Chapter 195: Magic Male Dancer Show

Coming out of the remote conference room, Yang Yi scrolled through her phone's work schedule, paused, and asked Director Zhou, "What about my next assignment? Why is it blank?"

Director Zhou sighed. "Yang Yi, do you know how many anomalous creature incidents you've resolved in the past few days?"

Yang Yi looked at him, puzzled.

"Two hundred and fourteen!" Director Zhou stressed. "An average of 2.5 per hour, and that's not counting the meetings and various project team research. You haven't rested for three whole days and four nights!"

"I'm not tired." Yang Yi said indifferently. "As an S-class Awakened, I don't think going a few months without sleep would be a problem."

Director Zhou patted her shoulder gently. "Even if you don't feel tired, you still have to leave some training opportunities for the other Awakened, don't you? If you handle all the anomalous creatures, how will the other Awakened ever have a chance to improve?"

Yang Yi was taken aback. "Then you could arrange some other work for me — meetings, the Dark Matter Research Institute, the Evil God Research Group, the Interstellar Migration Plan…"

Director Zhou hesitated, then spoke. "You need to balance work and rest. Even a capitalist can't treat employees like pack horses, can they?"

"Sitting around idle is still idle…"

"And haven't your methods of dealing with anomalous creatures lately been a bit too… aggressive?" Director Zhou deliberated for a long while before finally choosing a less severe word — he had originally wanted to use "brutal" or "savage."

"When dealing with anomalous creatures, do I have to be gentle about it?" Yang Yi countered.

"But you still have to consider public perception. Right now, we still need to maintain a good public image…"

Yang Yi raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

Director Zhou felt he had been a bit harsh and quickly added, "Most importantly, even if your body isn't tired, continuous work like this is an enormous drain on your mind. If you're free and have nothing to do, you could go over to the villa district and offer some guidance…"

As he spoke, Director Zhou's eyes lit up. "Didn't the villa design you chose look almost like an art museum? It must still need a lot of artwork for decoration. Go browse some art exhibitions, museums, auction houses — pick up a few things for the house. And if you're really bored out of your mind, you could always go shopping with Zhang Zhang Ningning…"

"Just give me some work!" Yang Yi said.

"There's no work available right now." Director Zhou said flatly. "You need to rest."

Yang Yi had no choice but to accept Director Zhou's good intentions and laughed. "Fine!"

Watching Yang Yi's departing figure, Director Zhou dialed Zhang Zhang Ningning's number. "Zhang Zhang Ningning, come to my office."

&&

"Zhang Ningning, put your work aside for a while. Yang Yi seems to be in a not-so-great state because of… uh, you know. She doesn't really have any friends either. Go keep her company, take her out to have some fun, help her relax. You're both young women — you should have plenty to talk about…" Director Zhou said.

Zhang Zhang Ningning's eyes lit up, and she rubbed her fingers together with a grin. "Does this count as a business trip? Can I expense it?"

Director Zhou tapped the air in front of her helplessly. "Yes! Yes! As long as you can cheer her up, it'll be a great achievement!"

Zhang Zhang Ningning snapped her legs together and saluted. "Mission guaranteed!"

After Zhang Zhang Ningning left, Director Zhou continued staring at a chart on his computer screen, frowning as he looked. The diagnostic notes on the chart were densely packed — it was a psychological state assessment form.

&&

Yang Yi was spacing out in her dormitory when Zhang Zhang Ningning came bounding over, full of enthusiasm.

"Let's go! I'm taking you to see something exciting!"

Zhang Zhang Ningning grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Yang Yi was completely bewildered, and even after being dragged onto the plane, Zhang Zhang Ningning remained mysteriously coy.

"Where exactly are we going?" Yang Yi asked.

Zhang Zhang Ningning handed her an ID document. "First, change your face according to this ID photo!" Then she looked at her outfit. "Those clothes won't do! Every day it's either a button-down or a T-shirt — you reek of office drone! We're going to get a spa treatment first, then go shopping, and only after that comes the really good place I want to take you!"

