A distant siren blew a long blast.
Dawn broke.
Startled awake, Bai Zhou stretched out his arms and legs, only to discover the cloak draped over him.
"Did I put this on before falling asleep?"
Puzzled, Bai Zhou looked around, finally spotting Miss Crow seated sideways atop an outdoor air conditioning unit, gazing down at the cityscape.
...Morning in Tinghai City was only just stirring.
The warm sun climbed into the sky, and smoke billowed from massive smokestacks in the distance. This city of steel was once again revitalized with thriving vigor.
"Morning, Crow."
Greeting her, Bai Zhou shook himself awake and stood at the edge of the rooftop to tidy himself up.
He put on his gold-rimmed black spectacles, fastened his special silver necklace and wristwatch, and with two quick snaps, shook the dust from his trench coat.
Fully geared up, all Bai Zhou wanted was a piping-hot breakfast.
—He had no choice. Without the glasses as a disguise, roadside surveillance cameras would instantly pick up his location.
He didn't want a swarm of heavily armed soldiers swooping down in helicopters with autocannons mounted to surround the breakfast stall while he was eating.
God knew how terrified the uncle making the steamed buns would be.
From the outdoor AC unit nearby, Crow cast occasional glances his way.
Once again, she felt Bai Zhou really ought to look in a mirror.
With the glasses on and the trench coat's collar popped, he looked surprisingly sharp and proper.
Not bad at all.
...
Picking an unnamed roadside stall nearby that didn't even have a storefront, Bai Zhou got his wish and dug into freshly steamed pork xiaolongbao.
The stall owners were an elderly couple. Stalls like this possessed the greatest earthly warmth—when Bai Zhou had passed by as a cat earlier, he had craved it terribly.
No one could resist a steamer basket of savory, thin-skinned braised pork xiaolongbao with glistening wrappers and generous filling early in the morning.
The skin was fluffy and tender, the interior sizzling with rich juices. The first bite scalded the tongue with delicious heat, practically melting in the mouth, while the burst of savory aroma filled one with sheer bliss.
Add to that a small dish of pickled vegetables and a steaming bowl of clear millet porridge...
In Wancheng, there was a common saying:
*A bite of bun with a bite of pickles—not even an immortal's life could trade for this!*
Back in Wancheng, resources had been scarce, and fresh meat was prioritized for sacrificial offerings.
After the ceremonies, that meat became tainted by the corruption of the dead, and only the Black Robes could purify it.
A minor sacrifice every three days, a major sacrifice every five days—the Black Robes worked exceedingly hard, having to take these sacrificial offerings home to purify them every other day.
This was counted among their selfless contributions and countless kindnesses to Wancheng.
As for common folk, they could only eat meat that had been frozen for two or three years, which had long since lost any flavor of real meat.
And even of that, the Black Robes rationed the supply.
Eaten alone, that low-grade meat tasted abysmal, without even the texture of meat fiber.
So people would grind this frozen scrap meat of questionable origin extremely fine, mixing it with plenty of fat, soy sauce, and black pepper to make steamed buns.
—That had been the finest food Bai Zhou had ever eaten in Wancheng, something he could only cadge a few of from neighbors during the New Year.
"Tinghai's buns really are better than back home..."
Dressed to the nines, the city's most wanted fugitive sat at an unremarkable roadside breakfast stall, wolfing down his food.
Scalding broth bloomed on his tongue; the balanced pork filling was springy, intensely and purely fragrant. Hissing and blowing past the heat, Bai Zhou wore an expression of contented bliss, his cheeks stuffed to bursting.
Choking slightly, he took a sip of millet porridge.
The porridge below was boiling hot, but the skin of rice oil that had formed on top was just the right temperature.
The aroma of millet blended with the flavors of savory braised meat and dough, warming his stomach as it went down.
Bai Zhou was very fond of porridge, perhaps because his name contained the character *zhou*, a homophone for porridge.
Crow, however, held a different opinion:
"Actually, next time you eat xiaolongbao, you could try jellied tofu."
"Personally, I feel it pairs better than millet porridge."
"Jellied tofu?"
Bai Zhou blinked.
Tofu was tofu, but what was the "brains" part...?
If it had been right after he left Wancheng, he certainly would have assumed it was some terrifying habit of Blue Star people.
