Chapter 104: The Night Market Disguise as a Couple Plan

Shen Yan’s fingers still gripped the Programming Pen tightly, his knuckles white, as if afraid it would be snatched away if he loosened his hold. The lights at the edge of the night market flickered, and the greasy smoke from the skewer stalls clung to his face, yet he dared not even blink.

That delivery person just now—

That half-second pause was no coincidence.

“Put it away.” Luo Li’s voice was hushed, her tail tightening subtly like a taut rope. “Someone’s onto you.”

Shen Yan snapped back to reality, his fingers trembling as he stuffed the Programming Pen into his sleeve. The Terminal Interface had just dimmed when a faint buzzing reached his ears—【High-altitude Spiritual Energy Node Locked, Countdown Seventeen Seconds】.

“Facial scan incoming?” Yu Xiaotang pulled a strawberry lollipop from behind her back and popped it into her mouth, mumbling, “Right now, we’re a married couple selling sugar paintings. You’re the boss, I’m the wife, and she’s your sister—the kind who loves spicy food.”

“Since when am I your husband?” Shen Yan frowned.

“The Sky Eye activates in three seconds. Do you want to be a fugitive or a fake couple?” Yu Xiaotang grabbed his wrist, stood on tiptoe, and leaned close to his ear, her warm breath brushing his earlobe. “Play along, or none of us will make it.”

Before he could respond, she suddenly reached up and brushed the stray hair from his forehead, her movements unnervingly intimate.

Shen Yan’s scalp prickled. Just as he tried to pull away, the Terminal automatically projected a scan prediction—three Humanoid Outlines were locked in red frames. In ten seconds, the Mystic Gate’s Spirit Mirror would pierce their disguises, revealing the chaotic Spiritual Energy Fluctuations within them.

“Fine,” he gritted his teeth. “But only until we’re safe.”

“Deal.” Yu Xiaotang grinned, sugar crumbs still clinging to the corner of her mouth.

Shen Yan immediately crouched down, pretending to adjust a rickety sugar painting cart. The wheels were rusted stiff, the frame tilted, and a few cracked sugar figurines dangled from it, creaking in the wind. He closed his eyes, instantly summoning a black Terminal Window with green text in his mind. His fingers moved swiftly in his pocket, as if fiddling with a phone.

【Initiate Mimicry Protocol: Sugar Painting Data Projection】

【Input Source: Street Sugar Figurine Reflectivity + Camera Distortion Algorithm】

【Output Mode: Dynamic Mapping of Three Individuals, Disguised as Rotating Sugar Statues】

Halfway through programming, the Terminal issued a Notice of insufficient Energy. Clenching his teeth, he pulled a warm Spirit Stone fragment from his chest pocket and slipped it into a hidden pouch in his sleeve—a leftover from the amusement park ruins he’d scavenged last time, never expecting it to come in handy.

Code scrolled rapidly as three sugar figurine models took shape in the virtual Interface. Shen Yan took a deep breath and pressed Enter.

In the next instant, the outlines of the three of them began to warp and stretch, their skin taking on an amber glow, as if cast from molten sugar syrup. The sugar statues rotated slowly, swaying gently in the wind, blending seamlessly into the night market stalls.

“Done,” Shen Yan whispered, his voice nearly drowned out by the sizzle of a wok.

But just then, Yu Xiaotang suddenly reached out, grabbed the back of his neck, and forcefully pressed his head against her shoulder!

“Don’t move!” she panted. “They’re here!”

Two Mystic Gate Disciples in gray robes approached, carrying lanterns and holding a bronze Spirit Mirror. The mirror’s surface glowed with a faint blue light, sweeping over each stall.

“These sugar figurines… something’s off.” One of them paused, reaching out to touch the face of the sugar statue corresponding to Shen Yan.

Fine cracks began to spread across the sugar shell—the mimicry System was failing!

At the critical moment, Yu Xiaotang suddenly turned her head and bit Shen Yan’s right earlobe!

Intense pain exploded—it was an old wound previously scratched by a poisoned needle, its scab freshly formed and instantly torn open. Warm blood flowed down his neck as a trace of dark red liquid seeped from the tip of Yu Xiaotang’s tongue, entering beneath the skin through the wound.

In that instant—

The Terminal Interface refreshed frantically, countless twisted purple characters cascading like a waterfall:

【Devil Clan bloodline contact Detected】

【Hidden Protocol triggered: Blood Rune Synchronous Resonance】

【Permission unlocked: Void Contract Primary Authentication】

The surface of the sugar sculpture suddenly glowed with a purple halo, as if blessed by some ancient Rune. The spirit mirror swept over it, a flash of cyan light extinguishing instantly.

