Without Zhong Yu, Lin Murong seemed to come alive.
He was all perked up.
Wandering everywhere, provoking trouble.
Sometimes, people just regret things easily.
"Don’t regret it, don’t you regret it," Lin Murong said, knowing she felt remorse and worried that she would move the supermarket back in.
"Oh—," Su Yinhe’s voice drew out.
"What... what are you doing?" Lin Murong looked at her and felt a bit uneasy.
"Nothing. Keep going, I’m just looking around," Su Yinhe replied and drifted off like a wandering spirit.
What she projected was a sense of lightness.
Lin Murong watched her retreating figure, feeling more perplexed.
He rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, feeling so strange, truly strange.
Recently, Su Yinhe had been pondering an important question.
So important that she was constantly thinking about it, to the point where she didn’t even take the time to comfort Chi Yan.
This had left Chi Yan under the weather lately.
He looked like he wanted no one near him.
Although he had always been somewhat like that, it had gotten more intense recently.
But Su Yinhe hadn’t noticed; she didn’t have the time.
People can’t stop thinking; once they do, they’re finished.
She didn’t know who had said this, but she thought it made a lot of sense.
And now she was acting on it.
She was contemplating whether or not to get another pet.
She used to have one, a bird, but it flew away not too long ago.
Initially, she had taken great care of it, but after a while, she grew tired of it and left Fangfang to feed it at set times.
Then she just stopped paying attention.
She even forgot about it until, by the time she remembered, the bird was gone.
According to Fangfang, it had flown away on its own.
It had been a freeloader for a while but now wanted to strive for improvement.
This explanation was dubious, but Su Yinhe decided to believe it.
Nevertheless, she still needed to get another pet.
But you couldn’t buy pets anymore.
This place wasn’t like her world.
In this world, if you wanted a pet, you had to catch it yourself.
But then, the question arose, how to catch one?
What would be a good catch?
Firstly, it should have fur.
Secondly, it shouldn’t be too big, and must have lots of fur.
Lastly, it has to be cute.
If the last requirement is met, the first two could be disregarded.
It mainly depended on cuteness.
But where to catch one?
In this world, after the animals mutated, each was uglier than the last.
Su Yinhe covered her face, mulling over it.
"What are you thinking about?" Chi Yan couldn’t hold back anymore as Su Yinhe ignored him.
He initiated the conversation.
He wasn’t much of a talker, but if Su Yinhe ignored him, he just had to speak up.
"Thinking about a pet," Su Yinhe said gloomily.
"A pet? Didn’t you already have one?" Chi Yan furrowed his brow, Yinhe was ignoring him over this?
Chi Yan felt a bit aggrieved.
"It flew away," Su Yinhe spread out her hands.
Chi Yan paused for a moment, then glanced toward Fangfang, who was busy with an online romance at the cash register.
Then he looked back at Su Yinhe.
The implication was clear.
Su Yinhe’s mouth twitched.
"Although... that... Fangfang isn’t my pet. The pet I was referring to was that bird," was Chi Yan not taking that bird seriously at all?
Chi Yan fell silent for a moment.
"Fangfang is my employee, you understand. Not a pet." Su Yinhe wondered if, in Chi Yan’s eyes, everything other than people was her pet.
"What’s the difference?" Chi Yan didn’t understand.
"One’s for working for me, the other’s for making me happy," Su Yinhe patiently explained to him.
"Can’t Fangfang do both, work for you and make you happy?" Chi Yan raised his own doubt.
Su Yinhe blinked and stared directly at him.
Now this guy, even more of a capitalist than she was.
Chi Yan really was... If there had been no apocalypse, and he’d become a boss, he would definitely have been one of those cutthroat capitalists.
The kind that gets cursed out every day.
"You make a good point. But I want a pet with fur," said Su Yinhe, who paused mid-sentence, glanced at Fangfang engrossed in her online romance, and continued, "Preferably one that doesn’t have a partner."
"Okay," Chi Yan nodded in understanding.
Su Yinhe was a bit puzzled.
She didn’t know it yet, but she would soon find out.
Because starting that day, Chi Yan began catching "pets" for her every single day.
Every day, every single day, Chi Yan would bring her a pile of "pets."
On land, in the sky, in the water...
Furry ones took priority, but he didn’t shy away from the hairless ones either.
Just to give Su Yinhe more options.
Su Yinhe was touched.
"Though, you don’t have to bring so... many," she could hardly keep up.
Su Yinhe was moved, and a bit afraid to move.
"Take a look, see which one you like." If she didn’t like any, he’d go catch more.
Su Yinhe was extremely moved, and then she started selecting, but well...
Every single one was uglier than the last; there wasn’t one that caught Su Yinhe’s eye.
"Alright, then I’ll go catch more." Knowing there wasn’t a single one she liked, Chi Yan scooped them all up into his space, all those "adorable" pets, gone in a flash.
Efficient yet a bit brutal.
Su Yinhe really liked it.
To be exact, there wasn’t anything she didn’t like about him.
She liked everything about him.
Even though that’s what she thought, Su Yinhe never told him.
A person shouldn’t be too upfront; she wanted to be subtle, just in case she scared him off.
Where else would she find someone so handsome?
Chi Yan, he had completely hit her aesthetic sweet spot. Finding another like him wasn’t guaranteed.
But then again, maybe...
Hold up, hold up, that thought is dangerous.
Su Yinhe scorned herself.
There she was, already dreaming of another while still having one.
She truly had the potential to be a player.
Fortunately, she was a determined person.
She wouldn’t do such a thing.
If one day she couldn’t hold back, then she might.
A little determined, but not too much.
Chi Yan had been catching pets for Su Yinhe for quite a while now, and he never caught the same kind twice.
That’s when Su Yinhe truly realized just how varied these mutant animals were.
So many varieties, Su Yinhe couldn’t keep track.
Su Yinhe was tired from looking, but Chi Yan wasn’t tired from catching.
A man’s stamina is just amazing.
But she was truly exhausted.
Exhausted to the point where she didn’t want a pet anymore.
Pets and such, they’re really just optional, right?
Knowing that Su Yinhe said she didn’t want a pet anymore, Chi Yan visibly perked up.
He didn’t like Su Yinhe having pets, those pets would steal her attention.
The attention she gave him was already so scarce, after adding pets to the mix, it was even harder to get her to notice him.
Chi Yan was somewhat reluctant.
But if Galaxy wanted them, he would definitely get them for her.
Now that she didn’t want them, Chi Yan was certainly happy.
"Why are you so happy?" Su Yinhe didn’t understand.