Faced with President Zhen and Director Yuan’s confusion about their positions, Yu Hua didn’t lose his temper. He posted in the group chat: I’ll go pick them up. Tomorrow when we get to work, I’ll hope you’ll have a perfect explanation for me. 

Yuan Luori: Leaders don’t need to explain themselves when they speak. 

All the Protectors staring at the group chat: “…” 

“This brainwashing ability is too scary…” third underling Xiao Ruo said, his heart fluttering with fear. “How long will Yuan Luori have to kneel tomorrow?” 

Lian Yufan’s expression was unhappy. “This ability is more frightening than I imagined, and hard to deal with. Zhen Li and Yuan Luori’s fear of Yu Hua is deep-rooted. If they can even do this to a bone-deep impression of dominance, then won’t these new Destroyers be able to do whatever they please in this world?” 

Cen Xiao nodded and said, “If it had only been the metal-controlling Destroyer, we would have been able to handle it. This Destroyer who can change people’s thoughts could even make us kill each other.” 

“Therefore, we can’t send too many people on this operation,” Director Xiao said heavily. “The more people there are, the more enemies we’ll have.” 

Luo Huai volunteered himself. “Director, if a Protector is prepared, he should be able to resist for a few seconds. If I defeat and absorb the particular energy the Destroyer uses to cover the brain cortex, then I can counteract the thought changing.” 

Lian Yufan glanced at Luo Huai. He didn’t say anything. He had never approved of the Protector Perpetuation Program, but at this moment, Lian Yufan sincerely thought in spite of himself that it was very important for the team to have a person with Luo Huai’s abilities. 

If the ability to remove memories had died out in Luo Huai’s mother’s generation and there had been no more people on earth with the same sort of ability, then faced with the new Destroyer’s “thought changing,” they would have had no ability to resist. He would easily have been able to infiltrate the Protection Organization, and they might even have taken the Destroyer for a friend they had grown up with since childhood. 

Each person who bore a calling was undertaking a weight unimaginable to the average person. 

Director Xiao said, “Your powers are unsuited to combat, and they’re very precious. You would normally stay in reserve. I don’t recommend that you go out to the front line.” 

“If I don’t go, there’s no way to fight this battle,” Luo Huai said gravely. 

You Zhengping, who had been silent since making his report, said, “Four people can go. Cen Xiao and Lian Yufan can work together to deal with the metal-controlling Destroyer, and Luo Huai and I will deal with the other one. I’ll protect Luo Huai.” 

Director Xiao looked at You Zhengping. “These are two Destroyers who may be more powerful than 192, they’ll be prepared at the warehouse, and the person they want to capture is your family member. Are you certain you can do this?” 

“I am,” You Zhengping said seriously. 

“If you could only save Luo Huai or Yu Hua, what would you do?” Director Xiao asked. “This is a common question on reasoning tests. You always get it wrong.”

While raising this question, Director Xiao looked at Lian Yufan, indicating that this Protector, who got full marks on his reasoning tests, should provide the model answer. 

Lian Yufan lowered his eyelids, took a deep breath, and said, “For us Protectors, protecting ordinary people takes precedence. Reasonably speaking, if you put an ordinary person and a Protector together, the one you should save is naturally the ordinary person. But Luo Huai is different. His ability can’t be replaced. Under these circumstances, saving Luo Huai takes precedence instead. Even if the ordinary person was my own flesh and blood. Protectors must discard emotion.” 

“A standard answer.” Director Xiao looked at You Zhengping. “What about you?” 

You Zhengping didn’t squabble with Lian Yufan this time, or say that he was cold-blooded and unfeeling. He said firmly, “Whether it’s a test or actual combat, my answer is always the same—I want to save everyone.” 

“Even if your shoulders can’t bear the weight of two people?” Director Xiao asked. 

“They can!” You Zhengping said. “I have experience resisting this Destroyer’s ‘thought changing.’ My ability to resist is stronger than the others’. I’ll be able to protect Luo Huai without delay. Also, after fighting Destroyer 192 last time, my power increased. I can control the volume of my spaces, and my proficiency in long distance and control has increased by several grades. I can do it.” 

As he spoke, You Zhengping pointed several meters over at the conference room’s long table. A space covered the entire ten meter long oval table. The table disappeared from the middle of the room. You Zhengping slid his palms against each other. The single space instantly split into two. The two sides moved in parallel beside each other. 

After moving them, You Zhengping retracted his spaces. The originally ten meter long table had been split down the middle into two halves, and the two five meter long halves of the table had been displaced. Each showed a 50 cm cross section where it had been sliced by the space. 

