At five in the morning, when the sky was just getting light and fine snow was still falling, the birds outside were silent. Xiao Zhenyun was suddenly awakened by a rapid knocking on the door.
He groggily shifted in bed, the cold air seeping into the covers. Xiao Zhenyun couldn’t help but tug the blanket down a bit, curling up beneath it. He was so tired that he didn’t want to open his eyes or say anything, not even a slight frown crossed his face.
“It’s Xiao Nian, I’ll go open the door,” came Si Di’s voice by his ear, smooth and deep without a hint of sleepiness, though Xiao Zhenyun couldn’t tell if he had slept at all.
However, someone who definitely hadn’t slept all night rushed in, trying to yell loudly but controlling their volume, which ended up a bit comical. “Stop sleeping, Xiao Zhenyun! Wake up, something big’s happened!”
“What’s going on, did something happen to Hedgehog?” Si Di’s expression turned serious. He remembered Xiao Zhenyun and Xiao Nian’s decision before nightfall to go find Hedgehog first. He also recalled that Hedgehog’s death in the novel was related to the professor, and even though he had narrowly escaped death before, he feared that if Hedgehog and the affairs of Yao Town were connected, he might head towards the original outcome again.
“Hedgehog’s in trouble?” Xiao Nian said angrily, “If it’s him, it’s fine! Xiao Zhenyun, get up quickly. If we don’t stop him now, he’ll almost take down the professor’s lair with Duan Fei’s team!”
Xiao Zhenyun struggled against his grogginess, pushing aside the covers. But he was frozen back by the below-zero temperature, revealing only a face of impatience outside the blanket. “Give me the rundown.”
Xiao Nian quickly opened the code interface and dragged out a well-formatted video, combining visuals and text to explain the information he had obtained from coding all night — Hedgehog had been acting alone since he first entered Yao Town. He quietly lurked among the townsfolk and soon discovered the peculiarity of the terminals, proactively shutting down communications. In the following days, he witnessed with his own eyes how Professor’s camp systematically defeated Si Chu’s team one by one, yet Hedgehog’s choice was to turn and run, without taking any rescue measures.
He even had an initial inclination to directly defect to the professor, but eventually abandoned the idea for unknown reasons.
“That’s quite his style,” Xiao Zhenyun said, and Si Di added, “Is he waiting for Si Chu’s team to be completely wiped out before descending like a savior to rescue them from fire and water?”
Xiao Nian: “… You guys have figured him out.”
As Si Di had mentioned, the subsequent situation was indeed as he said — Hedgehog, with his lone efforts, quietly investigated within Yao Town, catching up with the entire task progress of Si Chu’s team. Although he had completed many cooperative tasks since joining the Storm team over a year ago, as a dark sentinel, he still excelled at solo operations.
By the way, during his nearly one month stay in Yao Town, he also became good buddies with the owner of the inn, getting discounts on meals and accommodations, and even occasional free late-night snacks. Moreover, Hedgehog also managed to win over the owner’s mother. He obtained a lot of information from this local intelligence expert lady of Yao Town.
“When did Hedgehog become so good at socializing? He’s charming people of all ages and genders,” Xiao Zhenyun asked. Si Di chuckled, “Didn’t we discuss this before? He can effortlessly charm anyone. If you find him annoying, then that’s probably his intention.”
Xiao Nian glanced at the code, “His way of getting along with the innkeeper is by pretending that his spiritual body is his pet snake, helping the owner get rid of the mice in the inn.”
Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di: “…”
Suddenly, Xiao Zhenyun thought of a question, “Don’t short-tailed pit vipers hibernate in such cold weather?”
The video continued: Just when Hedgehog had collected almost enough clues, he unexpectedly encountered Duan Fei, who was leading a team into the town at Xiao Zhenyun’s request. Hedgehog had always harbored a dream of being a lone hero against the world and never thought of cooperating with the military. However, one of Duan Fei’s tasks was to find Han Bang and convey Xiao Zhenyun’s message, so he immediately recognized the brown-haired man sitting at the doorstep of the inn, eating porridge, as the brown-haired guy from the photo Xiao Zhenyun had given him.
Even under Hedgehog’s deliberate concealment, Duan Fei managed to find him and gently conveyed Xiao Zhenyun’s advice to leave Yao Town quickly.
Hedgehog didn’t heed Xiao Zhenyun’s advice at all but became interested in this young soldier who could see through his movements.
This fun-loving person who acted solely out of interest directly mingled with Duan Fei’s team, not actively reporting the known clues but just following Duan Fei around all day. When Duan Fei asked, he would put on a mysterious expression and give a few hints.
Next to Duan Fei was a lively girl named Lily, who became good friends with Hedgehog and devoted herself to causing trouble for Duan Fei every day.
A few days later, Duan Fei’s brother, Duan Pei, also entered Yao Town because he was worried. Now, there were three people causing trouble for Duan Fei.
Nevertheless, with his calm intelligence, iron-fisted methods, and innate leadership and judgment, Duan Fei was still like a hot knife through butter, infiltrating every corner of Yao Town within a few days, pinpointing the whereabouts of the professor and his associates, and using their own methods against them, just like the professor did, dividing and conquering the battlefield, and defeating the members of the professor’s camp one by one.
While Xiao Jingfeng was busy stoking the boiler at someone’s house, Si Di was trapped in the basement, being served delicious food and drinks yet remaining resolute. Meanwhile, Xiao Zhenyun and Xiao Nian were bickering on their way to Yao Town, the hardworking newcomer Duan Fei had already led his team in and out seven times, ultimately defeating the professor.
