It Was Him

Clam planted one foot on a stool.

"Yiguan," he said in a low voice, "you must be wondering why everyone's still milling around when class should've started thirty minutes ago."

The boy shook his head. "Not really."

Clam ignored him and raised a hand. "A transfer student arrived today, someone with seriously badass connections. The principal and every teacher in the school went to welcome him!"

"Fantastic. I love this world."

The boy sounded dispirited.

He returned to his seat.

Every so often, he glanced down at his high-tech wristwatch.

Time kept ticking away.

For a Castoff like him, who only had five hours of login time a day, wasting time was a criminal waste of something precious.

Still, Qin Yiguan was a little puzzled.

What kind of transfer student warranted all this fanfare?

Suddenly.

The students stirred, rushing toward the door in droves.

Within moments, they had packed the doorway so tightly that no one could get through.

"The transfer student's coming in."

Taotie Clam craned his head out. "Latest news: his dad's the supreme commander of both sectors B5 and B6. This guy's a top-tier official's kid, no question."

Sectors.

In the old days, the term had been used to divide up physical hard drives.

Now.

Sectors were used to divide the map within the Metaverse. B5 and B6 covered an area no smaller than two provinces on the physical Earth.

In other words, this supreme commander was the equivalent of the governor of two provinces.

The boy nodded. "But why would he transfer to an ordinary school like ours?"

"He's not transferring!"

Clam looked eager to gossip. "Apparently, his dad kept him in a secret base for training ever since he was little. He's only just entered society. This is his first time attending school!"

The boy froze.

This was their final year of high school, so he had to be seventeen or eighteen. Did that mean the poor guy had spent seventeen or eighteen years in training?

Secret training?

What were they training a kid for?

To become a secret agent?

Clam clicked his tongue. "I heard he entered the Experimental Zone for the first time yesterday, and his numbers were off the charts! It might have something to do with that secret training. This kid's got a bright future, and it's practically guaranteed!"

The boy nodded casually.

The world was vast. There would always be geniuses, but they had nothing to do with him.

"Have you heard?"

Clam went on, "There's another huge piece of news from the Experimental Zone. The Research Society announced a new framework. Apparently, some freak unlocked his Brain Restricted Zone. Who knows how he did it, but he changed the rules inside the Experimental Zone out of thin air and manifested a gigantic monster!"

The boy, who had been tidying his desk, suddenly froze.

He stared at Clam in disbelief. "That... freakish?"

He meant something different by "freakish."

Naturally, no one else understood. The boy was thinking of the mechanical raven his [Gestalt Collapse] had created.

His eyes widened slightly. But that was a dream!

"Exactly!"

Taotie Clam clapped his hands hard. "As freakish as it gets! That little freak is a total freak!"

Just then.

A commotion broke out among the students.

Qin Yiguan and Clam looked through a gap in the middle of the crowd.

They saw Shangguan Xiaotao, the acknowledged prettiest girl in class, with her shoulder-length hair and youthful glow. Her face was slightly flushed as she held out a gift box in both hands.

The person facing her was still blocked from view by the crowd.

Shangguan Xiaotao tucked her hair behind her ear and said softly, "Hello... new classmate. On behalf of the whole class, welcome. This is... a gift I prepared for you."

As she spoke.

Shangguan Xiaotao opened the gift box. Inside was a red drinking cup, its exterior carefully painted with a little heart and a little white rabbit.

The teasing hoots began.

Shangguan Xiaotao's cheeks grew even redder.

"Yiguan, you've been cheated on!"

Clam's eyes went wide. He pointed a trembling finger at Shangguan Xiaotao. "The whole class knows Shangguan Xiaotao has a crush on you, Yiguan! She's already fallen for someone else!"

Qin Yiguan gave an exasperated smile. "What do you mean, fallen for someone else? Shangguan Xiaotao and I are just classmates."

Clam looked utterly heartbroken. "Exactly! Your romance hadn't even started, and now it's already fucking over!"

The boy smiled wryly.

No matter when or where, people with a halo around them were always more popular.

Figures shifted in the crowd.

Suddenly, the crowd farther away parted to form a passage.

All because the transfer student had glanced their way. The students flocked to him, not even daring to obstruct his line of sight.

Qin Yiguan finally got a clear look at the transfer student.

He froze.

His pupils contracted slightly.

Him... again?!

You might have clothes on this time.

But there's no mistaking that face.

Qin Yiguan had now encountered the boy in the white suit standing amid the crowd three times.

The first time had been in a Nutrient Pod in the Central District. He had been naked!

The second time had been in the Experimental Zone in his dream. People had crowded around him!

And the third time was right now, with him appearing as a transfer student!

Qin Yiguan found it hard to believe.

-Was this Ninth Brother?!

"Brother Nine!"

The muscular boy nicknamed Prickly Bear was still trembling as he approached the transfer student. Pointing at Qin Yiguan in the distance, he said, "You'd better stay away from that guy from now on. There's something wrong with his head. He just said he had 101 ways to kill me, and he made them sound so real. It was terrifying! I pissed myself!"

Qin Yiguan smiled helplessly and began studying the transfer student.

He had a handsome face and pitch-black eyes. There was a radiance about him, an air of uprightness.

He stood around 175 to 178 centimeters tall, with a straight, well-proportioned build. His white double-breasted suit was spotless, without a single speck of dust anywhere on him. He was like a walking "sterile chamber."

Even standing there casually, he seemed to be illuminated by countless spotlights.

At the same time.

The transfer student was also studying Qin Yiguan.

His face could be called handsome, but his hair was long, covering his forehead and temples, with his eyes hidden in its shadow.

A black jacket, black jeans, black canvas shoes, and a black backpack.

Black from head to toe.

Although he did not quite look strange, there was a hint of gloom about him.

As though the place that suited him best was some deeply shadowed corner.

The transfer student paused, then left the others and walked straight toward the boy.

He stopped before him, his expression unfriendly and a trace of disgust between his brows. "What century are we living in? You're still bullying people at school, and with such twisted words and behavior? 101 ways to kill someone? Do you think that's funny?"

But at that moment, Qin Yiguan.

Stared at the boy in the white suit, whose appearance overlapped perfectly with that scene from his dream.

Qin Yiguan went blank for a moment. Rather than respond to what the other boy had said, he voiced the question circling in his mind.

"May I ask if you saw me last night?"

"I did."

The transfer student looked him straight in the eye. "In the Experimental Zone."

Qin Yiguan's pupils abruptly contracted.

His mind reeled.

Taotie Clam, who had been eavesdropping all along, lit up. "The Experimental Zone? Yiguan, you got approved for a Nutrient Pod? That's fantastic! You've got a promising future!"

"So what?"

"101 ways to kill someone?"

"If your heart is dark and your character rotten."

The transfer student looked at Qin Yiguan and slowly shook his head. "Some people always get these flimsy delusions, thinking their lives will improve just because they've gone somewhere new!"