Late at night, in the small space beside the bed, a small incandescent glow could be seen beneath a bundle of sheets. A small pink pig butt was subtly shaking as its curly tail moved from side to side.
It was Hua Lang, of course, and he was hard at work.
He had somehow managed to unlock the phone once again. This time, he did not try to contact anyone first. He had something else in mind.
With his tongue, he carefully maneuvered across the phone screen and searched for angels.
His eyes subtly moved towards the blurry figure sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed.
All day, he had heard the angel groaning and whining about how much he hated him.
That could be the reason why he had cursed him into a piglet.
But there was something very fishy about it.
'If this angel is the one who cursed me, why doesn't he know it's me?'
Hua Lang's little ears drooped.
'Why did he pick me up and take care of me? Why does he feed me? Why does he keep hugging me and treating me like some kind of pet?'
His heart ached at the thought.
The guy called Tian had been nothing but nice and sweet to him.
Shaking his head, Hua Lang quickly threw that thought away.
'He couldn't have known it was me.'
But then another thought came to him.
'Could he have cursed me without knowing who I was?'
He stared at the sleeping angel.
'No... that doesn't make sense either.'
Hua Lang sighed.
Everything about this situation made absolutely no sense.
He continued searching about angels.
A lot of articles popped up, but he went through the historical ones first. Unfortunately, they were of no help. The ancient books mostly described angels with countless wings, strange eyes, and glowing bodies.
Hua Lang slowly turned his head and looked at Tian.
Then he looked back at the screen. He looked at Tian again.
'...This guy doesn't look anything like that.'
He scoffed and continued his search. Soon, it led him to a website filled with conspiracy theories.
"ANGELS ARE AMONG US!"
"I SAW AN ANGEL IN MY DREAM—HERE'S WHAT IT MEANS!"
"10 SIGNS YOUR NEIGHBOR MAY BE AN ANGEL!"
Hua Lang stared at the screen blankly.
'What the hell is this?'
He scrolled down. There was even an article claiming that people who woke up at exactly 3:33 in the morning had been visited by angels.
'Humans are ridiculous.'
He slammed his little head into the pile of blankets.
'Why isn't there any useful information here? There is nothing about angel curses or how to turn someone back into a human!'
He lifted his head again and stared at the phone.
'It's all useless.'
After several more minutes of searching, Hua Lang finally gave up.
He went back to Plan A. That was contacting Jun Ming.
Of course, he still did not know his number, but LinkedIn would have his email ID for sure. The meticulous man would definitely have one.
Hua Lang carefully opened LinkedIn. It took him twenty minutes.
Twenty.
Entire.
Minutes.
Just to search three words.
His tongue accidentally pressed the wrong button twice. His nose opened a random advertisement. At one point, he somehow managed to zoom the screen so much that he could only see one letter.
By the time he finally found the search bar, Hua Lang was exhausted.
'Being a pig is fucking difficult.'
He finally found Jun Ming's profile.
There it was. Jun Ming's email address.
Hua Lang's little eyes lit up.
Without wasting another moment, he opened the email application and entered the address.
But when it came to writing the message, he froze.
'What should I write to him?'
He stared at the blank screen.
'Obviously I can't just say I'm a pig. He would think it's some kind of prank.'
He thought about it carefully.
'But even if I tell him the address and he comes here, if he doesn't see me in person, he'll just think someone is wasting his time.'
Hua Lang lowered his head.
'I obviously can't speak in this form.'
He thought harder.
There was only one thing he could do.
Something he would never willingly do.
Reveal a secret.
Jun Ming had grown up beside him for the longest time. The two of them had shared countless secrets over the years.
If he revealed something that only the two of them knew, Jun Ming would have to believe him.
Hua Lang's eyes narrowed as he thought.
What secret could prove that it was really him?
He went through years of memories.
Then suddenly, he remembered one.
A very embarrassing one.
A dog had once bitten Jun Ming on the butt.
Hua Lang stared at the screen.
'...That should work.'
It was such a ridiculous secret that no one else could possibly know about it.
He gritted his little teeth and began typing as quickly as his tongue allowed.
I Hua.
He paused. His anxious eyes moved toward Tian again. The angel was still sleeping peacefully.
Hua Lang continued typing.
Alive.
You dog bite on butt.
Hua Lang nodded to himself.
'Perfect.'
He took a deep breath and continued.
Address ….
He carefully typed the address he had figured out earlier.
I'm a pi
Suddenly, he heard the bedsheets rustle. The cocooned figure groaned loudly beside him.
Hua Lang froze. His little ears shot straight up.
'Fuck! No time!'
Hua Lang frantically moved his tongue across the screen. He quickly typed the final words.
I m a pig….
His hoof hit the screen.
SENT.
Hua Lang's eyes widened.
'Fuck!'
He immediately closed the phone and shoved it underneath the blanket.
He barely had time to turn around before Tian slowly sat up.
"Hmmm..."
The angel rubbed his sleepy eyes.
