Ch.04

Chapter 4

No one spoke in the room. After a while, Shen Yan finally looked up. “Mr. Shi, why don’t you take off your mask indoors?” he asked suddenly, as if out of curiosity.

Shi Yu hadn’t expected the second male lead to notice this. Truthfully, it didn’t matter much to him whether he wore a mask or not—he just wanted to avoid too much contact with the main group, so he kept it on. He had planned to cut ties after this incident and hoped they wouldn’t remember him.

But now that Shen Yan had noticed, Shi Yu coughed lightly and lowered his eyes. “I’ve had a bit of a cold lately, so I’m just being cautious.”

It was understandable. Although Shen Yan was a doctor, he couldn’t very well insist someone remove their mask. What he didn’t notice, however, was the brief, strange expression that crossed Shi Yu’s face right after he mentioned the cold.

A sudden wave of nausea surged up, causing Shi Yu to instinctively press a hand to his abdomen.

The sensation came out of nowhere. Shi Yu hadn’t eaten anything since early morning, yet his stomach burned with dry, prickling discomfort.

Could last night’s binge eating have triggered his chronic gastritis again?

He’d always had stomach problems, which acted up from time to time due to his mukbang work. But he hadn’t expected this episode to come on so suddenly. Thinking back to the whole plate of chicken wings he’d eaten the night before, Shi Yu slightly tightened his palm. Only when the cramping in his stomach eased did he consider getting some warm water.

Maybe he should go to his room later and take some stomach medicine to feel better.

One of the downsides of being in this world was that he couldn’t freely go to the hospital whenever he wanted. Hospitals were hotspots for incidents, and Shi Yu didn’t dare go there alone.

Fortunately, after a while, the discomfort in his abdomen eased somewhat.

...

Ability User Association:

Han Chuyi had just returned from school when he saw the notification on the display screen—his points had been deducted by one. His expression darkened instantly.

“Damn it.”

“Another deduction?”

“Is Shen Yan just holding a grudge?”

The young man in a basketball jersey licked his fang, his good-looking, defiant face twisted into a scowl.

Han Chuyi glared at the screen, scanning the reason for the deduction. After a long moment, he realized it was because the report he’d filed on that streamer last night was deemed “incomplete.”

Incomplete?

What part wasn’t clear? Shen Yan was just finding fault. Narrowing his eyes, Han Chuyi almost laughed in frustration and tossed his basketball aside. They couldn’t stand each other—Shen Yan disliked him, and he disliked Shen Yan just as much.

Tch. Putting on airs like that—what a joke.

Glancing at his dropping score, Han Chuyi grew more irritated. He’d applied to join the Ability User Association during his third year of college, and his one-year internship period was nearly over. But his score was still far from passing. If things continued like this, he’d fail the internship.

He’d originally planned to shower and meet Brother Sang after his game, but now he had to suppress his anger and look through available cases on the holographic screen.

Since he’d lost points today, he needed to take on a case before Brother Sang arrived tomorrow afternoon to make up for it.

But Han Chuyi was only an intern, not a full member. After browsing for a while, he found that most of the available horror cases were either outside his jurisdiction or beyond his authorization level.

Finally, his gaze settled on the “Parcel Horror Case” under Shen Yan’s jurisdiction.

This one met the requirements—except it meant working with that stuck-up jerk. Normally, Han Chuyi wouldn’t even glance at such a case. But now… recalling how Shen Yan had arbitrarily deducted his points, Han Chuyi gave a cold smile.

He had already decided to take part in this case.

They'd been waiting for a whole day and night, yet still hadn't caught the "Haunted Delivery." Shen Yan was completely useless.

The few people on duty in the hall were startled to see Young Master Han alternating between scowling and smiling.

"What's gotten into the little hellion now?"

The duty officer elbowed his coworker, but Li Qing also shook his head.

"Beats me. He's been acting weird since he saw the announcement screen."

"I figured he'd blow his top—maybe even chuck his basketball at the monitor and smash it."

Han Chuyi had done things like that before. After all, on his very first day, he’d started a fight with Captain Fu Nanyao, showing the whole association exactly what a temper the young master had. Nobody with sense would mess with him.

Except maybe Mr. Sang—among those who knew him, practically no one ever got a friendly look from the young master.

Watching as the young master went to wash his face and then left, they all looked at each other, unsure whether to report the incident to their superiors.

"Probably nothing to worry about, right?"

Just as Li Qing spoke, he suddenly let out a shocked curse upon seeing the change on his wrist display.

"Holy shit, has Young Master Han lost it completely?"

"Why's he signing up for Shen Yan's case?"

Wasn't Han Chuyi just seeing red with anger? How could he turn around and apply?

Due to the severe danger posed by Haunting cases, the association adhered to the principle of "doing whatever it takes to handle Hauntings immediately."

