Early the next morning, Yan Yan opened his eyes to find the space beside him already empty. For a lazybones like Su Xiao Mi to get up early, absolutely nothing good could be happening. Yan Yan sat up and pulled off his shirt, revealing his well-built body. Su Xiao Mi walked in wearing a black suit and sunglasses, his expression deadly serious. “Yan~ this world is too dangerous. Since I have this ability, let me be your bodyguard from now on.” Yan Yan’s prediction had been completely accurate. He opened the wardrobe without even looking at Su Xiao Mi. “What exactly is your brain made of?”
Su Xiao Mi pounced on him and hugged him from behind. He truly loved clinging to Yan Yan whenever he had the chance, as though Yan Yan had some kind of powerful magnet inside him. “My brain is entirely made of loving you.” The corner of Yan Yan’s mouth shifted slightly. “Let go.” Su Xiao Mi obediently released him, then watched as Yan Yan changed into his suit.
They left a little over forty minutes later. Su Xiao Mi remained on high alert, moving from Yan Yan’s left side to his right and back again. As though he were afraid people might not know he was immortal, he had even hung a sign over his chest. He thought it looked extremely classy. In reality, it made him look more like a homeless beggar by the roadside. Yan Yan no longer bothered correcting him. Time had taught him one increasingly important lesson: when it came to Su Xiao Mi, ignoring him was usually the best option.
The trip to the company was completely uneventful. Yan Yan had barely entered his office when Lu Yi Yi stopped Su Xiao Mi, who was following behind him. “This is a company. Go beg somewhere else.”
“What begging?! What begging?! What begging?! Open your damn eyes and look at what this says! I’m immortal! What about you? What ability do you have, peeing standing up?!” Su Xiao Mi and Lu Yi Yi immediately started arguing. They had known each other for far too long, and this was how they had always gotten along.
“So what if you’re immortal? Other than not dying, aren’t you still useless?”
“Who are you calling useless? Watch it or I’ll fire you! Yan~ look at her! She’s insulting me! Teach her a brutal lesson so she learns about the suffering of the human world!” Su Xiao Mi shouted. Lu Yi Yi pulled the office door shut and folded her arms. “Stop running to Yan for everything. If you’ve got the guts, teach me a lesson yourself.” Su Xiao Mi raised his fists like a boxer. “Don’t think I won’t hit a woman. Show me what ability you’ve got.”
“You really are a country bumpkin. Don’t you know you can buy abilities from C? Let big sis show you the one I bought.” Su Xiao Mi had no idea what Lu Yi Yi did, but the makeup on her face changed, and even the color of her nail polish transformed. This was the first time Su Xiao Mi had ever heard such earth-shattering news.
“You can buy abilities? Why didn’t I know that?”
“Because you’re too stupid.”
“Where’s C?”
“Why should I tell you?”
Su Xiao Mi immediately changed his tune. “Sister Yi, come on. We’ve been neighbors for how many years? Don’t be such a stranger. Please, Sister Yi. My wonderful big sister.” Su Xiao Mi latched onto Lu Yi Yi and pestered her for more than twenty minutes. Finally unable to endure him any longer, Lu Yi Yi gave him the address, and Su Xiao Mi vanished in a puff of excitement.
It took him almost an hour to find the place Lu Yi Yi had described. It was extremely well hidden. The moment Su Xiao Mi reached the entrance, the door opened automatically. There were many doors inside, each with information displayed above it. Following the instructions at the entrance, Su Xiao Mi entered one of the rooms. Inside was a robot that only came up to his waist.
“Hello. Please place a finger from your left hand here to verify your identity information.” The robot’s chest opened, and a display screen extended outward. Beneath the screen was a fingerprint reader. Su Xiao Mi placed his finger on it, and the robot spoke again. “Su Xiao Mi. Sex: male. Age…” Once his information had been verified, Su Xiao Mi proceeded to the next step.
“What service do you require?”