The plane flew direct to the capital of France. Only after Yang Yi had enjoyed a full-body spa and beauty treatment, and arrived at a theater ablaze with neon lights everywhere, did she begin to vaguely understand what Zhang Zhang Ningning was planning.

"VIP seats, the best viewing experience!" Zhang Zhang Ningning said with a beaming smile.

It was a mid-sized theater, with a circular stage at the center, a ring of small tables scattered around it, and a second-floor viewing gallery at the back. They were seated in the prime spot right in the center of the front row.

By now the audience had filled the seats — almost entirely female, with only an occasional male face visible in the crowd.

The theater was noisy, the chatter from the audience mingling with the background music into a deafening din.

Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. Yang Yi picked up her cocktail and took a sip. "What kind of performance is this?"

"Magic Male Dancer Show!" Zhang Zhang Ningning winked at her. "A strip show — the male version!"

"Pfft—" The cocktail Yang Yi had just sipped sprayed out of her mouth. "Cough, cough… what did you say?"

"Magic Male Dancer Show! Everyone who performs here is a famous dancer — every single one of them is a handsome guy with an eight-pack, and there's close interaction! Exciting, right?" Zhang Zhang Ningning's body swayed to the upbeat music, her excitement barely concealed.

"This… this… this isn't appropriate, is it? We're civil servants — how could we come watch something like this?" Yang Yi squirmed uneasily, glancing around. "What if someone takes a photo… let's just leave!"

She had barely risen when Zhang Zhang Ningning pulled her back down. "What's there to be afraid of? You're not even using your own face right now! You're way too hard on yourself — you need to loosen up a little!"

"Even loosening up shouldn't go this far. We came on a chartered plane — does Director Zhou know you brought me here to watch this?"

Zhang Zhang Ningning's eyes darted left and right for a moment, then she said firmly, "Director Zhou knows. He said you've been overworked lately and told me to take you out to relax! The chartered plane was approved by him too!"

Yang Yi looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

Zhang Zhang Ningning changed the subject. "Look, the show's about to start!"

Sure enough, the stirring music suddenly kicked in. After a burst of white smoke, a troupe of male dancers in formal suits leapt up from beneath the stage, and the hall erupted in screams that nearly shattered the eardrums.

Amid the dazzling neon lights, Yang Yi's standing figure stood out conspicuously, and she quickly sat back down.

The male dancers on stage were all a feast for the eyes — delicate and cute, cool and stylish, mature and steady, sunny and handsome… black skin, white skin, brown skin, every one of them over six feet tall — a dizzying array.

And the dancing was graceful, showcasing the beauty of the human body in motion — not lewd, and no clothes came off.

After watching for a while, Yang Yi leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her cocktail.

Zhang Zhang Ningning chuckled and pointed at the blond heartthrob right in the center of the stage. "The headliner here! Ryan!"

Yang Yi looked closely. Sure enough, among the troupe, he stood out the most — around 185 centimeters, perfectly proportioned, with long, slender limbs. His long golden hair swayed with his dance moves, and his smile was bright and handsome, without any deliberate seduction.

Suddenly, he executed a single-handed backflip, his body spinning twice in mid-air before landing gracefully. Amid the roar of the audience, he swept aside the golden hair covering his cheek and flashed a satisfied, triumphant smile.

"Well?" Zhang Zhang Ningning nudged Yang Yi excitedly.

"The dancing's nice. A feast for the eyes."

"That's just the opening. The really explosive stuff comes next!"

"There's nothing pornographic, right…?" Yang Yi was worried again.

"This is a legitimate performance — the theater has a business license! And why are you so old-fashioned at such a young age? Look around — it's all women who paid to have a good time. Take a page out of their book!" Zhang Zhang Ningning was exasperated at her inability to take a hint.

Yang Yi scanned the theater. The audience was mostly women — young girls, middle-aged women, even grandmothers. By that comparison, her worries did seem a bit overly old-fashioned.