Baiquan looked uncertain.
"I don"t think that"s a good idea," he mumbled.
"I disagree," Zhao Yao retorted.
He walked to his study desk and flipped through it, obviously in search of something. It turned out that he was looking for a phone that was wedged somewhere deep within a drawer. There was a smug smirk on his lips as he handed it to Baiquan.
"Don"t say that I don"t look out for you. Within this phone lies a painstakingly acc.u.mulated collection of goodies that will ensure that you remain on the straight path in life," he said, winking.
Baiquan took the phone hesitantly.
"What if this doesn"t work?" he asked.
His mind was still reeling from the transformation he underwent in the past two weeks. He had no intention of ever going through that again. He had tried to make a move on his boss. Just thinking about that regrettable encounter made his b.a.l.l.s hurt.
"It will. Whenever you feel that something"s not right, use the phone," Zhao Yao said brightly.
Unfortunately, Baiquan still looked thoroughly unconvinced. Zhao Yao patted his shoulder firmly.
"Don"t worry, dude. I"ll keep an eye on you. I"ll step in if I have to. You"ll be fine," he a.s.sured.
The moment was interrupted when Hanako opened her bedroom door. She shuffled into the living room, yawning. Every drop of sleepiness dissipated when she noticed that a topless Zhao Yao had his hand on Baiquan, who was wearing the tiniest of tank tops. She lowered her gaze to the tent that had formed in Baiquan"s shorts, a remnant of the p.o.r.no-power that was unleashed on him.
She gawked at them before spinning around, pressing her hands against her face.
"I"m terribly sorry! Please excuse me," she stammered incoherently before rus.h.i.+ng back into her room and shutting the door behind her.
Hanako leaned against the door and slid down on to the floor. Her heart was hammering against her chest.
"I...I don"t even know… Those two are just too much! The living room?! They did it in the living room while I was sleeping?!"
While she experienced a tiny episode of hysteria, Zhao Yao remained perfectly unperturbed. He looked to Baiquan, whom appeared embarra.s.sed by what Hanako must have seen.
"It doesn"t matter. She"s leaving for j.a.pan in a few days anyway. We"ll never see her again," he said.
His mission to keep her safe was coming to end soon. He was fully intending to bid goodbye to her then.
As Zhao Yao returned to his bedroom, he thought about the other person whom was affected by the Sphynx"s side effect.
"Does this mean Zhao Xue will become attracted to men now?" he wondered, recalling their awful conversation about power plugs, "Perfect."
With a satisfied smile, he checked in on the extradimensional belly to make sure that everything was fine, then fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, he headed to work with the cats, Baiquan, and Hanako.
Hanako kept casting odd looks at the two men as he drove them to the cafe. Every time Zhao Yao returned her gaze, she would look away immediately, face flushed. It was annoying.
At lunch, Xiao s.h.i.+yu walked up to him, hands behind her back.
"Zhao Yao, do you know what I just saw?" she asked in a deliberately mysterious tone.
"What?" he asked, not even looking up from his game.
He had no interest in whatever it was she might have seen.
Her face broke into a mischievous grin.
"I caught Baiquan watching p.o.r.n! He was hiding in the alley out the back door."
s.h.i.+yu was hoping to elicit shock or outrage from Zhao Yao. However, she got none of that.
"Okay, but why are you telling me this? That"s perfectly normal behavior for a young man," he said patronizingly.
"Well," s.h.i.+yu started awkwardly, "You know Baiquan used to have a crush on me, right? I"m just a little worried about him."
"If only he still had a crush on you. That would be a good indicator of whether something"s gone wrong again," he thought.
Zhao Yao remained silent for a moment as he wracked his brain to come up with a believable excuse. Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to explain why someone was watching p.o.r.n on the job, so he went with the truth instead.
"p.o.r.n helps him with his skill training."
"What?" s.h.i.+yu asked.
