Class

Dear Mr. Zhang Wei,

Comrade Zhang Aidao encountered a surprise attack by Heavenly Demons on the East China battlefield on December 22, Year 503 of the Heavenly Court, and died heroically. He has been approved as a martyr in the resistance against demons, and Donghua City will issue a martyr's certificate.

We extend our sincere condolences to you and his other relatives. We hope you will take pride in his sacrifice and restrain your grief, turning sorrow into strength as you strive for the building of civilization and the defense of humanity.

Looking at the casualty notification in his hand, at those few simple lines of text, Zhou Bai remained silent for a long while before slowly saying, "This world really is perilous from one day to the next."

A young man in a police uniform sat across from him. Seeing Zhou Bai's grave expression, he said helplessly, "This was found in his room. It was delivered this morning. Perhaps after the old man saw it, his Primordial Spirit suffered a shock..."

"Mm." Zhou Bai nodded and said slowly, "He already had some senile dementia."

The young man nodded. "Then that explains it. If his mental state was already unstable, a severe shock could indeed cause him to be infected by the Spiritual Machine, undergo a mutation, and become a monster."

Zhou Bai suddenly raised his head and stared at the young man. "Wasn't the Spiritual Machine in Donghua City supposed to have all been purified? Hadn't his Primordial Spirit been adjusted? Hadn't he received the Runic Vaccine? Why... why did he still mutate?"

The young man fell silent for a moment before slowly saying, "None of those are 100% foolproof. Even at Donghua Dao School, there have been cases of students mutating. And in recent years, the contamination of the Spiritual Machine has only been getting worse..."

Zhou Bai lowered his head. "Officer Li, how did Zhang Aidao die?"

"He encountered Heavenly Demons while on patrol in the wilderness. I heard half of his squad died, and he was among them."

Zhou Bai let out a deep breath. "Could I... could I see him..."

"Sorry. All mutated bodies are handed over to the Heavenly Court to prevent secondary contamination. And by studying their corpses, we can gain a better understanding of the current distortion of the Heavenly Dao."

"Hah..." Zhou Bai suddenly clenched his fists, only loosening them after a long while.

A few minutes later, Zhou Bai followed Officer Li outside. Along the way, he saw an elderly woman with a numb expression, tears streaming endlessly down her face, surrounded by relatives trying to comfort her.

Hearing their words of consolation, Zhou Bai's steps paused slightly. "She is?"

Officer Li beside him said, "She's Zhang Aidao's mother, Zhang Wei's ex-wife. Do you want to go see her?"

"No... no need."

After following Officer Li to retrieve Elsa, Officer Li looked at Zhou Bai, who had kept his head lowered in silence, and comforted him. "You don't need to blame yourself or feel guilty. Once a mutation is complete and someone has fully become a monster, there is no recovery, no reversal. Death is the only form of release. You did the right thing by immediately calling for help."

"No, I don't feel guilty." Zhou Bai said, "I was just thinking about when we'll be able to kill every last one of those Heavenly Demons."

Officer Li paused slightly, raising his brows as he looked at Zhou Bai. When he saw him out of the police station, he slipped him a note. "My name is Li Xiuzhu. This has my contact information and address. If anything happens, you can find me anytime."

Zhou Bai took Officer Li's note, nodded, and left with Elsa in tow.

Watching his departing back, Li Xiuzhu revealed a faint smile.

Zhou Bai led Elsa back, step by step, to the old man's apartment.

The entire apartment had already been sealed off by the police's isolation runes. Blue runes flashed back and forth like neon lights, encircling the entire crime scene.

Zhou Bai found a place nearby and sat down, rubbing Elsa's head. "Be good, Elsa. I don't have anything for you to eat today. There are only a few hours until dawn. Once we get to school, I'll give you something to eat."

"Come to think of it... Dao School should allow dogs, right?"

Zhou Bai looked at Christina in his mind, only to see her curled up into a ball and rolling around endlessly.

Ever since Zhou Bai had thrown her out, Christina had not said a word. She had stayed shut down all the way until now.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Bai said helplessly, "Alright, Nana, don't be angry. Wasn't it to save all of us?"

"Who are you calling Nana?" Christina snorted coldly. "You actually threw me over there? Forget it. My heart's gone cold."

Zhou Bai said, "I wasn't really throwing you away. I deliberately had you draw his attention, then I brought you back."

Christina said, "Heh. The point isn't whether you brought me back or not. The point is that you actually threw me out!"

Zhou Bai rolled his eyes. "Why are you so petty?"

"Petty? I'm petty???" Christina was furious. "You threw your cat out when you were in danger, and now you're blaming me for being petty?"

"Alright, alright, I was wrong, I was wrong." Too lazy to keep wrangling with her, Zhou Bai said directly, "I won't throw you out again. Happy now?"

Laziness Qi Value +1

Laziness Qi Value +1

...

Laziness Qi Value +1

Zhou Bai's eyes lit up. He had not expected that being too lazy to argue with Christina would actually increase his Laziness Qi Value.

Christina nodded on the other side. "It's a promise. If you throw me out again, we'll sever all ties and never see each other again for the rest of our lives!"

Seeing Zhou Bai agree, Christina hurriedly added, "I want to come out! I don't want to stay in your head all the time."

Zhou Bai nodded and agreed. He had originally planned to pass Christina off as a cat he kept anyway. Otherwise, it would be too troublesome—if Christina had to hide in his mind all day, wouldn't she be unable to do anything?

So he let Christina out, and she happily ran around.

Zhou Bai yawned, slowly lay down, and closed his eyes, watching his Laziness Qi steadily tick upward.

Elsa squatted beside him for a while, then moved closer and squeezed into Zhou Bai's arms before lying down as well.

Stroking Elsa's fur, Zhou Bai thought silently, I have to... become stronger. Strong enough that I'll never be helpless again, never again... be unable to do anything.

After Zhou Bai fell asleep, Christina also came over, crouched on his chest, and dozed off.

Early the next morning, Zhou Bai felt someone shake him.

He opened his eyes and saw Jing Xiu staring blankly at him. "Brother Zhou... why are you sleeping on the street? And what happened back there?"

Zhou Bai sighed and said with a somewhat grave expression, "Mm... someone where I live mutated into a monster. There was no other choice, so I could only make do on the street for the night." He did not want to explain too much to Jing Xiu, so he only gave a brief account.

Zhou Bai stood up, stretched lazily, twisted his neck, and looked at his status panel.

After another night of lying around, plus the Laziness Qi gained from being too lazy to wrangle with Christina:

Daoization Degree: 0%

Primordial Spirit Value: 99

Divine Map: Nine Calamities of Heaven and Man

Laziness Qi: 1210

Zhou Bai nodded in satisfaction and looked at Jing Xiu beside him. "Let's go. Time to enroll."

"Eh." Jing Xiu said, "Brother Zhou, aren't you bringing any luggage?"

"Didn't Dao School say they'd provide everything yesterday?" Zhou Bai led Elsa along and said, "Other than this dog and this cat, I don't have anything else to bring. Oh, Dao School allows pets, right?"

Jing Xiu said, "...I think so."

Dao School was extremely efficient. Within one morning, it had assigned rooms, student cards, and other supplies to all six hundred new students.

Zhou Bai was assigned a single room as well. He left Elsa in the room, hid Christina in his mind, and went with her to attend the first class of the afternoon.

(It's a new week—please vote with your recommendation tickets.)