After all, just like stir-fried pork with chili peppers consisted of two separate nouns, "tofu brains" obviously had to be tofu mixed with human brains...
But looking at the neighboring table, Bai Zhou saw what jellied tofu actually looked like.
It looked delicious.
Right then, Crow's solemn question rang in Bai Zhou's ear:
"Jellied tofu comes sweet or savory. Which one do you think you'd eat?"
For some reason, Bai Zhou felt that when Crow asked this, her expression was unusually grave, and her eyes even carried a faint trace of chilling murderous intent!
Shivering, Bai Zhou thought for a moment, then dodged the question with one of his own:
"Why wait until next time?"
"What?" Crow was taken aback.
"Can't I order it right now?"
Bai Zhou eyed the jellied tofu other patrons were eating in the distance. "No matter how you look at it, isn't jellied tofu just a side dish? It doesn't clash with millet porridge at all."
Crow: "...?"
Bai Zhou shook his head, turned to the stall owner, and called out:
"Boss, get me a bowl of jellied tofu!"
"Coming right up! Savory or sweet?"
That question again.
And Bai Zhou's answer was:
"Spicy!"
Crow: "..."
Jellied tofu... a side dish?
And he was part of the spicy faction.
There was no time to squabble over whether sweet or savory was more "authentic."
Making a dazzling entrance was an out-and-out "heretical" diner!
Watching the mysterious figure before her take a bite of millet porridge followed by a spoonful of jellied tofu, Crow was momentarily speechless. In the end, she could only say coldly:
"...You have quite an appetite."
He certainly did; Bai Zhou downed three steamer baskets of xiaolongbao in one go and still wanted more.
"So, you really aren't going to eat anything?" Towards the end, Bai Zhou glanced at Crow, who was seated upright beside him.
Crow was popping two jet-black coffee beans into her mouth to suck on them.
A rich, slightly bitter fragrance grew more pronounced around her.
"You eat your own food."
Glancing with distaste at the heretical jellied tofu drenched in chili oil before Bai Zhou, Crow said with solemn, deadpan seriousness:
"Maintaining an existential state through the ingestive behavior of traditional organic life forms is a manifestation of low-level life.
"Once you advance to a certain level in the future, you will begin to avoid such inefficient metabolism."
Before she could even finish her sentence, there came a sharp *crack*—
Miss Crow's sharp canine had just crushed a coffee bean.
The toasted, roasted aroma nearby grew even stronger.
Yet Bai Zhou was the only one who could smell it.
...
After breakfast, full and warmed from head to toe, Bai Zhou rose from the little folding stool in front of the worn wooden table.
Stepping to the roadside, watching the sanitation workers walk by, and breathing in the fresh morning air of the streets...
Bai Zhou felt a long-lost sense of happiness and good cheer.
Sure enough, human beings simply couldn't go without eating.
In this regard, he could never empathize with a certain someone who only chewed on black beans.
To Bai Zhou, enjoying food was not only a necessity for sustaining life, but also an essential way to "pamper himself."
Life was already bitter enough. If he couldn't even eat something sweet, or crave-satisfying foods rich in oil, salt, spice, or sourness, Bai Zhou would find life hardly worth living.
If he had to chew those bitter "black beans" on top of that...
He really would jump off last night's rooftop!
...Unfortunately, Bai Zhou's good mood couldn't last very long.
Because being full meant his stolen moment of leisure was over.
Just like adventurers who might enjoy wonderful times roasting chicken, cooking mushroom soup, and making stews in the jungle...
Once the rest ended, they had to take to the road once more, setting off again on the journey to find the Demon King.
Tinghai City Yuanmeng Middle School...
Was currently the only lead in Bai Zhou's hands that might point to the Major's industrial chain.
And so, the fully healed adventurer Bai Zhou—
Set off once more on his adventure.
...
Transforming into a black cat, Bai Zhou set off "alone."
For minor tasks like scouting a school, Miss Crow naturally had no interest.
She merely yawned, and before long, a bow woven of black ribbon appeared once more atop the black cat's head.
Just as Bai Zhou had awakened, Crow drifted off to sleep.
Their resting times conveniently alternated, as though they were separated by vast mountains, oceans, or even time zones.
Yet without any spoken agreement, both entrusted their most vulnerable, defenseless moments to each other...
