Chapter 65: Xiao Feng

After Xia Mi switched phones for gaming, the way she controlled “Xiao Mi’s” movements became finger touches. She didn’t realize that when “Xiao Mi” walked the figure-eight pattern in the game, her finger was also drawing an “8” on the phone screen, and since she was now playing in landscape mode, the “8” her finger traced was horizontal.

After “Xiao Mi” walked three figure-eight loops in the game, the game interface changed, and at the same time, some images surfaced in Xia Mi’s mind.

She saw herself.

In a place of debauchery and neon lights, she reached out a hand toward someone, her eyes full of pity.

Xia Mi set down her phone and shot to her feet.

This was an image from someone else’s mind.

The reason she was in the image was because this was her, seen through someone else’s eyes!

She remembered.

After her college entrance exam ended, she had traveled to Thailand with a few classmates and, following the tour guide’s arrangement, watched a ladyboy show.

The ladyboys would proactively pull customers to touch their bodies, to confirm their identities.

Watching scene after scene like this, Xia Mi felt deeply uncomfortable.

She knew that ladyboys were boys chosen from impoverished families, given hormone drugs from a young age to suppress male characteristics. Because of the years of medication, ladyboys didn’t live long lives; very few made it to old age.

Amid the bustling crowd, people excitedly groped the ladyboys’ private parts and stuffed tips ranging from 20 to 100 Thai baht into their chests. Xia Mi, however, stood apart like an outsider, watching them with detachment.

Just then, a very young ladyboy came up to Xia Mi, puffed out his chest, and said, “Sister, touch me.”

Xia Mi smiled, gave him five hundred baht, but didn’t touch his chest; she only ruffled his hair.

Xia Mi was not short. Four years ago, at eighteen, she had long stopped growing, and she was already 173 cm tall.

The ladyboy boy in front of her was probably only thirteen or fourteen, barely over 160 cm, shorter than Xia Mi.

Reaching up to tousle his head was an easy gesture for her.

After that, Xia Mi left that place that made her so uncomfortable.

The very next day, she came down with a fever.

Xia Mi didn’t think much of it. They’d been playing in the water a lot those days in Thailand; maybe she’d caught a cold. She had always been strong as an ox since childhood. A cold usually meant just one fever reducer and she’d be fine. She’d even taken her high school entrance exams while running a fever.

She took her medicine and continued the rest of the itinerary. But that particular fever dragged on, lasting a full three days. For the remainder of the trip, Xia Mi spent her time taking cold medicine and sleeping. She didn’t go into the water again, though she did eat plenty of tropical fruit and seafood, blowing past her budget and calling her parents late at night for emergency funds.

Fever aside, her appetite hadn’t dropped one bit; if anything, she was eating even more than before. Xia Mi never took that fever seriously, just remembering that the food those days was pretty good.

Mi Xiangyan had said earlier that Xia Mi could not have become the Queen Bee’s host while in China. The only possibility was during those few days traveling in Thailand. She told Xia Mi to think carefully about whether anything unusual had happened there.

No matter how Xia Mi racked her brain, she couldn’t think of any particularly special incident, so this clue was temporarily put aside.

It wasn’t until Xia Mi drew the figure-eight symbol with her finger and unexpectedly saw this scene that she connected this image to her Thailand trip.

The reason she recalled this incident was that the Thai baht in the image was so clear. Five hundred baht was equivalent to a hundred yuan, a significant sum of money she could hardly forget.

From the perspective of the image, she could tell this view came from that ladyboy boy back then.

“I just casually drew an eight and I can see a scene from four years ago? Isn’t that way too unbelievable?” Xia Mi pondered.

In those four years, through college exams, writing party membership applications, filling out all sorts of dates, she must have written the number “8” or the infinity symbol countless times, but she had never encountered anything like this.

So it wasn’t simply that writing an “8” could connect her to someone else’s consciousness; it required writing an “8” within a specific time and space.

What was different this time was that she was inside a Domain, and the only outsider in the Domain was Fake Old Jiao, also known as Xiao Feng.

“Could the image I just saw be Xiao Feng’s memory?” Xia Mi thought.

Xiao Feng said he was eighteen this year. Four years ago, being thirteen or fourteen was indeed very possible.

Xia Mi tried hard to recall the ladyboy boy she’d met four years ago, attempting to find any resemblance to Xiao Feng in his face, but only remembered that all the ladyboys back then wore heavy stage makeup.

