Chapter 39
The wind that night had blown with unusual ferocity, howling far harder than normal.
Over the past few days, Yu Yuanzhou had spared no expense having the villa’s windows upgraded to heavy, reinforced panes, fitting several primary rooms with certified bulletproof glass. It wasn’t that he lacked the will to fortify the entire house, but commercial inventory had simply run dry. Sourcing specialized structural glass in such massive volumes on mere hours of notice had tested the limits of his corporate reach. In a country where firearms were strictly prohibited, securing that grade of ballistic glass at all would have been impossible without the weight of the Yu Corporation behind him.
It was mid-July, a season that should have brought sweltering summer heat. Yet when the little hamster woke that morning and checked the weather forecast on his smartphone, the regional high was projected at an astonishingly chilly eighteen degrees Celsius.
Sigh…
Though he hated to face it, the little hamster knew the truth.
The end was here.
Glancing upward at the countdown hovering in his sight, even an otherworldly spirit beast like him could not suppress a creeping sense of dread. The little hamster sat perched on the mattress, wrapped tightly in a downy quilt, his furry head drooping as he peered through the glass into the overcast morning.
Knock, knock, knock.
Yu Yuanzhou cracked the bedroom door open to collect his nephew. “Little Yuan, are you awake? Get ready. Your uncle is taking you out.”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm!”
These final hours were critical. The little hamster gave his entire body an energetic shake, puffing his flattened fur back into a plush, perfectly round sphere. “Let’s go! The little hamster is ready!”
“Brush your teeth and wash your face first. I’ll bring your breakfast,” Yu Yuanzhou said, closing the door behind him.
Down in the living room, Yu Tianwei sat on the edge of the sofa, her knuckles white as she gripped the cushions, her eyes fixed on a morning broadcast detailing the sudden, unseasonable cold snap. Since waking to find less than six hours remaining on the digital clock, a restless anxiety had gnawed at her composure.
“Order some more hot food through the apps, then make a run to the local bakeries,” Yu Yuanzhou instructed gently, giving his daughter a task to anchor her nerves rather than leaving her to watch the clock tick away.
“Right… right. I’ll go buy more prepared food.” Tianwei seemed to find her footing in an instant. “Little Yuan loves barbecued pork pineapple buns. I’ll clear out the warm cases at the bakery down the street.”
Once the world collapsed, enjoying fresh, golden pastries would be an impossible luxury.
“Buy all of them. Whatever flavors he likes, take the entire tray,” Yu Yuanzhou said, slipping into his tailored windbreaker. He grabbed a sandwich from the counter just as the little hamster came hopping out of the residential elevator on all fours.
He didn’t ask the boy to shift back into human form today. In his tiny animal guise, slipping past prying eyes and moving through logistics checkpoints was far simpler.
Without wasting a word, Yu Yuanzhou drove straight to the commercial depot where the corporate fuel was staged under the cover of a routine management audit. Moving next to their private logistics yard, he punched in the master security code, opened the automated bay doors, and watched quietly as the little hamster swept whole fleets of commercial transport trucks into the Kuntian Jade.
Their work wasn’t done yet. Accelerating onto the northern expressway, Yu Yuanzhou sped toward Mount Qingyan, heading for an isolated cavern he had scouted on topographical surveys days earlier.
Immense as Yu Xiaoyuan’s dimensional capacity was, packing the entire corporate fleet alongside hundreds of fuel drums pushed the spatial boundaries to their absolute limit. Stashing the bulk machinery permanently inside the jade realm was out of the question. Yu Yuanzhou’s contingency plan was to cache the trucks and petroleum reserves inside a high-altitude granite cavern on the mountain slopes, and then detonate the access fissure to seal the entrance under tons of rock.
When the time came, they could return to excavate what they needed. If the cache was compromised or crushed by seismic shifts, they would accept it as the will of heaven; at the very least, they had done everything humanly possible.
Reaching the base of Mount Qingyan took over two hours of hard driving. At the trail’s end, Yu Yuanzhou fitted the little hamster with a miniature nylon parachute, strapped him into the cargo basket of a heavy commercial drone, and piloted the craft toward the sheer cliff face.
