381: Chapter 379's title is "So Delicious."

Long Qingyun stood there, his face still flushed. His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally squeezed out a sentence:

"No way... no... I... I..."

Qing Lian revealed half of her face from behind her paws, her eyes curving into crescents and her voice soft. "Then when we're taking photos, be a bit gentler with me."

"I—"

Wei Ziqing suddenly raised his hand, making a "stop" gesture.

"Enough, enough, don't say any more." He had a serious expression. "If this continues, our book won't pass the censors. Then the traffic will be restricted, and if the traffic is restricted, the author will feel sad because no one is reading. If no one is reading, the author won't make any money. If they don't make money, they can't buy a computer. If they can't buy a computer—this book will be abandoned!"

After he finished speaking, he even let out two "hmpf"s, as if emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

The room fell silent for a second.

Long Qingyun cleared his throat, his expression quickly adjusting back to a serious state.

"Ahem, business first, business first, business first." He said it three times as if brainwashing himself. "So, we need to arrange a few photos."

Shen Mingyuan shook his head.

"There's no rush now," he said. "It's unreasonable for us to find her immediately after he just gave me the mission. Besides, we have a background with the The Authorities; it's even more impossible to be that fast. We have to take it slow."

He paused.

"However, be careful for the next few days. They definitely won't issue the mission only to me; there must be others looking for Qing Lian too."

As he spoke, he reached out and drew those two guns from his hip.

twin stars.

The gun bodies were matte black and had undergone some changes compared to before—the muzzles had become more slender, and the entire bodies were slightly longer, making the proportions feel more balanced in the hand. Black-red energy patterns flowed along the barrels, pulsating slightly like blood vessels.

Shen Mingyuan spun the guns in his hands.

"They upgraded along with the armor before," he said. "twin stars changed too. Greater power, faster rate of fire, and more energy storage. Now the battery life is much longer than before."

"So for the next few days, just live your lives normally. After a few days, I'll tell that side I've 'made a discovery.' Then we'll take the photos, send them over, and see if we can bait out some information."

He paused.

"During this time, have Qing Lian show her face as little as possible. Draw the curtains on the windows, and don't go out on the balcony."

Qing Lian nodded, her two ears swaying along with the movement.

Shen Mingyuan holstered the twin stars and looked at Long Qingyun and Qing Lian.

"I'll be coming over here often these next few days," he said. "To ensure safety and, while I'm at it, check the surroundings for any suspicious individuals."

He turned his head and looked at Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing.

"By the way, what about you two?"

Lu Jianchuan had his head down, holding his phone, his thumb swiping across the screen. Wei Ziqing was much the same, holding his phone before his eyes with a focused expression.

Shen Mingyuan was stunned for a moment.

"Yo, I rarely see you two playing on your phones." He leaned in. "What are you playing?"

Lu Jianchuan looked up, his expression a bit subtle.

"Oh, I suddenly remembered something," he said. "I haven't checked the internet in a long time. I'm searching to see what everyone's evaluation of me is."

Wei Ziqing nodded beside him. "Yeah, yeah, I need to check too. After all, I'm about to go online soon, I want to see what everyone says."

Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up. "Really? I want to see too!"

He squeezed over, sticking his head between the two of them.

Long Qingyun stood to the side, and seeing the three of them crowded together, he couldn't help but take a step forward as well.

"You're not including me?" he said. "I want to see too!"

Qing Lian had been crouching by the coffee table, but seeing this, she stood up, walked over on her two furry legs, and leaned her head in too.

"You're all looking," she said, "I want to look too."

Five heads crowded together, staring at the small screen in Lu Jianchuan's hand.

Lu Jianchuan typed a few keywords into the search bar. The page jumped, popping up a bunch of results.

At the very top was a piece of information released by the The Authorities, the title bold and eye-catching:

[Safety Tips Regarding Evolved Animals]

The content was in a standard official tone: What to do if you encounter Evolved Animals? You must immediately call this number to contact official personnel for handling. Maintain distance, do not approach, do not provoke, and refuse the occurrence of danger.

