Chapter 54
Yu Zhi stared at Shang Yu with an indescribable expression. After a long silence, he finally spoke slowly, “Xiao Zuo didn’t tell you anything else?”
Shang Yu shook her head.
Yu Zhi: “He didn’t mention that he owes me money?”
“Owes you money?” Shang Yu froze, digging through her memory. She vaguely recalled Zuo Feiyang saying something about Yu Zhi and universal currency, but the details were fuzzy—it wasn’t her focus during their brief conversation.
Yu Zhi was quiet for a moment before explaining, “I have a tool that requires universal currency to activate. Back in the instance, Xiao Zuo promised to reimburse me—800 universal coins.”
He deliberately added, “I was referring to the universal currency rewarded for clearing the contamination source.”
Shang Yu suddenly realized why he had been asking earlier about whether the Special Operations Bureau offered rewards for clearing contamination sources.
So that’s what he meant! Not… whatever her mind had strayed to.
Her face turned red and pale in quick succession. Glancing at the bag of lubricants on the bed, she abruptly stood up, muttering as she walked out the door, “Zuo Feiyang’s clearance reward hasn’t been filed yet. I’ll go add your names now. The universal currency should be transferred to you soon.”
Yu Zhi called out after her, “Also, Xiao Ming and I saved Xiao Zuo’s life. Are there additional rewards for that?”
“There are! There are!” Shang Yu quickened her pace, not even glancing back as she fled the room.
Yu Zhi watched her nearly escape-like departure, lowering his gaze thoughtfully.
From Shang Yu’s reaction, it was clear Fu Suxi hadn’t clarified anything about their relationship.
Was it that he didn’t have time to explain, or he simply didn’t want to?
Yu Zhi moved his fingers slightly, causing the plastic bag to crinkle. His gaze shifted to the scrolling live-stream comments.
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” reminds you that someone used the same items on you while you were unconscious and hopes you’ll retaliate in kind.]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” encourages you to use the item.]
[User “Momo” hopes you’ll finish the hidden task soon and tips you 20 universal coins.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” announces their intention to report you angrily before rage-quitting the live-stream.]
[User “Romantic Tale of Rebirth” expresses nostalgia for the item in your possession.]
“….”
Yu Zhi glanced at the lubricants in the bag again. He didn’t believe the comments’ claim that Fu Suxi had used these items on him, but he was genuinely curious.
Having never been in a relationship, Yu Zhi naturally hadn’t had the opportunity to use such items before.
He spent a moment reading the flavors and usage instructions on the bottles before stashing the entire bag into his [My Items] inventory.
Why waste it? Who knows, it might come in handy someday.
Even if he couldn’t use it himself, he could sell it to someone who needed it.
As if sensing his thoughts, the semi-transparent system interface automatically displayed the item’s details.
[Item: A Bag of Intimate Lubricants]
[Function: …]
[Description: Home alone, feeling lonely? (wink)(wink) Experience fiery passion and uninhibited pleasure. Endless possibilities await. 24/7 availability, ready for use anytime.]
Yu Zhi: “…”
He closed his eyes, intending to sleep again.
—
A two-story-tall black cockroach crouched silently in the shadow of an office building. Detecting its prey approaching, it adjusted its direction, its scythe-like mouthparts moving closer to the road.
The next moment, a cold flash streaked through the air.
Splurt!
The massive cockroach split in two, yellow-green goo raining down like a torrential storm. Its bisected body landed on the ground with a heavy thud.
[You have completed the instance: The Temptation of Roaches.]
[Reward: 500 universal coins.]
From a third-story window of the office building, a man in a black jacket retracted his long blade, gazing down at the cockroach’s corpse.
Suddenly, a phone rang in the empty office behind him.
~You accompany me in singing love songs, watching the most beautiful fireworks…~
The man followed the sound, picked up the phone, and put it on speaker. “I’ve sent the internal mole’s remains to you.”
On the other end, Ji Yangqiu paused. “Remains?”
Fu Suxi rummaged through a desk drawer and pulled out a packet of wet wipes. “Not much left, but enough for your purposes.”
Ji Yangqiu’s rapid-fire questions shot out like bullets. “Who was the mole? How did you know I needed the body? How much do I need? Is this your new ability? How did you find them so quickly? You’ve only been in S City for a day, haven’t you?”
