AITAMITB Chapter 61

An explanation was indeed necessary. Otherwise, Zhao Xiaokui felt that she might be asked to kneel on the keyboard. Or worse, get a spanking.

Shen Zhifei’s expression resembled the headache she had when devouring the souls of the End of the World Sect members last time.

Zhao Xiaokui tactfully revealed her involvement with the evil god, downplayed the danger of the Demonic Realm, emphasized how she single-handedly changed the fate of her two teammates and successfully bewildered the evil god with the word “stupid.”

If Shen Zhifei could be misled by her, she wouldn’t be the person who brought Shen Entertainment to its current success.

But Shen Zhifei could see that Zhao Xiaokui just didn’t want to worry her.

She sighed and said, “Xiaokui, we are lovers, a couple. I not only want to share your joy but also want to understand your pain and know the harm you’ve endured. I understand that you want to protect me, that’s why you don’t want to tell me these things. But have you ever thought that, instead of worrying in silence, I would prefer to know what happened to you, what I can do for you, rather than pretending not to know and watching you suffer?”

Zhao Xiaokui felt guilty as Shen Zhifei’s face showed only concern, not blame. She hugged Shen Zhifei, saying, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have neglected your feelings. I just didn’t want you to know about the evil god. Beings like ‘It’ are sensitive to being known. You are my partner, and I fear It might sense you thinking about It.”

“I am a superhuman,” Shen Zhifei whispered, “What you can face, I can face too, you know?”

“I know you want to protect me, but Xiaokui, since the day we met, I’ve been involved. I can only move forward.”

“You can protect me, but you also need to let me learn to grow on my own. I can’t hold your hand forever.”

Zhao Xiaokui hummed, “Why is it not possible?”

She just wanted to protect Shen Zhifei for a lifetime. After she passed the transformation period, she planned to devote herself to intensive training, surpassing everyone, and ensuring that Shen Zhifei could walk freely on Earth.

The girl’s thoughts were pure and beautiful.

The person being protected felt their heart melting, and she held Zhao Xiaokui in her arms, whispering, “I know.”

I know that you want to shoulder the storms and winds for me, I know that you hope to protect me…

She knew all of these.

But that didn’t mean she could boldly enjoy it.

As long as she thought about how much effort her girl had put in behind her back, she felt a choking pain.

She also wanted to do something for Zhao Xiaokui… to make things easier for her.

Zhao Xiaokui hugged her tightly, saying, “I’m sorry.”

This apology came from the depths of her heart.

Many things Shen Zhifei mentioned, Zhao Xiaokui hadn’t really considered.

Perhaps, having lived alone from childhood to adulthood, she had become accustomed to solving everything on her own.

Even when Shen Zhifei became a superhuman, she worried about Shen Zhifei’s lifespan, without carefully considering how to develop the extraordinary abilities in Shen Zhifei.

She promised, “I won’t do it again.”

Shen Zhifei pinched her ear and said, “Let’s temporarily believe your words and see if there’s any improvement.”

To develop the extraordinary abilities in Shen Zhifei, the focus had to be on the stone tablets.

However, since Zhao Xiaokui pointed out the secret of the stone tablets, there has been no follow-up information. Even the stone tablets originally placed in the corridor of the S City base were nowhere to be found.

The items should still be in the base, probably moved to a more discreet location for deciphering. A single corridor in the S City base could be filled with stone tablets, and there were probably even more in the entire country.

After handing over the stone tablets, Zhao Xiaokui didn’t inquire further, waiting for results. But now, she was thinking of finding an opportunity to get involved.

It wasn’t that she looked down on the experts and scholars, but compared to those who knew almost nothing about the extraordinary world, she was better in terms of knowledge and approach.

However, at the moment, she hadn’t found a suitable opportunity.

Her experiences in the mermaid world were too unique, and she didn’t want to casually reveal them to others unless necessary.

With the incident in the meeting room, not only was Shen Zhifei startled, but the negotiating employees were also quite frightened. Seeing everyone in a dazed state, Shen Zhifei simply waved her hand, granting a paid day off to everyone in the meeting room, and ended the workday early for them to go home and adjust their moods.

The office workers, who had forgotten the fear of facing concentrated sulfuric acid, cheered one after another. “Long live the boss!”

For those who had been working tirelessly day and night in the concrete jungle, concentrated sulfuric acid was nothing compared to the joy of going home to lie down for a day or going out for an afternoon of fun.

Although many police officers arrived at the scene, no one thought of intentional retaliation. Instead, people speculated that the cooperative party had sent someone mentally unstable who launched an indiscriminate attack.

As for Zhao Xiaokui’s excellent skills, everyone marveled at it. After leaving the company, they continued to discuss, expressing their lingering fear. If it weren’t for that sharp kick, who knew whose body the concentrated sulfuric acid in the crazy person’s cup would have splashed onto.

