In that moment, Lian Yufan thought of many things. 

He thought of some months ago when he had received his superior’s order to go to the Xuyang District and investigate whether Yu Hua had been replaced by a Destroyer. Since the person responsible for the Xuyang District, You Zhengping, was a family member of the involved individual and needed to avoid suspicion, Lian Yufan had to accept this assignment. 

Lian Yufan had carefully compared Yu Hua’s behavior before and after. He had firmly believed that this person was a Destroyer and had carried out a minute investigation of him. He had searched Yu Hua’s home, copied his diary, taken the phone hidden under his bed. 

He thought how after becoming a spy in the studio, he had still been unwilling to let go. He had tested Yu Hua’s bottom line many times. He had been incessantly testing him since their first formal meeting. 

He thought how he had protested against Yu Hua countless times at work, how he had accused Yu Hua of being cold-blooded and stingy, of oppressing the staff and having double standards. He had wanted to threaten Yu Hua and inform against him. 

He thought how the black-cloaked man had repeatedly aided the Protection Organization in capturing Destroyers and had healed him. He thought that in the depths of his heart, he actually felt a bit of gratitude towards the black-cloaked man, as well as a hidden bit of admiration for his power. He had thought that the black-cloaked man was a kind-hearted person of lofty moral character who was willing to abide by the social order and protect the common people. 

He thought of how You Zhengping had hesitatingly asked him whether he still suspected Yu Hua. Lian Yufan’s thought at the time had been that if Yu Hua had superhuman powers, he could ascend into the sky to stand level with the sun, press all humanity into making money for him. 

He thought of how in his investigation, he had found that Yu Hua’s nature was warped; that he had an extremely powerful desire for control; that he longed to lock You Zhengping away and not let anyone see him. After learning this, he had dangled himself in front of Yu Hua’s eyes wearing You Zhengping’s pants. 

He thought of how he had taken an entirely dim view of You Zhengping and Yu Hua’s marriage. How he had vowed countless times that a marriage between a Protector and an ordinary person couldn’t be happy. That they would be divorced sooner or later. 

He thought…

Time was indeed only a sensation. In an instant, Lian Yufan recalled his entire brief life. He had thought before that his life was long and tormented. Now he thought it was short and pitiful. You could see it all in an instant. Faced with Yu Hua’s smile, hiding endless complicated emotions in its politeness, Lian Yufan’s instincts told him that he only had one opportunity to speak. If he spoke wrongly now, some unknown fate would be waiting for him. 

What should he say? What could he say? The awful power and oppressive force of this person were constantly warning Lian Yufan that this was a person with immense power. If he turned over his hand, he could hold up the sky, with his own power protect the whole of humanity; with another turn of his hand, he could pulverize the earth and create a catastrophe that would destroy the whole world. 

What should he say at this moment to seize his only chance to get out alive? 

Lian Yufan looked at the sizzling, fragrant fish Yu Hua was holding. He clenched his fists. A stab of pain awakened his intellect. 

He had a piece of glass in his hand. He had grabbed it when he broke the window. This was his habit. Because of his special ability, Lian Yufan always automatically collected bits of broken things in preparation for a following battle. 

Now, that piece of glass brought a sliver of light to the vast and trackless way ahead of Lian Yufan. 

Lian Yufan seized that bit of light. One-handed, he tossed the piece of glass towards the broken window and used his special ability. The shards of glass scattered throughout the room flew back to the window. The window was instantly as good as new. 

“It was rude of me to enter by breaking the window. I’ve repaired it.” Lian Yufan himself didn’t know where he got this composure and courage. Probably his reason had removed all of his feelings, leaving them floating outside of him, reason occupying his mind. He calmly said, “I’ve cleaned and disinfected those pants and placed them in the company’s wardrobe. I was waiting for an opportunity to return them to you.” 

“Really?” Yu Hua casually released the frying pan, which returned to the kitchen range along with the fish. 

He felt around in empty space and found a pair of gray pants with a stain on the pant leg. Yu Hua turned them over and over carefully, then said in satisfaction, “They really were in the company’s cabinet, and they’ve been disinfected. You didn’t lie.” 

These pants had been through a long and arduous journey of innumerable hardships before finally returning in perfect condition to their home. Under Yu Hua’s control, they obediently floated into the washing machine. Though Lian Yufan had already washed them, Yu Hua was still going to wash them first. After all, the pants had come back smelling of the outside. 

