Translator:	Author:	Original Source:
MJCross	Cat’s Glasses	SFACG

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Time: 11:30 PM. Location: the riverbank alongside the riverside highway.

Under the cover of night, we stealthily approached the bridge piers of the cross-river bridge, and now we’ve reached the outside of the bridge tunnel where Old Feng resides.

On the opposite bank, the bustling Tianping Commercial District is brightly lit, making the night sky devoid of any starlight.
Tonight is a crucial battle for both Old Feng and me.

The operation mode remains the same: Xiao Lei is responsible for reconnaissance, while I communicate with her from behind via earphones.
It’s not that I’m shirking the troublesome tasks onto her; it’s just that, as someone who doesn’t exist, even if she’s discovered, the risk isn’t as high as it is for me.

Moreover, being athletic, she’s more agile than I am, making her the perfect candidate for this mission.

Absolutely not shirking troublesome tasks onto her!

“What’s the target doing now? Over.”

“The ingredients have been moved; now washing dishes. Over.” she’s just a few positions ahead of me, but I can only hear her faint voice through the earphones.

“Wait until Old Feng returns to the bungalow, then quietly approach. Tonight’s mission isn’t just to transform Old Feng into a bishoujo; we also need to know what he looks like after the transformation. Over.”

Although I used a low tone to explain the mission, mentioning the words “bishoujo” reduced the seriousness by several levels; it feels particularly odd.

“Copy that.” She crouched on one knee at the corner outside the bridge hole, observing Old Feng intently.

“Commander, Old Feng is admiring that moonstone right now. I think this is the perfect chance to make a move… He’s bound to believe this is a divine miracle from the God of Bishoujo!”

Xiao Lei’s voice came through my earpiece, laced with excitement.

Originally, the plan was to wait until Old Feng returned to his room before taking action. This would make things more discreet—who knew if any passersby might still be wandering around the riverbank? Plus, it would give Xiao Lei the chance to sneak in close and snap a photo.

But as Xiao Lei pointed out, if Old Feng transformed while holding the moonstone, he’d undoubtedly become a devout believer in the so-called God of Bishoujo.

“That makes sense,” I replied, pulling out a black A4-sized notebook—【 D̶E̶A̶T̶H̶ NOTE】—from my satchel. But the moment my pencil tip touched the paper, I froze.

I had no idea how to begin.

A wave of frustration hit me.

Awkwardly, I spoke up, “Uh, Xiao Lei… do you, uh… happen to know Old Feng’s full name?”

We had been calling him “Old Feng” or “Uncle Feng” all the time, and now I realized—I had completely forgotten his actual name! Come to think of it, when did I even learn that “Old Feng” was his nickname?

A silence fell over the earpiece.

At some point, both of us had started treating “Old Feng” as if it were his real name.

“I think it was a three-character name, but I can’t remember the whole thing… Seriously, how did you get this far without even knowing your target’s full name?” Xiao Lei’s voice carried a note of exasperation.

“My bad. I really dropped the ball this time… Maybe we should come back tomorrow after finding out his name?”

Even as I suggested it, I felt reluctant to abandon the mission over something this trivial.

“No need to rush. There might be clues inside Old Feng’s room—I’ll take a look.”

It was obvious that Xiao Lei was just as unwilling to give up.

The “room” she was referring to was the two small houses under the bridge. According to Xiao Lei, this place used to be some kind of bridge maintenance outpost.

Judging by the description, it must have been a department responsible for taking care of the massive river-spanning bridge above. But now, either the department had been disbanded or relocated, leaving behind two vacant buildings, which Old Feng had rented.

I couldn’t see the bridge tunnel from my angle, so Xiao Lei sent me a photo.

Two yellow tungsten lamps hung from the eaves of the small houses, casting the only source of outdoor light in the pitch-black tunnel.
Under this dim glow, Old Feng stood at the sink, silently washing dishes.

The tungsten light’s warm hue inadvertently gave the scene a nostalgic, old-film aesthetic, making the photo look like a pantomime from the last century.

“Damn, Old Feng sure takes his time washing dishes… Spotless. Even when I wash dishes at home, I don’t scrub the same plate this many times.”

This man of few words was meticulous in everything he did. I wasn’t sure if it was just his personality or if it stemmed from some obsessive compulsion left over from that food poisoning incident years ago.

“Holy crap, he’s finally done! Good thing it’s summer break—otherwise, we’d be late for school tomorrow at this rate.”

Just as I was about to doze off against the wall, Xiao Lei’s quiet yet exasperated swearing snapped me back to reality.

He had spent over half an hour washing a single load of dishes, dragging our operation all the way to midnight. Normally, I’d already be sound asleep by this time.

“Old Feng should be heading back inside now, right?”

“Yeah, he just went in. I’m going in too, okay?”

I crouched down where Xiao Lei had been earlier.

By now, the tungsten lamps above the eaves had gone dark, leaving Xiao Lei to sneak into the bridge tunnel in pitch-black conditions. The moment she moved away from the small houses, I lost sight of her completely.

She kept low, creeping toward the last remaining source of light in the tunnel—Old Feng’s room, where a faint glow leaked from the window.

“People don’t usually leave their names written around their rooms. But if there’s a desk, keep an eye out—there might be signed documents or something.”

As Xiao Lei reached the side of the house, I whispered some advice based on my own reasoning.

“Shh, be quiet.”

