Raising snake groups was also very energy-consuming. If he wanted to raise a new batch of venomous snakes, he would have to abandon his current group. But he was deeply sentimental. He had raised these snakes for so many years, through countless generations, that he couldn’t even keep track anymore. How could he abandon them?
Since things had come to this, Chi Lian figured he might as well just continue as he was. Hiding in the mountains wasn’t so bad except for being a bit lonely. After so many years, he had long lost the curiosity of his youth.
But fate always toyed with him like this. Even though he no longer wanted to venture out into the world, trouble came looking for him.
For a long time, these demons—born of nature and earth, without clans, unaware of the demon realm—had seen their living space in the human world shrink more and more with the advancement of human technology.
Chi Lian had led his snake groups through multiple migrations before finally finding their current home. To avoid humans, they had even retreated to the bottom of the water.
Yet somehow, they still ran into people. And not just anyone—a bad person who casually stomped to death an animal protected under the “Three Haves” category.
“You know the rest of the story, Teacher… Teacher Ye.”
Teacher Ye… Ye Yang didn’t even realize he was being addressed.
Ye Yang asked, “So how did you end up here?”
“They said I needed some rehabilitation.” Without the anger and hostility, Chi Lian’s shrill voice had become much gentler and no longer grated on the ears.
At YCG, Chi Lian had been investigated and educated. He was originally supposed to be imprisoned, but because the assistant director was out of danger, the injury rating was low, and there were extenuating circumstances, Chi Lian’s punishment was ultimately commuted to redeeming himself through rehabilitation by carrying out missions to maintain peace between the two realms.
Brother Grey snorted disdainfully. “They probably just ran out of space again.” Others might not know, but he and Wu Shuwen certainly did. There were only a few YCG personnel stationed at the prison, and the total number of criminals or demons they could guard was fixed. Anyone beyond that number, if not extremely vicious, had to be squeezed in somewhere else.
In fact, even some repeat offenders, if they showed good rehabilitation, would have their powers suppressed and be released. The two of them were cases in point.
Of course, YCG’s vetting process was very strict. Those released all had good character.
“There’s another reason.” Chi Lian suddenly glanced at Ye Yang, then quickly looked away. “I asked to come here myself. I’m not familiar with the human world, and you’re the only person I know.”
—
The snake demon Chi Lian was officially joining the company. Sister Wu assigned him a workspace directly across from Ye Yang.
Having just emerged from deep in the mountains, Chi Lian still had a lot to learn. Sister Wu asked Ye Yang to show him the ropes.
Ye Yang found it odd. “That doesn’t seem right. I’m a newcomer too!” He wasn’t qualified for this.
Sister Wu said, “This wasn’t my decision. It came from the Administration Bureau. Little Ye Ye, you did exceptionally well on your last mission, and since you’re the one who caught Chi Lian, they made a special exception to let you be his mentor.”
President Long happened to be passing by and overheard. He shook his head slightly. That was a nice way of putting it, but really, they were just exploiting Ye Yang because he was such a capable worker.
Ah well, this little sea hare really was useful. President Long walked straight back to his office, eyes forward, carrying his newly arrived incense box.
As soon as Ye Yang heard it was YCG’s arrangement, he immediately accepted the fact that he was now qualified to mentor a newcomer.
When he got home and told Shen Ming about it, Shen Ming resisted the urge to burst Ye Yang’s little bubble of pride. But later, he paid a visit to Old Tree Spirit Li’s lair.
A month later, when Ye Yang saw a sudden overtime bonus deposited into his account, he was completely baffled.
But that was still to come. Starting from Chi Lian’s second day at the company, Ye Yang diligently took on his new responsibilities.
First, he took Chi Lian to buy a proper set of clothes and shoes.
After changing, Chi Lian no longer needed to wear his hood. His red-and-black hair looked like intentional dip-dyeing, but much better than actual dip-dye—the colors were natural, short in the front and long in the back, resembling the “wolf tail” hairstyle that had been popular recently.
Paired with a casual sportswear outfit, he looked like a rebellious high school student. People might notice him on the street, but they wouldn’t think anything strange.
There was just one issue: his mask was still too eye-catching.
Ye Yang looked him over and asked, “Can you take off your mask?”
“I can, but I’m not good-looking.” Chi Lian hesitated, then slowly removed his mask.
Beneath the mask was an extremely pale face, even his lips white. His face was slightly elongated, with a pointed chin and narrow, elongated eyes. A phrase suddenly popped into Ye Yang’s mind—”handsome snake man.”
“You’re actually quite good-looking.”
Chi Lian’s eyes widened slightly. And then Ye Yang witnessed a scene that would haunt his nightmares for two full days.
Those pale, thin lips suddenly split open, the corners stretching all the way to his ears. As the split grew wider, the already thin lips disappeared entirely, and Ye Yang could even see a forked red snake tongue.
“Thank you, Teacher Ye! No one has ever said that to me before.”
As he spoke, tears started streaming down Chi Lian’s face. “You don’t know how much this means to me.” After being mocked several times when he ventured into the human world back in the day, Chi Lian had always been very insecure.
It took Ye Yang a long moment to find his voice. “You… you really are quite good-looking. It’s just that… that you might look even better with a straight face.”
The abyssal maw closed. Chi Lian wiped his tears, looking somewhat confused. “Really?”
“Really, really. You don’t look good when you smile. You look better with a straight face. Let me tell you, right now the most popular type is the melancholic, sickly handsome guy.” Sister Wu had appeared out of nowhere and rescued Ye Yang.