At this moment, the grievances touched off by a pair of pants were finally resolved. Yu Hua waved a hand again. Lian Yufan’s personal glass cup from the studio appeared on the coffee table. Yu Hua personally poured Lian Yufan a cup of tea and passed it to him. “Please have some tea.” 

When the word “please” left Yu Hua’s mouth, Lian Yufan’s floating feelings returned to his body. He felt ice cold all over. Only the glass cup of tea he had accepted in his absent-minded condition was warm. 

Lian Yufan rejoiced in his reason as never before, rejoiced that he had previously investigated Yu Hua in depth and knew Yu Hua’s nature. At the critical juncture, he could draw a perfect equals sign between the omnipotent black-cloaked man and the studio’s conscienceless Director Yu Hua and immediately find an ideal plan for resolution. 

First, fix the window, compensating for the loss and at the same time using my special ability to remind Yu Hua that my ability repaired your phone for you, and you may have broken that yourself.

Second, personally return the pants, settling past grievances. 

Performing these two things in order let Lian Yufan keep his life. He had a feeling of having been resurrected. 

He absolutely didn’t mention the favor of the black-cloaked man saving his life twice. It wasn’t that he didn’t think of it, it was that reason told him that if he mentioned it, then the man in front of him wearing the apron would be a lofty deity. They had never before had any friendship to speak of. But if he mentioned daily trivialities, the basic necessities of life, then this would be a true living person. 

Lian Yufan accepted tea first. He didn’t dare to sit down. Instead, he looked at Director Xiao. 

Unexpectedly, Director Xiao’s expression was incomparably calm. It wasn’t that he was relying on his experience to pretend to be unperturbed. It was a relieved sense of “so that’s it after all.” 

Yu Hua felt around in the air again, and Director Xiao’s always ready thermos mug appeared in his hand. This mug should have been inside the base, on Director Xiao’s desk. 

Yu Hua poured tea and politely passed it to Director Xiao. “Hello, sir. My Xiao You can be hot-tempered. Thank you for your care and instruction all these years. As his family member, I take Xiao You’s place honoring you with a cup.” 

Director Xiao composedly took the thermos mug and said with feeling, “So it is you.” 

Yu Hua didn’t speak. He only smiled. Then he led Director Xiao to a seat at the oval table. “Please take a seat.” 

The older, the wiser—Director Xiao steadily took a seat and said to Yu Hua, “At first I only thought it was strange that all the studio’s personnel were special ability users, your husband and your husband’s friends were all Protectors, and yet you had absolutely no idea. Was it that you were too insensitive, or were you turning a blind eye the whole time? Judging from your disposition, it seemed impossible that you would be careless.

“But owing to the perfect outcome of the investigation conducted against you, and the extremely useful excuse of the psychological problems, even if you were an attentive person, you may still have been deliberately turning a blind eye in order to preserve the surroundings you were comfortable in. So I didn’t suspect you too much. 

“Right up until even the husky displayed a special ability. Then, apart from you, the whole studio was composed of unusual people. That was when I began to feel something was wrong.

“You Zhengping is an outstanding Protector. I understand him. He wouldn’t willingly conceal information from the organization for the sake of some strange black-cloaked man. Unless the black-cloaked man’s true identity was some person he would be unable to give up, and revealing his identity would create great harm to both the black-cloaked man and the organization. Then, caught between a rock and a hard place, he would choose to keep silent.” 

Then, because of his understanding of You Zhengping, Director Xiao had fixed on Yu Hua and had personally sent people to investigate Yu Hua once more. He had stressed investigating any change in Yu Hua at that point in time fifteen years ago when that enormous power had appeared and then disappeared. 

Yu Hua’s performance was perfect, but he had still left traces. And now Yu Hua had just bought office space. His money had been in a foreign account with an extremely high degree of secrecy. If he didn’t use that money, the Protection Organization couldn’t find it. But when he bought the office space, it was fairly easy to trace and inspect the source of that money. 

“Once you bought that office space, I was completely certain of your identity,” Director Xiao said. “In the final analysis, we only discovered your identity because you were willing to reveal it.” 

Despite being aware of Yu Hua’s identity, Director Xiao had still had many questions. But he hadn’t asked. He had held back, waiting for Yu Hua’s explanation. 

“Thank you for your understanding towards me and Xiao You, sir,” Yu Hua said in sincere gratitude. He had been very happy during his extended leave. 

