My Boyfriend is the Heartthrob, and I’m Just a Passerby.

“Did you not get the message? Employees aren’t allowed in anymore.”

The scorching sun shone down, the earth exuding the stifling stench of damp soil, making one’s head spin.

The one speaking was crouched on the ground.

His phone emitted a notification: [An employee is 0 meters away from you].

Still receiving no response, he raised his head and looked behind him, toward the shadow that loomed over him.

Beneath the blazing sun, the figure wore sunglasses.

Perhaps because of the close distance, from below, he could see a pair of eyes behind the lenses, staring straight ahead.

As if his words had had no effect on him whatsoever.

The man remained motionless, even casually reaching for his coat.

Was he seriously about to smoke at a time like this?

What are you doing?

Didn’t you hear me? This area has been sealed off.

“You’re not a Special Grade, are you?” He squinted. “The headquarters already sent an announcement earlier—they said a specialist was coming to handle this. If you’re not that person, then get out of here. The infection is spreading. I’m already exhausted from explaining the situation to every clueless passerby who wants to go in.”

The situation here—

It was a long story.

But there was only time for a short explanation.

To summarize, a [Source of Infection] numbered 2811 had suddenly acted up.

Its original body was already dead, so the form it had taken now was powerful enough to establish a Domain—and the timing couldn’t have been worse. It happened in the middle of an outdoor music festival.

Because of the proximity, hundreds of people were infected simultaneously.

And since the infection caused people to lose all rationality, the scene inside… was practically a horror movie.

People biting each other’s faces off—that was something he had only ever seen in nightmares.

Several First-Class Employees had already gone in.

But no one had come back out.

Even when they tried calling, all they heard was the grating static of electrical interference. No one was answering—

Meaning their fate was unknown.

He had already reported the situation to headquarters.

The response he got was frustratingly vague—

[Wait.]

Wait for what, exactly?

Even if they sent in more First-Class Employees from nearby districts, that wouldn’t change a thing at this point.

But Special Grade Employees were rare.

The closest one would take five hours to get here.

Five hours…

And in just one hour, the infection had already spread to five times the original area.

If they waited five whole hours, the situation would spiral beyond recovery.

[What the hell is going on lately? Are all these sources of infection losing their minds? What are they trying to do?!]

He let out a long, murky breath and turned to the sunglasses man, who still showed no reaction whatsoever.

“I already told you—if you’re not Special Grade, get out.”

First-Class Employees were useless now.

No matter how much responsibility they felt, no matter what orders they received—going inside now was just adding to the casualty count.

But under his gaze, the man finally pulled something out of his coat.

It was—

A phone.

“…What are you doing?”

As soon as he spoke, the man only spared him a brief glance before quickly shifting his focus elsewhere.

[…The hell?]

He watched as the man’s fingers slid across the screen, seemingly searching for a contact.

Then, to his utter disbelief, he tapped on a name—

And brought the phone to his ear.

He was calling someone?!

“Do you have time now? Mm… about a ten-minute drive.”

Who was he contacting?

Instinctively, he straightened up.

He vaguely remembered headquarters mentioning something about a contact person…

Was this guy it?

But who was he calling?

If he wasn’t Special Grade, then what was the point of a special contact?

Or… was headquarters hiding some specialized anti-catastrophe weapon, only deployed in extreme situations?

I’ve never heard of anything like that…

A flood of thoughts surged through his mind, blending into an incoherent mess.

Until—

A certain keyword reached his ears, freezing him in place.

“Class? Mm… Got it. You’ll come after roll call, right?”

…Wait.

Wait, wait, wait—

For a moment, he couldn’t believe his ears.

Class? Roll call?

What does that mean?

Was it what he thought it meant?

Or had he suddenly lost the ability to understand Chinese?

Who the hell was on the other end of that call?

A student?!

Or was this just some kind of code language?

It had to be a secret phrase—something used to obscure the truth.

That must be it.

Right?

His thoughts grew even more chaotic.

Cold sweat slid down his back.

He was still struggling to process what he had just heard when the sunglasses man hung up, crouched down in front of him, and—

Sighed.

Even though they were now at eye level, the man wasn’t even looking at him.

Instead, he wore a troubled expression.