That makeup was actually quite similar to Fake Old Jiao’s exaggerated makeup, except that kind of heavy makeup on a beautiful face added flowers to brocade¹, but on Old Jiao’s face, it was a disaster.

If that boy back then was now Xiao Feng, then could the Queen Bee on her be connected to Xiao Feng?

Xia Mi recalled the secrets of the Immortal Foundation mentioned at the game’s ending and realized Xiao Feng was hiding many, many secrets.

Through this period of exploring the lair, Xia Mi had discovered that this lair’s boss wasn’t very strong. Killing him would be easy as flipping her hand.

But the key this time wasn’t to kill Xiao Feng; it was to extract information from him.

Like why Xia Mi had become the Queen Bee’s host, and what the Immortal Foundation intended to do with the Queen Bee they had researched.

Whether it was breaking the mental control over Mi, Qiu, and Liao, or forcing information out of Xiao Feng, she needed to completely suppress Xiao Feng on a mental level.

Mental level…

Xia Mi rubbed her head.

Since encountering supernatural events, she didn’t feel any massive change. Her phone just had an extra game that could save progress, she could absorb other people’s energy, her physical abilities were absurdly strong, she could jump from over a dozen floors without a scratch, and she could send a brown bear weighing several tons flying with one kick. Other than that, she didn’t have any special abilities.

She wasn’t like “Eye” who could see the past, or “Shield” who could remotely control and provide mental protection, or Liao Tianhua who could heal injuries and replenish life force. She wasn’t special at all!

How exactly was she supposed to gain abilities on a mental level?

Xia Mi couldn’t help but look toward the game, muttering to herself, “Aren’t you a game? Can’t I buy abilities with Zhuo Coins?”

At that moment, she realized the in-game scene had changed drastically.

After “Xiao Mi” walked a figure-eight pattern, countless transparent threads appeared in her field of vision. These threads had no physical form but were only materialized in Xiao Mi’s sight.

Xiao Mi found herself amidst countless densely packed threads, like prey caught in a spider’s web, yet also like a deity dominating all.

A dialog box popped up in the game: [A bee swarm never has just one “Queen Bee.” The previous generation’s Queen Bee lays many eggs. The first to hatch will devour her sisters and become the true Queen Bee. You are the first, but perhaps not the last. Successfully master the “swarm,” and you will be the queen. Fail, and you become prey.]

Xia Mi gazed at the message, lost in thought for a moment. Then she controlled Xiao Mi to reach out and touch a fine thread.

The game displayed a scene of a Fake Zhou Human searching around.

Xiao Mi used “Silkworm” to absorb the fake human, gaining 50 Zhuo Coins.

A single Fake Zhou Human was worth 50 Zhuo Coins. There were over a hundred of them in the building. Absorbing all of them would yield over five thousand Zhuo Coins. Xia Mi had never been this rich before.

She had Xiao Mi absorb them one after another, greedily devouring all the Fake Zhou Humans in the building.

She consumed them with “Silkworm” at breakneck speed, and before long, only four threads of different colors remained before her.

Among them, one pale yellow thread was the toughest. Xia Mi knew that was the connection channel to Xiao Feng.

The other three threads were branches of the pale yellow one and were pale pink in color. These connected to Mi, Qiu, and Liao, the three controlled by Xiao Feng.

Xiao Mi didn’t touch the pale yellow thread but instead reached for a pale pink one. This thread was connected to Liao Tianhua.

Xiao Mi tried to sever the connection between Liao Tianhua and the pale yellow thread, but she couldn’t cut it off.

She sensed that the pale yellow thread possessed immense power, making it unshakeable in its control over the other three pink threads.

Meanwhile, Xiao Mi’s account held a full 6,250 Zhuo Coins.

With so many Zhuo Coins, Xia Mi felt that Xiao Feng wasn’t so frightening after all.

In the game, Xiao Mi retrieved the machine gun from the secret laboratory, instructed Mi Xiangyan and Qiu Hailan to watch the bound Liao Tianhua and take care of Old Jiao, then sauntered off toward the seventeenth floor with the weapon in hand.

By now, there were no Fake Zhou Humans left in the building, so Xiao Mi no longer worried about being discovered. She moved through the empty building without any obstacles.

Following the traces of the pale yellow thread, Xiao Mi located Xiao Feng’s whereabouts. He was still inside the director’s office on the seventeenth floor.

