HTCYH Ch 15

Chapter 15: Reality (Estrangement)

When a dodder vine that had never possessed taste suddenly gained the ability to savor delicacies, lunchtime and dinnertime instantly became the moments Tu Si looked forward to most each day.

Wuming dutifully kept his promise, bringing Tu Si meals daily. The other arm bone had already been obediently placed under Tu Si’s quilt, and every night, after eating and drinking his fill, Tu Si would fall asleep hugging the bone sweetly. He genuinely believed these were the most heavenly days he had ever lived.

So, when Wuming came to tell him he could be discharged, Tu Si was a hundredfold unwilling. Even Fang Xia, who had come to examine him, noticed it and asked curiously,

“Such heavy resentment—what’s going on here?”

Tu Si pouted and shook his head.

“After being discharged… will I still get to eat Captain’s cooking?”

Fang Xia stared at him in shock.

“Captain’s been bringing you food these past few days? No way! No one in our squad’s ever had the honor of tasting Captain’s cooking! You’ve been eating it for seven days straight?!”

After hearing Fang Xia’s words, Tu Si became even more certain that these delicacies were about to vanish from his life. His mood sank further as he gazed at Wuming with pleading eyes, like an abandoned puppy.

“Captain, from now on, every time I purify pollution in the game, will you cook for me again, please?”

Wuming looked at Tu Si, smiling warmly. He reached out to ruffle Tu Si’s hair and said with a gentle laugh,

“Whenever you have free time, you can come find me. If I’m available, I’ll cook for you. But purifying pollution is dangerous—you must know your limits. Later, I’ll take you to report at the Bureau. After that, I’ll officially be your captain, and I’ll be responsible for monitoring your physical condition. From now on, you are not allowed to touch polluted objects without my permission. Understood?”

Hearing this, Tu Si’s eyes lit up. He nodded frantically and unconsciously rubbed his head against Wuming’s palm. The hand that had almost withdrawn couldn’t resist stroking him again.

Seeing this scene, Fang Xia tactfully slipped out of the ward. His fingers flew over his phone keyboard as he spilled the gossip to his colleagues in the chat group, whose name, to his surprise, read: “Captain Peacock Spreading His Tail Feathers Live.”

The group chat exploded:

A Sliver of Sunshine: Aaaaa! Live gossip! Captain’s really fallen in love!

Pant-Ripper: No way. Isn’t Captain supposed to be noble and abstinent, uninterested in women?

A Sliver of Sunshine: Yeah—uninterested in women, but into men! But can’t blame him—wait till you see our new recruit. Absolutely breathtaking. Gorgeous enough to make gods lose their minds!

Single-Celled Love Brain: New recruit? You mean the one Captain got a special permit to bring in? Captain’s out of character! Is this what they call becoming a tyrant for love?

A Sliver of Sunshine: Not really. Tu Si is indeed extraordinary. His performance in the game was stellar—he can purify pollution without getting corrupted. Very capable. And the kid’s super innocent. Captain hooked him completely with just a few meals.

Pant-Ripper: “Breathtaking and innocent”? I don’t buy it. Probably some pretty man-eating flower.

A Sliver of Sunshine: Innocent is relative—he’s just simpler than Captain. Still, he’s no simple little white flower either.

Single-Celled Love Brain: Simpler than Captain? That means literally everyone here is innocent. I’m preemptively feeling sorry for our new recruit.

A Sliver of Sunshine: No need for pity. The kid’s been eating Captain’s personal cooking for seven days. Who here can say the same?

. Me?

A Sliver of Sunshine: That was hospital food! A gourmet, specially-prepared hospital menu! How can you compare that to your stolen bites that ended up poisoning you?

. So… what does that make my hard-earned suffering?

Pant-Ripper: Pitiful? Maybe proof of your strong thieving skills?

. Ah! Ah! Ah!

At that moment, Fang Xia glanced sideways and saw Wuming and Tu Si exiting the ward. He instantly turned off his screen, stood at attention, and said respectfully,

“Captain, are we heading back to the Bureau now? Do you need my help?”

Wuming cast Fang Xia a cool glance. Though he wore a smile and looked gentle, Fang Xia felt a chill crawl up his back and straightened even more rigidly.

Retracting his gaze, Wuming spoke in a warm voice,

“Did you get the medical report? Any abnormal indicators?”

Fang Xia immediately handed over the kraft envelope.

“All normal. No issues with any indicators.”

