Chapter 1151: Material

Rabbit Room, underground sixth floor of Millenium Tower, early morning.

In the dim, messy living room, Zhang Wei and Gregor lounged on the sofa in unkempt states, each holding a controller as they played an old console game,

Supernatural Dodge Ball

[1].

“Hurry, hurry!” Zhang Wei shouted. “Ignore the thugs. Just run past them!”

“I can’t.” Gregor struggled to keep up. “Geez, he kicked me. I’m on the ground. Come on, save me...”

“Give me a sec. I’ll pick up a chain and whip this guy to death!”

Bam!

Dr. Jia slammed the door open and rushed into the living room with visible panic. “Parry! Did you see my Parry?”

Zhang Wei and Gregor blinked at him. They paused the game and exchanged a glance before looking at the tea table before them.

The table was cluttered with several beer cans, an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, and cartons of takeout. One of the boxes held small bones and what seemed like a bird’s head.

Gregor flashed Dr. Jia an embarrassed smile. “Your Parry...only has a head left now. Neither of us like it. Why don’t we reheat it for you?”

Zhang Wei had a toothpick in his mouth. “It’s my first time having a parrot. It’s quite tasty.”

Dr. Jia stayed in stunned silence for a few seconds.

“****! I’m gonna kill you!!” Enraged, he charged at the two men, picking up a mug from the table to hurl it at Gregor’s head. Zhang Wei stopped him with a glance, and when he stumbled and fell, Zhang Wei quickly caught him, taking the mug from him.

Gregor pulled Dr. Jia to the sofa, patting him on the shoulder. “We’re obviously messing with you. Didn’t expect you to believe it.”

“Messing with me?” Dr. Jia’s eyes were still red from the emotional outburst. “It’s a joke?”

“Who eats parrots?” Zhang Wei snickered. “I heard it’s terrible.”

Dr. Jia pointed at the bird head in the take-out carton. “Then...what is this?”

“Roasted pigeon,” Zhang Wei said.

“Where did you get roasted pigeon so late at night?” Dr. Jia asked, still worried.

“Takeout from Ni Nation,” Zhang Wei said proudly. “Brother Yang just returned from the desert, and guessing we’d still be awake, he brought us snacks. He’s the best, I tell you.”

“Don’t be so gullible,” Gregor said dismissively. “It’s obviously his leftover. He didn’t get out of his way to feed us.”

“So? What if he didn’t?” Zhang Wei pressed. “Brother Yang remembered us even though he’s been busy with a million things. A bossman like that isn’t easy to come by. Don’t take it for granted.”

“Thank God Parry’s alright...” Dr. Jia sighed in relief. Then he tensed again, “But wait, where is my bird? Why haven’t I seen it anywhere?”

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

“It went out with Nine Frost early in the morning,” Gregor said.

“What for?” Dr. Jia asked.

“Dunno. Probably following him on a mission. You’ve been busy with research and never played with it. It had to find its fun somewhere else.”

“Mission!” Dr. Jia panicked again. “Won’t that be dangerous?”

Gregor snorted. “Don’t worry, it’s not a dangerous mission. Besides, your little parrot isn’t useful enough for Nine Frost to send it out to fight.”

“Right, right.” Dr. Jia finally settled down a little.

“Hm...I’m getting sleepy. I’m off to shower and go to bed.” Zhang Wei yawned and rose to his feet, walking away.

Gregor wasn’t ready to retire to bed yet. He extended his legs and grabbed a can of beer from the tea table with his feet, passing it to his hand and opening the can. Having a sip, he glanced to the side at Dr. Jia. The man hadn’t stood up.

“You were so pale earlier, Old Jia,” Gregor said.

“That so?” Dr. Jia touched his face, still a little unfocused due to his concern for his parrot.

“Actually...” Gregor turned to him and crossed his legs, scratching a foot while swinging his can of beer. “There’s a character who loves their pet in my novel.”

Dr. Jia frowned. “What do you want?”

Gregor smirked. “I know there are people who love their pets more than anyone else. I want to better understand such people in order to make my character more authentic and complex.”

“Tsk, using me as writing material?” Dr. Jia huffed.

“You’ve been using our blood and energy as research material, haven’t you?” Gregor argued. “What, you’re awesome as a researcher, and I’m an idiot for writing literature?”

“That’s not what I mean.” Then Dr. Jia added after a moment, “Well, that is what I mean. I think all writers are idiots.”

“Just tell me if you want my energy in the future,” Gregor threatened.

“I do.”

“Then tell me a story!”

“Fine,” Dr. Jia conceded. “But you’re not telling anyone else.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“And don’t write it into your novel!” Dr. Jia added.

Gregor paused before swearing, “Promise I won’t!”

It’ll be the computer writing it, not me.

Dr. Jia hesitated. Then he picked up a can of beer from the table and opened it, having a sip. Licking his lips, he asked, “Do you know Talent: Animals?”

“Nah.” Gregor wasn’t terribly interested in Talents. Although he had seen the list, he forgot more than half of them.

“Animals, serial number 105, Life-type. It allowed the user to transform into all kinds of animals.”

“Put simply, a druid.” Gregor understood immediately. Then he jumped. “Don’t tell me that your parrot was a guy?”

“I don’t know.” Dr. Jia smiled bitterly.

“You don’t know?” Gregor’s surprise morphed into a pleasant one. He had a feeling that it would be an interesting story. “Come on, give me the juicy details.”

Dr. Jia sighed and took a gulp of beer, going into what had happened many years ago.

At the time, Dr. Jia had just turned twenty, but between his Genuis and his mature look, awakeners assumed he was in his forties.

That spring, Dr. Jia met an eighteen-year-old awakener named Green Gram, with Talent: Animals.

Well, that wasn’t actually his name, but Dr. Jia didn’t care enough to remember it, and the young man had small eyes that looked like green grams. Thus, Dr. Jia gave him the nickname, which the young man embraced.

Green Gram was an easygoing, simple young man who admired Dr. Jia and wished to learn from him. He became Dr. Jia’s assistant and caretaker, in charge of Dr. Jia’s basic needs and everyday life. He was a terrible assistant, but a great caretaker who always knew what Dr. Jia needed.

“Green Gram was a good guy, but stupid.” Dr. Jia sighed.

“He couldn’t be stupid when he managed to take such good care of you,” Gregor pointed out. “It’s just that you’re so smart that you see most regular people as stupid.”

“Fine,” Dr. Jia admitted. “He was relatively stupid.”

As Dr. Jia’s assistant, Green Gram was hardworking and diligent, but Dr. Jia still wasn’t satisfied with him. Dr. Jia couldn’t understand why Green Gram would fail to understand what could be explained in one line, having to ask Dr. Jia several questions to figure things out. And Green Gram was clumsy in the laboratory. Sometimes Dr. Jia thought it would be easier to conduct experiments on his own.

To summarize, Dr. Jia often got so angry at Green Gram that he couldn’t even eat, and he would refuse to interact with Green Gram at all.

At times like that, Green Gram would turn into an animal.

Dr. Jia hated animals, so Green Gram would turn into one and bother Dr. Jia until he couldn’t help but curse him out. That would effectively vent all his anger, and the two men’s relationship would be just as before.

Dr. Jia would go back to ordering Green Gram around and criticizing him. Green Gram would serve him dutifully like a loyal servant—until the next time Green Gram made a mistake, and Dr. Jia got angry at him. Then Green Gram would try to get him to break again.

“A good friend,” Gregor commented.

1. A reference to the Japanese game,

Super Dodge Ball

. ☜