After getting off the plane and settling in, the four of them had a meal filled with awkward and embarrassed atmosphere.
"I had originally booked a room for each of you," Ye Zhizhou took out two room keys, cleared his throat, and looked at Xiao Rui, teasing and inquisitive, "Do you want one card each or two?"
Wen Jia's face turned crimson, and she hurriedly reached for the card he pushed over, saying urgently, "Two cards, two cards, we'll each have our own."
Xiao Rui, on the other hand, shamelessly held onto Wen Jia's hand, taking only one card with a sincere look on his face. "One card is enough; I'm helping you save money."
"Xiao Rui!" Wen Jia tugged at him, not daring to look at the expressions of the two opposite them. "Behave yourself!"
"What's there to behave about when we're in a relationship?" Xiao Rui interlocked their fingers and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. Then he playfully puckered his lips. "It's not like we haven't shared a bed before. Don't worry; I won't steal your blankets tonight."
Wen Jia felt like his face was about to be seen through by Ye Zhizhou's curious gaze, and he was both angry and a little sweet inside. It felt somewhat dreamlike. The person next to him had actually responded to him, openly acknowledging their relationship in front of their friends. The anxiety, repression, and despair he felt when he first fell for this person seemed like they happened just yesterday. He was a bit afraid that the happier he was now, the more painful it would be when he woke up.
Xiao Rui picked up the menu to block Ye Zhizhou's gaze and leaned in close to Wen Jia's ear, lowering his voice. "It's real."
Wen Jia was taken aback and realized that he had unintentionally spaced out. After a moment, he asked, "What's real?"
"Me." Xiao Rui lifted the hand they were holding together and kissed it, lowering his head. "I'm really with you now. It's not a dream, and there's no need to be afraid. You can continue treating me the way you used to, and as for me, I'll love you even more than before. Understand?"
Wen Jia remained silent for a moment, then tightened his grip on Xiao Rui's hand. He took a deep breath and suppressed the surge of emotions inside him, giving Xiao Rui a smile. "Understood. When we get back to B City, I want to eat the late-night snacks you make every day."
"No problem."
"...And breakfast."
Xiao Rui met his slightly anxious gaze and responded with a radiant smile. "Sure."
Ye Zhizhou stared at the menu held up in the air, listening to the hushed conversation from the opposite side. He couldn't help but glance at Gu Yi, who had an expressionless face, sitting next to him. "The early stages of a relationship are always the sweetest. When you've been together for a long time, you can't even hear a word of endearment from your lover. It's a tough life."
Gu Yi put the peeled nuts into a takeaway bag and handed it to him. "Don't eat too much, glutton."
Ye Zhizhou was infuriated and stood up to punch him. "You're the glutton! If I'm a pig, what are you, the pig farmer?"
[Sensing abnormal energy fluctuations. Host, please be cautious! Please be cautious!]
Gu Yi grabbed his arm and pulled him into his embrace, turning his back to the outside, his expression serious. "Someone is spying on us."
Ye Zhizhou frowned as well, pretending to playfully wrestle with him while quietly activating the system's scanning function. He lowered his voice and replied, "It should be Qin Bai; he's staying at the same hotel as us."
Gu Yi's face darkened upon hearing this, and he regretted not going to a private room. Fortunately, they had all finished their meal, so they could leave at any time. He beckoned to Xiao Rui and Wen Jia, who had finally finished their sweet talk, and called over the waiter to settle the bill.
Later in the evening, Shi Jianwen arrived at the hotel. Ye Zhizhou gathered the male leads in his room, handed out the information, and said seriously, "The reason I called you all here this time is because of this. Participating in the stone gambling event is just a side task."
The three of them took the information with puzzled expressions and began to read. After a few lines, their expressions changed, albeit in different ways.
"Superpowers? Am I reading a novel?" Xiao Rui was the first to comment.
Wen Jia frowned, "Come to think of it... when I authenticate art and calligraphy, I do have a strong intuition. Grandpa used to say it's a gift from God..."
Shi Jianwen, on the other hand, focused on something else, "Someone is monitoring the four of us?"
"Yes, they've been monitoring us for a while," Ye Zhizhou inserted a USB drive into his personal computer and showed him the photos he had extracted from roadside cameras. "The other party is cautious, so the photos aren't very clear, but you can pay attention to these license plates. These cars seem to appear frequently around you."
As Shi Jianwen looked at the photos, his expression grew increasingly grim. "One of these is the milk delivery truck for my brother's villa... Could it be that my brother is also under surveillance?"
Ye Zhizhou shook his head and explained, "Not at the moment, but your brother's villa is indeed within their surveillance range."
Listening to their conversation, Xiao Rui and Wen Jia became serious as well. Inside the room, the only sound was the rustling of papers as they examined the information. Several minutes later, the three of them finished reading and fell silent.
"I know you might find it hard to accept at first, but take a look at this," Ye Zhizhou rolled up his sleeves, showing them his hands, and then took out a toy from his spatial pocket right in front of them. "There are many unexplained powers in this world. Mine is spatial manipulation; I can store things in it." He demonstrated by putting the toy back into the space.
As expected, the three of them were dumbfounded by this. Xiao Rui was still somewhat skeptical, insisting that it was a magic trick. Unable to convince him, Ye Zhizhou simply took out a human-sized doll from his space and handed it to him.
"This couldn't possibly be something I hid in advance, right? There's no place in the room to hide such a big thing."
Xiao Rui held the doll, utterly baffled. Shi Jianwen and Wen Jia turned their attention back to the information, studying the sections related to superpowers.
"So, this Qin Bai..." Shi Jianwen flipped through the middle pages of the documents, furrowing his brows. "Did he really stay inside Baozi's body?"
