Chapter 22
“He’s at the police station!”
“I said, he’s locked up at the police station!”
Qian Mingtian, out for an early morning walk through the fields, poked at his ear with a pinky. He couldn’t help thinking it was a real pity Yu Xiaoyuan hadn’t brought a megaphone with him.
Jiao Yuwan’s face turned an awful shade of ash, trembling with helpless rage. Gone was every trace of the gentle, refined campus goddess; right now, she looked more like an ugly fairy-tale villain.
“You’re spewing utter nonsense! Father always said you lacked basic manners, and he was right!” Turning desperately toward the tall man before her, she pleaded, “Please don’t believe a word he says! He’s just slandering me!”
“Slandering you? What are you worth that this young master would need to slander you? Don’t flatter yourself,” Yu Xiaoyuan sneered. Then, turning to Mu Feiyi, he called out bossily, “Get over here! Stay away from that woman. If the little hamster catches a whiff of her cheap perfume on you, he’ll never let you pet him again!”
Mu Feiyi felt like a pawn in a child’s squabble, dragged to one side purely to make the other person angrier. Even so, he didn’t mind indulging the boy’s petty little scheme in the slightest.
He strolled casually over to Yu Xiaoyuan’s side. The young master immediately tilted his chin up with supreme smugness, shooting the strange woman a triumphant look: See that? Hmph.
Mu Feiyi hadn’t intended to intervene; he was planning to leave the moment his assistant arrived. But seeing the woman so consumed by spite that she lost all restraint, he paused.
“Just as expected,” she spat, her voice shrill. “No father, no mother, and no upbringing whatsoever!”
Mu Feiyi’s brow instantly furrowed, a cold spark of anger flickering in his deep blue eyes.
“The Yu family and mine have been close for generations,” Mu Feiyi said, his voice dropping into a chilling register. “How could I not know what kind of person Little Yuan is?”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then rested a heavy, protective hand on the boy’s shoulder, pulling him firmly against his side.
“Back then, the Yu family’s search for a live-in son-in-law was common knowledge throughout the city. Uncle Yu was young and had no interest in corporate affairs, while his elder sister, though brilliant in business, suffered from frail health. That was why they brought a son-in-law into the household. Unfortunately, that man was far from decent. The moment he married in, he began scheming, causing no end of humiliation for the family.”
As an outsider, Mu Feiyi actually knew far more details than Yu Xiaoyuan did. The boy had been shielded far too thoroughly by his uncle; many ugly truths had been kept from him to spare his feelings.
Back then, Pang Liangcai had genuinely believed that marrying the eldest daughter made both the woman and the family fortune his to command. He had dragged a swarm of destitute relatives into the company, stirring up chaos.
The family patriarch, still healthy at the time, had crushed the scheme without hesitation. He expelled every single relative from the corporate payroll, sparing them no dignity and permitting his subordinates to publicly humiliate Pang Liangcai and his freeloading kin. Then, he cut off Pang’s allowance entirely and blacklisted him from finding employment anywhere in the city.
Yu Xiaoyuan’s mother had been furious. Pregnant with Little Yuan and in need of bed rest, she had simply moved back to the ancestral estate, barring Pang Liangcai from even stepping through the front gate. It took barely a week of cold reality for the man to break, crawling back to kowtow and beg the patriarch for forgiveness.
Yu Yuanzhou was just starting his own career back then. By the time he caught wind of what happened, his father had already handled the matter, but Yu Yuanzhou had still marched over and broken one of Pang Liangcai’s legs to vent his fury for his sister.
That marriage had been the Yu family’s only real mistake. Fortunately, Pang was utterly incompetent, too impatient to bide his time, and had revealed his true colors early enough to be cast out completely.
Mu Feiyi glanced down, his eyes meeting the boy’s upturned, expectant gaze.
Those eyes were crystal-clear, utterly innocent, and just a little bit… blank, like a dazed chick trying to process a complicated story.
