Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Foxy’s New Life

No matter what, Yu Sheng finally understood why Foxy could launch her own tails.

He didn’t know how other demon fox worked in this world, but Foxy’s line of inheritance had clearly wandered onto some kind of Super Beast Armor path.

Right now, the demon fox girl sat across from him at the dining table, clumsily gripping chopsticks and shoveling noodles into her mouth.

It was the simplest meal—noodles with some greens, sliced ham, and two fried eggs. Foxy ate as if it were the finest delicacy in the world. Her manners were a mess, but she enjoyed every bite.

Strictly speaking, it was the first hot meal she’d eaten in years. The cookies and instant noodles Yu Sheng had brought her before were good too, but sitting safely at a table like this, eating steaming food from a bowl, felt completely different.

“Slow down,” Yu Sheng said, watching her nearly finish a bowl in the blink of an eye. Something in his chest tightened. He reached out and tapped her hand lightly. “That’s not how you hold chopsticks. Look at me.”

Foxy lifted her eyes above the rim of the bowl and glanced at his right hand. Still chewing a piece of fried egg, she awkwardly adjusted her grip.

She learned fast.

“Benefactor… am I eating too fast?” Only after she’d finished an entire bowl did Foxy look up, embarrassed. Yu Sheng’s noodles were only half gone, and the bowl in front of Irene hadn’t been touched at all. “I… always feel like if I don’t hurry, it might be gone any moment.”

“It’s fine. You’ll adjust.” Yu Sheng laughed softly. “With your body, eating hard for a few meals won’t hurt you. If you want more, I’ll get you another bowl.”

“Mm-hm.”

Yu Sheng had barely started to stand when Irene, sitting on the table, spoke up. “Let her eat my bowl first.”

The little doll pushed the bowl toward Foxy with both hands.

Foxy thanked her without question and went right back to eating, fast and focused.

After the meal, Yu Sheng discovered Foxy’s dishes almost didn’t need washing. She’d licked them so clean they could practically reflect a face.

After tidying the kitchen, Yu Sheng changed into clothes for going out.

He also found a set of his own clothes for Foxy. Honestly, it didn’t fit at all. Yu Sheng was much taller than she was, and no matter how he adjusted things, his clothes hung loose.

Pajamas could be made to work even if the size was off, but outdoor clothes were different. In the end, he had to use a lot of hidden safety pins and some emergency stitching so his clothes would sit on Foxy properly without looking completely ridiculous.

Even so, a young lady around 1.6 meters tall walking around in obviously ill-fitting men’s clothes would still stand out.

Thankfully, Foxy’s face made up for it.

It turned out a pretty face really could get away with anything. Foxy was genuinely beautiful, so at most she just looked like a pretty young lady with a slightly unhinged fashion sense.

While Yu Sheng fussed with her outfit, Irene sat cross-legged on top of the shoe cabinet, chin propped in both hands, watching like it was entertainment. When he was almost done, she couldn’t help muttering, “Foxy, you can ‘put away’ your ears and tails, so why can’t you change your height too? And your clothes— I made my outfit myself. Can’t your demon fox changing ability do that?”

“Strong demon fox can!” Foxy defended her own kind immediately. “Dad said a strong demon fox can even become as tall as a mountain in the blink of an eye! Running through the mountains and the forest, you’ll have thousands of security immortal chasing you. If they catch you, you can be sentenced for more than five hundred years—but I can’t! I only learned how to refine my ears and tails…”

Irene stared at her, stunned. “…That does not sound like something to be proud of. Hey—you’re talking more smoothly now.”

Foxy narrowed her eyes, pleased. “You get used to it by talking.”

Irene’s gaze slid back to Yu Sheng. Who knew what she was thinking. She suddenly said, “So you two are going out together…”

“Of course.” Yu Sheng nodded. “She doesn’t have clothes, shoes, or socks, and she can’t go buy things alone. I have to go with her.”

“I want to go out too,” Irene announced.

Yu Sheng jumped. Now he understood what she’d been plotting since morning, and it caught him off guard. “You? How are you going out? A living doll that’s sixty-something centimeters tall strolling down the street? How many people are you trying to scare?”

