Come to my place and freshen up.

"Of course you're not human! You're all a pack of blind, worthless dogs!"

Ning Zhixia jolted in fright at the sudden outburst, as a shadow shaped like flames slowly descended overhead, and in an instant, cries of alarm and shrieks echoed throughout the room.

"Waaah!"

"The fox has gone mad—she's going to eat me!"

"Help, help!"

"What kind of Management Bureau, what kind of Heavenly Mandate, you're all heartless immortals who deserve to die—just as hateful as those clay puppets! You invite me here and still don't believe me!"

Su Qiushui's patience with the administrators finally snapped. Her nine thick, bushy tails erupted from beneath her skirt in outrage, and like snatching up chicks, she seized the wailing, sobbing administrators one by one, binding them tightly, shaking them up and down like a bottle of soda, and roaring as she did, "I told you it wasn't me! If I said I didn't do it, then I didn't! Do you hear me? Do you hear me!"

"Miss Su, please, if you would just—hey, hey, hey!"

Lu Huai, dodging flecks of foaming spittle, tried to calm her down, but before he could finish, one of her tails looped around his neck and dragged him in front of her.

"Come here, you!"

For a split second, the bewitching beauty's face contorted in fury, her eyes nearly splitting at the corners as dense white fur sprang across her skin. Lu Huai's hair stood on end from terror as she abruptly lifted her glittering hands and thrust them at him.

"Look at these! These are—oh, yes! These are called manicures! I nearly broke two of my tails sitting for hours to get these done!"

Her ten fingers sparkled with exquisite gems, dazzling as stars dancing before the eyes. Su Qiushui wanted nothing more than to display to each of them the fancy diamonds she’d traded for with her golden hairpins, yet the administrators, nearly suffocating from her grip, could only weakly shake their heads and cry for help.

"Look! Why won't you look! Look! All of you, open your eyes and look!"

She grew more infuriated, baring her teeth until her mouth stretched to her ears, revealing two rows of tightly-packed, triangular fangs.

"Rah—"

The spectacle of the fox’s transformation was so horrific that Ning Zhixia’s hair stood on end, his spirit nearly shattered by the shock.

He sprang to his feet like a cornered mouse, desperately pinching his own philtrum, his voice trembling, "Qiushui, Qiushui—Professor… y-your head…"

The bejeweled beast paused, turning her fearsome fox head toward him. Her neck bones cracked as they stretched, becoming longer and longer, her narrowed beast’s eyes hovering menacingly above his.

Her human body, meanwhile, stood several meters away, pounding her chest in despair as if to say—

And you, my friend, a false furry lover!

Ning Zhixia clutched his chest, taking deep breaths, afraid that if he fainted now, his reputation as a fox lover would be confirmed and he’d break his big client’s heart.

Su Qiushui seemed unaware of how bizarre her appearance had become. As white mist billowed in the room, a massive snow-white fox appeared, dominating nearly a third of the space.

"So what if I ate a dozen faithless men in the past? Why won’t they let it go? Haven’t they already struck me with lightning? Why strike again the moment something happens!"

The great fox swung the administrators from side to side with her tails, then with a mournful yowl, flopped on her back, all four legs in the air, shamelessly throwing a tantrum.

One paw batted at the wall, instantly cracking it with spiderweb fractures. "I'm just a beautiful fox—how could you all treat me like this!"

The ground shook. Ning Zhixia landed hard on his rear. "..."

What kind of violent Hakimi was this!

Sensing disaster, he scrambled to his feet, rubbing his backside, but the next second, cracks snaked across the floor. With a splintering crash, debris flew and everyone, amid the fox’s wails, plummeted downward as if in freefall.

Ning Zhixia screeched, "Oh no, oh no, I'm going to die!"

Snap.

A crisp finger snap, as if someone had pressed pause.

Shattered floorboards, falling files, tilting tables—Ning Zhixia watched in amazement as everything froze in midair, then, as if time had reversed, rushed back to the moment before the chaos.

He stared in a daze, until suddenly someone yanked his collar, pulling him back.

In the trembling room, Audro fished Ning Zhixia out from under a nearly flattened sofa and, before he could react, gave the fox’s black nose a firm slap.

