A photograph of Lin Siyao in her youth sat on the desk in the administrator's office at Shelter No. 10.
Qin Ze couldn't have mistaken her.
Seeing Qin Ze staring fixedly at Lin Siyao, Teacher Yao snorted beside him.
"Keep staring, and she might catch you and experiment on you in her lab."
Lin Siyao noticed Qin Ze's gaze and walked straight over.
"Are you all right?"
Lin Siyao asked Teacher Yao. The two seemed to be old acquaintances.
"As you can see, I'm still alive," Teacher Yao said coolly.
"Let me draw a tube of blood and check you over, in case you have any hidden ailments." Lin Siyao could hardly wait. She even had a syringe ready in her hand.
"Get lost!" Teacher Yao snapped.
"You take my kindness for a donkey's liver and lungs." Lin Siyao shrugged.
Teacher Yao wrapped the school uniform tighter around herself and climbed into a black stretch limousine parked by the road.
"Miss, the doctors at home are ready," the driver said respectfully from behind the wheel.
Teacher Yao nodded. "Let's go home."
"Oh, and look into someone for me. A student at No. 2 Middle School, Qin Ze."
"Yes," the driver replied.
Watching the limousine drive away, Qin Ze couldn't help thinking how nice it was to be rich.
He was growing more and more curious about Teacher Yao's identity.
If she was an alien, why was she keeping such a high profile?
She even knew a top researcher. Wasn't she afraid her identity would be exposed?
"Your name is Qin Ze?"
Lin Siyao turned her gaze to Qin Ze.
"You know me?"
Qin Ze had never met her before.
"Not long ago, an S-rank exotic beast that had been injected with large amounts of Alpha Reagent escaped from the lab."
"The beast died later, and its Soul Orb went missing. As it happened, you were at the scene."
"Come on, let's draw some blood first."
Lin Siyao took out the syringe again and waved it.
Qin Ze seriously suspected this woman had some peculiar fetish. She really did love drawing people's blood.
"Don't be nervous."
"Let me take a peek and see if you're developing healthily."
Lin Siyao stuck the needle into Qin Ze's arm and drew less than five milliliters of blood.
Then she took an unidentified palm-sized device from her pocket and dripped the blood she had just drawn onto it.
"Hmm... let's see."
"Your qi and blood value is pretty high. You're almost a Level One Martial Artist. Quite accomplished for your age."
"Your cells are normal. There's been no mutation."
Lin Siyao put the device away.
"Looks like you really weren't the one who absorbed the S-rank exotic beast's Soul Orb."
Qin Ze breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course it wasn't me. It was my clone.
"I'm just a student without the strength to truss a chicken. How could I possibly beat an S-rank exotic beast?"
"You think a little too highly of me."
"You're being modest," Lin Siyao said playfully. "I'd say you're no ordinary student."
She stepped forward and whispered in Qin Ze's ear, "You know who Yao Xue is, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Qin Ze looked away.
"Stop pretending." Lin Siyao scoffed. "The jacket she's wearing is yours, isn't it? To cover up her injuries?"
Just as he thought, Lin Siyao had known all along that Teacher Yao was an alien.
Qin Ze dropped the act too. "Are you working with her? What exactly are you alien spies trying to do?"
Before this, Qin Ze had imagined aliens as all manner of demons and monsters.
In reality, they looked no different from ordinary people.
If aliens infiltrated on such a large scale, it would be very difficult for humanity to guard against them.
Lin Siyao smiled.
"I'm a genuine Earthling."
"Besides, she's not an alien spy either. She wishes she were."
"I'm just reminding you not to go around telling people. There are some things you'll understand when you're older, little brother."
With that, Lin Siyao walked away, swaying her hips.
Qin Ze fell into thought.
Teacher Yao's identity seemed complicated.
Only a handful of people knew she was an alien.
But at least she wasn't an alien spy.
Qin Ze no longer felt guilty.
The atmosphere on the bus back to school was oppressive.
The sudden appearance of that D-rank exotic beast had sent the exotic beasts in the Otherworld into a frenzy.
Not only had more low-level exotic beasts appeared, but there had even been two D-rank ones.
The trial group had suffered some casualties as a result.
Not counting He Bi, three of Qin Ze's classmates were still missing. They were probably more likely dead than alive.
The homeroom teacher raised his voice. "All of you, pull yourselves together."
"If a setback this small is enough to make you lose your martial artist's heart, then you might as well give up on the martial arts exam."
"On the day you chose to become martial artists, you had to be ready to fight exotic beasts to the death."
"Just a few low-level exotic beasts that don't even make the grade were enough to shatter your confidence. When you step onto the Abyss battlefield in the future, won't you fall into utter despair?"
The oppressive atmosphere on the bus finally eased somewhat.
But the students who had just faced life and death were still in very low spirits.
After returning home, Qin Ze immediately received a call from Fatty.
"Thank heavens, you finally picked up."
"I heard something happened in the Otherworld. Thank goodness you're still alive, Brother Ze."
"Some classmates died," Qin Ze said quietly. "I was luckier and barely made it out alive."
"He Bi died too."
Fatty was shocked. "He Bi died?"
"We're screwed, we're screwed. He Guang will definitely dump this bucket of shit on your head."
Qin Ze sprawled on the sofa, unconcerned.
"Teacher Yao was there when He Bi died. She'll prove I had nothing to do with it."
Fatty finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Teacher Yao was there? That's good."
"Even if He Guang insists on dumping that bucket of shit on you, he won't have any evidence."
Qin Ze said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
After chatting for a bit, the two agreed to go out for skewers together that weekend and ended the call.
Curled up on the sofa, Qin Ze finally relaxed in both body and mind.
That trip to the Otherworld had really been eventful.
First he explored the maze, then stumbled into Shelter No. 10 and inexplicably gained administrator privileges. After leaving the shelter, he met BT and her companions, was hunted by the mutated ones, blasted He Bi to death, and accidentally discovered Teacher Yao's identity...
And then there was Lin Siyao.
Qin Ze had roughly figured out the nature of Jiang City Otherworld: it was a parallel world not much different from the real world.
People who existed in the real world also existed in the parallel world within the Otherworld.
There were some details Qin Ze would need to verify the next time he went there, though.
"The mutated ones in the Otherworld were caused by the Alpha Reagent. So should I stop Lin Siyao now?"
"But the Alpha Reagent really can destroy mutated ones. I saw it with my own eyes."
"The Alpha Reagent, the Reverse Alpha Reagent..."
"What exactly is the Reverse Alpha Reagent?"
Qin Ze couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.
He felt in his pocket and took out the Soul Orb BT had given him.
For now, improving his strength was his top priority.
He was too weak at the moment. He didn't even have the ability to uncover the truth.
"Eat it."
Qin Ze summoned a clone.
"Using us as test subjects again? You're no son of man..."
The clone cursed as he swallowed the Soul Orb.
With the experience from last time, the process went much more smoothly this time.
"How is it?" Qin Ze asked.
The clone opened his eyes, and electric currents flickered within them.
"With thunder, I shall shatter the darkness!"
Crackle~
Blue electric snakes slithered around the clone.