Chapter 86: Frank

Lin Du stared at White Li, not even daring to blink.

He could feel that White Li was resisting something.

There must be some secret gradually surfacing within her.

‘But was he doing the right thing?’

Lin Du didn’t know.

He only knew that since he had come into contact with her, he had become like a different person.

In the past, his eyes only had missions and protecting citizens, rushing between strange people and ruins every day, like a wound-up machine.

But now, it was as if a small pebble had gotten into the gears of that machine, stuck in the axle, causing the machine to stop.

He was ready to accept everything about her, no matter who she really was.

It might be selfishness, or it might be curiosity.

Lin Du wanted to understand more about this friend named White Li.

He had already decided.

Even if it earned her disgust or resistance, he still wanted to know—not as the Blazing Knight, but as an ordinary person.

“Let go of me! You…!”

White Li was frantic, trying hard to pull her arm back.

She even thought about jumping out the window, even if she broke her leg, even if it completely aroused his suspicion, she couldn’t care less.

‘If my identity is exposed, the mission will fail!’

She hadn’t forgotten that Sitiao Shizhi had said that Lin Du would be a person from the Bureau of Anomalies in the future.

Once he knew she was a strange person, the wanted criminal “Li Ya,” everything would be over.

But Lin Du’s hand at that moment was like a hydraulic clamp, firmly holding her in place.

‘No more, really no more.’

It was like in the Cinderella story, when the midnight bell rings, the glamorous princess turns back into the plain Cinderella.

But now it was the opposite: Cinderella was about to turn back into a princess.

The countdown in White Li’s heart reached zero at this moment.

A silvery white light scattered, with a soft poof.

Fluffy ears popped out from between her hair, and White Li quickly covered her head with her free hand.

She tried to press the ears back down, but they stood straight up, refusing to be flattened.

“Don’t look, don’t look…”

White Li pressed down the left ear, and the right one popped up; pressed down the right, and the left popped up.

Then, silvery white hair spread downwards from black roots, and White Li’s face gradually changed, features becoming softer, azure blue pupils replacing the gray-black, and a faint pink tint to her lips.

Lin Du sat in front of her, motionless.

His eyes moved from her ears to her hair, then from her hair to her face, finally meeting her eyes, which were brimming with tears.

Finally, a large silvery white tail shot out from under the blanket, its fluffy fur spreading out in the air like a plush toy being unwrapped.

Everything made sense now.

Why he always felt a non-human aura from her.

Why she had taken down three thugs all by herself in the alley.

Why she was always in a hurry to go home every night.

Why Sitiao Shizhi had said she wasn’t the kind of person he thought she was…

And the first time on the rooftop, on the museum rooftop, in the shelter confinement room.

The face he had seen again and again was the same.

White Li and Li Ya.

They were the same person!

Another image suddenly flashed through Lin Du’s mind.

When White Li had first arrived at school, he had actually had his suspicions and even specifically called her to go to the restroom together.

Back then, he had taken a look with his Knight Vision and seemed to see an outline that shouldn’t exist.

Now, he wanted to uncover that mystery as well.

He didn’t know why he was so persistent.

Maybe that question had been stuck in his heart for too long, like a thorn that couldn’t be pulled out.

So the young man pounced on White Li like a fierce wolf.

White Li was knocked backward by his pounce, and her whole body was pressed onto the sofa.

“What are you doing?!”

She was pinned down by the hands, and White Li’s mind went blank.

Cold wind blew in, and her pajamas clung crumpled to her body.

She tried to struggle, but her wrists were gripped tightly, and she couldn’t move at all.

“What are you doing?!”

White Li’s voice was choked with tears.

“Let go—!”

Lin Du’s movements stopped, and his gaze fell on White Li’s face.

The moonlight just happened to shine on her, silvery white stray hairs scattered on the pillow.

Her azure blue eyes were brimming with tears, yet even so, she bit her lip and held on.