Xiao Mi walked straight into the director’s office. Fake Old Jiao saw her and walked over with a look of pleasant surprise.

Xiao Mi said, [Xiao Feng, stop using Old Jiao’s face. It’s old and ugly. I still prefer your original look.]

Fake Old Jiao’s expression shifted, but then he laughed. [So you’ve seen through me.]

His features began to morph, transforming into the handsome yet slightly demonic visage of Xiao Feng. Xiao Feng said, [Sister, I thought you liked this person, so I took on his appearance. I planned to be with you in your favorite environment.]

Xiao Mi: [I’m not really into office play. That’s way too kinky.]

Xiao Feng: [But the person you desired most pointed to Jiao Xingjian, and your favorite environment pointed to this building.]

Xiao Mi: [That’s because I’m a dedicated, responsible person who respects my superiors. I treat my workplace like home and put my unit before myself. It’s not the same as the messy, unspeakable things you have in your head.]

Xiao Feng: [I know.]

Xiao Mi (puzzled): [You actually know?]

Xiao Feng: [It was the same back then, sister. In that environment overflowing with desire, you stood alone, detached and independent. Though you had no lust about you, you possessed a vast desire that could overwhelm the entire space. I was drawn to you and couldn’t help but approach, wanting to capture your ambition and desire.]

When was he talking about?

Xia Mi thought for a long time before she figured out that Xiao Feng was talking about that human-monster show. She quickly typed a reply on her phone.

Xiao Mi: [You’re overthinking it. At that time, what I was thinking was, if I had superpowers, I’d bomb the organization that twists people into things like that.]

Xiao Feng said seriously, [That is ambition and desire.]

He walked up to Xiao Mi and gazed at her with infatuation, saying, [I was the first successful host for the Queen Bee. After successfully accommodating her, my body felt like it was about to burst. My mind and will couldn’t suppress the Queen Bee’s consciousness. It tried to devour my mind, take over my body, and expand on a national scale, consuming human emotional energy to breed more “Zhuo.”

I urgently needed energy to stabilize my own consciousness, so I went to places with strong flows of desire. There, I immediately noticed your terrifying desire.

I approached you, wanting to have a relationship with you and use “Silkworm” to devour your spiritual energy.]

Xiao Mi: [You’re thinking too much. Having a relationship with a minor is illegal. I wouldn’t do that.]

Xiao Feng gave a bitter smile. [Yes, you had not a shred of desire for me. You touched my head like a deity, and for a moment, I had the impulse to worship you. In that single moment, I lost.]

Xiao Mi said, [Lost? To whom?]

Xiao Feng: [To the Queen Bee, and to you. The Queen Bee was attracted to desire and even more wanted to devour your spiritual energy. During our only physical contact, it instinctively flowed toward the stronger side.

My mother encountered a “Zhuo” incident while pregnant, and I became “Rong” before birth. The Immortal Foundation discovered me and brought me to the laboratory. From childhood, I underwent countless Zhuo-fying transformations.

From the moment I gained consciousness, I knew I was a candidate for the Queen Bee. But I never imagined that just one meeting, one gentle touch on the head, would make me lose her.

Sister, do you know how desperate and hateful I felt toward you then?]

Xiao Mi: [Then why didn’t you try to reclaim the Queen Bee? I stayed in Thailand for three more days afterward. In a foreign land, you must have had plenty of opportunities to make a move.]

Xiao Feng: [Because besides you, none of the Immortal Foundation’s other “Queen Bee” hosts managed to control it. The Foundation was forced to destroy all the experimental subjects. Based on data from other test subjects, if I hadn’t met you that day, I would have died too. You ruined me, then saved me.]

Xiao Mi: [So the Immortal Foundation planned to observe me?]

Xiao Feng: [The Immortal Foundation believed that without energy replenishment, you would be completely devoured by the “Queen Bee” within 48 hours. Then they could retrieve the “Queen Bee” and proceed with further research. But unexpectedly, all you did was have an increased appetite for a few days, and you successfully took control of the “Queen Bee,” forcing it into a deep slumber and further integrating it with your body.

The Immortal Foundation had never seen anything like this. They treated you as a precious test subject, decided to let you return to your country, and sent people to secretly observe you.

It wasn’t until four years later, after you graduated from university, that the energy in your body showed some strange activity.

We didn’t know what kind of mental issues you were going through at that time, but we detected that your mind had split into two dimensions: one in the future, one in the present. You seemed to have foreseen something that was going to happen and prepared for it.

