Chapter Fifteen: Probing
That night.
Outside Nankai University.
A deserted night café.
Ye Yan sat in the open-air café, cradling a bucket of fried skewers, scrolling through his phone as he ate.
Suddenly, a voice called out.
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”
“No,” Ye Yan replied without looking up.
“May I sit here?” The girl asked, blushing and fidgeting.
Ye Yan glanced at her, puzzled. “There are plenty of empty seats. Why do you want to sit here?”
“You’re good-looking…” Her cheeks grew even redder, and it took her a moment to say it.
“Go ahead, there’s nobody here anyway.” Ye Yan shrugged, not giving it much thought. Honest girls like this were rare these days.
The young woman sat down, staring at Ye Yan for a while before finally asking, “Senior, are you a student at Nankai University too? What year are you in?”
From his appearance—both his clothes and his demeanor—Ye Yan seemed older, which led the girl to mistake him for an upperclassman.
Ye Yan shook his head. “No.”
“Oh…” She nodded, but continued chatting with an easy familiarity.
“Hello, I’m Li Ziyuan, a first-year medical student at Nankai.”
“Hm?” Ye Yan was surprised by her words.
Was he… being approached?
He couldn’t help but chuckle, finding the situation amusing. He put away his phone and looked at Li Ziyuan.
She wore a tawny vest, a crisp white tee, tawny shorts, her hair tied in a high ponytail, with neat bangs across her forehead. She was fresh-faced and energetic.
Quite pretty, actually.
She could catch anyone’s eye.
Even though he was used to seeing beauties like Xia He and Feng Shayen, Ye Yan still gave Li Ziyuan a high score.
A girl with looks like hers coming up to chat—could she be a femme fatale looking for a mark? Ye Yan mused.
Still, with nothing better to do, he certainly didn’t mind a conversation with a pretty girl.
It would pass the time.
He habitually lit a cigarette and simply gave his name. “Ye Yan.”
As the pale blue smoke drifted up, Li Ziyuan, sitting across from him, showed no reaction.
“So late at night, what are you doing here alone? Waiting for someone?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes.”
Ye Yan nodded. “But what about you? It’s already so late, wandering around outside. Your dorm must have locked its doors by now…”
“My… home is nearby.”
“…”
They chatted idly, neither too engaged. As the conversation went on, Ye Yan suddenly spoke, his smile enigmatic.
His gaze lingered for a brief moment on Li Ziyuan’s chest, then moved away as if nothing had happened.
“If there’s nothing else, you should head home. It’s not safe for a girl to be out alone at night.”
Li Ziyuan stiffened at Ye Yan’s glance, hastily covering her chest with her hand.
“Okay…”
After those simple words, Ye Yan stood up and left, vanishing into the depths of the night.
Li Ziyuan was left alone.
“Phew, so tense.”
Once she was certain Ye Yan had really gone, Li Ziyuan, sitting opposite, patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
“What a frightening feeling. I almost thought I was done for. Is that guy an Esper too?”
When Ye Yan’s gaze had locked onto her, she felt as though she’d been targeted by a monstrous predator, but fortunately the feeling lasted only a moment.
“No, I need to report this to Uncle Xu right away. Leaving this man wandering outside is too dangerous.”
Li Ziyuan quickly took out her phone and reported the incident to her superior.
She typed furiously.
At that moment, a small, fuzzy spider with a Microsoft logo on its rear emerged from beneath her collar, waving its limbs.
…
“The girl who keeps spiders.”
“Interesting.”
Though Ye Yan had left the night café, his mind lingered on the young woman.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the spider on Li Ziyuan… was a kind of Gu. Was she an Esper from the southern border?
Though Ye Yan didn’t know much about Gu sorcery, he’d heard enough from Chen Duo to recognize it.
“Whatever, why should I care whether she’s an Esper or knows Gu magic?”
“Not my business. Not my business.”
“Buzz buzz—”
Lost in thought, the vibration of his phone pulled him back to reality.
Ye Yan shook his head, casting away those thoughts, and took out his phone.
The message was from Feng Shayen.
Just four words.
“The curtain is rising.”
Ye Yan chuckled, amused by the literary tone.
But the meaning was clear enough—he was being told it was time to watch the show.
“Alright, let’s go see for myself. What does the real Zhang Chulan look like?”
He quickened his pace.
…
Outside Nankai University.
A small grove.
“Baa—”
A doll resembling a beast of ill omen darted through the woods, carrying a large sack and leaping from branch to branch, making strange noises.
“Ah, here it comes, here it comes. See? My doll is efficient. Good, good, good.”
“So, did you bring the person?”
“Baa—”
“Well done, you can head back now.”
“Let me see what this legendary Zhang Chulan looks like.”
Feng Yaya released the beast doll, her face full of anticipation as she untied the sack.
A burst of golden light shot out.
“Ah—”
Caught off guard, Feng Yaya was nearly struck by the sudden flash, but Chen Guo, sensing it ahead of time, quickly intervened and pulled her out of harm’s way.
“Hmph!”
“I knew it wouldn’t be so simple. You people from Quanxing, you really don’t know when to quit.”
“Huh?!”
The golden light twisted in midair, then landed and faded, revealing a man with messy hair, boxer shorts, and a disdainful glare.
“Quanxing?”
Mistaken for a Quanxing member, Feng Yaya was stunned, waving her hands in panic and explaining,
“No, no, we’re not from Quanxing, you’re overthinking.”
Then she grew serious. “We were just teasing you, please don’t be upset…”
“Not Quanxing…”
Zhang Chulan, expecting another Quanxing raid, looked awkward and tense.
But before anyone could smooth things over, Zhang Lingyu emerged from the nearby woods with two Daoists, one plump and one thin, following behind.
The moment he appeared, Zhang Lingyu spoke,
“Zhang Chulan cannot go with you. On our master's orders, we will take Zhang Chulan back.”
“Hey, you guys are too casual. I haven’t even said anything yet!”
Treated like an object, Zhang Chulan was clearly annoyed.
Feng Yaya jumped in, protesting loudly, “Hey, hey, stealing business! Isn’t there supposed to be first come, first served?”
Halfway through her protest, Chen Guo clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting her off.
“Quiet. They’re not ordinary Espers. Be careful, things are getting tricky.”
Chen Guo was nervous; he hadn’t expected such a turn.
Zhang Lingyu issued a stern warning, “Anyone not involved, leave immediately.”
Just then, a lazy voice called out from outside the grove, “Oh? Let me see what’s going on here. What’s all the commotion?”