Chapter 27
Yu Yuanzhou grabbed his daughter’s arm, trying to hold her back. “Wait, wait, wait! Mu Feiyi isn’t that kind of person!”
“Oh, isn’t he?” Yu Tianwei sneered. “The first time Little Yuan told me Mu Feiyi paid his bill, I immediately suspected that guy had ulterior motives!”
“Nonsense. The two of them truly don’t have that kind of dynamic. If anything, Mu Feiyi is far more interested in the hamster than in your brother. When he stopped by, his only question was where the boy was so he could play with the pet.”
Yu Yuanzhou scolded his daughter for letting her imagination run wild. Besides, “In terms of capability, financial backing, and personal character, Mu Feiyi is outstanding. If he and your brother actually did get together, it wouldn’t exactly be a tragedy.”
Makes sense. Can’t argue with that.
Tianwei crossed her arms, genuinely considering the idea. “If he leaves the Mu family for good and severs ties with that snake pit, then he’ll have no overbearing elders to answer to. Combine that with how ruthless he is toward outsiders, and he actually would make a rather suitable match.”
“Right? My judgment of character might not match Old Master Mu’s, but it’s certainly better than your grandfather’s,” Yu Yuanzhou said, sounding more than a little smug.
“But Dad, you’re missing the crucial point here—did Mu Feiyi steal the hamster or not?!” Tianwei’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she zeroed in on the flaw in her father’s story. “You just admitted it yourself: he’s obsessed with the hamster and played with him the entire morning!”
She leaned in, her gaze sharp. “Did you personally see him to the door?”
“Well, no. I was reviewing bodyguard dossiers. The security firm just sent over a fresh batch of profiles, and a few candidates caught my eye.” Yu Yuanzhou’s voice slowed as he realized his mistake. “He’s practically family, so I just told him to head downstairs, say goodbye to little hamster, and see himself out.”
He had done it deliberately, hoping to give the two young men a moment alone.
But this kind of alone time…
“Hah.” Tianwei let out a cold laugh. “So you let a man who has been blatantly coveting the little hamster go downstairs to say ‘goodbye’ completely unsupervised?”
“A ‘goodbye’ that ends with him stuffing the little hamster into his pocket?!”
“That’s impossible… right?” Yu Yuanzhou’s confidence wavered. After all, Mu Feiyi had asked him twice that morning where he could buy a hamster just like it. “Besides, wouldn’t your brother have shouted? Wouldn’t he have run away?”
“First of all, the little hamster is tiny. Mu Feiyi could easily grab him and walk out. Second, knowing your precious nephew, do you honestly think he would want to run away?” Tianwei gripped her hair in frustration. “He voluntarily climbed onto Mu Feiyi’s pillow last night to comfort him! He slept right next to him and stuck to him like glue!”
It reeked of subtle self-sacrifice.
Yu Yuanzhou thought back over the recent interactions. Now that he analyzed it, Little Yuan did seem remarkably proactive whenever Mu Feiyi was around. It looked as though the boy genuinely liked him.
The problem was that Yu Xiaoyuan himself hadn’t realized it yet. So, operating entirely on instinct, he was foolishly using his hamster form to play with the man and secretly get closer to him.
Aargh!
“How did I end up raising such a self-sacrificing little brat?!” Yu Yuanzhou groaned. He had no idea if Mu Feiyi harbored any romantic feelings for his nephew.
But it was obvious Yu Xiaoyuan felt some sort of affection for the man. The silly boy probably didn’t even recognize the emotion, mistaking his instinctual clinginess for mere curiosity.
“You didn’t give birth to him, Dad, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Tianwei recalled stories her grandfather used to tell: back when Yu Yuanzhou was courting her mother, he had been just as hopelessly foolish, doing all sorts of idiotic things in the name of love.
And since her father wasn’t nearly as pretty as Yu Xiaoyuan, his blunders hadn’t been forgiven nearly as quickly.
Yu Yuanzhou stopped worrying about whether his nephew had been “kidnapped.” The little hamster had four perfectly good legs; if he truly wanted to escape, he could easily scamper back home.
