IRDLZ Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After all, this was a villa on a mountainside, with layers of artificial forest behind it. It wasn’t unusual for small animals to show up occasionally.

In recent years, winter had been getting colder year by year. A thick layer of snow covered the ground, and many small animals couldn’t survive the long, harsh winter. Their tiny bodies would freeze stiff in the snow. Some, on the brink of death, would muster the courage to venture closer to human homes.

Last winter, when the temperature dropped to minus twenty-five degrees, the outdoor pipes had frozen and burst. Ming Qingqing had just moved in at the time and called someone to make repairs. In the conservatory, she had found two sparrows huddled together under the hot water pipe, trying to keep warm. On the day the heavy snow had sealed off the city, she had also spotted a series of small weasel paw prints on the semi-open glass terrace on the fourth floor.

If she had forgotten to close a window one day, it was entirely possible that some clueless little creature seeking warmth had wandered inside.

Of course, it was also possible that the previous owner of the villa had owned a dog, and when the moving company cleared out the previous owner’s belongings for Ming Qingqing, they hadn’t done a thorough job, leaving behind a few items.

Still, this “dog bed” was far too shabby. Living in such a big house, how could anyone give their dog only a box the size of a palm? That owner must have been a real miser.

Anyway, Ming Qingqing didn’t dwell on it. She kicked the box into a corner, washed her hands, and went to bed. She decided to mention it to Xiao Zhou tomorrow and have him send the company’s cleaning team over to thoroughly re-clean the entire villa from top to bottom.

If any stray animals were hiding inside, they would have to be chased out or sent to a rescue center.

Ming Qingqing had a mild case of mysophobia and wasn’t in the habit of casually keeping stray animals that might carry bacteria.

Meanwhile, in the storage room on the fourth floor, in the darkness, Xiao Fu stared at the empty spot where his nest had been. He was as frightened and uneasy as a small animal whose burrow had been raided.

He wrinkled his nose and sniffed gently. Ming Qingqing had come in, but her cat hadn’t. The scent of his nest trailed all the way downstairs… to Ming Qingqing’s room?

Water from his soaked clothes was dripping down his pants, each drop striking the high-quality wooden floor.

Oh no. The wooden floor was getting soaked.

Snapping back to reality, Xiao Fu bent down to wipe it up, but his joints creaked and cracked as he moved and the wet floor made it hard to keep his footing. His limbs felt stiff and uncooperative, like those of a malfunctioning robot. He nearly slipped and fell.

Just before his body hit the ground, he instantly teleported to the windowsill.

His forehead smacked against the glass with a dull thud, cushioning some of the force from the fall.

The thud was muffled, not very loud, but in the dead of night, it seemed especially clear.

A wave of fear washed over Xiao Fu—the fear of being discovered. Panicked, he glanced toward Ming Qingqing’s bedroom on the third floor.

There was no movement.

Between the third and fourth floors, there were many rooms and countless walls with excellent soundproofing.

Human hearing couldn’t reach that far.

But the water kept dripping. If he stayed here any longer, the wooden floor would truly be ruined.

Without time to think, Xiao Fu vanished from where he stood.

He found an uninhabited bridge hole, planning to get through the night there.

With modern technology being so advanced, there were almost no places left without surveillance cameras.

Xiao Fu had stayed under this particular bridge for a few days before.

Back then, feeling guilty about his wrongdoing, he had torn down the surveillance camera with his bare hands. Since the location was remote, the camera hadn’t been repaired yet, making this spot a temporary refuge for Xiao Fu.

It was freezing outside. Ignoring his soaking-wet clothes, Xiao Fu shivered violently as he searched for a corner that would block the wind.

This bridge hole was old. On the right wall of the passageway, a section of bricks had fallen off, creating a small hollow about seventy or eighty centimeters wide just enough to block the bone-chilling wind.

Xiao Fu curled up there, hugging his knees. He patted his pale cheeks with his hands to keep himself alert, but his heart still pounded with lingering tension.

Ming Qingqing had found his nest and confiscated it.

But the third floor had remained quiet, with all the lights turned off. She had even gone to bed calmly.

She probably hadn’t been frightened… right?

Xiao Fu wasn’t quite sure, and he felt a bit guilty. But in any case, he didn’t dare go back tonight.

