Chapter 21 Part 3

Although he knew that this “alien” or whatever it was before him was his teacher, and that he wouldn’t hurt him, Li Zhuo’s heart still skipped a beat out of pure instinct.

“Are you afraid of me?”

Constantly monitoring his heartbeat and micro-expressions, Mo Liang naturally didn’t miss this instant. He quickly adjusted his disguise into a perfect, lifelike human.

“How about this? Is it a little better.”

“I won’t hurt you.”

After several deep breaths, Li Zhuo gradually calmed down. Just catching Mo Liang’s last explanation, he immediately said, “I know. You’ve also saved me many times. At school and at the summer camp…”

“…That wasn’t exactly saving.” Mo Liang corrected. “It was simply my duty, what I should have done.”

The wind howled. Li Zhuo could hear the gusting wind, but felt not the slightest chill. It was as if something invisible was shielding him.

Before, he didn’t know what that was.

Now, he did.

Under the moonlight, the young man, eyelids lowered, was silent for a moment. His brows furrowed slightly in a thinking pose, as if struggling with an important decision.

“Actually, I noticed a little very early on, but I didn’t think in that direction. Later on… Well, anyway, you’ve been very good to me, so I won’t tell anyone.”

Mo Liang thought for a few seconds, then tentatively uttered two words: “…Thank you?”

“No need to thank me. I just have two questions for you. One: is this your true form? What do you actually look like?”

“If you wish to see my true form, this place is too small. Next time, perhaps.”

“Okay.” Li Zhuo didn’t dwell on it. He took a deep breath and asked the second question at a rapid clip, “Are you here to invade Earth?”

“…What?”

This tiny, broken world, with its backward technology and weak, fragile native inhabitants who couldn’t even attack—what was there even worth invading?

After a brief moment of confusion, Mo Liang shook his head and said, very frankly, “I have come to save you.”

“…What?”

Now it was Li Zhuo’s turn to be confused. But he also seemed to understand something, and nodded seriously.

“Alright.”

As a Ball of Light, the System had gone completely dim. According to all historical databases, shouldn’t humans be terrified upon meeting a non-human?

But now, it all seemed rather harmonious.

The human youth and the non-human creature even made a pact—this was a secret between the two of them. No scenario the System had run came to pass. The Affection Points hadn’t dropped either.

The mission target even mistakenly thought the chill of Mo Liang’s transparent tentacle when it supported him earlier was because it had been out in the wind.

“You should just come sleep in my tent. There’s a fire outside; it’s warmer.”

【Being closer allows me to protect him better.】

This thought passed through Mo Liang’s mind. On the surface, he nodded without hesitation. “Alright.”

0255 quickly added new data to its database. It mused that while some humans did indeed experience strong fear, rejection, and disgust toward non-human creatures, another portion could overcome it and accept it.

When it tried to add a special note in Li Zhuo’s file, it discovered there was already a line there.

—【The best child in the entire universe.】

When had that dark, unidentifiable blob hacked into its database again?

~

The return trip was once again by bus. About twenty minutes after they set off, a bespectacled boy in the very front row fished an orange out of his pocket.

He had secretly pocketed the orange from the base before leaving. Its skin was a bright yellow-orange, looking very sweet.

Two minutes later, after eating one segment, he didn’t continue. Instead, with a deadpan expression, he passed the remaining orange, peel and all, to the person behind him.

“Have an orange.”

The girl with the high ponytail behind him was on her phone. She subconsciously took it, took a bite, then went silent for a moment. Completely unruffled, she passed it further back.

“Here, have an orange.”

【…】

“An orange. Really sweet. Give it a try.”

And just like that, the orange traveled back like a hot potato, quickly reaching Deng Yuliang.

This guy was always slyly clever. Noticing that the classmates in front who had eaten it all seemed to be watching his expression, he hesitated.

Seeing his hesitation, the classmate in front even added a pointed urging: “It’s really sweet. You eating it or not? There’s not much left.”

Deng Yuliang thought for a moment, glanced at Li Zhuo, who was beside him looking down and texting someone, and declared decisively, “Give it to Li Zhuo. Right now, I only trust his word.”

Li Zhuo hadn’t noticed how this orange had made its way from the front to the back, nor did he think much of it. Taking the orange from the student in front, he peeled off a segment.

The moment the pulp entered his mouth, his features contorted from the sourness, his whole face scrunching up.

“Why is it so sour?!”

He looked incredulously at the classmates in front who had kept insisting it was very delicious and very sweet, then at the bright yellow orange in his hand, which also looked very sweet.

He couldn’t figure out where the disconnect was.

The classmates who had eaten it earlier could no longer hold their expressions. Some spat the orange out into tissues, others grabbed their drinks to wash the taste away.

“I freaking knew it… Since when does a delicious orange ever make it all the way to my seat? It’d be gone way before that!” Deng Yuliang grumbled indignantly, twisting open a bottle of juice and handing it to Li Zhuo. “A bunch of sneaky bastards. Good thing my bro here is a solid, honest guy. Here, drink some to wash it down, and I’ll give you a candy.”

Li Zhuo waved his hand. Actually, the sourness was just a sharp shock in the moment and faded quickly. What bothered him slightly was his phone, which kept vibrating faintly.

That alien… oh, no, Teacher Mo, seemed to have been completely fooled by the students’ masterful acting too. However, his reaction was fairly quick; he immediately slipped a bunch of candies into Li Zhuo’s pocket.

He might have done other things Li Zhuo wasn’t aware of, because not a trace of sourness remained on his taste buds.

