Synthetic Lifeforms

"Xia Fan, can you hear me?" Li circled the chair twice without seeing any sign of him, and immediately began to panic.

"Could there be another passage beneath this chair?" Ning Wanjun frowned.

"If so, let me cut it open and take a look. Dragon Scale!" Luo Qingqing raised her hand, and six Dragon Scales immediately gathered in midair—

"What are you doing?" Xia Fan suddenly poked his head in through the doorway.

The three of them froze.

"How did you end up outside the control room?" Li Mengyun was utterly baffled. She and Yan Qing had been guarding the entrance the entire time, worried that Evil Spirits might take advantage of the opening to slip inside. Yet the Lock Weaver's chains had shown no reaction from start to finish, which meant no one should have entered or left the room at all.

"Her Highness the Princess was right. There really is a hidden passage beneath this chair, probably meant for the commander to use when taking shelter." Xia Fan coughed twice. "I was curious, so I tried walking through it."

"Phew..." Li let out a long breath, then curled her tail around Xia Fan and hauled him before her. "Next time, please remember to tell us beforehand."

She practically ground out the last few words through clenched teeth.

Xia Fan hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"Why did you lie?" the electronic voice suddenly asked. "You had no need to deceive them."

"Uh..." He was momentarily speechless. Yeah... why hadn't he simply told the truth? Was he afraid that he was drifting farther and farther from ordinary humans, until he was completely cut off from these companions?

The abilities he had gained at the Dragon-Climbing Tower could at least be said to have been changes forced upon him by the stone