He kept thinking about his nest and was very worried about the treasures he had collected. Inside his book, there was a sunflower petal, a plant he had never seen on his own planet. He had planned to take it back with him someday if he ever got the chance, to cultivate it.

He was also very worried about Ming Qingqing’s wooden floor, which he had gotten all wet. He wondered if he could still find a way to clean it up tomorrow…

Xiao Fu didn’t sleep well the entire night.

On top of that, hunger kept his stomach growling. After a whole night, his already pale, unearthly skin had turned even more translucent. His deep-set eyes were shadowed with dark circles, making him look even more like the so-called “zombie” from human movies.

Around four in the morning, the rain began to lighten. The sky was still dark, and the world hadn’t yet woken up.

A delivery truck drove toward the bridge hole from a distance. The yellow headlights cut through the rain, and the sound reached Xiao Fu’s ears with perfect clarity.

Xiao Fu had developed a conditioned reflex—his eyes snapped open, instantly alert.

He had pulled down his hood. His hair stuck up at odd angles from rubbing against the wall, and his eyes still held the hazy, baby-blue daze of just having woken up. But his mind had already sharpened, fully alert and tense.

He could not be seen by humans.

If he was seen, he would be chased away, feared, or even beaten to death.

The headlights grew brighter. Gray wind blew through the messy piles of snow under the bridge. The space was empty.

The young figure vanished once again from this place that had briefly sheltered him.

A lonely little puddle was left behind on the muddy ground.

The morning cleared up for a while.

Xiao Zhou brought the cleaning crew from Tianyu Entertainment to tidy up Ming Qingqing’s villa.

The security measures in this mountainside villa complex were indeed excellent. Even for Xiao Zhou, a familiar face, bringing people inside required Ming Qingqing to personally call the security office.

Xiao Zhou’s car drove through the main gate, skirted the indoor golf course, and stopped in Ming Qingqing’s parking lot.

“Did an animal get in?” Xiao Zhou, familiar with the place, went to the fridge to grab a can of soda. He drank as he rummaged through the cardboard box Ming Qingqing had found.

Ming Qingqing pulled open the floor-to-ceiling curtains to let the sunlight in. She leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed. “Not sure. After this cleaning, have them check every door and window and make sure they’re all shut. That glass terrace on the fourth floor—find someone to seal it up for me when you have time. I always feel like it’s unsafe. Last year, I even saw weasels up there.”

Xiao Zhou couldn’t help but laugh. “Sister Jin said she’d hire a butler for you, but you refused. If it’s really that bad, you could try dating that popular rising star who’s been chasing you so hard lately. Might help you relax.”

Ming Qingqing shot him a look.

“Sorry, overstepped.” Xiao Zhou made an OK gesture and stopped trying to meddle.

He was older than Ming Qingqing, so although he was her assistant, their dynamic was more like friends—or rather, he was the only person around Ming Qingqing who could casually chat with her.

Because someone like Ming Qingqing had almost no friends.

Ming Qingqing seemed gentle and approachable, never making things difficult for the staff around her.

But in reality, she had a solitary nature. She rarely formed deep relationships, preferred to be alone, and handled things by herself.

She was always calm and indifferent, and people rarely saw the kind of panic or urgency that ordinary people showed. As a result, they often couldn’t tell what she was thinking or what she truly wanted.

In the entertainment industry, this personality was actually a blessing. With no fatal weaknesses, a composed demeanor, a strikingly beautiful face, and a naturally great figure, she was born to be in this line of work.

She had been in the industry for seven years. With a good eye for scripts, whether for hit dramas or award-winning niche projects, and her own strong work ethic, she had made a lot of money over the years and had fully paid off her contract with the company.

She also held some company shares, giving her a certain say in the company, and Sister Jin no longer pushed her.

So, she had started filming only two dramas a year, entering a semi-retired state.

Xiao Zhou often envied Ming Qingqing. But then he would remember that when she was young, her wealthy parents, worn down by endless arguments, accusations, and lawsuits, had eventually lost all patience and decisively gone their separate ways.

All they had left her were a few properties, two cold phone numbers, a perfunctory “Call if you need anything,” and a newborn kitten curled up helplessly in a cardboard box.

One person and one cat, reliant on each other ever since.

That kind of loneliness, spanning over a decade, was probably not something someone like him who was accustomed to being surrounded by friends, could endure.

With that thought, Xiao Zhou backed off. Forget it, he preferred a life filled with the warmth of human company.

