Don’t Discriminate Against Species

The night breeze was cold. Chu Yu watched dense ghost qi emerge from the hotel. Pulling his jacket tight, he lit a cigarette and puffed on it. Only when several infant spirits flapping their reincarnation wings flew across his head did he raise his head again.

He'd seen reincarnation wings at the Daoist temple during those years. To help a general find the road to the underworld, an old Daoist priest had used his own cultivation to condense a pair of wings. The wings would only vanish after it brought the general's soul to the gates of the underworld. Such a method consumed a hefty amount of spiritual qi, which was why few cultivators were willing to make such a large sacrifice for lonely souls and wild ghosts. Of course, there also weren't many people capable of using this skill.

He didn't expect to see it again more than eight hundred years later.

Though it was quite pretty.

He finished the cigarette stick and then used a cleansing skill, dispersing the smell of smoke on him till there was no trace of it left. Then, he returned to the car and started it up.

Looking at the time, the boss and Fu Li would come out soon.

There had been a power failure backstage and the emergency backup system had failed. Under normal circumstances, this would just be a small issue. However, it became a huge problem because this error had happened at such an important event. If it got out, there was no telling how many people would mock the organizers for their incompetence. The person-in-charge hurriedly rushed backstage and was just about to apologize to these big shots when he heard that the Second Young Master of the Zhao family had fainted. Upon hearing this news, blood sugar rushed up his throat and he hated that he couldn't faint dead away as well.

The person-in-charge called for the doctor stationed on their end to come over and administer emergency treatment, smiling as he apologized. Although these big shots didn't complain much, important figures like them were masters at not showing their emotions on their face. Only the Heavens would know whether or not they truly took offense.

After respectfully sending these people off, the person-in-charge started scolding the staff responsible for order and security backstage. "The power failure lasted for almost twenty minutes backstage. What exactly were all of you doing, why didn't you contact me immediately?"

The security staff were scolded into silence. They didn't feel like much time had lapsed from the moment the power failure occurred to the moment the big shots entered the room and sat down, yet almost twenty minutes had gone by. It was also extremely strange that not a single person had notified the front counter during the power failure.

"You guys had better pray that this matter doesn't cause a ruckus outside, otherwise all of us will be done for," The person-in-charge rubbed his face. Forcing out a smile, he went to deal with the big shots from the entertainment industry.

Zhuang Qing and the rest walked out through the VIP passage. After everyone spoke a few words of courtesy, they prepared to get into their cars and leave. Fu Si, who was behind Zhuang Qing and Fu Li, held it in for a very long time but eventually still quietly voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Mr Zhuang, you seem to have forgotten to take the item you bidded for."

Even if he didn't hold an item he bidded a million for in high regard, he shouldn't leave it at the auction venue. It would be very awkward if it were to be discovered by the organizer, and would be detrimental to Zhuang Qing if it were to get out.

"Item he bidded for?" Fu Li stared blankly for a moment before smiling. "Oh, we already took it. During the power failure, we ran into an artist we're familiar with along the corridor. He helped us take it out."

He glanced around and waved a hand at She Weilong in the distance, who was stiff with cold. "Little She."

Hearing Fu Li calling out to him, She Weilong, who wanted to stealthily take his leave, was so shocked that his entire body turned rigid. He walked to Fu Li with a hunched back and smiled cooperatively. "Mr Fu, you called for me?"

"We were walking quite hastily just now and forgot to thank you. We've troubled you."

She Weilong was bewildered. Troubled him with what? Thank him for what? But for better or worse, he was still a snake yao who had mixed into the entertainment industry, so he reacted extremely quickly. "You're welcome, you're welcome. It is my honor to have helped Mr Fu."

Even if these two great masters said that they were his grandpas, he would definitely take on the role of grandson without hesitation, much less a mere 'thank you' from them.

Snakes were best at being flexible. To be the grandson of a dragon was his gain.

On the other hand, She Weilong's manager was stunned. His eyes had been fixed on She Weilong all the while, and he hadn't seen She Weilong hugging Chang Long's thigh, so how did these two people know each other all of a sudden? But regardless of the reason, this was a good thing for them.

Fu Si had only given Zhuang Qing a reminder due to their friendly relations in the business world. After finding out that he had thought too much, he tossed this matter out the window and no longer mentioned it. Bidding goodbye to Zhuang Qing and Fu Li, he then turned and walked off without any reluctance.

