The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

Baihu pushed the bowl of noodles, which he had only taken two bites of, to the farthest corner of the table, as if that would allow him to completely sever ties with it.

"That's about it. I've said everything I needed to say. Once you get to Rust Harbor, you'll have to figure things out yourself."

He stood up, zipped up his jacket, and did so casually, as if he were about to end an ordinary afternoon chat.

The coffin remained unmoved.

He sat on a plastic stool, the envelope on the table in front of him, his fingers resting on the edge of the kraft paper, watching Baihu zip up his jacket, and suddenly spoke.

"I have one more question."

Baihu paused for a moment, then looked up at him.

"Go ahead and ask."

Chen Guan's gaze met his.

"What was your name before you became the White Tiger?"

The two were separated by a plastic table with leftover dough on it. They weren't far apart, but this question suddenly made the atmosphere a little different.

The white tiger looked at him and then smiled.

It's been a long time since anyone has cared about his name.

To others, a name is just a label; no one cares about his past or anything about him.

Does it matter?

His tone was relaxed, exactly the same as before he asked the question, as if this question was on the same level as whether the bowl of noodles he had just eaten was delicious.

Chen Guan did not answer; his expression said it all.

Baihu zipped the zipper all the way up, let go, leaned back, and sat back down.

His gaze lingered on Chen Guan's face for a moment before shifting to the alley outside the glass door.

Why did you suddenly want to ask this?

"No reason."

"Then why are you asking it?"

"I want to know."

Baihu's lips twitched slightly; Chen Guan was more persistent than he had thought.

"You're not a talkative person usually, but when you do open your mouth, you always hit people where it hurts."

Chen Guan glanced down at the file folder on the table.

He thought of the identity files inside.

He Chenguan.

"You don't have to answer." Chen Guan picked up the file folder, preparing to put it into his ring.

"I was just asking casually."

"You never ask questions casually," Baihu's voice came from the other side, tinged with a hint of annoyance.

Chen Guan remained silent.

Baihu looked at him, and after a few seconds, he reached out and picked up the chopsticks on the table, twirled them in his hand, and then put them down.

You asked that question too early.

"Um?"

"If you still have questions after you return from Rupiah, I'll consider whether or not to answer you."

This is not some unspeakable secret.

"OK."

Chen Guan picked up the file folder and stood up.

The two walked towards the door one after the other. When they passed the counter, Baihu casually placed a banknote on the counter, which included both the cost of the noodles and the tip.

Baihu was the first to walk out, stopping at the doorway, his hands in his jacket pockets, and turning to look at Chen Guan who followed him out.

"Don't be late for the 6 a.m. train tomorrow."

"You already said that."

"I'm just worried you might have a bad memory."

Chen Guan didn't respond to that. Standing at the entrance of the noodle shop, he glanced at both ends of the alley.

One end connects to the back gate of the West Campus, and the other end leads to the road outside. There are water stains left from the rain a few days ago on the road, and the sunlight shines on them.

What Chen Guan didn't say was that he was really startled when he heard the name He Chenguan.

……

Back in the dormitory, the cheetah was still huddled in the corner, its purple fur shimmering faintly in the slanting rays of the setting sun.

It heard the door open, its ears twitched, it looked up at the coffin, and then lay down again.

Chen Guan closed the door, walked to the desk, sat down, and emptied all the contents of the file folder.

The ID card shows He Chenguan's face, but it has been slightly altered, making him look more down-and-out than he does now.

One ticket, tomorrow morning at six o'clock, final stop: Liugang.

The card with the clown hat printed on it.

There was also a thin bank card with no name on it. It was a prepaid card, and it should contain the funds for Baihu Sai's activities.

At the very bottom was a handwritten note, the handwriting was very messy, it was Baihu's.

There is only one line of text above.

Don't die.

Chen Guan looked at it for two seconds, then turned the note over. There was an even smaller line of text on the back.

Have you finished eating the apple?

He put the note down, picked up the ID card, and looked at it again.

He Chenguan, male, 22 years old.

The person in the photo does look a lot like him, but his eyes look much more tired than he actually is, and he exudes an aura of someone who has struggled at the bottom of society for a long time.

Abbreviation: death energy.

The White Tiger truly paid attention to detail.

Chen Guan put everything away and placed it under his pillow. He looked at the leopard beside him and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something.

I forgot to ask Baihu about the leopard.

It was all because of that one sentence, "He Chenguan," that startled him.

Chen Guan walked to the cheetah and squatted down.

"Let's practice."

The cheetah raised its head, its purple pupils reflecting the cheetah's face.

"Open the portal."

A dark purple crack tore open in front of the cheetah, about one meter wide and a little over two meters high, just big enough for an adult to walk through while bending over.

"close."

The crack closed.

"Reopen."

The crack reappeared, this time about 0.3 seconds faster than before.

"close."

closure.

After the cheetah's portal opened and closed for the seventh time, its speed had stabilized at less than 0.5 seconds.

Chen Guan squatted in front of it and observed the stability of the crack's edge. The dark purple halo no longer overflowed erratically as it had at first, but had been neatly contained.

"That's enough, take a break."

The cheetah closed the portal, lay down on the ground to catch its breath, and the arc of electricity at the tip of its tail flickered a few times before going out, showing that the continuous opening and closing had taken a toll on it.

The cheetah got up from the ground, slowly walked to his feet, and rubbed its head against his calf.

Chen Guan glanced down at it, then casually picked up an apple, broke it in half, and fed it to the animal.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll have to play along with my act."

The cheetah tilted its head and looked at him, then ate the half-apple.

Suddenly, its expression turned to pain, as if it had ingested some kind of poison.

Chen Guan looked at the apple in his hand with suspicion. He only knew that dogs couldn't eat chocolate, but he had never heard that leopards couldn't eat apples.

He tentatively took a bite of the apple.

Then, a pain mask similar to the one worn by Leopard appeared on his face.

That wretched white tiger!!!