Fish Soup Noodles suddenly disappeared…!? [Completely terrified.jpg]
As the editorial department, everyone knew all too well just how terrifying a crisis like this could become.
“This won’t do, absolutely not! We must get in touch with Teacher Fish Soup Noodles at all costs!”
If it were just a single day, it might be barely manageable. But if they couldn’t reach him for an extended period, disaster would surely strike!
The readership of “Eternal Night Rose” had long since grown to an astonishing scale. No one could say exactly how many big shots were among them, but if there were people capable of directly pressuring the higher-ups of Huanyu…
Miss Lilith from the Bart clan was undoubtedly one of them!
In addition, a significant number of people had been traveling to the Eternal Night star system, and its unique Moonlight Roses had become a massive hit. But now, at such a critical moment, the author of “Eternal Night Rose” had vanished. How could this be allowed to happen!?
—
Meanwhile, within the Huo family’s old residence, everything had been unusually calm over the past week.
No matter how many times Huo Ting checked the surveillance remotely, he found no signs of anything unusual in the study.
Could it be that his judgment had been wrong?
Was there really no so-called anomaly in the study?
“But this is strange—after installing the surveillance cameras and confirming there were no abnormalities, why has your mental sea data become unstable again? Did you sneak off to another alien galaxy recently?”
When Professor Mori learned that his “physical therapy” had failed spectacularly, he didn’t dwell on it. After all, a study without abnormalities was ultimately a good thing.
What worried him more, however, was that Huo Ting’s mental power, which had stabilized for a long time, was once again reaching dangerous levels.
“No, I haven’t,” Huo Ting replied, seemingly indifferent to the mental sea issue. To him, it was expected ever since he decided to step onto the battlefield.
“But how am I supposed to explain this to your grandfather? He entrusted you to me in good health, and now not only have I failed to help, but things have worsened.”
Professor Mori rarely looked so concerned as he stared at the data chart in his hands, his other hand busy drawing and analyzing.
“Are you sure nothing unusual has happened recently? Or was there some kind of prior treatment?”
But that didn’t make sense. Any treatment Huo Ting received should have been conducted by him.
“Does eating high-purity food count?”
Huo Ting suddenly recalled the midnight snacks he had been having before and asked casually.
Professor Mori had previously warned him to consume high-safety, low-radiation foods due to the state of his mental sea. This was considered a gentle, conservative treatment method.
However, while serving in the military, eating such high-purity food himself while his subordinates survived on nutrient solutions would have been inappropriate. So, Huo Ting had opted for high-purity nutrient solutions instead. Although the taste was terrible and offered limited mental power recovery, at least there were no negative effects.
“You’re saying there’s food of such high purity and radiation-free quality?”
When Professor Mori heard the details about the midnight snacks, even the white-haired old man was stunned.
Although he couldn’t quite believe it, the data in his report seemed to suggest it might be possible.
“Honestly, if I could, I’d love to meet this nanny, Qiao Ni. The ability to prepare food of such high purity and low radiation is incredibly valuable.”
Professor Mori’s serious words made Huo Ting realize that those midnight snacks might not have been so simple after all.
But the moment Qiao Ni firmly denied everything, the situation took on an entirely surreal twist.
“What? But those midnight snacks weren’t any different from what I prepared for Master Huo Dong and everyone else. There weren’t any porridge dishes or anything special…”
Qiao Ni’s shocked and confused response sent chills down Secretary Hals’ spine.
This was a matter concerning food, and it happened within the old residence.
Although the old residence didn’t have the airtight defenses of official institutions, its security was far from weak. Moreover, the limited number of staff had all been meticulously vetted.
How could such a food substitution incident occur!?
This could be deemed a severe breach requiring a complete overhaul of the old residence’s personnel!
However, the first order Huo Ting gave after recovering from his initial shock left Secretary Hals dumbfounded:
“From now on, classify all individuals aware of this matter as having access to confidential information.”
As they walked down the corridor, Secretary Hals glanced at everything inside the old residence suspiciously, deeply puzzled by Huo Ting’s decision to keep the matter under wraps.
“Boss, shouldn’t we evacuate the old residence immediately? If there really is an internal issue, every second we remain here is extremely dangerous.”
But Huo Ting, who had been silent all along, suddenly turned to look at Secretary Hals.
