The next day, Maggie went to the orchestra to visit her aunt, saying she wanted to comfort the violin teacher who had worked all night. As for Jack Young, he stayed obediently at home, not planning to go anywhere. No picking fights, no stepping on anyone’s toes, and absolutely no getting involved in anything that might trigger his "Fool Mode."
This "Fool Mode" has been Jack’s biggest headache lately.
Looking back with a clear head, it all started at that singles party yesterday—one step at a time, he went from a normal guy to full-on Fool Mode, doing a bunch of stuff he'd never do otherwise. Driving a luxury car, throwing money around, all sorts of brainless show-off moves just to get a reaction from one woman. Normally, he'd just laugh at that kind of childish behavior and maybe even use it as a bad example to teach Fiona Fang a lesson.
But that day, it actually happened to him for real. If it weren’t for Maggie, who knows how long he would've stayed stuck in that state.
It’s that classic "I’m smart, so why do I turn into an idiot during exams?" kind of confusion—leaving Jack both helpless and frustrated. The worst part? Fool Mode comes out of nowhere and he can’t control it. It’s like getting stuck in a mental loop, and snapping out of it by himself is nearly impossible. Luckily, once he broke free, Jack managed to get his head back on straight.
Now that he’s back to his normal self, Jack’s not the type to blame fate—he’d rather look for a solution. So he let go of everything else and set aside some serious time to think things through. Channeling his Senior Brother Mentor, he grabbed some paper and started jotting stuff down. And hey, putting things in black and white really does help clear your mind.
"Basically, ‘Julian Zhu’ and ‘Qi Xi’—these two keywords are like the on-switch for Fool Mode. As long as I steer clear of those triggers, I’ll stay normal," Jack wrote on the paper. "But, how much does it actually take to set me off? That still needs more testing—"
Uh... At this point, Jack realized there was no way to actually test it. How’s he supposed to do that? It’s not like there’s a real button you can press to light up a warning sign or something. Plus, he’s the only "guinea pig"—if he breaks himself, that’s game over.
So, he just moved on to the next point.
"Next, I’ll write up an emergency plan. If I slip into Fool Mode, here are two ways to handle it. First, get someone else to help ‘hit the brakes’—methods include talking me down, psychological cues, hypnosis, or in extreme cases, a hard reboot (aka, knock me out). Since that’s tough and kind of a one-trick pony, I’ll need a backup plan: self-checks and self-awareness."
Just like the time he wrote up a guide to survive when Death was after him, Jack Young was now jotting down his "Fool Mode Emergency Plan" line by line. Each item took him ages to ponder, but finally, he had a rough draft. After a thorough review, he nodded, ready to share it with his most trusted people: "Auntie, Maggie... hmm, and let's include Bobby Brooks. Everyone needs a copy."
Alright, any problem can be tackled in two ways: treating the symptoms or fixing the root cause. The "Fool Mode Emergency Plan" is just a band-aid, meant for last-minute crisis management. But if I want a once-and-for-all solution, I’ve got to eliminate the real reason at its source. Cut it off at the root, and everything else falls into place.
"The immediate cause of Fool Mode is a sudden, overwhelming release of emotions—pretty much how a lot of mental illnesses start. But the root cause? That's some locked-up dark history, and when you trace it back, it’s all about those two people." Jack lounged on the sofa, squinting at the ceiling, chewing on his pen as his thoughts kept circling around "those two."
A moment later, he suddenly sucked in a breath, eyes wide, and shot upright, slapping his notebook on the table: "So it all comes down to that bastard Julian Zhu! Damn it, just wait till I get my hands on him!"
Whoosh, whoosh, Jack's eyes flashed cold, his pen flying across the paper like a dragon. He was no longer careful or hesitant—now he was writing at lightning speed, so fast the ink could barely keep up.
"Done!" Jack scribbled the last punctuation mark, nodding with satisfaction. "Look at this 'Rolling Pig Plan'—short, sweet, and deep. A masterpiece!" Just as he was admiring his plan, something at the end made him pause. He rubbed his forehead, thought for a second, then put the plan down with a bitter laugh: "Heh, look at that, I went full Fool Mode again without even noticing."
He set the 'Rolling Pig Plan' on the table. The whole plan was just ways to crush Julian Zhu. The last line read: 'Final contingency—Kill.' That one word, 'Kill,' was etched into the paper with Jack's full mental force, each stroke practically carved deep into the page. Anyone who saw it would shiver. Jack knew he wasn’t joking when he wrote that—he genuinely meant it.
