The two listened for a long time but didn’t hear anything substantial. While Chi Yao focused on Fu Jiubing, Jing Xi kept his attention on Qiu Tianlin. But this person was just like the impression he had always given—a rigorous scholar who looked stern but was actually quite gentle, never losing his temper easily, and very patient.

“What, you know this beta?” Chi Yao asked. In the elevator, Chi Yao had noticed that Jing Xi’s expression was off.

Jing Xi didn’t deny it. “He’s the one who diagnosed me with delusional disorder.”

Chi Yao was taken aback and frowned. “He’s been your attending physician all this time?”

Jing Xi nodded. “My family has private doctors too, but Grandpa probably trusts him more.”

Chi Yao opened Jing Xi’s terminal and looked up Qiu Tianlin’s personal file. With a Major General’s clearance, he could view almost anyone’s information.

“An academician of the Central Academy of Medical Sciences?” Chi Yao scoffed. “A big shot like this comes to be a consultant for some backwater research institute?”

Jing Xi thought for a moment. “Make a video call to Grandpa and ask him about Dr. Qiu’s situation.” After saying that, he specifically added, “Just say you want to go for a check-up.”

Chi Yao found Jing Rong’s contact number and couldn’t help asking, “You’ve been seeing him since you were a child? You haven’t seen anyone else?”

Jing Xi shook his head. “There’s no need to have another doctor prove that I’m not sick.”

Most people with mental problems think they’re not sick. Chi Yao suddenly thought of this saying, but it didn’t quite fit Jing Xi. Maybe “being sick” was more reassuring to his family than “not being sick”? Rather than have his family worry about him all day, it was better to give himself a diagnosis, where the severity of the illness was entirely up to him to define. Jing Xi was that kind of person, able to find an advantageous angle in any situation and turn a passive position into an active one.

After a moment, the video call connected. At this time, it was morning on Capital Star, and Jing Rong was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast.

“Brother Rong,” Chi Yao greeted with a smile.

Jing Rong almost choked on a sip of tea. “What are you wearing?”

Chi Yao looked down at himself. He had changed into a sequined jacket before returning to the hotel, looking every bit the little prince of a nightclub. Chi Yao didn’t explain and instead asked, “Does it look good?”

Jing Rong stared with a stiff face for a long time before forcing out three words: “It’s alright.”

“I’ll bring a set for you and Sister Qi when I get back home,” Chi Yao smiled.

Jing Rong’s face instantly darkened. “…Alright.”

Why are the symptoms lasting so long this time? Chi Yao gave Jing Xi a look and got to the point. “I might have to come back in a few days. Could you help me ask Dr. Qiu when he’s free? I want to go for a check-up.”

He was proactively asking for a check-up? Jing Rong was startled and asked nervously, “Are you… are you not feeling well? Have you been taking your medicine on time?”

Chi Yao secretly glanced at Jing Xi. Seeing him nod, he said, “I have, but things have been strange lately. I think I might be quite sick.”

Seeing his downcast expression, Jing Rong asked anxiously, “What happened?”

Chi Yao frowned and said with a straight face, “Lately, when I look at my sworn enemy, he just looks so handsome. And I keep wanting something to happen with him.”

Jing Rong: “…………”

Jing Xi: “…” You brat!

Hearing the sound of knuckles cracking beside him, Chi Yao shook his head with a light sigh and continued his nonsense. “I don’t even want to look for my person anymore. I just want to marry into Extreme Shadow and retire—Hiss!”

Halfway through his sentence, a pain shot through his thigh. Chi Yao sucked in a breath, pulled away the hand that was pinching him, and held it. On the screen, Jing Rong’s expression went blank.

“Wait a minute.” He hurriedly got up, rushed out, and called his wife’s name, “A’Qi, something’s happened to Xixi!”

Chi Yao: “…” He turned to Jing Xi. “Who’s the boss in your family?”

Jing Xi glanced at their clasped hands and didn’t pull away. “Grandma.”

Two minutes later, Bai Qi sat beside Jing Rong, her gentle face now somewhat serious.

“Xixi, do you really like that Chi Yao?” Bai Qi asked patiently. “Is it because his name has the character ‘Yao’ in it?”

Chi Yao shook his head. “No, it’s because he’s handsome and good in bed—Hiss!” Before he could finish, a foot stepped on his instep, and two toes clamped down on his little toe. What kind of move was this?!

Bai Qi and Jing Rong exchanged a look for a moment, then asked worriedly, “So you want to see a doctor now to get rid of this emotional distress?”

Chi Yao nodded. “I want to confirm whether I really like him or if it’s because I’m sick.”