Mu Feiyi clearly adored the creature, but he wasn’t running a hostage ring.
The hamster was physically safe. The real crisis was: did Yu Xiaoyuan actually have feelings for him?
“Right now, we can’t even be certain the apocalypse is coming,” Yu Yuanzhou murmured, pacing the study. “Disasters test the true nature of the human heart. I’m not worried about whether or not they end up together.”
He held up a finger. “What I am worried about are the immediate risks. First, is Mu Feiyi among the ninety percent who will fall in the initial outbreak? If so, your brother’s smooth brain definitely hasn’t prepared for the trauma of watching him turn.”
He held up a second finger. “Next, you read those apocalypse novels. The naive, love-struck fools always blab about their secret spaces and hidden stockpiles to their lovers! Do you think your brother would be foolish enough to tell him about his powers and our family’s food reserves? What if he hands over the jade pendant to help the man rebuild his empire?!”
“No, no, that’s impossible. He shouldn’t be that stupid, and he…” Tianwei’s voice trailed off, her confidence fading with every word. Yu Xiaoyuan was notoriously soft-hearted. She simply didn’t believe the boy had hardened his personality overnight.
“Whatever the case, we have to separate them! Keep Mu Feiyi and the little hamster in entirely different cities!” she declared.
“Mu Feiyi is more than capable of rebuilding his life from scratch, and with his survival instincts, he’ll probably thrive in the apocalypse. As for Little Yuan, the initial shock of the disaster will force him to adapt to a brutal new reality. Once everyone is fighting to stay alive, nobody will have the time or energy to think about romance!”
“You’re right. If I had known, I would never have suggested Mu Feiyi stay in the country. He should have packed his bags and gone skiing overseas immediately!” Yu Yuanzhou grumbled, deeply annoyed with himself.
“Let’s not dwell on it. If he secures a strong foothold on his own, it’ll only benefit us if our paths cross again later.” Deep down, Tianwei felt Mu Feiyi’s character was rock solid. If anything ever happened to her and her father, entrusting her younger brother to his care would be a reassuring backup plan.
Father and daughter exchanged a silent, knowing glance, their thoughts perfectly aligned.
“Dad,” Tianwei murmured, biting her lower lip. The creeping dread she had been suppressing over the past few days finally breached the surface.
“What is it, sweetie?” Yu Yuanzhou asked softly.
“Dad… do you really think the end of the world is coming?” Her voice trembled.
Yu Yuanzhou let out a long, heavy sigh. “You’re only asking me this now? I thought my brave girl would have cracked under the pressure days ago.”
“If it really is the apocalypse… I’m terrified. Disaster movies are fun to watch, but a sudden, inexplicable cataclysm doesn’t have a magical cure. And without a cure, there’s no end in sight, is there?”
Yu Yuanzhou’s heart ached with the same heavy dread. “Silly girl, you have to remember that our starting point is already infinitely better than anyone else’s.”
“We have advance warning. We are physically prepared. Your brother has been hauling in mountains of supplies day and night, and we haven’t exactly been sitting idle, have we?”
He pulled Tianwei toward the sofa and sat her down, patting her hand. “Think of the apocalypse as the ultimate final exam. We study hard, we prepare rigorously, and we give it our absolute best. If we still fail… then we fail.
“As long as we can look ourselves in the mirror and say we did everything possible, that has to be enough. Everyone dies eventually. In times of peace, we might be wealthy elites, but in times of chaos, we are just flesh and blood like everyone else.”
He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It is perfectly normal to be afraid. No one wants to see civilization collapse, especially when the law of the jungle takes over. Because we are well-prepared, if we make a single misstep, we’ll become a thorn in someone’s side—or a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
“I’ve considered every terrible scenario, and I will do everything in my power to steer us through.”
Reaching into his pocket, he handed her a folded manifest. “These are the final tactical supplies I ordered. Have your brother find time to collect them over the next two days.
“Having these will give us a baseline of defense.”