“Ah… yeah. Tsk—” The man clicked his tongue in frustration. “I really didn’t want to use him yet. It’s still too early for his official debut. But since he’s the closest one, and no one else can make it in time… For everyone’s safety, I have no choice.”

[…What the hell is he talking about?]

His expression probably said it all.

Wei Yangze ignored his colleague’s visible distress—because he himself was equally uneasy.

Ever since “that incident”, he had become that person’s designated contact.

Lin Lin was a Second-Class Employee on a rotational system, so he was quickly transferred to another district.

But since Wei Yangze was First-Class, he couldn’t be reassigned.

And because he was now an “insider”, he naturally became responsible for “monitoring” the other party.

…Although, honestly?

He didn’t feel qualified to be called a “guardian.”

If anything, the real guardian—the protector—was someone else.

“Contact person” would be more accurate.

And that phone number sitting in his contact list…

Was only meant to be dialed in special cases.

Right now, was one of those times.

This was the headquarters’ decision.

Plus, the other party had already agreed to cooperate with the Bureau’s requests, so this call was completely justified.

…Hopefully, He would understand.

Lost in thought, Wei Yangze barely noticed the shaky, unsteady breathing in front of him.

He snapped back to reality.

His colleague’s face had gone pale.

“Are we… doomed?” The man whispered. “Or am I hallucinating? Maybe no one is actually coming at all…”

[…His mind is already being affected by the infection.]

Wei Yangze: “Don’t be nervous. It’s just a small issue. It’ll be resolved soon.”

“……”

A small issue? Resolved soon? He really might have gone insane!

Seeing the person in front of him reluctantly snap out of his daze due to the interruption, only to reveal an expression of utter disbelief, Wei Yangze felt a sense of “as expected” deep inside.

No surprises there.

Even if he explained, no one would believe it.

They would have to see it with their own eyes to feel the same shock he experienced when he first discovered the other party’s information.

The waiting time could only be described as long.

Especially at this moment, when the scorching summer heat hung high overhead, and even the shade under the trees was unbearably stuffy.

The sound of cicadas made people irritable.

Yet, when he glanced at his phone, less than ten minutes had passed.

“Seriously—”

“Mm. No mistake.”

The next moment, a calm voice spoke from behind.

Hearing this, Wei Yangze abruptly turned around, and in an instant, the person’s face was reflected in his eyes.

The oppressive summer heat suddenly dissipated.

The surrounding noise faded away, leaving only that refreshing figure in sight.

[No matter how many times I see him, I always feel like… he looks very quiet.]

It wasn’t a derogatory remark.

It was just that he couldn’t find a more precise word.

It felt as if just standing beside him could soothe one’s restless and chaotic mind, as if his presence alone washed everything clean.

Wei Yangze could sense that his colleague beside him had also stiffened, their previous murmurs of frustration disappearing as they simply stared at the newcomer in a daze.

He wondered if they, too, felt this strange attraction.

Normally, the other party had an extremely low presence, but once exposed to such a high-intensity contamination zone, he seemed to exude a deadly pull that made people want to get closer.

Soon, the person being intensely watched approached Wei Yangze.

“What happened?”

“……” Wei Yangze: “There’s a music festival here.”

“Oh. Mm… I understand.”

Under Wei Yangze’s gaze, the other had already lowered his head, searching for information about the festival venue.

Talking to smart people really saved a lot of effort.

Just mentioning the event name was enough for the other person to understand what needed to be done.

“I’m heading over.”

Wei Yangze: “……Okay.”

No unnecessary pleasantries, not much talking—this straightforward style had always been his way.

In a sense, it was convenient.

Wei Yangze watched as the other person walked straight towards the cordoned-off area. He could already foresee the problem being resolved soon. But just then, his colleague finally snapped out of their shock and abruptly grabbed the person’s wrist as they passed by: “Wait, hold on, you can’t go in!”

“Are you kidding me? He’s a high school student, isn’t he?! Why are you dragging an innocent person into this?!”

Wei Yangze: “He’s not a high school student.”

“Huh—!? But even if he isn’t, this is still not okay!”

He had seen it clearly.

The other person wasn’t wearing any identification from the Control Bureau.

Which meant that this so-called backup, who had been called in via phone, wasn’t part of the Bureau. If he wasn’t from the inner world, sending him in was practically a death sentence! What kind of person would do that? He wasn’t even an official staff member…

However, the person being questioned merely withdrew his wrist from the grip. Though his face remained expressionless, his eyes clearly conveyed, How troublesome.