The cavern had previously been surveyed only through remote radar imaging. Instruments had revealed a vast, cavernous plateau hidden deep within the rock, but the exterior breach was remarkably narrow—a jagged fissure barely wide enough for a hawk to squeeze through, opening from the cavern roof like a natural skylight.
Hovering outside the opening, the drone tilted its basket. The little hamster pushed off with strong hind legs, bounded through the fissure, and leaped into the echoing darkness, deploying his tiny parachute halfway down to glide safely onto the stone floor.
Yu Yuanzhou harbored no fear that the creature would be trapped down there. He had witnessed his daughter playfully chasing the furball across the living room, only for the nimble creature to sprint straight up the seamless drywall at a ninety-degree angle, scuttling across the plain white ceiling like a gecko.
Landing lightly on the dust, the little hamster went straight to work. Channelling his spiritual awareness, he released the massive inventory in rapid succession: fifty-six heavy commercial haulers, colossal industrial fuel tankers, rows of reinforced petroleum drums, all-terrain quad bikes, and crates of rugged motorcycles. He lined them across the dry subterranean floor.
To accommodate this colossal staging run today, he had held off on planting the arable fields inside the Kuntian Jade, temporarily parking the vehicles and steel fuel tanks across the open soil. The static storage vaults alone could never have swallowed so many fifty-ton transport rigs.
Once the cavern was packed, the little hamster scurried up the jagged rock wall with effortless speed, popping his head through the skylight fissure. Shaking the dust from his coat, he leaped from the rock and landed squarely back into the drone’s padded basket.
The craft had been hovering on its final battery reserves. Guiding it back down, Yu Yuanzhou retrieved the drone, scooped the hamster into his palm, tossed the equipment into the rear hatch, and placed the furball onto the passenger seat.
Checking the glowing digits overhead, Yu Yuanzhou’s chest tightened. “Two hours and ten minutes left. By the time the clock strikes zero, we’ll barely be pulling into the driveway.”
Perched on the leather headrest, the little hamster gazed out the window. Though meteorologists had predicted a daytime high of eighteen degrees, the dashboard thermometer already read a bone-chilling seven degrees Celsius, forcing the vehicle’s heating vents to blow warm air.
That morning while brushing his teeth, the little hamster had sent a quick message to Senior Qian, asking to delay their next grain delivery until tomorrow, citing the sudden temperature drop and road safety concerns for the village drivers.
Senior Qian had replied with an easy, “No problem at all.”
The little hamster had promptly wired a substantial sum of emergency funds to his account, framing it as contingency capital. In truth, he was quietly weaving a safety net, hoping to anchor Senior Qian’s family—and Big Orange the cat—to their future orbit.
Watching the gray landscape rush past the glass, the little hamster twitched his ears. He could already smell a subtle, suffocating sorrow drifting through the thinning air.
“Call your sister and let her know we’re on our way back,” Yu Yuanzhou said, his hands steady on the wheel. He hesitated for a brief second before adding, “And call Mu Feiyi. Tell him to stay indoors, alone, as much as possible.”
The suggestion caught the little hamster completely off guard. He had never considered calling Mu Feiyi. In his eyes, the brilliant star representing the man’s destiny burned with blinding, untouchable glory—how could someone destined for greatness ever run into trouble?
Because of that celestial certainty, he had never worried about the man’s safety, nor had he thought to warn him to turn back.
Turning his round face toward the driver’s seat, the little hamster stared at his uncle with wide, puzzled eyes.
Yu Yuanzhou met those dark, glossy beads in the rearview mirror. He didn’t need words to decipher the simple confusion painted across that furry face.
“Hmph.” Mu Feiyi wasn’t wrong, the uncle thought with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. My nephew’s mind really is as smooth as glass.
“Are you thinking that because his star shines so brightly, he is completely immune to disaster?” Yu Yuanzhou kept his focus on the highway, explaining the realities of the mortal world to his sheltered nephew.
The little hamster nodded with earnest conviction. “Mm-hmm! It’s grown even brighter over the last few days!”
He nodded so hard that his velvety ears flipped backward over his head.
