The Test Results Were In

"You're back." Hearing the noise behind her, the girl turned around and beamed at Bai Yang.

But to Bai Yang, what she said sounded like nothing but gibberish.

Not knowing what to say, Bai Yang smiled and nodded, then began looking around the wooden house.

Its structure was simple. The floor had been laid directly across the sturdy trunk of a great tree, and the walls were made of joined wooden planks. The roof was wooden too...

What was astonishing, though, was that not a single nail had been used. To Bai Yang, the entire house was a marvel of interlocking pieces.

Most remarkable of all, the whole house had been lavishly built from red sandalwood. The faint scent of sandalwood in the air was enough to leave him feeling refreshed.

Three rooms stood in a row. The one on the right seemed to be the kitchen. Its stove, built by packing soil into a wooden frame, hadn't dried yet. A huge tub, hollowed out of a single log, was already filled with water. Even more amazingly, all the pots, bowls, and utensils were ready.

Bai Yang noticed another door at the back of the kitchen. Outside was a wooden trough along the wall. A long bamboo pipe connected it to the huge water tank suspended above the middle of the village, and clear water gushed into the trough before flowing through another bamboo pipe into a "small room" beside it.

He opened the small room and took a look. Well, it was a toilet. There was a brick-sized hole in the middle, with a bamboo pipe beneath it connected to the village's "main sewer"...

"Pretty advanced. Could this be the so-called wisdom of survival?"

Looking over the treehouse's layout, Bai Yang clicked his tongue in amazement.

Overall, he was very pleased with the place. Its only flaw was that it was too rough. The splinters hadn't even been sanded down. What if he got one stuck in him?

"These guys must've forgotten I'm not as tough-skinned as they are..."

Several simply made chairs stood in the middle room. The bed in the bedroom was already covered with thick fur—a whole tiger pelt, no less...

When Bai Yang saw the girl carry some firewood up, light a fire by the stove, and get ready to roast meat, he wondered if the whole house might catch fire.

"The main issue is that there's only one bed. The girl seems to be planning to stick with me!"

Bai Yang scratched his head at the thought.

Not long afterward, he was once again treated like a lord, eating roast meat as the girl served him. He couldn't refuse; if he did, she'd cry...

After the meal, they spent several more hours in the bedroom on their language lessons, neither understanding a word the other said. Bai Yang memorized another dozen tongue-twisting sounds, then firmly declined her offer to share his bed and politely ushered her outside.

But what made Bai Yang stare in disbelief was that she seemed to have come prepared. With tears in her eyes, like a little wife whose husband wouldn't let her sleep in their bed, she took out an animal hide and spread it across the "living room" floor...

"You've got your own home, don't you? If this keeps up, I'm a single dog who won't be able to hold out."

Bai Yang closed the bedroom door and leaned against it, muttering under his breath.

He went to the window and looked through the leaves at the three moons in the sky. Even though he'd seen them many times, he was still shaken. If he hadn't held himself back, he would've taken a picture with his phone and posted it online back home.

"I'll figure out what the hell this world is sooner or later."

After taking one more look at the three moons, Bai Yang shut the doors and windows and vanished from this world.

Back at the villa he rented on Earth, Bai Yang stared at the diesel chainsaw in his bedroom and scratched his head. He'd bought the thing, but still hadn't managed to use it...

As he stood there dazed, his phone started chiming with a string of missed-call alerts. He took it out and looked. Bai Yang's scalp went numb: his mom had called him at least thirty times!

"Mom, what's up?"

The moment the call connected, Bai Yang asked cautiously, like a meek little grandson. First, he was worried something might've happened at home. Second, he'd ignored thirty-some calls, so he could only imagine how angry his mom was.

"You little brat, get your butt home in ten minutes!"

Beep, beep, beep...

Staring at his disconnected phone, Bai Yang was bewildered. His mom hadn't sounded like something bad had happened, so why was she ordering him home in such a hurry?

He rushed downstairs, hopped on his motorcycle, and sped home.