As the heir to the Fu family, Fu Si could be considered perfect. He understood the principle of 'taking care not to overdo something'.

Seeing that Zhuang Qing and Fu Li no longer needed him, She Weilong very tactfully dragged his manager back to the grand car the company had arranged for them. Noticing that his manager wanted to gossip, he instantly said, "Don't ask about the gossip surrounding those two. Those two are big shots, true big shots."

The manager stared blankly with his mouth wide open for an eternity before saying, “I just wanted to say that that assistant seems to be the security guard we saw at the hotel the other time.”

She Weilong nodded. “He’s experiencing life. A hobby of the rich. You understand.”

The manager nodded. "I understand, you mentioned it to me last time as well." He had been skeptical of She Weilong's words at that time, but it turned out that it really was a case of the wealthy experiencing life.

Simply crazy. He could live a good life, yet insisted on running over to be a security guard.

"Then he and Chairman Zhuang…"

"Brother, don't speak recklessly!" She Weilong was given such a shock that he interjected. "My life is at stake."

Those two weren't even human. As long as they wanted to, they could listen to any word his manager said. When that time came and a lightning bolt came down, they wouldn't even be alive, what gossip could they engage in?

"Okay okay okay, I won't say it." Seeing that She Weilong's complexion had turned pale from fright, he didn't dare to say anything further either. Instead, he changed the topic to work. "You'll be going to the zoo tomorrow to film for a variety show. I've already asked the program team - your zodiac animal is the snake, your surname is also She, and even your fans' nickname for you is little snake, so the segment you're filming tomorrow might be related to snakes. If you're scared of snakes, I'll negotiate with the program team tonight and get them to abandon this arrangement."

"Snakes?" She Weilong patted his chest right then and there. "No worries, I'm not scared of them."

As a snake who had lived for hundreds of years, he would be a snake ancestor in front of those snakes. What did he have to fear?

On the other end, Chu Yu pulled the car door open for Zhuang Qing and Fu Li. He asked curiously, "There are evil spirits inside?"

Fu Li once again remembered Zhao Wu's actions. Furrowing his brows, he stated, "There are evil spirits and also evil people."

Chu Yu guessed that something else had definitely also happened. But when he turned around and saw the boss staring at him with an unkind gaze, he tactfully zipped his mouth shut. At certain moments, silence was golden. Being too talkative would lead to his death.

The car slowly proceeded along the flow of traffic. Fu Li looked out the window for a long while. Suddenly, he asked, "Why?"

Why was there someone who could so easily abandon their own child and even commit worse deeds? Elder White Ape had said that humans were the most intelligent animals. They invented tools, language, and script by relying on their own abilities. As a result, they understood ethics, etiquette, and possessed a faultless character that many animals didn't have.

But after living in the human world for a long time, he realized that humans came in all shapes and forms. Although there were those humans Elder White Ape had spoken of, there were also immoral humans who lacked even the slightest bit of humanity. Were his hopes for humans too great, which was why he found it particularly unbearable when witnessing their ugly side?

"Humans might be smarter than animals, but they are still a type of life form. They are not gods." Zhuang Qing lowered his head, looking at Fu Li's hand on his knee. He reached out and gripped Fu Li's wrist, as if this posture would enable him to better console Fu Li. "There are no perfect humans in the world, just like how there are no perfect yao cultivators."

Fu Li's lips moved. He couldn't refute Zhuang Qing, nor did he feel that there was anything wrong with Zhuang Qing holding his wrist.

"After my birth, I lived in the human world till my mother passed away from illness. After that, I lived in the dragon palace for a few years. I then constantly roamed the human world - the East, the West, and even the coldest north and south poles. I even made human friends." Zhuang Qing's voice was calm, bereft of emotional fluctuations as he recalled his memories. "My mother cannot be considered the traditional good woman. Although she was not favored by the emperor, she was a royal princess and thus possessed a lot of land, riches, servant girls, and also… male companions. After the death of her prince consort, she didn't even mourn for a hundred days before summoning male companions to play around with. Such a woman probably doesn't conform to the loyal and sentimental human in your heart."