Bai Qi looked at Jing Rong. “Then make an appointment for him.”

Jing Rong’s brow was furrowed. “I contacted Tianlin a few days ago about forming the medical team. He won’t be back on Capital Star for over a month.”

Chi Yao’s eyes darkened, and he took the opportunity to ask, “Doesn’t he work on Capital Star? Did he go on a trip?”

Jing Rong shook his head. “His work is very complex. He often travels all over the world. We can only catch him once or twice a year.”

Chi Yao secretly exchanged a look with Jing Xi and asked nonchalantly, “Then do you know what planet he’s on right now? I can go find him myself.”

“He didn’t say specifically, and I didn’t want to press.” Jing Rong sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll think of something else. If it really comes to it, we’ll find someone else for you to see.”

Chi Yao was halfway through a nod when he heard Bai Qi say, “I don’t think this is a big problem.”

The three of them looked over at the same time.

Seeing her grandson’s surprised expression, Bai Qi chuckled. “Liking the same sex isn’t a sickness. If you can feel happy, then it’s real love. You don’t need to see a doctor.”

Chi Yao: “…” How much must they dote on Jing Xi to even support him liking the same sex? It was a miracle that this kid Jing Xi wasn’t spoiled rotten.

Jing Xi: “…”

Jing Rong: “…”

Seeing his grandson’s frozen expression, Jing Rong secretly tugged on his wife’s clothes and said in a low voice, “How can you encourage him to pursue the same sex?”

“What’s wrong with the same sex?” Bai Qi said dismissively. “It’s better than always searching high and low for someone. I think that Chi Yao is handsome and a good match for our Xixi.”

Jing Rong thought for a moment and came around. “That makes sense.”

Bai Qi’s face showed a hint of worry. “I just don’t know how long he’ll have to be in prison, but Xixi is still young, he can wait.”

Chi Yao: “…” Who’s going to prison?

Jing Rong said thoughtfully, “That’s not a problem. If it really doesn’t work out, we can just find another good-looking one. With our family’s conditions, are we afraid of not finding someone suitable?”

Chi Yao: “…” Don’t even think about it.

Jing Xi was listening on the side, completely bewildered. Why had the topic gone so far off track? He just wanted to inquire about Qiu Tianlin’s whereabouts, but he had somehow come out to his grandparents, and they had readily accepted it?

Before hanging up, Bai Qi instructed, “Bring him home to meet us next time you come back. Be low-key, don’t get caught.”

Chi Yao: “…” After the window went dark, he turned to Jing Xi with a wooden face. “What was I making this video call for again?”

Jing Xi’s face was cold. “You have the nerve to ask me?”

Chi Yao was puzzled. “This is not—what I imagined.” He wiggled his foot. “Let go of my toe, it’s numb.”

Jing Xi snorted coldly and got up to make a late-night snack in the kitchen. Chi Yao simply stretched out on the sofa and continued listening to the audio sent back by Xiao Hong until there was no sound left.

“The specimen database hasn’t been hacked yet?”

Xiao Hong’s voice rang in his mind. [They’ve strengthened their defenses. It’s a bit difficult to invade without being discovered.]

Chi Yao pulled up Xiao Hong’s operational backend and checked all its logs for hacking the database. “Try this method.” Saying that, he brought up a virtual keyboard, his fingers flying across it.

Crash!

A sound of something breaking came from the kitchen, followed by a small explosion. Chi Yao hit the last enter key, walked barefoot and unhurriedly toward the kitchen, shaking his head with a light sigh. “Facts have proven that it’s impossible not to use strength.”

They had wanted to continue expanding their investigation but received an operational command from Pei Zhenyue. “The satellite monitoring system has detected a large number of mutated beasts on Cetus-333. They have already destroyed a town. Dispatch troops there immediately!”

On the other side of the virtual screen, Pei Zhenyue’s face was stern. Chi Yao frowned slightly, checked his terminal, and then exchanged a look with Jing Xi, who was sitting opposite him. “I haven’t received any intelligence.”

The garrison legion is responsible for the security of the entire star system. If a problem arises on any planet, the local garrison reports it to the legion, and the legion commander then makes the next decision. If the situation is critical, it must be reported further up to the military headquarters. But now the whole process was a mess. A planet in the garrison’s jurisdiction had a problem, and the legion commander didn’t even know.

Jing Xi’s face was grim; it wasn’t hard to figure out the answer. These garrisons, originally under Li Bo, didn’t take him seriously at all.

The existence of mutated beasts was unavoidable. Generally, inhabited planets would strictly control the number and scale of these beasts, but now they had already destroyed a town, which was beyond the scope of a normal incident.