The potions developed by the professor only had a deterrent effect on sentinels and guides, rendering them completely ineffective against ordinary people. In the battle at Yao Town, ordinary folks had the upper hand over the special individuals. While the four members of the Xiao family finished their dinner, fully satiated and sound asleep, Duan Fei sounded the horn in the cold night, launching the final assault against the professor and proclaiming the ultimate showdown.
They infiltrated through secret passages, coordinated inside and out, with Hedgehog, the agile and sharp-sensed dark sentinel, sneaking in beforehand. Prior to this, Duan Fei and his team underwent disguises by Hedgehog, assuming the appearances of special individuals like Si Chu and Ye Feiran, deceiving the professor and causing the precious potions with limited production to be wasted on them.
Just as Xiao Nian finally uncovered Hedgehog’s actions after coding for most of the night, Duan Fei had already broken through the doors of the professor’s laboratory, rescuing the remaining members of the Blaze team, including Si Chu. It seemed they were about to reenact the original ending in the next room.
After Xiao Nian finished explaining this lengthy account, the room fell into an eerie silence.
Xiao Zhenyun clumsily donned his coat against the cold wind. Si Di, always impeccably dressed, pondered and asked, “Seems… okay? Wasn’t the original plot progressing like this? Near the end, Si Chu was still trapped, Ye Feiran was frantic, and then suddenly Duan Fei appeared, inquired about causality, immediately pointed out the overlooked key point, and, sure enough, found Si Chu through this crucial clue.”
He continued, “Ignoring some unimportant details, isn’t the original plot in sync with the current progress?”
Xiao Nian dangerously grinned, “Did you forget about the unexpected guest, Hedgehog, in Duan Fei’s team? Do you know how terrifying it is to have the dark sentinel Han Bang and the only one with a brain, Duan Fei, together? Now, there are only three vials of finished potion left in the lab, hidden in the professor’s office refrigerator. In the original story, the professor confidently carried over a dozen vials on him, but in reality, he didn’t even have time to put his pants on before they cornered him into the ventilation duct. We don’t know if he’s still alive…”
He took a deep breath. “But Si Chu hasn’t been injected with the potion yet.”
Si Di restrained himself, but couldn’t help asking, “Do we really have to inject him with the potion?”
Seeing both Xiao Nian and Xiao Zhenyun looking at him, Si Di wrinkled his brow with reluctance. “What’s the completion rate of the current plot? Although we all know that Si Chu’s spiritual body will eventually wake up, Si Chu himself doesn’t know. Watching his own spiritual body go berserk and fall into a state of pseudo-death must be extremely unpleasant. If we could spare Si Chu from some suffering…”
“The current completion rate of the plot is… 41%,” Xiao Nian said flatly. “I’m sorry, Si Di, injecting Si Chu with the potion is crucial to the main storyline and is still part of the significant final section. It must be completed, or else all our efforts over the years could be in vain.”
“…,” Si Di lowered his gaze, and his wolf ears drooped slightly backward. “No, it’s my indecisiveness.”
It was the first time Xiao Zhenyun had heard of a plot completion rate below 60%. He put on his coat while releasing guide elements towards Si Di. “Then let’s go, there’s no time to lose. Let’s go save the world.”
The black-haired guide put on his prosthetics and shoes, looking at the town draped in silver after a night of snowfall. He said casually, “Since the useless villains are all down, it’s up to us to play the villains now, to support the professor. There’s no time to waste.”
Surprisingly, his words were quite uplifting, even stirring up Xiao Nian’s excitement. He closed the code interface with enthusiasm, nodding in agreement. Only Si Di looked at the window with a sorrowful gaze, following Xiao Zhenyun’s line of sight. “To think that I, the esteemed captain of the Storm team, an S-level sentinel, with a clean record for over twenty years, would today stoop to aiding and assisting…”
“Alright, stop lamenting,” Xiao Nian turned to open the bedroom door, but immediately recoiled as if electrocuted. “No, we can’t leave through the front door; Xiao Jingfeng is sleeping on the living room sofa.”
Si Di asked, “Not taking the Chairman with us?”
Xiao Nian exclaimed, “Are you out of your mind? You’re still not satisfied with how fast the professor dies? Do you want to take Xiao Jingfeng over there to hasten his ascent to heaven?”
“Then…?”
At half past five in the morning, the three people saving the world struggled to squeeze out from the half-open window. Xiao Nian, being petite, and Si Di, being agile, managed, but Xiao Zhenyun, wearing more layers for warmth, got stuck at the window for quite some time until Si Di forcibly pulled him out.
Before leaving, Xiao Zhenyun left a note for Xiao Jingfeng, explaining that the winter vacation cram school he had signed up for Xiao Nian would start today. For the sake of the child’s education, he and Si Di planned to send Xiao Nian back to school overnight, so Xiao Jingfeng needn’t worry.
Si Di: “…Are you guys treating the Chairman like the little dog?”
In the early morning, the three of them stepped onto the thick snow and got into the car. On the way, they passed by a breakfast stall run by local residents in the town. Each of them bought a serving of fried dough sticks and pancakes to nibble on. Suddenly, Xiao Nian, who was eating breakfast while still coding, spoke up, “Something’s not right… Why does the route Hedgehog used to infiltrate the laboratory look so similar to the one where he was ambushed by the professor in the original text?”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
![I Mistook the Paranoid Gong for a Shou [Book Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/WhatsApp-Image-2024-09-12-at-01.24.02_47d1acd0.jpg "I Mistook the Paranoid Gong for a Shou [Book Transmigration]")