Mu Feiyi fought to keep a straight face, but failed. Raising a hand, he gently covered the boy’s eyes. “Stop looking at me like that.”
If he stared any longer, Mu Feiyi was going to burst out laughing. It was the exact same blank, dopey look the little hamster gave when it zoned out—completely devoid of cunning, yet irresistibly endearing.
“Don’t let her get to you. Head back to the city early today,” Mu Feiyi murmured, his mind still lingering on the tiny furball. “I’ll come visit you in a couple of days. What should I call you and that little pet of yours when I arrive?”
“little hamster, or Little Yu Yuan,” the boy muttered, lowering his eyes to feign indifference, though a faint pink flush dusted his cheeks. “Just remember to bring him nuts when you come.”
“Naturally.” Mu Feiyi gave the boy’s soft hair a fond ruffle.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Yu Xiaoyuan pulled out a foil-wrapped sandwich and pushed it into his hand. “Here. I saw you hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I brought this for you.”
It was the little hamster’s absolute favorite: a sweet, rich peanut butter sandwich, layered with smooth, crunchy peanut spread. It was pure heaven to him; he planned to stock up on ten jars of the spread the moment he got back to town!
Mu Feiyi looked down at the humble sandwich in his palm, then at the boy’s earnest eyes. Remembering that yesterday’s plain-looking chicken leg had tasted surprisingly delicious, he decided not to be fussy.
Peeling back the plastic wrap, he took a small bite.
“It’s decent,” he remarked. Just a standard peanut butter sandwich—nothing extraordinary, but hearty enough, and Mu Feiyi wasn’t a demanding eater.
“Hehe~” The boy’s smile broadened, clearly thrilled that someone else shared his taste in snacks.
“Feiyi,” Yu Xiaoyuan whispered, leaning closer and dropping his voice so only the two of them could hear. “Over the next week or two… make sure to stockpile plenty of food at your private residence. Buy a lot. Seriously.”
“Oh? Is the apocalypse coming?” Mu Feiyi asked dryly, walking alongside the youth down the damp country road as the morning mist slowly lifted from the green paddies.
“Just… just treat it like it is!” Yu Xiaoyuan stammered, steeling his nerve. “I’ve been hoarding non-stop lately.”
Mu Feiyi took another bite of the sandwich, looking down at the earnest youth. He couldn’t help thinking: That’s just your uncle indulging your every whim. With the Yu family’s resources, building an underground survival bunker wouldn’t be a problem, let alone buying a few extra groceries.
“Aren’t you having any?” Mu Feiyi asked, steering the conversation away.
“No, Senior Qian’s mother promised to make me multi-grain porridge later!” Freshly stone-ground grains boiled into a thick, nutty porridge. Thinking of it made his mouth water. “It’s going to be so good.”
The little hamster loved whole grains more than anything in the world!
“Hmph, keeping the good stuff for yourself?” Mu Feiyi reached over and gave the boy’s cheek another firm pinch. “Trying to brush me off with a single sandwich, are you?”
Yu Xiaoyuan’s cheek flushed bright red. He squirmed and batted at the man’s wrist, his hands pushing against his fingers in the exact same frantic way the hamster had done the night before.
“You’re so annoying! Stop pinching me!”
“Ow, ow, ow! Be gentle! That actually hurts!”
Over in the tall reeds, Qian Mingtian watched the pair with narrowed eyes, muttering to himself, This dynamic is looking distinctly questionable.
“Hmph.” Mu Feiyi took pure delight in teasing the boy. Behind his glasses, his sapphire eyes crinkled with genuine amusement. He finished the last bite of the sandwich, brushing a crumb from his lip. “I’m heading out.”
“Goodbye! Safe travels!” Yu Xiaoyuan waved cheerfully, making zero effort to hide his eagerness to see the man leave. “Drive carefully on the highway~”
“I will.” Mu Feiyi glanced back toward the woman lingering by the path, his cold, warning glare making it clear she should disappear.
