Content warnings1Continuing with the CWs from last chapter: Discussions about stalkers and stalking behavior
“What’s wrong?” Wang Qiu asked, leaning forward after Zuo Tao hung up to take a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “Was there really no one answering?”
Zuo Tao nodded, saying, “none”. He skillfully blocked the caller, gaze fixed on the cigarette quickly knocked out of the box by Wang Qiu. “Qiu-ge, Coach Jiang said he’s banning everyone from smoking.”
“I’m just smelling it,” Wang Qiu defended before putting the stick back into his pocket.
“Is that the second one?” Song Shihan asked, letting go of his mouse and looking over at Zuo Tao with his eyebrows furrowed.
Song Shihan’s words reminded Zuo Tao that he did indeed answer a similar call a few days ago, where after connecting, there was no response from the other end aside from background white noise that indicated there wasn’t any signal problems at all.
“En,” Zuo Tao answered, but he wasn’t too bothered by it. He put his phone down on the table and said, “Maybe they called the wrong number.”
It was mainly due to the fact that he was fresh in the industry, and his fan base wasn’t too large, made up mostly of mom fans, so the likelihood of encountering something similar to STAR was close to none.
And there couldn’t be such a coincidence in the world, either.
The others, on the other hand, obviously disagreed. Si Zheng took a sip of water before reminding, “Be careful.”
Even CAT, who sat at the outermost corner of the room, took her earphones off and asked, “You’ve received another one before? Was it the same number?”
“I don’t really remember,” Zuo Tao answered, too lazy to compare the numbers. Instead, he sat in front of his computer and opened a lobby.
Song Shihan, on the other hand, rapped his knuckles against the table, saying, “Around 9 PM last Friday night.”
Zuo Tao blinked, not expecting Song Shihan to remember so clearly. Under the man’s gaze, he silently picked up his phone and opened his call log, scrolling down. Most people used WeChat to communicate nowadays, and besides some spam calls, it was easy to find. A few seconds later, Zuo Tao found the strange caller from Friday night — there was no coincidence, it was the exact same number as the one just now.
Zuo Tao was taken aback.
“What is it?” Wang Qiu asked.
Zuo Tao sniffed. “It’s the same number.”
The room froze.
Wang Qiu took a breath. “For real?” It truly shocked him. “How long have you even been playing? Did you really catch the interest of a stalker? Was your debut so big?”
CAT’s expression was indescribable. “Aren’t you focusing on the wrong thing?”
“I think our Taozi has the power and ability to attract fans,” Wang Qiu joked.
Hearing a hint of admiration in his words, Zuo Tao couldn’t help but say, “…if you want, I can give you that blessing.”
Jiang Ming pushed the door open and walked in at that moment, holding a few delivery boxes in his hands. Seeing that everyone was gathered, he asked, “What are you talking about?”
“GGF’s situation,” Wang Qiu answered, “STAR was talking about how a stalker infiltrated their base.”
Jiang Ming had also heard about the situation. He nodded and placed the boxes on the ground. “I heard from their coach this morning that STAR often received strange phone calls starting two weeks ago.”
“What do you mean by strange?” Wang Qiu asked, “did they also not speak when answered?”
“Yeah, at first,” Jiang Ming confirmed, “but it soon got worse. They’d say strange things over the phone. Why are you asking?” He stretched his wrist. “I got your packages, take them yourselves.”
Zuo Tao saw his package and bent down to open it. It was the lemon mint plant he’d ordered online a while ago. The store had dragged out its shipping, so it only just arrived.
Taking the plant out of the box, he saw that the store had already properly prepared the plant, its branches lush and the leaves looking healthy, emitting a faint yet refreshing odor.
“Captain,” Zuo Tao said, sitting down beside Song Shihan again with the plant in his arms. “I’ve bought the mint. Should I leave it in the training room or put it back on the balcony?”
Song Shihan leaned against his backrest, probably having forgotten about the plant. He narrowed his eyes before answering, “Let’s put it on the balcony. How much did you pay for it?”
“It’s cheap,” Zuo Tao said, noticing that Song Shihan was already holding his phone, waving him away quickly. “You don’t need to pay me back.”
He wanted to clarify the misunderstanding about being ‘poor’ when Si Zheng, also unpacking his own package on the other side of the room, called and said, “Taozi, you still have a package.”
“Express delivery?” Zuo Tao said, feeling strange as he walked over the box. “But I haven’t bought anything recently.”
“It’s not express delivery, there’s no shipping label on it,” Si Zheng answered, handing him the black bag, “but it says the recipient is PINK, and it looks like it’s clothing.”
“Could it be something you just forgot about?” Wang Qiu asked. “Otherwise, it might be a fan gift.” He leaned back against his own chair and looked at Si Zheng, who was still opening his package. “Did sister-in-law send something delicious?”
“Why is food the only thing on your mind?” Si Zheng asked, finally taking out a pair of sports shoes from the box, throwing them at Wang Qiu. “They’re shoes, you want to eat them?”
Wang Qiu turned his head. “Excuse me, then.”
Zuo Tao looked at Si Zheng’s shoes enviously. They were a limited edition pair that he didn’t get a chance to buy, as they were immediately sold out upon release. “Ge, where’d you get them?”
Si Zheng smiled rather awkwardly. “I don’t actually pay much attention to these things. These were bought by your sister-in-law.”
