064 I Only Know How to Draw This

"Name?"
"Lin Yu."
"Gender?"
"Male."
"Age?"
"22."

Inside the maid cafe, Lin Yu, the eccentric young man who had aggressively consumed eight plates of food and claimed that dining required no payment, was currently surrounded by the maid attendants.

Mo Bai, mimicking the procedures from recent encounters, solemnly recorded the details: "Occupation?"

Lin Yu answered meekly, "I am an artist."

"An artist?" Mo Bai raised an eyebrow. "Does being an artist mean you can dine and dash?"

He slammed his hand on the table. "Do you know how much the bread in my shop costs? Five yuan! A whole five yuan!"

"It's that cheap, and you still tried to freeload?!"

Lin Yu couldn't help but retort, "Bro, I ate a full meal, not bread..."

Mo Bai shouted, "Silence! Did I give you permission to speak?"

Sister Li fell into deep contemplation as well. "In all my years in this industry, this is the first time I've ever seen someone try to freeload at a maid cafe."

"And freeload on the actual food, no less."

She wore an expression of sheer disbelief. "Were you a starving ghost in your past life? Exactly how many days has it been since your last meal, you cat?"

Lin Yu lowered his head and said sheepishly, "O-One week..."

Sister Li: "?"

"Pardon me, I spoke a bit too loudly just now... No, wait!"

Sister Li slammed her fist onto the table in fury. "That still doesn't give you the right to freeload!"

"Quickly, hand over the money. I refuse to believe a grown man has zero cash on him."

In the past, only when Mo Bai sneaked out to slack off would he return to find Sister Li and the others searching his pockets. He never expected someone else to experience this treatment today.

However, the task wasn't carried out by the maid attendants this time; it was Mo Bai himself. With a sinister grin, he cracked his knuckles, producing a series of crisp, sharp pops.

"Not bad, kid. You're the very first person to try freeloading at my shop after all this time."

"Even Gu Ran has to pay for his meals obedientively, yet you had the nerve to pull a dine-and-dash?"

"Die!"

Seeing Mo Bai's menacing claws approaching, Lin Yu shrank back, hugging his head and squatting down. "Guh! Don't!"

"I genuinely didn't know that eating food cost money!"

"I really am completely broke!"

"Broke?" Mo Bai sneered. "Then we'll settle this at the police station. Let me tell you, kid, you've gotten yourself into serious trouble—I happen to have people on the inside!"

"Whether you have money or not, I'll see for myself!"

Mo Bai forced the man, and Lin Yu found himself doubly forced; the two of them were trapped in an awkward deadlock, ultimately leaving them both speechless.

"Rip..."

Lin Yu's jacket was unzipped, spilling a bundle of drawing paper and paintbrushes onto the floor.

Mo Bai suddenly froze. Due to the close physical contact with Lin Yu, at that exact instant, he perceived something extraordinarily bizarre.

Twisted, chaotic, resembling countless tangled dead knots knotted together, completely obscuring where they began and where they ended...

What on earth was that?

Mo Bai's expression shifted drastically. He suddenly recalled Momo mentioning that close physical contact between Transcendent Boundary entities could reveal whether the other party had awakened their Bloodline Source.

Which meant...

Mo Bai jerked his head up, staring at Lin Yu in utter shock. In return, Lin Yu gazed back at Mo Bai with the look of a drowning man grasping a lifeline.

So you're also...

The two of them remained completely frozen in place, locking eyes for a full five seconds.

Until Sister Li delivered a swift kick to Mo Bai's backside.

"What are you doing? Why did you suddenly freeze up?"

Sister Li grew nervous. "Is there something dangerous on him?"

After all, for a freak who could eat eight plates of food and try to freeload, hiding an Emei piercing or nunchucks inside his clothes sounded entirely reasonable.

"N-No, nothing at all, Sister Li."

With a sorrowful expression, Mo Bai helped Lin Yu pick up the scattered sheets of drawing paper from the floor. "I feel like I've seen this guy somewhere before. Let's resume normal business operations; I need to have a proper chat with him."

Lin Yu nodded frantically as well. "Yes, yes! No wonder I felt you looked so familiar the moment I saw you, haha."

The maid cafe resumed its normal operations, while Mo Bai and Lin Yu seated themselves in a corner.

Mo Bai assumed Commander Gendo's signature pose. "Which tier?"

"Metamorphosis."

"Metamorphosis?" Mo Bai was utterly astounded. "I honestly thought that deadbeat Musheng had already hit the absolute bottom among Transcendents, but it turns out there are even higher-level freeloaders?"