Reaching across the console, Yu Yuanzhou smoothed the soft ears back into place. “Having a magnificent destiny is one thing, Little Yuan, but the path leading to that throne is paved with jagged stones and lethal traps.
“In a world descending into madness, the greater a man’s future, the deadlier the trials he must endure,” Yu Yuanzhou warned, his voice laced with hard-won experience. “You cannot assume someone will walk through hell unscathed simply because the history books write a triumphant ending for him.
“Even stars burn out. Stars lose their luster. Stars can be swallowed whole by sudden cosmic cataclysms.
“The future is never carved in stone, Little Yuan.
“Look around you—your very presence has already altered the fates of everyone in our household. Mu Feiyi’s path is no different.
“You should be worrying about the vipers surrounding him, worrying whether his allies will stab him in the back, and wondering if he will run headfirst into horrifying mutated beasts or ravenous swarms on the road.
“He can be broken. He can bleed.
“Mu Feiyi is not a god, Little Yuan. He is a mortal man made of flesh and bone.”
Watching the boy’s blank, stunned expression, Yu Yuanzhou let out a quiet sigh. This sweet child who had “returned” had brought extraordinary abilities with him, yet he leaned on that supernatural awareness like a child clinging to a fairy tale, blind to the brutal mechanisms of human cruelty.
Even if a conqueror stood atop a radiant golden throne, the carpet beneath his boots was always soaked in blood.
The little hamster sank back into the leather seat, his whiskers drooping. “You’re right… The little hamster didn’t think of that.”
Mu Feiyi was human, whereas he was a spirit beast. Even armed with innate spatial vaults, centuries of cultivation, and a mountain of hoarded provisions, the little hamster knew surviving the coming collapse would be an agonizing struggle.
Mu Feiyi was out there alone. He needed comrades to survive, yet had to watch his back against treacherous betrayal at every turn. He walked a solitary road.
What little aid the hamster could offer was constrained by immense physical distance.
His dark eyes grew misty, his delicate lashes trembling with sudden, sharp grief. “I… I was too careless.”
Climbing onto his hind legs, the little hamster pulled out his smartphone, tapped out a quick message letting his sister know they were nearing the city limits, and then used his front paws to swipe through his contacts until Mu Feiyi’s number filled the screen.
The device was an oversized pro model—nearly three times the length of the hamster when curled into a ball. Propping the phone upright against the leather seatback, he hovered his paws over the glass, hesitating with visible anxiety.
Yu Yuanzhou glanced over, reached out a hand, and tapped the green dial icon for him.
Keeping his eyes locked on the road ahead, the uncle’s voice dropped into a somber, urgent cadence before the line could connect: “Little Yuan, once the sky breaks, how long do you think municipal communications will survive?
“The cell towers will go dark almost immediately.
“If fortune turns against you, this might be the last time you ever hear his voice.
“Even if you are both blessed with luck, it could be months or years before your paths cross again. In the meantime, you won’t have phone calls, messages, or letters… only memories.”
The little hamster snapped his head up, his pink nose twitching with nervous shock as he stared at his uncle. Confusion flickered in his dark eyes—hadn’t his uncle been fiercely protective, glaring at Mu Feiyi like a wolf guarding his flock?
“When the end comes, one must seize whatever joy remains in the present,” Yu Yuanzhou said softly, smoothing the fur along the creature’s spine before gently turning his head back toward the glowing screen.
He had never truly opposed a bond between the two young men. If anything, he found the quiet spark between them deeply compelling.
Everyone in the capital’s upper crust knew Mu Feiyi was a peerless dragon temporarily resting in shallow waters. Countless heirs and heiresses from powerful dynasties had tried to capture his interest for years, yet the man had treated romance with cool indifference, living as though he could squeeze forty-eight hours of ruthless work out of a standard day. During critical corporate expansions, he had been known to lock himself in his executive office for weeks on end, surviving on three hours of sleep a night.
Without that terrifying, unyielding drive, how could the Mu Corporation have carved out an empire overseas amidst cutthroat global competition?
Without that brilliance, how could a young man in his twenties have held absolute dominion over a predatory board of directors?