Yu Hua glanced at Lian Yufan, and at Luo Huai, whom he had no grievance against. He coolly said, “What are you standing for? Please sit down.” 

Lian Yufan and Luo Huai didn’t make a sound. With their squad members, they sat at Director Xiao’s left hand. Then silently lowered their heads and stared at the food on the table. It truly smelled delicious! 

Yu Hua’s cooking couldn’t match that of a professional chef, but his food evoked people’s longing for home. It had a comforting and peaceful feeling. 

Director Xiao, along with Luo Huai, Lian Yufan, and their squad members, sat down steadily, but the others didn’t dare. 

Yu Hua pulled over You Zhengping and quietly said, “Go have a look at the food for me. If it’s ready, turn off the flame and bring it to the table.” 

Turn off the flame? Turn off what flame? You didn’t have any flame on, did you? The apartment’s electricity has been off all along. The TV, the wifi, the air-conditioning, and the kitchen are all running on your power. Where is the on-off switch? Everyone looked at You Zhengping, not knowing what means he was supposed to use to control the power beneath the frying pan. 

You Zhengping glanced at Cen Xiao and the rest of the squad huddling together and gave them a sympathetic look, then ducked into the kitchen and left them to it. 

“This isn’t your first time coming to my house. What are you standing there for? Sit down,” Yu Hua said. 

His attitude was as usual, but Cen Xiao and the squad didn’t dare to sit. 

When it came to understanding the melancholy husbands’ love story, if Cen Xiao and the squad claimed to be second, no one would dare to claim to be first. 

They had followed them starting from the blind date. For every bit of the blind date, the first date, the proposal, the wedding, the honeymoon, and daily life, they had been there all the way. They hadn’t missed a bit. In order to follow in the melancholy husbands’ footsteps, Cen Xiao and the squad had arranged full-coverage shifts. No matter what day You Zhengping and Yu Hua had a date, there would be someone to follow. 

When the melancholy husbands took a walk in the park, they tailed them in secret; when the melancholy husbands ate at a high-class restaurant, they were outside the window keeping an eye; when the melancholy husbands booked a room at a hotel for the night, they—they had their principles, they didn’t observe, ahem. 

Cen Xiao remembered how he had warned You Zhengping in front of the “unconscious” Yu Hua not to get too involved with the black-cloaked man and treat Yu Hua better. He wanted to use his special ability to turn himself into the brightest firework in the night sky. 

“Why won’t you sit?” Yu Hua went towards them one step after another. The six of them involuntarily clutched each other in a circle with Cen Xiao at the center, like penguins sticking together for warmth in a winter wind. 

Seeing Yu Hua come closer and closer, the squad members couldn’t take the pressure. They all pushed Cen Xiao forward so he would face the tempest of Yu Hua. 

“Well…” Cen Xiao struggled to arrange his wording. “Though we’ve always joined in your dating and married life, precisely because we joined in, we’ve witnessed yours and You Zhengping’s feelings with our own eyes. Captain You really, really loves you. He’s always talking to us about you. He talks about you so much my ears are growing calluses. Even though you’re the black-cloaked man, if-if you dare to do anything to upset Captain You, we…we’ll…” 

He really couldn’t say the words “we’ll never let you off,” because there was really nothing they could do to him. 

“If you dare to bully Captain You, we’ll come to your house to freeload every day and annoy you to death!” one of the underlings daringly picked up Cen Xiao’s unfinished sentence. 

“Then I wouldn’t dare. I’m terrified of you bunch of third wheels.” Yu Hua’s smile, which had been falsely floating on the surface, softened a little. “Hurry and sit down, I made everything you guys like to eat.” 

Cen Xiao and the squad at last felt the pressure lift from them. They whizzed to the dining table and sat down at Director Xiao’s right hand. 

All of the Protectors had sat down. The studio members were still standing in place, not moving a muscle. 

Yu Hua looked at them. With a fake smile, he said, “I don’t have such a large table here at home, so I brought over the studio’s conference table. Actually, when I moved the table, I also took along the acupressure mat.” 

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Author's Note

Question: Please translate the following line: “Lian Yufan himself didn’t know where he got this composure and courage. Probably his reason had removed all of his feelings, leaving them floating outside of him, reason occupying his mind.”

Answer: Lian Yufan was scared out of his mind and only had a bit of wit left to preserve his life.