"You've reached Metamorphosis, yet you can't even afford a single meal and have to resort to freeloading?"

"Unacceptable." Mo Bai pulled out his smartphone. "I'm exposing you on Pixiv."

*Brothers, who can relate? Metagamed an incel today who came to a maid cafe to freeload...*

"Please, no, don't..." Lin Yu hurriedly stopped Mo Bai. "Seriously, don't. News travels fast on Pixiv, and I can't afford to lose face like that."

Mo Bai scoffed, "You know dignity is at stake now? Why didn't you think of that when you were freeloading?"

"Sigh." Lin Yu let out a pathetic sigh. "Once I explain my Bloodline Source to you, you'll understand why this happened."

Mo Bai nodded. "Go on, elaborate."

"When our bodies made contact earlier, you must have seen the [Manifestation] of my Bloodline Source, right?"

"What did your impression of it look like?"

Mo Bai pondered for a few seconds. "Twisted, chaotic, like a bundle of tangled yarn hacked at by a sharp blade."

Imagine stuffing a pile of ropes into a backpack, leaving it for a few days, and pulling it back out—roughly that kind of appearance.

"Exactly, that is my Bloodline Source," Lin Yu said solemnly. "[Cognitive Distortion]."

"It alters human perception. For instance, believing that meals don't need to be paid for, walking backward while doing a handstand to cross the street, or climbing inside the washing machine right along with your laundry..."

Lin Yu tapped his own head. "It easily deceives the brain. While you're actually doing those things, you don't even realize anything is amiss."

Mo Bai looked at him with newfound respect. "That is genuinely a terrifying ability."

Lin Yu's expression grew increasingly sorrowful. "And that's not even the worst part. The most horrifying aspect is that this Bloodline Source randomly selects a time and location..."

"And automatically exerts its effects on me, the host."

He stared at Mo Bai with the eyes of a man who had lost all will to live. "Now you understand why I tried to freeload, right?"

Mo Bai: "?"

After listening to Lin Yu's explanation, Mo Bai suppressed his laughter for a long moment before forcing two words out from between his teeth:

"Incredible."

Although he knew the world harbored many bizarre Bloodline Sources, he truly never expected one quite this absurd.

What the hell kind of Bloodline Source automatically targets its own host? Does this thing possess self-awareness, trying to eliminate you early on to become an abomination?

Terrifying.

What if this ability triggered suddenly while using the restroom...

Hiss...

The mental image was too horrifying to contemplate.

If that were his Bloodline Source, he would rather smash his head against a piece of stinky tofu and call it a day.

Mo Bai pitied Lin Yu for two seconds before asking expressionlessly, "Then what does any of that have to do with you being broke?"

"Did your cognitive distortion make you use all your cash to wipe your rear end?"

"No, no."

Lin Yu said with a tragic expression, "I came to Beisui City to look for a job. When I arrived, I did have some money on me."

"However, my ability triggered while I was doing laundry, and I ended up stuffing myself into the washing machine. Someone discovered me and had me shipped off to a psychiatric hospital."

"I was only released recently, and all my savings went toward my hospital bills. Come to think of it, the only reason I managed to escape from that place was probably because I had completely run out of money..."

Mo Bai: "..."

He suddenly recalled that the foolproof method to prove one wasn't mentally ill in an asylum was simply claiming one couldn't afford the medical treatment...

That made complete sense.

Mo Bai said, "I've heard your story. So, how do you plan to pay me back?"

Lin Yu exclaimed, "Come on, bro! I'm already this miserable, where is your empathy?"

"We're both Transcendents after all, throw a guy a bone!"

"Throw you what bone? I'm broke myself..." Mo Bai's eyes suddenly lit up. "You know how to draw, right?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Come here." Mo Bai shook the drawing paper. "Sketch a portrait of me and let me see your skill level."

"Fine."

With no other options left, Lin Yu had to comply. He picked up his paintbrush and began sketching with rapid, fluid strokes.

A short while later.

Mo Bai fell into deep contemplation as he stared at the two-dimensional moe anime girl on the paper.

He was entirely certain he had asked Lin Yu to draw *him*, right?

"Is this supposed to be me?"

"It is."

"That is definitely not me!" Mo Bai slammed the table. "How on earth did you manage to turn a rugged tough guy like me into a cute anime girl, dammit!"

"It looks nothing like me, hey!"

"Simple," Lin Yu replied with immense pride.

"Because I only know how to draw beautiful girls."