“You’ve only been in office for a short time, so some problems are inevitable,” Pei Zhenyue said sternly. “But not everyone can understand you like I do. I can help you suppress the rumors, but whether you can shut them up depends on speaking with strength!”

Chi Yao scoffed. “Rumors? Have I ever been afraid?”

Pei Zhenyue’s brow twitched, and he gave him another look. That strange feeling was back again. The feeling Jing Xi gave him was like two personalities repeatedly switching back and forth. Was it related to his rumored delusional disorder?

“Whether you’re afraid or not, dispatch troops there immediately. And—” Pei Zhenyue frowned, “Stay away from that kid from Extreme Shadow.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Chi Yao: “What did he do now?”

Pei Zhenyue looked melancholic. “You’re too well-behaved. You don’t know how chaotic this world is. That kind of playboy has a lot of tricks. You can’t outplay him. Stay away from scumbags to protect your reputation!”

Chi Yao was so angry he laughed. “You don’t know how cute he is. You don’t know shit.” After saying that, he hung up the communication before Pei Zhenyue could speak.

He turned his head and saw Jing Xi looking at him darkly. “Was anything I said wrong?” Chi Yao asked.

Jing Xi didn’t take the bait. “We’ll leave for 0520 this afternoon.”

The two had almost no luggage, so they could leave at a moment’s notice. As they got into the rented public hovercar, Chi Yao casually glanced at the rearview mirror and saw the indicator light on the surveillance terminal in the back seat flashing.

“What’s up with that thing?”

Jing Xi fastened his seatbelt and leaned over to check. “It might be the backup power.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the surveillance terminal’s screen lit up, and a line of text appeared. [You grandson-of-a-bitch, bring the lock and the terminal back to Si Mu right now, or I’ll expose your photos!]

Jing Xi: “…”

His eyes swept over the terminal, and he discovered an extremely small pinhole camera next to the indicator light. As the red text flashed again, Jing Xi dismantled the camera in a few quick moves.

“Xiao Hei, locate.”

In the surveillance room of the Si Mu dessert shop, Si Qi received the photos secretly sent by his dear brother. “What the fuck!” Si Qi cursed under his breath and shot up from his chair. “So it was you!” He pointed a trembling finger, his mouth twisting and turning, and then he burst into tears. “I fucking treated you to such an expensive meal, and you still robbed me! Waaaaah—”

Arriving back at 0520, just as they got off the spaceship, a small black shadow flashed before Jing Xi’s eyes, and the next moment, he had an appendage clinging to him. “Boss!” Tie Xiong swung from his arm. “I finished the homework you assigned last time a long time ago!”

Jing Xi lifted his hand and picked him up. “What’s 5 plus 3?”

Tie Xiong said confidently, “8!”

Jing Xi nodded, feeling a bit gratified. Then he heard Chi Yao say with a smile, “Then what’s 3 plus 5?”

Tie Xiong frowned, held out his hands, and started counting. “One times one is one, one times two is two… 3 plus five equals 7?”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao laughed loudly and threw the small glass bottle in his hand to him. “This is for you.”

Tie Xiong reached out and caught it, looking at it with confusion, then his eyes lit up. “It’s a fish!” Inside the cone-shaped glass bottle, a small golden fish was lying listlessly with its round belly up.

Tie Xiong shook the bottle. “Dead fish?”

“It’s alive,” Jing Xi pressed his hand down. If he kept shaking it, it might really die.

Tie Xiong’s eyes sparkled. “Boss, did you buy this specially for me?”

Fearing he would dash the hope in his eyes, Jing Xi nodded with a blank face. “You have to take good—” Before he could finish, he saw Tie Xiong swallow and smack his lips. “I wonder if it tastes good.”

Jing Xi: “…” Leaving a child to raise a child, wasn’t that a bit too rash?

In Chi Yao’s house, Tie Xiong squatted obediently by the small pond next to the strawberry patch, watching the little goldfish float around. “Lazy fish, what kind of fish are you if you can’t swim?”

The little goldfish flapped its fins, indicating that it was indeed a fish, and then stopped moving again.

Inside the house, Jing Xi and Chi Yao called their respective subordinates over for a meeting. Since they had switched bodies, holding meetings was also a hassle, so they just held it together.

Jing Xi: “From now on, unless you have my orders, just stay here peacefully.” He looked at Chun Qin. “Are there any more problems with that batch of players?”

Chun Qin shook her head. “Not at the moment. We’re preparing to give them the medicine and then send them back in batches.”