"Sigh, you just can’t guard against everything." Not wanting to get worked up again, Jack avoided that trigger word and looked out the window, his gaze complicated. Killing—he’d done it plenty of times, and mentally, it wasn’t off the table. If it really came down to it, he could do it without hesitation. But if that killing urge was uncontrollable, he absolutely wouldn’t accept it.
Snap! Jack’s fingers trembled, shredding the part of the 'Rolling Pig Plan' with that word. The paper with 'Kill' on it turned to confetti, and with a flick of his hand, Jack sent it flying straight into the trash can.
"Looks like last night’s aftereffects are still hanging around. Better stay away from that minefield for now." Jack stretched, looked out at the scenery, and decided to get out for a bit. "Time to distract myself—let’s see what fun stuff’s happening today." He scrolled through his phone—food, entertainment, all kinds of stuff—until something caught his eye: "Shanghai Corpse King Exhibition?"
The Shanghai Corpse King—what a gimmick. The ads have been everywhere lately, so why not check it out?
Just as he was about to buy a ticket, his phone rang. Jack glanced at the caller ID and froze—it wasn’t Bobby Brooks, his parents, or anyone he knew. But when he saw the location was Beijing, he got a strange feeling: "No way... Is it him?"
Fifteen minutes later, Jack walked into a corner McDonald's. From a distance, he could sense a powerful presence. It was so intense, like a high-powered radiation wave, that even walls and glass couldn’t block Jack’s senses.
Feeling that familiar warmth, like a mini sun blazing away, Jack smiled. Yep, it was him!
Honestly, I was just thinking about finding him—who’d have thought he’d track me down first?
Jack headed up to the second floor of McDonald's, straight to a regular corner table. Someone was already there—a young man, head down, devouring a mountain of burgers. Jack sat across from him, sizing him up. He’d gotten stronger, his holy aura even more pure and dazzling. Must’ve just leveled up, though—he couldn’t hide his power yet.
Come to think of it, it’s been ages since I saw him.
"A rich kid stuffing his face at McDonald's, eating like a slob—is this your way of fishing for blog clicks?" Jack picked up a can of soda and handed it over. "Long time no see, Jasper Xiao."
The young man heard Jack’s voice and finally looked up, revealing a scruffy chin. Gone was the baby-faced pretty boy—now he looked way more mature, almost like a young uncle in the making.
He grinned, wiped his mouth, and opened his arms wide: "Jack! You’re finally back in Shanghai!"
Jasper Xiao looked Jack up and down in surprise, then flashed a dazzling grin full of big white teeth: "If you’d gone half a year without a decent meal like me, you’d eat even messier than this!" He took the drink, didn’t care if it was cold, and gulped it down in two big swigs. Slamming the cup on the table, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stuck out his hand to Jack: "Long time no see. I finally found you—Teach!"
It wasn’t a handshake, but a high-five. The two of them smacked palms in mid-air, then gripped hands and patted each other’s shoulders—comrades reunited at last.
Jasper scratched his head and gave a sunny smile: "Honestly, I was worried you’d just ignore me. Didn’t expect you’d actually show up and joke around with me—I’m honored!"
"Hahaha!" Jack couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, thinking back, when he was in his "wooden" phase, he didn’t care about anyone except the Queen, so Jasper had gotten snubbed more than a few times. But Jasper’s best trait—and the most admirable—was his broad-mindedness. He always kept things fair and square, even running around to clear Jack’s name when Jack was framed. He was someone who didn’t let petty stuff get in the way. "What can I say, you just caught me at a bad time—my brain was scrambled."
"Scrambled?" Jasper studied Jack’s eyes, then nodded: "Makes sense. No wonder you seemed ‘incomplete’ back then. But you’re still the same—you walk so quietly. If you hadn’t spoken up, I wouldn’t have noticed you at all. Guess I’ve still got a ways to go!" With that, he tore into another burger, not caring that Jack was watching.
"You just haven’t mastered control yet." From what Jack could see, Jasper’s eyes were practically glowing with holy light, and that radioactive aura was pure power overflow. "So, what happened to you? Why the uncle vibe? And this whole look... did you go to war or something?"
"Exactly right!" Jasper slapped his thigh, exuding rough energy—more mercenary than rich kid. He gave a thumbs-up: "Sharp as ever! Yep, I went to war."
