"Hey there, miss. Nice to meet you—I'm Lu Yide." In a private room at a fancy teahouse, three people gathered. The guy sitting across from Jill Young looked to be in his thirties: not tall, not handsome, just your average Joe—almost invisible in a crowd. But he had this spark about him, like someone who’d been stuck in a rut and suddenly got hit with a supernatural upgrade. You see it all the time—life’s losers get a bit of magic, and suddenly they’re walking on air.
"Whoa, it actually worked..." Jill Young stared at Lu Yide like she was trying to burn a hole through him, making Lu Yide sweat nervously. He stammered, "W-what worked?" Jill grinned and patted his shoulder. "I can see it—on your left deltoid, there’s a glowing black mark. Looks kinda like a crescent moon."
After Jasper Xiao taught Jill Young how to spot Chosen Ones, Jill wasn’t sure she’d gotten the hang of it. But today, when she tried it out, she really saw something. The mark was wild—black, but somehow glowing. Even with clothes covering it, the glow still peeked through. And although it was on his shoulder, Jill got the feeling that even if she chopped off his shoulder, the mark would just stick around. Pretty freaky stuff.
"Oh? You pulled it off too!" Jasper Xiao said, practically bouncing in his seat.
"Yeah, but I can see his, not yours." Jill squinted at Jasper Xiao’s hand, searching for the hammer mark, but came up empty. There had to be some kind of trick to this.
"That’s still impressive!" Lu Yide scratched his head, sounding a bit bashful. "Brother Xiao taught me too, but I just can’t pull it off."
"Come on, enough talk! Out of everyone in this big old world, us meeting here has got to be fate. Let's toast to that!" Jasper Xiao was a natural host. After a round of drinks and some friendly banter, Lu Yide started sharing his story.
It was obvious Lu Yide trusted Jasper Xiao, and maybe their shared weirdness made him feel like he finally fit in. So he didn’t hold back. Lu Yide’s story was pretty straightforward—nothing like Jill Young’s wild ride. He crossed over in early May, but only visited one world, a jungle with a fantasy vibe. He landed in the middle of an elf-like tribe.
Since he was a veterinarian, fate had him curing a disease that was spreading among the tribe’s poultry. So, even though he looked different and couldn’t speak their language, the tribe took him in. Lu Yide lived there for half a year, not knowing if he’d ever make it back to Earth. He worked hard to learn about their world and explore every corner he could. Then, just as the six-month mark rolled around, he felt his Boundary Mark give him a nudge—"time’s up"—and poof, he was back in Jiping City.
"Elves in fantasy worlds are all magic whizzes, right? So, did you pick up any spells? Come on, show us a 'Thorny Vines' or something!" Jill Young was practically bouncing with excitement. "Did you see any magical beasts? Or… dragons?"
Both of them checked their phones and their faces turned serious. Jill Young gave a quick rundown of the situation, then said, "We don't have any solid evidence, but I just have this gut feeling that the creature that shredded the cat and the thing attacking pregnant women are the same. Lu Yide, since you're a vet, have you seen any weird animal injuries lately? Or anything bizarre going on?"
"Weird injuries?" Lu Yide thought for a second, then shook his head. "Nothing special... Oh, wait, actually, there was something!"
Jill Young and Jasper Xiao exchanged a glance, waiting for Lu Yide to continue.
"A couple days ago, someone brought in a Tibetan Mastiff that was all banged up. The dog was huge and tough, but the injuries were no joke. I was super curious what could mess up a dog like that, so I used my ability to ask. My power's still weak, so all I got were waves of anger, fear, and pain, plus some random noise I couldn't make sense of. Honestly, most hurt pets react like that, so I didn't think much of it. But now, looking back—" Lu Yide pointed at the photo on the phone, "the wounds on that Tibetan Mastiff looked a lot like the ones on this woman." He was starting to look pretty grim himself.
"From your experience as a vet, what kind of creature could do something like this?"
"Some fierce animals in the wild could take down a Tibetan Mastiff, but none of them leave weird wounds like this." Lu Yide thought it over carefully, then shook his head seriously. "So as far as I know, nothing."
The private room went silent for a moment. Everyone frowned, deep in thought. In the quiet, Jill Young suddenly spoke up: "Is it possible it's a creature from another world? Like, maybe some Chosen One brought back something freaky in their Pocket Vault?"
"Pocket Vault?" The two exchanged looks and burst out laughing. "No way, you can't store living things in a Pocket Vault."
Lu Yide joked, "If Pocket Vaults could hold living things, I'd totally pack up an elf girl and bring her home!"
Jasper Xiao shook his head. "I've talked to a lot of people about Pocket Vaults—some are big, some are small, but nobody can put living creatures in them. So, an otherworldly beast? Probably not."
Jill Young frowned. Their Pocket Vaults can't hold living things? Then how come hers could bring Cang Cang back? Was it a feature they hadn't unlocked yet, or was there some other reason?
