Chapter 12

He remembered when he first arrived in Changyang City, the school he had registered with hadn’t started yet. Li Zhuo dragged his suitcase out of the station in a daze and wandered aimlessly.

He had no idea what Experimental High School was like, so he first followed the address on the purchase contract to find the house the Li Family had bought for him.

Swan Bay was a high-end residential area with great facilities. His unit was in the innermost building of the complex. Though it was a bit far from the main gate, it was quiet.

The door had a combination lock; upon opening it, the emptiness was startling.

It was a brand-new apartment, fresh paint and tiles, but no furniture whatsoever. He had to buy a sofa right then and use it as a bed that very night.

A few days later, when school started, the teacher handling Li Zhuo’s registration told him that Experimental High School had no concept of day students; all students were required to board. It was mandatory.

Cell phones were not allowed on campus and had to be handed in. The school only gave one monthly break of two days. Other Saturdays and Sundays were either used for mock exams in major subjects or regular classes.

Due to these rules, aside from the few days before school started, from the beginning of the term up to now in April, he had gone back only twice, totaling just four days.

Compared to the new apartment under his name, Li Zhuo spent more time at the Teacher’s Apartment than in that Swan Bay flat.

Every time he thought of that apartment, he even had to pause for a moment to recall its location.

“Really, I was just trying to remember if it’s in the west or the east…”

Mo Liang dished out the food in the kitchen, while Li Zhuo acted like a human conveyor belt, carrying the dishes out one by one and arranging them on the dining table. Their coordination was impeccably smooth.

Li Zhuo noticed that Mo Liang had only taken out one rice bowl again.

“Teacher Mo, have you eaten already again today?”

Those deep-set eyes behind the transparent lenses curved into an appropriate smile. He said, “That’s right. You go ahead and eat.”

Li Zhuo glanced toward the fridge, wanting to say something but silently swallowed his words.

So that day, Mo Liang added a new entry to his log. The first part still recorded Li Zhuo’s daily condition, including today’s emotional fluctuations, behavioral records such as how much he ate, overall state, and so on.

【His residence has no furniture. He said the first piece he bought was a sofa. He seems to really like the sofa and even naps on it during lunch break.】

【Today he was very interested in me and asked many questions about me. I wanted to tell the truth, but unfortunately the system said it would scare him. So I could only answer according to the provided template. After learning that I lost my parents at a young age, he looked at me with a very adorable expression for a long time.】

【The system won’t let me tell the truth, but I still revealed that I had a child before. He was very cute, but unfortunately I had to part with him. When I said this, he listened very attentively. According to the system’s monitoring, his expression was sad, and his breathing and heartbeat showed abnormal fluctuations. This is for me…】

【My child, feeling sad for me! Good heavens! This is truly a day worth engraving!】

Unknowingly, Li Zhuo had been freeloading meals at Teacher Mo’s faculty apartment for a full two weeks.

Over the past half-month, the dishes on the table had been lavish and different every day. They were nutritionally balanced, and the flavors seemed tailor-made for Li Zhuo, without the slightest flaw.

Only…

“What’s wrong? You look down,” Teacher Mo said with a smile, looking at Li Zhuo who seemed to be struggling to speak. “You must tell me if there’s anything.”

“Is today’s food not to your taste?” Teacher Mo seemed to attach great importance to this question. He pressed, “Which dish is it?”

Li Zhuo shook his head.

“For the past half-month, you’ve always said you ate before me. But I see no trace in the fridge, nothing in the trash can, nor in the kitchen…”

“Teacher Mo, have you really eaten?”

As they spent more time together, their relationship improved day by day. Li Zhuo was finally able to say some things that he had long found strange.

He had always believed Mo Liang when he said he’d already eaten, but as he came over more often, he was no longer as restrained as during his first visit. He started freely moving between the living room and kitchen, casually opening the fridge.

He discovered that Teacher Mo had very high standards for ingredient freshness; anything with the slightest bruise or lack of freshness would be tossed immediately.

And with all those lavish dishes every meal, Li Zhuo couldn’t possibly finish everything. A normal person would put leftovers in the fridge, right? But Teacher Mo would always grind them up in the garbage disposal and throw them away immediately.

If the previous meal’s food was all thrown away, did Teacher Mo eat as soon as he finished cooking? It didn’t take long for Li Zhuo to realize there was no trace, absolutely no trace.

Teacher Mo cared for him deeply, preparing healthy and lavish three meals a day, yet never ate with him. That sounded far too unreasonable.

Could it be that he didn’t need to eat?

But how could a human not need to eat!

Li Zhuo was worried that Teacher Mo might be like himself before, just making do with snacks like bread and leaving all the food for him. Even though he hadn’t seen any wrappers in the trash, what if?

Although he had a vague feeling that Teacher Mo wasn’t short on money—after all, the ingredients and fruits he prepared were always top quality—but… what if?