Fu Li remained silent. He did indeed think that loyalty to one's partner was a must, regardless of whether one was male or female. Should one party pass away, finding another partner was understandable. But even then, one ought to treat emotions seriously and not be this frivolous.

"But such a woman actually didn't fear the words of outsiders after unwittingly getting pregnant. She still gave birth to me," The corner of Zhuang Qing's mouth raised slightly. "She only knew how to enjoy life, but treated me extremely well. Even when she was on the brink of death, she still went to the palace to request an imperial decree from the emperor who had never been fond of her, and managed to plead for a noble title and land for me."

"Is it that 'Wen An Marquis, Shang County'?" Fu Li asked in passing.

"Yes," Zhuang Qing feigned surprise. "How did you know about that?"

Only then did Fu Li remember that he had specially invited a little bird to help him send the jade plaque he had stolen, out of fear that Zhuang Qing would realize that he had violated the bureau's staff regulations. Regaining his wits, he coughed dryly, "I don't know where I heard it from either. Anyway, that's the impression I have."

Zhuang Qing sighed inwardly. Reflecting Mist Mountain had truly made Fu Li too obedient; he couldn't even lie.

"So that's the case," Zhuang Qing didn't expose Fu Li's lie. He nodded and said, "I've seen generals who, for the sake of protecting the common people, watched with tears in their eyes as their family members were shot to death by the enemy. I've seen elegant noblemen with high moral character eventually betray their country for glory. I've even seen filthy-mouthed, havoc-causing village women who, for the sake of protecting the village children, lure roving bandits away and end up hacked to death. I even had a good friend I got along well with who, for the sake of immortality, eventually colluded with evil yao to poison me to death using medicine."

"What happened after that?" Fu Li asked. "Were you okay?"

"I just experienced my second dragon transformation at that time and could naturally distinguish human medicine," Zhuang Qing lowered his eyelids. "So I didn't drink it."

"You were right not to drink it," Fu Li stated. "You're half-dragon and half-human, and your cultivation wasn't stable at that point. Human poison will still have some effect on you." These things that Zhuang Qing mentioned clearly couldn't be considered pleasant, whether it was the process or the outcome, but Fu Li actually felt somewhat relieved. It was likely that humans had been this erratic all along.

At this moment, the car came to an abrupt stop. Fu Li plastered his face against the window and looked out. A police officer wearing a fluorescent vest was splayed out beneath a car searching for something. Kneeling with both legs on the cold ground seemed to be uncomfortable for him, so he very quickly switched to kneeling on a single knee.

Woof! A sound could be heard from underneath the car.

A while later, the police officer finally stood up, his hands wrapped around a tiny dirty dog. A broad smile stretched across his face. Noticing that the car Fu Li was in had stopped behind his car, the police officer covered the tiny dog's eyes with a hand to prevent the headlights from shining into the dog's eyes.

"Sorry, sorry," The police officer saluted Fu Li and the others before carrying the tiny dog into the police car.

Their car drove past the police car. Fu Li looked back and saw the police officer seated in the driver's seat peel off his uniform, remove the thin sweater inside, and then shake it out, covering something at the front passenger seat.

He was probably covering the little puppy, thought Fu Li.

"What are you looking at?" Zhuang Qing asked.

"A cute person," Fu Li smiled. "Zhuang little dragon, thank you. I might have understood the meaning behind your words."

Zhuang Qing released his grip on Fu Li's wrist and said mockingly, "Even needing me to explain such a simple question, you still lack life experience. There's an event taking place at the capital's zoo tomorrow, I'll take you to the venue to patrol. You'll get it after interacting a bit more with humans."

"Thank you," Fu Li thanked him sincerely.

"Forget it. Who asked me to be your boss. If I don't protect you, who will?" Zhuang Qing stretched out a hand and rubbed Fu Li's head helplessly.

Fu Li felt that there was something wrong with this situation. Who exactly was the older and younger one between him and Zhuang Qing?

Chu Yu, who was driving in front, wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, there was also no chance for him to say anything. What could he say? Could he tell Fu ge that dispatching two employees from a subsidiary department to keep a watch on the venue was enough for such an event?

The boss already said that he wanted to let Fu ge interact a bit more with humans. How could he still blindly say that this was different from their past practices?

It wasn't like he was a mentally challenged fish.

The issue of the power failure backstage at the charity event didn't enter people's ears that night, but Zhuang Qing and Fu Li exploded in popularity online.

