Chapter 12: The Swampman Question

Lin Xia struggled hard, even swearing oaths, before he could finally convince Jiang Ciqiu that the pack of cigarettes in his hand was really something he had found.

And truthfully, he hadn’t lied. The cigarettes had come from the corpses of those black-clad assassins, and it was only after carefully confirming in the dark that there was no smell of blood on them that he dared to hold them.

Jiang Ciqiu stared at him suspiciously for a long while, then swiped the little red box from his hand in one broad gesture. “Minors aren’t allowed to smoke. I’m confiscating these.”

“Oh…”

Seeing Lin Xia’s pitiful, helpless look, like a kid whose toy had been stolen, Jiang Ciqiu felt a sudden pang of discomfort.

Hmph, when he was a kid and got bullied by other children, had he worn that same expression?

And this guy had been stuck in a hospital bed for so long, probably didn’t even have pocket money to buy snacks. It made sense he’d want to sell a found pack of cigarettes for cash.

But with Lin Xia’s level of knowledge, he surely wouldn’t know how much good cigarettes were worth. A pack worth 648 yuan could easily be conned into selling for 48.

Her inexplicable sympathy began to well up again. She sighed, grabbed a handful of candy from the plastic bag, and stuffed it into his pocket. “Fine, I’ll treat you to candy, alright? I’ll cover your snacks for the week.”

“Mm, deal.”

So, behind the convenience store, two teenagers in school uniforms crouched side by side on the steps, like stray cats keeping each other company, chewing on gummy candies under the night sky.

“So sweet.”

Lin Xia narrowed his eyes, savoring the fruity sweetness spreading across his mouth.

“Right? After getting back from the… from the hospital this afternoon, I passed by a shop and bought some. Thought they tasted pretty good.”

Jiang Ciqiu had almost let “the Bureau” slip out and quickly corrected herself.

But hearing the word hospital, Lin Xia’s chewing paused slightly. He frowned unconsciously, and the candy in his mouth didn’t seem as sweet anymore.

“So, Aqiu, what’s actually wrong with you?” The boy looked at her seriously. “Why did you cough up blood in the middle of the day?”

“Ah, I already told you, it’s nothing.”

Jiang Ciqiu waved her hand guiltily, trying to brush it off with a casual tone, while stuffing another cucumber-flavored gummy into her mouth.

But when she turned and met the boy’s gaze, she was startled by the deep, almost overflowing worry in those dark eyes.

“It’s, it’s really nothing! I’m not lying to you!” The girl hurriedly raised both hands in a gesture of assurance. “The test results came back the same as what the school nurse measured, all normal. If I’m lying, my family owes 16.8 billion, okay!”

Though she had actually gone to a Bureau meeting this afternoon, not the hospital, that statement wasn’t entirely a lie.

In her past life, she had thought about going to a hospital to cure this condition that made her cough up blood every now and then, but no matter how advanced the diagnostic equipment, nothing abnormal was ever found.

One doctor had even remarked, “It’s as if your body is producing extra flesh and blood out of nowhere, and then rejecting it.”

Jiang Ciqiu had her own explanation for it.

Probably because when she was nine, she was turned into a girl due to that Magical Girl incident, but this body still instinctively produced the flesh and blood that a male should have, and the rejection reaction pushed out the parts that were redundant for a female.

How could she possibly tell Lin Xia such an absurd guess?

“Alright, enough about that. You just got out of the hospital, you need to focus on replenishing your nutrition.”

Seeing him frown as if about to press further, Jiang Ciqiu quickly fished a boxed milk from her candy pocket and shoved it at him.

“Drink it, Lin Bao. I know you love milk the most.”

Lin Xia took it reflexively, noticing it was the milk-tea flavored one, with the five-yuan price tag still on. Aqiu really had spared no expense to cheer him up.

“Do you want me to call you mommy?”

“Scram, don’t be gross.”

Jiang Ciqiu got one out for herself too, chewing on candy amidst the artificial milky scent, trying to drown the oppressive feeling the mysterious man had brought her during tonight’s first battle with sugar.

As she chewed, she caught sight in her peripheral vision of Lin Xia staring straight at her.

“What, sad that I won’t let you call me mommy?” The girl turned her head and teased half-jokingly. “Or do you like me that much? Your gaze is practically turning to threads.”

Unexpectedly, Lin Xia nodded seriously.

“!”

Jiang Ciqiu’s heart skipped a beat.

Then, realizing the possible misinterpretation of his own action, Lin Xia’s face flushed crimson in an instant, and he fumbled to cover up. “I, I mean, as childhood friends, no, as the kind of like between good friends! After all, we’ve known each other for so many years…”

“Mm, I get it.”

Jiang Ciqiu nodded with a knowing look.

These adolescent little guys were so easy to fool. Give them some candy and a sip of milk, and they’d be calling her mommy.

But considering she wouldn’t even see the sun seven days from now, it was better not to warp his tastes too early.

She went along with the flow and concluded in a worldly tone, “So it’s the kind of like that isn’t Love, but Like, right?”

The girl in the male school uniform smiled and shuffled closer to her friend, reaching out to pat his shoulder.

“Me too, my dear friend!”

Jiang Ciqiu laughed brightly and openly, as if genuinely interacting with her same-s*x best buddy.

But at the words “dear friend,” a hint of bitterness crept into Lin Xia’s smile.

Well, fine. Surviving to see her smile was already a blessing. Now that he had become a monster, what right did he have to wish for more?