"Yelp!"

The fox jerked upright, evidently stung by the blow, and sat up, covering her nose with her paws, wailing, "It's bad enough none of you believe me, now you’re even hitting me…"

Her voice was sharp and piercing, her ears flattened as she cried, like a needle piercing the eardrum, making one’s head ache.

Audro frowned, surveying the mess, and placed the ear-covering Ning Zhixia before her. "Your witness. He believes you."

"Really?"

The fox stopped her wailing, sprawled out and pressed her nose to Ning Zhixia’s belly, eyes shining with tears. "Really?"

"Really, really, I believe you." Ning Zhixia, having caught his breath, reached up to stroke her muzzle. "It’s not my first time here. I was just listening to Lu Huai explain the story—you need to give me a little time to process, don’t you think?"

Su Qiushui asked, "Have you finished processing now?"

Ning Zhixia, with a fresh red crescent mark under his nose, nodded. "I’m good."

If he hesitated even a moment, this place would likely become a disco spinning floor, tossing everyone around until their brains turned to mush.

Compared to her earlier monstrous form, Su Qiushui now was just a giant white fox who could purr with a scratch under the chin—her only faults being too many tails and a slightly oversized body…

After a moment’s thought, Ning Zhixia found it perfectly acceptable. Besides, she was a fox who loved manicures.

"You’re so kind, Boss Ning!" The fox affectionately nudged Audro aside with her huge head and snuggled against Ning Zhixia’s shoulder.

"No trouble," Ning Zhixia replied.

Su Qiushui was even more moved. "No wonder you smell so much better than those clay people from my world!"

Ning Zhixia’s expression changed and he quietly nudged her drooling head aside.

Taking advantage of the fox’s distraction, the half-dead administrators were finally released from her tails and collapsed weakly on the floor, blowing bubbles.

Lu Huai braced himself against the wall and stood up. "Cough… cough…"

Ning Zhixia asked, "Back online?"

Lu Huai paused, feeling as if he’d just been told, "Oh, you’re still alive?"

His beast’s eyes darted, and he warily positioned himself behind his taciturn superior.

Audro held out his hands. The fox glanced down and obligingly placed her front paw on top.

"You did this?"

Su Qiushui looked expectantly at Ning Zhixia.

Catching her meaning, he nodded. "That’s right. She came just before half-past seven last night. Because it was a complicated design, it took quite a while."

Not long after Su Qiushui left, the store returned to normal. Judging by the interdimensional connection, she’d been in the shop the whole time, practicing her iron-tail endurance.

"So when the incident occurred, the fox wasn’t present," Audro concluded, clearly ready to wrap things up.

Lu Huai quickly asked, "Any supporting evidence?"

"Um… she left a gold hairpin, which turned into money in the QR code," Ning Zhixia replied, describing the odd payment record.

Lu Huai thought a moment and explained, "The dimensional system malfunctioned last night. Normally, the Management Bureau would transfer payment to your account in this world."

So that’s how it worked?

Ning Zhixia suddenly understood—despite the system crash, the payment was merged with his other past earnings. So this was the power of dimensional rules.

Su Qiushui was disappointed. "So, in the end, there’s no evidence…"

"Not quite…" Ning Zhixia patted the dejected fox’s head and pulled out his phone. "How about this?"

He showed them a review he’d received that day, which sounded exactly like Su Qiushui’s voice.

"Hey, that’s exactly what I was thinking!" The fox cocked her head, tapping the little square with her claw. "What a magical artifact! It reads a fox’s heart!"

"That’s a heart’s voice," Audro said.

Ning Zhixia was puzzled. "What?"

"When objects from different worlds cross the connection point, if satisfaction is high enough, a review is automatically generated," Audro explained, releasing the doorknob. "It’s how the connection point absorbs energy."

"Hahaha! Heaven itself helps me!"

With a wild laugh, white mist swirled and the massive white fox transformed again into a dazzlingly beautiful woman.

All at once, Su Qiushui straightened, cigarette in hand, eyes narrowed as she used her slender holder to lift Lu Huai’s chin. "Little immortal, anything else you want to ask?"