“You carry me,” Irene said righteously. “I’ll disguise myself.”

Yu Sheng blinked. “How?”

Irene immediately flopped limp, joints dangling, eyes wide in a stiff, dead-not-dead pose. Even the sparkle vanished.

Her voice sounded directly in Yu Sheng and Foxy’s minds. “See? This looks normal now. Doll shops have tons of thirty-centimeter dolls. If you tossed me into a display window like this, I could sit there all day and nobody would notice…”

Yu Sheng gaped, genuinely impressed by her creativity.

And then he immediately felt awkward. “If I, a grown man, walk around holding a thirty-centimeter doll, won’t I look kind of creepy…”

The sparkle snapped back into Irene’s eyes. The next second, she launched herself onto Yu Sheng’s head. “When you carried me into the otherworld to fight monsters, you didn’t think it was creepy, did you?! Now that the fight is over, you won’t even take me out once! Believe it or not, I’ll bite tooth marks into you so you can’t even cover it with bandages!”

Yu Sheng fumbled, trying to pry her off as she clawed at his hair. Once he finally managed it, he tossed her straight into Foxy’s arms. “Fine. I’ll take you out—but she’s the one holding you.”

Irene was satisfied instantly. She just wanted to go out. Who carried her didn’t matter.

Honestly, she probably wouldn’t have minded being stuffed into a suitcase and dragged around. She could unzip it a little and peek.

It had been a very, very long time since she’d seen the outside world.

“But your painting is a problem,” Yu Sheng said, frowning at the frame strapped to Irene’s back. With it there, Foxy would have to hold the doll awkwardly while also making sure the frame didn’t block her view. “It’s eye-catching, and more importantly, it gets in the way.”

“Then take it off and carry it separately.” Irene reached back and pulled the frame free. “As long as it doesn’t get too far from me.”

Foxy nodded. Before Yu Sheng could even respond, she took the frame.

Then—bang—a bundle of tails popped out behind her, and she stuffed the frame into one of them.

Yu Sheng stared, speechless. The way Foxy hid things in her tails was not what he’d imagined at all. “…How are you even putting it in there? Is that some kind of dedicated storage space?”

Foxy blinked, then turned and spread her tails, explaining with earnest detail. “This one is for storage. These two are for hugging when I sleep to stay warm. These ones can be a blanket, and they can also grab things very flexibly. Besides the storage one, the other tails can all be used in a fight…”

Yu Sheng stared blankly. “…You mean launching them?”

“Yeah.”

“And this is all the result of ‘refining’?”

“Yeah.”

Yu Sheng thought about it, then could only sigh. Demon fox were truly incredible.

Far more incredible than human bodies.

…

At the Special Operations Bureau’s Second Unit, Song Cheng walked into the office more than twenty minutes later than usual.

Almost the moment he sat down, the monitor on his desk lit up. The cool, unchanging face of Director Bai Li Qing appeared on the screen.

“Looks like you’ve already been to ‘train,'” Bai Li Qing said in a calm voice through the desk speaker. “Not smooth?”

“It wasn’t exactly smooth… but it wasn’t exactly unsmooth either,” Song Cheng said, embarrassed as he shook his head. He wasn’t surprised by the director’s sudden call. “Today’s ‘train’ layout was more complex than usual. When I returned to the real world, I realized I’d already missed my stop.”

“How did the exchange with Passenger No. 22 go?” Bai Li Qing asked.

“Director, something feels wrong.” Song Cheng straightened at once, leaning forward slightly. “About wu tong road No. 66, the passenger replied, ‘No such stop.’ That’s unusual, but not unbelievable. The real problem was when I asked about Nightfall Valley.”

He paused, his expression turning grave. “Passenger No. 22 said the stop had been cancelled.”

For the first time, Song Cheng saw unmistakable surprise on Bai Li Qing’s face.

He’d always thought the director’s expression was permanently frozen.

“This answer has never appeared before,” Song Cheng said carefully. “So…”

“Immediately arrange for the Deep Diver team to execute a deep dive,” Bai Li Qing said, quick and decisive.