Chapter 21: So Basically, Even Ordinary Life Is Exhausting

9:00 p.m.

B District, Hive Low-Rent Apartments, Building B7, Room 703.

Lin Yu lay sprawled on his creaking single bed like a boneless invertebrate.

There wasn’t a single visible wound on his body, yet the phantom pain left behind by an entire day of “hellish special training” felt like countless needles stabbing into every nerve ending he had.

His calves twitched. His lower back groaned. Even his skin still carried a faint numbness, as if it had been licked by weak electric arcs.

No wonder anime always likes to show magical girls being tortured…

So this is what it feels like.

Struggling, he sat up, grabbed a bottle of cheap medicated oil from the bedside table, and rubbed it onto his arms. The sharp, pungent smell instantly spread through the room.

Then he lit a cigarette—ten yuan a pack, “Android” brand.

The familiar choking taste of nicotine finally soothed his nerves on the verge of collapse.

Just then, the brand-new phone by his bed vibrated.

Two words flashed on the screen—[Mom].

Lin Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

He instinctively glanced at the time: 9:15 p.m.—exactly when his mother, Zhang Lihua, made her nightly “inspection call.”

He hurriedly swept the empty instant noodle cup and the medicated oil into a trash bag in the corner, cleared his throat, and answered.

“Hello, Mom.”

“Son! How was your day?!”

His mother’s voice was as loud and energetic as ever.

“It was great!”

Lin Yu lied without changing expression.

“Just wrapped up a project and had a big meal.”

“Oh, that’s good. This new job of yours sounds so high-end—it must be mentally demanding, right? What did you do today?”

Lin Yu’s scalp tingled as he forced himself to spout nonsense:

“Oh, just did some ‘data interface stress testing’ on Skydome Group’s ‘AI deep learning framework,’ and optimized a few algorithms… all technical stuff.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing!”

His mother was immediately convinced.

Just then, a deep male voice cut in:

“Alright, alright! What do you even understand?!”

It was his father, Lin Jianguo.

His stern, engineer-like face squeezed into the camera as he interrogated:

“How about your coworkers? Getting along okay?”

“Uh…”

Getting along?

What, was he supposed to say they almost beat him to death?

“We’re… we’re getting along great! Oh, right, Dad—the medicated patches you sent last time worked really well. I even recommended them to my coworkers today!”

“Hmph, of course they did.”

His father’s expression softened slightly.

His mother snatched the camera back:

“Don’t mind your father. Oh right, son—something important. I talked to your sister Xiaoxue today. Her project at Ruikang Biotech is going really well. Her supervisor might let her advance early. She said she’ll get three or four days off in about two weeks. As her older brother, you have to take a day to treat her to a meal and go shopping with her. Got it?!”

Huh?

Meeting his genius little sister?

Lin Yu felt a headache coming on.

To be honest… he really didn’t dare face her.

She’d always been smarter than him since childhood.

If she found out his job was being a magical girl…

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

His mother’s tone grew dissatisfied.

“Got a high-tech job and now you don’t even have time to eat with your own sister?”

“No—no! I definitely have time! I’ll treat her to the most expensive buffet in the city!”

Lin Yu quickly swore.

“That’s more like it. You’re the older brother—you should act like one. Xiaoxue may be smarter than you, but she lacks life experience. You need to take care of her.”

“Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right.”

Satisfied, his mother continued:

“Oh right, son—you told us about your job before, but I forgot to ask. What’s your company called? I want to brag about it to Aunt Liu and the others!”

“Uh—”

Lin Yu instinctively opened his mouth, then froze. His throat suddenly went dry.

That cursed name was printed clearly on the contract—with a five-million penalty fee.

But…

“What’s wrong? Is the company name… that hard to remember?”

His mother now sounded confused—and suspicious.

“…It’s called…”

Lin Yu closed his eyes and forced the words out through gritted teeth, like a man heading to the execution ground.

“…Dawn… Labor Service… Co., Ltd.”

“What?”

She clearly didn’t hear it.

“What service company? Speak louder!”

“Dawn Labor Service Co., Ltd.!”

Lin Yu practically shouted.

“Oh… Dawn… labor service…”

His mother slowly repeated the name, her tone full of doubt.

“…Son, why does that sound… like a housekeeping company?”