Mu Feiyi wasn’t merely an eligible bachelor of an elite house; he was an unyielding diamond mine.
Yet countless suitors had charged into that fortress, only to walk away utterly defeated and empty-handed.
And yet, his sweet, silly nephew had simply handed over a peanut.
And just like that, the most guarded bachelor in the capital had followed him right back like a loyal stray~
Yu Yuanzhou couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer absurdity of it. The display of Mu Feiyi acting so gentle and smitten under their driveway lights that night had sent shockwaves through high society. Word hadn’t merely circulated the next morning; before Mu Feiyi’s private flight had even left the runway, Yu Yuanzhou’s phone had been ringing off the hook.
Everyone was calling to butter him up, marveling at how deeply the Yu family had hidden their cards.
Anyone with an ounce of business sense understood that Mu Feiyi was destined to reach greater heights. Only the short-sighted fools running the Mu Corporation believed he was finished. Stripped of the clan’s dead weight, Mu Feiyi was like a tiger finally granted wings. The city’s elite offered congratulations laced with thinly veiled envy, desperately probing to figure out how the two had hit it off.
That Mu Feiyi actually held a soft spot for his gentle, naive nephew was a development nobody had anticipated.
The entire social circle was practically green with jealousy. Hmph.
People were even gossiping that the Yu estate’s feng shui must be blessed by the heavens: first, Mu Feiyi offered a prime commercial parcel in downtown S City just to purchase their pet hamster; next, the man walked right into the parlor himself, entirely taken with the young master.
Thinking back on the calls, a strange, quiet pride bloomed in Yu Yuanzhou’s chest. Those superficial socialites had no idea how extraordinary Little Yuan truly was. In the end, Mu Feiyi was the one walking away with the prize of a lifetime!
Keeping his hands steady on the steering wheel, Yu Yuanzhou glanced sideways at the passenger seat where the call had just connected.
“Hello?”
Mu Feiyi’s voice came through the speaker, low, rich, and colored with a trace of amusement. “Who’s missing me so much?”
A pause, followed by a teasing purr: “Could it be a certain fluffy little hamster, hmm?”
The playful remark made the hamster, who was trying his best to look poised, turn bright pink beneath his fur. Feeling the heat flare in his cheeks, the little hamster twitched his velvety ears and blurted, “N-no! Not at all!”
“Oh? If the little hamster isn’t missing me, then who could it be? Young Master Yu?” Mu Feiyi’s low laugh vibrated through the receiver, thoroughly enjoying the way the youth stumbled into his trap.
The hamster’s paws waved frantically in the air as he squeaked into the mic: “No! Not him either!”
“Then who is on the other end of the line?” Mu Feiyi’s voice softened, the smile in his tone deepening. “Someone called my personal number, so someone must be missing me. If it isn’t the little hamster… then is it you?”
Aaaah! This question is an absolute death trap!
Yu Yuanzhou pressed his lips together, nearly bursting into laughter behind the wheel. Mu Feiyi’s teasing was comprehensive—he had cut off every possible avenue of escape.
Anyone else might have claimed it was just the pet, neatly shifting the burden onto the hamster. But his nephew was trapped in a unique bind: he was both the little hamster and the young master of the Yu family. No matter which identity he picked, he was confessing to missing the man!
Embarrassed beyond measure, the little creature practically steamed on the leather seat, glowing like a freshly boiled sweet rice dumpling bobbing in hot water.
“All right, out with it. What did you need, hmm?”
Mu Feiyi walked a few paces behind his hiking companions, catching the knowing, teasing grins they threw over their shoulders.
An unfamiliar sensation settled into his chest—a quiet, blooming warmth of private pride and delight.
In the past, whenever he watched Young Master Shao dutifully step away from social banquets to call his wife and check in, that kind of marital devotion had felt distant and abstract. He had respected Shao’s choices, of course. While cynical peers mocked Shao for being henpecked and losing his masculine authority, Mu Feiyi had viewed it as their personal harmony. If a partner cared for you down to every minor detail of daily life, why let ego destroy a balanced, healthy home?