Jack couldn’t help but ask, "Weren’t you supposed to be looking for the Queen? How’d you end up at war?"
"It was all for the Queen! That’s why I went to war!" Jasper looked world-weary, his scruffy chin adding to the vibe, and Jack braced himself for a wild story. Sure enough, as Jasper began, a jaw-dropping, soap-opera-worthy tale unfolded. The messy details can wait for a side story—let’s stick to the main plot for now.
Both of them had special powers, so if they wanted to keep secrets, regular folks wouldn’t overhear. Even in a fast-food joint, they could talk freely.
Early September, after Jack’s dad gave Jasper a wake-up call, he had a breakthrough, fired up his resolve, and set off on his quest for the Queen. He traveled all over, meeting mystics, and finally, in a bar in Chengdu, ran into a fortune-telling Taoist—earlier than Jack did, actually. Uh, you guys probably know who I’m talking about…
Just think about the kind of bar it was, and the kind of Taoist he met—you can imagine Jasper must’ve paid a hefty price in shenanigans. Eventually, he got the Taoist to do a ritual and divine some clues about the Queen. Of course, the result was the classic 'beyond the Three Realms, outside the Five Elements,' because the Queen hadn’t returned to Earth. But the Taoist was decent enough to admit his limits, and said there were experts in the fortune-telling world who could help. So he pointed Jasper to a real master.
"A real master?" Jack asked. "Did you find one?"
"Found one right away." Jasper let out a burp, totally unbothered, and kept eating as he talked: "But that was just the beginning!"
Masters are a whole different breed from Taoists. Taoists can shake their phone for a reading—cheap but not that effective. Masters need pro gear. You know what they say: 'To do a good job, you need the right tools.' The master told Jasper, 'I can’t divine it now, but give me a magic artifact and I’ll get it done.'
The master swore up and down that if Jasper went to the right place at the right time, he’d find the perfect dungeon for a magic drop. So, following the master’s (scammy) advice, Jasper set off to get his hands on a divination artifact—and that’s when things really got wild.
"If you check the Observatory’s website, you’ll see news about this. On September 12th, there was a mini White Night in Sicily, Italy—a void ferry took nine people to the other side. That White Night made waves locally, though I’m not sure if the regular media in China covered it."
"September 12th?" Jack thought back and shook his head. "I was busy sending off restless spirits then—didn’t catch the news."
"You were sending off spirits too? What a coincidence!" Jasper used the word 'too' to kick off his epic adventure. As he started his story, Jack’s eyes glazed over, ready to roast him but too stunned to speak.
This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^, please click next page to keep reading!
Unlike Jack, who mostly wandered through classical, Eastern-style worlds, Jasper Xiao somehow always hit it off with Western fantasy settings. When Jasper opened his eyes in the new world after riding the void ferry, the first thing he saw was eight 'fellow travelers'—men and women, tall and short—and four 'locals,' all short guys, crowding around him.
Seeing the four curious locals gather around, Jasper started chatting them up. With his solid English and natural charm, the leader of the group quickly introduced himself: "I'm Frodo, and these are Sam, Pippin, and Merry. Sir, we're headed to the Prancing Pony Inn—is it this way?"
"Uh..." Jack had the urge to smack his own forehead. "The Fellowship of the Ring? Did you run into the Nazgûl?"
"Of course I did! How else do you think I ended up sending off restless spirits too?"
Then came the epic showdown: Paladin versus Nazgûl Death Knights. The movie doesn’t do it justice—when Jasper fought them for real, those Nazgûl were tough, and fighting so many at once was a struggle. Luckily, holy light still counters all undead, and some of the travelers weren’t total newbies—there were a few experts among them. That’s how they barely scraped through.
From then on, Jasper got tangled up in the main plot of The Lord of the Rings. After some thought, he finally figured out what that so-called master who tricked him really wanted—Saruman’s palantír.
Some people shrank back, some charged ahead, some ran away, some pressed forward. After a series of thrilling battles, Jasper used his top-notch diplomacy, plus the holy light’s bonus to the forces of order, and finally got in on the grand Lord of the Rings war.
"We didn’t stick with Gandalf's crew the whole time—sometimes we split up, sometimes we teamed up and helped each other. There were five Chosen Ones with me, so six of us were basically a Lord of the Rings squad." Paladins are natural leaders, and Jasper led his team through all kinds of trials. Nazgûl, orcs, Uruk-hai—they fought and grew together. They tried to avoid big disasters, but in the end, they were just too few to change fate.
