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“Um, was that just my imagination?” Liu Tao shook his head and rubbed his eyes before coming in to wash his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I thought I saw your eyes glowing. I must be too nervous; this post-apocalyptic world is making my nerves break,” Liu Tao picked up a towel to wipe his face and glanced at Lin Feng’s normal eyes under the light.

“Oh, by the way, Lin Feng, are you of mixed race? Your eyes are actually blue, so beautiful,” Liu Tao said, marveling at Lin Feng’s eyes.

Upon hearing this, Lin Feng turned to look at the mirror in the restroom. When did his eye color turn blue? Suddenly, he remembered Zhang Yicheng during the day, and his mind went blank.

That guy’s mutation was clearly visible: eerie skin color and exaggerated body proportions. Could he also end up like that?

The greatest fear of humans came from the unknown, and Lin Feng was now caught in this fear.

“Are you okay?” Liu Tao, who was walking ahead, asked curiously as Lin Feng remained silent. He continued patrolling the dark corridor with a flashlight in hand.

As the surroundings gradually became unusually clear, Lin Feng stopped in his tracks. At this moment, he realized he had mutated. The normally dark environment was now so clear that he could even see that zombie a kilometer away devouring internal organs on the ground.

Furthermore, he discovered that as long as he held his breath, Liu Tao’s movements would become extremely slow, as if each step took dozens of seconds. Lin Feng could tell, if he wanted to right now, he could easily end Liu Tao’s life before the boy even realized it.

Using that fire axe meant for those spiders outside, I can keep my secret safe… Lin Feng eerily thought to himself.

His blue eyes shimmered with a strange light in the darkness.

Unusually silent of footsteps behind him, Liu Tao began to get a little worried and turned around, and that was where he saw it.

“Monster!”

That word jolted Lin Feng from his murderous train of thought. Shocked at his own bloodthirsty actions just now, Lin Feng recoiled a little.

“I’m not, I…,” as he stammered, a furry tail grew out of the leg holes in his pants.

It was only then that Lin Feng fully understood Zhang Yicheng’s feelings. Trembling, he wanted to turn and leave, but found himself surrounded by people who were woken up by Liu Tao’s shout. Several boys were holding various makeshift weapons, warily staring at him.

“No, wait, I’m not a monster, you have to believe me!” Lin Feng waved his hands helplessly, only to have a pair of furry ears emerge from his head, accompanied by a tingling sensation.

“I knew it! You were up to something– Monster!” Zhu Hanfang triumphantly declared as he lifted his wooden stick and pointed it at Lin Feng, who had retreated to the corner.

“Monster, did you think we wouldn’t recognize you just because you look like Liu Mengqi? You can’t hide your beastly nature!”

Lin Feng threw a confused look at Zhu Hanfang. What did he mean, ‘like Liu Mengqi’?

Without giving Lin Feng time to think, Zhu Hanfang swung the stick towards the shocked Lin Feng.

“Ah,” a soft voice came out of his mouth.

“Stop!”

Old Liu walked over with a flashlight in hand, closely followed by Liu Mengqi and Yan Aoxue. He shone the flashlight at the “Liu Mengqi” cowering in the corner.

“Are you really Lin Feng?”

Hearing Old Liu’s voice, Lin Feng raised his head and saw his teacher and his childhood friend Liu Mengqi, rife with the shock and confusion he felt, except it was directed at himself.

Lin Feng lowered his head and used his clothes to cover his face.

“Yes, Mr. Liu, I am Lin Feng.”

“Zhu Hanfang, everyone, go back and have a rest first. I will handle this,” Old Liu stared at Zhu Hanfang, who continued approaching Lin Feng with his stick.

Zhu Hanfang glanced at Old Liu, seeing no disgust in the onlookers’ eyes, he snorted, handing the stick to Old Liu.

“Remember: you brought this upon yourselves.” He declared disgruntledly as he trailed off to his room. However, even if his person had left, his ominous warning lingered in the silence as if it had a life of its own. The rest of the class still remembered the haunting scene of that first male student who turned into a zombie leaving the exact same warning. They wasted no time in making themselves scarce.

Soon, only Yan Aoxue, Old Liu, Liu Mengqi, Song Zhe, and Lin Feng, who was hiding his face in the corner, were left. Finally, Liu Tao glanced apologetically at Lin Feng, then turned and walked towards the exhibition hall.

Still wary, Old Liu looked at Lin Feng for a second before asking him to walk to the warehouse, to which he obediently complied. Dejected, Lin Feng hugged the oversized clothes on his body and the injured left hand, and walked towards the warehouse.

Once inside, Old Liu gestured for Lin Feng to uncover his face.

“Not in front of Mengqi! Don’t look, Mengqi, don’t look.” Lin Feng didn’t want to show his face, instead he used the clothes to cover even more of his face.

However, Liu Mengqi was having none of that. Before Old Liu could even register what she was planning, she rushed forward, and under his wide-eyed gaze, she tugged at the offending cover before Old Liu could stop her.

Liu Mengqi stared at her childhood friend, whom she had known practically all her life and was somehow now as tall as her.

“Lin Feng?”

“Yea,” he mumbled, partly hiding his head in fear. He must have scared his childhood friend. After all, he was a monster. How could he ever face his parents now…

For a split second, he even considered killing himself.

