Chapter 169 – Key (12)

◎ Strange Rumors ◎

Ting! A familiar little terminal fell to the ground.

Fang Zhixu’s eyes were blank, and a mouthful of water sprayed out: “Puff—!!”

Xu Xing couldn’t hide his thoughts either. Juice flowed down as his mouth opened wide. He was so shocked that his expression went blank: “Sister…”

Lin Youyou picked up the little terminal, shocked as if struck by lightning: “Song Ke’er? How did you become like this?”

Song “Chameleon” Ke, recognized by her companions, happily nodded and shook her head, as if saying, “Yes, it’s me. Unsatisfied?”

V587: “…” It’s hard to imagine a chameleon having such rich expressions.

They knew there were some issues with Song Ke’s DNA sequence, and they had witnessed her incredible combat power after gene fusion, like the hook snake before and the brown bear just now. But to turn from a pure human into a pure animal, far beyond the normal scientific understanding of humans!

Even the usually silent Su Cha couldn’t help but comment: “…not as good as the snake, at least the hook snake is fierce in a fight, and communication is not a problem.”

“Hey, Princess Zhuang, am I not dreaming…” Lin Youyou rambled, supporting her head and blurting out Zhuang Qingyan’s nickname: “She won’t be like this forever, right? You should have a way to change her back, right?”

Zhuang Qingyan’s face was cold, his eyes like dark stars. Upon closer inspection, his body was slightly stiff as he silently stared at the transformed Song Ke hanging from his finger.

The results of this genetic transformation were truly unexpected.

“Let’s pause for a moment. Are you sure you want to discuss this here?” Only Lu Xiaoyu among them remained calm.

Although it was midnight, the busy cleanup vehicles were still collecting crow corpses in the streets and alleys. Occasionally, awakeners passed by, casting suspicious glances at them lingering at the entrance of the City Defense Department.

“Let’s go back to the apartment,” Zhuang Qingyan said in a low voice.

Song Ke crawled 200 kilometers, already exhausted. Upon hearing this, she climbed into the pocket of Zhuang Qingyan’s shirt and lay down comfortably.

Zhuang Qingyan’s pupils slightly widened, staring at the conspicuous mud spots. Thinking of how Song Ke had climbed up his pants leg just now, not only his body but even his expression stiffened.

Lu Xiaoyu glanced at him, suddenly recalling that during their time in Liuponi, this princess’s cleanliness reached an unbearable level—he brought his own mattress to sleep, covered the swimming pool while swimming, and strictly prohibited the presence of any crawling animals within his field of vision.

Lu Xiaoyu’s lips curled slightly, and with a strange tone, he said, “Oh, my friend, why don’t you like lizards, they’re so cute…”

“Shut up.” Zhuang Qingyan’s expression was cold, glancing quickly at the sleeping Song Ke in his pocket, and squeezed out a voice from between his teeth: “Don’t make baseless speculations about my preferences.”

…

At two in the morning, Garden Apartments.

The sound of water splashing in the bathroom.

The mirror, steamed up by the hot vapor, reflected the blurry light on the upper body. The muscles were thin and tight, the shoulder and neck lines were smooth, and water droplets splashed along the graceful curve of the chin, quickly forming a small pool.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the showerhead abruptly stopped.

Zhuang Qingyan wiped his face and looked up. The temperature control panel showed “off”, and the tranquil moonlight shone through the window.

This style of not knocking, who else could it be?

He spoke to the empty outer room, helplessly saying, “Song Keke, don’t play around, let me take a bath first.”

Moist fingertips groped for a moment, and Zhuang Qingyan pressed the “on” button on the panel, and the sound of flowing water slowly began.

Two seconds later, click, like a circuit breaker tripping, the bathroom equipment was once again shut down.

Zhuang Qingyan’s wet and messy hair accentuated his handsome profile, and he sighed deeply. It seemed like this bath wouldn’t be a peaceful one.

He casually took off the towel, draped it loosely around his waist, and came out of the partitioned space, leaning against the sink at the back.