As for the constantly vibrating messages, Li Zhuo glanced at them. Mostly they were upset words, along with feelings of not having protected him well…

Li Zhuo replied that it was fine. Just as he exited the chat, the classmate sitting across from him grinned and struck up a conversation to teach him the trick.

“Don’t be like that next time. If you’re like that, how are you gonna trick the next person? You gotta keep a straight face when you pass it on. That’s where the fun is.”

Li Zhuo nodded as if he half-understood. Oh, so that’s how it is. It was a game.

“Do you play Honor of Kings or Clash Royale?”

“I don’t know how to play either.”

Before, in Pingshan Village, it was due to poverty—no smartphone, no time. Later, during those two years with the Li Family, outside of sleeping and eating, every spare moment was spent studying to catch up on missed coursework. At Experimental High, it was even more so…

“Well, let me teach you Honor of Kings first. It’s really simple. Open your phone’s app store, download it, and then I’ll guide you. You’ll get it in no time.”

As he spoke, the person very naturally took Li Zhuo’s phone and began downloading the game for him.

Li Zhuo seemed somewhat hesitant. He asked, “But Teacher Zhang says our most critical task right now is studying. Senior year starts next year, we can’t play games…”

“Downloaded. Now, pick a username.”

Feeling dazed, Li Zhuo randomly picked a name. Guided by the classmate beside him, he accepted his friend request. Deng Yuliang also joined in, and the three other teammates were all classmates from the front.

“You play support first, just stick with the team…”

This was Li Zhuo’s first time playing a game. Perhaps because the character he chose was relatively simple, or maybe because his classmates were guiding him, it didn’t seem as difficult as he’d imagined.

By the third match, he’d already grasped the basic win conditions and understood the synergy between different hero skills. Team coordination was also being explored.

“You learn pretty fast!”

The classmate who had offered to teach him said, controlling his phone with his head down while telling Li Zhuo where to go and provide support.

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

No matter how prematurely mature he was, he was still a kid not that old. Once his playful side was hooked, the rest of the bus ride was spent joyfully gaming.

~

After five days, the bus finally swayed to a stop at the entrance of Swan Bay, the same place where they’d been picked up. Li Zhuo said his goodbyes to the classmates on the bus one by one. Through the bus window, his gaze met a familiar figure standing outside in the distance.

“Isn’t that Teacher Mo?”

Deng Yuliang had already gotten off. This time, it was another Class 10 student who spotted Mo Liang waiting outside. At his shout, the other students in the bus also looked over curiously.

Some had seen Teacher Mo before, either near the dormitory building or in the Class 10 hallway. Others had only heard the name but were seeing him in person for the first time.

“Is the new psychological counselor really your relative?” The chubby kid sitting behind Li Zhuo quietly asked for gossip as Li Zhuo got up to grab his bag. “So you rich folk really do have that kind of butler-type study companion… I’m so jealous.”

Clearly, Mo Liang’s daily ritual of delivering meals, rain or shine, had spawned a few more rumors about him at school.

Not knowing quite how to explain, Li Zhuo just smiled. “Nothing that crazy. I’ll be off now.”

Outside, Mo Liang had already retrieved Li Zhuo’s suitcase from the bus’s luggage compartment. Seeing him get off, he greeted him with a beaming smile. “Welcome back.”

Changyang’s summer heat was as sticky as ever. The lush, leafy tree outside Swan Bay still stood tall, its leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. Everything was the same as the day he left.

“Shall we eat out, or go home and eat?”

“Either is fine.”

Li Zhuo slung his black backpack over one shoulder. His twenty-six-inch large suitcase was taken by Mo Liang, and the two walked side by side toward the side gate of the residential complex.

Mo Liang said without hesitation, “Let’s go home then. It’ll just be a little wait, is that okay?”

Li Zhuo gave an “Mm.”

He had seen Mo Liang cook before. Every step was meticulous, every movement incredibly precise.

Pouring oil, adding ingredients to the wok, stir-frying—each second was measured with perfect accuracy. Simmering time was exact to the fraction. The entire process was like conducting a rigorous scientific experiment, with clear steps and zero tolerance for error.

The only thing was, Mo Liang never let him help in the kitchen. Every time Li Zhuo tried to lend a hand, Mo Liang would nervously shoo him away.

He was worried the oil splatters might hit him, burn his skin. He was worried the cooking fumes might harm his delicate respiratory system…

Li Zhuo was much more used to this by now.

The two of them entered Swan Bay together, passed through the gate, walked past the security booth, and stepped into the residential area.

Mo Liang continued his low, rambling chatter: “There are too many additives in food outside. You’re still growing; you can’t eat that stuff…”

Li Zhuo shifted his gaze to Mo Liang, carefully observing his outline. A sudden sense of unreality struck him: That night at the summer camp, the phone ringing in the deep forest, Teacher Mo suddenly appearing, those countless icy touches—could it all have been a hallucination?

A normal person’s eyes change under sunlight. But the eyes behind those lenses, under the bright sun, were like a bottomless black abyss, impervious to any light.

The bright sunlight shone on him, yet radiated no warmth, instead reflecting off his skin with a strange, cold luster.

—He really isn’t human.

The smile on the man’s lips was perfectly measured. His lips didn’t even move, but by some unknown method, the voice grew legs and wormed its way into Li Zhuo’s ears on its own.

【What are you looking at me for?】

【You’ve looked at me forty-three times today. The longest instance was over thirty-six seconds…】

【I’m very happy you’re willing to rest your eyes on me more. However, I also worry: are you encountering some kind of problem?】

【Tell me…】

【I will solve anything for you.】

【My child…】