Facing the ancient Balrog, Jasper gripped his hammer and stood firm at the gate. He chanted holy words and unleashed holy power.
Against the siege beasts, Jasper donned his armor, fought bloody battles, and never retreated. He rode and slashed, a one-man army.
From the moment he crossed over, Jasper spent half a year fighting nonstop, big battles and small. He experienced hardship, truly followed the path of holy light, and stuck to his own sense of justice. The stronger his resolve, the stronger his holy power. In the end, after defeating Saruman and storming the wizard’s tower, Jasper picked up the palantír.
When Sauron’s power tried to corrupt him through the palantír, Jasper’s holy light leveled up under pressure. He held onto his true self and drove out all the negative energy in the crystal ball. Mission complete, he returned to Earth. After handing the quest item to the fortune-telling master, the master finally gave him some real guidance.
That guidance? Go online and read forum posts.
"Pfft!" Jack nearly spat out his drink. "Forum posts? Are you kidding me?"
"Yep, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. But I gotta admit, the master wasn’t wrong—I really did find clues in those posts."
Jack frowned. "You mean you found me just by reading forum posts?"
"Why else do you think I rushed to Shanghai without even eating?" Jasper looked at Jack, half laughing, half crying. "You never go online, do you? There’s a ton of posts about you blowing up lately. And coming to Shanghai was just convenient, since something big is happening here—judging by your face, I’ll just tell you straight."
Jasper wiped his mouth and got serious: "Right now, Shanghai has the world’s attention. Tons of Chosen Ones are showing up here—this city has the highest density of Chosen Ones anywhere. Since I landed, I’ve already seen at least three—my supernatural sight only picks up the black marks, and there were two others I suspect have red marks, but I can’t confirm. Plus, this place is crawling with shady organizations. I’m here chasing the trail of a criminal syndicate."
"A criminal syndicate?" Paladins really are the vanguard against evil. But Jack wasn’t about to stand by—he’d help if he could. "Which group?"
"Human traffickers." Jasper was dead serious: "I stumbled onto it by accident—a bunch of people have been targeting Chosen Ones. Hunting, ambushing, capturing, and shipping them like cargo."
Jack’s heart skipped a beat—this group sounded familiar. "SD?"
"Yeah, SD! You know them too?" Bingo.
"They went after the Queen once—actually succeeded, too. But in the end, she busted out, trashed their base, and escaped."
"Damn it!" Jasper slammed the table in anger. "Scum like that—I won’t let them exist! They’ve been gathering in Shanghai lately, and I’m about to follow the trail and wipe them out for good!"
"Count me in." Jack felt it was his duty to take down SD. But he still had questions: "Why are so many people coming to Shanghai lately?" Thinking back, lots of clues—project bids getting blocked, Rainy Luo’s sudden promotion, all sorts of strange happenings—had popped up recently, all in Shanghai.
"You really should keep up with the internet." Jasper shook his head helplessly. "Bottom line, everyone’s here for one prophecy—and one person."
"A prophecy? A person?" Jack frowned. "A couple years ago, I’d have scoffed at all this supernatural mumbo jumbo. But now... what’s going on?"
"There’s a rumor—no idea who started it online—but even the fortune-telling masters say it’s legit. This rumor has everyone on edge. It’s just one sentence, but it’s loaded—" Even with supernatural protection against eavesdropping, Jasper still leaned in and lowered his voice: "The Fated One will awaken in Shanghai."
"The Fated One?" Jack’s eyes narrowed. That phrase triggered a flood of thoughts: his unusual way of crossing worlds, his ability to bring his storage space to Earth, his unique golden profile mark, his recent Fool Mode episodes—and, most of all, the one-and-only Twin Queens.
He thought of so many things. He knew he was different from ordinary Chosen Ones.
The Fated One—that title was different from regular Chosen Ones too.
The more he thought, the deeper Jack’s gaze grew, and the heavier his aura became.
"Yep, the Fated One. Because of this one person, Shanghai’s a total powder keg—good and bad all mixed together. This place is ready to blow at any spark. I don’t know why you happened to end up here too, but one thing’s for sure: this is the main plotline in Shanghai right now." Jasper patted Jack, leaned in to block any prying eyes, and scribbled a line on the table with water: "My guess? The Queen is the Fated One."