Spare the poor manager.
Okay, from today onward the Four Divine Beasts are officially a thing of the past.
From now on, there are only Three Divine Beasts.
One dragon has already been expelled by the organization.
Grace Jiang's fans were in despair—begging the manager to never put Grace on-screen with Ollie again.
A perfectly normal celebrity had been totally corrupted. She wanted to put everything she saw into her mouth!!!
Can you just shove anything into your mouth?!
So when Ollie finally saw what Grace had brought back, he went stone-still.
That snake… no, is that really a snake? Why does it look so much like a dragon? And why does it seem so familiar…
Like the Quinn he hadn't seen in nearly three years.
Mira: "..."
Quinn: "( . . . `)"
"Ollie! Is this snake poisonous? Can we eat it? It feels so plump, and it's not very smart— I caught it in one go!"
Ollie: "..."
Ollie didn't dare say anything.
What could he possibly say? Tell Grace the snake she was holding wasn't just some ordinary serpent but one of the legendary Divine Beasts—the Azure Dragon?
If he did, whatever dignity the dwindling monster clans still had would be gone for good.
To save that Schrödinger-like shred of dignity, Ollie reached into the well of all his acting experience.
"Grace, don't panic, and don't move. I'll come over. This snake's a little venomous—no big deal. When I get over there, hand it to me and I'll release it."
Only then did Grace finally register what she had been pinching: a dark-green, long-bodied snake. The triangular head—memories about snakes she'd never thought of before flooded in.
She froze, unable to move. Quinn could even feel the pressure on his own vulnerable spot increasing—whoever was holding him wasn't realizing her grip was getting tighter.
"Grace, relax. Relax. You're squeezing too hard. If you keep it up, you'll hurt it."
That wouldn't happen—Quinn was past the point of being proud.
Ollie counted down—three, two, one—and, the moment Grace loosened, he pounced. The dangerous "venomous snake" was successfully subdued by the most reliable Mousey on the scene.
Anna Lang gently set Mira down on a nearby stone, then hurried over to steady Grace.
Anna had to admit she was impressed. The long snake Grace had been fiddling with looked scary, but Ollie had already vouched that it wasn't venomous; once you touched it, it came across as gentle.
But Grace had just grabbed a genuinely venomous snake!
When Ollie had said it was venomous, he hadn't said how bad—it was probably more to frighten Grace enough to loosen her grip so she wouldn't hurt herself.
After Ollie carried Quinn out of sight of the rest, he took off the little live-stream rig from his shoulder. Everyone watching couldn't figure out why, but in the moment they were all willing to make excuses for him.
Once they were out of camera range, Ollie put Quinn down.
"Mira asked me to ask why you're pulling this stunt. Our live streams get a lot of viewers—Supernatural Affairs Bureau probably already knows. She said you should prepare an apology."
Quinn covered his head with a leaf and just lay there, belly up in placid defiance. The beautiful pattern that used to make his scales attractive had, in snake form, become a hair-raising visual jolt. Even Ollie found himself not wanting to stare.
"Quinn, can you turn back? I don't like this color of snake. The Bureau's snake keeps making fun of me—he's that same color."
Ollie poked Quinn's exposed belly with a finger in a petulant pout. The moment Quinn heard that his little one didn't like it, he transformed back.
"You mean White—yeah? If he mocks you again, tell Quinn. He'll come over and rough him up."
That rotten snake—dark and sleazy but insisting on the surname White, then bullying a poor, weak, helpless ham—what kind of cold-blooded animal was that? Disgraceful!
"Okay, thanks, Quinn-uncle."
Alone with his closest family, Ollie relaxed. Two little gray ears popped up on top of his head without him noticing; Quinn's eyes went soft and he didn't even try to be reserved—he started petting Ollie.
"You're even cuter now, Little One. Come on, come on—change back so Quinn-uncle can play!"
Who could resist such a sesame-scented, fluffy little bun?!
Ollie dodged Quinn's groping hand in one swoop and shook his head, frantic. "Nope! Not now! Quinn, go—go away. I'm working. I'll give you my manager's number. Call him and he can take you to my place."
Ollie shoved Quinn's dragon head away. Quinn loved playing with soft little hamsters; once he started he got carried away. What if the others saw him missing and assumed he'd been bitten by a venomous snake?
Quinn looked injured. "Then why can Mira stay? She's lying—she said she didn't want to come down from the mountain!"
Ollie had never actually met Mira's mate, but he knew Mira cared about her brother. Until things were confirmed, he didn't want to tell everyone and make them get their hopes up for nothing.
"Mira stayed because she has actual business here. And she said this place is in her hands. Seriously, go home."
When Mira had sent a thought to Ollie, the exact phrasing had basically been "get lost, don't embarrass yourself here." She sounded genuinely angry and like she couldn't bear to watch.
Quinn didn't argue. He grabbed one of Ollie's little ears before storming off in a huff. "Bad Mousey! You don't like Quinn-uncle anymore, huh?"
Ollie freed his ear, muttered a snort, and walked off without looking back. Watching the small hamster retreat, Quinn—who'd once loved sliding down him in form—felt like that little companion had finally grown up.