You Zhengping recalled his spaces, and the table lost support, sinking under the influence of gravity. Director Xiao examined the cross sections of the tables and found that the gloss on the surface was like new. The sharpest knife couldn’t have cut a wooden table so seamlessly. 

After several experiences in actual combat, You Zhengping spatial ability was developing in an unpredictable direction. 

When he said he could protect both people, he had absolute self-confidence. 

“Fine, I’ll trust you for now. According to your plan, we’ll dispatch four people,” Director Xiao said. “But, Lian Yufan, if you encounter a situation in which it is necessary to choose, it will be up to you to remind Captain You Zhengping what choice he ought to make.” 

“Yes, sir!” the four team members said in unison. 

While the Protection Organization was formulating its plan, the virtuous wife Yu Hua slowly got out of bed, tossed his phone aside, and started to clean the apartment.

Roses were very romantic. He had always liked them in poems and at a distance. But it was daily necessities that supported a romantic air. 

The floor was covered in crushed rose petals. They needed to be cleaned up bit by bit, and the floor, which had been stained red, had to be wiped clean bit by bit with a cloth. 

The floor was easy enough to wipe, but the stained bedding wasn’t so easy to take care of. Luckily, Yu Hua had known You Zhengping’s plan ahead of time, so he had changed to white bedding in the morning ahead of time. Pure white bedding could be soaked in bleach to clean it. Bleach could wash off all the stains. If it had been bedding with a decorative pattern, then the original pattern would have been washed out along with the rose color. 

The stained bedding had to be soaked for a while before it would be clean. After he had soaked the sheets, quilt cover, and pillowcases, Yu Hua took a shower and casually cooked himself a bowl of congee. Having gotten through breakfast, he put on rubber gloves and cleaned the bedding. 

Only after cleaning the bedding, drying it, and hanging it on the clothes rack did Yu Hua at last put on his suit, pick up his briefcase, and prepare to do what President Zhen had ordered. 

Xiao You hadn’t driven his car when he had left last night, leaving their off-road car to Yu Hua. When Yu Hua arrived in the underground parking lot, he looked at their car. Recalling Feng Kui’s abilities yesterday, he was worried that their car would be destroyed in the battle. He had bought this car less than half a year ago. 

After a moment’s hesitation, Yu Hua used an app to call a taxi. After getting in, he told the driver to give him a receipt. When he went to work tomorrow, he was going to print out the electronic receipt, put it on an acupressure mat, and make Zhen Li and Yuan Luori kneel on the receipt on the acupressure mat without being allowed to tear the receipt. He also had to apply for reimbursement. 

By the time Yu Hua left after his dawdling, it was already 10 AM, and the warehouse Huan Zixu had chosen was in the suburbs. It would take an hour to drive there. At 9 AM, when Yu Hua was still washing bedding, Huan Zixu started pacing circles around the warehouse, watching every car passing by. 

Also at 10 AM, You Zhengping arrived near the warehouse with the rest of the team. He used a space to screen the armored car. The four of them sat inside the car, waiting patiently. 

You Zhengping opened a small hole in the space in the location of the car window. They hid behind a tree. The tree’s branches blocked the location of the car window. The four of them watched the warehouse out the window with binoculars. 

“The long-haired one is the Destroyer who can change people’s thoughts?” Lian Yufan asked. 

“It must be him,” You Zhengping said. “He’s the one who dropped the coin on me yesterday. He must need a medium to use his ability. We have to avoid any item he drops.” 

“Why isn’t Yu Hua here yet? It was already pretty late when we set out,” Luo Huai said, looking at his watch. “Starting out from your house, no matter how slowly he drove, he should be here by now, right?” 

“Well…” You Zhengping thought of the floor covered in roses and suddenly felt a little guilty. 

“I’m not certain he’ll come,” Lian Yufan said heavily. “The greatest likelihood is that he went to the studio to teach Yuan Luori a lesson and falsify the accounts to take away all of Zhen Li’s salary, then order Zhen Li and Yuan Luori to come get the stuff.” 

Cen Xiao said, “…Why wouldn’t he take away Yuan Luori’s wages?” 

Lian Yufan’s tone was indignant. “Yuan Luori has never seen a hint of his wages!” 

Cen Xiao hadn’t thought that Yu Hua, who was extremely gentle, polite, and caring to them, would be such a frightening exploiter at work that it would strike terror into even a person like Lian Yufan. He said, “…You really do have it hard at work, but what do we do if Yu Hua doesn’t come?” 

