Chapter 25: “Feng Xun, if you like him, go after him…”
A moment of distraction.
When Feng Xun realized what he had been thinking, he quickly pulled his gaze away from the youth’s lips, but caught off guard, he found himself locking eyes with the youth once again.
In those bright, clear, emerald-green eyes, he saw his own reflection—stiff, eyes darting away, looking entirely unnatural, nothing like his usual self.
The youth, however, was as he always was: eyes clear and shining, frank and innocent, completely lacking any embarrassment or awkwardness over the overly intimate distance or the inexplicably romantic atmosphere. When their eyes met, Jian Tang even curled his eyes into a cute smile, as if genuinely happy for the tacit understanding of their eye contact.
The smile on his face was so pure, so bright.
—It was a smile without a single worldly thought, as innocent as a child’s.
Feng Xun suddenly remembered the question he had almost asked yesterday.
—Do you not understand what “Wife” actually implies?
There was no need to ask anymore.
Because it was clear: the other party didn’t understand. Not only did he not understand, he hadn’t even had a single stray thought. In comparison, Feng Xun, who had just experienced a moment of distraction and erotic desire, seemed the one with ulterior motives—dirty and sordid.
Feng Xun released his hand from the youth’s slender waist. With the “recharging” complete, Jian Tang stood up straight naturally, smiling at him full of vitality.
“Thanks, Wife!”
Jian Tang was very happy, feeling that his relationship with his wife had improved even more. “I’m completely better now!”
Feng Xun looked away, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he forcefully suppressed something. “Mm,” he said. “Let’s eat.”
“Okay, okay!”
Jian Tang followed Feng Xun like a happy little tail, joyfully trotting into the kitchen.
Seeing the four unrecognizable dishes on the counter, Feng Xun’s expression stiffened: I was too busy moving things earlier and forgot to order takeout.
“Wow! So fragrant!”
The person behind him rushed out first, circling the counter, looking left and right, his eyebrows dancing with joy. “Wife, you’re amazing! You actually made four dishes and a soup; how sumptuous!”
Feng Xun watched as the youth took the dishes and soup from the kitchen to the dining table one after another, then went to get two empty bowls for rice. Soon, a table of food was ready.
“…”
Jian Tang waited quite obediently for his wife to take his seat before picking up his chopsticks to start eating, one bite of rice and one bite of food, eating with great relish.
Last time they had dinner together, Feng Xun had noticed that the youth’s taste was a bit different from normal people, but last time, at least the food looked okay, even if the taste wasn’t. This time, even the basic presentation was gone, yet the other party wasn’t affected?
“Don’t you think,” he began, weighing his words, “these dishes look… a bit too abstract?”
“Hm?” Jian Tang looked up from his rice bowl, looking bewildered. “Do they? I don’t think so.”
“They are,” Feng Xun nodded. “They all look terrible; anyone who sees them would lose their appetite.”
“It’s alright,” Jian Tang looked at the food on the plates. “I’ve eaten worse-looking things. This food is much better than the trash in the trash can.”
Feng Xun: “?”
He couldn’t tell for a moment if this was a compliment or sarcasm.
Seeing his wife silent for a long while, Jian Tang assumed the other party was feeling sad because the food didn’t look good, so he comforted him.
“I really like eating what you make, Wife, truly! And food is meant for eating, not for looking at; no need to be so concerned about its appearance.”
Feng Xun was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, “What about other things?”
“Hm?”
“If it were something else, would you care about its appearance? For example…” he paused slightly, “a person’s appearance?”
Jian Tang was stunned. Not understanding why the topic had suddenly shifted to this, he shook his head in confusion. “I don’t look at faces, and I’ve never cared about a human’s appearance.”
After all, in the monster circle, there were all kinds of bizarre-looking species. If one judged preferences by faces, one wouldn’t be able to open their eyes any day—how could life go on?
“Even if you don’t care, there must be a type you relatively prefer, right?” Feng Xun asked. “What type of look do you like?”