Had that nuisance not ruined the morning, strolling through the quiet countryside with the little hamster—and perhaps this silly young master alongside him—would have been genuinely peaceful.
Still, he had battles waiting for him in the city. And this time, he was fighting solely for himself.
Pulling his coat tight against the morning chill, Mu Feiyi walked toward the village entrance. Under the curious stares of the local farmers, he stepped smoothly into the black sedan his assistant had brought.
“Good morning, Chairman.”
“Morning.”
“The Old Master was so enraged last night that he was admitted to the hospital. When trading opens this morning, the company’s stock is likely to—”
Mu Feiyi listened without a hint of concern, a cold, mocking smirk playing on his lips. “The old man is putting on a show. Even if every last one of his sons dropped dead, he’d still outlive them all.”
“Shall we arrange a hospital visit, then?” the assistant asked carefully.
“No.” Pulling out his phone, Mu Feiyi considered his personal estate portfolio. “Drive straight to headquarters.”
Pausing, he added, “And have the villa at Tianmu Mountain cleaned out. Fill the basement with three to five years’ worth of non-perishable rations. Stockpile it like something out of an apocalyptic novel.”
He remembered the earnest, desperate look in the boy’s eyes. Why not indulge him? It might be amusing to play along with the kid’s little game.
“An… apocalypse?” The assistant blinked in bewilderment.
“Yes. The little fellow has been obsessed with playing survival games lately. I’m humoring him.” Buying food was simple enough. In a few days, when they were better acquainted, he could invite the boy and his pet over to the villa and show him the setup.
“Understood, sir.” The assistant kept his face completely blank, though his mind was racing with endless questions.
Just then, his ringtone chimed loudly through the cabin: “Two little tigers, two little tigers, running so fast, running so fast~”
Mu Feiyi opened his eyes, casting a slow, pointed look at his employee. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being subtly mocked.
Sweat broke out on the assistant’s neck. “It’s not what you think, sir! I swear! My daughter changed my ringtone last night—I’ll switch it back the moment we reach the office!”
“Heh.”
Back near the path, having gifted his prized breakfast sandwich and waved Mu Feiyi off, Yu Xiaoyuan had zero intention of letting Jiao Yuwan off the hook. Several villagers had witnessed the scene, and everyone knew Mu Feiyi had just driven away.
Marching straight back to the farmhouse porch, he called out to Zhang Wei in a loud, carrying voice:
“Your precious goddess was just throwing herself at Mu Feiyi! She clearly thinks your family is too poor to match her royal standards.”
“I did no such thing! Stop lying!” Jiao Yuwan cried, completely caught off guard. Panicking, she tried to smooth things over: “You all know the bad blood between his family and my stepfather. He’s only saying this because he holds a grudge against me!”
“Half the village saw you practically falling into Mu Feiyi’s arms,” Yu Xiaoyuan shot back, looking at her with sheer contempt. “If you don’t believe me, go ask the field hands. How pathetic. If you didn’t want people to know, you shouldn’t have done it in broad daylight.”
“Yu Xiaoyuan, what do you gain by framing me like this?!” Jiao Yuwan shrieked, losing her composure entirely.
She was young, hopelessly selfish, and accustomed to playing the victim. In her eyes, Yu Xiaoyuan had always been an irrelevant weakling—a boy kept under her stepfather’s thumb who wouldn’t dare utter a peep of protest when scolded. She had known his maternal family had money, but having just moved to the provincial capital, she had possessed no concept of just how terrifyingly vast the Yu Corporation’s influence truly was.
Who could have guessed that the moment he struck back, he would send her entire family behind bars? Her younger brother was currently locked in a juvenile correctional facility undergoing mandatory discipline. The school had already finalized his expulsion, making it doubtful he would ever return to a classroom.
She had thanked her lucky stars that her fingerprints hadn’t been found on the stolen jewelry, and that her mother had claimed full ownership of the handbag. Had the police pinned the theft on her, an adult, she would still be sitting in a cell right now.