Back then, he had analyzed domestic affection from a purely rational standpoint. But now, holding his phone against his ear on this mountain trail, an electric jolt seemed to run down his spine, leaving his scalp prickling with warmth.
The moment the screen lit up with the incoming call, he had known the boy simply missed him. There were no hidden motives, no transactional leverage, and no corporate agenda.
The youth just missed him—Mu Feiyi, the man—and wanted to hear his voice, perfectly content to waste a few quiet minutes together.
And Mu Feiyi was more than willing to let his time be wasted.
The feeling was novel, disarming, and deeply magnetic. Genuine affection arrived without warning, fierce, sudden, and utterly unreasonable.
How long had they truly known each other? How many times had they actually met?
“I… I have something important to tell you,” the little hamster squeaked, his tongue darting out to lick his dry nose as his ears twitched furiously, desperately trying to cool his burning face.
Yu Yuanzhou couldn’t bear to watch the boy roast in embarrassment any longer. Reaching into the glove compartment, he pulled out a portable electric fan and aimed it directly at the passenger seat.
Internally, the older man scoffed with mild paternal superiority. He certainly hadn’t been this easily flustered when he was courting his late wife! As the boy’s uncle, he had never surrendered the upper hand in matters of romance!
“Hmm? What did you want to tell me?” Mu Feiyi asked, dropping further behind his group.
“Where are you right now?”
Before the man could answer, a sudden blast of artificial wind caught the hamster off guard!
The gale knocked him backward. Claws scrambling frantically for purchase, he clamped onto the seat cushion with all four limbs, shrieking into the receiver: “Squeak, squeak, squeak!” Uncle! The fan is way too strong!
“Sorry about that,” Yu Yuanzhou muttered under his breath, hurriedly clicking the dial off. He hadn’t been looking and had accidentally pushed the switch straight to the highest output. Had the little creature’s reflexes been a fraction slower, he would have been plastered against the passenger window like a wet leaf.
“Did you take the little hamster out with you?” Mu Feiyi asked, glancing at the trail ahead. “We’re hiking up the ridge; we’ve almost reached the summit.”
“Did you bring the thing I gave you?” the hamster asked urgently, his heart leaping into his throat.
“I’m just attending a private luncheon at the mountain retreat; don’t worry, we’ll head back down shortly,” Mu Feiyi explained patiently in a hushed tone. “We’re a formal party out for a banquet—I can hardly walk into a dining hall carrying a five-foot combat blade across my back, can I? It would set everyone on edge. I’m hosting this meal in hopes that one of the guests can arrange an introduction with an influential elder.”
The explanation was entirely reasonable. Deflated, the little hamster sat back against the leather, resting his chin on his front paws.
Mu Feiyi had no idea what was descending upon the world; how could anyone expect him to carry an oversized ceremonial saber into a luxury dining suite?
I should have handed him two blades, the little hamster thought with intense, protective favoritism. I should have made him strap the shorter straight blade to his waist as well.
“Listen to me… My uncle knows people in high places,” the little hamster fibbed, trying to sound grave. “He says the atmospheric conditions are completely abnormal. He says… the end of the world is coming.”
“Nonsense,” Mu Feiyi chuckled softly, shaking his head at the superstitious warning. “The mercury has plummeted unusually fast, but that’s all it is. Keep yourself indoors and stay warm, all right? If both you and the little hamster catch a cold, I won’t know which one of you to nurse back to health first.”
“Squeak!” Take care of both, obviously!
The hamster licked his lips, then rubbed his ears with his paws, feeling an awkward twinge of embarrassment. How on earth had he managed to get jealous of his own animal form?
Before he could continue, his eyes darted toward the steering wheel—only to catch his uncle leaning over the center console, shamelessly straining his ears to eavesdrop on the call!
Utterly shameless!
Blushing furiously, the hamster clamped down on the corner of the phone with his teeth, kicked off the seat with his hind legs, and dragged the device into the dark footwell behind the driver’s seat.