“It’s better if he doesn’t. We’ll just fight,” Lian Yufan said. “Now I’m worried he’s still going to come. If we get halfway through fighting and he gets here, there’ll be trouble. When do you think he’ll come?” 

The last sentence was addressed to You Zhengping. You Zhengping didn’t do housework, so he didn’t know how long I would take to wash the bedding. He couldn’t answer Lian Yufan’s question. 

Both sides could only wait patiently. Huan Zixu hesitantly said, “Why hasn’t he come yet? Is he not planning on coming?” 

Feng Kui had connected to the traffic surveillance cameras on the road near Yu Hua’s home the night before. He hadn’t seen Yu Hua’s license plate number the whole time. He shook his head and said, “I haven’t seen…his car.” 

“That’s not right, I made Zhen Li order Yu Hua to leave right away at 7 AM. One way or another, he should have been here by nine. It’s past ten-thirty now!” Huan Zixu said in incomprehension. 

“It may be…because…of this.” Feng Kui handed Huan Zixu a phone. 

The page on the phone was the Zhen Li Studio’s official account. At 10:50, Zhen Li had posted a picture, an announcement written by hand in black ink on white paper. The title “Public Announcement” had been written so it looked a lot like “Funeral Announcement¹.” 

Public (Funeral) Announcement: Due to speaking rudely to Director Yu, Zhen Li and Yuan Luori must recuperate. Livestreams may cease for the next three days, or they may livestream while injured, or the people appearing in the next livestream may not be Zhen Li and Yuan Luori. Please understand. 

[I joined Yuan Luori-xiaogege’s CaoYuanLuoRi* (the name of Yuan Luori’s fans) last night because of the husky. I don’t really understand why a leader would have to stop livestreaming because of being rude to a mere director. Isn’t it normal for a leader to be harsh with his subordinates?]

[*草原落日 - adding an extra character to Yuan Luori’s full name to get a phrase meaning something like “grasslands sunset.”]

[The comment upstairs is going to catch a lot of heat. You’ll go right to the top.]

[What the hell kind of name is Grasslands Sunset? How did you Yuan Luori fans think up such a fine and inharmonious name?]

[It’s normal for a leader to be harsh to his subordinates, but you have to distinguish who is the leader and who is the subordinate.]

[I’ve been gone only three days and the Zhen Li livestream world has turned into this? Do you new people not even know who the real boss is in the studio?]

[I actually think that stopping the livestream for three days is a light punishment. I would have thought it would be a month of livestreaming sliding kneels and durian.]

[I’m Zhen Li, I’ve already bought my grave (calm face).]

[I’m Yuan Luori, I’ve already bought my grave (resigned face).]

Huan Zixu: “…” 

The contents of many of the comments used jargon, but while Huan Zixu, who had a tremendously abundant stockpile of knowledge, couldn’t understand perfectly, he was still able to work out the truth about the studio from a few scattered words. 

“Crap, I’ve made a big mistake!” Huan Zixu was startled. 

The “impression” he had given Zhen Li and Yuan Luori was that they had to order Yu Hua to go to the warehouse to pick something up at 7 AM. That was normal. Zhen Li was the studio’s president, Yuan Luori was a director of the same rank as Yu Hua, it made sense for the two of them to give Yu Hua orders. 

But this announcement had toppled Huan Zixu’s understanding. In the studio, Zhen Li and Yuan Luori depended on and were yoked by Yu Hua. 

This conflicted with the “impression” he had left behind. When Zhen and Yuan realized that their behavior was inconsistent with their knowledge, then however stupid they were, they would still know something was wrong. 

“If I were Zhen Li, I would definitely think of a way to contact the protection organization and the black-cloaked man.” Huan Zixu laughed bitterly. “We may have to face a concerted attack from two powerful forces. What a big mistake!” 

Thinking of how the black-cloaked man could absorb the energy of their System, Huan Zixu was worried. He didn’t care about the protection organization. He had been prepared for Lian Yufan to discovered that there was something unusual about his colleagues. He had deliberately lured in the protection organization’s people, planning to make Yu Hua “vanish from the mortal world” and simultaneously give the protection organization the impression that “we saw the black-cloaked man kill Yu Hua with our own eyes,” forcing the protection organization to be at odds with the black-cloaked man. Then he would stealthily investigate whether the black-cloaked man’s strength and moral conduct were worthy of trust. 

If it had only been the protection organization, that would have been fine, but if the black-cloaked man also came…

Huan Zixu ground his teeth. “Let’s retreat for now.” 

“We can’t…retreat.” Feng Kui took Huan Zixu’s hand. “We’re…already…at this stage.” 

