After closing the door, White Li finally let down her burden and tossed her backpack onto the sofa.
“Hmm… hmm… AHHHHHHH!!”
Then she tilted her head back, spread her arms wide, and stretched hard.
Lin Du picked up her backpack and hung both of their bags on the coat rack nearby.
He turned his head and watched White Li’s exaggerated pose, as if she were trying to pull herself apart into two sections.
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
“Oh right,” White Li stopped stretching, turned around, and looked at Lin Du.
“What about my compensation? Did anyone tell you before you left?”
“Within three business days, I think.” Lin Du thought for a moment, then added, “And it’s not that much for you. The bulk has to go to the landlord, since it’s the landlord’s house.”
“Oh, that’s true…” White Li pouted.
She’d almost forgotten the house wasn’t hers.
All her suffering and hardship would just end up getting the landlord a new house.
“But I was traumatized too!” White Li pointed at herself defiantly.
“That… emotional distress compensation! I need it!”
Lin Du stepped closer, lowered his head, and studied her face seriously.
Finally, he shook his head.
“Can’t tell.”
“You jerk.” White Li glared at him.
“Anyway, just stay here for now.” Lin Du turned and pointed to the closed door at the end of the hall.
“If you don’t feel comfortable sleeping, you can take my room. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Forget it.” White Li waved a hand.
“Your bed has a smell. I’m not into it.”
She paused and added, “Just get me something to block the view—a curtain or a screen. We can talk about rent later.”
Lin Du almost said no rent needed, but the words died in his throat.
He figured if he didn’t charge rent, White Li might think he had ulterior motives.
Still… ‘I might need some time to set that up.’
So he nodded.
“Okay.”
The living room fell quiet.
The two of them stood facing each other, two or three steps apart, neither knowing what to say.
“You…” Lin Du spoke up.
“Aren’t you going to change back to your original form?”
White Li froze for a moment, then looked down, glanced around, and twisted her fingers behind her back.
“Um…” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Could you turn around? It feels… a little embarrassing to drop the disguise in front of someone.”
“Sure.”
Lin Du turned around, faced the wall, and closed his eyes.
White Li watched him obey obediently, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but lift.
She rose onto her tiptoes and slowly circled around to stand in front of him.
He really had his eyes closed, brows furrowed, putting on an air of righteousness.
White Li couldn’t hold back a laugh, then quickly covered her mouth.
“Are you done?” Lin Du asked.
“Uh… not yet. Stand there a little longer.”
Lin Du snapped his eyes open.
White Li’s funny face was frozen right in front of him—tongue out, eyes rolled up, nose scrunched.
He reached out and pinched her cheek.
The tips of his fingers met a smooth, springy texture, like gripping a plump peach that would burst with juice at the slightest pressure.
“Hey—what are you doing! Don’t touch me!”
White Li pulled her face back and rubbed the spot with her hand.
Lin Du withdrew his hand, moved his gaze from her face, and looked at the curtain.
“I just remembered there’s something important I haven’t done. And… don’t change back for now.”
He turned and walked to the window, pulled the curtain tight, then went to close the others.
The room darkened.
White Li stood in the middle of the living room, not sure what he was doing.
Lin Du pulled out his phone, turned on the flashlight, bent down, and began slowly scanning along the baseboard, from the corner of the room.
The beam swept over outlets, door frames, and the air conditioning vent.
He crouched down and shone the light under the sofa as well.
“Huh?”
White Li tilted her head, watching Lin Du scan every inch of the room.
He stopped in front of the living room clock.
It hung above the TV cabinet—a wooden frame with a round dial.
He aimed the flashlight at the side of the clock.
A tiny glint reflected off the edge of the dial.
He reached his hand behind the clock, and his fingertips found a small bump.
With a light scrape from his fingernail, he pried out a tiny black dot.
“So someone really did come…”
Lin Du held the little black dot up to his eye, illuminating it with his phone’s light.
The surface was smooth, with no markings.
Only a pinhole-sized lens was embedded on one side.
“What does that mean? What’s in your hand?”
White Li came closer, stood on tiptoe, and craned her neck.
Lin Du squeezed hard with his fingers, and the black dot split in two.
From the broken shell fell a tiny circuit board, smaller than a fingernail, densely packed with sesame-sized components.
He crouched down again and swept the entire room once more.
Finally, he stood up, turned off the flashlight, and put his phone in his pocket.
“It’s okay now.”
White Li casually pulled off the wristband.
Silver-white light cascaded down from above her head.
Fox ears poked out from her hair, and a tail emerged from behind her.
White Li blinked.
Her azure blue pupils gleamed like two glass beads in the twilight.
The whole process only took three or four seconds.
“I see.” Lin Du looked her up and down.
“So it was because of that wristband. No wonder you were so panicked when you lost it at the museum.”
“Yeah… that’s right.”
White Li gave an awkward smile and rubbed the bridge of her nose with the back of her hand.
Her heart skipped a beat—she’d accidentally leaked information about the wristband.
But then again, Lin Du had no connection to the Bureau of Anomalies anymore, so… it should be fine, right?
Lin Du’s gaze lingered on her for a few seconds before he frowned.
“Why hasn’t your body shape changed before and after the transformation?”
White Li’s face turned bright red in an instant.
“I’ll kick you to death!”
She charged forward and raised her leg to kick.
Lin Du sidestepped.
White Li’s kick missed, throwing her off balance, and her whole body tilted to one side.
“Whoa, whoa…” Lin Du reached out and firmly caught her by the waist.
His palm pressed against the fabric at her waist.
Through the thin school uniform, he could feel the curve of her torso and her rapid breathing.
“Be careful when fighting indoors,” his voice came from above her head.
“Don’t make such wide, sweeping movements.”
White Li stood steady with his support, head down, ears drooping.
“Hmph. You just got lucky dodging that. What’s there to be smug about?” She muttered softly.
White Li pulled her tail around from behind to the front of her body, ran her fingers through the fur, and smoothed it down—as if grooming herself.
“Grrr—”
Just two strokes in, her stomach let out a long, loud gurgle.
Her hand froze on her tail.
The fox stood still in shock.
Lin Du glanced at her, then turned and walked toward the kitchen.
He casually picked up the apron hanging on the back of a chair and tied it around his waist.
“I’ll cook.”
White Li embarrassedly buried her face in her tail and let out a muffled, “Mhm.”