Chapter 29: Disappearance
Steam rose from the pot as Su Muluo opened a package of frozen dumplings and began boiling them.
He had returned from the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings early in the morning and had not eaten anything since. Fortunately, there was a small pot in the staff lounge, and he had bought a bag of frozen dumplings from the shop across the street, making it his breakfast.
While the dumplings were cooking, the little black dragon lay languidly nearby. After a while, it caught the aroma of the dumplings and immediately perked up its head.
Su Muluo ignored it, and the dragon slowly inched closer to the edge of the pot, staring longingly.
“Yip.”
It wanted to eat.
“I’m not giving you any,” Su Muluo said, “You bit me just now.”
The little black dragon replied with a plaintive “Yip!”
That was because you called me a little dog first!
Su Muluo said, “I apologized afterward. Why did you still bite me!”
The little black dragon fell silent.
It certainly wouldn’t admit that it found the phoenix’s aroma irresistible and didn’t want to let go.
Su Muluo noticed its silence and poked it, feeling that the dragon had a mischievous mind.
However, after the dumplings were done, he took a small bowl and ladled a few into it for the dragon.
As Su Muluo and the dragon enjoyed their dumplings in the café, Qian Sui slowly came out of the staff lounge. It first sniffed the air and then looked at Su Muluo, saying, “It seems like someone is outside.”
Su Muluo replied, “Don’t worry about them. Do you want some dumplings?”
The illusion spells were as sophisticated as high-level illusions. The bird people who were watching could only see what he wanted them to see. However, his patience was limited. If they didn’t leave after a while… he would have to “invite” them to leave.
Qian Sui wasn’t interested in dumplings and turned away. The little black dragon, however, raised its head warily at Su Muluo’s words and clung protectively to its bowl, looking as though it was guarding its food.
Su Muluo chuckled, saying, “You little glutton, you can’t finish all these dumplings by yourself.”
The little black dragon responded, “Yip!”
That doesn’t mean I’ll give any to others!
These are dumplings the phoenix made for me!
Su Muluo said, “They weren’t made for you. You just snatched them from me.”
Saying this, he added a few more dumplings to the dragon’s bowl.
After breakfast, Su Muluo noticed that the bird people were still nearby and had not left as expected. He put the little black dragon into his pocket and left the café.
A short while later, he returned as if nothing had happened, holding a feather from a bird and playfully teasing the little black dragon, which was poking its head out of his pocket.
The little black dragon looked at the black feather with some disdain, thinking it was neither beautiful nor soft, nowhere near as good as its own phoenix.
Then, it climbed out of the pocket and transformed back into its human form.
“I have a phoenix feather now,” Long Ling said, lifting his hand and showing off the feather pendant. He then wrapped his arms around Su Muluo’s waist, “The phoenix’s is still the best, soft and fragrant. No other bird compares.”
Su Muluo pushed him away, saying, “That doesn’t mean you get to hold me.”
Long Ling refused to let go, snuggling closer to Su Muluo’s shoulder with a clingy gesture.
Having only been human for a few days, his true nature had already been fully revealed. Every day, he clung to his phoenix and wouldn’t let go when he hugged.
Su Muluo looked at the dragon and really wanted to stuff him back into his egg, but since that was impossible, he rubbed the dragon’s head messily.
The bird people who had been spying had been driven away. Throughout the day, many customers came into the café, but the young man with the earring did not appear.
Previously, the young man would always come when the café opened, but today he did not—under normal circumstances, Su Muluo might not have cared, but now he suspected the young man might be Feng Hen’s illegitimate child and felt it necessary to pay more attention.
Feng Xuan came to find the former clan leader’s illegitimate child but unexpectedly died in the hotel. Before he died, he said there were two factions among the bird people—one loyal to the former clan leader Feng Hen and the other to the Grand Elder.
If the Grand Elder’s faction killed Feng Xuan and the young man was indeed Feng Hen’s illegitimate child, then his situation would undoubtedly be very dangerous.
Su Muluo wondered whether the bird people knew about the young man’s existence now… or whether his absence from the café today was related to the bird people.
With this thought, Su Muluo turned his attention to Qian Sui, who had just returned from outside.
Qian Sui looked at Su Muluo with vigilance, clearly on guard.
Su Muluo spoke gently, “Did you mark every person who took a cat from the shop before?”
Qian Sui nodded and asked, “Why?”
Su Muluo said, “Please take me to the home of the person who took the black cat.”
The young man who had taken a cat from his shop was the only black cat among the group of cats.
Qian Sui thought for a moment and said, “The marks from several days ago have already faded.” It paused and then added, “But I went to his house the day before yesterday and know the location.”
Without delay, Su Muluo and Long Ling followed Qian Sui to the young man’s home.
When Su Muluo first met the young man, he felt a strange aura around him, but it didn’t seem like demonic energy—now he realized the young man was probably a half-demon whose powers hadn’t fully awakened yet, so there was no demonic energy.
Before awakening, a half-demon, despite having demonic blood, is no different from an ordinary human and would not be detected.
Half an hour later, Su Muluo and Long Ling, guided by Qian Sui, arrived at an ordinary apartment, went up to the fifth floor, and stopped in front of a door.
Qian Sui circled the door and said, “This is the place.”
Su Muluo moved forward to knock, but Long Ling said, “No need to knock. There’s no one inside.”
Then, he simply kicked open the door.
Qian Sui looked on in surprise.
It glanced at Su Muluo, as if questioning why he wasn’t doing anything.
Su Muluo looked at Long Ling, finding that the dragon’s senses seemed far more acute than the phoenix’s… feeling a bit envious.
The door opened, and a black cat, startled, immediately jumped onto the sofa.
Long Ling entered before his phoenix, surveying the room and saying, “There’s no sign of bird people here.”