Jing Xi frowned and looked at Chi Yao. What medicine?

Chi Yao couldn’t explain, so he looked directly at Chun Qin. “What medicine?”

Chun Qin: “A drug that can erase short-term memory. It’s not harmful to the body. If we don’t erase it, they can never go back.”

Jing Xi nodded.

Once the existence of beastified people spread among the general population, the consequences would be unpredictable.

“There’s no problem with this batch of players, but something happened with that batch of Phantoms,” Fang Liang said. “Two of them suddenly went into high-level beastification. They’ve been individually contained, waiting for you to handle it.”

The Phantoms captured at the sky amusement park last time had been held in custody without being dealt with. Jing Xi had almost forgotten about it.

“Major General Li also needs to be dealt with,” Lu Meng said, secretly glancing at Jing Xi before looking at Chi Yao. “He’s been screaming like a ghost every day lately. It looks like he’s about to go crazy.”

Chi Yao twirled the ring on his middle finger and said unhurriedly, “No rush. Keep him locked up. Sending him back just like this would be too easy on him.”

Lu Meng: “…” So ruthless.

Jiang Feng, at the garrison base, scanned the area of space pirates through a holographic image and asked Chi Yao in a low voice, “Cetus-333 still hasn’t responded. How should we dispatch the troops?”

Chi Yao glanced at Jing Xi, saw the hand signal he made, and said, “Leave half at the garrison base. The rest will immediately depart for Military Space Station No. 3 to assemble.”

Jiang Feng: “Yes, sir. Then I’ll—”

“You’ll hold the fort at the garrison base,” Chi Yao said, feeling a bit hot. He undid a button and fanned himself. “I’m afraid something else might happen over there soon.”

Jing Xi glanced at Chi Yao out of the corner of his eye, thoughtful. Those words weren’t his idea.

After the meeting, Chi Yao pulled Jing Xi to sit down. “Close your eyes.”

Jing Xi frowned. “What are you up to now?”

Chi Yao retorted with his own words, “No matter what I do to myself, it’s no loss to you.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Jing Xi closed his eyes. Chi Yao took his hand, opened his own terminal, and pulled up a secret small group. This was another group of his subordinates.

[110 Southern Medical Research Base. Send 20 people for a carpet search, with special attention to the Si Mu Dessert Shop. Report any situations to the temporary email address.]

He attached the temporary email address and some notes. A bunch of replies with numerical IDs popped up below.

Jing Xi waited for a long time but nothing happened. “Chi Yao?”

Chi Yao had just closed the terminal when he saw him open his eyes and look over. “What, are you disappointed I didn’t kiss you?”

Jing Xi’s eyes flickered, and he looked away without speaking.

Chi Yao propped his hand beside him and leaned in, teasing, “You don’t really want me to kiss you, do you? Liking to kiss yourself, that’s a pretty twisted hobby.”

Jing Xi frowned and got up to leave.

He hadn’t had enough of teasing him, how could he let him go. Chi Yao grabbed his hand and smiled. “If you’re looking forward to it that much, I guess I could kiss you—”

Jing Xi took a deep breath, but he still couldn’t take it.

Chi Yao was in the middle of his spiel when he was suddenly tackled onto the carpet. His collar was forcefully pulled, and “his own” enlarged face was in front of him. Seeing Jing Xi’s eyes sweep over his lips, Chi Yao felt a chill and raised his hand to block him. “Hey, if you have something to say, say it properly. Don’t get physical!”

Jing Xi lifted his eyelids and retorted with his own words, “The more I look at myself, the more handsome I find myself.”

Chi Yao instantly backed down. “Okay, okay, I won’t tease you anymore. I lose.”

Jing Xi let go of his collar and sat up straight.

Chi Yao let out a sigh of relief. But the next moment, his collar was suddenly yanked hard again, and a warmth touched his lips.

Chi Yao’s eyes widened slightly in disbelief. This kid Jing Xi actually pressed his mouth onto his own!

And a kiss wasn’t enough; Jing Xi closed his eyes and bit his face several times as if venting.

“Fuck!”

“Stop!”

A moment later, Chi Yao walked out of the room with a face full of bite marks. Tie Xiong, who was teasing the fish with a foxtail grass, looked up as he walked by, tried to hold it in but couldn’t, and asked, “Did the boss eat you?”

Chi Yao: “…”

He touched the bite marks on his face and smiled fiercely. “I’m the only one who gets to eat him.”

Tie Xiong thought about it seriously and shook his head. “Impossible. The boss is the king. No one can eat him.”

Chi Yao walked away leisurely. “You don’t know shit.”