Lin Du’s hand retracted, as if burned by fire.

His whole body bounced backward, landing on the floor, his back hitting the tea table leg with a dull thud.

He lowered his head and looked at his own hand.

But he could feel the lingering sensation on his fingertips—her body heat transmitted through the fabric.

It was only an instant, like a dragonfly touching the water’s surface.

Yet ripples spread out in circles, unable to stop.

A wind started outside, and the shadows of the plane trees swayed on the curtains.

The entire building across was pitch black, only the red warning light on top kept blinking.

Like breathing, like a heartbeat.

The clock in the living room ticked forward another notch.

“Tick.”

“So-sorry…”

Lin Du’s voice was hoarse, and he didn’t know where to look.

The living room fell silent, only the sound of the boy’s heavy breathing and the girl’s soft sobbing could be heard.

White Li curled up on the sofa, wrapping herself into a small ball with the blanket, hugging her knees, tail tucked between her legs.

Her ears drooped on both sides, trembling slightly with her sobs.

Lin Du was at a loss for words.

He began to regret.

Maybe he shouldn’t have come out in the middle of the night, shouldn’t have ignored her warning and grabbed her arm.

Now things had developed to the worst possible state.

He might lose this one and only friend.

“I’m really sorry…”

Lin Du reached into the tissue box, wanting to pull out some tissues for White Li to wipe off, but his fingers fumbled inside and found not a single tissue.

He felt too embarrassed to stand up and get tissues from the kitchen, so he awkwardly withdrew his hand, clasped his hands on his knees, and sat there silently, watching White Li.

White Li trembled and sobbed for a while longer before speaking in a tearful voice.

“Now… are you happy…

This is my… secret…”

She lifted her head, red-rimmed eyes full of tears, face covered in tear streaks.

“Wash your neck and wait… wait to die!”

It should have been a threatening line, but coming from a fox-eared girl shedding little pearls of tears, paired with that tear-streaked face, it sounded like she was acting spoiled.

Lin Du lowered his head.

He had nothing else to say but apologies.

“Sorry…”

White Li sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“You… are you a broken record?

Don’t you have anything else to say?”

She shot him a harsh glare.

Lin Du was silent for a moment, then scratched his cheek.

“Um… would you like something to eat?

There’s some leftover food from dinner.

Just need to heat it up.”

White Li was almost amused despite herself.

So this was what they called a straightforward guy.

She loosened the blanket a little and asked in a small voice,

“You… aren’t you going to take me to the Bureau of Anomalies, report truthfully, take a statement, go through procedures?

I… I’m a wanted criminal.”

Lin Du of course knew what he should do now: hand White Li over to the Bureau of Anomalies.

He looked at his own hand.

But somehow, there was another voice inside him desperately stopping him.

“Bang bang bang.”

A knocking sound came from the door, alerting Lin Du.

Who would be knocking in the middle of the night?

“Excuse me, is Lin Du home?

We are from the Bureau of Anomalies.

Please open the door.”

Lin Du and White Li were both startled.

White Li’s face instantly turned pale.

She subconsciously shrank into the corner of the sofa, the whole fox wanting to burrow into the wall crack.

Lin Du’s body moved first.

He pulled the blanket over White Li, wrapping her up tightly from head to toe.

“Whoa—!”

White Li’s voice was muffled inside the blanket.

“Don’t move, stay hidden.”

Lin Du patted the lump of blanket and said in a low voice.

Then he stood up and walked toward the door.

Lin Du leaned close to the peephole and looked outside.

Two people stood outside the door, black sunglasses, black suits, white earbud wires extending from their collars, hanging down their chests.

The one on the left was thinner, the one on the right was more heavyset.

Both had expressionless faces and stood straight.

Lin Du took a deep breath, slowly opened the door, and forced a just-woken-up expression on his face.

“Who is it?”

“Hello, Mr. Lin Du.”

The thinner one on the left spoke.

“Please come with us.”