Lu Huai, face flushed from the smoke blown in his face, stammered, "N-no… We’ll have the new Heavenly Mandate team repair system link 103 as soon as possible. Once the cause is clear, the true culprit will be punished by Heaven…"

It sounded slow-going; Audro looked at the administrators as if they were dried fish.

Just then, Ning Zhixia raised his hand like a good student. "Losing control means you guys lose your God’s-eye view, right?"

Audro nodded. "Yes."

A light bulb lit up in Ning Zhixia’s mind. "Then why not let Qiushui investigate, while the Heavenly Mandate team fixes the system? Handle both at once."

Su Qiushui’s eyes sparkled, her ears standing ramrod straight.

Excellent! She was sure to catch whichever turtle dared frame her!

Some administrators looked flustered. Letting the nine-tailed fox investigate was risky, as she might lose control. They were about to object when—

"Fox."

Audro called Su Qiushui, tossing her a Pokéball, "Go."

"Really? Thank you!"

Su Qiushui rubbed her hands in anticipation and left through the passage Lu Huai opened for her. The newly appointed Heavenly Mandate team, recalling their predecessors’ sorry fate, abandoned any thoughts of slacking and threw themselves into work.

Order was restored, as if the chaos had never occurred.

Ning Zhixia watched the expressionless administrators, secretly marveling at how beasts of burden were everywhere. Sensing something, he turned; Audro stood by the door.

"I’ll take you home," he said.

"That’s not necessary," Ning Zhixia replied politely. "I can—"

"You can’t leave on your own. Once I drop you off, my shift is over."

At the mention of "shift," the clattering keyboards paused for a moment.

"Let's go," Ning Zhixia said quickly.

He was afraid if Audro spoke further, the underlings would stage a strike.

The black sedan raced down the roads again. Unlike before, Ning Zhixia no longer wore a blindfold; aside from a few flashes of white light, the streets grew steadily more familiar.

He turned to look out the window. Slanting rain traced its way down the glass, beading everywhere. It was already evening.

At the intersection, Audro got out with an umbrella. After a few steps, not hearing footsteps behind him, he paused and pursed his lips.

"Why aren’t you coming?"

Ning Zhixia snapped out of it and hurried under the umbrella beside him, sheltering from the rain as it drummed down.

He realized then that Audro’s promise to "take you home" meant returning him precisely to where he’d been picked up.

The intersection was only a few steps from Number 19. The Monster Manicure Parlor’s sign flickered through the rain and neon. Reflecting on the day’s events, Ning Zhixia thought the name was perfectly apt.

"Meow! Meow!"

As he approached the wooden door, several furry bundles who’d been crouching nearby wriggled their haunches, as if they’d caught a favorite scent, and darted over with swift turns.

"Whoa!"

Ning Zhixia jumped in fright and looked down. He was unharmed, but the man beside him now had several muddy paw prints on his light gray shirt.

Audro grabbed an orange culprit, who shamelessly mewled in a syrupy kitten voice.

"Yours?" Audro asked.

Ning Zhixia waved his hands. "Strays from the neighborhood. I fed them a few times and now they cling to me. They wander between the shops, living off everyone."

Audro held the cat up, understanding dawning. "Round face, pretty chubby."

"Don’t say that," Ning Zhixia frowned, covering the kitten’s ears. "It’s because of… its complicated heritage."

Audro was intrigued. "How so?"

Gazing into the drizzly dusk, Ning Zhixia sighed, "One a British expat, the other a beautiful Eastern tabby. If not for fate, how would they have met in this life…"

Audro blinked. "…What?"

Ning Zhixia grinned, "It’s a mix-breed."

The air turned silent, save for the gentle patter of rain.

After a moment’s pause, Audro set the cat down and shifted the umbrella away from his own head to cover Ning Zhixia. "Let’s go."

Well, he had quite a temper.

Ning Zhixia pulled his jacket over his head like a little mushroom and trudged after him in silence.

It’s just a bit of rain—he really can’t handle it.

He called out, "Come to my place and wash up?"

"Alright."

With that cool reply, the departing umbrella swung back, settling once more over the young man’s head.