“An illusion?” The Mystic Gate Disciple frowned, withdrawing his hand. “Probably just a reflection.”

The two turned and left, their footsteps gradually fading into the distance.

Shen Yan staggered back, clutching his ear, his face pale. “You… knew this would trigger something?”

Yu Xiaotang spat out the candy stick in her mouth, licked the blood at the corner of her lips, her expression complex. “I just didn’t want to die here.”

Luo Li stared coldly at her. “What you just used was Devil Blood.”

“Oh?” Yu Xiaotang raised an eyebrow. “So, are you planning to split up now?”

The air froze for a moment.

From afar came the hum of an electric scooter engine. A black, unlicensed electric vehicle slowly approached the sugar painting stall. Its basket was empty, and the rider wore a full-face helmet, obscuring their face.

“The Program can’t hold much longer,” Shen Yan said, looking down at the Terminal. The sugar sculpture Projection had already begun pixelating, with jagged tears appearing at the edges. “If we don’t withdraw now, the next scan will expose us.”

He decisively clicked the termination Command.

The three sugar sculptures “melted” amidst the smoky air, reverting to human forms. Shen Yan grabbed both of them and dragged them into a nearby alley.

The alley was piled with trash bins, the oily smoke from a barbecue stall forming a fog-like wall that blocked infrared detection. They hurried along the base of the wall, passing through three intersections before finally stopping at the foot of an old residential building.

The mottled exterior of the building bore a faded sign: Yuelai Hotel. Two strokes of the neon lights were missing, leaving only the characters “You Lai Bin” flickering intermittently.

Yu Xiaotang pulled a yellowed room card from her chest, its edges severely worn. “This is a safe house I hid during a previous mission. It shouldn’t be registered.”

Luo Li’s ears twitched slightly, her brow furrowing. “There’s the sound of Gu Worms crawling inside.”

“That’s rats,” Yu Xiaotang rolled her eyes. “Can you stop hearing everything as supernatural creatures?”

“I’m stating facts,” Luo Li replied coldly. “And what you did earlier didn’t seem like it was just for survival.”

Just as Yu Xiaotang was about to retort, Shen Yan suddenly raised a hand to stop her.

Leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, the final line of text slowly appeared on his Terminal:

【Devil Clan script analysis progress: Seven percent】

At the same time, the old wound on his right ear continued to bleed. The blood trickled down his neck into his collar, leaving a dark red trail. Stranger still, the blood seemed to move beneath his skin for a moment before retracting into the wound as if alive.

Shen Yan closed his eyes and whispered, “Tonight… no one should sleep too soundly.”

Yu Xiaotang gripped the room card tightly, her fingertips trembling slightly. She hadn’t told them that the bite earlier wasn’t just an emergency measure.

It was the last life-saving spell her mother taught her before she died—exchanging blood for a Contract, borrowing power to prolong life.

But she never expected this power to Resonate with the Source Code within Shen Yan’s body.

Luo Li stared at Shen Yan’s profile, her fox tail silently tightening around his wrist. She sensed an anomaly.

That drop of blood shouldn’t have retracted.

The hallway sensor light flickered on and off, stretching the shadows of the three into alternating lengths. Yu Xiaotang swiped her card to open the door, the iron gate emitting a grating screech.

Inside, the musty smell hit them—a double bed, an old-fashioned television, faded celebrity posters on the wall. In the corner, a small refrigerator hummed softly.

Shen Yan staggered in, leaning against the table, when his Terminal suddenly vibrated.

A new Notice popped up:

【Unknown Signal source Detected, frequency resonating with the character “dream” carved on the right ear of the toy bear】

His pupils contracted.

That shabby toy bear was still in the Storage ring.

Just as Yu Xiaotang was about to close the window, she suddenly heard footsteps from downstairs.

Not just one person.

At least three pairs of shoes, stepping on the concrete stairs in a uniform rhythm, like a trained patrol team.

She quickly drew the curtains and turned to look at Shen Yan: “What do we do?”

Shen Yan stared at the Terminal, his fingers tapping lightly on the table as if writing Code.

A moment later, he looked up, a faint, cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

“Since they want to investigate the couple selling sugar paintings…”

“Let them investigate to their heart’s content.”

(End of Chapter)