Below was a video. The cover was a photo of Lu Jianchuan in casual clothes, with Wei Ziqing standing next to him. The video title read: [silver skeleton & Hero Shadow — The Guardians are by Your Side]

The comment section already had thousands of entries.

"Oh man, I didn't expect this world to have this kind of development."

"It looks so AI. If it weren't posted by an official account, I'd really think it was synthesized."

"I didn't expect all this to be real... Evolved Animals actually exist..."

Scrolling down, people started mentioning Lu Jianchuan and Wei Ziqing.

"Speaking of which, has Tokusatsu become reality? I've seen 'silver skeleton' before, it was pretty hype."

"Will the two of them shout about bonds or friendship or something while taking down the villains?"

"If I encounter an Evolved Animal I can't beat, do I have to cheer for them from the side? Lend them some light or something?"

"Upstairs, are you serious? What the hell is 'lending light'? Hahahaha."

"It's not impossible. What if the Power of Belief is actually needed?"

Lu Jianchuan looked at these comments, the corner of his mouth twitching, not knowing whether to laugh or sigh.

Wei Ziqing whispered beside him, "'Bonds and friendship'... what is all this..."

Shen Mingyuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Long Qingyun also laughed. "Netizens really have wild imaginations."

Qing Lian tilted her head, looking at the words on the screen, her eyes blinking.

"What does 'lending light' mean?" she asked.

Long Qingyun looked down at Qing Lian and smiled.

"Lending light? It's nothing, don't worry about it," he said. "It's just a meme from some cartoons humans used to watch. If you want to see it, Qing Lian, I'll find it for you. It's quite good."

Qing Lian's eyes brightened slightly.

"Okay."

Long Qingyun straightened up and walked toward the television that hadn't been fully set up yet. Qing Lian followed behind him, her two furry feet stepping on the floor with a soft rustling sound.

On this side, Shen Mingyuan, Lu Jianchuan, and Wei Ziqing were still crowded together, continuing to scroll through the comments.

The further down they scrolled, the more varied the tone became.

"I think this is pretty reliable, at least the The Authorities isn't hiding it."

"Have you heard? Someone in the next city really met an Evolved Animal. They say it was a cat, as tall as a person when it stood up, and it even gave directions..."

"Upstairs, you're making that up, right? Giving directions? A cat giving you directions?"

Someone started being sarcastic.

"The conspiracy theorists are coming out of the woodwork. This must be a new government method for controlling humans."

"My cousin's second aunt's neighbor saw it with their own eyes; those so-called Evolved Animals are all fake, they're robots!"

"Upstairs, your cousin's second aunt's neighbor? Could that connection be any more convoluted?"

A long comment popped up, its tone very serious:

"I studied in America for four years and never saw any Evolved Animals. This is clearly fake news created by the Chinese government to divert attention from conflicts. What Evolved Animals? It's all a scam. The evil..."

There was a long section after that, but it was collapsed before it could be finished. Below the collapsed box were a dozen or so replies neatly lined up. The two with the highest popularity were:

"If the person upstairs is so amazing, why not go back to America? The air there is sweet, hurry back and breathe it in."

"LMAO, just because you didn't see it in America, it's fake? Then there are too many things you haven't seen in America. I suggest you go out more."

Scrolling further down, there were even more ridiculous ones.

"I know about Evolved Animals, they're not dangerous. One came into my house last month, wandered around, ate some stuff, and left. After eating the person—ah, no, after eating, it left."

"??? OP, did you just make a typo? What does 'after eating the person it left' mean?"

"Slip of the finger, slip of the finger. It was 'after eating stuff it left,' eating stuff."

"That's a pretty scary slip of the finger, bro."

There was one particularly short one that was upvoted very high:

"Stop arguing. You'll know when you really encounter one. See for yourself if the teeth are sharp."

Lu Jianchuan swiped down twice. All sorts of voices were emerging—those who believed, those who didn't, those making things up, those being contrarian, and those being witty. Some were seriously spreading knowledge, some were cold and mocking, and some were flamed into deleting their comments as soon as they posted.

He exited the comment interface and put his phone away.

"Alright," he said. "The internet has everything. Let's leave it at that."

Wei Ziqing also put away his phone and nodded.

"Anyway, what needs to be done still has to be done."