Huan Zixu looked into Feng Kui’s eyes, where the emotion of “fear” had already been deleted, and understood what his companion meant. Since Zhen Li and Yuan Luori had very likely already notified the mission target, then they were no longer in the shadows. The longer they dragged this out, the more likely it was that they would be discovered by the black-cloaked man. 

Whereas if the protection organization and the black-cloaked man arrived at roughly the same time now, if they could lure the two sides in a battle, they might still achieve their goal. 

“You’re right.” Huan Zixu gripped Feng Kui’s hand. “We only have this opportunity. It’s fight or die!” 

Meanwhile, Yu Hua got out of the taxi and got a phone call from Zhen Li. Zhen Li said shakily over the phone, “Well…Director Yu, I’ve already posted the public announcement according to your orders. Could you forgive this unworthy one for his rudeness?” 

Around 10:30 AM, Zhen Li had looked at the messages on his phone and immediately realized that something was wrong. He had quickly called Yu Hua to beg for mercy. Yu Hua’s tone, however, had been very kindly. He had told Zhen Li that it would be all right if he posted a public announcement demonstrating his sincerity at 10:50. 

Yu Hua’s tone had given Zhen Li a sense of the end of days. He had quickly gone online to order a two person complete set of tickets for individual travel on a Maldives honeymoon. He had booked first-class plane tickets and a five-star hotel, six days round trip, and sent Yu Hua a screenshot, telling him that this was an employee benefit, and he could go with You Zhengping. 

The honeymoon tickets had practically emptied out the savings Zhen Li had accumulated from his livestreams and the performance at the mall, but he thought that, for the sake of his life, it was worth it! 

As expected, Yu Hua said over the phone, “Thank you very much for your care. You go ahead and livestream normally tomorrow.” 

He didn’t mention Yuan Luori at all. 

Zhen Li wiped away sweat, feeling that he had protected his life. He hung up and looked at Yuan Luori, who was still muttering, “Who cares what I said to him, I won’t apologize, he can beat me to death and I still won’t apologize.” Zhen Li was so worried his hair was about to start falling out. 

Yu Hua looked in satisfaction at the Maldives individual travel tickets and nodded. He walked over to the warehouse. When he appeared in the line of sight of the Protection Organization, the four team members became nervous. 

“Move!” You Zhengping said. 

He closed the small hole in the space, entirely hiding the armored car, and controlled the space to move quickly but covertly towards the warehouse. 

Huan Zixu had also seen Yu Hua. He put on the alloy belt Feng Kui had prepared for him and determined that the alloy insignias at his chest, collar, knees, and other locations were all installed. This alloy didn’t come from the System. Feng Kui had made them out of his own metal skeleton. Wearing the insignias and the belt amounted to Feng Kui using his body to protect Huan Zixu. 

Huan Zixu put on a peaked cap. The cap also had an insignia. He walked out of the warehouse to meet Yu Hua. “Hello, I’m the manager of the warehouse. Chief Zhen called me ahead of time. Everything is inside. Please come in.” 

“Chief Zhen?” Yu Hua’s tone was strange. He swept his gaze over Huan Zixu. “This is the first time I’ve heard someone call Zhen Li that.” 

That was in keeping with his character as the overlord of the studio. Huan Zixu had no suspicions. He only stiffly continued his performance. “Director Yu, I’m only a worker. Everyone is a chief to me. Here is a detailed list of items. Please verify and accept it.” 

As soon as Yu Hua had arrived here, he had felt a hidden spatial energy speeding towards the warehouse. The Protectors had also come. If he didn’t faint or have his impression changed under these circumstances, then he would be forced to “know” about the existence of special ability users. 

That wouldn’t do. He had to be an ordinary person, had to live a peaceful life. 

Before the space reached them, Yu Hua quickly snatched the list and felt the “you are going to sleep, then forget everything that happened today” information coming from it. He obediently fainted. 

At the same time, the space reached the air above the warehouse. You Zhengping, wearing the handsome uncle nanotech mask, jumped out of the space as Huan Zixu was about to scoop up the unconscious Yu Hua. He delivered a heavy flying kick to Huan Zixu’s back and got ahead of him to take Yu Hua into his arms. 

The battle was on the verge of breaking out. 

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Author's Note

You Zhengping: I'm the one who gets to protect my husband! 

Yu Hua: I’ve been hugged by Xiao You. A whole day’s worth of gloomy feelings have been cleared away. 

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Translator's Note

¹公告 (public announcement) versus 讣告 (funeral announcement).