By the time the cab finally stopped in front of the house, Tian was barely awake.
He had spent most of the journey sleeping against the seat, and even when Lu Chen gently shook his shoulder to wake him, Tian only made a small sound of protest before slowly opening his eyes.
"We're home," Lu Chen said.
Tian blinked at him several times, clearly struggling to understand where he was. Then he gave a sleepy nod and climbed out of the cab, nearly stumbling the moment his feet touched the ground.
"Careful." Lu Chen quickly caught him by the arm.
"I'm awake," Tian mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"You're obviously not."
"I am."
"You almost walked into the car."
Tian paused and glanced at the car behind him.
"Oh."
Lu Chen couldn't help but chuckle.
"Come on."
He gently guided Tian toward the house while carrying the little piglet for him. Tian was too exhausted to argue and simply followed behind him with his eyes half closed.
Once inside, Lu Chen noticed that Tian was barely keeping himself upright. He sighed and led him toward the bed in the living room. "Lie down."
Tian obediently climbed onto the bed, still looking half asleep. The moment his head touched the pillow, his entire body relaxed.
Lu Chen pulled the blanket over him and carefully tucked it around his shoulders.
Tian's eyes fluttered open for a moment. "Lu Chen…"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry."
Lu Chen paused. "For what?"
"For all this trouble." Tian's voice was so soft that Lu Chen almost didn't hear it. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
Lu Chen looked at him for a few seconds before gently brushing his hair away from his forehead. "You don't have to apologize for something you didn't do."
"But—"
"Sleep."
Tian stared at him sleepily. "You're very bossy."
"And you're very troublesome."
Tian gave a tiny smile. "Good night."
"Good night."
Within moments, Tian had fallen asleep.
The little piglet was still curled up against his chest, its tiny body tucked safely into Tian's embrace. Even in his sleep, Tian seemed reluctant to let go of him, his arms instinctively holding the piglet close.
Lu Chen stood there for a while, watching them.
He placed Tian's phone beside the piglet and headed toward his own room.
The moment the bedroom door closed behind him, the house became completely silent.
And the piglet slowly opened its eyes.
Hua Lang had never felt so miserable in his life. His little body remained curled against Tian, but his mind was anything but peaceful.
His friend had cried today.
That thought alone made his heart ache.
Jun Ming had cried because of him.
Hua Lang had seen the desperation in his friend's eyes and had watched him stand in the street sobbing because he had no idea where Hua Lang was.
He hated seeing him like that.
I shouldn't have let things get this far.
Then there was Tian.
Tian had cried too.
And that made Hua Lang feel even worse.
Tian had done nothing wrong. He had only tried to help him, yet somehow he had ended up caught in the middle of this ridiculous mess.
Hua Lang lowered his little head.
I need to make this clear.
He couldn't continue watching everyone worry about him.
He had to tell Jun Ming that he was alive.
He had to tell him that he was safe.
And, most importantly, he needed to tell him the truth.
I'm Hua Lang.
I'm alive.
I'm just... a pig now.
The thought was humiliating.
Hua Lang's ears drooped. There was no way to make that sentence sound normal. But it was still better than letting Jun Ming think he was dead.
He slowly looked toward the phone lying beside him.
His eyes narrowed with determination.
Carefully, Hua Lang wriggled out of Tian's sleeping embrace.
Tian shifted slightly, but thankfully didn't wake.
Hua Lang froze.
After waiting several seconds, he finally breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Hua Lang stared at the phone intently for a few seconds.
He lowered his head and carefully extended his tongue.
The first attempt to unlock the phone failed miserably.
His tongue just slid uselessly across the screen.
Hua Lang frowned. Come on.
He tried again. This time he managed to tap the screen.
It lit up.
His eyes widened. Yes!
He quickly glanced toward Tian's sleeping face.
Hua Lang turned back toward the phone and began experimenting.
Soon his tongue slowly became more precise.
After several frustrating attempts, he finally managed to open the messaging application and began typing.
It was painfully slow.
Every letter required careful movement of his tongue, and more than once he accidentally pressed the wrong key and had to delete it.
"Ugh..." he muttered silently, growing increasingly frustrated.
He carefully selected the letters one by one.
His heart tightened at the thought of his friend.
I safe.
He paused.
Then added the next line.
Don't call police.
Hua Lang stared at the message.
That part was important.
Very important.
Because if Jun Ming called the police again and somehow managed to bring them here, Hua Lang had no idea how he was supposed to explain his situation.
Hello, officer. I'm Hua Lang. I know I look like a pig, but please believe me.
He shuddered internally.
Unfortunately, Hua Lang was so focused on the phone that he failed to notice the bedroom door down the hallway had opened slightly.
A figure stood behind it.
Silent.
Watching.
Lu Chen had never actually gone to sleep.
The moment he entered his room, he had remained awake, his suspicions refusing to leave him alone. Something about that piglet had bothered him too much, and after several minutes of lying in bed pretending to rest, he had quietly opened his door.
What he saw made him freeze. At first, he couldn't understand what he was looking at.
The piglet was sitting beside Tian and… it was using the phone.
Lu Chen stared.
His mind went completely blank.
The piglet carefully moved its tongue across the screen, selecting letters with surprising precision.
It wasn't randomly touching the phone.
It was actually typing!
Lu Chen's eyes widened as he read the text
I Hua Lang.
Lu Chen's entire body went still. "Hua Lang?!" he called out softly.