This time, Yuan Li slept for six hours straight.
When she woke up, it was already 2 a.m.
Upon opening her eyes, she saw two faces leaning close. Instinctively, she tried to lean back… but she didn’t go far—after all, she was still lying in bed.
The faces belonged to Ji Huan and Doctor. Yuan Li felt both surprised and confused. “Why are you in my room?”
Doctor was one thing, but Ji Huan standing right by her bed?
“What do you mean ‘your room’? This is the medical ward,” Ji Huan said, scanning her with a peculiar gaze. “I didn’t expect… didn’t expect this.”
“Expect what?” Yuan Li asked instinctively.
“Let me explain,” Doctor said, pushing Ji Huan slightly aside to block most of his gaze before speaking to Yuan Li. “I hid one special aspect of your body from you earlier.”
Yuan Li’s heart skipped a beat. “Special aspect?”
Could it be her tentacles?
Had they discovered the tentacles?
But that didn’t make sense—if they had detected tentacles, how could they just let her roam around outside?
She was one of the first Humans to Mutate, and the transformation from human to Mutant could happen very quickly.
A High-Risk individual with strange tentacles shouldn’t have been allowed out, right?
Seeing Yuan Li so nervous that she was wrinkling the blanket, Doctor assumed she was worried about lingering lab effects and reassured her, “Don’t worry. Your body has no aftereffects. You should know that Hong Yuan and the others are all Evolvers, right? Even Ji Huan—he’s an Evolver too.”
“…I know,” Yuan Li said, realizing that what Doctor was talking about wasn’t exactly what she had been worrying about.
She relaxed slightly and patiently listened.
“What I hid from you is that you also show signs of becoming an Evolver.”
Yuan Li’s eyes widened in shock, then joy, then skepticism. “Impossible! I only scored 43 on the reaction speed test today! I didn’t even pass!”
“Being an Evolver isn’t just about physical evolution. You’re an extremely rare Mental Power Evolver,” Doctor said, patting Yuan Li on the head with a smile. “You’re remarkable.”
“Huh?” Yuan Li, the apocalypse rookie, was dumbfounded.
Doctor explained, “There are two paths for an Evolver: one is physical mutation, the other is Mental Power mutation. If physical Evolvers are one in a hundred, Mental Power Evolvers are one in ten thousand.”
“With current methods, we can use drugs to catalyze physical evolution, but we have no way to trigger Mental Power evolution.”
“The reason I didn’t tell you before was to avoid making you anxious and causing counterproductive stress.”
Yuan Li stared at her hands, stunned. “So… what you’re saying now is…”
She didn’t dare voice the possibility. She feared it might shatter her own fantasies.
Doctor smiled and nodded. “Exactly. What you’re thinking is right. You’ve already become an F-Rank Mental Power Evolver!”
Joy surged in her chest. Yuan Li hugged ShuangTang, burying her face in its fur and suppressing a scream.
“ShuangTang, you’re my lucky charm! You arrived and I became an Evolver! Hahaha!”
She lifted ShuangTang and pressed a heavy kiss to its forehead.
ShuangTang’s eyes widened, its entire furball body swaying in a daze.
So happy!
Bathed in maternal love, it was the happiest little creature alive.
Completely forgetting its enormous original form, ShuangTang, true to its name, had become an adorable little fluffball. It squeaked happily to Yuan Li, each sound full of dependence and joy.
After her excitement settled, Yuan Li regained some rationality.
Seeing the two faces beside her, half-smiling, she froze.
Wait—had she just ignored these two and gone a little crazy?
Where was the ground to crawl into?
Her pale face gradually flushed red. Doctor couldn’t hide her smile anymore. She patted Yuan Li’s head. “It’s fine. If I became a Mental Power Evolver, I’d be even more excited than you.”
Impossible.
Yuan Li hugged ShuangTang tightly, pulling the blanket up to cover both it and half of her own face.
“Oh… oh.”
Embarrassed and unsure what to say, Yuan Li fell silent. Doctor, considerate, let the topic drop. She reminded Yuan Li, “Since you just became an Evolver, your Mental Power may be unstable. Fainting could happen anytime over the next couple of days. I suggest you take a couple of days off work until you’re stable. How does that sound?”
“You’re still planning to go to work? You’re an Evolver now. You can do so much more. Some internal positions at the Cleaning Department are actually quite good, with decent pay,” Ji Huan casually added.
Yuan Li tightened her hold on ShuangTang and first answered Doctor, “Okay, I’ll take a leave.”
As for Ji Huan’s suggestion, she maintained her stance: “I don’t think I’d be suitable for work at the Cleaning Department.”
Ji Huan opened his mouth to argue, but Doctor shook her head, stopping him.
“We’ll talk about changing jobs later. For now, you need to recover. No training for the next couple of days—just eat well, drink well, rest well,” Doctor said. “Also, let’s go over some basic Mental Power Evolver knowledge.”
Thus, the matter of becoming an Evolver was settled.
Before Doctor left, Yuan Li asked, “How’s Hong Yuan and the others? When will they be back?”
Doctor estimated, “Two or three days.”
Since Doctor was busy, Ji Huan escorted Yuan Li upstairs.
At the door, Yuan Li politely said, “Thank you for today.”
“No trouble at all. Spending time with you was interesting,” Ji Huan said, smiling innocently.
Yuan Li stepped back, opened the door, and said, “I’ll go first. Goodbye.”
With a “click,” the door closed.
“So heartless?” Ji Huan shrugged, feigning regret. “I still had something to tell you.”
For example, he was actually the teacher who would give Yuan Li her class tomorrow.
But Yuan Li didn’t give him the chance.
The man, with his mischievous smile, already looked forward to tomorrow.
Inside the room, Yuan Li completely dismissed Ji Huan from her mind.
She almost impatiently put ShuangTang down, rubbing its little head. “Wait here while I take a shower.”
Then she grabbed her clothes, ran to the bathroom, and locked the door.
In the mirror, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes gleaming with barely contained excitement.
In this safe space, free from cameras, Yuan Li closed her eyes, reaching for that sensation.
One second, two seconds.
She hunted patiently, exploring.
Finally, she caught a glimmer.
Yuan Li opened her eyes sharply, staring at herself in the mirror.
She still looked pale and frail.
But behind her, a wrist-thick tentacle swayed gently.