Chapter 452 - 394: Fu Tailan · Zhen Zi

Chapter 452: Chapter 394: Fu Tailan · Zhen Zi

Looking back now, the year he turned seventeen had been a total nightmare.

Ugh, that sounded so world-weary, as if he were an old man—when in fact, seventeen was only two years ago.

It was just that when Fu Tailan looked back on his short life, he sometimes found it hard to believe. After experiencing so many nightmares, life-and-death struggles, betrayals, and reconciliations, he was still only nineteen.

...It was as if his own life could only truly begin after he’d first endured more torment than most people suffer in a lifetime.

And yet, Fu Tailan would sometimes grow dazed and wonder, ’Has a life that belongs to me truly begun?’

It was almost... It was almost as if someone was tricking him.

He washed his hands of being a Hunter after 2026.

Fu Han had been saved from the brink of a death sentence, so he could no longer force him into the Nests. It was hard to believe, but Fu Han actually had something he was too embarrassed to bring up again.

Due to the fallout from the murder case, he didn’t dare stay in Blackmoor City. He simply moved to a seaside island touted as a vacation paradise. He said he was going to manage Fu Tailan’s assets from now on, invest it wisely, and multiply his son’s money several times over.

At first, Fu Tailan could still log into that bank account. But for the past two months, it had always said his password was incorrect.

Fu Tailan didn’t even bother to ask.

He’d never been naive enough to imagine things might turn out differently, so he wasn’t the least bit surprised. He still had a small amount of savings set aside for himself, enough to get by. That was enough.

The very knowledge that Fu Han was out there in some remote corner of the world, with money in his hands and no one trying to kill him—that in itself felt like a dream.

He was terrified that contacting his father even a few times would summon Fu Han right back into his life. No, Fu Tailan didn’t even dare to dwell on it. He was afraid that if he thought about him too much, Fu Han would rematerialize before him.

This wasn’t to say that Fu Tailan was doing well now.

Though it wasn’t as if he was doing badly, either.

Every morning when he opened his eyes, he would lie in bed and stare into space for a while.

Every day, it didn’t matter where he went or didn’t go, what he did, what he ate... None of it made any difference.

There was no one in the world to look at their watch and call to curse him out for being late. No one to remind him he had promises to keep... and certainly no one thinking of him, whether to get revenge or to thank him for a helping hand.

’So this is how much time there is in a day.’

How he chose to spend it had nothing to do with the rest of the world.

Fu Tailan had thought that once he stopped being a Hunter, some new, ordinary, interesting daily routine would unfold before him. He never expected that what he’d see, day after day upon sitting up in bed, was the barren emptiness of his small apartment.

He didn’t need to earn money anymore. Didn’t need to enter Nests anymore. Didn’t need to smoke to numb his nerves anymore...

And yet, he was completely adrift, utterly at a loss.

Fu Tailan got up from the side of the bed and stripped off his pajamas.

He was about to put on a T-shirt, but then he remembered he had nowhere to go. Changing clothes was pointless.

Bare-chested, he drifted over to the television. Twenty minutes later, he realized it had been off the entire time.

Fu Tailan closed his eyes, listening quietly to his own breath and heartbeat.

To say his life now had no connection to the outside world wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Every two or three days, his doorbell would let out a long ring, just as it was doing now.

"Hello, HelloFresh—"

The first time he’d opted for the meal kit delivery service, he opened the door to a girl who looked like a student on a work-study program. She gave him a formulaic greeting without even looking up, set down the box, adjusted her cap, and said, "Please leave a good review," before vanishing.

Fu Tailan tried his hand at cooking. It wasn’t difficult; anyone with a normal IQ could follow a recipe and get a roughly similar result.

But the magical thing was, making a single meal made an entire hour disappear.

Encouraged, he decided he would cook once every day. This way, the twenty-four hours of the day would be shortened a little, the emptiness reduced a little.

It might have been narcissistic of him, but after the fourth consecutive delivery, Fu Tailan started to wonder just when the delivery girl would finally get a clear look at his face.

The answer: she still hadn’t after twenty-nine deliveries.

’Is she just not interested in my type? Does she not like younger guys? Is she not into men at all? Or is she just so exhausted from her delivery job that she doesn’t have the energy to look at her customers?’

’It’s not like I want anything to happen... but that cap is really getting in the way. Can’t she just take it off? If it weren’t for the cap, she probably would have seen me by now.’

Just once would be enough. Fu Tailan wanted to be truly seen by this person he met so often.

"Hello, Hello—"

The girl was just about to hand over the cardboard box of groceries when she suddenly trailed off.

It was only then that Fu Tailan realized he’d forgotten to put on a shirt. ’Ah, could this be it—’

"—Fresh. Please leave a good review."

’Is she really not a robot?’

As she turned to leave, Fu Tailan finally stopped her. "Wait."

She turned, her eyes first flicking to his torso, her expression somewhat guarded. ’Guarded against what? It’s not like I’m holding a weapon.’ Fu Tailan, clutching the grocery box, felt like an idiot. This whole thing was pointless.

He stammered, "Wh-where do I leave the review?"

That was the first time he and Zhen Zi truly locked eyes.

Even if Fu Tailan had imagined this scene a hundred times, he never would have dared to think someone would actually be stunned just by looking at him.

If he hadn’t said anything, she might have just kept staring.

’It was true he was good-looking, but... not so handsome he could work like a hypnotic pendulum, right?’