“The cuter kind,” Jian Tang said without hesitation. “The kind without aggression, the?? (adorable) kind, the kind that can melt your heart in one glance.”
That was why, when he transformed, he had subconsciously leaned toward that type—it was his second form, after all; he definitely wanted to adjust his features to be more in line with his own aesthetic.
Feng Xun looked down, seeing his own face through the reflection on the table. Not cute, not adorable, and very aggressive.
“…”
Very well, not a single one matches.
The person opposite him started stuffing their face again, eating happily and sweetly. Feng Xun looked at the food in his bowl and felt less and less appetite.
The meal ended quickly. The two cleaned the kitchen together, then returned to the living room to start clearing the things moved back today. What Jian Tang didn’t say was that this was only a portion; a whole pile of stuff was still packed away in his space card. The reason he took these out was that he felt Feng Xun might be able to use some, and others could decorate their little home, so the room wouldn’t feel so empty.
“I don’t want them.” Feng Xun rejected Jian Tang’s kindness. “I don’t lack anything. Keep them for yourself, or give them to friends.”
“Oh… alright.”
Jian Tang didn’t try to persuade him further. After all, some people just don’t like using other people’s second-hand goods—even though the three World-Lords hadn’t used these things at all and they were brand new. Since his wife didn’t want them, he would just buy him better ones in the future.
“Ah, right!”
Jian Tang suddenly remembered something, reached into the waist bag he’d been carrying all day, and pulled out a small dark blue box.
“Wife, this is a little gift I bought especially for you.” He handed the box to Feng Xun, his eyes shining, filled with anticipation and a hint of trepidation. “Take a look, do you like it?”
Bought especially for him?
Feng Xun raised an eyebrow slightly, took the box, and opened it—it was a silver men’s brooch. The brooch was exquisitely crafted, shaped like a small vine, dotted with a few round little leaves on both sides; it was both delicate and cute, inlaid with several sparkling diamonds that dazzled under the lights.
Feng Xun stared at the brooch bought especially for him for a long time, then slowly closed the lid. “Thank you,” he said. “I like it very much.”
Jian Tang was relieved, his smile becoming even brighter: “Hehe, as long as you like it.”
Actually, he had a hidden motive. Monsters had a sense of territory; he had specially chosen a vine-shaped brooch, just feeling that: if his wife could wear this brooch, wouldn’t it be like placing a little mark on him? It was equivalent to secretly declaring to everyone: This human is mine! My human wife!
Hee hee, it’s a bit embarrassing to think about.
I really am a cunning little monster.
“I have one more thing for you!”
Jian Tang pulled a card from his pocket and stuffed it proudly into Feng Xun’s hand. Feng Xun looked down—it was a bank card.
Feng Xun: “?”
Jian Tang: “This is my salary card; I’m handing it over to you from now on!”
He had heard that many humans handed over their salary cards to their wives. But he didn’t have a human salary card, so he had to settle for a regular bank card first, and then he would convert his monthly salary into human currency and deposit it into the card. He had been worried before that the “salary” he could convert would be too little for his wife to spend, but he didn’t have to worry about that anymore. He immediately, generously handed over the “salary card.”
But the salary card he had just handed out was quickly stuffed back into his hand.
“I don’t need it,” Feng Xun said with some amusement. “You keep it for yourself.”
Jian Tang: “??”
How can there be a wife who doesn’t need a salary card? Jian Tang quickly said: “The salary card is meant to be handed over to the wife; I have no use for it.” He quickly stuffed it back into the other person’s hand. “You use it, you use it; feel free to use it.”
Feng Xun: “?”
Did this plane world have such a custom? How did he not know?
After a slight hesitation, Feng Xun accepted the bank card, then returned to his room. When he came out, he was also holding a bank card.
“This is my salary card. You take it and use it too.”
This card had just been handled for him by the school a couple of days ago. The salary hadn’t been deposited yet, but he had converted a portion of his local currency using System points and deposited a six-figure sum into it; it should be enough for his cohabiting cub to spend for a month.
