Snapshot

"Sorry. I shouldn't have let you act alone," Zhang Heng said apologetically. "I always thought they were mainly watching me, that if they were going to make a move, they'd target me first. And I thought we still had some time. I just didn't expect them to move so quickly—and strike from both sides at once."

"They attacked you too?" Bai Qing was still shaken. "At school?"

"Yeah. The thing I saw underground in Warehouse No. 3 last night must have already hatched. Logically, it should have needed some time to learn before replacing me in human society, but it seemed those things couldn't wait any longer, so they came after me early this morning.

"They called me to the dean's office, but the dean wasn't there. The room was full of their people. Fortunately, those things weren't much stronger than ordinary people in terms of combat ability, and they didn't have any special methods of attack." Zhang Heng made it sound simple, but Bai Qing could hear the danger behind his words.

"No wonder." She continued, "Director Gao at the Children's Palace told me the whole thing was your lie from beginning to end. If I hadn't seen you build a CT scanner out of Lego bricks, I might have believed her. But she must have realized I didn't truly believe her, so she had someone follow me. Then... that thing appeared. It disguised itself as you and saved me. At first, I really thought it was you, but he couldn't say the code phrase between us."

As she spoke, Bai Qing began crying again. "I was so scared then. I could only pretend I hadn't recognized it. I kept looking for a chance along the way, but I couldn't get away. Their people seemed to be everywhere. It