Chapter 344: Temporarily Not Leaving Human Status

But Fang Zhiyan hasn't stopped yet.

The tentacle slowly withdrew, then rolled a syringe from inside Fang Zhiyan's clothing and aimed it at Luo Jinyou's neck.

The unknown liquid was injected by the tentacle, and Luo Jinyou's body completely slumped.

Fang Zhiyan retracted the tentacle; the wound on Luo Jinyou's abdomen was still bleeding, but the blood's hue had begun shifting from dark red back to normal red, and the mutation markings on his body were visibly fading.

He remained unconscious, but the frantic aura had vanished.

Ying Duo looked at the penetrating wound on Luo Jinyou's abdomen, then glanced at Fang Zhiyan, the meaning obvious.

Fang Zhiyan noticed his gaze and said, "Not dead."

He paused, as if thinking the explanation insufficiently detailed.

"These minor injuries are nothing to an Aberrant Species; although the transformation isn't complete, his recovery will be far faster than you imagine—within a few hours he'll heal."

He said this while lifting Luo Jinyou with another tentacle, this time in a steadier posture.

Ying Duo said nothing.

He simply stared at the 【Lv. 45】 number fixed above Luo Jinyou's head, lost in thought.

Alien Upgrade... that fast?

Fang Zhiyan seemed to read his mind, a slight smile curling his lips.

"You should know that every shortcut has a price."

Ying Duo withdrew his gaze, "What price?"

If the price is controllable, or he can afford it...

Isn't that also a selectable path?

"Become like him."

Fang Zhiyan pointed at the bound Luo Jinyou with another silvery tentacle.

"Lose yourself, become a pure beast. Of course, with me you won't be so ragged; I'll let you, like Bai Mu Yun and the others, retain self-awareness."

After all, he had finally met a student he was quite satisfied with in temperament and all aspects.

"Then never mind."

Ying Duo refused outright.

Yang Yixie currently has no intention of leaving humanity, but this could be considered as a means; if Ying Duo later faces a life‑or‑death crisis, a mutation would certainly be better than dying on the spot.

"A wise choice," Fang Zhiyan added calmly, "Let's go while the Supervision Bureau hasn't reacted yet; Bai Mu Yun and the others are waiting outside."

Ying Duo nodded and followed.

The two entered the dark passage one after the other, the silvery tentacles and Ying Guang Lu silhouettes standing out starkly in the dim surroundings.

——————————————

Yu Cai curled up under the table, her back pressed tightly against the cold wall, hands covering her mouth, fearing any sound.

The twilight's afterglow filtered through the louvered window cracks, casting slender shafts of light on the floor; what should have been a warm hue now made her feel especially cold.

Five minutes earlier.

She had just woken up from a nightmare—not a real nightmare, but the vague memory fragments from when she was seized.

She rubbed her temples; the Supervision Bureau personnel noticed the alarm suddenly blaring, and the scheduled interview had to be postponed. They said others would take over and asked her to wait in the lounge.

As she waited, she saw black mist creep in like a living thing from under the door crack, thin threads, silent.

Yu Cai's pupils contracted sharply; Purification Aberrant Arts instinctively enveloped her.

A pale golden halo enveloped her entirely; when the black mist touched the halo's edge, it vanished instantly.

Yu Cai made no sound.

She didn't know what was happening outside, nor whether the mist's master was still present.

She just clamped her mouth shut, slid down from the bed inch by inch, slipped under the bed, then moved to a more concealed spot beneath the table.

The mist roamed outside for a long time.

Very, very long.

Until—

Boom! Hahahahaha!

A brazen laugh suddenly came from outside, clear even through the door panel.

Yu Cai was stunned.

"Where did you get those four twos?"

Another voice followed immediately, laced with impatient disdain.

Yu Cai's fingers trembled slightly; personnel from the Supervision Bureau couldn't brazenly play cards in the lobby—that would clearly breach regulations. So who was it...?

She lay on the floor, shaking her hand, inch by inch prying a razor‑thin gap in the ajar door.

She carefully pressed her eyes toward the opening.

Then Yu Cai saw what could be called the most absurd scene of her life.

The Supervision Bureau's office, normally stern and tidy, was now a mess; chairs toppled, documents scattered, and a dozen or so bodies lay haphazardly on the floor.

Some were sprawled on desks, some collapsed in corners, some slumped in the corridor, each in a different pose, but all shared one trait: motionless.

It was unclear whether they were dead or alive.

Amidst this sea of "corpses," two people sat on two merged office chairs, a makeshift table of file boxes between them, fervently playing cards.

Bai Mu Yun.

Lu Mu.

Bai Mu Yun held up his perpetually indifferent face, a handful of cards in hand, casting a sideways glance at Lu Mu with his golden horizontal pupils; Lu Mu wore a smug grin, flinging his cards onto the table, laughing until his eyes narrowed to slits.

Yu Cai's mind went completely blank.

Both of them showed no concealment of their nonhuman traits, be it the ram horns or the pair of wings behind Lu Mu's head.

...... Co-Absorption cultist?

The people lying on the ground—did they do it?

Yu Cai's hand trembled even more; she clamped her mouth tightly, fearing she might make any sound.

At that moment, a crisp "ding" rang from the direction of the elevator entrance, and it slowly opened.

Lu Mu didn't even have time to collect the cards; he simply tossed the cards in his hand onto the table and turned his head toward the source of the sound.

Yu Cai also looked in that direction.

In the dim corridor, the first thing that appeared were several silver‑white…tentacles?

Yu Cai blinked, thinking she had seen wrong.

But that was indeed a tentacle.

Silver‑white, shimmering with a faint metallic sheen, they stood out in the dim light; the tentacles slowly unfolded in the air, like some deep‑sea creature drifting lazily.

Then a person was the first to step out from the corner.

It was a man.

White hair, dark‑red eyes, a few silver‑white tentacles swayed slightly behind him, as if they were his most loyal guards.

And behind him—

Yu Cai's eyes widened suddenly.

Ying Duo.

The Ying Guang Lu teenager was leisurely trailing behind the man, his face still bearing an expressionless calm, his golden eyes lazily scanning the hall.

Next to him, there was an old acquaintance tangled in the tentacles.

Luo Jinyou.

He was tightly bound by the tentacles, like a rag doll being carried; his clothes were torn, and a gruesome wound gaped in his abdomen, though it seemed no longer bleeding.

She had heard the Supervision Bureau staff mention a bit of news, that he had clashed with the invaders of the Academy to save her, and somehow his Mutation Value had gone berserk.