“Come out, let’s talk.”

As soon as the words fell, a greenish chameleon appeared out of nowhere. Its fleshy claws pressed on the temperature control panel, its belly bulging, looking quite angry.

Zhuang Qingyan couldn’t help but laugh.

Hook Snake, Wildcat, Brown Bear, Chameleon… the first batch of four unknown genes fully manifested.

Overall, the performance of the wildcat and brown bear was more stable, while the hook snake and chameleon showed a high degree of transformation, low activity, and the risk of solidification. It would be best to replace them as soon as possible. There were four days until the next wave experiment. During this period, Song Ke could only temporarily maintain her current state.

Seeing him lost in thought, Song Ke knocked on the sink discontentedly.

She clumsily operated the terminal, projecting a page that displayed the “World’s Cutest Species Ranking,” with the chameleon prominently placed at 17th.

Song Ke shook her tail, pointed heavily at the “cutest” category, then at the “17th place.” The meaning was obvious – she came to demand an explanation. Why did he call her an “ugly creature”?

Zhuang Qingyan awkwardly averted his gaze and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said you were ugly. Actually, looking at you closely…”

Confidently, Song Ke raised her spine, lifted her head, and her copper-bell-like eyes rolled.

Zhuang Qingyan chuckled softly, insincerely praising, “…you’re quite cute.”

He reached out with two long and beautiful fingers, gently rubbing Song Ke’s flat head. As he rubbed, the motion suddenly stopped without warning. Blame it on his excellent memory. He suddenly remembered a similar situation a long time ago in the research institute in Loak.

Zhuang Qingyan discreetly glanced at Song Ke, luckily she didn’t recall it.

“When the laboratory in Qianzhan City is restored, we’ll conduct reverse radiation tests to try to change back as soon as possible.”

“For these days, can you stay in the apartment?”

Song Ke laboriously clawed out: “Ok.”

Under the warm light, Zhuang Qingyan’s peach blossom eyes looked affectionately at the lizard.

He naturally picked up Song Ke, placed her in the sink, squeezed some foam, washed her toes, and then massaged the soft belly along the spine. He washed without distraction, without any whims or ulterior thoughts while facing a chameleon, purely focused on getting rid of the dirt.

Song Ke: “??”

Grandpa had said that no matter what happens, she should never let others help her bathe. Even if she turned into a lizard, probably, maybe, she still shouldn’t allow it, right?

A surge of heat instantly rushed to her head, and Song Ke blushed all over. Due to the intense shame, she struggled vigorously. Her tail flailed, splashing water, and Zhuang Qingyan subconsciously closed his eyes. He dared not increase the pressure in his hands and could only grope by feeling. Inadvertently, she managed to break free.

Song Ke, dizzy and disoriented, flew up and thudded! She hit Zhuang Qingyan’s abdominal muscles and slid down, panic in her eyes. She stumbled on top, leaving a few red marks, suddenly hooked onto something, and pulled downward.

The towel loosely fell to the ground, covering the small chameleon.

Zhuang Qingyan: “…”

Song Ke, who finally emerged from under the towel: “!!!!”

She froze for a second, her skin changing colors in red, orange, yellow, and green, and suddenly disappeared in place in a panic. Under the confusion, she dragged the towel along, creating a tent-like structure.

…

In the following three days, the Alliance’s situation was tumultuous, experiencing severe upheavals.

Due to the attack on Ye Zheng, the Northern Base showed a tough diplomatic stance. They launched a series of inquiries against the hidden manipulators such as Miao Ying, Baishen, and Tokushima. At one point, they even had a standoff, breaking the surface peace between the various districts and completely tearing apart the facade.

Representatives of Miao Ying and Baishen readily admitted their wrongdoing at the negotiating table, but refused to apologize. Only Tokushima played dumb, stubbornly refusing to admit being the “crocodile” and denying sending out the “rat” and the “cat.”

Miao Ying’s representative shouted hoarsely, “We won’t survive, and no one else will either. Let’s all perish together!!”