Xiao Lei was now right below the window.

She had no idea what Old Feng was doing inside, so she didn’t dare peek in recklessly. Pressing her head against the wall, she stayed completely still.

So that’s why she told me to shut up—she was listening for sounds inside the room.

“…Water. Old Feng is taking a shower.”

After reaching a conclusion, Xiao Lei boldly stuck her head out to observe the situation inside the room.

“Ah!” She let out a soft exclamation as if she had discovered something.

“Could this be… Commander, I know Old Feng’s full name now! It’s Feng Jingsheng—Jing as in ‘scenery’ and Sheng as in ‘prosperity’!”
Crouching below the window, Old Feng quickly withdrew, sitting against the wall as he relayed the intel to me, his voice filled with an indescribable excitement.

“Well done!”

“…Ah! Wait a second! Old Feng is still in the shower!”

Xiao Lei herself didn’t react immediately. By the time she froze in place, I had already written down Feng Jingsheng’s name in my Bishoujo Notebook—after all, jotting down three characters didn’t take much time.

“There’s a white glow from the bathroom. Looks like it worked… but shouldn’t there be a scream or something at a time like this? Why is Old Feng so calm?”

Come to think of it, Old Feng wasn’t exactly the type to waste words. He definitely wasn’t someone who would let out a startled shriek.
Most likely, he would silently observe the situation, then silently wipe himself down, then silently get dressed, and finally, silently walk out.

Unfortunately, as an observer standing at a distance, I had no chance of enjoying the blessing of witnessing a girl stepping out of the bath.

Ahem. Though I do feel a little guilty that Old Feng had to transform while showering, this was something he would have to go through sooner or later…

“You, get your phone camera ready. The moment she comes out, snap a picture and then run. Once we get the shot, our mission tonight is complete.”

“Isn’t that a bit unethical? What if Old Feng walks out without clothes on?”

I scoffed. “Do you walk out of the bathroom naked after showering?”

“…Good point.” Xiao Lei tilted her head in thought, then gave a somewhat hesitant nod.

She pulled out her Apple phone, which had the electric shock function, and aimed the camera out the window, presumably pointing it at the bathroom door. Meanwhile, her eyes were locked onto the phone screen.

Now that I think about it… isn’t secret photography illegal?

After about five minutes, Xiao Lei tapped the screen. Half a minute later, she suddenly put her phone away and bolted toward my hiding spot in the corner. Judging by her reaction, she must have been caught by Old Feng.

My suspicions were confirmed when I heard her voice through my earpiece. “Commander, Old Feng spotted me!”

Run! Run, little girl, run! Hehehehehe…

I stuffed my notebook back into my satchel. Before Xiao Lei could even reach me, I had already turned around and started running. She was an athletic type, so catching up to a shut-in like me would be easy.

Not that I was too worried. It was pitch black outside the bridge tunnel—if Old Feng chased us, she’d only see vague silhouettes at best. The most she could do was suspect the mysterious figure she encountered earlier today, meaning Xiao Lei. But Xiao Lei wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place.

Following the riverside road, we ran all the way to Mifeng Street before stopping.

I bent over, hands on my knees, gasping for breath. “Did you get the shot?”

Xiao Lei flashed an “OJBK¹” hand sign. “Of course! I recorded a whole video—full HD, no blurs.”

As she spoke, she pulled out her Apple phone and played back the footage.

The video was taken from an angle aimed at the bathroom corner of the house.

As the bathroom door handle turned, the girl who had once been an old man stepped out, steam trailing behind her from the bath.

She had the same deadpan expression as the original Old Feng, a look that screamed stay away from me. But compared to the rather intimidating visage of the old Feng, the girl’s delicate features gave her an air of aloof, ethereal beauty.

“Tch, why do I feel like Old Feng is prettier than me… Is your notebook biased against me or something?” Xiao Lei muttered, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“There are different types of beautiful girls. Old Feng is the cold and elegant type. You, on the other hand… are the bright and adorable type.”

“‘Bright and adorable’ sounds like a lower-tier category compared to hers! It’s like she’s an SR card while I’m just an N card! And also—her chest… isn’t that way bigger than mine?!”

Old Feng’s well-developed curves pushed against her slightly yellowed, oversized tank top. From the side, a generous amount of soft, pale skin was visible.

I wasn’t exactly familiar with bra size classifications, but I could tell that compared to Old Feng, neither Haitang nor Xiao Lei had anything worth mentioning. Even Tangerine would have to admit defeat in front of this weapon of mass destruction.

But… but in my dream, my size seemed to be even larger than this… Best not to mention that to Xiao Lei.

Old Feng’s lower half was clad in camo-green shorts, secured tightly with a drawstring so they wouldn’t slip off.

Yet, the most striking thing about her transformation was her long hair. Damp from the shower, her black locks cascaded all the way to her ankles, shimmering with tiny glimmers like a starry river in the dark night.

“Hopefully, she doesn’t just cut it all off,” Xiao Lei muttered.

A shiver ran down my spine. Given Old Feng’s personality, she totally seemed like the type to do that.

Fresh out of the bath, Old Feng picked up the moonstone from the table and examined it thoughtfully.

But then, her gaze subtly shifted—and landed on the Apple phone camera peeking in from the window…

The video ended there, because at that point, Xiao Lei had already taken off running.

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冯景盛 Feng Jingsheng
aka 老冯 Old Feng　