Experiment

Xiao Xiao stood there in a daze for a while, staring blankly at his reflection in the window. It seemed as though he had thought about many things, yet also as though he had merely been spacing out.

Being a superman really was too unrealistic, wasn't it?

Maybe it had only been a small wound to begin with, and healing a little faster was perfectly normal?

Forget it. Whether it was coincidence or inevitability, a simple experiment would tell him.

With that thought, Xiao Xiao suddenly grew agitated. His fingers tightened around the black notebook as he strode toward the elevator.

Only after the library had disappeared from view did Xiao Xiao let out a huge sigh of relief. He touched the notebook in his hand, and his mind gradually settled.

Under the overly brilliant sunlight, Xiao Xiao belatedly noticed some changes in the notebook.

The black cover had a peculiar texture, like metal, like jade, and like ancient sandalwood. It carried a heavy, aged charm. Faint, intricate, bizarre patterns wound across its surface, giving off a dim silver gleam. Traces of blood-red seeped through that silver light, as if foretelling misfortune.

After everything he had been through lately, Xiao Xiao was only briefly startled by the notebook's transformation before calmly accepting it. His own body might have changed, so what was there to make a fuss about if a mere notebook had changed too?

When he returned to the dormitory, no one else was there. That was rather convenient.

With a measure of caution, Xiao Xiao carefully set down the black notebook, which now looked especially high-end.

A sweep of his gaze landed on the Swiss Army knife Eldest Brother had left out on his desk. Xiao Xiao rubbed the sharp blade, silently took a deep breath, and finally hardened his heart before cutting down at his own finger.

At first, he did not dare cut too deeply. The moment he saw blood, he immediately stopped.

Hiss—this hurt so much. This was practically self-harm. Xiao Xiao grumbled inwardly as he widened his eyes, staring at his finger without blinking.

A distinct cut ran across his raised finger. He could see the curled flesh, with blood slowly seeping out.

Hm? Xiao Xiao wiped the blood from his finger with a tissue and discovered that the injured finger was smooth and unbroken. There was no trace left of the cut from before.

So fast. Xiao Xiao had not even blinked, yet when he looked again, his finger had already healed.

It seemed the cut had been too shallow.

With that first attempt behind him, Xiao Xiao gained a little confidence.

This time, he cut the same finger almost clean through.

He could be ruthless too. He did not have the patience to keep trying over and over; he wanted to see where his limit lay.

But as he stared at his heavily bleeding finger, panic began to rise. He had not intended to cut that deeply in the first place—he had simply misjudged the force and gone too far.

After all, he was a novice at cutting himself. It was understandable that he was not familiar with the process, but the one suffering was himself.

Xiao Xiao felt like crying without tears. What if his finger really got cut off?

Eh, it didn't seem to hurt that much anymore?

He stared at his finger with a strange expression. A moment ago, he had been terrified that he had cut too hard, afraid his finger might really fall off. He had not even dared touch the wound, only held the finger loosely together, worried that it would obey gravity and drop to the floor. Yet in the next moment, he was astonished to find that the blood on his finger had not increased at all. The finger that had been hanging on by a thread was already whole again. He subconsciously bent it, feeling neither pain nor discomfort. Leaning closer, he rubbed his eyes hard. He first gingerly touched the blood-red finger, then immediately began roughly rubbing it.

Ha, it really had healed! In less than a minute!

His erratic, taut heartbeat finally settled, only to leap high again before crashing back down. Xiao Xiao felt a little dizzy.

Xiao Xiao slowly wiped the blood from his hand with a tissue. The finger that should have borne a deep cut had returned to normal, bending and straightening without the slightest resistance or pain.

Something that should only have happened in a novel had truly happened to him. He felt as though he were dreaming.

After those two experiments, Xiao Xiao let loose and began cutting himself all over.

He was not like the protagonists in some novels, impervious to blades and bullets, leaving only a white mark on his skin. Rather, he possessed astonishing regenerative ability. Injuries needed no treatment; the wounds would rapidly heal without leaving even the slightest scar.