Mom, you’re not wrong. What I do now isn’t that different from a high-end cleaner.

Lin Yu felt his heart being tightly squeezed. He could only resort to the most shameless excuse:

“Mom! My boss just @-mentioned me in the work group! There’s an urgent bug to fix! I gotta go!”

With that, he hastily hung up the video call.

The room fell into dead silence.

One day, they’ll find out…

If they ever learned that their “promising” son was doing this kind of job every day…

He didn’t dare think further.

The air in the room grew heavier and heavier, suffocating him.

He grabbed his phone and cigarettes and stepped out.

But just as he closed the door, a voice rang out—

“Oh, Xiao Lin, heading out?”

His body instantly stiffened.

It was Auntie Liu, the building supervisor, walking over slowly with a bag of discounted eggs and scallions.

“You look exhausted,” she said, stopping in front of him, the pungent smell of scallions hitting his face.
“New job’s tough, huh? But look at you now—new phone, branded shoes. Much more energetic than before!”

Lin Yu forced out a smile uglier than crying.

“Heh… it’s… it’s alright, Auntie Liu.”

“Oh, right, Xiao Lin!”

She suddenly lowered her voice, her face lighting up with gossip.

“This morning around four, when I went to throw out trash, I saw a young girl coming out of your room. Said she was your cousin. Oh my, she was so pretty—like a doll! Why didn’t I know you had such a beautiful relative back home?”

Cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.

“Ah… yeah, Auntie Liu.”

His voice turned dry.

“She’s a distant cousin’s daughter. On summer break, came to see the city. My place is small, so she’s just staying a few days.”

“Ohhh, I see!”

Auntie Liu nodded knowingly, then slapped her thigh.

“I thought so! Looking closely, she actually resembles you a bit—same delicate features! She’s about the same age as your sister Xiaoxue, right? When Xiaoxue’s on break, you should let them hang out! Two girls shopping and drinking milk tea together—how nice!”

Let Gray Crystal meet Lin Xue?!

Lin Yu felt like his brain had been struck by lightning. He could already imagine Lin Xue staring at that “cousin” for ten minutes before calmly asking:

“When did my brother ever have a cousin like you?”

“Why so quiet, Xiao Lin?”

Auntie Liu nudged him.

“What’s there to be shy about? As the older brother, you’ve got to think for your sisters! Look at Xiaoxue—so promising! My nephew, who works as a driver at the Municipal Administrative Committee, said the project at Ruikang Biotech is a key supported project in the city. Big shots have inspected it multiple times! And Xiaoxue’s working under that foreign doctor—what was her name—Evelyn Reed! Her future’s limitless! You’d better work hard and earn more, or you won’t even have money to give your sister a decent red envelope later!”

“Y-Yes! You’re absolutely right, Auntie Liu! I… I’ll work hard!”

Lin Yu felt his face muscles stiffen from forced smiling.

“Ding—”

The elevator arrived.

“Oh, Auntie Liu! I’ve got a late-night snack appointment with a friend! I’m gonna be late! Gotta go!”

He didn’t even dare look back, rushing into the elevator and frantically pressing the close button.

Through the narrowing gap of the doors, he could still hear her shouting:

“Go on, go on! Don’t forget to let your cousin keep in touch with Xiaoxue—!!”

“Clang.”

The elevator doors shut completely.

Lin Yu slumped against the wall, staring at his exhausted reflection in the metal surface, muttering:

“Dealing with people like this… is seriously exhausting…”

Stepping out of the damp, gossip-filled low-rent apartment, the cold night wind of B District at 9:30 p.m. hit his face.

The suffocating smell of cheap medicated oil from Room 703 was gone, replaced by something far more vivid:

The faint stench of roadside sewers, the greasy spice of restaurant fumes, and the warm, cheap sweetness of oden from a 24-hour convenience store.

Mixed together, these smells were crude and lowly—yet undeniably real.

Instinctively pulling his thin jacket tighter, Lin Yu wandered the streets like a ghost.

Neon signs cut the narrow street into chaotic fragments.

He needed somewhere—somewhere he could temporarily forget he was “Gray Crystal”… even forget he was “Lin Yu.”

Soon, he found it.

At a street corner not far from the apartment stood a shabby barbecue stall with no proper sign.

A few shaky folding tables and plastic stools barely held it together.

