[Alliance] Acquaintance

Doctor Lin was the community doctor responsible for their residential complex. He handled Ren Man's monthly follow-up appointments and Ren Yi's annual guardianship check-ins.

"Well, you're already out and about. You're pretty bold." Doctor Lin adjusted his glasses and looked Ren Yi up and down with interest.

"What's the little guy look like? Change back and let me have a look." Doctor Lin's carefree manner made him look nothing like a doctor.

Ren Yi stared at him with dead-fish eyes. He hadn't noticed any nonhuman parts on Doctor Lin, though. The man even had delicate, handsome features, like a refined scoundrel.

Ren Yi then looked at Ren Man worriedly.

Bro, you can't agree to such a ridiculous request, can you?

Ren Man responded to Doctor Lin's request calmly, in a single word:

"Scram."

Doctor Lin's hand froze on his glasses. Seemingly to save face, he quickly added, "It doesn't matter if you say no. As long as he comes to me for treatment someday, I'll definitely get to see."

Feeling the temperature around them plummet as the two uncanny beings faced off, Ren Yi hurried to smooth things over.

"Doctor Lin, what were you saying about moving on to the next level of school?"

The temperature rose again, and Doctor Lin looked helplessly at Ren Yi. "The next batch of 'children' whose families rent homes here so they can attend school."

"Universities have dormitories. Once your year graduates, the renting families will have to give their homes to the next year's families. If the 'children' have no school to attend, it'll be a serious problem... Your family doesn't need to worry. You own your home."

So uncanny beings have to fight over homes in good school districts too?

It wasn't easy to find an uncanny being who could give him a long explanation. Ren Yi was just about to ask why there would be "no school to attend" when he suddenly remembered a detail from the news that he had nearly forgotten:

"A total of 2,726 'children' participated in this awakening ceremony."

That seemed to be about the same as the total number of students in his year at school.

"Do all the 'children' have to attend the Alliance First Comprehensive Education School? Then what about the students at the other schools?" Ren Yi asked, changing the subject.

"Clever little cub." Doctor Lin gave him a charming smile.

"The Alliance has only one school. You 2,726 little cubs are everyone in your year. So now you know how precious you are, right?"

Ren Yi asked in astonishment, "But there are clearly a lot of residents in the Alliance?"

From what he remembered, there were at least as many as on the planet in his previous life.

"How is that a lot? We generally don't die, so the number only increases, never decreases. That's how we got this many," Doctor Lin said matter-of-factly.

"But I've heard of lots of other schools out there." Ren Yi thought of another gap in the explanation.

Doctor Lin curled his lip in disdain. "They're all empty shells, built to fool children."

"Later, the Alliance didn't want to waste the land, so it allocated them to be made into instances. Now school instances are everywhere, and there's nothing new about them."

You sure went to a lot of trouble to fool children.

"Ahem." Ren Man suddenly coughed twice. Ren Yi followed his gaze and saw a little girl not far away staring at them intently, as though she were eavesdropping.

"There are too many children here. I'll tell you all about it another time." Doctor Lin shrugged. "Come on, I'll go in and look around with you."

They walked into the store. Fortunately, although it was crowded, there was still room to move.

Although the "people" shopping in the store looked a little bizarre, the furniture looked perfectly ordinary. There were none of the "special editions for uncanny body structures" Ren Yi had imagined.

Ren Yi was a little disappointed instead.

Soon, they found a chair on the shelf that was identical to the one at home and called the owner over to pay.

The owner was a burly middle-aged man with a full beard. Only, instead of hair, his beard was made of constantly coiling and twisting tentacles.

"How are you taking it back?" he asked Ren Man.

Ren Man thought for a moment, led Ren Yi behind the counter, and set the chair down on his own shadow.

The next second, the chair sank soundlessly into it.

"...Huh?"

Ren Yi's eyes widened. He looked Ren Man up and down, then looked at the utterly ordinary shadow on the floor.

He gave his brother a look that said, Bro, do that again, and got a swift flick on the forehead in return.

As he rubbed his head and continued staring at the shadow, unwilling to give up, he caught sight of a small object covered by a cloth behind the counter.

A breeze lifted one corner of the cloth, revealing a small vanity mirror.

Come to think of it, they didn't have a mirror at home. Ren Yi had always assumed they were too poor to buy one, so he usually used the mirrors in the school restroom.

So this was the first time he had seen what he looked like after being "reassembled" following his awakening.

I seem to have grown a few centimeters and gotten a bit handsome too. Bro's pretty good at sculpting faces... Maybe I should get him to buy this mirror and take it home?

As he was thinking, Ren Yi in the mirror seemed to move suddenly.

"Huh?"

He frowned and leaned closer to check, but a foot appeared in his field of vision.

Bang!

Ren Man kicked the mirror to pieces, then pulled Ren Yi out from behind the counter.

"What happened?" The sound of the mirror being kicked startled Doctor Lin. He leaned over to look.

Ren Yi also jolted. Damn it, I can't look in mirrors now!

He knew the rules by heart, but the moment he saw the mirror, it was as though something had silenced his brain. He couldn't remember at all why he wasn't allowed to look.

Meanwhile, Doctor Lin glanced at the shards on the floor and immediately understood what had happened.

There was a child and a semi-mute autistic patient on their side, and he felt an enormous sense of responsibility.

Doctor Lin took a deep breath and decided to give the owner a piece of his mind.

"Seriously, what were you thinking? How dare you put a mirror in a public area? That's dangerous, you know! Look, a child saw it!"

The owner was a little bewildered by the scolding, and his beard flew wildly about, tentacles flailing. "I covered it up so well! You're the ones who didn't keep an eye on your child!"

"Just tell me, is this a public area or not? Was there a risk or not?... Pay compensation!"

Ren Man ignored the two of them and looked Ren Yi over from head to toe. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he turn his head.

He looked a little angry.

Ren Yi took two steps back, his heart racing. He wasn't feeling physically unwell; the scene in the mirror just now had simply left him a little shaken.

Horror novels never lied to me. Mirrors really are bad news.

As his thoughts wandered, he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve.

He turned and saw the little girl who had been staring at them outside the furniture store. She was holding his cuff and looking up at him timidly.

Ren Yi was taken aback. By rights, this little girl should still be a "child."

He looked around. Doctor Lin and the owner looked ready to come to blows, with Ren Man watching from the side. More and more people were gathering to watch, but no one was paying attention to the two of them.

"What is it, little girl? Can't find your mommy and daddy?" he asked, crouching down and trying to sound gentle.

The little girl shook her head, pointed at the owner, whose tentacles had all turned red from arguing, and whispered:

"Daddy."

So she's the owner's daughter.

"Uh..." It was because of him after all. Ren Yi felt a little embarrassed. "Well, I'll go break it up."

He started to stand, but the little girl was still clutching him tightly.