Thus, if a haunting remained unresolved after 24 hours, other members within the local jurisdiction had the right to apply for participation to jointly eliminate the threat.

Han Chuyi’s actions fully complied with the association’s regulations.

No matter how stunned and speechless Li Qing and his colleague were, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and approve Han Chuyi’s application.

At the same time, the status board instantly updated: the “Unreturnable Express” haunting case now had an additional participant.

Shen Yan had just opened his wrist display when he saw the message. The moment he read it, his face did something complicated.

Wang Shan grimaced. "Is this Young Master Han some kind of grade-schooler?"

"Right after catching flak, he goes and pulls this stunt?"

Since the message sent back to the association an hour ago indicated that Wang Shan was handling the case, he didn’t have to wonder why.

"What should we do, Dr. Shen?"

Wang Shan looked up, conflicted.

Shen Yan was exasperated too, but since Han Chuyi’s actions were reasonable and compliant, he just said flatly, "Ignore him."

Shi Yu remained clueless, not understanding what these association members were up to.

But soon, he'd get the full picture.

A few minutes later, a half-hearted knock sounded at the door. Shi Yu frowned and peered through the peephole, only to be startled by a dark eye pressed right up to it.

"Holy shit!"

His heart leaped into his throat, and he uttered a curse without thinking.

The hell was that?

Outside, Han Chuyi, dressed in basketball gear, had assumed the person spying on him was one of his Association colleagues. He deliberately planted his eye right up to the peephole, leering creepily.

To his surprise, the person on the other side flinched back wide-eyed, stumbling away in shock.

Not one of ours?

Han Chuyi arched a brow and knocked again impatiently.

"Open the door."

Shi Yu: "…?"

What a freak.

He'd never encountered someone like this—scaring people with no warning, then bossing him around to open up like nothing happened.

Too pissed to engage, he turned away, refusing to answer.

Wang Shan and the others were biting back laughter. The thought of the arrogant Han eldest young master knocking endlessly with no response made their smirks unstoppable. Even Shen Yan’s expression softened slightly at the sight.

Shi Yu had no idea why the group looked so amused over his refusal to open the door.

Clearly, whoever was outside wasn’t one of those Horrors—after all, the Ability User Association members were all here, and Horrors wouldn’t dare act this brazenly.

"So... the person outside is your teammate?"

Shi Yu hesitated, glancing at the group on the sofa.

Wang Shan coughed. "Eh, close enough."

"But he’s incredibly rude. Don’t bother indulging him. He’ll quiet down soon."

No sooner had he spoken than the knocking grew louder—*thud thud thud*—painfully loud.

A vein pulsed at Shi Yu’s temple as he heard a scoff from outside.

"Shen Yan, bold enough to dock my points? Then be bold enough to open the door."

"My phone clearly shows I’m eligible to participate."

Watching the Han eldest young master dangle on the verge of blabbing about their Association, Wang Shan quickly stood up. He couldn’t risk letting the young master ramble unchecked. Apologetically, he smiled at Shi Yu and strode to the door, swinging it open.

The next second, Han Chuyi casually pulled back, looking utterly unbothered.

Shi Yu: "..."

What *is* this guy’s deal?

With that all-American, jock-looking charm, how could he be so insufferable?

Han Chuyi couldn’t give a damn what they thought. His gaze scanned the room.

"Well, you're all here."

"I thought you all were affected."

He gave a forced smile, then turned his gaze toward Shi Yu.

As the only stranger in the room, Han Chuyi immediately recognized this person was a civilian.

But to him, there was no difference between Ability Users and civilians. He cheerfully walked over, acting confused:

"Dude, why didn’t you open the door earlier?"

Just back from working out, the young man radiated intense body heat, making Shi Yu instinctively recoil.

Why was this guy so forward? Did they even know each other for him to ask that?

Shi Yu slightly frowned, taking another step back before replying:

"I don’t know you. Why should I open the door?"

From Han Chuyi’s perspective, he only saw the frown on the young man’s face.

Huh. He looked him up and down—average height, slim build. Though he couldn’t see his face clearly, something about him just rubbed him the wrong way.

"You left me outside—can’t I even ask what’s going on?"

He hated being ignored the most. Even though Shi Yu had a nice voice when he answered back, it didn’t matter.

The cocky young guy glared at Shi Yu, about to say more, when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. Shen Yan, who had stayed quiet until now, finally spoke:

"Stand down."

"You’ve memorized the team rules, haven’t you?"

"If you keep this up, I’ll deduct more points."

The atmosphere instantly turned icy. Trapped between them, Shi Yu keenly felt the shift in the troublemaker’s expression as he leaned closer.

After a moment, that handsome face broke into a grin, revealing pointed canines.

"Just kidding. Why so tense?"

He held up his hands, grinning, then said slowly and clearly while looking at Shi Yu:

"Sorry about that, Mr. Shi."

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