“I want information about how people in this world obtain abilities.”
“There are currently three methods of obtaining abilities. Every person is born with one or more innate abilities. Abilities may also be purchased with money or gifted by another person. A gifted ability may only be transferred once. Once it has been transferred, it cannot be returned. Please choose carefully.”
“I want to see what abilities are available for purchase.” As soon as Su Xiao Mi finished speaking, all kinds of abilities appeared on the screen. Some were astonishingly expensive, but after searching for a long time, he still couldn’t find immortality. Puzzled, he asked, “Can’t immortality be purchased?”
“Immortality is an extraordinarily rare and special ability. Other than possessing it innately, it cannot be purchased.”
Su Xiao Mi’s sense of superiority instantly surged again. So he really was that special. Maybe he even had other abilities he hadn’t discovered yet. Along with his swelling pride, he also started wondering how much money he had in savings. He wanted to buy lots of abilities for Yan Yan as presents. He asked the robot another question. “What innate abilities do I have?”
“Querying. Please wait.” A few seconds later, the robot spoke again. “Su Xiao Mi possesses one innate ability: no matter how much he eats, his stomach will not hurt.”
“What kind of crappy ability is that?!” Su Xiao Mi couldn’t stop himself from shouting at the robot. Then he suddenly froze. “Wait. That can’t be right. I’m immortal. Is there some kind of error in your system?”
“Immortality is a gifted ability. Giver: Yan Yan.” The robot’s mechanical voice left Su Xiao Mi unable to think. Yan Yan really had never said a single word about it. Just like that, so simply, so casually, he had given Su Xiao Mi something so important.
“Can it be returned?”
“It cannot be returned.”
“Can I find out what abilities Yan Yan has?”
“Only the information of the person making the inquiry may be accessed.” The robot’s voice was utterly devoid of emotion. Su Xiao Mi fell silent. He should have been moved and happy. He should have rushed back to Yan Yan, thrown his arms around him, and held him tight. But what if immortality had been Yan Yan’s only ability? Yan Yan had given it to him, so Su Xiao Mi could never be hurt, but what would happen if Yan Yan got hurt instead? Yan Yan spent far more time outside than he did. What if he ran into something like the robbery Su Xiao Mi had encountered? The moment he imagined anything happening to Yan Yan because of him, the weight of this ability became more than he could bear.
Lost in thought, Su Xiao Mi walked across an intersection when a voice he loved beyond reason rang out. “Su Xiao Mi, you wandered off again.”
“Yan?” Su Xiao Mi raised his head and saw Yan Yan walking toward him. But Yan Yan wasn’t the only thing rapidly approaching. A speeding car was coming too. Those car-accident scenes that always appeared on television really weren’t clichés. Drugged driving, drunk driving, even if you obeyed every traffic law, you could still die because of somebody else’s mistake. Su Xiao Mi had no time to push Yan Yan away, no time to shout, not even time to think. So what use was this ability in the end? Maybe Lu Yi Yi had been right. At this moment, Su Xiao Mi knew he wouldn’t die, but a life that merely couldn’t end had no meaning at all if he lost Yan Yan. If he lost Yan Yan, if he lost Yan Yan… Su Xiao Mi’s despair had barely begun to take shape when Yan Yan moved the fingers holding his cigarette. The car that was about to hit them flew into the air. More precisely, it curved over their heads as though an invisible bridge had appeared.
Su Xiao Mi’s mouth hung half-open. “Y-you have another ability?”
“Did I ever say I didn’t?”
“Even if you wanted to give me an ability, you should’ve told me first. And you gave me something so important.”
“Su Xiao Mi, has your intelligence dropped even further?” Yan Yan placed a hand on Su Xiao Mi’s head and rubbed it. “I didn’t give you my most important ability. I gave an ability to the person who’s most important to me.”
“S-say that slower. It’s a little twisty.”
“Then take your time understanding it.”
Above their heads, cars of every color streamed past like a flowing rainbow.
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