“How cute.”

“Huh?” His voice nearly broke from his quivering, but she grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“You…”

“Others may be afraid of you, but I’m not. You’re Lin Feng, right? So I’m not afraid. No matter what you look like now.”

Gazing straight ahead at his childhood friend, Lin Feng suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over him; she didn’t reject him.

“Thank you, Liu Mengqi, really thank you. By the way, did you bring a mirror? I want to see how I look.” His voice trembled with trepidation as he spoke.

If he had turned into something like Zhang Yicheng, he didn’t know if he could bear to live on. After all, going from a human to a monster, even if his body could accept it, he couldn’t accept it mentally.

“You’re welcome. Aren’t we childhood friends, after all? Anyway, are you sure you want to look at a mirror?” Liu Mengqi hesitated for a moment before asking.

“Yes, I do,” His heart sank a little when he heard the hesitation in her voice. Wringing his sweaty palms, he steeled himself as best he could.

“Alright, here you go. But you must promise me you will stay calm, Lin Feng,” Liu Mengqi said after a moment of consideration, taking out her makeup mirror from her pocket.

He gingerly took the small foldable mirror from Liu Mengqi and slowly looked at the reflection. First were his glowing sapphire-like eyes, then his face…

“Liu Mengqi?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, not you. I mean, why do I look exactly like you?” Lin Feng reached out and touched his cheek. His face looked just like Liu Mengqi, in fact, the two were basically shaped out of the same mold. But that wasn’t all either, on top of that face were a pair of white cat ears. And there was still that matter of the furry sensation he felt against his legs.

“This…”

“See, I told you you were cute,” Liu Mengqi said, reaching out to fondle his cat ears.

“Hey, aren’t you just praising yourself indirectly at this point?” Lin Feng controlled his ears, avoiding Liu Mengqi’s hand. These new ears felt like a natural part of himself; just as agile as his hands and feet. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that he was born with them.

Thinking back to the scratch he suffered earlier today, Lin Feng looked down at his already conspicuously fair and unblemished arm. Could it be that Liu Mengqi’s saliva treatment actually worked? No way, that didn’t even make sense.

“Well, as long as you’re Lin Feng, this matter is settled then. You can explain to the others when you get the chance later. I’m sure everyone will understand,” Old Liu said. Looking at the three friends goof around -Liu Mengqi who was trying to grab Lin Feng’s tail; Yan Aoxue who was just as curious about Lin Feng’s cat ears and tried to grab them; Song Zhe who stood beside Lin Feng in contemplation – the old teacher sighed with relief.

It was certain now that Lin Feng was not a threat. He had just undergone some strange mutation, and regardless of what that may entail, at the very least, he wasn’t a mindless zombie.

—————————–

“That’s right. After I got scratched by a cat in the morning, my sister treated me with her saliva. Then I turned into this. I don’t know why only Zhang Yicheng and I mutated, but I really have no intention of harming anyone,” Lin Feng explained, looking around at the classmates around, who, even now, were keeping a wary distance from him.

Naturally, he didn’t mention that fleeting desire to murder Liu Tao when he first mutated. If he mentioned it now, there would be no way to reconcile with them. And this floor was the only safe house he knew of.

“And how do we know whether or not you’re lying? I vote to kick Lin Feng out,” Zhu Hanfang promptly rebutted.

“There’s no need to vote. I just had Song Zhe help me clean up the warehouse; we can just have him sleep separately from us,” Old Liu interrupted Zhu Hanfang.

“You old fart, can you take responsibility if he kills someone?”

“I can’t guarantee that, but if you kick him out now, it’s the same as murdering a person! And watch your attitude, Zhu Hanfang,” Old Liu coldly retorted with a threatening gaze.

“Damn bag of bones, if he messes up, you’ll be out with him as well.” Zhu Hanfeng threw down those last threatening words then casually grabbed a pack of biscuits from the box Song Zhe had brought and opened it. He took a few bites, and collapsed onto the folding bed.

Ding. Dong.

Just as everyone prepared to go back to their beds to sleep, the familiar chime of the school’s loudspeaker rang out from the field outside.

“Students. I’m sorry to disturb your sleep. But I have an important announcement to make. Normally, this announcement should have been made in the afternoon. But the circumstances did not allow it.”

“Principal Zhu?” Lin Feng looked up in surprise at the source of this disturbance. He’s alive, was his first thought, and judging by how the principal seemed breathless as he spoke, something just happened.
Since his hearing was even more sensitive than before, the sound of the loudspeaker felt like pin pricks to his ears. Lin Feng had to use a towel to cover his two perked-up ears, though it felt rather uncomfortable.

“I need everyone to grab any luminous objects you can find and shine them towards the old broadcasting room. I wish to see how many of you are still alive.” As that last word left his lips, one could almost feel the principal age a few years.

Still, the fact that his old buddy was alive was enough to move Old Liu to tears. Invigorated, he quickly retrieved a torchlight and waved it frantically at the direction of the old broadcast room. At the same time, several other flashes lit up around the school.

The medical room; the cafeteria; the library; and the top floor where they were at, each of them a glimmering spark of hope in the students’ heart.

So there were others as well who managed to find shelter, Lin Feng thought to himself as he curiously scanned the campus.

“Ahem. Good, now listen closely.”