He paused, a shadow crossing his face. “However, once the state falls and social order evaporates, more and more survivors will get their hands on similar hardware. When that happens, there will be no shortage of desperate people willing to kill for a loaf of bread.”
Shaking his head, he let out a wry chuckle. “I almost regret not sending you two to study abroad in the wilderness. The Wang siblings down the street spent their youth learning to ride horses, track game, and shoot rifles.
“We used to gossip that they were wasting their trust funds on useless hobbies. Looking back, those were premium survival skills.”
“Dad, we’ll adapt.” Tianwei took a deep, shuddering breath, her eyes hardening with resolve. “We will adapt to this damned world.”
“I know we will.” Yu Yuanzhou smiled, squeezing her shoulder. “After all, we have an overwhelming head start, don’t we?”
“We do!” Tianwei nodded vigorously. Then she blinked, her focus snapping back to the present. “Wait, Dad, we got completely sidetracked! Did my brother go out on a supply run, or…”
“Was he stolen by that scoundrel?!”
This time, Yu Yuanzhou didn’t have the confidence to defend Mu Feiyi’s honor.
“Let me just ask him directly,” Yu Yuanzhou muttered, hurriedly pulling out his phone. “I’ll call him right now. Hold on.”
“Hmph.” Tianwei crossed her arms haughtily, though the gnawing anxiety of the impending doom still fluttered in her chest.
Human nature dictates that until the final result is revealed, doubt shadows everything. As long as the apocalypse hadn’t yet struck, humanity was locked in Schrödinger’s box—nobody knew if they were dead or alive.
Leaning back against the leather cushions, Tianwei realized that aside from hoarding supplies alongside her brother, all she could do was pray.
Pray that the Seven Catastrophes were just a nightmare. Pray that the end of the world would never come.
If the prophecy proved false, their family would merely lose a bit of liquid cash—a drop in the bucket they could easily afford.
Beside her, Yu Yuanzhou’s call connected. “Feiyi? Is the little hamster with you?”
He skipped the pleasantries and cut straight to the chase.
Over the line, Mu Feiyi glanced down at the hamster, who was currently engrossed in a cartoon on a smartphone screen. “Yes, he is. When I tried to say goodbye earlier, he simply refused to let me leave.”
The little hamster’s ears twitched. He whipped his head around, staring at the human in sheer, unadulterated shock.
Are you actually shifting the blame onto me?!
What does a little hamster know about anything?! You literally kidnapped me, and now you’re twisting the narrative to claim I begged to come along?!
Human, does your conscience not hurt?!
No, wait—do you even possess a conscience?!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“He’s been incredibly well-behaved,” Mu Feiyi continued smoothly over the phone. “He just curled up and slept in my pocket the whole ride. I’m currently at a private gathering with some friends. He’s sitting on the coffee table eating sunflower seeds and watching cartoons.”
As he spoke, he reached down to stroke the hamster’s chubby cheeks.
Nothing gave him more joy than kneading those plush, velvety cheeks, listening to the little hamster squeak in protest and watching him push back with tiny paws—only to realize his struggles were entirely futile against the giant human hand.
A perverse sense of satisfaction bloomed in Mu Feiyi’s chest.
He absolutely loved watching this milk-tea-colored furball huff and puff in his palm, completely powerless to stop the petting. The creature would squeak and squirm, accidentally exposing his soft white belly, utterly defenseless against the affection.
It was so outrageously adorable that it made him want to bully the creature even more. He wanted to tease the hamster until his dark eyes grew teary and indignant, until the little fellow had no choice but to hug his finger and stare up at him with eager expectation—relying on him for comfort, rather than being easily bought off by a single peanut from someone else.
Over the phone, Yu Yuanzhou was left speechless. He hadn’t expected the man to admit to the theft so easily, nor had he anticipated such brazen shamelessness.
“Hah. Fine. Let’s just say the little hamster ‘willingly’ went with you.” Yu Yuanzhou gritted his teeth. He would interrogate his nephew the second the boy got home.
If Yu Yuanzhou hadn’t secretly suspected that his precious nephew harbored genuine affection for Mu Feiyi, he wouldn’t have believed a single word of this nonsense.