And every bit of this misery had been orchestrated by the boy standing before her!
He was drowning in wealth—why couldn’t he just share a tiny fraction of it with their family?!
“My legal team has already forwarded the formal police investigation records to the university dean’s office, Jiao Yuwan,” Yu Xiaoyuan said, watching with cruel satisfaction as her face turned from pale green to a sickly white. “Tell me—will you manage to pack your bags and flee back to the city first, or will your expulsion notice arrive before you leave?”
Even if the world was ending before the new semester could begin, Yu Xiaoyuan was determined to make her suffer every ounce of dread, humiliation, and helpless terror right now!
There was a lifetime of bad blood between him and Jiao Yuwan, but the debt she owed this world was heavier still.
If Jiao Yuwan had simply claimed the Kuntian Jade for her own selfish gains and then spent the rest of her days quietly accumulating merit, that would have been one thing. Perhaps he would never even have been summoned into this realm. But she had done no such thing.
Instead, she had wielded the divine artifact to satisfy her bottomless greed, climbing over the corpses of countless innocents. As the apocalypse dragged on, whatever humanity she possessed had completely withered away. By the end, she was nothing more than an empty human shell—a walking corpse dressed in pink silk.
Yu Xiaoyuan’s warning to Mu Feiyi hadn’t just been an idle excuse to get him away from her; the foul stench clinging to her was very real. Her soul reeked of rot and decay. Unless one had already turned into a corrupted monster, even lower-tier spirits instinctively recoiled from her in disgust, steering as clear of her as possible.
As a spirit beast who had inherited the original owner’s memories and emotions, the little hamster harbored a deep, visceral hatred for Jiao Yuwan. He was never going to miss a single opportunity to tear her down.
Otherwise, after waving goodbye to Mu Feiyi, he would have skipped back to the granary to check on his beloved grain or gone off to tease Big Orange. He had made a deliberate detour just to humiliate her because he simply could not let this grudge go.
Let bygones be bygones? Impossible. Utterly impossible!
Unless Jiao Yuwan died.
He wondered whether he would be allowed to kill her once the cataclysm struck. Unfortunately, she might still enjoy the mystical protection of this world’s “female lead” plot armor. Just dwelling on that possibility gave Yu Xiaoyuan a headache.
The universal laws were blind. Letting a wretched creature like her be the main character was enough to make his blood boil. If only Mu Feiyi had been chosen as the protagonist instead—a man like that would probably have re-established civilized order in the wasteland within months.
The little hamster grumbled fiercely in his heart.
Aaargh! I want to claw her face off right now! I’m so furious! Can I just hit her?
Even though he was technically a male, in reality, he was just a little hamster. That meant normal human rules didn’t apply to him, right? He could scratch her, couldn’t he?
He glared daggers at Jiao Yuwan, his mind racing with petty schemes to ruin her day.
“Yu Xiaoyuan, don’t you dare act all high and mighty just because your family has a bit of money!” Jiao Yuwan shrieked, her voice shrill with indignation.
She had never endured such public disgrace in her life. Ever since she was small, things had always gone her way; even her stepfather had doted on her unconditionally. Being trampled and mocked like this in front of a crowd was unbearable for her colossal ego.
“The Yu family has never cared about you!” she spat, pointing an accusatory finger. “Do you honestly believe you’re a real heir just because people mockingly call you Young Master Yu?”
“You really are a frog sitting at the bottom of a well,” Yu Xiaoyuan replied with a cold sneer. “Do you think my twenty percent equity in the Yu Corporation is just a piece of paper? My grandfather originally intended for my mother to inherit the business. When she passed away, he explicitly willed that twenty percent directly to me. My uncle only holds twenty-three percent.”
A ripple of hushed whispers broke out among the gathered onlookers.