“Whether you believe it or not, listen to me,” the little hamster insisted, gazing out the rear window at the faint white flakes beginning to drift from the leaden clouds. “If someone suddenly collapses and passes out at your table, and nobody can wake them up no matter what they do… do not try to help them. Leave them where they are. Walk out alone, get straight into your car, and drive down the mountain immediately. And if anyone starts burning up with a high fever, isolate them right away.”
“Can you promise me that?”
The little hamster pressed his paws against the cold glass, standing on his tiptoes. His breath fogged the pane, creating a small, cloudy ring around his reflection.
The outdoor temperature was falling off a cliff.
On the mountain path hundreds of miles away, Mu Feiyi adjusted the collar of his heavy woolen coat. He had to admit the weather had turned bizarrely harsh. This province was famous for its sweltering summer heatwaves.
Yet today, he was wearing winter layers. He considered himself resilient against the cold, but Qian Shan was already jogging ahead, his teeth chattering audibly in the wind.
The sky looked profoundly unnatural.
Mu Feiyi’s thoughts drifted back to Elder Liu’s sudden, unannounced departure for the capital, and the suffocating, ink-black mist he had spotted from the aircraft window the night before. That unsettling miasma still cast a dark shadow across his mind.
“Hello? Are you still there? Can you hear me?” The youth’s urgent voice through the receiver snapped him back to the present.
Looking up at the gray expanse above the ridgeline, Mu Feiyi relented. “All right. If the situation you described actually happens, I will leave immediately.”
“It’s a promise!” The boy’s voice instantly brightened with relief.
He even let out a small, dramatic sigh through the mic. Mu Feiyi nearly laughed aloud at the display. “Look at you, acting like an old soul. When I get back, I’m going to tug your hamster’s whiskers as a penalty for being so superstitious.”
“Hmph!”
The hamster dropped from the sill, crossing his front paws over his chest and tucking his whiskers safely out of reach. “You wouldn’t dare!”
Before Mu Feiyi could tease him further, thick, feathery snowflakes began drifting down in earnest, swirling around the rocky trail.
Up ahead, Qian Shan cursed loudly at the sudden blizzard: “It’s the middle of July! How in the hell is it snowing?!”
Turning around, he waved frantically toward the rear: “Feiyi! Stop flirting with your little hamster and pick up the pace! Let’s get off this exposed ridge!”
“I’m hanging up now,” Mu Feiyi said, preparing to pocket the device. “We’ll speak soon.”
“Wait! Promise me one more time!” The boy’s voice turned sharp with panic.
Without pausing to think, Mu Feiyi answered on pure instinct: “I promise.”
The second the words left his lips, a wave of sheepish heat touched his neck. He wasn’t accustomed to making reckless pledges just to appease someone’s anxiety.
Straightening his posture, he added firmly, “Whatever Mu Feiyi promises, he honors. I have to go now.”
“Mm.” The youth let out a soft, trembling breath through the speaker. “I wish you… safety.”
The final farewell was so faint and hushed that had Mu Feiyi’s hearing been a fraction less acute, the mountain wind would have swallowed it entirely.
Before he could say another word, the line clicked dead.
Honestly… so hopelessly superstitious, Mu Feiyi thought, shaking his head with affectionate exasperation. The boy was barely out of his teens, yet carried the anxieties of an ancient elder. I’ll have to sit him down and teach him some basic scientific skepticism when I return.
Pocketing his phone, he caught up with the group as they arrived at the private vegetarian retreat nestled beside the thousand-year-old mountain temple. Unlike the weathered, unadorned stone of the ancient monastery nearby, this modern VIP pavilion was opulent and gleaming with polished timber and radiant brass.
The estate manager bowed deeply, ushering them through the private courtyard. “We have cleared the entire wing for your party today, honored guests.”
Mu Feiyi glanced across the landscaped grounds. The scenery was undeniably breathtaking, yet beneath the luxury lay an air of calculated pretense.
Normally, he never paid attention to such theatrical vanity; after all, hadn’t he navigated the very same superficial games for years?
His sudden distaste for the posturing was simple: he had finally met someone pure.
Standing against the murky, transactional tide of high society, that boy had stood completely clear of the mud—and in that single, radiant glance, Mu Feiyi had recognized something irreplaceable.