The owner was a burly, bald man with a fleshy face, shirtless, a faded cheap dragon tattoo on his arm. He fanned a greasy charcoal grill while loudly cursing an apprentice.

The choking aroma of cumin and chili powder filled the air, sinful yet irresistibly enticing.

This was the late-night canteen for the bottom-tier workers of Hive B7.

Lin Yu walked up like a regular.

“Boss! Ten skewers of kidneys, ten skewers of tendon, two iced colas!”

“Got it! Find a seat yourself!”

The bald man replied without turning.

Lin Yu picked a corner table and lit a cigarette.

Looking around, he saw people just like his former self:

Night-shift workers from Huaxia Heavy Industries drinking and shouting;

Delivery riders wolfing down skewers while scrolling their phones;

Even a few heavily made-up young women chatting about livestream “top donors.”

Everyone’s face carried the fatigue and numbness of being beaten down by life.

It really is like two different worlds…

He exhaled smoke, mocking himself.

The sterile training grounds of Dawn Company…
The tomb-like VIP wards of Ruikang…
Those powerful, beautiful magical girls…

Compared to that, he felt like an extra who had accidentally fallen from reality into a fantasy novel.

Soon, the boss slammed down a greasy tray piled with sizzling skewers and two frosty colas.

Lin Yu grabbed a hot skewer and stuffed it into his mouth.

The rich fatty flavor exploded instantly—

I’m alive again.

Then—

A slightly sleazy voice came from behind like a ghost:

“Holy crap! Isn’t this the legend of the ‘Xinhai Unemployment Forum’—three years of daily check-ins, over 80,000 posts, and still jobless—the ‘B District Sleeping God,’ Lin Yu?!”

Lin Yu froze.

Only one person in the world talked like that.

He turned slowly.

Sure enough—a chubby guy in a white T-shirt printed with the word “Lie Flat,” grinning like he’d finally caught prey.

His online flame-war partner and real-life frenemy—Wang Wei.

“Well, well, Lin the Great?”

Wang Wei plopped down uninvited and grabbed the fattest skewer.

“Got rich, huh? Eating alone? Didn’t even invite me? That’s cold!”

Looking at this familiar face, hearing that familiar trash-talk, the tension in Lin Yu’s double life finally loosened.

“…Screw off!”

He laughed, tossing him a cola.

“What are you doing here?”

“Duh, this place is the cheapest within five kilometers!”

Wang Wei chugged a gulp, then narrowed his eyes.

“Wait… something’s off.”

He pointed at Lin Yu’s shoes.

“These… the new ‘Feitian’ series, right? Over a thousand yuan! And that phone—Huawei MATE 90?! Dude… no way…”

His grin turned obscene and envious.

“You didn’t… get kept by a rich woman, did you?!”

“Kept your head!”

Lin Yu rolled his eyes.

“I got a job, okay?”

“A job?!”

Wang Wei’s voice shot up.

“What kind of job lets you wear thousand-yuan shoes?! Even our forum admin doesn’t get that! Spill it! Is it one of those… no-clothes-required jobs?!”

“….”

Lin Yu’s temples throbbed again.

Eventually, he muttered:

“…Just a slightly higher-end labor dispatch job.”

“I knew it!”

Wang Wei smirked smugly—but his envy remained.

“Still, working under Skydome is totally different from us who can’t even send out resumes…”

He sighed deeply.

Lin Yu watched him in silence.

The price I pay… could you really accept it?

Fighting monsters in a skirt… risking losing his identity…

Would anyone believe that?

Just then—

A drunken middle-aged man staggered over, reeking of alcohol, slamming two foamy beers onto their table.

“Brothers… you look miserable… must’ve been screwed by this damn society, huh?!”

Beer splashed everywhere—even onto Lin Yu’s skewers.

“Meeting is fate! As men, nothing can’t be solved with a drink! If one’s not enough—then two!”

“Come! This round’s on me! Give me some face!”

Wang Wei immediately shrank, reaching for the glass.

But Lin Yu frowned.

He no longer had the luxury of numbing himself with alcohol.

“Sorry, man,” he said calmly.

“I appreciate it. But I’ve got something important early tomorrow. Can’t drink.”

The refusal froze the air.

The drunk’s expression darkened. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Lin Yu.

In a threatening tone, he repeated:

“Brother… have a drink.”