“The night I returned from the outer star system, who treated my chest wound?”
“Ah? Didn’t you take care of it yourself after returning?”
At that moment, as Huo Ting’s silence confirmed his suspicion, a realization dawned on Secretary Hals and his face turned pale.
‘Was it not the boss who bandaged himself? Was there a mysterious figure who had treated him before the medical team arrived?!’
‘What could this person’s motive be?’
—
As Huo Ting continued forward, a thought began to take shape in his mind.
It seemed Secretary Hals truly knew nothing about the time his mental sea had been contaminated.
The only plausible explanation was that this mysterious person not only treated his wound but also resolved the source of the contamination.
In other words, this unknown presence had been secretly helping him in almost everything it did.
In fact, if the other party truly harbored malice, it wouldn’t have been difficult to poison him after sneaking into the old residence undetected and replacing the midnight snacks Qiao Ni delivered. But, the moment he tried to use poison on him, he would have been discovered immediately.
It was precisely because the other party seemed completely harmless that it created a blind spot under their noses.
After all, who would expect someone to replace such precious food with no apparent conditions?
“But even if there’s no malice, this is just too strange, Boss,” Secretary Hals said as he slowly pieced things together. He still couldn’t shake off his deep concern.
“The current number of cameras and security measures seem insufficient. We should increase—”
“No, dismantle everything,” Huo Ting interrupted with an entirely opposite command.
Secretary Hals: “!?”
“Dismantle everything!?”
Secretary Hals was incredulous but had no choice but to respond to the order.
—
The next morning, Huo Ting stood in the study, now stripped of all surveillance cameras, and stared in contemplation for a long time. Finally, he picked up a pen and wrote something on a piece of paper, placing it under a porcelain cup on the desk before leaving.
“…?”
“Did that guy really remove all the cameras?”
Forced to stay inside the aquarium for what felt like an eternity, Yu Mian subconsciously asked the little system for confirmation.
[He really did! Damn, he actually dismantled everything! There’s not a single camera left in the room now.]
The little system was equally baffled by this unexpected turn of events, having never expected to survive such a desperate situation.
What on earth happened that made Huo Ting go through so much trouble to install cameras only to dismantle them?
[And what did he leave on the desk?]
“I’d like to know too… but is he baiting me?!”
Yu Mian had noticed Huo Ting writing on a piece of paper before he left the study. Was this some kind of trap?
[I promise, after a full system scan, there’s nothing hidden in this room anymore. Everything’s been dismantled.]
The little system ran another thorough scan and confirmed the absence of any surveillance devices to Yu Mian.
Despite this reassurance, Yu Mian hesitated for quite a while before finally transforming back to his mermaid form.
The moment he surfaced from the water and braced himself on the edge of the aquarium, he let out a long sigh of relief.
“It feels so good to be human again.”
Looking down at his fish tail still submerged in the water, Yu Mian felt that the extended soaking hadn’t been entirely bad—it seemed to have alleviated the dry, itchy sensation his tail had been experiencing.
When he eventually approached the desk and eagerly looked at the note left behind, his eyes widened in surprise.
—“Who are you, and what’s your purpose? Huo Ting”
…
Help, he had definitely realized there was something wrong with the study!
Clutching the note in his hands, Yu Mian couldn’t help but blush as he slumped onto the desk. His fish tail curled in embarrassment.
The feeling of being discovered as an uninvited tenant by the “landlord” was so awkward.
But why hadn’t Huo Ting taken more aggressive measures to expose him?
Instead, he had taken a step back and even removed all the cameras.
Yu Mian pondered this and suddenly felt that Huo Ting seemed a bit different from what he’d imagined.
He even left him, the “mysterious presence,” a note.
Should he respond?
[Are you seriously going to have a long-distance conversation like this…?]
The little system was equally astonished, it never expected things to develop in this way.
“Well, I’ve already been found out…”
Besides, he hadn’t done anything harmful!
Even living in the study’s aquarium due to his unstable fish tail was accompanied by having to pay “rent” regularly.
After hesitating for a moment, Yu Mian decided to take the plunge and picked up a pen.
So that night when Huo Ting returned to the study, he scanned his surroundings before noticing something unusual.
The note he had casually left on the desk earlier had actually been replied to.