Zhang Wei, who had been itching to step in and defend his campus crush, froze in his tracks. Hearing those numbers, not only did he abandon the thought of speaking up, but he discreetly took half a step backward.
“Even so, he is still your biological father!” Jiao Yuwan hissed, glaring venomously. “You are legally obligated to provide for him in his old age and arrange his funeral! If you refuse, I’ll go straight to the press and expose your filthy family! The whole world will see you for the cold-blooded, unfilial monster you are! Let’s see how well your precious company stock holds up when that scandal breaks!”
Zhang Wei’s expression grew even more unsettled. Goosebumps broke out along his arms; he had never imagined the sweet, delicate girl he admired could sound so spiteful.
Yu Xiaoyuan merely laughed in her face. “Provide for him? Did he sign away his parental rights for nothing? Did he take that massive cash settlement for nothing? And even if family law required a pension, the obligation falls on all three of his children equally. Jiao Yuwan, that man raised you from the time you were six until you turned eighteen. You carry the exact same legal duty to feed him and bury his corpse.”
His dark eyes narrowed to cold slits. “Besides, instead of worrying about other people’s family affairs, shouldn’t you be panicking about your own future? Your expulsion notice might land on your doorstep by tomorrow morning.
“When that happens, with no degree, no savings, and zero survival skills beyond being a spoiled parasite, how do you plan to survive?” He tilted his head, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “I’m genuinely worried for you.”
His sharp, domineering attitude was night and day compared to the original owner’s personality. That poor boy had been quiet, polite, and painfully introverted on campus, barely daring to raise his voice in public.
“And trying to throw yourself at Mu Feiyi? What on earth made you think you stood a chance?” Yu Xiaoyuan added mercilessly. As a spirit beast, he had no human vanity to protect and saw no reason to play nice. “Even a blind phoenix wouldn’t look twice at a weed masquerading as a sparrow. You aren’t even pretty, yet you actually believe the fairy tales you watch on television? Cinderella ended up with the prince because her biological parents were both noble-born aristocrats! And what are you? You are nothing.”
Glancing at the silent crowd, Yu Xiaoyuan concluded with a chilling smirk, “If I were you, I’d keep your distance from her. I’d hate for any innocent bystanders to get caught in the crossfire.”
Having stirred up plenty of trouble, he turned on his heel and strolled away. He still had a score to settle with Big Orange before heading back to the city.
From start to finish, not a single one of Jiao Yuwan’s usual admirers dared to utter a word in her defense. Zhang Wei kept his head down, refusing to make eye contact.
Yu Xiaoyuan knew they wouldn’t linger in the village much longer. Humiliated and uneasy, they would likely pack their bags and scurry back to the city before nightfall. He had zero sympathy for any of them; the original owner’s tragic demise in the post-apocalyptic wasteland was tied directly to their selfishness. He had no intention of saving them, let alone warning them about what was coming.
In truth, by ruining their wilderness trekking trip, he had already shattered their original timeline.
In the past, the original owner had provided all the high-end camping gear and survival rations for that mountain trip. Because they had slipped into the nature reserve two days before the disaster struck, they had avoided the initial chaos of the urban collapse, as well as the first seven days of catastrophic weather.
Yet, despite being their primary provider, the boy had received no gratitude whatsoever. His contributions were ignored, and the group had followed Jiao Yuwan’s lead, slowly stripping him of his supplies and dignity.
Now, their trip was ruined. With their pride bruised, they had lost face completely in Qian Family Village. How long would they last once they returned to the concrete jungle?
Without the original owner’s resources, they had lost the right timing, the ideal shelter, and their shared dynamic. Lacking unity, they would scatter across the metropolitan ruins. In a densely populated city crawling with danger, survival would be nearly impossible.
And Jiao Yuwan? Without a flock of admirers sacrificing themselves for her, and stripped of the Kuntian Jade’s miraculous power, she would finally have to face the true brutality of the apocalypse on her own terms.
