Chapter 25

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Chapter 25: A Simple Boy

“Mi Xiaoliu, what are you doing?” Yiwen looked speechlessly at Mi Xiaoliu sitting next to her, who was still creating his new account.

The cat had been checked—completely healthy. With the arcade closed today, they had to settle for going to an internet café instead. The whole vibe was different.

Judging by appearances—which she admitted was a bit shallow—Yiwen had thought Mi Xiaoliu, with his thick glasses, must enjoy gaming.

On weekends, especially Saturdays, it was nearly impossible to find an open seat near school. But once Mi Xiaoliu stood there with his name badge, others voluntarily logged off and cleared the way.

Not only did he need Yiwen’s help to register a game account, but before logging in, he did something utterly baffling—

He carefully read the user agreement, word by word.

“You don’t need to read that. Just click ‘I Agree.’ Did you remember your username and password?” Yiwen asked as she helped operate his computer.

“Yeah.” Mi Xiaoliu nodded.

“Really?” Yiwen didn’t quite believe him.

“Really.”

A certain underperforming system sprite was currently working overtime memorizing his login details on his behalf.

Yiwen was introducing him to “League of Legends”, the same game her boss Wei Shi liked to play—the one half the café was playing.

Mi Xiaoliu couldn’t understand why everyone cursed while playing. Were they not enjoying themselves?

“Mi Xiaoliu, what are you doing again?” Yiwen asked, exasperated, watching him awkwardly click skills with the mouse. “There are hotkeys, like QWER—you just rest your fingers like this…”

She leaned in, positioning her hand over his in a close, almost hand-over-hand gesture.

In truth, she hadn’t played in a long time—maybe briefly back in 7th grade. With her bad sense of direction, she used to get lost on the map. She wasn’t exactly a smurf.

“Master, he’s too close!” Sasha screamed in Mi Xiaoliu’s head. “Push him away!”

Mi Xiaoliu complied.

“Uh…” Yiwen blinked in surprise, then awkwardly turned her focus back to her screen.

She had zoned out for a moment—and now felt a little… taken advantage of?

Even though he was just a 13-year-old boy… but she was only 15 herself. Still, since she looked like a boy right now, wasn’t it normal for boys to sit close like that? She’d have to be more careful in the future.

Yiwen: “Mi Xiaoliu, why aren’t you buying items? You have so much gold.”

Mi Xiaoliu: “Saving it for buns.”

Yiwen: “You could’ve escaped if you’d hit D just now.”

Mi Xiaoliu: “I wanted to save D for the next match.”

Mi Xiaoliu: “I killed someone.”

Yiwen: “That was a minion…”

The whole game was rough—not just because of Mi Xiaoliu’s odd actions. Even the other teammates and opponents did weird things, clearly a newbie lobby.

Despite Yiwen’s reminders, Mi Xiaoliu still poked at the keyboard with one finger on his left hand, his motions clumsy.

He stared at his hand, puzzled—it just didn’t work in sync like the right one.

Yiwen took a sip of water and said nothing.

She had chosen to bring him here. Why get upset? Everyone starts somewhere—even pro players have to learn from zero.

No need to be mad at the other teammates either; this was a beginner match. What right did she have to expect everyone to meet her standards?

She turned to look at Mi Xiaoliu. His face was unreadable as always. Since she’d met him, his expressions had hardly changed—at most, his eyebrows twitched slightly, just enough to prove he wasn’t completely emotionless.

But she was genuinely having fun—because someone was playing with her.

Games didn’t need high-end graphics. They needed friends.

Laughing out loud after using a Blast Cone to blow up Mi Xiaoliu in-game—that was the joy of multiplayer gaming.

Since there was time left, they queued up one last match. But this time, it didn’t go so smoothly. Beginner games often had smurfs, and one failed smurf lost his temper and started cursing Xiaoliu.

The crude words were filled with filth and references to family. Mi Xiaoliu felt terrible.

“So disgusting. Smurfing in beginner games and flaming noobs too?” Yiwen typed back, fighting for him. Then she muttered under her breath, “If I joined Tian Xing Dao, I’d track him down and chop off his hands through the internet.”

“Tian Xing Dao?” Mi Xiaoliu blinked.

A new word.

“It’s that viral group online lately. You don’t know them?” Yiwen looked surprised.

Then remembered—his phone still had physical buttons… So maybe this reaction wasn’t so strange.

“Let’s go eat. Not worth letting jerks like that ruin the mood,” Yiwen decided.

“Okay.” Mi Xiaoliu had only come for this anyway.

They picked a slightly upscale-looking restaurant. Yiwen didn’t hang around this area much, so she didn’t know which place had good food.

As a girl, she naturally liked places with fancy decor and desserts.

“You sure?” Yiwen looked in disbelief at the boy across the table.

She’d already said she was paying, and was prepared to get fleeced. But he ordered the cheapest vegetarian dish—something even she wouldn’t eat in her most frugal days.