Seeing Jill Young's serious face, Lu Yide tried to comfort her. "Don't worry too much, it's probably just some wild animal roaming in from somewhere. I'm a vet, not a biologist—there's loads of animals I don't know about. Nature keeps itself balanced, nothing crazy should happen. Otherworldly creatures? That's just nuts, hahaha!"
But Jill Young shook her head and said firmly, "No. Even if Pocket Vaults can't carry living things, there's another way for species to invade." She looked the other two in the eye, emphasizing each word: "Par-a-sit-ism."
"Parasitism?" The two looked confused, then seemed to realize something. Lu Yide shivered, and Jasper Xiao clenched his fist.
"Exactly. Some creature latches onto a Chosen One, and when the Chosen One comes back, it tags along to Earth." Jill Young's expression was like a creepy grandpa telling ghost stories by a campfire: "And those creatures? They're usually bad news."
"No way, right?" Lu Yide didn't want to believe it. "Is that even possible?"
"Of course it's possible. I've already seen it myself." Jill Young pictured the Zombie and the green berserker soldier, and said seriously, "The first Chosen One I met—besides myself—was parasitized, or rather, infected."
"Infected?" Lu Yide looked spooked, gulping and stammering, "In-infected by what?" Just hearing 'infected' made him think of one thing: "Don't tell me... zom..." He couldn't finish, too scared to say it.
"Yep, that thing—the Zombie Virus." As soon as Jill Young said it, the other two sucked in a breath. Lu Yide's eyes went wide and he broke out in a cold sweat, while Jasper Xiao's eyes lit up and he looked ready to charge into battle. "You guys don't need to worry too much about the Zombie Virus. Both infected cases have already been wiped out, and it looks like that virus doesn't spread easily in our world."
Lu Yide couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
"But," Jill Young added, making Lu Yide tense up again, "just because the Zombie Virus isn't super contagious doesn't mean whatever's lurking in Jiping City is the same deal. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not about to put my parents in danger. I don't care if this thing's from another world or not—I'm going to hunt it down and take it out. So, what do you say? Are you in or not?"
Jasper Xiao nodded right away. "You're right. Jiping City's got four hundred thousand folks—we can't let this happen again. If it's just an Earth problem, I'll help the police and whoever else needs it. If it's an otherworldly thing, then it's our duty as Chosen Ones! Count me in. What about you, Lu?"
"Me..." Lu Yide hesitated, then clenched his teeth. "A girl and an out-of-towner are stepping up—there's no way I'm backing down as a local guy! I've got a wife and kid too. This kind of thing..." He glanced at the tragic photo of the woman, getting fired up. "This kind of thing can never happen to my family!"
"Good." Jill Young stood up tall and naturally started giving orders. "If we're doing this, we need to work as a real team. Three Chosen Ones together—no way some sneaky creature can stop us." She glanced at the other two and said honestly, "Since we're teaming up, I'll go first and tell you about my ability, so we can coordinate better."
As soon as she mentioned powers, the other two perked up. Lu Yide was curious, and even Jasper Xiao didn't know what Jill Young could really do. From bits and pieces, it was clear she'd been through a lot, and her ever-present aura was impossible to ignore, but her actual skills were a total mystery.
"My power's simple—strength." Jill Young flipped her hand and whipped out a metal rod as thick as her arm, snapped it into an L-shape with a crisp crack like breaking firewood, and tossed it on the table. "That's pretty much it."
Lu Yide's eyes went wide. He didn't care about looking silly—he circled the rod from every angle for ages. It looked solid...
Jasper Xiao's eyes lit up too, but he wasn't too shocked. He nodded, "Okay, my ability's a bit more complicated. I can attack, defend, and even do some healing and support. As for strength—" He grabbed the bent rod, pulled hard with both arms, and straightened it out with a squeaky crunch. Not as smooth as Jill Young, but not struggling either. "That's about it."
Lu Yide's jaw dropped. He hefted the rod in his hand—heavy! He tried bending it—rock solid! Lu Yide teared up a bit, sighing, "Guess I'll just handle gathering intel..."
Who was I even trying to impress just now? My half-baked animal communication skill is basically like speaking a language I barely know! The Chosen Ones' world is brutal when it comes to power levels!
Jill Young ignored Lu Yide's little bout of self-pity and said, "Alright, Lu Yide, you're in charge of animal communication and tracking down leads. Just give me a rough location, and I'll find the thing."
"O-okay!" Lu Yide instinctively snapped to attention.
"And Jasper, you're with me. Let's head to the hospital and wake up that pregnant woman—hope your healing powers work."
"No problem." Jasper Xiao nodded, looking pretty confident in his healing skills.
"Alright, that's settled. Stay in touch and let's move out!" Jill Young waved her hand like a general, full of murderous energy. "Let's go chop those things into tiny pieces!"