Jian Tang: “?”
Jian Tang: “Only a wife can collect a salary card; I’m not a wife, I can’t accept it.”
Feng Xun: “?”
Feng Xun: “You can accept it.”
Feng Xun: “Remember what I said yesterday? Modern times emphasize relationship equality. I accepted your salary card, so you have to accept mine—this is called equality.”
Jian Tang: Ah? Is, is that so? Although it felt a bit strange, thinking that his wife wouldn’t lie to him, Jian Tang eventually accepted the card.
I’m just holding onto it; consider it me keeping the salary card for my wife. Anyway, I won’t use the money inside. Jian Tang thought.
I can convert other points for daily expenses. As an absolute ‘elder,’ how could I spend the money my cohabiting cub worked so hard for? Is that something a person with a conscience could do? Feng Xun thought.
The two exchanged smiles, accepted each other’s salary cards in a friendly (or hypocritical?) manner, and the matter came to a satisfactory end.
Afterward, the two worked together to clean up the living room quickly: a few decorations were placed in the house, while the majority of the stuff that couldn’t be used for the time being was taken to the basement—Jian Tang planned to study human second-hand platforms when he had time, sell them off, and give the money he earned to his wife as pocket money.
Returning from the basement, it was already quite late. Jian Tang was covered in sweat and went to the bathroom to take a shower, while Feng Xun returned to his room to find a secure place to store the two gifts he had received today—the brooch and the salary card.
Just as he put the things away, a blue System screen finally popped up before him, showing a call request.
[Call request from “He Mengxing.”]
He Mengxing, ranked fifth on the overall Tasker ranking, 627 consecutive years surviving in the supernatural world, one of Feng Xun’s few close friends, and also the only Tasker who knew Feng Xun’s real name and real appearance.
Initiating cross-plane communication required paying a high fee in points. The last time the other party called was to confirm if he had truly retired. Why was he suddenly sending a call request again this time?
Feng Xun frowned slightly and pressed the accept button.
“Hello, Mengxing,” Feng Xun asked straight to the point. “What happened?”
The person on the other side chuckled: “What, can’t I contact you if there’s nothing wrong? You heartless guy, you started playing missing after retirement, not a single message. Do you know how worried we were about you?”
“Too much bullshit. Hanging up.”
“Eh, eh, eh, wait!!” The other side shouted, both angry and amused. “Alright, alright, there is something, but it’s not really a big deal—just asking if things are peaceful over there.”
Catching the subtext, Feng Xun raised an eyebrow: “Why, is there an anomaly in the supernatural world?”
“You could say that…” He Mengxing’s tone became more serious. “I heard the ‘Abyssal Prison’ has opened again—no, it should be said that a layer suddenly opened. Don’t know if it was broken through by Evil Seeds from the inside, but the number of escaped Evil Seeds has indeed increased. I remember you mentioned last time that you encountered one right at your doorstep?”
Feng Xun frowned. This was indeed a situation worth paying attention to.
The Abyssal Prison was a special space specifically for confining Evil Seeds. Those Evil Seeds weren’t human, nor were they supernatural creatures; they were another kind of life form. Based on the data collected so far, most of the doomsdays in the planes were related to the invasion of Evil Seeds.
There had been situations where Evil Seeds escaped the prison before, and the System would continuously issue bounties with rich rewards, encouraging Taskers and supernatural creatures to kill the Evil Seeds. Now that Feng Xun had “retired,” he didn’t really want to manage these matters, but if those Evil Seeds ran to his doorstep to make trouble, he definitely wouldn’t sit idly by.
—If the Evil Seeds turn this place into a mess, how could he live his “plain and ordinary” normal human life?
“There’s one more thing, also a bit strange,” He Mengxing added.
“Ten SS-rank public dungeon difficulties suddenly dropped to S-rank. According to Taskers who have cleared those dungeons recently, the dungeon content basically hasn’t changed, but when it came to the final boss battle, the end-level BOSS either directly disappeared, or their strength was greatly reduced, as if they only had the strength of a projection, which is why the difficulty of the dungeon was lowered.”
