Seele's Choice.

Within Carole's small mind lay a clear chain of logic.

Hua is very likely to like Teacher Su, so it's understandable that she would feel sad or at least not happy about what happened with Teacher Su earlier.

But the truth is that she was not only calm but even a little happy. If we continue to deduce from this clue, the reason why Hua was not sad can only mean that she knew that the message Teacher Su received would not affect the budding of this feeling.

So here's the biggest question: how did Hua know?

The only answer is that she and Teacher Su knew each other before.

The deduction is based on the fact that the time Hua took out her phone coincided with the time when Teacher Su received the message, coupled with their ambiguous smiles.

One possibility is that Hua was the one who sent the message to Teacher Su.

Based on this, Carole, a teenage high school girl with a romantic mindset, naturally thought that something was going on between the two of them.

However, that is indeed the truth.

But in her heart, this answer still needs to be verified and investigated.

The best approach, then, is naturally to test the waters.

Carole asked casually and nonchalantly:

"How long have Hua and Teacher Su known each other?"

Fu Hua looked at the boy on the stage and subconsciously answered:

"Not really..."

Then, in the instant she blurted it out, she realized something was wrong with her words and immediately shut up.

But Carole's intensely burning gaze and the way her lips curled into a smile made Fu Hua realize that she could no longer deceive people.

She slumped helplessly onto the table, turned her head, and whispered:

"... What do you want to know?"

It's confirmed.

As always, Hua is naive; playing dumb is the best approach here.

While this was supposed to be a clumsy yet endearing moment, the significance of this answer is now far too great.

What's the meaning?

No wonder you always refused to come over when I asked you; is that why?

Hua is so cunning.

Carole felt that her worldview had been shaken.

This is so outrageous, how could it actually be true!

Even though she isn't particularly attached to romance, she's at an age where she instinctively longs for it.

Discovering this under these circumstances is like a friend unknowingly entering a high-speed highway, exploring wondrous scenery never before seen and experiencing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, while you, unaware of the situation, habitually engage in lofty theoretical discussions and frequently suggest that she celebrate youth.

Thinking of this, Carole collapsed sadly onto the table, creating an adorable scene that was strangely synchronized with the little girl next to her.

From Su Qing'an's perspective, it looked like two students were openly slacking off and sleeping, but for certain reasons, he could only choose to turn a blind eye.

She blinked her golden eyes, her face filled with disappointment as she sighed:

"I never expected that Hua would be the first to step onto the ladder of adulthood."

"Damn it, I lost this time."

Looking back, my previous worries were just like those of an idiot.

Fu Hua was completely speechless.

But if they admit it here, their conversations will never be able to avoid mentioning Master Su again.

And what kind of strange and eerie term is this "adult staircase" that I initially left behind...?

It doesn't seem to have any particularly happy meaning.

Putting aside these minor details for now, the first priority is to ensure that the conversation never stops revolving around Su Qing'an. We must get rid of all the strange thoughts in Carole's head right here and now!

Fu Hua retorted guiltily:

"My relationship with Su Qing'an isn't what you're imagining."

What kind of relationship is that?

Carole remained unfazed, clearly finding such a clumsy explanation unconvincing.

Fu Hua hesitated for a moment, thinking about the future where she would be teased by the other person Tiāntiān. At that moment, a sentence popped into her mind.

If you want to cover up a fact, all you need to do is create a hot topic that is more interesting than the fact itself.

The girl blushed and gritted her teeth as she confessed something she had never admitted before:

"Su Qing'an is my brother."

And so, in that instant.

"Ah?"

The sheer volume of information put Carole's brain into high-speed mode, and within a second, a brief chain of logic spontaneously formed a terrifying answer that was closest to the truth.

Su Qing'an is both the older brother and teacher, Fu Hua is both the younger sister and student.

Su Qing'an and Fu Hua like each other.

This is actually a violation of two taboos that go against conventional ethics!

At this point, Carole's brain completely shut down.

This strange misunderstanding may not be resolved for a very, very long time.

Before the spell was lifted, her gaze towards Fu Hua became increasingly meaningful.

That look was just like the gaze of an NPC in a game watching a hero's departing figure, filled with worry about the hellish difficulties he was about to face, yet also with heartfelt admiration for his courage.

In short, although it was in a strange way, Hua successfully shut Carole up and made the world quiet and peaceful.

Of course, the cost of this is, in a sense, quite complicated.

Time: 1:30 PM.

This is during the time when Su Qing'an is teaching in the classroom.

Seele looked out the window at the clear blue sky, where wispy clouds surrounded the vast expanse of blue, which resembled a jewel but was even more like the boundless ocean.

These are just ordinary scenes that can be seen everywhere in this city, but they always give her an incredible feeling.

So, the sky is something you can see anytime.

Such pure and simple feelings are a true reflection of the little girl's inner thoughts.

After she casually uttered those words, Seele found herself being treated even more gently by her older Sister Hua.

Perhaps only in moments like these will the little girl, in a state of bewilderment, once again come to a profound realization of a fact.

Both Fu Hua and Su Qing'an are very, very good people.

She realized that her every move and word would make them care and pay attention to her, and the warmth that arose from the bottom of her heart was a wonderful emotion she had never felt before.

I feel very at ease.

Being next to Sister Hua and Su Qing'an makes me feel very safe.

Looking back on the short fourteen years of life of the human named Seele Fulei, perhaps only in this one month did she obtain the treasure called freedom.

She now has family who care about her emotions and mental well-being; she enjoys three meals a day prepared with care to satisfy her palate; her wardrobe is filled with all sorts of clothes; and dolls have appeared on her bedside table and sofa to alleviate her loneliness...

There were so many other things that piled up like a mountain of warmth, causing her to gradually lose her sense of the winter's chill.

