Yan Jue stood in front of the treadmill in the training room, lost in thought.
Although he'd agreed to pick up Zaizai the next day, that didn't conflict with his daily morning exercise; he had to keep running. What had him thinking was that he usually ended up sweating and panting after an hour of jogging, but that hadn't happened this morning.
Even after the song's scheduled playback ended, he finally realized that an hour had already passed. And he, as radiant and neat as if he had just arrived, was gone.
What went wrong?
Yan Jue began to think, and squatted down with his head in his hands, wanting to cry but having no tears.
He was asking why the cafeteria had suddenly cooked something so unbelievable yesterday, and then given everyone one and demanded they finish it. He even asked for everyone's opinion, pretending it was legitimate. It was truly cunning.
He had eaten everything he needed to eat, and had digested everything he needed to. He could only accept this unacceptable fact. Regardless, his physique had become stronger, which was a good thing.
Good news. Yan Jue silently hypnotized himself and returned to the dormitory, determined not to think about the appearance of seafood.
"Xiao Jue, why don't you go in?"
Zhou Taotao hugged Yan Jue, who was stunned at the cafeteria entrance, and asked in confusion, "Is there no more seats inside?"
Yan Jue stared at Zhou Taotao for a few seconds and slowly shook his head: "Brother Zhou, have you noticed anything different about you today than yesterday?"
"Yes." Zhou Taotao nodded, and just as he was about to share his transformation, he suddenly remembered something and laughed, "Hey, about this. You can just pretend you don't know. You can't just skip meals, right? Director Pan can't let you keep ordering takeout."
Compared to Yan Jue's slowness, they were incredibly aware of their own physical abilities and had already sensed something was amiss during training last night. Everyone here was knowledgeable, and it didn't take long for them to understand what was going on, and they received a positive response from Pan Wencheng.
Being able to break his own limitations without any feeling or side effects is like pie falling from the sky, but to the person next to him, it seems like what fell is not the same thing.
Zhou Taotao suppressed his laughter and patted Yan Jue on the shoulder. He kindly didn't mention the name or appearance of the seafood, but said, "It's okay. You don't get that kind of thing every day, and to consider your feelings, I won't make it so obvious."
So those two meals yesterday were deliberate hints to him?
Yan Jue looked up at the sky in silence. After preparing himself mentally, he entered the cafeteria. Then he found that it was just as Zhou Taotao said. Today's meal was extremely normal. There was no seafood-related dish. Even the brother who served the meal said considerately to him that they didn't even use oyster sauce.
Yan Jue: ...
Thank you, that’s not necessary.
After finishing a tangled and gloomy meal, Yan Jue breathed a sigh of relief as if he had been pardoned, and quickly returned to his dormitory. He played a few games to calm his mood and kill some time.
He entered the confidential room half an hour early on time. Pan Wencheng was not there today due to some matters, so only Yan Jue and the invisible expert group were in the confidential room. After switching the game to the tablet, Yan Jue waited patiently for Noel and Zhuo Feng to arrive.
According to the old tradition, the two cubs agreed on the location of the pick-up at the swimming pool. Although Yan Jue didn't know where this old tradition came from, he just followed whatever the cubs said.
"Then I'll start."
Zhuo Feng transformed into a human form, soaking in the pool with Noel and lying on the shore. He nodded when he heard this, and there was obvious anticipation and curiosity in both of their eyes.
"Would the players like to start drawing the third cub?"
"yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, a giant white egg with a golden light effect appeared on the screen. Yan Jue took a deep breath to ease his tension and clicked to draw.
After the light faded, Yan Jue outside the screen looked nervously towards the edge of the swimming pool, and then he and Noel Zhuofeng inside the screen fell into a long silence.
The cub that appeared by the swimming pool was not in the form of a human or an animal as Yan Jue had imagined, but was beyond imagination, a human figure made entirely of stone.
The bluish-gray blocks of stone formed the shape of a head, limbs, torso, and legs. The joints were disconnected, leaving tiny gaps for movement. Strikingly, his hands, like human skeletons, were composed of small, rounded or square pieces of stone, making them remarkably flexible. Conversely, his feet were a single, slightly raised rectangular block of stone, devoid of toes.
After observing, Yan Jue swiped the enlarged screen to the baby's head.
His head was square in shape, with only slightly raised outlines of facial features, but no specific organs. Yan Jue was just wondering how the cub perceived the outside world when two solid black circles suddenly appeared on the magnified stone face.
Then, under his gaze, the two circles quickly changed from circles to small straight lines, and repeated this several times, making it look like they were blinking.
blink?
Yan Jue: “!!!”
He quickly zoomed out, and after seeing the full picture of the head, Yan Jue's mouth dropped open in shock. The two circles were exactly where the eyes should be, so blinking wasn't an illusion.
What race is this kid? Why does he have emoticons?
After the emoticons appeared on the new kid's face, he seemed to have truly woken up. He turned around and looked around, and then his eyes were fixed on Noel and Zhuofeng, two people in the swimming pool who had the same surprised expressions.
"Who are you?" The clear child's voice was indistinguishable between a man and a woman. There was no trace of vigilance in it except curiosity.
Thank goodness the new cub didn't turn his head 360 degrees when he looked at people.
Yan Jue came back to his senses, cleared his throat, and quickly spoke: "Hello, and welcome to the Plane Kindergarten. I am Yan Jue, the life teacher and admissions teacher, and these are the students in the kindergarten, the mermaid Noel and the nine-tailed fox demon Zhuofeng."
After the introduction, he repeated the concocted words he had used to fool Zhuo Feng. After pulling up the student file and taking a quick look, he added, "Welcome, Ah Qing."
Ah Qing raised his head, and the emoji on his face turned into shock: "Someone, talking in the sky?"