Xiao Xiao could not help wondering whether aliens had abducted him in his sleep to experiment on him.

Still, no matter what, at least for now, this was a good thing—an incredibly good thing, like pie falling from the sky!

Xiao Xiao felt rather pleased with his future cockroach-like constitution that could not be beaten to death.

He did not test the limit of his body's healing ability. After all, he had no self-harm tendencies. Cutting himself was already the furthest he could go; he simply could not bring himself to hurt himself any more severely.

Besides, in his view, this degree of self-healing was already enough. He was only an ordinary student. How could he possibly suffer any serious injuries, unless he was extraordinarily unlucky and encountered an accident caused by natural or human disaster?

If that really happened, he could only count himself unlucky.

Heh, I get to enjoy protagonist treatment too. Xiao Xiao was in quite a good mood.

Xiao Xiao did not think too deeply about the inexplicable changes in his body. He accepted them rather calmly and adapted well enough, since they were good things.

Still, he had not gotten carried away. Having read so many novels, he knew what would happen if he recklessly exposed his uniqueness. He had no intention of being caught and taken to a laboratory as a guinea pig.

So Xiao Xiao could only secretly rejoice by himself.

Yet when he walked through the familiar campus again, he would occasionally look around, subconsciously searching for the demon named Ear Mouse—or perhaps other demons?

For several days after that, just as he had begun to feel disappointed, thinking the little yao might have already left campus, he unexpectedly saw it again.

It was beneath a large banyan tree, where fine fragments of sunlight filtered through the luxuriant leaves, scattering mottled, dreamlike patches across the ground.

The yao called an Ear Mouse sat upright with its head raised. Its strange form flickered amid the interwoven light and shadow, so fleeting that it almost seemed like an illusion.

Xiao Xiao widened his eyes and did not blink, terrified that the yao might vanish from sight again.

After hesitating for a while, he furtively glanced around as if guilty of something before finally making his way toward the tree on tiptoe.

It was impossible not to be curious about yaos, right?

Besides, this yao looked so small. Though its presence was rather intimidating, it probably... was not some savage, powerful yao, was it?

As Xiao Xiao let his thoughts run wild, he cautiously approached the yao.

So focused was he that he forgot to conceal his expression and failed to notice the strange looks others were giving him.

After all, in everyone else's eyes, Xiao Xiao was cautiously approaching an empty spot beneath a tree. It was hard not to find it absurd, amusing, and somewhat eerie.

A few people stopped to watch. They examined the area carefully from top to bottom and side to side, but it was only an ordinary banyan tree, with nothing beneath it. After sighing over another weirdo, they left, assuming he was yet another mentally unstable person.

Many people sighed. These days, there really seemed to be more and more Mental Patients.

Still, no one meddled. They merely shook their heads and hurried away.

No matter what, Mental Patients were always rather creepy.

Xiao Xiao had no idea that, in others' eyes, he had already become a Mental Patient. All his attention was fixed on the yao drawing ever closer.

When he was only three steps away, the yao turned its head. Its scarlet eyes were cold and savage, like two sharp swords cleaving through the air.

For a moment, Xiao Xiao seemed to hear the sound of the air being split apart.

He instinctively narrowed his eyes. A stabbing pain struck between his brows, making his nerves tighten and his hairs stand on end.

The yao stared at him without blinking, while he stood frozen three steps away.

The sunlight was blazing, and his half-squinted eyes grew somewhat unfocused.

A fierce gust of wind swept past.

When he opened his eyes again, the yao had vanished without a trace.

Only the rustling of branches remained by his ears.

Xiao Xiao felt somewhat regretful, yet also found his own reaction rather amusing.

For the past few days, he had consciously and unconsciously searched for the yao, yet when he finally saw it, he had been frightened stiff, his limbs turning cold.

Was this what they meant by Ye Gong Hao Long?

It was clearly just a little yao...

He wondered whether he would ever have a chance to see the kind of Great Yao described in storybooks and legends.

Under the warm sunlight, Xiao Xiao felt the chill slowly leave his limbs. Looking up, he saw a sky bright and clear with sunlight.

Mm, what wonderful weather.