She looked cross. The look on her face screamed, "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"Aren"t you men creative when it comes to finding reasons for watching that stuff," she narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, don"t drag me into this. I don"t watch that s**t!" Zhao Yao exclaimed.
s.h.i.+yu did not bother concealing the look of utter disbelief on her face.
"Whatever it is, just know that he"s watching p.o.r.n to grow stronger. Just ignore it the next time you see him," Zhao Yao instructed, hoping to end the conversation.
He ma.s.saged his throbbing temples when s.h.i.+yu left with a dissatisfied huff. He pulled up his phone and fired a message to Baiquan asking him to be discreet.
The message was barely sent when the bells hung on the cafe"s door chimed loudly.
Zhao Yao looked up to see Inspector Ho And Old Man Zhuang strolling in. A posse of men in black, Ah Wei included, was trailing closely behind them.
The two men spotted Zhao Yao as well. They waved at him before settling down next to him, both grinning from ear to ear. Ah Wei nodded respectfully at Zhao Yao and took his position standing next to Zhuang.
"h.e.l.lo, my boy. I hope it doesn"t inconvenience you for us to drop by today," Old Man Zhuang said.
He stretched and extended both arms behind him.
"Your cafe truly is a gem. There"s been so much to do lately and I really needed to make a trip here."
Now that the old man was bathed in the Celestial Beats, he could feel his body"s tension and stress start to slip away from him.
Inspector Ho patted Zhao Yao on the shoulder. He was wearing a face-splitting grin.
"Waddya think? We fixed the cafe up nicely, didn"t we?"
The two men were laughing too much. They were behaving far too happily. It was unnerving.
"What do you guys want from me?" he asked.
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I shall tell you the truth. We"ve got a couple old pals that are hoping to have a good time here as well. Unfortunately, they can"t be spotted out in a place like this. Can you offer them special services after hours?"
Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes at the Inspector.
"Why does everything that leaves your mouth sound so lewd?"
Inspector Ho ignored the comment. He rubbed his bald head, then shot Zhao Yao a raunchy smirk.
"We"ll take you for the night."
"How much?"
"Ten thousand per night!"
Zhao Yao"s narrowed eyes widened in an instant.
He started calculating if he could work overtime at the cafe. His top priority was still the daily missions, which needed time to complete. Then, he had to help Baiquan and Zhao Xue borrow the Sphynx"s skill so they can train. He also needed time for himself to develop and master his own abilities.
"Oh yeah, how could I almost forget the most important thing? I need at least eight hours of sleep a day. Without sleep, my life would be meaningless," he thought.
After some deliberation, he came to a conclusion.
"Twenty thousand a night. And I will only work overtime for an hour."
"Well, isn"t that just some delightful daylight robbery?" Inspector Ho exclaimed, "Aren"t we friends anymore?"
"If we aren"t friends, I wouldn"t even consider extending my opening hours," Zhao Yao said loftily, tapping his nose."
"Even if Yui Aragaki, Lin Chi-Ling, or Emma Watson begged me, I would"ve just said no."
"Yeah, right," the Inspector gritted his teeth.
Old Man Zhuang simply laughed as he put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"We"ll do as our boy says. Twenty thousand it is," he stated.
He beamed at Zhao Yao.
"My boy, I heard you can conjure very realistic illusions as well? The kind that you can actually touch and feel?" he asked eagerly.
The old man looked like a child impatiently waiting for the school holidays to begin. All he needed to complete the look was to rub his hands with glee.
"I"m unable to do that kind of magic," Zhao Yao replied solemnly.
At that moment, a great, white blur darted towards him. It was Roly Poly, who had a handphone dangling from the corner of his mouth.
"Zhao Yao! Zhao Yao!" the cat called out excitedly, "Baiquan stole your secret phone! I stole it back for you. Are you glad?"
Unfortunately for Roly Poly, Zhao Yao was anything but glad because on the screen was a video of two people getting it on.