Tidewater Workshop.
Mu Yang trudged along, carrying a bulky piece of luggage.
"Bing Ge, these are things your uncle prepared for you. Some you'll need, some you won't. Take them all."
Mu Bingge quickened her pace. "No need. Everything I need is already in my storage artifact. Go home, Uncle."
"Don't you want to bring your classmates some local specialties? I've got everything ready-twelve gifts, one for each person. Absolutely worth more than their price!"
Mu Bingge vanished in a flash, leaving only a Water Mirror and Mu Yang staring at each other.
Deflated, Mu Yang let go. The suitcase slammed into the ground, cracking it in several places.
"Ah, I just wanted her to get along with her classmates. Li Yan, why do you think she wouldn't take them?"
Li Yan lowered their gaze to the cracks in the ground, a corner of their mouth twitching.
"Boss, do you seriously have no fucking clue why she wouldn't take them?"
Mu Yang looked down. The suitcase slowly split open, spilling all kinds of materials across the ground.
"..."
Great Xia Research Institute Center.
Kou Ying walked out through the doors, his ragged, chewed-up-looking afro particularly eye-catching.
An old woman's voice came from behind him. "Kou Ying, if you can't stay there, come back."
Kou Ying turned and smiled. "Don't worry, Director Yingcao. This much bad luck isn't enough to make me give up. One day, I'll prove to everyone that your choice wasn't wrong."
He waved and headed down, only to miss a step and tumble down the stairs.
"Hiss... that did hurt a little."
He slowly picked himself up and limped away.
A researcher who had watched through the window turned to the old woman. "Director, is it really safe to let him enter school as an ordinary Awakened?"