Hua Lang sat completely still. His little heart was beating violently inside his chest.
Tian looked around sleepily.
"Bacon? Why are you awake?"
Hua Lang stared straight ahead.
'I'm dead.'
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometres away, a notification dinged on Jun Ming's phone.
You have received a new email.
Dressed in his casual pyjamas, Jun Ming was sprawled comfortably across his sofa with a large bowl of chips balanced against his stomach. His apartment was a complete mess, with blankets thrown over the cushions and an assortment of snacks, empty cups, and random papers scattered across the coffee table. He reached lazily for his phone, only to realize it wasn't where he had left it.
"Where the hell is it...?"
He frowned and leaned forward, searching beneath the pile of blankets on the sofa. When he still couldn't find it, he began digging between the cushions, pushing them apart and checking every possible gap. After a few seconds, his fingers finally brushed against something hard.
"Ah!"
He pulled the phone out triumphantly from between the cushions.
"There you are."
Grinning to himself, he settled back into the comfortable sofa, pulled the bowl of chips against his chest, and unlocked his phone. He was just about to open a video when he noticed the new email notification sitting at the top of the screen.
His eyes casually moved toward the sender.
Then froze.
Hua.
For several seconds, Jun Ming simply stared at the name.
His relaxed expression disappeared completely.
"Boss...?"
He immediately sat upright, and in his excitement, the bowl of chips slipped against his stomach. Several chips flew onto the floor.
He didn't even notice.
His fingers trembled slightly as he opened the email.
There were only a few lines.
I Hua
Alive
You dog bite on butt
Address: ...
I m a rig
Jun Ming stared at the screen.
He blinked once.
Then twice.
His excitement slowly turned into confusion.
"...What?"
He read it again.
His eyebrows slowly knitted together.
"I'm Hua. Alive. You dog bite on butt..."
He stopped.
"...A rig?"
He stared at the last line for several seconds.
"What is a rig?"
His first thought was that Hua Lang had somehow been forced to send the email while under extreme pressure. The strange wording only made him more worried. Hua Lang was usually meticulous about everything. Even his messages to Jun Ming were normally precise and professional. For him to suddenly send something like this meant something had gone seriously wrong.
Jun Ming's expression turned serious.
"A rig..."
He quickly searched the word in his mind, but nothing made sense.
Was it some kind of code?
Had Hua Lang been kidnapped?
Was someone forcing him to write the email?
Or was he trying to tell him something without letting whoever was holding him hostage understand?
Jun Ming immediately focused on the most important part of the message.
The address.
Hua Lang had given him an address.
That meant he was alive.
And if he had managed to send an address, there was a chance he was still there.
Jun Ming didn't waste another second.
He grabbed his phone and immediately contacted the police, forwarding them the address and explaining that his missing boss had suddenly contacted him after disappearing.
Once he had given them everything he knew, Jun Ming rushed toward the door.
He didn't even bother changing his clothes.
He was still wearing his loose pyjama shirt and ridiculous sleeping pants, with his hair sticking up messily in every direction. One of his slippers was half hanging off his foot as he hurried down the hallway.
He stopped briefly, looked down at himself, and frowned.
"Whatever."
He couldn't care less.
His boss had finally contacted him.
Whether Hua Lang had been kidnapped, held hostage, or was somehow involved in something even stranger, Jun Ming was going to find him.
He grabbed his keys and rushed out of the apartment, leaving the abandoned bowl of chips and the scattered pieces on the floor completely forgotten behind him.
On the other side of the town, Tian, who had only just woken up, was still completely dazed from his sudden interruption. His sleepy eyes wandered around the dim room before finally falling on the little piglet trembling slightly on the floor beside the bed. Without thinking much about it, he leaned down and picked him up, holding the small warm body against his chest.
"It's cold outside tonight. What are you doing on the ground?"
The blanket that had fallen from the bed during the night was lying beside the piglet, so Tian picked it up and gently wrapped Hua Lang inside it, bundling him up until he looked like a tiny pink dumpling with only his head and curly tail sticking out. Satisfied with his work, Tian smirked and leaned down to give his little snout a soft kiss.
The piglet instantly froze, his entire body stiffening as a tiny squeak escaped from his throat.
"You're so cute," Tian mumbled softly, completely unaware of the emotional damage he had just caused, before placing the bundled-up piglet beside him and happily returning to his sweet slumber.
Hua Lang remained completely still for several seconds, his little ears twitching as he stared at the sleeping angel.
'Did... did he just kiss me?'
He couldn't understand this angel at all. One moment Tian was cursing Hua Lang's name and wishing terrible things upon him, and the next he was wrapping him in a blanket and kissing his snout as if he were the most adorable creature in the world.
'What kind of person is this?'
Unfortunately, Hua Lang didn't have much time to think about it because a loud series of knocks suddenly thundered against the front door, completely destroying the peaceful atmosphere of the apartment.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Tian groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he tried to figure out what was happening.
"Who is knocking at this hour...?"
