Deviant: No Longer Human

January 2nd, 2032, Tianjin!

The previous night had passed in silence.

But the morning? A disaster in slow motion.

Everyone had gathered on the ground floor for breakfast, plates were laid, tea was poured. But there was someone extra at the table... Someone who shouldn't have been there.

Silence...

Only the scrape of cutlery and the occasional clink of porcelain stirred the grim atmosphere.

Fu Yuxin sat upright, her hair was neat, her pajamas crisp. Her eyes narrowed, just a faint redness remained, betraying the hell she endured last night. And yet, she chewed. Slow. Mechanical. Like rubber through her teeth.

Had she grown a thick skin?

Maybe.

Across from her sat a man dressed for work. His white shirt strained around his soft belly, a gold chain catching the morning light as he glanced between Fu Yuxin and Wang Xiao, who, to everyone's shock, hadn't left. Instead, Wang Xiao had joined them for breakfast, cool and unbothered. As if he wasn't worried Fu Yuxin might poison his food.

The man with the gold chain? Fu Chao, her elder brother. He and Wang Xiao were acquaintances at best, enemies by instinct.

Beside Fu Chao sat their father, Fu Wenhai. Grey-templed, sharp-eyed. He sipped his milk tea with the caution of a man sitting across from a loaded gun.

Their mother, Lin Ruyan, old but lethal, studied Wang Xiao with the precision of a knife hidden beneath the tablecloth.

Wang Xiao lounged in his seat like it was a throne. Mug in hand, shirt slightly unbuttoned, he looked the picture of lazy danger. In his lap sat Zhenxi, quietly eating, too young to understand the tension, yet strangely subdued by it.

It didn't help that Fu Chao had a swollen cheek. He had mistaken Wang Xiao for a thief last night after catching him leaving Fu Yuxin's room.

Tried to punch him.

Woke up on the floor.

Chen Meili sat stiffly at the other end of the table, beside Wang Xiao. Her head lowered, chewing quietly, wishing she could vanish.

"Why did he follow us here?..." she cursed inwardly.

Everything had been resolved, explained.

Eight years ago, a massive misunderstanding had turned their world upside down. Zhenxi had been mistaken as Fu Yuxin's daughter. That year, Fu Yuxin, already a troubled teen, had dropped out of university, cut ties with her family, and moved in with Chen Meili.

It was supposed to be temporary.

But Zhenxi changed her.

She found a reason to live again.

She never bothered clearing the misunderstanding… not until this New Year.

With Chen Meili's support, she finally came clean. Her parents apologized. Her brother too. Zhenxi's surname was already officially registered under "Chen." Everything was settled.

Maybe Wang Xiao's return pushed Fu Yuxin to reconcile with her family.

But now…

A man had come out of her bedroom.

No matter how innocent things were, how could anyone explain that?

Even Chen Meili couldn't.

Not convincingly.

"Mm… the mantou's dry," Fu Chao muttered, breaking the silence. "Mom, you used to steam it better."

"Eat quietly," Lin Ruyan snapped.

Then came Fu Wenhai's voice, sharp.

"So… Wang Xiao. You're alive. How's your father?"

They weren't close, but they were once neighbors. After moving to Tianjin, they'd lost touch, and as far as they knew, Wang Xiao had died years ago in an accident.

Yet here he was.

Wang Xiao smiled faintly. "Should be alive as well."

Fu Wenhai's face darkened. One thing was barging into his house. Another was openly disrespecting him after sleeping with his daughter.

Fu Yuxin gave no reaction. But to anyone else, she looked… shy.

Avoidant.

As if she was involved.

Lin Ruyan leaned forward.

"How long have you two… known each other?"

Wang Xiao smirked. "A while."

Fu Yuxin flinched.

She lifted her cup and drank. Her fingers didn't shake. But her pupils did. A small tremble. The kind that came from cold buried deep in the bones.

Fu Chao forced a laugh.