When he got there and opened the door, he was surprised to find both his parents home at this hour. But the stern expressions on their faces, like he was about to face a tribunal, made his heart tighten.

He quickly went over everything he'd done lately. Since he hadn't done anything heinous enough to outrage both gods and men, Bai Yang felt a tiny bit more at ease.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on?"

"Sit there." Zhen Guoping pointed to the sofa opposite her.

Bai Yang sat down cautiously and saw his dad discreetly winking at him. That put him completely at ease. Nothing was wrong!

So he sat in silence, waiting for his mom to explain.

"Son, tell me honestly. Where did that blue-green liquor of yours come from?" Zhen Guoping stared intently at Bai Yang.

Bai Yang raised his brows, then said through gritted teeth, "What do you mean? I already told you. An old classmate from the countryside found some Monkey Wine in the mountains and mailed me a bit."

"Really?"

"Of course. I'd never lie to you." Bai Yang was just short of swearing an oath. Then he cautiously asked, "Mom, why are you asking? Did something happen?"

"Something happen? Let me tell you, kid, it's a huge deal. Hmph..."

A cold sweat broke out across Bai Yang's forehead. "What happened?"

"Listen carefully. You'd better keep that liquor a secret and never tell anyone. Got it?"

"No, but what exactly is going on? Mom, you have to explain it clearly, or I won't know where I stand."

Zhen Guoping's expression softened, and she said with some smugness, "Kid, I'll tell you the truth. Today I took your liquor to the university lab and had some graduate students test it. Guess what they found?"

At a time like this, she was still making him guess... Bai Yang was falling apart inside.

"The test results are in. They found that it contains a large number of beneficial substances, amino acids..."

"Stop. Mom, just tell me what I can understand. Those terms give me a headache," Bai Yang cut Zhen Guoping off without hesitation.

Zhen Guoping rolled her eyes at her son, picked up a sheet of paper from the coffee table, and waved it. "It means the liquor is the best of the best. If you take it over a long period, it can gradually change your constitution. More or less like being reborn from the inside out. Understand?"

That was way too straightforward...

Bai Yang blinked. "Then it's not poisonous, right?"

"It is poisonous—and highly toxic. It contains the ingredients of more than ten precious, potent medicinal herbs. The human body can only take so much. Drink too much and it could literally nourish you to death. Wouldn't you call that poisonous?" Zhen Guoping said irritably.

No wonder those wild people were so strong. That was probably one reason. As the thought crossed his mind, Bai Yang's eyes lit up. Didn't this mean that if he took it regularly, he could get rid of this weakling's body of his, at least compared to those wild people?

"How much is safe to drink each time?" Bai Yang asked.

"It depends on your constitution. Once a day, and to be on the safe side, no more than thirty milliliters each time. Son, I know what you're thinking, but let me warn you: if you only drink and don't exercise, you'll be a big fatso in a few days. Also, I don't care where you got it or how much you have. Keep half for yourself and bring me the other half right away. We're getting old too. It's not unreasonable for us to have some good stuff to keep us healthy, is it?"

"Not unreasonable at all." Bai Yang nodded vigorously, though he thought that the last part was what she'd really wanted to say. If she wanted some, she could've just told him. He could bring her enough to drink like water every day. He was her son, and it was only right to be filial. Was there any need to be so solemn about it?

Once he'd relaxed, he asked, "Then what was the trouble you mentioned earlier?"

"It's because of that liquor. Somehow, a few old professors at the university found out about the test results, and they've been asking everywhere about where it came from. Those old folks are not to be trifled with. Every one of them has a pile of titles to their name. I managed to fob them off, so just make sure you don't go blabbing about it."

So that was it. No wonder Mom had been so serious. Bai Yang wasn't stupid. Something like this shouldn't exist in this world in the first place. Especially since it was so beneficial to the human body, its development value was practically off the charts. There was no way it wouldn't attract attention.

Luckily, Mom had been quick-thinking and turned them away.

"I'm still a small fry. Better keep a low profile," Bai Yang reminded himself.

His mom's business was settled, but his own wasn't over yet. He turned to look at his dad...