Before he could get up, Lu Chen came stumbling out of his room, his hair messy and his eyes barely open as he sleepily made his way toward the door.
"Who the hell is it...?" he grumbled, still half asleep as he unlocked the door and pulled it open.
The moment he looked outside, however, every trace of sleep disappeared from his face.
He froze.
Standing outside were several police officers.
"Who is it?" Tian asked curiously as he climbed off the bed while hugging the little piglet against his chest. He walked toward the doorway and peeked over Lu Chen's shoulder, only to freeze when he saw the group of uniformed officers standing outside.
"...Police?"
Tian's sleepy expression quickly turned into one of complete confusion.
Lu Chen looked equally bewildered.
"Can I help you, officers...?" he asked cautiously, his voice still carrying a hint of sleepiness.
One of the officers stepped forward and showed his identification.
"We have a warrant to search this residence. Please let us in."
Before either Lu Chen or Tian could properly respond, the officers pushed past them and entered the apartment, leaving Lu Chen standing there in stunned silence. He quickly moved in front of Tian, instinctively shielding him from the unfamiliar men while trying to understand what was going on.
"Wait, sir, what is this about? If there's some kind of misunderstanding, I can help you with anything you need."
His eyes nervously moved toward the hallway before he glanced outside the door, already worrying that the noise had woken up the neighbours. He quickly pulled the door mostly closed behind them, hoping to prevent half the building from coming outside to watch.
"We received information that the missing Hua Lang was at this address," one of the officers replied as he began searching through the apartment.
Lu Chen's expression immediately changed.
"Hua Lang?"
Tian also blinked in confusion while the little piglet in his arms suddenly stiffened.
Hua Lang's beady eyes widened.
'Me?'
He stared at the police officer in disbelief.
'How did they find me?'
He had barely managed to contact Jun Ming, and somehow the police had already arrived at Tian's home. Hua Lang's heart began beating faster. He let out a loud shriek.
'I'm here! It's me! Rescue me!!!'
Everyone froze.
The officers immediately turned toward the sound, and one of them hurried forward.
"What was that? Where are you holding him?"
"Sir, calm down!" Lu Chen hurriedly stepped in, trying to prevent the situation from becoming even more ridiculous. "It was the pig that shouted."
He moved aside slightly, revealing Tian standing behind him with the little piglet squirming in his arms.
The officer paused.
His gaze slowly moved from Tian down to the piglet, who was currently staring back at him with an extremely offended expression.
Hua Lang let out another irritated little squeal.
"Oink!"
The officer raised an eyebrow.
Lu Chen quickly tried to make sense of the situation himself.
"Can you at least explain why you think Mr. Hua Lang is here? We don't know anything about this."
"We can't reveal much about the investigation," the officer replied, continuing his search. "Just cooperate with us and we'll be done soon."
The other officers searched the remaining rooms, opening doors and checking every corner of the apartment, but after several minutes they returned with nothing and quietly shook their heads.
By then, the commotion had already awakened the old lady who had been sleeping peacefully in her room. She slowly stepped into the hallway, rubbing her eyes as she looked around at the unfamiliar people standing inside the house.
"What is going on here...?" she asked sleepily.
Lu Chen's heart nearly jumped into his throat.
"It's nothing, Mom. Just go back to sleep, okay? I'll deal with this."
"But why are the police in our—"
"It's nothing!" Lu Chen quickly interrupted before she could continue, gently guiding her back toward her room. "Just go back to sleep. I'll explain everything later."
The old lady gave him a suspicious look but was too tired to argue, so she slowly disappeared back into her room.
The officers gathered together and quietly discussed something among themselves before one of them finally turned toward Lu Chen.
"We still need you to come with us to the station."
Lu Chen's face immediately fell.
"What? Why do I have to go to the station?"
Before the officer could answer, the front door, which had been left slightly open, suddenly flew inward with a loud bang.
Tian, who happened to be standing directly behind it, nearly got crushed and quickly jumped backward while tightening his grip around the piglet.
"What the—"
A man came rushing through the doorway, dressed entirely in pyjamas, his hair sticking up messily in every direction while his glasses sat crookedly on his face. He was panting heavily as though he had run all the way there, but despite looking completely ridiculous, his expression was filled with determination.
"Hua Lang!" he shouted as he looked around frantically. "Hua! Where are you? I'm here! I'm here! Those hooligans can't hurt you anymore!"
Everyone in the room fell silent.
Jun Ming's eyes immediately landed on Lu Chen, who was still standing near the police officers.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"You don't look like a hooligan..."
Lu Chen blinked in confusion.
"...What?"
Jun Ming's expression became even more serious as he pointed at him.
"But how can I judge someone just by their appearance? You must have tortured my poor Hua Lang until he was forced to write in broken sentences. How cruel!"
Lu Chen stared at him with his mouth slightly open.
"...Huh?"
Hua Lang, meanwhile, was staring at Jun Ming in absolute disbelief.
'Jun Ming!'
He had actually come!