Just as he started to get sentimental, Ollie turned and stuck his tongue out. "You're the bad one! I'm telling my dad!"
Ollie had the family name Blake. Back when he'd been picked up, Ned Blake had tried to get him to call him "dad," but even then the Mousey had been clear about himself—he knew a white tiger couldn't father a hamster. In any cross-species pairing, it was the stronger side that determined lineage, and white tigers were top-tier.
So Ollie normally called Ned "Uncle Ned." Only when he'd done something bad or needed parental backup would he call him "dad." Ned loved hearing Ollie say "dad." If Ollie cried, "Dad! A dragon's bullying me!" Ned would probably fly in and shred a dragon to bits.
"Hey! Bad Mousey!!! Always tattling on me to parents! You think I'm scared of him?"
Whether he was actually scared—that only Quinn knew. He'd been kicked out, and for pride's sake he wasn't going back. He scrolled his phone, found the number Ollie had sent earlier, and prepared to harass the poor manager.
Despite the rocky start, they at least managed to eat fish in the end. On his way back Ollie ran into some show staff who handed him a packet of realgar powder—he took the chance to strong-arm a lighter out of them while he was at it. With a lighter, they wouldn't have to spend ages trying to start a fire by rubbing sticks together.
Mason Yu was stared down by the snake, and in the end meekly cooked fish for Mira; Mira had been toying with them all day—she could have eaten the fish raw if she wanted.
They hadn't eaten their fill, but they'd recovered a little energy. Mira didn't plan to keep following Ollie. She swam back up to Anna's shoulder, and before Anna even realized what had happened, Mira gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, then slipped into the stream and was gone.
Anna stood frozen, touching the place where the cold snake lips had brushed her skin—suddenly it felt like burning poison spread through her veins.
"She was saying goodbye. Maybe it means we'll meet again someday."
Strange. Mira supposedly hated humans—why was she so nice to Anna?
Not sure. Look again.
The live-stream camera had captured everything in ultra-clear detail: a dazzling blue snake kissing a beautiful girl. That image was shockingly striking, and the producers immediately used it to push the show onto a trending topic—just the right follow-up to Grace's "can we eat it?" moment.
[Fan comment] I think I'm getting Anna's vibe. Her label's been marketing her as this pure little thing, but if she went with a bolder look she'd get so much attention.
[Fan comment] For real. They kept the makeup light today and were having her be active, but the shot with the snake was stunning. Such a wild animal—if it's not venomous it'd probably prefer the wild. Too bad. Anna really seemed into it; she's been pretty quiet ever since the snake left.
[Fan comment] Didn't Network M have a wilderness survival project? This episode was basically that—Anna should totally try out.
[Fan comment] What is it with the US entertainment scene and this kind of stunt lately? Is there some KPI people are chasing?
[Fan comment] No idea. Heard some big backer is putting money in, and they mainly pick celebs who look like they can handle chaos. (That's a compliment—chaotic equals energetic and lively, don't roast them.)
[Fan comment] I'm throwing support behind Lex Song and Ollie. Caleb Ross wouldn't have booked Ollie on this show for no reason. If anyone can make a scene, it's him.
[Fan comment] Same—send him to wilderness survival! I want to see the Beastmaster Clan leader's skills.
[Fan comment] @UltimateChallengeShow is Ollie going? Please tell us!
Caleb Ross had indeed wanted to book Ollie on that survival show—Network M's wilderness survival is pre-recorded, so Caleb figured he could toss Ollie in like a safe deposit. If anything went wrong later, the boss could always pay the producers to cut the footage.
But Ollie stubbornly refused. After finishing this month's KPIs and filming Emberfall, he insisted on taking six months off. Caleb nearly had a heart attack.
This naughty Mousey! Who wants to take time off during peak career growth?!
Six months off after a breakthrough? Dream on—at most a week, not a day more.
Memory Tour had inexplicably warmed up in popularity, and with lots of Ollie's fans and curious onlookers hyping things up, Caleb let himself hope. Ollie's public persona was already this way; you couldn't exactly flip it. Why not ride the wave?
He'd planned to sweeten Ollie up a bit after this episode—offer a perk and maybe convince him—but then he received a call from an unknown number.
"Hello? Are you Caleb…Caleb Ross? I'm Ollie's manager—no, sorry, I'm Ollie's uncle. He told me to call you and have you take me to where he lives."
If Ollie is a gray-furred Mousey, then what could his "uncle" be?
Ugh…a giant gray rat?!
Caleb's imagination ran wild. He carefully asked, "Hello, I am Ollie's manager. Do you have any way to prove your relationship with Ollie?"
Silence on the other end. Just when Caleb thought the call had dropped, he got a text with a video.
He tapped it open. A dark-green long snake had its tail coiled around the phone; on the screen was the footage from earlier—the live-stream clip of Ollie taking the "venomous snake" from Grace. The snake's tail flicked and tapped the screen, as if to say: "See? This is me. Is that enough?"
Caleb: "..."
Caleb nearly fainted.