The two people had outstanding looks and had too much tacit understanding when walking the red carpet, thus many netizens felt that they were together. After they were refuted by other netizens, these netizens were very unresigned and managed to find plenty of evidence on the internet.

For instance, a certain weibo post made by the forestry bureau to thank a group of warm-hearted people for rescuing a rare snake species. The picture beneath the post contained Zhuang Qing and Fu Li's figures.

For instance, the godly knife wielder and fish seller who had been popular for a while on the internet. Zhuang Qing sold the fish, while Fu Li was responsible for accepting money and doing the weighing.

There were even netizens who discovered that Fu Li had once rescued a young lady from being harassed by hoodlums and had also been a security guard at a hotel.

Netizen 1: Hahaha, I'm going to die laughing because of this pair. They're clearly two Mr Perfects, yet they do such strange things. This roleplay of them selling fish at the market really is down-to-earth.

Netizen 2: Everyone, be a bit more solemn. With our chairman daren's knife work, he's simply pressuring all the fish sellers to death. Handsome guys who don't want to sell fish can't be good directors; I'm bowing down to these two.

Netizen 3: Look how happy Assistant Fu Li is when he's accepting money, his eyes are shining. Intuition tells me that this roleplay must have been thought up by Assistant Fu Li. Chairman daren really pampers his assistant. This pair is just so sweet!

Netizen 4: Can I break some news? The day before this fish selling video circulated online, I accompanied my grandma to an alley outside to buy fish. There are often people selling things in that alley, but according to the rules, stalls can't be set up at that place, so stall-keepers frequently run from city management. On that day, I saw city management chasing the chairman and his assistant all over the streets. They might not have known then that stalls can't be set up at that place, and only went to the market later on.

Netizen 5: I'm going to hiccup from laughter. Even television dramas don't dare to act out city management chasing a big shot and his boyfriend all over the streets. But, it really is meng! So meng!

Fu Li was oblivious to all the excitement on the internet. After returning, he went to bed very early before heading to the zoo to patrol early in the morning. Work should be done with dedication - this was his principle as a yao.

The zoo in the capital was ranked in the top five zoos in the entire country. The zoo offered a rich diversity of species and was strictly managed, so it attracted visitors from all over the country every year.

Although it wasn't a public holiday, the zoo was going to welcome two pandas, which resulted in many people from the capital racing over to join in the excitement. The capital zoo had already adopted the pandas, but this did not affect the enthusiasm the common people had for pandas.

As a national treasure of the mammal variety, pandas possessed a local charm that was unmatched by all animals. Countless people were captivated by them.

When Fu Li and Zhuang Qing rushed to the zoo, there were many publicity signboards at the venue. Many visitors were wearing panda headbands and caps, smiling with a mouth full of teeth.

Zhuang Qing hadn't bought tickets. Instead, he specially got hold of a staff pass and entered the zoo from the staff passage.

Touching the card hanging in front of his chest, Fu Li exclaimed in admiration, "Your thinking is really thorough. With a staff pass, handling any sudden incident will be easier."

Zhuang Qing was silent.

Holding the map of the zoo, the two of them followed the map and passed by compound after compound. Upon seeing a snake symbol hanging outside a certain compound, Fu Li paused. He didn't really want to enter.

Just seeing a snake was enough to make him think of the Feiyi. His childhood trauma was etched into his heart, unwilling to detach no matter what.

"What's wrong?" Zhuang Qing looked back at him.

Fu Li shook his head. As a senior who was more than 4200 years old, how could he appear terrified in front of a junior?

"Are you scared of snakes?" Zhuang Qing asked.

"No," Fu Li continued to shake his head. "How can I be scared of them?"

Zhuang Qing furrowed his brows. He extended a hand to Fu Li. "I'm not very fond of those things, looking at them makes my skin crawl. Can you lend your hand to me to hold?"

Ilyz: ZQ, why are you so cute?

On a side note, CG will be hosting a 10k discord members celebration event with lots of prizes from the translators and authors, make sure to check it out~ There are 2 bonus releases for DDAS up for grabs as well

All you have to do is submit fanart or fanfiction for any of the participating novels for a chance to score a prize ^^ Any submissions for DDAS would be really appreciated, let your imagination go wild!