Returning to the Qian household, Yu Xiaoyuan spotted Big Orange standing proudly at the entrance. The cat cast a provocative look at the row of plump field mice lined up neatly on the stone steps, then shifted his gaze toward the boy.
Yu Xiaoyuan’s thoughts drifted to the calendar. The end of the world was barely five or six days away.
It was time to collect the overseas equipment his uncle had ordered. His flight was scheduled for tonight; he would pick up the shipment and take an immediate red-eye back, touching down in T City around dawn.
Looking back on his frantic preparations, he felt as though he had hoarded an immense amount of supplies, yet at the same time, it never felt quite enough. With the cataclysm looming, a strange, restless anxiety gnawed at him.
Logically, what he had gathered was more than sufficient to keep his uncle, his sister, and himself living comfortably through the worst of the disasters. Furthermore, his uncle planned to lead him on rapid scavenging runs through commercial warehouses the moment the outbreak began. Once societal rules fell apart, gathering ownerless supplies would no longer draw unwanted attention.
For now, an affluent heir stocking up on survival gear could easily be written off as an eccentric hobby.
Yu Xiaoyuan crouched down, wrapping his arms around his knees as he met Big Orange’s intense, unblinking stare.
When the disaster arrived, many animals would undergo genetic mutations, household pets included. Some would lose their minds, turning their fangs on their owners, while others would awaken fierce intelligence and fight to the death to protect their human companions.
“Big Orange, I hope you look after Senior Qian and his parents,” Yu Xiaoyuan whispered softly to the feline. “They’ve always treated you well. You’re clever enough as it is—you’ll probably awaken into an incredible beast once the change begins.”
After all, the cat already commanded an entire pack of working mousers.
Big Orange twitched his tail, completely indifferent to the human’s strange murmurs. He tapped one of the dead mice with a heavy paw, then tilted his chin with unmistakable arrogance.
His body language was loud and clear: Look at that. Impressed? A soft little hamster like you wouldn’t last five minutes against me.
Yu Xiaoyuan glanced at the lineup of gray hamsters, then looked the cat dead in the eye.
He pressed his lips together in a firm pout. “You’re going to regret crossing me, Big Orange!”
The ginger cat drew back his lips, baring sharp, gleaming fangs in silent mockery. Regret? As if! I am the supreme feline ruler of this entire valley!
“Senior Qian! Big Orange is picking on me again!”
Yu Xiaoyuan scrambled to his feet without a shred of shame, sprinting straight into the main hall to file a complaint. “He just hissed and bared his fangs at me!”
“Big Orange?” Qian Mingtian looked up, barely holding back his laughter. He had watched from the window as his junior sat quietly chatting with the cat, only to turn around and throw a theatrical tantrum seconds later.
Complaining about a house cat required a very special kind of cheek.
Where was that ruthless, venomous aura the boy had brandished against Jiao Yuwan moments ago? Had he channeled all his intimidation just to bully a barn cat?
Still, Qian Mingtian played along, poking his head through the window and waving a scolding finger at the utterly bewildered ginger tabby. “Hey! Stop tormenting Little Yuan! Go on, get outside and patrol!”
He had to clear the cat out for the day, or his young guest would never stop complaining.
Big Orange stood frozen on the porch, his whiskered face a portrait of absolute shock. This was the first time in his life he had brought home a record-breaking haul of mice, only to be shooed away instead of showered with praise.
Auntie Qian stepped out from the kitchen carrying a ceramic bowl heaped with cooked chicken scraps. Chuckling softly, she gently picked the cat up by the scruff of his neck. “Come along, you silly thing. Come eat your lunch around the side. If you hang around the doorway, Mingtian’s friend will accuse you of bullying him again.”
Yu Xiaoyuan watched from the doorway, completely unapologetic. A triumphant smirk spread across his face as the proud hunter was carried off like a sack of flour.
“Hehe~”
The little hamster was thoroughly satisfied. It served the cat right for acting so high and mighty.
He picked a fight with the wrong mouse!