“What?” This time, Feng Xun was truly surprised. “There’s such a thing? Did the System not provide an explanation?”
“No.” He Mengxing’s voice was also full of confusion. “Everyone has been discussing this recently, and some even tried to communicate with the System Main God, but didn’t receive a direct response, as if the other party tacitly agreed to the existence of this phenomenon.”
As everyone knew, end-level BOSSes of SS-rank public dungeons couldn’t leave the dungeons; this was the iron law set by the System. But now, the System itself had broken this iron law, making it hard not to speculate—
Did some major change happen in the supernatural world while everyone was unaware, forcing the System to make emergency adjustments, even if it contradicted the rules it had previously established?
Feng Xun pondered for a moment and said slowly.
“The whereabouts of the end-level BOSSes might be related to the anomalies in the Abyssal Prison.”
“Hm?” He Mengxing was clearly stunned. “How did you reach that conclusion?”
“No reason,” Feng Xun said. “Just intuition.”
Despite saying that, He Mengxing still attached great importance to Feng Xun’s words—the gold content of the “Number One Assassin” was right there; no reason was needed. A conclusion based on intuition was enough to be convincing.
“Interesting…” He Mengxing muttered to himself, the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was genuinely possible. “I’ll investigate in this direction later. If I discover any changes that are disadvantageous to us, I can prepare in advance.”
“Mm.”
Feng Xun was just about to say something more when a bright, youthful voice suddenly came from outside the door.
“I’m done with my shower! Wife, if you want to use the bathroom, you can come now!”
Jian Tang stood at the bathroom door, finished shouting, and walked clap, clap in his slippers back to his own bedroom.
Across the door, He Mengxing hadn’t heard the word “Wife” clearly, but he heard the keywords “finished showering” and “bathroom” very clearly, and was instantly shocked.
“Feng Xun, who was talking just now?” He almost suspected he was hallucinating. “How can there be an outsider in your Safe House? You actually bring people into your Safe House? Dammit! I haven’t even been in your Safe House!”
Feng Xun: “…”
Feng Xun: “Just a kid staying here temporarily.”
He Mengxing: “A kid? Don’t you hate kids the most? How old is he?”
Feng Xun: “Nineteen.”
He Mengxing almost spat: “The legal adult age for normal humans is eighteen, okay? Don’t tell me you don’t even know that! What kind of kid is nineteen!”
He suddenly paused, drawing a long, sharp intake of breath.
“Ah! I get it!” He Mengxing’s voice suddenly climbed an octave. “You let him live in your house, let him use your bathroom, and he even urged you to hurry up and shower… Dammit, dammit, dammit, Feng Xun, did you get married!! Did you!!”
Feng Xun: “…”
Feng Xun: “No, you’re thinking too much.”
He Mengxing: “Pull the other one; I don’t know you? With your conservative and rigid temperament, to be able to bring someone home and let the other person wash up and wait for you in the bedroom—isn’t this strictly something you would only dare to do after you got married? Good for you, kid, how long has it been, you actually got flash-married without a sound, and didn’t even tell us!”
Feng Xun: “…”
How did this guy manage to daydream so much messy stuff based on a single sentence?
“I said no means no,” Feng Xun said stiffly. “In my eyes, he is just a human cub, and I’m not a pedophile.”
“Please, what kind of cub is nineteen? In my native world, one can already get a marriage certificate at this age!”
“For me, he’s a cub.” Feng Xun said. “I’ve lived for over nine hundred years.”
He Mengxing chuckled: “You don’t understand this, do you?”
“If he were nineteen, and you were fifty-nine or sixty-nine, and you wanted to date him, I’d think you were a lecherous old bastard with malicious intent, delusional and shameless.”
“But he’s nineteen, and you’re nine hundred ninety-nine. If you want to date him, I’d shout ‘Go, brother! Long live the upbringing route!’ After all, with such a massive gap, age hasn’t been a problem for a long time, okay.”