During that period, we arranged for you to sign with a decent company, offering a base salary of 5,000 to 20,000 yuan, promising that as long as you worked hard, your monthly salary would definitely exceed 30,000, and even promised you a promotion within a year. But you didn’t come. Instead, you rented a place and focused solely on preparing for the civil service exam.]

Xiao Mi: [So those empty promises you made were actually real? I thought they were fake. A base salary of 5,000 to 20,000², any normal person would think it’s 5,000. Were you actually going to give me 20,000? Then why didn’t you just write 20,000 from the start?]

Xiao Feng: [We also had a company offering a 20,000 base salary, but you didn’t apply!]

Xiao Mi: [I know about that company. Right off the bat they said 20,000 base salary, but they only recruited female college students over 170cm tall, and they claimed the work was easy and stress-free. It sounded like nothing good. Who’d be crazy enough to send in a resume!]

Across the tiny phone screen, Xia Mi could feel Xiao Feng staring at her, speechless.

She felt innocent too. Who knew she’d missed so many high-paying opportunities.

But luckily she hadn’t gone to that company she was supposed to sign with, and instead chose to focus on the civil service exam. Otherwise, who knows what kind of crisis might have been waiting for her.

Xiao Feng: [We set a vast net for you, but you precisely avoided every risk, always choosing the safest positions, ones we couldn’t control. We suspect you foresaw certain futures, that your future self influenced your present self, allowing you to dodge countless dangers.

After several attempts, we couldn’t get close to you or retrieve you. In the end, it had to be me, the original “Queen Bee” host, to make a move and lure you using the attraction of pheromones.]

Xiao Mi: [You’re talking a lot today. Usually villains only get this chatty after they’re sure they’ve won.]

Xiao Feng: [Big sister is so smart. I’ve already secured victory.]

He spread his hand, and countless white threads shot out from his palm. The more than a hundred Fake Zhou Humans that Xiao Mi had devoured earlier dispersed throughout her body, connected to Xiao Feng’s hand.

Xiao Feng: [Big sister, do you know why I didn’t open my nest? Because maintaining a nest consumes too much energy, and I can’t control my urge to feed. The moment I touch one, I can’t help but launch an attack.

I could only hide in someone else’s nest, dispersing my energy throughout it, luring you to absorb that energy.

Once you’ve devoured that energy, it will lie dormant inside you, waiting for me to awaken it.

I’m very weak and can’t kill the “Queen Bee,” but fortunately, my goal was never to kill you. I only needed to use the net woven from that energy to capture the “Queen Bee” inside you.

I was once the “Queen Bee’s” host, so I still have a certain attraction to it. Also, I’ve integrated the “Drone³” developed by the Immortal Foundation, which gives me a physiological allure to the “Queen Bee.”

If you had been tempted by that physiological attraction and willing to have relations with me, it wouldn’t have been this troublesome. I would have devoured your spiritual energy at your happiest moment and taken over the “Queen Bee.” But now I have to release so much energy to forcibly seize yours. It’s exhausting.]

Xiao Feng clenched his hands, threads spread into a net. Behind Xiao Mi, several pairs of transparent wings sprouted, and antennae grew from her head. She could barely maintain her human form.

At this point, the phone screen went black, and the second game was over.

The subtitle prompt for this game was: [Under the influence of the “swarm,” your powerful will still firmly held the “Queen Bee” in check. No matter what, Xiao Feng couldn’t take the “Queen Bee” from within you.

In despair, he severed the neural lines of Mi, Qiu, and Liao, destroyed their minds, and then self-destructed.

His self-destruction and the deaths of the three companions inflicted massive mental trauma on you. Under the influence of the “swarm,” you could barely suppress the “Queen Bee.” To prevent its release, you followed Xiao Feng’s example and self-destructed, destroying the “Queen Bee.”

The Supernatural Handling Bureau building collapsed instantly. Only Jiao Xingjian, who had hidden in the basement, survived.

Jiao Xingjian reported your merits to the higher-ups. After your sacrifice, your unit promoted you two ranks, posthumously appointing you as Deputy Director of the Supernatural Handling Bureau (Deputy Division Chief), and awarded you a First-Class Merit.

Congratulations, your wish has come true.

But is this really what you wanted?

Your wish was for everyone to envy you.

But the glory gained after death cannot be envied; it only brings regret and sorrow.

Strive to live on. Gaining glory while alive is the best example.]

Translator’s Notes