After a dozen seconds, Zhen Zi finally snapped out of it. She took his phone and, with surprising professionalism, showed him how to use the app and where to leave a review—as if he couldn’t have figured it out on his own. While she was at it, she left herself a whole string of five-star ratings.

"Don’t worry about the tip," Zhen Zi said.

Fu Tailan was playing dumb, not actually dumb. Hearing her, he immediately tapped open the order to leave a tip.

"No," Zhen Zi said, covering his phone screen with her hand. "I’m serious, really. Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to. I just wanted to ask you something..."

"What is it?" Fu Tailan hadn’t expected this turn of events.

"Um, you have social media, right?"

It was hard to find the right words to describe her expression as she asked this. It was very strange.

All Fu Tailan could say was that after he gave her his Instagram handle, the disappointment on her face was plain to see.

"Is that not the right one?"

’This feels like taking a test when you don’t even know the questions.’

"Ah, no, it’s not that..." Zhen Zi glanced at his account, her disappointment practically morphing into exasperation. "No link? And you haven’t posted anything... Never mind, never mind. I didn’t mean anything by it. See you next time!"

After that, Zhen Zi delivered his groceries several more times. Gradually, they started talking more.

Fu Tailan’s own life was dull and uneventful, so he’d always ask about hers: Was her schoolwork difficult? What happened with that annoying roommate she’d mentioned? As they grew more familiar, Fu Tailan felt too awkward to just wait inside his apartment, and would always go out to meet her by the elevator.

"Want to come in for some water?" The weather was unusually hot one day, and seeing the sweat on Zhen Zi’s forehead, he couldn’t help but ask. "I have a bunch of cold drinks in the fridge..."

That guarded look flashed across Zhen Zi’s face again—Fu Tailan really didn’t understand what she was always so wary of—but after a moment’s thought, her demeanor suddenly brightened, and she stepped inside.

Holding a glass packed with ice, Zhen Zi stood by the kitchen counter, able to take in the entire small apartment—a space that had never hosted a guest before—with a single glance.

For some reason, she seemed to be hemming and hawing.

"So... I don’t really use Instagram much either..." She buried her face in the glass, her voice muffled. "You don’t use any other apps?"

Fu Tailan sensed she was getting at something specific. "Like what?"

"Well... a few of my classmates... they’ve sta-started an Only... OnlyFans."

The name meant nothing to him. ’Is that a new social media platform?’

"Are you on it?" Fu Tailan asked.

"No, no, no! I’m not! I don’t have one!" Zhen Zi replied, startled. "If I did, would I still be delivering groceries? I mean, if you had one, I wouldn’t judge you at all! On the contrary, I’d totally understand—"

She trailed off, watching as Fu Tailan lowered his head and opened Google on his phone.

A few seconds later, when Fu Tailan finished his search, finally understood what OnlyFans was, and looked up at her, Zhen Zi’s expression was a complete mess. "Um... I, I just thought you must... I mean, given, you know... ah... Ugh, fine, I’ll be honest. I want to see it."

Even Fu Tailan was at a loss for words to describe her. ’Who says something like that to a person’s face? Does this count as harassment?’

’Does she have even less social awareness than I do?’

By the time he snapped out of it, he realized he was laughing. Not just laughing, but trading easy banter with a mortified Zhen Zi. As he laughed, Fu Tailan even started to feel a bit dazed.

’This... I’m not dreaming, am I?’

He wiped a tear from his eye and asked with a laugh, "So, should I make one for you?"

"You don’t have to... Okay."

’She agreed way too quickly.’

"Your glass is empty," Fu Tailan reminded her.

This whole time, Zhen Zi hadn’t dared to look at him. She held the glass with both hands, using it and her hands to hide her face. For all her talk about wanting to see his OnlyFans, her eyes were fixed on the ice at the bottom of the glass. When he saw she’d chewed through the last of the ice, Fu Tailan had no choice but to say, "Go put the glass back. Don’t gnaw a hole in it."

Zhen Zi’s brain had clearly overheated. He shouldn’t have said "put it back."

Because Zhen Zi, following his instruction, dazedly turned around and opened the refrigerator. Tracing it back to its origin, the cold drink had indeed come from there, so "putting it back" there seemed logical enough. And just like that, she placed the now-empty glass back inside the fridge.

But Zhen Zi never closed the refrigerator door.

Fu Tailan’s heart seized. He shot up from the sofa and lunged into the small kitchen, but it was already empty.

The refrigerator door was ajar, its pale, cold light spilling out. The glass sat perfectly still inside.

The groceries she had delivered were ones Fu Tailan had just stuffed inside.

’...If I touch the handle now, I wonder if I can still feel her warmth.’

He stood frozen for a few seconds, then turned and walked back to his bedroom, pulling a large cardboard box from under the bed. His movements were fluid and natural, as if this was the one reason he had been waiting for all this time.

Fu Tailan took a submachine gun from the box, walked to the bedroom door, and gripped the handle.

Open, close. Open, close. Open—

On the third try, Fu Tailan froze.

’Zhen Zi fell into the Nest. She’s bound to be in danger.’

’I don’t have to go save Zhen Zi.’

Fu Tailan lowered his head and gently touched his own cheek. It was wet and cold.

’That’s to be expected... it’s raining, after all.’

’Zhen Zi will be in danger, but I don’t have to save her.’

’...Because Zhen Zi doesn’t exist.’

"Get out,"

Fu Tailan heard his own voice, hoarse and slurred, as if spoken by someone still half-dreaming. "What are you? Drop the illusion and get out."