"I'm sorry to meet you in this state right now." Yan Jue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "If you want to see me, I can let you come to my world."
"Your world?" Ah Qing spoke slowly and with many pauses, as if he was not used to speaking. "Okay, I want to meet you."
Did you agree so easily?
After paying Ah Qing's travel fee, he brought all three of them to reality and sat them down in a row. Yan Jue sat behind the table, with Nuo Er and Zhuo Feng on the table in front of him, and Ah Qing not far away from them.
Ah Qing kept a shocked expression on his face, looking left and right and turning around several times, completely forgetting about the three people.
Noel and Zhuofeng leaned against each other, looking at this new partner in silence, who they didn't know how to describe. Yan Jue was holding a tablet, staring at the favorability indicators that kept rising in the game, stunned.
Although only a little bit was added each time, the speed and frequency had already exceeded ten in just a short while, and continued to grow with no sign of stopping.
What the hell is going on with this kid!
"Um, Ah Qing." Yan Jue couldn't help but interrupt the boy's visit, "Don't you have anything you want to ask?"
Ah Qing turned back and looked at the size difference between him and Yan Jue with a shocked expression, then quickly accepted it and put on a smile: "No, the teacher made it very clear. This is a kindergarten independent of the plane. I am a student here now, the teacher is the teacher, and those two are my predecessors."
Yan Jue: "...No, I mean, aren't you curious about why you came here, who we are, and whether we are worthy of your trust?"
Ah Qing was confused for a moment, and then he said after a while: "I know why I came here."
Yan Jue was shocked: "You know?"
"A lot of people were fighting in mechas, and one of them hit me. I tried to fight back, but I couldn't." Ah Qing put on a grievance emoji: "They just threw me into space."
"But I'm not angry, because they just threw me into this kindergarten. I'm saved!" Ah Qing smiled happily at first, then asked cautiously, "I, I can live here, right?"
"What do I have to do to stay here? If you drive me away, can you send me back to my planet?" The house he built with great difficulty was still there.
Yan Jue is going crazy.
After Ah Qing finished speaking, the game popped up a notification that Ah Qing's biography had been unlocked. Was it that easy? Those few short sentences contained so much information. What was it that touched 91's heart, unlocking it for him just like that?
Yan Jue's whole body began to become disheveled.
The experts' voices came through his earpiece, reminding him to come to his senses. He struggled to suppress his trembling heart, smiled, and explained, "You don't need to do anything. This kindergarten is a place for cubs to play and learn. Just complete the lessons diligently, and the rest of the time is yours."
"As long as the time is right, you can return to your own planet. Before you go back, you can stay in the kindergarten or in my world."
Yan Jue emphasized the last four words and observed Ah Qing's reaction.
"Is there really such a good thing?" Ah Qing was shocked again. "I just need to learn a few things and I can live here?"
"Yes."
"Then, will I have my own place to live?"
"Yes, you have your own dormitory. Once you enter the dormitory, no one can disturb you unless you want to."
"real?"
"Really." Yan Jue gave up trying, "Do you want to go and see?"
Ah Qing nodded heavily: "I do!"
Yan Jue sent Ah Qing back to the game and asked 91 to take him to the dormitory, but he did not follow.
"Teacher, what race is that little brother?" Noel asked in amazement. "I just heard him mention mecha? Planet?"
Zhuo Feng frowned: "How old is he this year?" Why does his IQ seem a bit worrying?
Thinking back to the quick glance he had taken at the student's file, Yan Jue touched his restless heart and explained, "Ah Qing is from the Stone Tribe. He lives in an interstellar world, and he's... ten years old."
Noel and Zhuo Feng had heard a lot of what Yan Jue said about the types of novels in his world, so they were not unfamiliar with the term "interstellar".
"Is it an interstellar world where technology is far more advanced than ours?" Noel gaped. "Will our teacher make a deal with my brother and buy him a mecha? Can I drive one?"
It must be said that Yan Jue was also a little tempted. But he was still lucid and didn't dream too much: "The mecha is too big, probably not."
If they could build a mecha exactly like the ones in novels and anime, and it truly towered over the heavens, how would the Strategic Research Institute explain it to the public? But otherwise, it seems like they could study it. It's a perfect combination of technology and cultivation.
"Nuoer Zhuofeng, Ah Qing will be shy and embarrassed when he first arrives, so you should play with him more often," Yan Jue warned. "If he doesn't understand something, please help him."
Noel's joy doubled as he added another member to his brother's army: "I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"
Zhuo Feng nodded reservedly: "He is only ten years old. It is my duty to take care of him."
Seeing Zhuo Feng nod seriously, Yan Jue was so moved by the cuteness that he couldn't control his claws. He stretched out his thumb and index finger and pinched his cheeks, laughing at him: "You are also a cub. Don't be so serious at such a young age. Smile more."
Zhuo Feng's cheeks flushed, and he feigned indifference, turning his head away to hide the blush. If only he had known he wouldn't turn into a human. A fox would be better, with fur, so the blush wouldn't be noticeable.
Yan Jue carefully avoided the bun on Zhuo Feng's head and touched his head again. He couldn't forget Noel's and still gave him a head-pat.
"Teacher, I want to go back to kindergarten too." Noel, who had received a new task, was a little impatient: "I want to play with my little brother Aqing."
How could a man made entirely of stone, with gaps in his joints, still hold his shape? How did he eat and drink? Why were his facial features lines and shapes? Noel was overwhelmed by countless questions, his curiosity almost overflowing.
Zhuo Feng said, "I want to go too."
"Okay." How could Yan Jue not agree? "When you go to see Ah Qing, remember to ask him if he's free first."
After sending the cub away, Yan Jue had some time to himself, and he went through the information and biographies carefully to find out what was going on with Ah Qing.
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