NHWSG chapter 76

Each of the monsters in this entire building had their own way of dealing with the Chinese New Year.

Xiong Xiangsong was even more honest than Xing Yingzhu when it came to hibernation. Since the beginning of winter, Sheng Zhao hadn’t seen him leave the house. Hu Huanyang seemed to have been stimulated since the last annual meeting. His livestream room had been on leave for a week, and there was hardly any New Year atmosphere recently.

Xing Yingzhu himself didn’t have the habit of celebrating the New Year, and his interest was lacking. He hadn’t even finished watching the New Year’s gala and had slept on Sheng Zhao’s lap for two or three naps.

After the clock struck midnight, Sheng Zhao stayed in the kitchen to make a phone call to Zhao Tong, giving New Year’s greetings to her and Liang Fu from afar. Then he hung up and received a 200 yuan red envelope from Zhao Tong on WeChat, and that’s how the New Year passed by in a daze.

After the New Year, as the weather gradually warmed up, Xing Yingzhu stayed awake longer, no longer turning his day and night upside down, and he relaxed his “guard” on Sheng Zhao a lot, occasionally letting him sit downstairs to work for a few hours.

This half-day work schedule continued until the beginning of Jingzhe(the awakening of the insects), when Xing Yingzhu’s physiological response finally returned to normal.

The first Sunday after Jingzhe happened to be a sunny day. Sheng Zhao wandered around the office downstairs, feeling bored. He had originally planned to do a major cleaning, but before he could pick up the broom, he received a call from the delivery man, saying that there was a package for him that had been left at the station and only discovered today during inventory.

Sheng Zhao stayed with Xing Yingzhu at home throughout the winter, rarely going out, almost isolated from the world. Even picking up deliveries was done by accumulating a pile and taking them all at once, so it was normal to miss one or two.

Usually, on rest days, none of the residents in the building would go out much, so Sheng Zhao decided to lock the door and go out to pick up the delivery.

The delivery station shared with the neighboring community, and it was only a ten-minute walk back and forth. Sheng Zhao leisurely went out to pick up the delivery and also bought ten yuan worth of strawberries from the old lady selling them at the entrance of the community.

To return to the small building from the delivery station, one had to pass through a narrow alleyway. With one hand holding the delivery box and the other picking up a strawberry to eat, Sheng Zhao had just crossed the alley when he inexplicably felt that something was off.

During this period, Xing Yingzhu occasionally exercised his “talents,” so Sheng Zhao had become more sensitive to those mysterious things that couldn’t be seen or touched.

He subconsciously slowed down his pace, swallowed the strawberry in his mouth with a gulp, and subconsciously looked around.

The weather was still sunny, with occasional cool breezes brushing by, and the leaves of evergreen shrubs rustled. At first glance, everything seemed normal.

Sheng Zhao furrowed his brows, unsure if the inexplicable unease he felt was just his imagination.

He walked a little further ahead, and suddenly, a realization dawned on him, causing him to abruptly stop and look towards the nearby trees.

—He found what was wrong.

The area was well-landscaped, and coupled with the fact that there were many monsters living in the building ahead, small animals often appeared nearby. Stray cats and dogs were common, and birds were also abundant. Almost every time he went out, he could see sparrows flying around, chirping.

But now, the chirping of those birds suddenly disappeared inexplicably, as if they had been wiped out of existence by a giant hand, leaving no trace behind.

Just after the end of the Insects Awaken season, the leaves on the roadside trees hadn’t fully grown out yet. Sheng Zhao glanced around and was astonished to find that those birds hadn’t disappeared; they were standing obediently on different branches, each one tucking its feathers and bowing its head, looking like motionless specimens.

This scene was extremely eerie, and Sheng Zhao was now extremely sensitive to these abnormal situations, fearing that something was wrong again. His heart immediately tightened, and he quickened his pace, thinking of going back to tell Xing Yingzhu about this.

However, before he even returned to the building, he witnessed another strange event.

—Across the street, he suddenly noticed a woman standing in front of the building, which was usually deserted except for deliveries and takeout.

Probably due to mingling with a group of monsters for a long time, Sheng Zhao’s trust in “humans” was very delicate now. At first glance, his first reaction was actually, “Is this a person?”

From his perspective, he could probably see the side of her face.

She was a young woman wearing a bright red windbreaker, with one hand in her pocket and long hair tied back behind her ears, revealing delicate features.

Sheng Zhao felt uneasy but couldn’t just ignore her and go home, so he silently encouraged himself and took a few steps forward.

The woman seemed to sense something and turned slightly, her eyes landing accurately on Sheng Zhao.

As their eyes met, Sheng Zhao inexplicably felt a sense of emptiness in his heart, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Whether it was due to her temperament or something else, the woman’s features were sharp, her eyes deep and piercing. With just one glance from her, Sheng Zhao felt like he had fallen into a bottomless icy pool, involuntarily shivering.

But soon, the woman lowered her eyes and smiled kindly.

“Are you from this building?” she asked.