Furthermore, Yu Yuanzhou was banking his entire strategy on the fact that Mu Feiyi had no idea the hamster and Yu Xiaoyuan were the same entity. If he ever discovered the truth down the road… well, hopefully, Mu Feiyi possessed the courage to face the consequences of treating a grown man like a pocket pet.
At that moment, Tianwei—who had been eavesdropping with her ear pressed near the receiver—bolted upright and sprinted for the door.
“Hey! Wait!” Yu Yuanzhou called out, but she was already gone.
“Tsk!” Utterly exasperated, Yu Yuanzhou spoke into the receiver. “Tianwei is on her way to pick him up. Just bring him to the club entrance and hand him over to her.
“And the next time you decide to take the little hamster on an outing, kindly inform us first!”
Who secretly spirits away someone else’s child?! That’s called kidnapping!
A rush of belated guilt finally caught up to Mu Feiyi, and he offered a smooth, apologetic chuckle before hanging up.
Ending the call, a faint pang of reluctance settled in his chest. He reached down to stroke the hamster’s head one last time. “Your sister is on her way to pick you up.”
“Squeak, squeak~” I know.
The little hamster held his sunflower seed, glancing briefly at the cartoon before looking back up at the tall man beside him.
Sensing the subtle dip in Mu Feiyi’s mood, he tilted his head with curious concern, obsidian eyes gazing straight into the man’s face.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak.” Why are you feeling down? If you’re sad, the little hamster will share his treats with you.
Mu Feiyi watched in surprise as the tiny creature held up the half-nibbled kernel with both paws. “For me?”
The hamster actually nodded obediently, extending his tiny arms and staring with wide, earnest eyes.
“Good grief, what an absolute sweetheart,” the eldest son of the Shao family remarked, clicking his tongue in genuine marvel. “He’s actually willing to share his favorite snack with you.”
“He really is wonderfully sweet,” Mu Feiyi murmured with a fond smile. The only pity was that the little fellow wasn’t truly his.
Slipping the nibbled seed into his shirt pocket for safekeeping, Mu Feiyi reached down, cracked open two fresh shells, and gently set the pristine white kernels into the hamster’s waiting paws. “Here. Keep these for yourself.”
“Squeak, squeak~”
Clutching a plump kernel in each paw, the little hamster inspected them from left to right before selecting the larger of the two. He munched away happily, his eyes drifting back to the cartoon playing on the phone screen.
Beside him, Mu Feiyi stroked the soft fur along the creature’s back while resuming his conversation, discussing his upcoming travel plans with his inner circle.
Listening in, the little hamster gathered that they intended to leave T City soon. Their initial stop was an inland basin city for dinner, followed by a private charter into the plateau region of Tibet. Mu Feiyi wanted to climb a mountain. While the little hamster wasn’t entirely sure if early summer was the right season for high-altitude mountaineering, he knew the apocalypse timeline wouldn’t allow them to make it to the mountains at all. Long before their flight could depart, they would be trapped inside that basin city.
Crunch.
The hamster bit off the tip of the kernel. He had already dropped hints, and his uncle had tried to persuade the man as well. Since Mu Feiyi insisted on traveling, he would have to face whatever fate awaited him. Besides, the man was exceptionally capable; perhaps he would carve out a legendary path of his own in the wastelands.
Shrugging mentally, the hamster packed one kernel into his left cheek pouch, then tucked the second into the right.
Hopping down from the glass coffee table to the carpet, he waddled toward the private restroom in the back, his round behind swaying with every step.
Mu Feiyi watched him leave without intervening, though he was privately curious about how a pet hamster was supposed to use a standard porcelain bathroom. He made a move to follow, but the heir from the Qian family leaned in eagerly, pulling his attention back to their high-altitude climbing route and the tactical gear they needed to source.
Mu Feiyi glanced at the closed restroom door. The guests in this private salon were well-bred, and the little creature was remarkably fast on his feet while avoiding strangers. Nothing could go wrong.
