The Eleventh Year of Making Hate with My Lover - Chapter 9

The person on his back patted his shoulder lightly: “Put me down.”

Wu Que walked over and crouched in front of Lili. Watching the spiritual core that had already begun to dissipate over a large area of her body, he fell into a momentary trance.

It seemed that through Lili, he was seeing someone else.

Then, he raised his hands and performed an act that caught everyone off guard.

A massive white light erupted from within his body, spreading out with him at the center. Within the range of that white light, all the dissipating fragments gathered into his palms. Moments later, a complete, transparent crystal appeared in his hand.

Wu Que placed the complete spiritual core into Lili’s chest. He spread his right hand out and hovered it above her; a blue cross appeared, slowly moving from left to right.

It happened in the blink of an eye, but Shen Wang still caught a slight distortion in the space between them.

The cross vanished, and the monster on the ground began to heal its wounds and revert to human form at a speed visible to the naked eye. Suzawa was so excited she nearly kowtowed in gratitude.

Shen Wang, standing to the side, was scrutinizing him calmly.

He can even cross the timeline axis. I really want to know what there is that Wu Que can’t do, or rather, where his limits lie.

If the original owner hadn’t separated from him, he should have been able to be resurrected as well, and it wouldn’t have been Shen Wang’s turn to “occupy the magpie’s nest.”

When I have the time, Shen Wang thought, I must return to the base and investigate Wu Que’s ability.

“Now, I really am out of energy.” Wu Que looked at him, speaking weakly, before shrinking into his small jellyfish form and falling from the air.

Shen Wang reached out to catch him, watching as the creature in his palm extended a tiny tentacle to wrap around his finger, all the eyes on its umbrella-cap squeezed shut.

He poked it, and Wu Que twitched his transparent ears in annoyance, opening one blue-pink eye hazily before quickly closing it again.

Seems he really is exhausted.

Shen Wang tucked him into his chest pocket.

The remaining task was to round up the white-robed people on the island. When they found Lang Xi, Lang Xi was currently beating Lin Xu until his face was bruised and swollen.

“What kind of space ability do you have that compares to yours truly?” Lang Xi was outputting punches while also outputting insults: “You dare to use a fishing net to tie me up? I’ll beat you until you can’t see tomorrow’s sun.”

Shen Wang glanced at them, letting him vent, provided he left him with a breath of life.

As for investigating the prohibited drugs, that was the job of the Alliance Administration; Shen Wang didn’t want to meddle in other people’s business at all. But there was one thing: the town had been using living people for research for so many years, and it certainly wasn’t just for the sake of feeding Lelis.

When Lin Xu was taken away by the local administration, he passed by Shen Wang and let out a cold laugh: “Your information has long been sent to those above; take care of yourself.”

Shen Wang didn’t feel much after hearing this; he was a person who had already died once, so what was there to fear?

At that moment, he was leaning back on the sofa of the homestay, searching for information about “C0 Promoter” on his phone.

On the surface, there wasn’t a single clue, but on the black market, one could find several related bounty missions, seemingly divided into different levels.

C1, C2, C3…

Shen Wang raised an eyebrow at the prices listed; a single dose of C3 Promoter went for anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

“Truly an exorbitant profit,” Shen Wang scoffed.

If he were his past-life self, he might have joined this research organization. But given his current identity, doing something evil would mean being hunted down by the entire Spirit-Awakening Alliance—at least on the surface, he still had to maintain the image of a gentle and harmless “good person.”

“What are you looking at?” Wu Que sat up from the bed, his long hair a mess, one stray lock of hair sticking straight up.

“Found a very profitable job.” Shen Wang smiled, mentioning the drug prices on the black market.

Speaking of which, what evil thing did I do in my past life to be hunted down by Wu Que?

“You’re that short of money?” Wu Que yawned.

“I am. With that pittance of a salary from the base, I’ve already thought about moonlighting on the black market.”

This was the truth. Shen Wang couldn’t figure out why the original owner didn’t have a single cent to his name; when he woke up, he discovered he was so poor he only had his underwear left.

