"Wait a second!"
Suddenly someone called out to him from behind. It was a man dressed in a tuxedo, handsome yet stern, looking at him with a harsh gaze. "Hey, you! Stop right there!"
"Me?"
Huai Shi felt a bit panicky and involuntarily leaned back under his piercing stare.
"Are you the new guy today? You're leaving without even meeting the number one guy of the club? Do you have any idea of the rules here?" The man walked ahead of him, standing on the steps and looking down at him, nodding. "Your face is quite good, but you'd better stay in line. When it comes to looks, you can't beat me."
With that, he flamboyantly ran his hand through his slightly blond-streaked hair, making Huai Shi feel slightly nauseous inside, and he replied annoyed, "Sorry, number one, but I don't do the Cowherd thing!"
"Oh, it's called male escort now. It's all the same."
The 'number one guy' nodded understandingly and generously waved his hand. "No worries, since you called me number one, I'll take you under my wing from now on."
He then pulled out a bottle from his handbag and stuffed it into Huai Shi's arms, patting him on the shoulder with gravity. "Even as a Cowherd, be professional. When you go home, take care of that oily face of yours; your skincare routine is way too rough. It's a shame for such a pretty face… Use it sparingly, it's a premium product from Europe."
After he finished speaking, he didn't wait for Huai Shi's 'gratitude'. He lifted his chin and turned to leave.
"..."
Huai Shi stood dumbfounded at the entrance, looking down at the skincare product in his hand. He was unsure if he should smash it at the entrance while proclaiming something like, "Times change; don't despise the poor youth."
After a while, he looked at the delicate little bottle and with some toothache-like discomfort, stuffed it into his bosom.
Forget it, I've come all this way. It seems quite expensive, and it would be a pity to lose it... It's not even opened yet. I'll let Old Yang sell it later.
Poverty makes me humble.
Why am I still so poor when I clearly have a golden finger!
He pulled out a notebook from his backpack and flipped through it back and forth for a while, then sighed and stuffed it back into his pocket.
Thinking of Old Yang, he couldn't help clenching his teeth in anger. He took out his phone to dial a number and then cursed fiercely, "Old Yang, are you freaking sick or what? Why the hell would you refer me to an interview for a Cowherd job? You must be crazy about earning that referral fee!"
"Hey, I didn't ask clearly, you know. They require someone young with rich experience, good looks, and talents... I was just thinking of your poverty, wasn't I considering your needs? Don't be angry. How about I treat you to a meal the day after tomorrow? Celebrating my sister-in-law's recent discharge from the hospital, and remember to bring over some chives..."
"Bring your ass, are you eating them or not?"
Huai Shi hung up the phone irritably. He was sure that bastard did it on purpose, just waiting for him to inadvertently climb aboard the thief ship to earn that commission.
But then thinking about Old Yang's family situation, he couldn't bring himself to hate him.
This bastard would do anything for money just to scrape together his wife's cancer treatment expenses. Otherwise, he wouldn't be dealing with Huai Shi's kind of part-time odd jobs just for that little bit of commission. Besides, apart from not discounting the referral fee, the guy was fairly generous and didn't nickel and dime him for anything else.
They were brothers in hardship.
Forget it, forget it...
Huai Shi sighed and then heard thunder.
Over the gloomy sky, dark clouds drifted from afar. Under the dim sunlight, one could faintly see coral reefs growing among the clouds, along with the shadows of fish schools...
The slightly blue ocean gently swayed, sprinkling the land with ripples of light.
It was going to rain.
It is said that seventy or eighty years ago, these Coral Clouds were rare. Back then, they were still in the sea and hadn't floated up to the sky to fly around the world.
Many scientists attributed it to the discovery of some rare element or air pollution, but not many people believed that.
At first, everyone panicked, thinking the apocalypse was approaching, but after waiting decades, classic apocalyptic creatures like zombies never showed up.
Over time, everyone got used to it.
It was just something extra floating in the sky, and it just meant a bit more rain than usual, right? Planes adjusted their flight paths, and life continued as usual.
Money still needed to be earned, debts still had to be paid, and life had to go on as usual.
After a few days of chaos, everything returned to normal.
It seemed no different from the days before.
The thunder rolled.
Huai Shi hadn't brought an umbrella and, not daring to waste time, he turned and dashed home. But in his rush, he heard a distant boom.
This time the thunder was exceptionally clear, even making the ground tremble.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw smoke and flames rising from the distant docks, as if something had exploded there.
People on the street looked at each other in bewilderment. Some excitedly took out their phones to take pictures, while others moved closer to the commotion, eager for a glimpse.
If it had been any other day, Huai Shi might have been curious enough to go and have a look. But now he felt almost crushed by the double burden of life and his Cowherd predicament. As for excitement, he could do without it...
He sighed, turned left into a narrow alley, and quickened his pace.
BANG!
At the end of the alley, a bottle was kicked against the wall, shattering glass all over the ground, quickly followed by a leather boot crushing it into pieces.
Someone burst out from around the corner, staggering like a drunk, not even slowing down, and brushed past Huai Shi, before splatting against the wall.
Huai Shi was stunned.
What kind of hero was this?
But unexpectedly, after stumbling from the collision, the 'hero' saw Huai Shi and suddenly lunged at him.
Huai Shi couldn't dodge in time and was grabbed by the wrist, and then he felt a heavy box being stuffed into his embrace.
"What the hell is this?"
He stood there, instinctively trying to pull away, but felt something wet and sticky on his hand—a thick red substance flowed from the other person's sleeve.
It was blood.
Only now did the dense, unmistakable smell of blood hit him in the face.
Huai Shi suddenly felt a wave of severe dizziness and headache, bent over, and uncontrollably retched up a heap of saliva.
When he raised his head, he finally saw the man's ferocious face and his contorted features. The man looked at Huai Shi with astonishment, as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Despite the bizarre scene, Huai Shi accidentally saw that in the puddle of blood the man had spat out... there was a little goldfish?
It was not even big, just the sort of ornamental goldfish people keep in aquariums, looking plump and cute.
"Dude, you really have a taste for the exotic, huh? Can you even eat this? And it's raw!"
Huai Shi was dumbfounded. "You must've gotten a bad stomach from this, didn't you?"
But then he saw the goldfish floundering in the pool of blood rapidly wither away, eventually turning into a clump of ash-like substance, dissolving in the blood.
As the goldfish died, the man seemed to lose all his strength and collapsed on the ground, no longer breathing. Only a thick gush of red seeped from beneath his trench coat.
In the silence, only Huai Shi remained in the alley.
And that box that had been shoved into his hands...
The box looked larger than a typical Magic Cube and was heavy to the touch. Shaking it, it seemed to be filled with liquid.
It felt cold to the touch, with the distinct chill of iron and copper. Its surface was engraved with ornate totems Huai Shi had never seen before. The totems were obscured by the man's viscous blood, making them indistinct, but they seemed to possess an incredible magic power.
Huai Shi swallowed.
He felt a thirst.
Simply holding it in his hands, he couldn't help wanting to open it. It was as if something inside held an irresistible temptation, making him desperately want to possess it, to obtain it...
He took a deep breath.
In such a situation, was there really a need to think about what to choose?
Without a second thought, Huai Shi took out his phone.
"Hello? Is this 110?"