[Alliance] Cub Guidelines

Ren Yi opened the second attachment, and his eyes were instantly assaulted.

The second attachment had a border of cartoon flowers and plants. The whole document was pale pink, making it look like a fairy-tale book.

[Attachment 2: Youngling Guidelines]

1. Please do not be afraid. You are safe. Please trust your "family" and the Alliance. Everything is normal. Welcome to "growing up."

2. Your "family" is completely safe and trustworthy. If you feel afraid, please seek out your "family"; if you feel lost, please ask them for guidance; if you are temporarily unable to communicate, they will wait patiently.

3. Newborn Younglings need to be cared for by their "family." Please do not leave "home" on your own for seven days after awakening, and do not stray more than ten meters from your "family." Developing an instinctive dependence on your "family" is normal.

4. Please learn how to maintain a form within the bounds of human cognition as soon as possible. Your "family" will help you.

5. You can now learn about this world through your own "weird account." Under the anti-addiction restrictions, Younglings may only log in to games between four and five in the morning on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but may freely access forums and social media accounts.

6. Please do not face a "mirror" or a "body of water" alone. If you must look in a mirror, please have your "family" accompany you.

Ren Yi carefully read both attachments several more times.

What stood out was that the Alliance's desire to protect "Younglings" showed through between the lines.

And both sets of guidelines emphasized the importance of "family."

As for what they told Younglings about not running away from home or straying from their family...

Ren Yi thought about the eyes he had seen floating in the void, the sofa that had been violently flung aside, and the glimpse he had caught of the "dark cloud."

You've got to be kidding. There's no way I could run away, okay?

At that thought, Ren Yi slowly exhaled, as though breathing the last bit of "normal human logic" out of his lungs.

He looked up at the host on the television again. All six eyes were still fixed on the camera, and one of them even seemed to notice his gaze and blinked.

Ren Yi immediately looked away and stared at his phone screen.

Several places seemed to have mentioned a period of "seven days." What was significant about that?

Even these Youngling guidelines seemed to be nothing more than a "seven-day survival guide." What was he supposed to do after that?

No, no. I'll leave the seven-day problem for my future self to worry about. Ren Yi forcibly reeled in his wandering thoughts and focused on the present.

Shock and confusion were no use. Rather than sit there in a daze, he might as well start sorting things out.

The first problem was his "body."

He needed to get familiar with this "new" body and learn to control it. He didn't want to experience that loss of control again, and he couldn't keep relying on his brother to shape him.

Second, he needed to look through the contents of his "weird account." The letter had specifically told him to "cherish and maintain" it and had even included a set of basic rules, which meant the account contained plenty of crucial information.

The Alliance's rules, what the "weird" actually was, and the rest of the precautions that hadn't been mentioned were bound to be in there.

Finally, there was the "professional aptitude test."

He hadn't forgotten the announcement at the end of the test: "The test results will all be released in seven days."

So, besides scaring them into awakening, did the test serve any other practical purpose?

For example... collecting information about them and their abilities? Or perhaps it served the most basic purpose of a professional aptitude test: assigning them "jobs"?

Ren Yi felt a little more settled at last.

"Brother..." Ren Yi hesitated, trying to get some more information out of Ren Man. "What... do you think of me now?"

Ren Man, who had started browsing his phone beside him, looked up and examined him from head to toe before giving his verdict. "You're too small."

He added very seriously, "You're too small. You need to eat more to grow up."

Ren Yi: "..."

Thanks a lot. Not only was that answer useless, it was unsettling.

Still unwilling to give up, he pressed, "But you clearly said I'd already grown up. So what happens after I grow up?"

Ren Man fell silent. His little brother's nitpicking question had successfully stumped him.

After pondering for a long moment, he finally said:

"Why does a Youngling need to worry about all that?"

What the hell? Is that the weird world's version of the classic parental line, "Why does a kid need to worry about all that"?

Ren Yi was starting to lose his composure.

He realized that, as far as Ren Man was concerned, his only option was to "raise his little brother."

Raising him wasn't just about a weird awakening. It was a longer, harder-to-gauge process.

And Ren Man had never given any thought to what counted as a Youngling being "grown up," or what to do once he had "grown up."

What about the Alliance, then? How much did they know, and what were they planning to do?

Ren Yi suppressed his unease about the future.

He looked down at the letter and its excessively gentle wording.

That wasn't language written for adults.

It wasn't even language written for "cognitively mature individuals."

It was a child-rearing letter welcoming newly born beings of another kind, encouraging them to adapt to the world and preventing them from hurting themselves, other people—or rather, weird beings.

He suddenly thought of the Major Assignment Test—or, well, perhaps it should be called an awakening ritual—that damn illusion used to scare them into awakening.

The shattered world, the black tide covering the sky and land, Ren Man's corpse.

...Would he want to see a scene like that?

No.

He had his answer in an instant.

His memories were like wisps of fog. Having grown up in an orphanage in his previous life, he had been like a ghost drifting along with society's rules, without roots or any anchor left behind.

In truth, if the Alliance hadn't looked a little like his previous life on the surface, he would have almost forgotten.

So this isn't a difficult choice. I've just moved house, and I need some time... to do as the locals do.

The atmosphere grew heavy for a few seconds.

Then Ren Yi drew a quiet breath and straightened his back, as though rebooting.

All right.

Since that was how the world was, he needed to sum up his current situation:

In short, eat well, drink well, stay confined for seven days, and leave everything else to his "family" and the "Alliance."

He silently committed that to memory and swiped up on the screen.

What popped up on the next page left him stunned.

[Name: Ren Yi

Rank: F

Rules and abilities: None

Family: Ren Man

Occupation: Youngling

Status: Unstable energy, countdown to physical collapse: 5, 4...]

A sense of foreboding welled up in him.

"...Brother?"

"Hm?"

"I think I'm about to change shape?"

Ren Man glanced at him, speaking as casually as if he were talking about what to eat today:

"Maintain it yourself. I won't help you again."

Ren Yi: "..."

Immediately afterward, everything went black before his eyes.

I'm done for.