The two of them drank tea in the living room while the cleaning and security staff finished their respective tasks and returned to the third floor with their toolkits.

The workers hadn’t found any doors or windows left unsealed that could have let a small animal in. The only explanation was that a creature might have slipped in through a ventilation duct or a water pipe.

Living in a villa on a mountainside like this, the basement required proper ventilation and moisture protection. The pipes and ducts laid out by the designer were as complex as a maze—there was simply no way to completely prevent such incidents.

Ming Qingqing didn’t say much. She just wanted the inspection done for her own peace of mind.

“We’ll take the cardboard box with us,” the cleaning staff said before leaving.

Ming Qingqing glanced at the half-person-high box kicked into the corner and nodded.

The cleaners tossed a few other black trash bags into the box along with the rest of the trash, then carried it outside.

Just as the sky cleared, Xiao Fu anxiously wanted to return to the room next to the glass terrace on the fourth floor to wipe up the water stains. He had even grabbed half a rag. But when he teleported back, he found that the water stains had already been wiped away—

Clearly, they had been cleaned up by the workers in uniform walking back and forth inside the house.

The ceiling hadn’t leaked, and a puddle of rainwater had seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the floor. He wondered if any of the workers had found that suspicious.

Xiao Fu also wanted to retrieve his nest.

Inside were many treasures he had been collecting for a long time—like that book, The Complete Book of Literacy.

But his nest was currently on the third floor, right next to Ming Qingqing and her assistant. He couldn’t just teleport over and take it, that would scare people to death.

So Xiao Fu crouched on the roof of another villa, watching the scene from afar, growing more anxious by the second.

From that angle, through the window, he was nothing more than a blurry little dark speck. But his eyesight was extremely sharp, and he could clearly see every move happening over there.

…And then he watched as two uniformed workers tossed trash bags into his nest.

Leftover food and filthy liquid seeped out of the garbage bags, spilling over his Rubik’s cube, his spoon, and his bedding.

His beloved bedding—the bedding he would carry to the empty mountaintop to sunbathe whenever the weather was clear was now reduced to a dark, filthy, soiled mess.

Xiao Fu: “…”

Xiao Fu felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Was this the price he had to pay for eating two carrots?

Regardless, he had to rescue The Complete Book of Literacy.

The two workers dumped his nest along with the trash onto the lawn outside the villa and turned around to fetch the next load.

His nest lay discarded on the ground, knocked askew. The Rubik’s cube had rolled into the muddy water, only a single corner still visible.

Xiao Fu crouched on the rooftop, scanning the entire villa complex to confirm that no cars were passing by.

Taking advantage of the moment when the two workers went back inside, he instantly teleported next to his nest. Squatting beside the cardboard box like a little dog retrieving something, he hurriedly scooped up the tattered book and the spoon into his arms.

But just then—quick as lightning, Ming Qingqing was walking Xiao Zhou to the door.

Their figures appeared at the entrance, and their gazes were about to turn in this direction.

Xiao Fu curled up behind the box, his heart pounding at what felt like 180 beats per second.

Sensing Ming Qingqing and Xiao Zhou approaching, he had no choice but to abandon some of the items in the box. In a flash—whoosh—like a wisp of smoke, he vanished from the spot.

Ming Qingqing furrowed her brows as she walked over.

“What the—” Xiao Zhou looked around in confusion.

A corner of the bedding inside the cardboard box had been yanked out, as if a dog had desperately grabbed it and tried to drag it away.

And among the small items, some had also disappeared.

It was as if a little dog, realizing its nest was gone, had frantically searched for it, desperately rushed back, and managed to snatch its most treasured chew bone before fleeing.

Ming Qingqing frowned. “Again?”

“Is it a dog or some other animal? Has it decided to stick around here?” Xiao Zhou said. “Should we ask the security to patrol the back mountain as well and send away those stray cats and dogs? These animals are afraid of the cold in winter. Once they get a taste of curling up under the hot water pipes, they’ll keep coming back. Give it a few days, and it might have built another nest on your terrace.”

The two of them chatted by the door.

“…”

Over on the rooftop, clutching the Rubik’s cube and the spoon, Xiao Fu sat dazedly leaning against the windmill chimney, overwhelmed with shame and humiliation.

Under his blue hoodie, his pale face flushed little by little with embarrassment.

