After a slipshod cleanup, Ling PingAn looked at himself in the mirror.
"What's going on?" Bewildered, he moved closer to the mirror and scrutinized his pupils.
Normally, his pupils were black and white, but now a tinge of a golden shadow had emerged.
He examined under his eyelids. The red areas with their blood capillaries were also showing traces of gold.
"What the f*ck is going on?" Ling PingAn was shocked. "Has the heavy metal content in my body gone over the limits because I've eaten too much takeaway food recently?"
He felt overwhelmed with worry.
He was only minutes away from picking up his phone and calling the hospital to make an appointment.
But, just at that moment, the golden shadows vanished without a trace.
Underneath his eyelids reverted to their normal appearance too.
"Was I seeing things?" Ling PingAn scratched his head, scrapping the idea of phoning the hospital.
"Looks like this is happening because I'm not wearing my spectacles…" He looked in the mirror for a long time and finally came to this conclusion: it was probably because he usually wore his glasses all the time and now he'd had a reaction because he was unaccustomed to not wearing them.
He picked up his phone, opened a shopping app, and purchased a pair of ordinary sunglasses that had exactly the same prescription as the glasses he wore for his near-sightedness.
The sunglasses were really cheap at ., which included their shipping.
After finishing with his morning ablutions, he walked downstairs slightly sluggishly and opened the door of the store. He looked toward the shop next door. Aunt Cai's shop wasn't open today.
He seemed to remember that Aunt Cai had told him yesterday that she would be going into the city today to handle some affairs.
So now Ling PingAn began wondering about his breakfast.
Aunt Cai's steamed dumplings and Douhua had been his go-to for the past two years. He had developed an addiction to their taste.
At that moment, coincidentally, he turned and saw the poster that the young girl from Fusang had delivered yesterday.
"I'll have beef ramen then," he said to himself decisively.
Then he picked up his phone, made a call, and ordered a Fusang beef ramen takeaway.
Next he sat down at the counter and turned on the television while waiting for his food.
The morning news was being broadcast.
"In response to the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic currently taking place in the Beizhou Kingdom, the federal family and various kingdoms have been giving them a helping hand..." The announcer continued, "In addition to the various rescue and assistance policies given by the Central Federal Government, the allied kingdoms have also begun to provide assistance to our brothers in Beizhou."
The scene on the television showed dozens of huge military transport planes lining up at the airport and preparing to take off filled with supplies.
"Today, the Nanzhou Kingdom's Strategic Transportation Unit has urgently transported 3,000 tons of disinfectant and 500 automatic spraying devices to Beizhou. At the same time, Nanzhou's Minister of Health and Epidemic Prevention will be personally leading a team of experts from Nanzhou University of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry to assist our brothers from Beizhou to fight the epidemic."
A bald man appeared on the news broadcast. "People from Nanzhou and Beizhou are members of our great family. We are obliged, responsible, and also capable of assisting our brothers in Beizhou to escape this plight."
"Last night, the Nanzhou council passed a motion to urgently provide more than 100,000 Qinling calves to our brothers in Beizhou to help their ranchers resume normal production as soon as possible."
Watching all these major events that were taking place in the country on the news, Ling PingAn didn't feel anything at all. He even yawned.
Beizhou, thousands of miles away, was too far away and too strange for him.
Besides, it was just a livestock epidemic. With the federation and various kingdoms working on figuring out the ins and outs of it, small figures like him wouldn't have to worry about it.
Practically, he was only concerned about one thing: would the price of beef go up?
The news soon also gave him the answer to that question.
"The Minister of Federal Affairs has stated at the federal council this morning that the epidemic in Beizhou will not affect the price of beef within the federal territory and has asked citizens of the federation to remain calm. There are 50 million tons of beef in the federal reserves, which can absolutely satisfy our citizens' demands for beef."
Seeing this, Ling PingAn was satisfied.
Although really, if you calculated it, 50 million tons of beef were only a drop in the bucket when evenly distributed to the local population of 1.5 billion people.
However, apart from beef, the supply of pork, chicken, and fish in the federation was completely saturated.
Thus, there was no need to worry about a shortage of beef at all.
"Ohayou Gozaimasu!" The sweet, adorable young girl of Fusang ethnicity came into the shop with a steaming food box in her hands. She made a deep bow and greeted him, "Ling-san, your Fusang beef ramen is here!"
"Good morning, Miss Chiba!" Ling PingAn answered.
Suddenly, he was startled.
The young girl from Fusang seemed a little bit different today.
Previously, although this young girl from Fusang who went by the name of Chiba Michiko had a sweet, adorable appearance, the pair of A cups on her chest had truly sealed the deal.
But today, strangely, Ling PingAn discovered that she seemed to have undergone some subtle changes...
...especially concerning the plumpness of her chest. They had gotten really huge!
Secondly, it was…
"Miss Chiba…" Ling PingAn frowned as he asked, "...why do you have a tail on your back?"
"Are you doing cosplay?" Ling PingAn thought of the girl in black clothes who had come in the night before. He couldn't help but sigh as he realized that the world had changed so much that even the people from Fusang, who have always been conservative and traditional, have started to get into cosplay.
The young girl from Fusang's expression altered abruptly for a second, but swiftly returned to its normal appearance. "Yes, Ling-san, I've recently gotten really into anime…"
"Okay…" Ling PingAn didn't give it any more thought. He took the food box from her, opened it up, and the aroma of the beef ramen instantly filled his mouth and nose.
"Michiko-chan, your shop's beef ramen is getting better and better!" Ling PingAn couldn't resist praising her food.
But when he lifted his head from the dish, he suddenly realized that the young girl from Fusang was already long gone.
"Strange…" Ling PingAn thought, "Why did she leave so quickly today?"
But he didn't worry about it or give it a second thought.
He only thought that Chiba Michiko was probably really busy with her business today.
...
Anxiously running out of the bookstore, Chiba Michiko hopped on her electronic bike.
Then she took a deep breath.
She carefully turned to look at her rear end.
There was no tail.
So…
"Ling-san could see through my disguise?" the young girl from Fusang felt a little flustered.
"Should I report this to the Blackguard?" she wondered.
The Blackguard was a special organization that served directly under the imperial family of the Federal Empire.
They were also the department that was directly in charge of handling all weird species and extraordinary events.
Chiba Michiko and her family were obliged to report their whereabouts and behavior to the Federal Special Affairs Management Office in Jiangcheng City on a regular basis and undergo inspections to confirm that they weren't using magic illegally.
According to federal law, Chiba Michiko was supposed to report to Jiangcheng City's Special Affairs Management Office immediately after discovering any person or thing that might have special abilities and hand them over to the Blackguard for screening.
However…
She hesitated as she thought about what kind of a person the owner of the bookstore was.
In her memory, he had always been alone in that deserted bookstore.
Aside from ordering takeaways, he rarely stepped out of doors.
"Even if such a person has special abilities, he wouldn't do anything to harm society, I'm guessing…" This was the conclusion that she came to and hence dispelled the idea of reporting him to the Blackguard.
...