Afterwards, Ye Yang organized his notes from his preschool days. He picked out the basic knowledge about human society, sorted it by importance, and gave it to Chi Lian.
Chi Lian couldn’t read at first, but his three days at YCG had clearly crammed a lot of language and writing into his head. He had digested some of it. Though it was still a bit difficult, he could understand Ye Yang’s notes.
He studied quite diligently and was very polite. Watching Chi Lian bow respectfully and thank him after asking a question before leaving, Ye Yang almost regretted being too harsh when he captured him. He was clearly a demon with a good nature.
It had been several days now, and Chi Lian still walked with a slight limp. Apparently, the broken bones hadn’t fully healed yet.
Several more days passed. When Chi Lian fully recovered, he eagerly sought out Ye Yang and asked him to teach him how to fight.
“My fighting style is pretty different from yours. Would that really work?” Ye Yang wasn’t trying to make excuses—he was right. He and Chi Lian came from completely different systems.
But learning from Ye Yang was the main reason Chi Lian had requested to come here. He was determined. “I want to learn. Please teach me, Teacher Ye!”
Brother Xing could see that Chi Lian greatly admired Ye Yang—probably awed by those punches he’d thrown. He offered some advice: “If he wants to learn, just bring him along to practice. Give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, I can teach him too.”
That piece of advice kicked off a full month of Chi Lian getting the living daylights beaten out of him.
Every day, as soon as he entered the training room, he started getting pummeled. This delicate snake man—Ye Yang could knock him over with one punch, every single time. From the initial shrieks and howls to eventually complete silence, Brother Xing finally took pity on them both.
“Alright, time for the next phase. Chi Lian, pick a weapon you like. Time to practice offense.”
Ye Yang: What? They were only starting offense now? Then what on earth had they been practicing before?!
Chi Lian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Without hesitation, he pulled out his long saber. Brother Xing thought for a moment, then didn’t take out a weapon and faced him empty-handed instead.
Ye Yang also breathed a huge sigh of relief. He was finally done.
Even though he was the one doing the punching, he actually carried the heaviest psychological burden. Brother Xing and Chi Lian both said it was fine, but Ye Yang genuinely felt terrible about it. He was strong and he knew how to fight, but he wasn’t a sadist. Seeing Chi Lian like that every day was painful for him too.
Chi Lian had never had anyone to teach him before. He had grown up wild, figuring everything out on his own, and had still managed to cultivate successfully all the way to where he was now. But with guidance, his strength improved by leaps and bounds. After just a few days of training with Brother Xing, he received high praise from Brother Grey.
Around that time, Sister Wu spotted a mission on the board that was perfect for Chi Lian. Ye Yang thought it would be a good opportunity for him, Chi Lian, and Brother Xing to go on a mission together—to let Chi Lian apply what he’d learned in real combat and also help him integrate into the team.
When Chi Lian found out, he was overjoyed and prepared a surprise for Ye Yang.
“Are you sure this is a surprise?”
Sister Wu held the gift that Chi Lian had spent several nights making. She examined it carefully for a long time before asking this.
Chi Lian didn’t see any problem at all. He felt pretty good about it. “Yeah! I made this with my own hands. I even ground the pigments myself!” These were treasures he had collected for years—he couldn’t even bear to use them himself!
Brother Grey and Brother Xing offered no opinions. President Long had passed by Ye Yang’s workspace that morning and caught sight of the “surprise.” His step faltered for a moment before he continued walking to his office.
A few minutes later, he came back out carrying an incense burner and placed it in the main hall. Inside, he burned some Qi Nan—known for calming the mind and soothing the spirit.
—
Ye Yang came in a little late today. Shen Ming had kept him up playing games until the middle of the night last night—and not just last night. This had been going on for several days. Who knew how the old god had suddenly gotten so hooked on gaming? He wouldn’t even go for walks anymore. His routine had been extremely unhealthy lately.
Ye Yang even thought he saw dark circles under Shen Ming’s eyes.
Of course, that was impossible. Gods don’t get dark circles.
Ye Yang himself hadn’t slept in several days either. Even as a demon, he was starting to feel worn out.
As he passed the front desk, he noticed that Brother Grey—who was rarely seen hanging around the flower bed downstairs—was actually standing obediently at the door. When he saw Ye Yang, his expression shifted slightly.
“Morning. You’re here.”
Ye Yang didn’t notice anything wrong. He nodded and smiled. “Morning, Brother Grey.”
When he walked into the main hall, he sensed that the atmosphere was strangely off.
Brother Xing and Sister Wu were both there. If he looked closely, he could also see that President Long’s normally tightly shut office door was cracked open.
But the most conspicuous figure was Chi Lian.
He seemed to be really happy about something. He kept failing to suppress the corners of his mouth, his terrifying snake mouth flickering in and out of existence.
Ye Yang immediately grew alert. “Is something wrong?” Was being a little late really that serious?
Sister Wu quickly waved her hands. “No, nothing! I have things to do, so I’ll get to work.”
Brother Xing followed close behind. “I need to head to the training room too.”
Ye Yang: “…” Then why are you both heading toward the bathroom?
He was completely baffled, but everyone had left. Filled with confusion, he walked toward his workspace.
Chi Lian, sitting across from him, had eyes that started shining. Behind him, Brother Grey nervously gripped the doorframe, nearly pulling the glass door off its hinges.
Two gossipy heads popped out from the bathroom doorway. The crack in President Long’s office door grew a little wider.
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