Fu Suxi didn’t answer any of his questions. Instead, he tore open a wipe and cleaned off the cockroach goo that had splattered onto his clothes, then asked, “Does HQ have any items that can bind two people together?”
Ji Yangqiu’s rapid questioning paused, his voice turning incredulous. “You found Yu Ling-Yi? How did you find the mole and him so quickly? Are you hiding some new ability from me?”
Ignoring his tone, Fu Suxi sneered. “If I had what I needed, would I bother asking you?”
Ji Yangqiu, catching the unspoken insult, replied reluctantly, “Maybe you’re just trying to mooch something off me. Anyway, what’s Yu Ling-Yi’s status now?”
Still not answering, Fu Suxi said coldly, “The cockroaches from H City have reached J City.”
“What—!” Ji Yangqiu’s tone turned sharp, all levity gone. “Wait, wasn’t the cockroach contamination source in H City already cleared? How did it spread to J City so quickly?”
Fu Suxi casually threw a wet wipe into the trash can, his expression indifferent. “Your pollution-clearing is too slow.” He cursed under his breath, “Damn cockroach bastards—they just keep breeding and running. Right now, we don’t even have enough manpower. I can only warn the other branches to stay alert. In these circumstances, saving however many people we can is better than nothing.” He paused. “How about S City? Have you given the order?”
“Hello? Hello? Hey, hey, hey! Goddammit, Fu Suxi! You might as well have just hung up on me—”
—
S City Special Operations Bureau
In the following days, Yu Zhi received no news from Fu Suxi. Life was rather pleasant in his absence—he spent his days recuperating, eating, undergoing medical examinations, and occasionally completing tasks to eliminate aberrant entities.
On the seventh day of his recovery, Dr. Qi walked into the room carrying a thick stack of reports. He strode straight up to Yu Zhi and said, “Your physical examinations are basically done.”
Yu Zhi, seated in a chair, let out a simple “Oh” and lowered his head to look at a large ant that had been lured over to the table by a stray grain of rice.
Dr. Qi examined his injuries. Aside from the severe bite wound on Yu Zhi’s right hand, all the minor cuts and scratches had finally healed—though this was only thanks to the daily healing powers the doctor had applied. Even ordinary people wouldn’t take this long to heal small wounds, let alone someone with a constitution beyond that of a normal human, like a gifted individual.
Dr. Qi glanced at the reports again and frowned. “Your wound-healing is worse than the cafeteria lady’s. Has it always been like this?”
Yu Zhi shook his head lazily. “It was a bit slow before, but not as bad as now.”
Dr. Qi pressed on, “When did it start getting this severe?”
Yu Zhi thought for a moment. “Probably since the system appeared.”
Hearing this, Dr. Qi fell silent. The appearance of the system and its tasks had drastically impacted the entire world, with no clear explanation so far.
He knew that after the system’s emergence, more and more people awakened abilities, which meant many were becoming physically stronger and mentally more resilient—a positive outcome. There had been no official research identifying negative side effects yet, but slowed wound healing as a side effect couldn’t be ruled out.
Yu Zhi lowered his gaze and crushed the ant that had crawled onto his fingertip. A line of text popped up on the system’s interface:
[Main Mission 3 for the day completed: Love My Homeland (9/10)]
[Reward: 50 Universal Coins]
After waiting a moment without Dr. Qi saying anything more, Yu Zhi drawled, “Is there something wrong with my body?”
Dr. Qi nodded, then shook his head. “You have long-term malnutrition, but not severe enough to cause this issue. There must be another reason your wounds are healing so slowly.”
He couldn’t help but look Yu Zhi over again.
Yu Zhi wore the Operations Bureau’s T-shirt and work pants. The loose clothing revealed a lean, wiry build—not the weak kind of thin that comes from malnutrition, but rather a lithe, athletic kind of slimness. His shoulders were of moderate width, and his arms had clear, defined lines. When a breeze lifted the hem of his T-shirt slightly, one could faintly see a layer of toned abdominal muscle.
Inwardly, Dr. Qi grumbled to himself. Over these past few days, Yu Zhi had been eating three or four bowls of rice at every meal—actually eating more than that big guy Lin Xiangyuan.
If he hadn’t run multiple tests, Dr. Qi would never have believed Yu Zhi was malnourished.
“I’ve also checked your blood clotting ability; there’s nothing wrong with it. A few researchers and I have discussed it over the past few days, and we suspect two possibilities right now. One: your body rejects healing-type abilities, so such powers have very little effect on you. Two: your body has developed some form of drug resistance, so medications also have poor efficacy on you.”