*Patter, patter...*
With light, rhythmic footsteps, the black cat felt his way along, crossing several streets.
Finally, an hour later, following the bus stop maps, he found the real-world Yuanmeng Middle School.
It was completely different from the one in the Reflected Ruin Realm—
What appeared before Bai Zhou was an imposing, magnificent campus.
Even in such a crowded, bustling district, it occupied an immense tract of land. The dilapidated iron gate from the Reflected Ruin Realm was replaced here by sleek, shining alloy turnstiles.
Just a casual glance inside revealed Western-style buildings with clock towers, along with eye-catching, brightly colored red-brick halls of solemn dignity.
...So just how many years ago was the Yuanmeng Middle School in the Reflected Ruin Realm modeled after?
Pondering this as he passed by, the black cat nimbly leaped over the perimeter wall, sneaking into the campus with practiced ease.
Even if the turnstiles were shut.
—What was a road, anyway?
Trotting along the greenery by the edge of the wall, the black cat bobbed his head.
—There was never a road to begin with; where enough cats walk, a road is made.
Sneaking deep into the campus, Bai Zhou began his investigation.
Since the school term had only recently begun, students undergoing military training could still be seen around the grounds.
Dressed in military training uniforms and wearing glasses, the students practiced military boxing with convincing earnestness.
"One, two, three, four! Huh, ha, heh!"
Seeing these youthful, energetic figures... Bai Zhou reminisced about his own lost youth back in Wancheng.
On second thought... better not reminisce.
The Youth Training Corps run by the Black Robes adhered strictly to the law of the jungle.
Bai Zhou hadn't started out as the head of the Youth Training Corps.
It was only after enduring countless bullies that, to protect himself, he fought back again and again...
Having toppled enough opponents, Bai Zhou became the new king of the kids.
Later, that king of the kids became the head of the Youth Training Corps.
That youth of bone-cracking brawls was hardly a glorious history worth fond nostalgia.
By comparison, the people here in Tinghai completely matched everything Bai Zhou had ever imagined of tender youth.
Right then, a scream suddenly rang out from afar:
"Eek! A rat! A rat!"
A few girls in military training uniforms were walking together, pointing at an earthen mound covered in fallen leaves and weeds by the wall, shouting in panic.
Passing by, Bai Zhou turned his head in curiosity.
"What's there to be so surprised about? It's not like this is a classroom."
A baby-faced girl wearing round glasses and a military training uniform stepped forward in the nick of time, soothing everyone's panic.
"Class Monitor Fang, what is that little rat doing?"
One girl pointed timidly at the small rat, asking out of a mix of fear and curiosity.
The inky-black rat was furiously digging with both paws churning like pinwheels, clawing maniacally at the base of the wall.
It looked like it was digging a hole, but the foolish rat had clearly picked the wrong spot, scratching away pointlessly at reinforced concrete.
"First of all, it's definitely not exercising."
Pushing up her large, round-rimmed glasses, the baby-faced class monitor with youthful features analyzed the situation with a deadpan, serious face:
"It probably wants to get out."
"Perhaps it once dug its way out somewhere, so it now assumes it can escape again the exact same way."
"The foolish rat doesn't realize that in human eyes, all its efforts are utterly futile."
"—Just like how we always believe that hard work guarantees success."
The classmates listening: "...?"
Bai Zhou listening nearby: "...?"
What happened to youth? What happened to passion? What happened to high hopes for the future?
Were all Blue Star middle schoolers... this "mature for their age"?
Where had this bespectacled baby-face come from—some guru of toxic chicken soup for the soul?
Which teacher made her class monitor?!
—Couldn't she see her classmates around her had instantly slumped into heavy sighs and gloom?!
...Bai Zhou couldn't tell if it was just his imagination.
He suddenly felt that this serious-faced girl's delicate features looked familiar.
As if he had seen them somewhere before.
Was she... the hissing little fire dragon?
Bai Zhou blinked.
...No way?
Although their personalities were worlds apart, her facial features really did bear a resemblance to Fang Xiaoxia.
Was it an illusion?
What had the other students just called her?
...Class Monitor Fang?
Suddenly, "Class Monitor Fang" noticed Bai Zhou crouching by the roadside.
A lively black cat wearing a bow was an exceedingly rare creature to spawn on a dull school campus.