—He had already decided to leave.

He just wanted to retrieve his own things.

He wasn’t greedy, shameless, “sticking around,” or “coming back.”

Ming Qingqing saw Xiao Zhou off.

Xiao Zhou’s car and the cleaning crew’s vehicles drove back the way they came, circling around the golf course and leaving through the gate at the foot of the mountain.

Ming Qingqing held the scripts Xiao Zhou had brought in her hand, pressing the other hand to the back of her neck as she stretched her sore, stiff neck. She planned to brew some tea, do some yoga, cook a meal, and then start reading the scripts.

She had briefly flipped through the summaries of a few stories while chatting earlier, and her first instinct was that she was quite interested in one of the historical dramas.

The problem, however, was that she’d heard the male lead they were currently in talks with for that drama was Ouyang Hao—the same popular rising star Xiao Zhou had teased about pursuing her.

Ouyang Hao had started his career as a singer-dancer and had transitioned to acting in the past two years.

Ming Qingqing had co-starred with him in her last drama.

Aside from his lack of professional competence—bad acting, terrible singing—he didn’t have any major flaws in terms of how he treated others.

He spoke sweetly, knew how to get things done, and his handsome face was quite deceiving.

On Ming Qingqing’s last birthday, he had suddenly arranged for several truckloads of roses to be delivered to the set, startling everyone there.

That was why Xiao Zhou had suggested she might as well give him a chance—after all, she was twenty-five and had never been in a relationship.

Acting, in a way, was a form of art. A romantic relationship might just spark some inspiration.

Besides, Ming Qingqing spent her days like a retired actress—fishing, drinking tea, living a stagnant life. She needed a little excitement.

Ming Qingqing didn’t dislike him, exactly.

She just didn’t feel the spark.

So she had turned him down several times.

Ouyang Hao seemed to have been discouraged and had rarely shown himself lately. But if they co-starred in another drama, it would definitely stir up gossip again.

Weighing her options, Ming Qingqing flipped through the scripts as she walked back inside, deciding to read through all of them first.

She would keep the historical drama as a backup.

Just then, her cat suddenly came charging over in a panic, brushing past her.

The front door was still open. Afraid the cat would slip out, Ming Qingqing quickly turned to chase after it. “Feifei, what are you running for?”

Feifei ignored her, its fur bristling, its tail tucked down in agitation as if it had finally mustered the courage to drive away some intruder.

Had that dog come back again?

Ming Qingqing chased after it, grabbing the cat on the lawn. But then she saw Feifei sniff the cardboard box, swiftly turn around, and using its chunky limbs actually leap onto the railing of the second-floor balcony. Then, with another determined jump, it made it to the third floor—

And then, as if overcome with fear, it froze in place, all four paws gripping tightly.

It arched its back, craned its head up, and hissed toward the windmill on the fourth-floor roof.

After two sharp hisses, it turned back to Ming Qingqing and meowed urgently.

Ming Qingqing understood what Feifei meant.

That stray dog was on the roof?

But how could a dog have gotten up there? Maybe it wasn’t a dog, but a stray cat?

Wow—so elusive for so long.

Ming Qingqing suddenly grew curious about this little animal that had boldly wandered into her home, shown a bit of cleverness, and secretly built itself a nest.

She quickly turned and went inside, taking the elevator straight to the fourth floor.

She planned to go up through the glass terrace on the fourth floor and see exactly what kind of stray animal was on the roof.

If she caught it, she would send it to a rescue center.

Up on the roof, hugging his spoon, Xiao Fu was utterly stunned.

A second ago, he had heard Ming Qingqing enter the house. Then, just a few seconds later, he heard her on the fourth floor—

What was happening? Did humans have teleportation too?

Newly arrived in human society and still quite unsophisticated, Xiao Fu had never seen an elevator before.

Just as he was panicking, questioning the very fabric of reality, the glass terrace door slid open. Against the smoky blue sky after the storm, the wind swept across the open terrace. A corner of Ming Qingqing’s loungewear appeared.

Xiao Fu’s heart seized, and he immediately prepared to teleport away.

But then—

A pulling resistance came from behind him.

Xiao Fu slowly turned his stiff neck—creak, creak, creak—and saw that his ragged hoodie had somehow gotten caught in the gap of the windmill chimney on the roof.

???

Xiao Fu’s heart leaped straight into his throat.