Wuming nodded but didn’t take the envelope. Instead, he turned and said,

“Let’s go back to the Bureau. Say hi to Ke Xian, Ailin, and the others, and don’t wander off. I’ll introduce Tu Si to everyone—he’ll be part of Team One from now on.”

Fang Xia nodded and was about to pull out his phone when Wuming’s voice rang out again:

“Am I very old?”

Sweat broke out on Fang Xia’s forehead. Just as he was about to make excuses, Tu Si asked in confusion,

“Aren’t you? I thought you were also some old immortal who’s cultivated for hundreds of years.”

Wuming’s steps faltered. He turned stiffly to look at Tu Si, who wore an entirely innocent expression.

Fang Xia gawked at Tu Si in shock. Then he looked down and realized—he had accidentally hit “voice message” while frantically trying to rename the group, and Tu Si’s question had been sent word-for-word to the group chat. Now the chat was going berserk, its buzzing notifications filling the air, jolting both him and Wuming.

Wuming let out a low chuckle.

“If I’m a ‘human essence,’ then what are you?”

Tu Si frowned warily.

“You… don’t know what I am?”

The moment Wuming said this, Tu Si felt a flash of regret. He had assumed that, given his performance in the game, his identity had already been exposed to Wuming. Since Wuming never brought it up, he thought the man was simply unfazed by such things.

Wuming’s unusual closeness and Tu Si’s unrestrained use of his tendril abilities had been mutual tests. In a relationship that wasn’t entirely antagonistic, occasionally revealing a sliver of one’s identity was a gesture of trust—a transactional peace offering.

But if Wuming truly didn’t know, then Tu Si’s entire assessment of him was wrong.

Tu Si had initially deduced that Wuming was a human cultivator concealing his identity. Plants and animals that attained essence could transform, extend their lifespans, and gain greater powers. Human cultivation’s ultimate goal was also to achieve such “essence.”

Essences—whether human, plant, or animal—gained their power by abiding by worldly rules, balancing natural forces, and exchanging fairly. But now, the appearance of “gods” had broken these rules. They seized and devoured to gain power, using ascension as bait to incite intelligent beings to plunder and slaughter one another. It was less like cultivation and more like raising gu parasites.¹

Such power easily bred chaos and pollution, driving creatures mad. The world risked descending into an endless purgatory. This pollution-style cultivation was nothing but harm to all living beings. That was why Tu Si had unhesitatingly chosen to cooperate with Wuming—planning to clear the game, retrieve the remains, purify the pollution, and then hunt down and kill the so-called “god.”

But if Wuming wasn’t a human essence, then all of Tu Si’s original plans had to be scrapped.

Instantly, Tu Si’s guard went up. If Wuming was just an ordinary player whose abilities came from the game, then his unusual closeness was extremely suspicious. Whether Tu Si should still enter the Bureau needed rethinking. Unconsciously, he stepped half a pace away from Wuming.

Wuming noticed Tu Si’s wariness. His brows lifted slightly, his smile deepened, and his gaze softened with faint indulgence.

“Mm, I know—you’re a little dodder spirit. ‘Human essence’ has become a derogatory term now, so you can call me Daozhang (Taoist Master) instead.”

Hearing this, Tu Si breathed a sigh of relief.

But because of the feeding over the past few days, along with Wuming’s extreme gentleness and doting, Tu Si had grown intoxicated and dependent, instinctively viewing Wuming as a good person and lowering his guard.

Now, though, clarity returned. The warm filter shattered by half. Tu Si began planning how to better preserve his trump cards in the game and lay out multiple escape routes for himself.

Because of this sudden shift, Tu Si fell silent, deep in thought.

Wuming, noticing the change, pursed his lips in frustration and shot Fang Xia a sharp glare, venting by blaming him.

Fang Xia, near tears, set his phone to silent and bowed his head, awaiting a scolding.

But Wuming wasn’t the type to lash out irrationally at subordinates. He swiftly reined in his emotions, shifted the topic with a smile, and began introducing Tu Si to the Bureau’s salary and benefits, then moved on to describe the dormitories, and finally mentioned the location of his own room—inviting Tu Si to come over for dinner that night. In just a few words, he lured the gluttonous Tu Si back in, effortlessly dissolving most of the estrangement that had formed moments ago.

¹ Gu parasites: A concept from Chinese folklore and Taoist sorcery, referring to venomous insects used in witchcraft. “Raising gu” (养蛊) describes breeding multiple poisonous creatures together in a sealed container until only one survives, becoming exceptionally toxic. Here it metaphorically represents a brutal survival-of-the-fittest system.