It was as if someone was trying their best to erase all the sorrow and pain she had experienced in the short span of time, and the little girl, unaware of it, agreed to the other person's efforts and accepted the sentiment behind them.

Seele was still a child after all. No matter how vigilant and wary she was, as time went by, she eventually got used to Su Qing'an's presence.

Even the gaze of strangers gradually diminished Seele's fear after attending Su Qing'an's classes a few times.

At least, that's true when it comes to the students in this academy.

It was Su Qing'an who brought her into the outside world, whether it was her self-escape broken from the Quantum State or her repeated forced dragging out of the house afterward.

He made the little girl realize clearly that the outside world is not actually scary.

The demons she had previously believed to exist were not in this city; to the ordinary people here, Seele Fulei was just an ordinary girl.

She has no need to worry about being treated differently or to fear that others might harm her.

No one here would force her to take various medications or undergo regular intravenous drips, no one would draw her blood, and no one would push her onto a cruel experimental table.

The outside world is such a complex and beautiful place, with countless things worth talking about and as many beautiful scenes as stars in the sky worth remembering.

As time passed, the little girl gradually came to understand that some things ultimately required a choice.

She watched the television program showing details of animal migration.

Large numbers of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and other animals migrate repeatedly between seasonal water sources and pastures in Serengeti National Park and Masai Mara National Reserve.

Among them, they must reach the Mara River, where crocodiles roam, and after undergoing rounds of elimination, they will finally face the grasslands where lions and leopards have been waiting for them.

These scenes depicting the struggles and cruelty of life are so captivating that humans have turned these natural cycles into a tool for profit, with related industries already existing hundreds of years ago.

Whether viewed from land or carried by an ancient hot air balloon, these are excellent options.

The little girl didn't think much about it.

However... perhaps everyone in this world is forced to act against their will for certain reasons.

The same is true of wildebeest killed by alligators, and of monarch butterflies dying on the surface of the California Sea.

The same is true Seele Fulei today.

Seele touched the head of the doll in her arms. Her gaze towards the sky and the television was somewhat dazed and distant, yet she still harbored some scattered thoughts in her heart.

Perhaps we can hold out for a while longer.

But just as time was slowly passing by with the sound effects of the television, a burning pain suddenly pierced the back of her neck, causing the girl to cry out in pain and her vision to gradually become blurry.

She seemed to be instinctively clenching her teeth, yet realized that even that strength didn't exist within her body; only a faint, soft sound could escape from her lips.

"What exactly... is it?"

He was delirious, and everything was upside down.

Her frail body slumped helplessly on the sofa, an unnatural flush spreading across her pale cheeks. Strands of her dark blue hair were plastered to her forehead with sweat, and her pupils lost focus, the very essence of consciousness.

For a full ten minutes, Seele completely lost the ability to think and act. It was as if a fine electric current was coursing through her limbs and bones. The long, lingering pain was like needles pricking every pore, making it hard to breathe. Her heart almost stopped in the last few seconds before the strange sensation disappeared.

This is a punishment that comes very close to death.

Seele's pupils gradually stopped dilating, and her consciousness slowly returned to her body, but she was unable to move for the next few minutes.

The little girl took a deep breath; her chest felt like an old bellows, and with each breath, a dense, painful stimulation rippled through her nerves.

It's a signal.

It was my own passive hands and feet that came into play.

It's now absolutely certain that the lab knows my location.

Seele had previously suspected that she might have been subjected to some kind of manipulation. As the most precious experimental subject, it was only natural that her existence was valued so highly.

She reached out and slowly brushed aside the strands of hair that passed over her shoulders; her icy fingertips touched the very origin of the initial, radiating pain.

From an angle invisible to the little girl, a mysterious barcode, only one centimeter wide, glowed faintly on the upper edge of the back of her neck, but quickly faded from its vibrant red to pitch black.

Even as Seele took the photo with her phone, the barcode in the picture had already begun to gradually blend into the natural color of her skin.

If it's in a place like this, it's quite normal that I haven't noticed it all this time, especially since the unnatural colors in this photo also prove many details.

Even if they discovered it, it would be of no use; that was the little girl's judgment.

The only thing Seele hadn't anticipated was that she possessed not only a simple transmitter, but also control mechanisms that restricted her escape.

In that heavily guarded white world, even when facing unarmed and mentally bound children, the management took such a safety net approach, a behavior that Seele found hard to understand.

But after understanding their existence, the little girl quickly grasped their purpose.

In this way, even if someone escapes the laboratory by accident, the self-activated transmitter and neural currents will be enough to make up for these mistakes.

But why not inflict excruciating pain until the person is completely unconscious?

The body was unable to move for only fifteen minutes; obviously, the longer the better for complete protection.

This is a very simple reason; you only need to understand your own value to the laboratory to understand the answer.

The reason is that such manipulation methods can cause certain harm to children's bodies. As precious living experimental subjects, if they are only used as a means that will not be used at all, it is obviously more in line with the interests involved by using gentler methods.

Seele looked at the dense needle marks on her arm and thought to herself.

Perhaps the laboratory's safety net served as a good wake-up call for her, as she had been subconsciously clinging to a tiny possibility and sweet hope, indulging in a beautiful dream of freedom and unwilling to Awakened.

Now things are better; there's no longer a choice to run away.

Everyone in the academy is a good person. Sister Hua is very gentle and kind, and Su Qing'an is Seele's brother.

How could that little girl bear to see these people get hurt because of this?

Seele turned off the TV, silently placed the teddy bear in the center of the sofa, looked around the room, and then stared blankly for a while.

Animal migration is similar, except... it's beyond their control.

Final.

The little girl walked to the door and chose to leave.