After dialing Officer Chen’s number, he picked up after two rings.
“Where did you go? You were not replying to my WeChat messages and picking up my calls.”
From Officer Chen’s tone, Xiang Kun thought that he was not angry, but confused. It should not be a very important matter. Therefore, Xiang Kun made up an excuse and replied, “I went for a vacation trip for a few days. I was in the mountains, so there was no signal. What’s the matter?”
Officer Chen said, “Your cash reward from catching the criminal is ready for collection. Come and sign a document to claim the reward.”
Xiang Kun was stunned for a moment. Then he remembered that he had a cash reward from catching the criminal. Was it 10,000 or 20,000?
“I remember now. Didn’t you take down my credit card number in the police office?”
“I have your card number, but you have to sign another document to verify your personal details. There are some compulsory procedures. I cannot transfer the money to you directly. Let me know when you are free to come over, it only takes a short while.”
“What about… tomorrow morning?”
“Okay, give me a call when you are coming. If I am not around, I will ask a colleague to help you.”
After confirming, Xiang Kun hesitated if he should ask Officer Chen about his life and job, but Officer Chen said, “That’s all, oh right… you are not… going for night ‘patrols’ anymore, right?”
“No, no. At most, I go for a jog around my neighborhood,” replied Xiang Kun. Officer Chen was worried that Xiang Kun still had the mindset of a superhero or voluntary police. Indeed, Xiang Kun was not “patrolling the streets”. Instead, he had gone to “patrol the mountains”. The places he had gone to were remote and there were no surveillance cameras.
Officer Chen continued, “If you encounter anything in the future, remember to call the police first. If you are not sure whether you should call the police, you can ask me through WeChat or give me a call. Don’t act rashly.”
“Yes, rest assured, Officer Chen. I will call the police in the future. For the past two, er… three times, I called the police immediately.” Xiang Kun was being honest and sincere. He did not like to gain attention from meddling with things. The video of his “brave act” was still trending on the internet and he was bothered by it.
After hanging up, Xiang Kun scrolled through his WeChat and saw many unread messages, including three from Officer Chen.
He had muted most of his chats. He checked the group chat with his parents, replied to his mother to assure her that he was fine, and explained why he had not replied to her messages.
Then he saw a message sent by Tang Baona last night. It should have been sent soon after he had fallen asleep.
“Saitama-sensei, why haven’t you been going to the gym recently? Both Trainer Shen and Instructor Yang are asking me about you.”
Although he felt that he was not in a convenient state for relationships and did not want to get close to others, he had to admit that Tang Baona’s personality was good.
He thought that by ignoring Tang Baona’s messages or replying emotionlessly, she would be annoyed and stop contacting him.
After all, with Tang Baona’s looks and family background, many people would want to woo her. She was definitely a popular girl on her social media too. There should be very few people who ignored her many times.
Xiang Kun thought about it. If it were a message like “are you there?”, he would’ve ignored them as time had passed. However, Tang Baona’s message showed concern and he felt obliged to reply to her. After all, Tang Baona was introduced by Chang Bin and it was a little rude to always ignore her—even though he had not intentionally ignored Tang Baona earlier on. He had really missed her message.
“I have been unwell recently, so I’ve been resting at home. How about you? Is your ankle better?”
After replying to her message, Xiang Kun got up and went to check on the rabbits that he had injected his saliva and blood into.
However, he did not expect a reply in less than three seconds.
He took his phone out and saw that it was indeed a reply from Tang Baona.
“F*ck! Saitama-sensei! Why is your internet lagging so badly? You replied to me after one day?”
Then the second message came.
“Unwell? Did you get a heatstroke from carrying me that day?”
Then the third.
“Is it serious? Did you go and see a doctor?”
The fourth message followed.
“You only replied now, are you still ill?”
Xiang Kun held onto his phone and looked at the influx of messages in astonishment. He was shocked by Tang Baona’s typing speed. Could it be voice recognition?
Xiang Kun replied quickly, “I am feeling much better now, but I don’t think I will be heading to the gym anytime soon. Oh right, why is Trainer Shen looking for me?”
Tang Baona typed, “I think it is regarding a competition and they are asking if you would like to participate.”
Tang Baona continued, “What’s wrong with you? Zhen Er works at a pharmaceutical company and she can get hold of many new medicines. If you have caught a flu bug or a virus, you can try her medicine.”
Xiang Kun suddenly became interested when he read that Yang Zhen Er was working in a pharmaceutical company. “Zhen Er is working in which company? Is she doing research?”
Tang Baona did not reply immediately. She only replied after a while. “You ask her yourself, are you interested in the company?”
Xiang Kun replied, “I am interested in medicine, pharmacy, and biology related technology. I was thinking about a project that may involve these fields.”
Tang Baona said, “Do you want to come over to play some card games at my house soon? There will be a post-graduate who studies medicine. You can ask him if you have any questions.”
Xiang Kun hesitated for a moment, but thinking that it was only a card game and not a meal, he should be able to deal with it without revealing his weird habits.
“Let me know after you fix a time.”
After replying, Xiang Kun added, “It will be good if it’s before next Friday.”
That was because next Friday, the 23rd, was the time he needed to drink blood again.
…
After Tang Baona replied to Xiang Kun’s message on her sofa, she got up and walked back to her room. Although her ankle was still slightly swollen, she could walk normally.
In her room, Yang Zhen Er was gaming on her computer with her friends. Tang Baona went beside her and looked at the screen without talking.
“What’s wrong? Speak!”
“Nothing, I will ask you after you die in this round.”
“F*ck you! Don’t jinx me! I need to win…”
However, after she said that, her avatar collapsed.
“Ahhhh! It’s all because of you!” Yang Zhen Er roared angrily.
After she exited the game, Yang Zhen Er turned around and frowned at her good friend. “What’s the matter?”
“Didn’t you say that you wanted to ask Xia to come over for a game?” said Tang Baona.