“Yeah.”

“Get another dish,” Yiwen insisted.

Mi Xiaoliu shook her head.

She was afraid Yiwen would ditch her with the bill.

Still, her eyes kept drifting toward the spicy sliced pork and the ice cream. One reminded her of Hayato, who had taken her to eat it once. The other just looked beautiful.

Yiwen didn’t know what he was thinking. She silently stared at his face for a while, then took the liberty of adding both dishes to the order.

As a self-healing ability-user, he probably wouldn’t get an upset stomach from it.

When the food arrived, the server looked awkwardly at Mi Xiaoliu. “Could you… finish quickly and leave?” she asked, glancing at his name badge.

Ever since he sat down, the restaurant had emptied.

Yiwen felt uncomfortable but still politely agreed on Mi Xiaoliu’s behalf.

Compared to others they’d met today, this server was already being unusually polite.

“You don’t like it?” Mi Xiaoliu asked when she saw Yiwen hadn’t touched the spicy pork dish.

Nervous.jpg.

Hayato had done the same thing last time.

“Too spicy,” Yiwen shook her head.

“Spicy is bad?” The cross-dressed girl furrowed her brows slightly.

She liked the taste.

Yiwen shook her head again. “Not exactly, but too much chili can cause inflammation, acne… not good. I don’t really like it.”

Acne was a nightmare for girls—the more they cared about their looks, the more afraid they were. Yiwen had also been avoiding spicy food these past few days.

Hearing this, Sasha explained in Mi Xiaoliu’s mind: “Master won’t get acne. Her appearance is already fixed—no risk of breakouts or body changes. As for inflammation, not sure. But that’s minor. Even if it happens, she’ll recover quickly with her powers.”

Only diseases and poisons were slow to heal—minor stuff like this wasn’t an issue.

Mi Xiaoliu relaxed and passed her the ice cream. “Here, you eat.”

Yiwen stared silently at the scoops already missing from the ice cream.

Was he just that unconcerned, or… were boys really so close that they could share the same bitten apple?

“No thanks. My body’s not doing well right now, can’t eat cold stuff,” she declined again.

Every girl of age had those days—no cold, no spice, mood swings. Right now, Yiwen was in that exact time.

That day when she failed to catch the real Night Demon—and broke her arm—it had left her itching to break something.

If she didn’t have to worry about acne, body shape, or period problems, she too would love to eat spicy food and ice cream as recklessly as Mi Xiaoliu.

After the meal, they didn’t talk much—didn’t want to trouble the restaurant.

Yiwen quietly walked Mi Xiaoliu home, watching passersby deliberately avoid them.

She didn’t understand—why, after everything, did Mi Xiaoliu still refuse to complete his physical exam?

“Smack.” Something hit the boy’s back.

A raw egg. Definitely not thrown by an adult—no grown-up would stoop that low or dare mess with a dangerous C-rank mutant.

A small boy, probably younger, threw it. After landing the hit, he ran away laughing with his buddies.

To him, Mi Xiaoliu was the kind of person his mom warned him to stay away from—a bad guy.

He, the brave hero, not only wasn’t afraid of the bad guy, he even attacked him. A true champion—at least in his little circle. Adults didn’t dare, but he did. That made him cool.

Yiwen showed no reaction—she turned to look at Xiaoliu’s face.

No anger. He just reached back to touch the gooey liquid seeping from the broken egg with curiosity.

He didn’t even shout at the kid, let alone chase him.

After spending the whole day together, nothing about this boy seemed remotely like someone capable of murder.

He was incredible… pure.

After walking him home, Yiwen headed back alone. It wasn’t far, but for her, the road felt long.

“How was it?” came Officer Chen’s voice through her earpiece.

“It was fun.”

It had been a long time since she’d hung out with anyone—excluding coworkers or clubmates, she didn’t really have other friends.

Her steps slowed.

She used to have a lot of friends. Used to be a beautiful girl with long flowing hair… Used to have friends who, even after learning she had powers, still stuck by her. Like that boy today, offering her ice cream—responding to kindness with kindness.

In some ways, she wasn’t as strong as she liked to believe.

“What do you think—does he seem suspicious?” Officer Chen asked.

“Personality-wise? Not at all.”

“That’s good.”

“What’s good? Where do we even start looking for the killer now?”

“Isn’t it a good thing he’s not a criminal? Friends aren’t criminals.”

“He’s not a friend,” Yiwen corrected.

“But you had fun, right?” Officer Chen said. “For boys, being able to happily play games together all day? That pretty much counts as being friends.”

“I’m not a boy.”

At a corner near an alley, Yiwen stopped.

She saw some kids squatting outside someone’s building, stealing Wi-Fi to play games.

Yiwen went to the supermarket next door, bought some eggs, and pulled one out. She walked over and, without a word, cracked it on one of the boy’s heads—rubbing it thoroughly into his hair.