Zuo Tao, suddenly stuffed with a mouthful of dog food2Getting exposed to PDA, simply smiled and nodded. He sat on his seat once more and opened the package in his hand. Because it was just plastic, not much effort was required to tear it open. It was clothing; a top-and-pants set.
Zuo Tao was almost completely certain that these clothes weren’t bought by himself; after all, he hadn’t actually bought anything new after refreshing his wardrobe for the base. As he thought, he shook the clothes to open them and the next second, his expression froze.
“What the… what is this?”
The outfit was made of sparse fabric, the top made of leather with holes all over it. The pants were even worse, if they could even be called that; it was just a piece of cloth with a few ropes and a furry tail dangling at the back.
Zuo Tao was startled. Before he could examine it further, Song Shihan had reached over, grabbed the clothes, and threw them directly into the trash.
Zuo Tao hesitated, looking at Song Shihan with a bewildered look on his face. Song Shihan was frowning, his cold expression showing a hint of anger.
Beside him, Wang Qiu’s wide eyes betrayed fright, saying, “Fuck, they really dare do this openly?!!”
The tension in the air was thick.
Zuo Tao subconsciously glanced at the furry tail still peeking over the trash bin, speechless. He finally realized what kind of clothing it was.
After all, he was someone with a ‘criminal record’. His mind exploded and he waved his hands, quickly explaining: “I didn’t buy that!” His face heated up, afraid that Song Shihan would misunderstand him once again. “I don’t even know what it is!”
“I know,” Song Shihan answered, pressing his thumb against his forehead as he looked at Jiang Ming. “Who sent it?”
Jiang Ming was stunned, but he reacted quickly. He cursed and said, “I’ll check the base surveillance.”
Zuo Tao, meanwhile, still hasn’t regained his composure, gaze fixed on Song Shihan. The coldness he usually exuded was even worse now, and when he spoke, his veins could be faintly seen against his neck.
He opened his mouth. “Captain…”
“It’s okay,” Song Shihan said, turning his head and finding Zuo Tao had a worried expression on his face. He raised his hand and ruffled Zuo Tao’s hair, voice low and with a hint of comfort. “Don’t worry about it.”
Feeling the warm palm on his head, Zuo Tao breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Song Shihan didn’t misunderstand anything. After letting go of his worries, Zuo Tao felt the urge to immediately find the person who delivered such a thing and beat him up.
He wasn’t very afraid of these kinds of bastards. If he had the misfortune of encountering them, he could just beat them to death with a brick. But if this kind of thing was misunderstood by others, then not even jumping into the Yellow river could clear his name3Meaning, no amount of clarification or atonement would ever make up for the destruction of reputation/credibility.
Just who exactly wants to harm me!!!
“Don’t panic, don’t worry about it,” Wang Qiu said. “Thankfully, we got STAR’s warning, so we can pay closer attention.” Although he usually spoke without thinking, he was still reliable when it came to these things. He patted Zuo Tao’s shoulder and said, “We can even ask Jiang-ge to put surveillance cameras in your room. Don’t be afraid.”
Zuo Tao: …
Thank you for your suggestion. It would be better not to listen, as it’s actually rather creepy.
“No… what’s with this?” Jiang Ming said, stopping in his tracks. He was about to go to the guardhouse to check the surveillance footage. “Is there something else?”
“En,” CAT answered. She was also feeling uneasy. “Taozi also got two phone calls, but no one was responding.”
If it was just a strange phone call, it would have been fine, but it was really unsettling to have received a weird package right after one.
Jiang Ming hissed a breath. “I’m calling the police!”
He noticed that Zuo Tao’s face was flushed, and he was nervous his hands were trembling. Thinking the boy was afraid, he stepped forward to comfort him, saying, “Don’t worry, the security at the base is reliable, and what happened at GGF won’t happen here.”
Zuo Tao rubbed his eyes. “I’m okay,” he waved his hand, trying to reassure everyone. “I’m just disgusted.”
Si Zheng also cursed, but he also comforted Zuo Tao right after.
“Alright,” Song Shihan called, ending the topic. He opened a lobby in the game. Compared to before, his voice was now calmer and warmer. “Want to play?”
Zuo Tao nodded. “Yes!”
Song Shihan hummed, inviting Zuo Tao to the lobby. After a few moments of silence, he said, “Don’t be nervous. Just tell Jiang-ge to remind the guard not to accept any unfamiliar packages in the future.”
Zuo Tao waved his hand and said indifferently, “Thankfully, it didn’t scare me too much.”
“It’s good if you’re not scared,” Song Shihan responded.
Zuo Tao was about to say something else when he stopped.
Wait.
Shouldn’t I be acting scared right now?
Everyone seems to think I should be afraid.
It seems impolite not to be?
After all, well-behaved children couldn’t tolerate these things. Even if they don’t cry when faced with a pervert, they should still show hints of anxiety, right?
Looking back at the past few instances of character collapse, wasn’t this a great opportunity to reestablish himself?
“Captain.” Zuo Tao bit his lip and, with a sense of shame, spoke through the team voice chat, “I… actually, I am a little scared.”
His voice was soft, and his gaze moved to Song Shihan. He stumbled as he continued, “I won’t experience something like STAR did, right?”
“En?” Song Shihan said, raising his eyebrow as he looked sideways at Zuo Tao. “I don’t know.” After a few seconds, he added: “But don’t be scared.”
The deep voice came through his head phones, crisp and numbing.
It scratched at his heart.
From the TL: I hope you’ve enjoyed the past few chapters!!! Updates will now go back to twice a week~