Regrettably, everyone was dumbfounded at the time, and no one managed to capture it on video. They only realized what had happened after Zhao Xiaokui had a fit.

“Zhao Xiaokui’s kick was fierce; it even produced an afterimage.”

“Did you notice that person? After Zhao Xiaokui kicked for the second time, he just cowered there without moving. The police came and pulled him up from the ground.”

“Today was really too dangerous. Let’s go, let’s go, go shopping, dispel the bad luck…”

Employees could take a day off, but the boss couldn’t.

After finishing the statement in another meeting room, Shen Zhifei had to continue working.

Zhao Xiaokui followed her girlfriend step by step.

When they reached the office door, her phone in hand vibrated slightly.

Opening the file, the first thing that caught her eye was the photo ID of the person who had just been taken away.

Judging solely from personal experiences, the attacker was an ordinary and typical person.

A standard education, an ordinary job, worked hard for ten years in the company to reach a middle-level position. His daughter was in high school, and his son was born just a few months ago under the new two-child policy. His wife was a full-time housewife. The livelihood of the entire family rested on his shoulders – a typical, common middle-aged man.

Colleagues who were taken away with him spoke highly of him, saying he had a gentle temperament, was a good family man, kind-hearted, and often collected old clothes in the company to give to the homeless. Everyone was baffled and found it unbelievable why he would bring concentrated sulfuric acid to participate in the company’s cooperation.

“Old Xu doesn’t seem like that kind of person.”

“He usually has a good temper, just a good guy.”

“Maybe something happened in his family?”

The Nightwalker’s investigation didn’t yield much information, but a few details caught Zhao Xiaokui’s attention.

Firstly, Old Xu’s wife had gone through three pregnancies to have a second child. The first two pregnancies had complications detected in the seventh or eighth month, leading to forced abortions. It wasn’t until the third child that she safely gave birth.

Secondly, every Tuesday night, Old Xu would go to a bar, staying there from after work until midnight before returning home.

Thirdly, aside from commonly used social media apps, Old Xu’s phone had a few less mainstream communication tools that he used frequently.

These three points seemed off to Zhao Xiaokui. She asked, “Can you find out the genders of the first two aborted children?”

The Nightwalker quickly sent a message confirming Zhao Xiaokui’s suspicions – both were boys.

In other words, there wasn’t a preference for boys over girls, and there was no deliberate abortion of girls to ensure a male child.

Moreover, the timing of the abortions was too late. Determining the gender of a fetus is possible around four months into the pregnancy. Making an abortion in the seventh or eighth month is risky for the mother.

As for the claim that both children were deformed, Zhao Xiaokui and the Nightwalker were skeptical. Thinking about the common blood rituals in cults involving unborn children, she had a vague idea about the fate of these two denied lives.

Human fetuses develop their souls around seven to eight months in the mother’s womb, making these infants complete beings at that stage. If Old Xu’s actions aligned with her suspicions, this cult was even more repulsive than she had initially thought.

The bar that Old Xu frequented became a priority for the Nightwalker’s scrutiny. As for the less mainstream communication tools, they were investigated thoroughly, uncovering the real-life identities of the individuals on the other end. People were social beings, and accomplishing many things relied on collaboration. A cult engaged in wrongdoing could only survive under the vigilant gaze of the Nightwalker by carefully navigating the crowd, covering for each other, and depending on one another.

“Back to zero, back to zero, back to zero—”

Shen Zhifei looked at Zhao Xiaokui, who had been pressing a calculator non-stop ever since she asked the secretary for one, and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m calculating what weapons I can exchange for you with my points.” Zhao Xiaokui held her phone, wrote down the weapons she fancied in the Nightwalker’s store on paper, and then rearranged them repeatedly. She aimed to find the optimal combination within her limited points.

Although she caught a small fish today, Zhao Xiaokui’s heart didn’t relax; instead, it was raised even higher. With her keen eyesight, she could tell without a detector that the attacker was just an ordinary person. There were no extraordinary powers in him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have sensed the danger only when he opened the glass bottle cap. If she had noticed something was wrong earlier, she would have directly subdued and searched him.

This kind of situation was the most challenging to guard against.

An attack from a superpower, though dangerous, was like a visible and perceptible bomb. As long as the correct path was found, there was always a way to defuse it. 

The sneak attack from an ordinary person, on the other hand, was like an underground landmine, hidden deep below the surface. No one knew if the well-trodden path of countless journeys would suddenly explode today.

After a while, Zhao Xiaokui suddenly looked up, glanced at Shen Zhifei, and quickly lowered her head again.

Sensing this gaze, Shen Zhifei lifted her head from the documents, looking at Zhao Xiaokui. The little mermaid lowered her head, her fingers swiping on the phone. Not knowing what she was thinking, her ears turned red, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

Shen Zhifei suddenly had a somewhat uneasy premonition.

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