Ye Zhizhou nodded and handed him the information about Wu Kaien. "This is the first person Qin Bai possessed after entering Little Cat's body. Wu Kaien will also come over in a couple of days, and you can communicate with him then."
Shi Jianwen took the information and flipped through it, his gaze lingering on the photo of Wu Kaien and Little Cat. He couldn't help but rub his temples and mutter, "It's really Baozi. The one I initially raised..."
[The probability of Shi Jianwen falling in love with the protagonist has dropped to 50%. Host, keep up the good work.]
It had dropped by half, but it was still manageable. Ye Zhizhou closed the system prompt and added a few more words before sending the three of them back to their rooms, giving them the night to digest the information.
As the room quieted down, Gu Yi hugged Ye Zhizhou from behind, nuzzling his neck and asking, "Why did you have to bring them all here?"
"There are too many superpower organizations lurking in B City, and I didn't want to take any chances... Fortunately, I paid more attention recently, or else I wouldn't have known that Qin Bai secretly brought all the superpowered individuals here... Plus, Qin Bai has precognition abilities. If the male leads' activities deviate too much from his predictions, he might get suspicious." This was also why he had staggered Shi Jianwen's departure time and had Wu Kaien come a few days later. Tongtian could interfere to some extent with the protagonist's predictions, but only within a certain range. He was actually gambling on whether the protagonist's predictive ability was not yet perfect and powerful enough to account for his appearance. From the current situation, it seemed like his gamble had paid off.
Gu Yi patted his shoulder, helping him relax his tense shoulder muscles. "You've been working hard during this period."
"It's not hard." Ye Zhizhou leaned back into his embrace and thought for a moment about the plot. He couldn't help but sigh, "I just don't know what to do with Qin Bai after the flags are all removed. If he continues to use superpowers to harm people after the flags are gone, what should we do? Whether to regulate it and how to regulate it... It's a dilemma. Yet, Qin Bai doesn't seem like someone who will just stay quiet..."
"Just destroy his superpower." Gu Yi was more decisive than him, casually running his fingers through his hair. His tone carried a hint of indifference. "Stealing others' superpowers, altering their fates and love lives—Qin Bai has made too many mistakes. Even the heavens won't tolerate him. Don't worry."
Ye Zhizhou nodded, trying to push these thoughts out of his mind and focus on the present. There were still two flags to remove, and while Shi Jianwen's flag was relatively straightforward, Chongyao's was proving to be quite challenging. He would deal with these issues later.
The next morning, everyone gathered for breakfast, and the atmosphere was somewhat somber.
"Qin Bai is staying on the 26th floor of this hotel. He will also participate in the stone gambling event and is soon to become the new genius of stone gambling." Ye Zhizhou broke the silence and handed a invitation card to Shi Jianwen. "This is your entry pass to the stone gambling event. You can personally meet Qin Bai. Trust me, he will be happy to befriend you."
Shi Jianwen took the invitation card, fiddled with it, and sighed, "Thank you. I'll go take a look." It was just raising a pet, but he didn't expect it would lead to so many complications and even involve his friends and brother. He felt a bit weary.
"Don't overthink it. Relax and think of it as just watching a show." Ye Zhizhou patted his shoulder to comfort him and then turned to Xiao Rui and Wen Jia. "These are your passes. Qin Bai will definitely attend the neighboring province's appreciation event. Whether you want to 'coincidentally encounter' him is up to you." He handed them the other two invitation cards.
Wen Jia received his pass in silence, and he glanced at Xiao Rui, who had a contemplative look. He also sighed, "Honestly, I still don't feel like this is real..." So much had happened in the past few days, and he was having trouble processing it all.
Xiao Rui, who had been daydreaming, suddenly leaned against him and resumed his usual affectionate and intimate behavior. Wen Jia was momentarily surprised but couldn't help but smile when he looked down at him. Well, as long as this person was by his side, he could accept even the most fantastical things.
After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Ye Zhizhou took out his phone to monitor the protagonist's movements and reminded him while hailing a taxi, "Remember, I'm your distant cousin now. Don't let any secrets slip."
Gu Yi furrowed his brow but didn't refute his words.
Seeing his reaction, Ye Zhizhou rewarded him with a calming pill, then pulled him into a taxi that had stopped in front of them and started calculating the timeline. In the original plot, Qin Bai had talked to the male leads about their powers after the first upgrade of their abilities. This indicated that the protagonist was cautious and wanted to maintain control over the male leads' powers. Stealing superpowers occurred after the protagonist upgraded his abilities again, and after the male leads had also upgraded their abilities. In other words, there had to be a condition for the protagonist to steal superpowers, and that condition was that the male leads' abilities had to fully awaken and be upgraded... No, the male leads' power was psychic power, not superpowers...
Realizing this, he was momentarily stunned, then ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He had actually overlooked something so important! The male leads had psychic power, not superpowers, so what was going on with the plot where the protagonist taught them how to train their superpowers?! He quickly opened the plot data and carefully reviewed the scene where the protagonist taught the male leads how to train their superpowers. To his horror, he discovered that the method the protagonist taught them was indeed a basic training method for enhancing psychic power! Even though it was tedious and somewhat biased.
There must be someone behind the scenes who had awakened psychic power to help the protagonist! Who could it be? Who had awakened psychic power?
He had been unable to understand how the protagonist stole psychic power, a soul force, and the male leads had different psychic power orientations, so forcibly merging them would definitely cause problems, even if one of the psychic powers leaned towards purification... At first, he thought it was because the protagonist had a high degree of inclusivity in his abilities, allowing him to perfectly integrate several sources of power into one person's brain. But now, he thought of another possibility—psychic power could be absorbed and transferred, and even forcibly removed.