Su Muluo was surprised, “You can even detect that?” It seemed the dragon’s senses were indeed very sharp, making him even more envious.
Long Ling’s lips curved slightly, “Yes, I can sense many auras, but the one I remember the most is the phoenix’s.” He added proudly, “Even if one day the phoenix runs away, I could track you down by the scent of the phoenix.”
Su Muluo ignored the latter part and walked into the room.
The room was not large and was likely lived in by a single person. However, it was filled with cat beds and climbing structures, and there were several dishes of cat food and fresh water on the floor, enough to feed a cat for several days.
The black cat, scared by the intruders, huddled on a climbing structure and refused to come down. Qian Sui walked to the base and meowed up at it.
The two cats meowed back and forth, and Qian Sui turned to Su Muluo, saying, “He left by himself. He didn’t seem well before he left, like he was sick… but no one threatened him.”
This was quite consistent with Su Muluo’s guess. The lack of bird people’s aura indicated they hadn’t discovered the young man. The food and water for the cat suggested the young man was clear-headed before leaving and had ample time.
But why did he leave in the first place?
Was something wrong?
Su Muluo fell silent. The immediate priority was to find the young man. However, Lin City was so large that finding him might be quite challenging.
At this moment, Qian Sui said, “I have many friends scattered throughout the city. They might help find that person.”
Without waiting for Su Muluo’s response, it quickly added, “I’m not helping you. I just want to help Doushi find its owner.”
Doushi was the black cat in the room. Su Muluo looked at the black cat and then at Qian Sui, smiling slightly, “Thank you. I’ll give you a couple more cans of cat food when we return.”
Qian Sui said, “Three cans.”
Then it ran out with the black cat.
After they left, Su Muluo closed the door.
Su Muluo turned to Long Ling and said, “Let’s head back and wait for news.”
Long Ling nodded, gazing at the phoenix without saying a word.
Perhaps he needed to have his own connections, his own influence, he thought. This way, he could better help his phoenix, provide everything the phoenix wanted… and prevent anyone from taking the phoenix away.
Su Muluo didn’t know what Long Ling was thinking. He patted Long Ling’s head, who then took his hand.
On the way back, Su Muluo felt that Long Ling seemed preoccupied and was unusually tight-lipped, which was very strange.
“What’s wrong?” Su Muluo asked, staring at Long Ling. “If you don’t tell me soon, I’ll ignore you.”
Long Ling looked at him, wrapped his arms around Su Muluo’s waist, and said, “I want to keep a phoenix.”
Su Muluo laughed upon hearing this, “And how do you plan to do that? I don’t have any salary to give you.”
Long Ling said, “I can earn it myself.”
He looked very determined, which only made Su Muluo more curious. “How will you earn it? Are you going to get a job?”
Long Ling thought for a moment and said, “I’ll see if there are any ways to make money.”
Su Muluo handed him his phone, “Here, look for yourself.”
By the time they returned to the café, Long Ling had already been looking at his phone for a while. Su Muluo intended to make a cup of coffee for him and the dragon, but suddenly Long Ling exclaimed, “This one can earn three thousand a month!”
“That’s a lot!” Su Muluo thought, wondering what job could earn so little. He leaned over to see—
Brick moving.
“……” He said, “Try another one.”
Long Ling said, “Oh,” and after a while, handed Su Muluo the phone again. “How about this one? This one can earn ten thousand!”
Su Muluo glanced again—food delivery.
“……”
Su Muluo took the phone away.
Long Ling asked, “?”
“Can’t you find a more decent job?” Su Muluo tapped him on the head. “You’re a dragon!”
It was rather pitiful to think that the world’s only true dragon could only do brick moving or food delivery.
Long Ling held his hand and said, “But it says here that food delivery can earn ten thousand a month—can the phoenix’s shop earn that much?”
If he worked for fifty months, that would be fifty thousand, enough to buy a diamond ring!
Su Muluo said, “Of course, it can earn much more than that.”
With his shop, Su Muluo could sell several cups of special coffee every day, and just from the special coffee, he could earn over ten thousand a month, which was definitely better than food delivery.
Long Ling thought for a moment and said, “But that’s not money I’ve earned. I’ve never earned money before.”
His tone was a bit dejected.
Seeing that his dragon was getting unhappy, Su Muluo patted his head and smiled, “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need to worry about money. We came here for fun, not to make money.”
His tone was gentle, but Long Ling didn’t seem comforted. “No, if we don’t make money now, how will we buy a diamond ring for the phoenix?”
Su Muluo was about to say that he wasn’t really interested in a diamond ring when Long Ling added, “Then I can marry the phoenix and make her my wife.”
Su Muluo: “?”
Marry what?
Do what?
“We also need to buy a big house so the phoenix can lay eggs for me,” Long Ling continued seriously, then said, “No, don’t buy eggs. Just get a big house to keep the phoenix.”
He seemed a bit happy talking about this, “Then I can keep the phoenix in the big house and touch her feathers every day.”
Su Muluo: “??? ”
He was about to angrily say, “You can touch yourself,” but heard Long Ling sigh, as if suddenly coming back to reality, and said gloomily, “So we need to save money quickly. Otherwise, what if the phoenix thinks I’m poor and runs off with another wild man?”
Su Muluo: “……”
Long Ling looked at him with a bit of grievance, “The phoenix doesn’t comfort me. I feel like the phoenix doesn’t like me.”
Then he grabbed Su Muluo’s hand and loudly complained, “I’m unhappy! I want the phoenix to be affectionate! A hundred times of affection!”
Su Muluo: “…………”
Su Muluo expressionlessly shook off Long Ling’s hand.
“Go move bricks then!”
T/N: Hello hello! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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Also, check out the other series we have on HoH!
If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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