Her eyes instantly lit up. Casting aside all her former maturity, the previously inscrutable girl let out a cry and lunged toward Bai Zhou.
"Kitty! It's a kitty!"
"Don't run, kitty! Come have some fun with big sisters!"
Bai Zhou: "?"
Shivering, Bai Zhou was scared into whirling around and bolting.
Judging by that look in her eyes...
This perverted attitude toward a roadside kitty really did resemble "that old acquaintance."
A relative, without a doubt.
"..."
Darting left and right, sprinting all the way, it took Bai Zhou quite a while to finally shake off the girls' feverish pursuit.
The pitch-black bow atop his head swayed in the breeze as the melancholy black cat let out a long sigh.
Being too charming was its own kind of trouble.
It wasn't just Class Monitor Fang; every girl who passed by Bai Zhou spread her arms and swooped down like an eagle diving for a chick.
It was truly terrifying.
Were these people cat-deprived or something, acting like they'd never seen a cat before...?
Otherwise, it had to be that his Life-Stealing Spirit Cat had some succubus-like "heart-stealing" trait.
Then again, the latter was definitely impossible—at least Bai Zhou had never seen the perpetually cool-faced Crow affected by it in the slightest.
*Rustle, rustle...*
Bai Zhou squeezed out from a cluster of bushes and surveyed the quiet surroundings.
After jogging all this way, he wasn't sure where he had ended up.
This seemed to be an obscure corner of the campus; no one had passed by for quite some time.
Beside him stood a public restroom, from which the loud sound of automatic flushing periodically roared.
"What's this...?"
Bai Zhou suddenly halted and turned toward the restroom entrance.
The heavy plastic strip curtain hanging over the doorway rattled against the gentle breeze, its dingy yellow color looking as though it were smeared with stains.
Just now, as he passed the entrance of the public restroom—
Bai Zhou's spirituality gave a slight twitch.
This was a privilege of Rank 2 Extraordinaries.
Having grasped "mental power," Extraordinaries could not only sense mortal peril through their spirituality, but could also receive guidance from "intuition" regarding things they sought.
This public restroom... might be out of the ordinary.
Frowning, Bai Zhou cautiously circled the restroom to inspect it.
He found no abnormalities.
It seemed he had no choice but to go in and look...
The cautious black cat slipped through the curtain and poked his head out at the entrance.
The empty restroom was tiled in gleaming, reflective white porcelain.
The stalls were all empty; not a soul was inside.
A gust of wind blew in, carrying a foul stench that rushed into his nostrils, nearly choking him.
At first, Bai Zhou assumed it was the common urine smell typical of public restrooms.
However, he quickly realized something was wrong.
He had used pit latrines back in Wancheng, and even those hadn't possessed a stench of this severity.
Compared to the sharp, pungent reek of excrement, the faint odor coming from inside smelled more like a rotten, sickening sour decay.
It was faint, but profoundly unsettling.
It immediately evoked revulsion, an instinctive urge to get away, and even a strange unease stirred by the scent.
Could it be...?
Frowning, Bai Zhou stood quietly at the entrance, his vigilant green eyes silently scanning the restroom's interior.
Suddenly, with a loud *whoosh*—
A rush of water flushed through automatically once more, stirring up spray and echoing loudly through the cavernous restroom.
And amid the echoing rush of water, Bai Zhou's alert ears suddenly caught a faint, indistinct...
Woman's crying.
"Where is that crying coming from?"
Bai Zhou froze, then held his breath and took two steps back, revealing only a pair of vertical pupils at the doorway as he peered cautiously toward the sound.
The sound came from behind the stall door at the very end of the restroom.
That door was tightly shut, as if someone were inside.
Yet the gap beneath the door was clearly, undeniably empty.
Then Bai Zhou shuddered violently, his heart skipping a beat.
Because in the gap beneath that door, he saw words of blood spreading with the water stains, slowly seeping outward.
Those were...
"Last words" left behind by someone!
Scarlet words of blood that only Bai Zhou could see.
Once he peered closely and made out the message, his spirits surged.
Perhaps the clue he had come to Yuanmeng Middle School to find...
Was right here!
For written densely across those "last words" were the words:
[Help... help... me...]
[No, don't save me—]
[I don't deserve to live!]
Chapter 78