No Time

"Zuan, lots of people want to date you. What are you going to do about it?"

"They'll have to beat me first."

"..." Does that mean I have no chance at all?

"Anyways, Little Blue, play nicely, I have to go now."

"...Ok, bye."

Now I was left with the big oaf over there.

Sigh. If only I was older, I could participate in the show.

And if I was older, I'd be more powerful!

Maybe I'd be able to beat Zuan!

Then I'd be able to date him.

Or at least be friends.

Zuan... he doesn't treat me like a kid, but he doesn't treat me like an adult either.

I'm not on equal grounds with him.

Whew, I was having mature thoughts again, I was a kid, I should be more childish.

My mom always said that I should be like other kids.

"Fuss more and cry more! Have fun and get angry! Don't try to be considerate!"

Haizz, but as the boss of this territory and the most popular kid at school, my 8 year old self had to be responsible!

Because I was the boss!

I even had to be responsible for when my buddies didn't do their homework!

I helped them study and pass supplementary classes or a remediation test.

Of course, I couldn't fail at my school work either.

I had to get a 100 on everything.

If you showed even one mistake, people would doubt if I was worthy of leading.

Only with those I trusted fully, could I be more relaxed.

For example, Jing Shao was a reliable lackey.

And his random ability really was impressive.

Against enemies, not that we really had one, he could stack up bad luck on them.

Once we tested it out on the grumpy school guard, and while he was dozing off, a dog peed on his trousers.

We almost got into trouble, but since it couldn't be proven that we did it, we were let go.

Fun times.

"So, what's your name?"

Oh yeah, that oaf was left behind.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" I asked with a bland expression. Deep down, I was thinking of what to do with this guy. Hmph, who even are you to talk to me this way?

"Well, I'm Calix. Calix Cora."

"Yang Xiaoshen. A pleasure to meet you." As a boss, I had to be polite to everyone.

"Nice to meet you!"

The guy seemed relieved.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you Zuan's friend?"

"Oh, I came here about 2 or 3 days ago. I only lived with his family when I was younger."

2 or 3 days ago?

I thought outsiders couldn't enter easily?

Then, he must have abilities.

"What's your abilities?"

"Electricity, Water, and Space, the container kind."

Huh, pretty powerful abilities even for the base residents.

And this person probably hasn't even gone through the zombie trial.

That's a bit impressive I'll admit.

He was... pretty cool.

I could call him Ge.

Since he was older. That's all there is!

"What are your abilities?" Calix Ge asked.

"Jellyfish(Irukandji), Diamond, Red-crowned crane, Tiger shark, Tiger, Telepathy, Teleportation, & Telekinesis, Water, Salt, and Leather," I said in one breath.

It took me a long time to pronounce all the words right and in one sentence.

A dumb looking expression showed on his face.

"D-do people here usually have that many abilities?"

"No, usually five. Water is a regular choice, then some people choose pets or animals. If they get through the red phase, they can have one or more abilities added."

"Wow, and what's the animal thing about? Do you turn into the animals you choose?"

Eh, I did hear that outsiders usually only have elemental abilities. So they really didn't know what animal abilities were like.

"No, you gain traits. Night vision, flight, stronger bodies, faster speed, better hearing, being able to breathe underwater, etc. And you also gain favoritism with the animals that you chose, this is especially good for pack animals."

"Really? You don't turn into the animals?"

"No, but you can gain animal traits. Like ears, tails, wings, sharper and tougher nails."

"Can you show me?" 

How could I say no to such an individual who looks up to me?

So of course, I changed into my Tiger form. I didn't bring out my tail since I wasn't wearing clothes that my tail could poke out of.

Tiger ears that twitched at the smallest of sounds grew on my head and my nails became a little longer and tougher.

"See, now I can hear better, although zombie trial users on top of being ability users already have greater physical abilities."

"Wow. Wow. Wow! I heard about the zombie trial from my colleagues. I should get an animal ability!"

I was puzzled.

Outsiders can't get zombie trials. 

That rule was still very much in place.

The outsiders that came here all had no choice but to agree.

It might get changed if we have more outsiders.

But who knows?

We were already a bit xenophobic.

Only people brought in or approved by our Chief Zuan were ok.

So, even if this was hard to break, towards this slightly stupid-looking oaf, I had to break it to him.

Yeah, I gave up on calling him Ge. He's a little weird.

Too pitiful.

"Outsiders can't go through the zombie trial."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. Sorry."

As expected, the big oaf had a sad look on his face.

From his reactions so far, he easily got into things, wouldn't forget easily about the things he want, and got emotional easily.

"It's ok. I get that there are laws here that I shouldn't try to break."

At first, I didn't like this guy named Calix, but he really was pitiful now.

"Anyway, how did you come here? Did Zuan bring you in?"

"To the base? I found the base while looking for traces of the Shui family."

"You found the base yourself? Where are you from?"

Calix looked like a foreigner, but he spoke our language well, so did he grow up here?

Wait, but if he was a close family friend, then why wasn't he invited to the base?

"I'm from Greece. I came here since I knew Shui Yu would have kept his family safe somehow. Didn't expect he would build a base though."

"Why'd you come here?"

He didn't look like a spy. Just must have good enough luck to find the base. He looked and was too stupidly honest.

"I came here to find Shui Jing. We were really good friends, and I was wondering how he was..."

It certainly didn't look like that.

Because.

Calix was blushing and smiling as he talked about Jing Ge.

It was obvious that he had a crush on Jing Ge.

I could certainly break the news that outsiders couldn't go through the zombie trial.

But I couldn't break this news!

The fact that Jing Ge was already married!

Already had a kid!

A daughter!

Goodness!

I was starting to sound like my mom when she watched soap operas!

Whew, well, um, although I was a boss, I wouldn't stick my nose into private matters.

All I could think in my heart was:

Good Luck Calix.

May you somehow find out and not have your heart crushed.

Sigh, I could only wish this as I watched this grown adult man smile so happily talking about his crush.

I, a kid who had a one-sided love for about 2 years, couldn't compare with the guy who had a one-sided love from his childhood.

Even I felt bad for him!

That's how bad it was!

I offered my condolences to him in my mind!

Goodness!

I was truly starting to talk like my mom!