He had even tried to take on some bounty missions, but his plans were interrupted by the broken system before he could even start.

“Oh. How pitiful.” Wu Que nodded: “After leaving me, you can’t even maintain a basic standard of living.”

“……”

“Hand me that computer on the table.”

Shen Wang didn’t understand why, but he handed it over anyway.

After Wu Que logged on to the internet and did… something, he scanned his face and tapped a few times. Shen Wang heard his phone emit a crisp “ding.”

His account balance instantly grew by a sum, followed by a long, long string of zeros.

“What is the meaning of this?” Shen Wang was left a bit dazed by this windfall.

Well, well… could it be that the original owner was just a “pretty boy” relying on his wife for support?

Wu Que’s tone was indifferent: “Payment for giving me my freedom.”

Shen Wang didn’t react for a moment, only realizing later that he was referring to bringing him out of the Wu family’s cultivation tank.

Looking at the zeros in his account, Shen Wang recalled the measly wages the base paid him and couldn’t help but speak up: “The wealth gap between people is truly large.”

“You wouldn’t think I inherited the family fortune, would you?” Wu Que got off the bed and walked into the bathroom: “I’ve always done high-risk missions; the additional bonuses from the base are quite generous.”

“Is that so? I don’t think the work I do is exactly simple, either.”

Shen Wang recalled when he had first woken up, relying on the only clues in his phone to make his way to the Tianshu Base. His direct supervisor sent him out to eradicate a mutant supernatural swarm in a “Dead City.” He hadn’t been careful and got stung once, ending up bedridden for a month.

And the final paycheck he received… didn’t even cover the treatment fees from the base’s infirmary.

“Let’s walk around town in a bit. The flyer said the White Sand Beach opens today, right?” Wu Que mumbled while biting into a disposable toothbrush.

“I can’t believe you’d be interested in a place like that.” Shen Wang couldn’t quite grasp it—no matter how it was hyped, it was just sand; what was there to see? He watched speechlessly as Wu Que hugged a coconut drink, sitting by the water and watching other people surf.

“If we have the time, we might as well go back to the base.” Shen Wang walked over and sat beside him, staring blankly at a hermit crab.

“What’s the rush? Besides, I still have to go somewhere else first.” Wu Que seemed to have stayed in the cultivation fluid too long; he found everything fascinating. “It’s shell is quite unique.”

“Where do you want to go?” If he goes somewhere else, can I still complete my task? He couldn’t he’d have to haggle with that idiot system.

The sunset dyed the sea a golden-red. Shen Wang bent down to pick up his jacket. Just as his fingertips touched the grains of sand on his clothes, he heard a muffled thud of a heavy object hitting the sand heap behind him.

“I’m saying—” Wu Que casually set his coconut drink on the sand, his blindingly white hair blown by the sea breeze: “When I grow old and can no longer kill, I want to live in a small place by the sea, and do absolutely nothing.”

He sank spread-eagle into the soft white sand, his trousers rolled up to his knees, revealing a length of smooth calves.

“You talk as if you’ve experienced so many things.” Shen Wang looked down at him. He had no thoughts about the future whatsoever; he was a man who couldn’t even remember his own past.

His only thought now was to survive and recover his memories.

Shen Wang subconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of orange-flavored candies.

It was strange; he didn’t like sweet things, yet he had bought them on impulse when he saw them at a stall.

Wu Que opened his eyes, stunned for a moment as he looked at the hand reaching toward him: “How did you…”

Shen Wang felt a bit awkward and was about to retract his hand, but a familiar voice interrupted them.

“Huh? You guys are actually here, too.” The black-haired girl and the pink-haired girl approached, holding hands.

Lili said, full of gratitude: “I didn’t get a chance to thank Mr. Wu the other day. If it weren’t for you, I might have…”

“Hmm? Hold that thought. People waiting to thank me have to queue up.” Wu Que suddenly sat up, snatching the candy box with a speed that caught everyone off guard: “If you’re truly grateful, take a photo for us.”