It was already rare enough for childhood friends to maintain pure friendship for over a decade. If he confessed rashly, all he’d get was a short-lived romance and a future where they never spoke again.

That was absolutely unacceptable. He’d rather stay best friends with Aqiu for life.

Feeling the artificial sweetness spreading in his mouth, the two each harbored their own thoughts, and for a moment neither spoke.

“Speaking of which, you just recovered from a major illness, why are you wandering around late at night?” Jiang Ciqiu broke the silence first.

“And aren’t you also out in the middle of the night, Aqiu?”

“I went out for exercise after dinner!” The girl lied without a shred of shame. “Today at the track, you lapped me, it was too embarrassing, so I made up my mind to train extra!”

With that, she even threw a punch into the air, trying to mask the exhaustion from the battle she’d just finished.

A bit childish, but since it was in front of Lin Xia, it should be fine, right?

After all, in her impression, his personality had always been that gentle, kind type like a light novel protagonist.

“And you?” Jiang Ciqiu waved her left hand. “You finally got out of the hospital, shouldn’t you be spending more time with your dad?”

Lin Xia’s smile faded, and he looked down at the steps beneath him. “Home… is a bit noisy. I prefer quieter places.”

Jiang Ciqiu frowned in confusion. If she remembered correctly, Lin Xia was from a single-parent family, and it should just be him and his dad at home.

But catching the hint of grief in the boy’s eyes, she tactfully didn’t press further.

Jiang Ciqiu still remembered that when they were kids, she’d often beaten up those brats who bullied Lin Xia for not having a mother. And in front of those little jerks, she’d even planted her hands on her hips and shouted, “From now on, I’m Lin Xia’s mom! Whoever uses this topic to mock Lin Xia again, I’ll sew their mouth shut!”

Later, when Lin Xia got that strange illness and was hospitalized in the early years, his father often came to stay with him. But as time passed, perhaps thinking there was truly no hope of recovery, or unwilling to watch his own flesh and blood suffer in a hospital bed every day, the man’s visits grew fewer and fewer.

In the end, it was, ironically, this childhood friend of his who stayed with him through it all, without fail.

“Every family has its own troubles.”

The girl sighed with an air of maturity, sucking on a lollipop and gazing at the night sky.

Lin Xia turned to look at her feigning profound thought, and somehow felt that between those pink lips, the stick of the lollipop might, at any moment, puff out smoke.

“Aqiu, you’re really mature.”

“, !”

Jiang Ciqiu was so startled by those words that she nearly swallowed the whole lollipop.

What was going on? Could he have noticed that the soul in this body was actually a thirty-something office worker?!

“R, really? That’s probably because when you were in the hospital, besides me, you didn’t have anyone to talk to. You’re just imagining things!”

While forcing out an explanation, Jiang Ciqiu met Lin Xia’s gaze.

In her mind, the words Tang Yuanding had spoken in the meeting room surfaced once more, it was highly likely that the current Lin Xia was no longer the person she remembered.

Jiang Ciqiu swallowed. The urge to probe was burning in her chest, and she couldn’t suppress it.

“…Hey, Lin Xia.” She feigned nonchalance, staring at the patterns of the brick on the ground as she asked casually.

“If a person dies, but at the exact moment of death, someone appears in the world who is identical to him in every way, appearance, memories, personality, all of it, would you consider them the same person?”

“, !”

This time, it was Lin Xia’s turn to feel his heart drop.

Damn it. Had Aqiu noticed something off?

Had she smelled the blood on him? No way! After the fight, he’d made sure to spray deodorant thoroughly!

“Cough, the Swampman thought experiment?” Lin Xia tried to cover his unease with a technical term. “I didn’t know you were interested in that kind of philosophical question, Aqiu.”

“Ahaha, not really, just saw it online.”

Jiang Ciqiu let out a dry laugh and didn’t dare continue that topic.

Because she realized it was a boomerang.

If she really wanted to be strict about it, as a JK whose thirty-year-old soul had taken over a sixteen-year-old body, wasn’t she, in some sense, also a Swampman?

A cold sweat ran down her temple. Thinking that saying more would mean making more mistakes, and doing less would mean making fewer, Jiang Ciqiu decided to make her escape.

“It’s getting late. Time to head back.”

But just as she stood up, a hand grabbed her sleeve.

“Can… you stay with me a bit longer?”

Jiang Ciqiu turned back and met the boy’s dark eyes.

In that gaze was a mix of sorrow, reluctance, and loneliness, like a child lost on a winter street, clinging desperately to the last lit match for warmth.

Jiang Ciqiu felt as if something had gripped her heart tightly. A strange feeling, blending pity and kindness, surged up within her.

What was this? The inherent maternal instinct of a female body?

Damn, she shouldn’t have taken up his mommy bit. She didn’t even play that anime CS roleplay!

…But then again.

If the Lin Xia before her were a fake, could he really make such a heartbreaking expression? Surely not, right?

“Sigh, fine.”

The girl sighed and sat back down beside him.

“Come on, let me hear about your struggles with your family, your unfortunate love life, and your dreams. But you know what happens after you’re done talking.”

Jiang Ciqiu had thought those words might lighten the unfamiliar, heavy atmosphere in the air.

But the next words out of Lin Xia’s mouth made the smile on her face freeze, and she wished she could strangle the version of herself from a few seconds ago.

The boy kept his head down, his voice soft.

“My dad… he remarried.”

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