He paused and continued, “Most of the ability users in the bureau have been extremely busy lately. We can only start by testing for drug resistance, but that will take quite a while—”
Yu Zhi interrupted, “No need for all that trouble. One or two months is too long.”
Hearing this, Dr. Qi was taken aback. “You’ve had drug-resistance tests done before?”
Yu Zhi nodded. “Some, yes.”
Dr. Qi wanted to persuade him further, but at that moment, the door to the room suddenly opened.
“Brother Yu!” came Lu Liming’s excited voice. Yu Zhi turned his head and almost failed to recognize him at first glance. It wasn’t that Lu Liming’s face had changed, but his dreadlocks were gone. Now his hair was tied half-up in a wolf-tail style. As he entered, the small tuft of hair swayed slightly, giving him the look of a carefree young lord.
Lu Liming bounded over in a few steps, slinging an arm around Yu Zhi’s shoulders and chattering away, “I’ve finally gotten to see you! You have no idea how I’ve been cooped up in the observation room these days—it’s enough to drive a person nuts. They wouldn’t let me play games or read books. Occasionally someone would talk to me, but it was always the same old stuff. I felt I was basically fine yesterday, but they just wouldn’t let me out. Hey, Brother Yu, how come your wounds still aren’t healed yet? Are these new injuries from the last few days…?”
Yu Zhi gave a couple of perfunctory responses, then looked past him at Zuo Feiyang.
Zuo Feiyang hadn’t changed much, except for a pair of glasses perched on his nose, which made him look a bit more refined.
Seeing those glasses, Yu Zhi couldn’t help but remember a certain impeccably dressed beast in human clothing who also wore non-prescription glasses. Immediately, he asked, “Has Minister Yu returned?”
Zuo Feiyang froze for a moment. “I’m not sure. Xiao Ming and I just got out of the observation room. Old Shang told us to go with you to get a mental power check-up to see if we’ve fully recovered.”
Yu Zhi was puzzled. “You were allowed out of the observation room without being fully recovered?”
Zuo Feiyang nodded and explained, “Only those with severe mental contamination need isolation and treatment in the observation room. If it’s mild, you can just get regular therapy in the treatment room.”
Yu Zhi pressed on, “What if you don’t do the therapy at all? Is that okay?”
Zuo Feiyang hummed in affirmation, “Mild mental contamination can be nursed back to health naturally.”
Yu Zhi nodded and followed them out, pondering what excuse he could use to slip away from the Special Operations Bureau with Xiao Ming in tow.
Dr. Qi and Zuo Feiyang led the way at the front, while Yu Zhi and Lu Liming trailed behind.
Suddenly, Lu Liming leaned close to Yu Zhi’s ear and whispered mysteriously, “Brother Yu, I’ve got it all figured out.”
Yu Zhi looked blank. “Figured out what?”
Lu Liming waggled his eyebrows and gave him a thumbs-up. “Brother Yu, you’re a really good actor. After all we’ve been through together, you don’t have to hide it from me anymore, right?”
Yu Zhi knew he must have come up with some wild theory again. “What do you mean?”
Lu Liming muttered under his breath, “It’s about you and that new Minister Yu from B City. I heard people say you two are brothers fooling around. But you don’t have any brothers, and now you call him ‘Yu You’—so ‘Yu You’ must be your new alias.”
“I also heard that day you even ran away in front of everyone, and Minister Yu chased after you. You must have deliberately run into a crowded place. This was all a show you two put on: you run, he chases.”
“Not bad, you get it.” Yu Zhi gave him a slightly surprised look. With the change in hairstyle, had Lu Liming gotten smarter?
But just after he praised him, Lu Liming declared firmly:
“You did it all for the pollution source, right?”
Yu Zhi: “…No.”
Lu Liming stared at him for two seconds and sighed, “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word to anyone.”
He assumed that an operation involving the pollution source was top secret. Even if he had guessed it all, Brother Yu wouldn’t admit it. Thinking this, he added, “It’s enough that we both know.”
Yu Zhi: “………”
He opened his mouth, intending to tell Xiao Ming that Minister Yu was actually Fu Suxi, but by then they’d been whispering for quite a while. Up ahead, Dr. Qi and Zuo Feiyang had stopped and turned around to look at them. Yu Zhi could only swallow his words.
