Chapter 24: Follow Su Xin, Meow Thanks

On the eighty-eighth day of living together.

Lin Xia had no missions today.

Her report was finished.

Yin Qi was somewhere in her room doing who-knows-what.

The living room was quiet, so Lin Xia sat on the couch scrolling through her phone.

Halfway through scrolling, she saw a post.

It was from an account she followed that specialized in meme-related news.

The account usually posted incident reports and meme sightings.

Today, however, it had uploaded a video titled:

“New Meme Archive Added to the GMRA Website—What Is This?”

The thumbnail was too small to make out clearly.

Lin Xia tapped it.

The video was a screen recording of the GMRA website.

The uploader flipped through several newly added meme archive pages from the past few months.

Then the video paused on a profile page.

It was the one from the thumbnail.

ID: CNE2-325

Codename: Su Xin

Status: Under Observation

Brief Description: Humanoid entity-type meme. Appears as a young human female with a slender build. Currently undergoing cohabitation-based monitoring. Cooperation level is excellent.

There was also a photograph attached.

Lin Xia recognized it immediately.

It was the picture she had taken when GMRA first created the file.

At the time, she had snapped it casually with her phone.

The result looked less like a documentation photo and more like a celebrity publicity shot.

The video paused there.

A subtitle appeared.

“Kids, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. She’s E-Class.”

The comments flooded across the screen.

“??? Aren’t E-Class memes usually bargain-bin weirdos? There’s a humanoid one?”

“Does GMRA still hire? I suddenly want to apply as a monitor.”

“!? Cooperation level excellent?!”

“She’s really pretty.”

“Mommy.”

“Mommy.”

“Mommy.”

Lin Xia stared at the scrolling comments and frowned before opening the comment section.

“I’ve never seen a meme this good-looking in my life.”

“What does the lowest classification even mean? Why doesn’t it explain her abilities?”

“What if Su Xin is actually…”

Lin Xia skipped over several completely unhinged comments and kept scrolling.

Then she saw a comment posted by an account called “SuXinOfficial.”

The IP location showed Shanghai.

The comment read:

“Please follow Su Xin, meow thanks.”

The replies underneath were numerous.

“Who are you?”

“The real one? Not bad [Tangyuan Emoji]”

“Does your handler know you made this account?”

Lin Xia widened her eyes and tapped the profile picture.

The avatar looked like a selfie of Yin Qi.

There was no way to tell whether it was real or AI-generated.

Beneath the profile picture was a black verification badge.

Quite a few intelligent memes maintained social media accounts these days.

Most mainstream platforms had implemented special meme verification systems.

That mysterious black checkmark was exactly that.

There were only three posts on the profile.

The first reposted the uploader’s video.

Caption:

“Oops, I’ve been discovered.”

The second was a fifteen-second video.

No subtitles.

No music.

Just an evening cityscape filmed through a window.

Lin Xia watched it for a few moments.

The scenery was unmistakable.

It was their apartment building.

The third post had been uploaded yesterday.

It was a photo of Yin Qi’s hand wearing the suppressor rings.

Lin Xia slowly lowered her phone.

She sat on the couch and stared at Yin Qi’s bedroom door.

Then she stood up and walked over.

knock knock

“Mm? What’s up?”

Lin Xia pushed open the door.

Yin Qi was curled up beneath her blanket as though she had just woken up.

Standing in the doorway, Lin Xia raised her phone and pointed the screen toward her.

“Is this you?”

Yin Qi squinted at it.

“Yeah.”

“You posted a video of the building we live in.”

“This building’s location isn’t classified, is it?”

“…Have you ever read GMRA’s monitoring regulations?”

“I have.”

Yin Qi pulled the blanket a little higher.

“Not only is there no rule forbidding monitored memes from creating social media accounts, there’s actually a guide explaining how to do it.”

“Is… is there…”

“And I didn’t reveal any sensitive information.”

“…Then why didn’t you tell me before posting it?”

“I forgot.”

“Next time, tell me beforehand.”

“Okay.”

Yin Qi blinked.

“If I tell you first, will you approve it?”

Lin Xia didn’t answer immediately.

“…Tell me first, then I’ll decide.”

“Fine.”

Yin Qi nodded.

“I’ll ask beforehand next time.”

“And another thing.”

Lin Xia said.

“If anyone asks about me, you’re not allowed to tell them a single thing. Understood?”

“I know.”

Yin Qi said.

“I’m not stupid.”

“In the future, if you want to post pictures involving suppressors or things like that, tell me first.”

“Okay.”

Yin Qi nodded again.

“Anything else?”

“Not for now.”

“Then I’m going back to sleep.”

Yin Qi pulled the blanket up to her lips again.

Only the area above her nose remained visible.

***

Lin Xia returned to the living room.

She followed Yin Qi’s account.

‘Following my observation target’s social media account is perfectly reasonable.’

‘And it would be great material for reports.’

She picked up her phone again and checked Yin Qi’s profile.

The follower count had already surpassed sixty thousand.