“I’ll explain later,” Wei Yangze said.

The other hummed in acknowledgment and then walked into the high-contamination zone.

…!!!

The colleague failed to stop him, watching in disbelief as he strode toward the buildings.

This area had an extremely high contamination level. Even the buildings themselves had been distorted—what were once normal skyscrapers now had bizarrely bent exteriors, and their glass panels reflected nothing but countless eyes. Walking on the streets gave the unsettling sensation of rough skin brushing against one’s own.

Whenever a fresh human presence appeared, the buildings would begin to twist and giggle, and anyone witnessing such grotesque madness would have their sanity completely shattered before even reaching the center of the music festival. He had seen it happen many times.

That’s why there were barriers in place to prevent entry.

—If they couldn’t stop him, he should at least realize the danger and turn back at that point!

Yet, before he could lower his outstretched hand, he witnessed something that shattered all expectations—

That person, who had no identification proving he was with the Bureau, walked straight through the tightly secured barrier.

“……!!”

Impossible—this can’t be real!

That barrier was a precious research development, specifically designed to slow the spread of contamination. Ordinary people would never be able to pass through it; instead, they’d hit it like an invisible wall. That was precisely why personnel had been stationed in these areas—to prevent anyone from accidentally wandering in and discovering these unnatural phenomena.

But this seemingly young man simply strolled right through.

“Did… did I see that wrong…?”

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

At the same time, his eyes remained locked onto this unbelievable scene.

He had expected to witness something terrifying.

Instead, something even more unfathomable occurred—

Those already-distorted buildings, in his view, suddenly returned to normal. The eyes, the skin-like surfaces—everything vanished.

It became just an ordinary street.

Even as the other person moved past, the abnormalities didn’t reappear.

That was—an area where even top-tier agents would succumb to contamination! Yet this outsider… had done nothing.

The only thing he did was walk through.

His mind trembled. The sheer absurdity of what he was witnessing shook him to his core—he could no longer comprehend what was happening.

[I… I must be dreaming.]

Could such a powerful person exist? Wasn’t he essentially the ultimate contamination destroyer? …This was ridiculous. If he was this strong, why had no one ever heard of him before? Had he been carefully raised and protected all this time?

Completely drained of strength, he collapsed back onto the ground.

“You’re not dreaming.”

As if aware of his thoughts, a familiar voice spoke from above.

Like grasping at a lifeline, he jerked his head up and saw a man in sunglasses flicking open a lighter, lighting a cigarette with a slow inhale.

“This is, without a doubt, the Control Bureau’s secret weapon.”

His gaze remained fixed on the fading figure, muttering words that made no sense.

“……”

“What you saw today, I suggest you don’t talk about it,” Wei Yangze finally glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “But even if I don’t warn you, the Control Bureau will send people to do it later. Explaining would take too long. And I don’t like trouble.”

“……”

He had no response.

Then, he watched as Wei Yangze turned around and headed for his car.

“What are you doing?”

“Just a few more minutes, and everything will be settled,” Wei Yangze replied. “I’m going to drive him back to school. I’d rather avoid having that person show up after class, only to find that the one he cares about isn’t in the classroom… Though it wouldn’t be fatal, it’s best to avoid unnecessary problems.”

“……”

A contamination disaster of that magnitude—how could it possibly be resolved in just a few minutes?

In reality, it did take more than a few.

Because the other person walked to the venue. Even though he eventually used a shared bike, it still took slightly longer than expected.

By the time that figure settled into Wei Yangze’s passenger seat, he was still in a daze, unable to process what had happened.

It was unbelievable.

A crisis of such scale had been so effortlessly resolved.

The other person, noticing his prolonged stare, looked slightly confused and hesitantly said, “Goodbye.”

“…Goodbye.”

His mind was blank, and the words left his lips before he could think.

The car drove off.

He stood there in a daze for a few seconds before suddenly clutching his head.

What… had just happened?

And yet, what made his heart race even more was—

After experiencing all this, he didn’t even know the other person’s name…

But none of these questions could be answered.

Because it wasn’t until a long time later that he finally learned the other person’s name—[Ye Jishu.]