Her voice was pleasant, not as clear as a young girl’s, but it had a different kind of gentleness. When she smiled, the oppressive feeling all over her body disappeared without a trace. Sheng Zhao slowly exhaled a breath of relief, only then realizing that there was a beautiful green bird perched on her shoulder.

“Uh… yes,” Sheng Zhao said, “Can I help you—”

“I’m here to see someone,” the woman said, “I heard there’s a capable person living on the seventh floor, so I came to meet them.”

Sheng Zhao found her words cryptic and thought she might be from some human sect. He smiled politely at the woman and brushed past her, swiping his card to enter the building, then stopped at the door apologetically and said, “You might have come to the wrong place. The resident on the seventh floor never sees anyone.”

The woman squinted her eyes slightly, tilted her head, and looked Sheng Zhao up and down before saying with a smile, “Are you his little friend?”

“Huh?” Sheng Zhao was slightly stunned.

The woman narrowed her eyes and said, “Your name is Sheng Zhao, right?”

This time, Sheng Zhao was completely stunned.

“How do you know?” Sheng Zhao asked.

The woman smiled mysteriously and said, “I know everything.”

After saying that, the woman casually patted Sheng Zhao’s wrist. Sheng Zhao suddenly felt a numbness on the back of his hand, and before he could react, the woman had already brushed past him and entered the building.

He exclaimed in surprise, intending to follow and stop her, but the woman had already entered the elevator ahead of him. She even kindly reached out to hold the elevator door, allowing him to catch up.

Filled with question marks, Sheng Zhao thought to himself, “This is really turning the tables.”

He followed the woman into the elevator in a daze, only realizing that something was wrong when it stopped on the seventh floor—Wait, I was supposed to stop her, why did I end up coming up with her?

Sheng Zhao’s heart was pounding, thinking that Xing Yingzhu never liked to see outsiders. He inexplicably let a woman in, and he didn’t know how Xing Yingzhu would deal with it later.

But as soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he suddenly realized that Xing Yingzhu’s door was wide open. He was sitting neatly on the sofa, the coffee table was clean, and there was even a chair placed opposite… It seemed like he was ready to receive guests.

Sheng Zhao looked at the woman beside him, then raised his head to look at Xing Yingzhu inside the room. In a daze, he felt like he had missed something. He had just gone out to pick up a delivery, but it seemed like the world had changed somehow.

“Come here,” Xing Yingzhu said in a deep voice.

Sheng Zhao’s legs were quicker than his brain. Hearing the command, he rushed past the woman, entering the door ahead.

Beside Xing Yingzhu, Sheng Zhao’s sense of security, which had been overdrawn, slowly began to return. He circled around from behind the sofa and sat beside Xing Yingzhu, cautiously glancing at the woman before leaning in to whisper to Xing Yingzhu.

“Who is that?” Sheng Zhao asked quietly.

Coincidentally, the woman entered the door without hesitation, seemingly hearing this whisper. She raised her head and smiled at him.

“A colleague.”

“An old enemy.”

The woman and Xing Yingzhu spoke simultaneously.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

I don’t understand, Sheng Zhao thought blankly.

“We were colleagues for a while, so it’s not wrong to call us old enemies,” the woman said. “When we were young, we were always full of vigor.”

“Who said we were always—” Xing Yingzhu retorted, “It’s you who’s young—”

“You were indeed full of vigor,” the woman interjected.

Xing Yingzhu: “…”

Sheng Zhao felt like he was witnessing something unbelievable. He thought to himself, who on earth is this person that even makes Xing Yingzhu lose a verbal sparring match?

He subconsciously glanced at the woman again, only to see her sitting across from Xing Yingzhu without a care, picking up a piece of candy from the coffee table.

And Xing Yingzhu, who usually had a bad temper, surprisingly didn’t retort but begrudgingly acquiesced, only wrinkling his brow slightly and leaning back on the sofa with an expression of disdain.

“What are you here for?” Xing Yingzhu asked impatiently. “Are you here to take something else away?”

At this point, Sheng Zhao finally connected the dots between the phrase “old enemy” and something else. He suddenly had a flash of insight, almost immediately realizing who this person was.

His mind raced, and he stood up abruptly, putting his arm in front of Xing Yingzhu with all the courage he could muster, and asked firmly, “Who… who are you?”

Xing Yingzhu: “…”

This silly kid!

The woman burst into laughter, clapped her hands, and glanced teasingly between Sheng Zhao and Xing Yingzhu.

“Yingzhu,” the woman teased. “Your little friend is quite protective of you.”

“My people naturally protect me,” Xing Yingzhu said irritably. “Are you jealous?”

Xing Yingzhu grabbed Sheng Zhao’s arm and pulled him back, reminding him in a low voice, “Sheng Zhao, don’t provoke her.”

Sheng Zhao’s gaze shifted between the two of them, and he belatedly realized—Xing Yingzhu might have called her an old enemy, but he didn’t seem to dislike her.

After all, he was usually easy to read. If he truly disliked someone, he wouldn’t even bother arguing with them.