The mental power testing was on the third underground level, handled by researchers. Dr. Qi didn’t go with them this time, leaving Zuo Feiyang to lead the way alone.
After turning a corner, they ran into several ability users who greeted Zuo Feiyang, calling him “Brother Zuo.” When these strangers saw Yu Zhi and Lu Liming at Zuo Feiyang’s side, they showed no unusual reaction, just smiling and asking, “Are these new recruits in your team?”
Zuo Feiyang gave a couple of vague acknowledgments and hurried on.
Once they were some distance away, he slowed down and said hesitantly to Yu Zhi, “Brother Yu, about you and… and Minister Yu, Old Shang has already told everyone who saw what happened that day not to spread it around. There have also been a lot of new recruits lately who don’t know you.”
Yu Zhi nodded nonchalantly. The little performance he put on that day was to seize the initiative in Fu Suxi’s territory. After all, this was Fu Suxi’s domain, and he could frame Yu Zhi as anyone he wanted. Yu Zhi had to act first to prevent being at a disadvantage.
On the other hand, he’d also genuinely feared that Fu Suxi would kill him. He figured if he was going to die anyway, he might as well cause some trouble, since a dead man didn’t need to worry about saving face.
Now, he was alive and well, Xiao Ming’s mental pollution had almost cleared up, and the gossip had been stifled—this was all to Yu Zhi’s benefit.
At that thought, his eyelid suddenly twitched.
Wait a second… This was good for him, and Fu Suxi would definitely realize it. Fu Suxi had tried repeatedly to kill him that day, so why hadn’t he done anything else since?
Fu Suxi was shameless, but also petty. He wouldn’t just let this go.
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Yu Zhi asked Zuo Feiyang, “Did Yu—Minister Yu leave any word before he left?”
Zuo Feiyang thought for a moment. “Old Shang didn’t tell me anything, probably—” Suddenly, he fell silent.
Yu Zhi looked up nonchalantly and stopped dead in his tracks.
Fu Suxi was back. He was standing at the door to the testing chamber, smoking a cigarette. He leaned against the wall at a slant, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing a stretch of strong, well-defined muscle. The movement of his smoking made the musculature stand out even more. Between his knuckles, the cigarette’s red ember glowed faintly. Pale smoke drifted out, mixed with a pungent smell of blood.
“Why’d you stop?” Lu Liming took a step forward, and upon seeing Fu Suxi, his eyes widened. He raised his voice by several octaves, “Fu—”
Yu Zhi instantly clapped a hand over Lu Liming’s mouth. “He’s my younger brother, Yu Yi.”
Lu Liming: “???”
Fu Suxi gave a silent laugh, tapping off some ash, the cigarette end glowing even brighter.
Yu Zhi’s eyelids twitched violently. Fu Suxi was definitely waiting here on purpose.
Just as Yu Zhi was about to speak, there came the sound of approaching footsteps from behind. Shang Yu appeared with a group of people. “Old Zuo, why are you standing here in a daze?”
In the next second, Yu Zhi saw Fu Suxi curl his lips, those dark, narrow eyes full of malice: “You call him your ‘younger brother’? Is that how you introduce your current boyfriend to your ex-boyfriend?”
Yu Zhi was dumbfounded: “???”
Lu Liming: “???”
Zuo Feiyang: “???”
Shang Yu gasped sharply: “!!!” Holy crap, is this some kind of incestuous three-way lovers’ war?!
Translator’s Note:
Hey Panda Readers~
Bystander—A Bound to JJ Literature System is BACK! When I stopped updating the series before, many readers asked me about it, and I’m really sorry I didn’t reply. At the time, the author was making major revisions to the novel, which created a lot of uncertainty. Because of that, I decided to put the translation on hiatus. I checked back on the novel several times, and finally—today—I’ve decided to sit down and start translating this series again!
Thank you to all the JJ fans who have stayed loyal to this novel. You’re like my occasional alarm clock, reminding me that this project was still waiting for me. Now I’m truly returning to consistent translations. As readers on my website know, ongoing novels update more slowly than completed ones. For this series, I’ll be posting two chapters every Wednesday. If you’d like to read advance chapters, you’re welcome to visit my Ko-fi page to check out the latest chapters I’ve been working on.
Anyway, thank you again for supporting this series. I’m so happy to know there are fans out there who enjoy it. Wishing you all the best and happy panda reading! ?