"Man, Xiao… You just drop out of nowhere, huh?"

Wang Xiao tilted his head. "I tend to do that."

Lin Ruyan's tone sharpened. "Are you… staying?"

Wang Xiao shrugged. "That depends."

"On what?" asked Fu Wenhai.

"On her," Wang Xiao said simply.

Every head turned to Fu Yuxin.

Why the hell is he throwing it to her?! she screamed internally.

She swallowed the last of her toast, wiped her lips with practiced calm, and set the napkin down gently.

Then she looked up. Her voice was cold. Steady.

"I don't mind."

And just like that, she stood, scooped up Zhenxi, and left the table.

Zhenxi looked back, she wanted to stay.

But Fu Yuxin didn't let her.

She didn't want her daughter to hear what came next.

Chen Meili stayed... Unfortunately.

Now she had to spin more lies.

She had already clarified Zhenxi wasn't Fu Yuxin's child, only that Fu Yuxin had adopted her out of attachment. But now… she had to explain Wang Xiao's presence in the bedroom.

She swallowed hard, sweat collecting at her temples.

"He's… he's dating Fu Yuxin," she said. "He came to find her."

Another lie. Another layer.

Wang Xiao, to her surprise, played along. He answered questions with just enough grit to be insulting, but not enough to get kicked out.

Fu Chao, now disciplined by a black eye, didn't dare interrupt. He sulked until his wife nudged him to leave for work.

Wang Xiao watched him go and shook his head.

What a scared little rabbit you've become.

"Come with me…"

Once she was sure things had settled downstairs, and that Fu Yuxin's parents had bought the explanation, Chen Meili quickly grabbed Wang Xiao's hand and led him upstairs.

She thought she needed to explain everything.

She didn't know the truth was already useless.

Wang Xiao already knew. Every lie, every omission, none of it mattered anymore.

But the way she grabbed him, hurried, flustered, almost desperate, it entertained him.

So he let her. Stewing the air with more ambiguity.

And of course, it worked.

Downstairs, Lin Ruyan tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing.

"Do you think they… might be involved too?" she murmured.

"That's possible," Fu Wenhai replied, tone clipped.

Lin Ruyan clicked her tongue and sighed.

"It's not good…" She looked away. "Kids these days play dirty. I don't care what Meili does—but I need to talk to my daughter. See if she knows what's going on."

Upstairs, that talk didn't go well.

Lin Ruyan knocked lightly, then opened the door without waiting.

Fu Yuxin sat by the edge of the bed, combing Zhenxi's hair, her posture quiet, peaceful, even.

"You have a moment?" Lin Ruyan asked softly.

Fu Yuxin didn't look up. "Sure. What is it?"

Mother Lin stepped in, closed the door, and took a breath.

"I just want to understand something." She smiled lightly, but her eyes had already turned sharp.

Fu Yuxin kept her gaze on Zhenxi.

"That man. Wang Xiao," her mother said, carefully. "What was he doing in your room last night?"

Zhenxi looked up at the name, Fu Yuxin gave her a reassuring pat and nodded toward the balcony.

"Go water the plants, baby."

Zhenxi obeyed quietly, sliding the door shut behind her.

Then Yuxin stood.

And turned.

"I let him in."

The flatness in her tone struck deeper than any lie would've.

Lin Ruyan froze.

That same nonchalance, that same look from eight years ago.

Back then, one cold night, they'd fought for the same reason.

Her daughter had slept with someone, refused to say who, and no matter how many times they asked, she kept her mouth shut.

Months passed... The incident faded.

Until her son, Fu Chao saw her again, this time with a child.

A child no one had seen before.

They assumed the worst.

The unnamed man. The child. Her silence.

It all painted a picture. Ugly, shameful and Infuriating.

That time, they fought again.

And now?

Now it was starting all over.

This time with someone younger, and apparently involved with Chen Meili too?

What the hell was going on?