“Ah, okay.” Lili was taken aback, not expecting Wu Que to remember they were photography majors, and fished her recording terminal out of her bag.

“Let me, let me.” Suzawa took it: “How about I take a group photo for you two?”

“I…” Shen Wang wanted to refuse, but looking at Wu Que, then thinking of the money that had just arrived in his account, he chose to compromise.

“Why are you so stiff? Hug him!” Suzawa directed, unsatisfied.

“I ask you, have you been misunderstanding something the whole time…”

When the shutter clicked, Shen Wang was still awkward, his head turned away, but Wu Que had already turned his face, his blue-pink eyes shining brilliantly in the sunset.

“What a wooden face.” Suzawa handed the photo over and complained to Lili: “He was so uncooperative; I couldn’t show off my skills at all.”

Lili stroked her hair.

Shen Wang looked at himself in the photo his expression was distant while Wu Que was smiling very happily.

“Mmm, not bad.” Wu Que leaned in to critique it before swiping the photo away.

Shen Wang suddenly thought that, aside from their first meeting where Wu Que had been icy cold, most of the time he seemed to love to laugh.

Suzawa and Lili waved goodbye: “You two can wait a while. There’ll be a surprise in about ten minutes!”

“What kind of surprise could there be?”

Until the night grew heavy, and the ground began to turn snowy white. Shen Wang looked down and discovered that the sand was emitting a moist, white light in the night; even the air was dyed with a hazy halo. The entire beach seemed to be trapped in a field of fresh snow.

Many people on the beach were taking photos or kissing.

“Ex-husband,” Wu Que suddenly spoke up, his blue-pink eyes filled with shattered light, almost blending into the whiteness: “Want to kiss?”

Shen Wang covered his chest and fled the beach as if he were running for his life.

This is bad. The original owner’s body seems to be reacting; my heartbeat is too fast.

The culprit, however, followed behind in a great mood, even humming a tune.

“Just kidding.” Wu Que couldn’t help but lean against a utility pole to laugh: “What are you running for? What haven’t we done before?”

Shen Wang pursed his lips, thinking viciously that if Wu Que knew his ex-husband had been replaced by a different soul, would he still be able to laugh?

A car drove past nearby, screeching to a halt in front of them.

Lang Xi rolled down the window: “Captain, Inspector Wu, let’s go back to the base! I’ll drive!”

Wu Que stopped smiling: “I have something to do; I’m not going back yet.”

“Alright then.” He made a sad puppy face: “Then I have to go back to the base to report on the mission.”

He looked at Wu Que with faint adoration in his eyes.

Wu Que paused and said: “Shen Wang said you have a space-type ability…”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a very fast transport; the mana consumption depends on the distance.” The little puppy wagged his tail.

Wu Que pondered for a moment: “Have you been to City A? Can you transport us directly there?”

“…” The little puppy’s face fell.

“Big Boss, this isn’t just asking for mana it’s asking for my blood bar.”

In the end, Lang Xi gave them a car. Shen Wang drove, thinking to himself, how is it that both of them are so rich?

Wu Que sat in the passenger seat and asked: “Why did you choose to accompany me?”

Because my mission is to take you back to the base.

And because I need to find the cause of my death from you.

Shen Wang said, however: “To ease relations with my ex-wife. I think it’s necessary for us to get to know each other again.”

“…You’re sick.” Wu Que rolled over, quietly watching the scenery retreating outside the window.

“Don’t sleep. You haven’t told me where we’re going yet, let me set the GPS.”

“85 19th Street, West District, City A.” Wu Que reported an address with his eyes closed.

“Oh.” Shen Wang opened the map and entered the address by voice. A moment later, he typed it in to ensure he hadn’t made a mistake.

Three seconds later.

Shen Wang asked: “Wait a minute, what are you going to a haunted house for?”

Wu Que didn’t open his eyes, his cool voice drifting over from the side: “That’s my house. Got a problem with that?”