Feng Xun was silent. After a long while, he spoke again.
“I really don’t have those thoughts about him.”
He Mengxing: “Cut the crap, just say if you like him or not. Get to the point, one word.”
This time, Feng Xun was silent for even longer.
“Indeed… I don’t dislike him.” After a moment, he said slowly, “But, it is not the kind of ‘liking’ you are talking about.”
He Mengxing instantly: “Let me move into your Safe House too.”
Feng Xun instantly: “No way.”
He Mengxing: “!!!”
He Mengxing: “Look! Look! The differential treatment is so obvious, and you still dare to say you have no thoughts?”
Feng Xun: “…”
“If you really can’t determine if he counts as a cub, I can help you identify it.” He Mengxing’s tone sounded righteous. “Come, send a photo over, let me see what the sister-in-law looks like.”
Feng Xun: “…”
Feng Xun: “Psycho. Hanging up.”
“Eh, eh, eh, wait!!” The other side shouted, “One last question! I’ll just ask one last question!”
Feng Xun stopped his hand from closing the call: “What question?”
“Feng Xun, are you actually married or not?”
Feng Xun was speechless: “Of course not.”
He Mengxing was puzzled: “Then why can he live in your Safe House? Are you two cohabiting without being married?”
Feng Xun stalled for a moment. Because he suddenly remembered—the tag the System had placed on Jian Tang was indeed “Cohabiting Spouse.” And the content of the System’s brainwashing for Jian Tang was also reflected in how Jian Tang addressed him—”Wife.”
So.
Could the initial positioning of their relationship by the System be… cohabiting without being married?
As the close friend who knew Feng Xun best, even if the other party hadn’t said anything, He Mengxing immediately interpreted the subtle meaning from the silent air: Feng Xun had hesitated.
This meant he had hit the nail on the head.
“…Ah? Is it really?” He Mengxing was extremely surprised. “No way? Cohabiting but not married—this doesn’t seem like your style… Wait, don’t tell me you haven’t even gotten the person yet? So you brought the person home first, planning to walk the path of ‘the drip of water penetrates the stone’ and ‘love develops with time’?”
The more He Mengxing said, the more he sounded like he was hating him for not being more ambitious: “No way, brother, how did you get to this point? If you like him, go after him! How long are you going to be so indecisive before you can…”
Slap, Feng Xun expressionlessly closed the dialogue box.
Three seconds later, the System pop-up window jumped out again, showing “He Mengxing is requesting a call.”
Feng Xun pressed “Decline” directly. Soon, the other party persisted and called again.
Decline again.
Called again.
Feng Xun directly enabled “Do Not Disturb” mode.
The world was finally quiet.
Feng Xun let out a long sigh, closed his eyes, and pinched his brow. Perhaps it was because He Mengxing had been too noisy tonight, but his voice was still echoing in his mind—
—Just say if you like him or not.
—You dare say you have no thoughts when things have reached this point?
—If you like him, go after him!
Brushing aside the various messy sounds and thoughts, behind the complex and intricate fog, watching him quietly from the most secret corner of his heart were a pair of clear and pure eyes.
So clear. So pure.
Untainted by vulgar worldly desires, nor filled with lingering romantic fantasies; under the gaze of such eyes, as innocent as a child’s, any ulterior motive was a contemptible offense and blasphemy.
Annoying.
Indescribably annoying.
The person who kept calling him “Wife” was him.
But the person who never truly regarded himself as a “Wife” was also him.
Feng Xun closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, deciding to take a shower to calm himself down. He turned around, jerked open the bedroom door, and collided with the sight of someone outside the door caught off guard.
“!”
Jian Tang was startled by the suddenly opened bedroom door, looking up in a daze at the gloomy-faced man. Not expecting the other party to be right outside his own door, Feng Xun was also startled for a moment, and then his heart jumped suddenly.
“You… you heard everything?”
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
