the entrance?! Say it clearly, I’ll bring my big sis to save you!]
[3F: OP, are you still there??]
So, cats and dogs could make forum posts by voice input instead of typing? Did all the “glug glug” represent sounds made while struggling in water?
Xu Ye scrolled nervously through the replies. The OP briefly surfaced again before disappearing:
[8F: Sew… glug glug… help… glug glug]
She caught the first syllable—maybe it fell into the sewer?
Huo Shuyan was still on the phone, and Liu Shuo was focused on driving.
After hesitating for a moment, Xu Ye said, “Liu Shuo, could you speed up a little? It’s kind of urgent.”
Huo Shuyan glanced over upon hearing this.
Liu Shuo didn’t know what prompted Xu Ye’s sudden urgency, but seeing her slightly anxious expression, he pressed down on the gas pedal.
As they neared the neighborhood entrance, Huo Shuyan’s gaze lingered on a spot beneath a streetlamp. “Stop the car.”
Author’s Notes:
David: A hundred days of hard work, and I’ll take the jungle role at KPL.[mfn]Tl’s note: The King Pro League (Chinese: 王者荣耀职业联赛, Traditional Chinese: 王者榮耀職業聯賽, commonly abbrivated as KPL) is the highest Honor of Kings league in China, run by Tencent Games. The tournament was launched in 2016 after Kings Champion Cup concluded.[/mfn]
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