Naturally, the little hamster had an agenda. The instant he pushed through the restroom door, he shifted straight back into his human form. How else was he supposed to use the facilities? The porcelain bowl was impossibly high, and there wasn’t a grain of bathing sand in sight!
Besides, he was a spirit beast who had cultivated human awareness for centuries. He possessed a very healthy sense of personal dignity!
Clicking the stall lock shut, Yu Xiaoyuan leaned his chin on one hand and retrieved his smartphone to check his messages.
Seeing the barrage of missed calls and notifications, he mentally congratulated himself on having the foresight to keep the phone on silent.
Uncle: Did you really run off with Mu Feiyi?!
little hamster: How could you say that?! He tricked me into going on an outing. I’m just a helpless little hamster~ What power do I have to resist?
Uncle: I truly never expected Mu Feiyi to be so shameless! Sweet-talking me to my face, then acting like a common thief behind my back!
Yu Xiaoyuan nodded in agreement, then let out an awkward, sheepish chuckle.
To be fair, the blame should really be split fifty-fifty between them. After all, he had voluntarily jumped into the man’s pocket—even if Mu Feiyi had dangled the outing as bait first. But since Mu Feiyi had shamelessly pinned the entire abduction on a pet who supposedly couldn’t speak, it was only fair for the little hamster to play dumb and return the favor!
Yu Xiaoyuan cleared his conscience with an easy shrug.
Uncle: Your sister is heading straight to your location. When she arrives, follow her home immediately. If you hesitate, she might just eliminate Mu Feiyi on the spot.
While Yu Xiaoyuan didn’t fully grasp the depths of human romance, he understood the terror of sibling dominance all too well.
little hamster: The little hamster obeys Sister!
Uncle: Good. Keep that survival instinct sharp.
Before he could send an emoji, the outer restroom door swung open with a heavy thud.
Yu Xiaoyuan shifted back into his hamster form in an instant, sweeping the phone into his spatial realm without missing a beat.
“What gives Mu Feiyi the right to act so damn arrogant? Does he still think he runs the Mu family?”
“Seriously! Strutting around like he owns the city—it’s utterly pathetic!”
The little hamster’s ears twitched. Peering through the crack beneath the stall door, he spotted three men reeking of liquor huddled together near the marble counter, viciously badmouthing Mu Feiyi.
The little hamster felt an immediate surge of outrage, planting his front paws firmly on his hips.
Sure, Mu Feiyi was a bit of a scoundrel, but these two-faced hypocrites had no right to drag his name through the mud! The little hamster knew Mu Feiyi had organized this trip precisely to clear his head after a painful family betrayal. Were these supposed “friends” actively plotting to stab him in the back?
The hamster paced in frantic circles behind the door. If Mu Feiyi genuinely considered these people his allies, unaware of their venomous schemes, he could walk straight into an ambush!
I refuse to let bad people trick and humiliate him!
A fierce sense of justice surged through the tiny furball. He had to expose their true colors to Mu Feiyi right this instant!
Taking advantage of their drunken state, the nimble creature scurried soundlessly across the tiles. Using his lightweight body, he scrambled up the trousers of the drunkest man in the group, slipped the man’s phone out of his blazer pocket directly into his spatial storage, and bounded lightly back to the floor.
Leaning against the vanity, the oblivious man continued scoffing, claiming Mu Feiyi was nothing more than an empty shell.
Crouched beneath the shadow of the sink vanity, the little hamster pulled the phone from his spatial pocket. Unlocking the screen, he spotted the active social group pinned at the top of the chat list. Finding Mu Feiyi’s name, he pressed the icon with a firm tap of his paw!
He frantically mashed the side button to mute the receiver volume, and watched with bated breath as the call connected.
Success!
Rubbing his front paws together in triumph, he poked his head out to keep watch on the three sneering gossips.
Through the earpiece, he faintly caught Mu Feiyi’s deep voice answering with a puzzled “Hello?” The man quickly realized there was silence on the other end, but crucially, he didn’t hang up.