From what Teacher Mo had told him, his parents had passed away unexpectedly, his child was gone early, and now he lived alone. It seemed he might be divorced. So was he being so kind because of loneliness?

Li Zhuo could only speculate like this.

—Pretty pitiful, actually.

“You make so many dishes every time, I can’t possibly finish them alone. It’d be such a waste to throw it all away, so I wish you could eat with me…”

Mo Liang clearly saw his own reflection in the black-and-white distinct eyes of the youth opposite him.

How… bright those eyes were.

“How about it?”

Li Zhuo asked.

“So it was just about this.” Teacher Mo let out a soft breath. “I saw you weren’t eating and thought it might not suit your palate. Good that it’s not that.”

He casually picked up the chopsticks he used to serve Li Zhuo, put a whole crispy chicken wing into his mouth, and chewed it thoroughly, meat and bone together.

After about ten seconds, he spoke again: “Is this it? Are you a little happier now?”

Li Zhuo didn’t know what this had to do with being happy, but it didn’t stop him from sighing in relief. Did this mean they were closer now?

“Teacher Mo, I’ll go get you some rice.”

Without waiting for Mo Liang to respond, Li Zhuo expertly rummaged through the cupboard, found a clean rice bowl, and soon a full serving of rice appeared before Mo Liang.

“I hope it isn’t too much…”

Mo Liang still wore that perfectly measured smile. He gazed at his child with an infinitely indulgent look and said with a laugh, “How could it be? As long as it’s from you, it’s never too much.”

What a strange thing to say.

Li Zhuo thought.

On the other side of the table, Teacher Mo had picked up his chopsticks and started eating. The way he…

Li Zhuo rarely used words like “earnest” or “solemn” to describe eating, but upon seeing the man before him smilingly chewing plain rice with such deliberation, those two words surfaced in his mind involuntarily.

“Why aren’t you eating any dishes?”

【Addendum: The juvenile form is very clingy to me. Today he took the initiative to propose eating together with me and also proactively shared food with me▄▄……】

【It’s a pity that I cannot taste the flavors of these foods, nor can I gain any nutrition from them. I can’t even digest them and must work hard to suppress the ▄rejection reaction of my cells●●…】

【Hmm… Anyway, it’s quite troublesome, but I remember that in primitive human etiquette, this is a friendly goodwill gesture?! I can feel ■■■ that my child is getting closer and closer to me!!】

After tapping the final exclamation mark, Mo Liang closed the daily log and sighed softly in his heart: His child was so pitiful, how could he be so fragile? Not eating would kill him, eating too much would kill him, eating too little would kill him, depression would kill him, cold or hot weather would kill him, and his lifespan was so short.

Sigh… just thinking about it made him seem so pitiful.

To Mo Liang and all his kin, they didn’t need food; what they needed was more important: energy. A single massive energy replenishment could sustain their organs and tissues for a very long time. Even if energy ran low, they would simply fall into a deep sleep.

They were a species that evolved from pollution, extremely adaptable to harsh environments. Corrosive liquid falling from the sky? Poisonous gas filling the air? Constant high temperatures? Constant low temperatures?

To them, all of that was perfectly normal.

Or to put it another way, a civilization born in extreme environments could endure any hardship.

But conversely, returning to a pure environment would actually cause a certain degree of discomfort…

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw strange text appearing on the wall again. Mo Liang expressionlessly said, “Got nothing better to do lately?”

【No…】

【This kind of communication… is quite novel.】

Mo Liang’s ancestors gained evolution during the most severe late stage of the Pollution Era. Their descendants inherited and gradually optimized it. Over generations, their language and certain aspects of their civilization had become quite different.

When communicating with their own race, they had long since abandoned inefficient sound wave communication, mostly using the more efficient consciousness link. Only in very special circumstances would they revert to the outdated method of text symbols.

For instance, when one communicating party is in a lower dimension, if the higher-dimensional consciousness on the other side has no intention of destroying that lower dimension, then they can only appear within the lower dimension by means of self-dimensional reduction.

The method of appearance is based on the highest technology of that lower dimension. If that lower dimension already has holographic technology, and with the other party’s consent, they can appear in a holographic form…

But if the technology of that lower dimension hasn’t reached that level and one party refuses all incoming information, the only remaining communication method is the most primitive text.

【You’re really petty…】

【I merely casually mentioned wanting to come take a look, and you outright locked all the channels?】

【It’s really tiring…】

【Open the video switch.】

【Hey, let’s talk business. I found a problem. The first time you drank water, it triggered a rejection reaction, but subsequent reactions got weaker each time… so strange…】

【Did you gradually adapt and develop antibodies?】

【Send me some of your current gene ▄code…】

【The characters should have been sent over already.】

【Ignoring me again?】

【Off to cling to that little human again?】

【…】

【I just said it casually, and you actually traced it back and maliciously contaminated my gene pool? We’re still the same race, right?!】

The next moment, another line of text appeared.

【▄▄Line disconnected.】

【Please reconnect……】