Baishen’s representative tearfully accused, “Look at this tornado, two-thirds of the city is destroyed. What choice do we have?”

Tokushima’s representative: “It’s their doing, and nothing to do with us!”

The diplomats of Miao Ying and Baishen next to Tokushima looked at him disdainfully: Well, traitor.

Tokushima could be so arrogant because their name wasn’t on the list of captives released. However, two days later, with the arrest of the smugglers and a confession letter from Lei Zhao breaking the deadlock, evidence of their heinous acts was clear. Tokushima was shocked and denounced Lei Zhao as a three-time traitor. Playing both sides, the negotiation table turned chaotic.

Chaos erupted between the B districts, with awakeners frequently engaged in battles.

Zhuang Qingyan had to get up early every day, and with Ye Zheng still not recovered and He Qiuhong’s trial approaching, the Awakener Department was leaderless. Entrusted by Ye Zheng, Zhuang Qingyan dealt with tasks such as eliminating the remaining crows, overseeing city construction, and diplomatic negotiations.

After three days of non-stop work, in the quiet early morning, Zhuang Qingyan pushed open the apartment door wearily, saying, “I’m back.”

The living room was brightly lit, with a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

Fang Zhixu was still not back from Ye Zheng’s place, while Su Cha silently lifted dumbbells for exercise.

Xu Xing held a pile of snacks, a small chameleon perched on his head, and the two were fully focused on watching Lu Xiaoyu’s technologically restored ancient civilization family ethics drama – “XX Temptation.”

“Why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes? And using her things?”

“Since you want to pursue excitement, you must follow through to the end~”

“…You’re quite naughty.”

On the screen, a man and a woman rolled into a ball, and robes scattered all over the floor.

Lin Youyou cleared her throat and, as the lively ending song started playing, sang out loud, “For all the pain of love~”

Xu Xing hummed along, and Song Ke’s tail swayed, clearly immersed in the scene.

Zhuang Qingyan looked at the scattered bathrobes on the screen, his eyelids twitching.

Song Ke turned her head and noticed him. Startled, she jumped in place, then hurriedly leaped onto the mechanical arm of Lu Xiaoyu beside them.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lu Xiaoyu tried to get some pocket money, “Generous captain, respected captain, I want to buy this, this, and also this.”

Song Ke’s paws stomped randomly, “m%buy!” and promptly disappeared from everyone’s view.

Zhuang Qingyan sighed, feeling mentally exhausted. Since the bathroom incident, Song Ke had been avoiding him for three days straight.

He sat down on the sofa, took off his glasses, and rubbed his temples. “Has any video leaked out recently?”

Lu Xiaoyu, in a good mood now, replied, “No, but there are strange rumors.”

The A-level mission guarding District B10, after the system’s judgment, credited V587 with a significant portion. The points successfully propelled them to the first place in the Northern Base and sixth in the entire Alliance. This mysterious team, rising out of nowhere, sparked a lot of speculation in the Star Network discussions due to their rare appearances.

“Everyone should check this out.” Lu Xiaoyu pulled up an image, covering the paused “XX Temptation.”

A brown bear, a steel six-armed giant, a poisonous snake, and a three-meter-tall ice and snow mage corresponded to Song Ke, Lu Xiaoyu, Su Cha, and Xu Xing, respectively. Even Lin Youyou was depicted as an eight-foot-tall man shrouded in mist with an unclear face.

“It’s a new manga called ‘Anecdotes of Awakeners.’ It’s said to faithfully recreate the scene of the assassination.”

The awakeners present at the scene were placed under a gag order that day, not allowed to reveal V587’s true identity. However, unable to resist the desire to share gossip, they invented various stories. Since there were no visual materials, they relied on storytelling, and each “informant” provided vastly different descriptions of V587. Rumors even included absurd claims like “All members of V587 are steel macho men who refuse interviews due to their ugly appearance.” This led to the creation of this ridiculous manga.

However, no one took it seriously, and Xu Xing was particularly pleased with his own image.