Wonderful, wonderful~ The little hamster preened. That human really does have a brain after all!
“My ties with Mu Tianya from the third branch are solid,” one of the men was boasting aloud. “Old Master Mu has been managing the corporate floor personally these past couple of days, and Tianya hasn’t left his side.”
“No kidding? So Tianya is taking over?”
“It’s practically a done deal. Nine times out of ten, he’s the new heir.”
“Hah! And here Mu Feiyi was, thinking he was irreplaceable.”
“Without the backing of the clan, he’s a nobody! Didn’t the patriarch find a replacement in the blink of an eye?”
“Now that the old man is steadying the ship, the stock price has already started to recover.”
“Exactly. Mu Feiyi probably thought he was pulling off some brilliant tactical retreat—threatening to walk away so the old man would bow down and hand over absolute power. He never dreamed the patriarch wouldn’t even bat an eye.”
“He completely miscalculated.”
“It’s hilarious, honestly. Still acting like an untouchable aristocrat when he’s already out on the street.”
After listening to enough of the slander, the little hamster slipped through the plumbing gap beneath the sink, flattened his body into a plush ribbon, and squeezed out through the door crack into the carpeted corridor.
Shaking his fur back into a perfect sphere, he stood up on his hind legs, twitching his nose to sample the air. The vast hallway was dizzyingly large from his vantage point on the floor.
Fortunately, his sharp senses immediately caught a familiar, warm scent.
Pumping his stubby legs, he dashed down the hall like a wind-up toy, his soft, milk-tea-colored body barreling straight toward Mu Feiyi’s private lounge.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak~!”
Did you hear that?! Did you hear what they said?! Those phonies were hiding in the bathroom tearing you to shreds! They are terrible, rotten people!
Panting for breath, the hamster arrived at Mu Feiyi’s wingtips, urgently tugging at the cuff of his trousers with tiny claws.
Don’t ever hang out with those two-faced snakes again! Only this little hamster is genuinely good to you!
Mu Feiyi leaned down, scooped the breathless furball into his hand, and placed him gently onto the low table.
Resting on the glass directly before him was his personal smartphone, glowing brightly on speaker mode.
The guests around the table wore cold, mocking smirks as the drunken insults continued echoing clearly through the speaker. Those three fools were still rambling on, completely unaware that their every word was being broadcast to the room.
“Unbelievable,” the Qian family heir sneered, his eyes icy. “I had no idea that little worm was such a two-faced parasite.”
“He used to fawn over us like a lapdog,” Young Master Shao added with a quiet, disdainful laugh. “And this is how he talks the moment our backs are turned.”
Another companion—a sharp-featured young man with an imposing presence—silently lit a cigarette. He cast a chilling, sweeping glance across the room, his eyes carrying an unmistakable warning. Nobody was permitted to send a tip-off; they were going to let the traitors dig their own graves.
“Achoo!”
The sudden drift of blue smoke made the hamster sneeze. He rubbed his nose with a paw and shook his head in irritation.
Mu Feiyi instantly reached out, pressing down on his friend’s wrist. “Put it out. The little guy doesn’t like the smoke.”
The stern young man let out a rare, amused chuckle, stubbing the cigarette out in the crystal ashtray before reaching across to playfully flick the fat hamster’s belly.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
The little hamster tumbled backward onto the table, flailing his paws and rolling from side to side in pure, theatrical outrage.
He flicked me! He actually poked my tummy! Scampering forward, the hamster tugged frantically on Mu Feiyi’s sleeve to lodge a complaint.
“Faking another injury, are we?” The Qian heir laughed, his grim mood instantly breaking at the sight of the creature’s dramatics. “How is this little thing so clever? He genuinely knows how to complain to his master!”
Mu Feiyi gently stroked the furball, soothing his ruffled pride while casting a thoughtful, lingering glance toward the hallway leading to the restroom.
Those three drunkards were certainly reckless, but they weren’t stupid enough to leave an active speaker call running by accident.
And hadn’t this little hamster just vanished into the restroom moments ago?
Just… what kind of restroom had the little creature actually used?