“Oh, by the way, Captain, I checked the terminal you picked up, and I found something interesting.”

Lu Xiaoyu, without any disguise at home, his ice-blue eyes gleaming brightly, infiltrated the terminal of Qing, bypassing ubiquitous surveillance in the data stream, and reconstructed the last communication before Qing’s death: “The information is currently in the hands of the District B magistrate and has not been made public yet.”

Everyone’s spirits lifted, and they looked up at the screen.

“Utopia, the former Central Court, is about to announce a new policy. A year from now, they will open a challenge to awakeners worldwide. Those selected will receive a pass and become legal residents of Utopia.”

Qualifying for residency through a challenge? What kind of approach is this?

Lin Youyou was puzzled, “What does this mean? They conspired against the world back then, and now they remember us? Slap us in the face and give us candy afterward?”

Su Cha coldly commented, “It’s insidious.”

“Agreed,” Lu Xiaoyu nodded. “I also find it strange, especially after the recent assassination attempt on Ye Zheng.”

Zhuang Qingyan lightly tapped his fingertips and smiled coldly, “It’s just a delaying tactic. Utopia has just risen, and many things need to be done. Now, the survival environment on the ground is harsh. If all districts unite to attack, this S-level city may not survive long enough for development and might face destruction.”

“Taking advantage of the chaos in District B, they throw out the bait of ‘boarding passes.’ It serves to sow discord and pacify.”

At such a time, Utopia releasing a new policy is like a blatant insinuation of hypocrisy: “Look, we haven’t abandoned you. As long as you pass the selection, you can live happily in Utopia.”

In the harsh background of the apocalypse, most people couldn’t resist such insinuations.

“Should we participate?” Lin Youyou asked for everyone’s opinion.

“In such matters, the captain should make the decision,” Zhuang Qingyan said casually.

「Investigate again, and report @」

The little terminal moved, and a line of text appeared.

Zhuang Qingyan, with quick eyes and deft hands, pulled out a shy and timid chameleon from a nearby pillow.

Song Ke started changing colors again.

“You guys chat first. I’ll have a ‘heart-to-heart’ talk with the captain.”

Zhuang Qingyan, carrying Song Ke, walked quickly into the bathroom and gently closed the door.

He lifted Song Ke in front of him, leisurely unbuttoning with one hand, slightly pulling down the neckline, revealing a large expanse of skin.

Song Ke’s eyes widened in surprise, wondering: What are you doing? What are you doing?!

Zhuang Qingyan lowered his voice, sounding aggrieved, “Don’t hide, just look, I don’t mind.”

His tired peach blossom eyes drooped slightly, appearing pitiful. “I’m showing you. Just remember to take responsibility. In the future, whether it’s Yin Xiao or Hei Xiao, don’t get involved with any of them.”

**TN

Yin Xiao or Hei Xiao – Silver Owl or Black Owl

XX Temptation – Temptation of Wife, a South Korean drama (2008). Chinese adaptation is called ‘Home Temptation’ (2011)

Plot. Lin Pinru is married to Hong Shixian. Hong Shixian later betrays her and has an affair with Ai Li, Lin Pinru’s best friend.

The Scene:

Married Hong Shixian is sleeping with his wife’s, Lin Pinru’s, best friend Ai Li. Ai Li took advantage of Hong Shixian’s family going out to do shameful things with Hong Shixian at home.

After finishing, she took a shower and then put on the clothes of Hong Shixian’s wife, Lin Pinru.

When Hong Shixian saw Ai Li, he asked, “Why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes?”

Ai Li stood up slowly, walked to Hong Shixian and replied, “Since you want to pursue excitement, then follow through to the end.”

So Hong Shixian said his Classic quote “You are so naughty”.

From then on, if netizens wanted to complain about someone being sexy, they would say “Why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes?”

Even if the clothes the other party wears are not sl*tty, as long as there is a sense of being sl*tty in words and actions, they will say “Why are you wearing Pinru’s clothes?”