Seven

Title: What on earth is that thing??

Content: This afternoon outside the Yao Department lab building, that new student — I was completely overwhelmed by the scent. Then before I could get a few more whiffs, You Qi darted out, covered him up, and carried him off. Probably to enjoy him himself. Any sisters with good noses figure out what his roots are? Where can I buy the same kind online??

1L: You Qi hasn't shown up and you don't care. He might get expelled and you don't care. After expulsion he might retaliate against society and attack us and you still don't care. All you care about is whether you can get the You Qi edition...

2L: I was there. Drop the 'probably' — I've never smelled anything that fragrant, and I'm a ghost cultivator! I always thought nothing suited me better as a staple than incense offerings. How can You Qi hold back? His Restriction is visibly on the verge of collapse — his desire must have been stirred up.

3L: Good heavens, let alone you ghost cultivators — I'm Human Race, and after one whiff my appetite exploded and I ate two extra bowls of rice.

4L: Don't even mention it — just thinking about it makes me drool again. I'm heading to Building 5 to check it out.

5L: But the School's Restriction didn't trigger either. I don't think he was necessarily eaten — there were student council members on scene, and the administration couldn't possibly be that slow. There's still not a whisper of news.

6L: Maybe he was carried off and escaped the School, and Senior Xiao Xiao is chasing.

7L: Today it was Senior Xiao Xiao who started the craving first. I'm afraid he's going to have his dog food ration cut...

……

30L: This new student is really something. Summarizing all accounts now — not only is he extremely fragrant, he's an irresistible temptation that ignores race entirely!

31L: I just mentioned this to my grandpa on a video call, and he said he'd encountered this kind of situation before. Back in the day he was working at Black Wind Mountain, and he passed by a Tang monk...

32L: ?? Ls, big grass, but it's not exactly the same. The Yao Race wanted to eat Tang Sanzang because his flesh granted immortality when eaten, but who knows what effect eating this newborn's flesh would have.

33L: I just found out this new student is Human Race? On registration day Chun Shijiu even took a bite of him, and has been obsessed ever since. He originally planned to keep him private — take him back and raise him for slow eating — but didn't expect You Qi to steal him.

34L: Human Race can be this delicious? Is he some celestial reincarnation, or a ten-lifetime good person?

.

Having nearly caused a serious incident right at the start of the semester, Zhou Mu and the other new students were all granted special permission to rest first — no classes or training for the time being — to ease their nerves.

Zhou Mu in particular — reportedly with an injured ankle — even received a call from Teacher Luo Guanzhong checking in, asking if Zhou Mu wanted to stay in his snail shell for a few days. Zhou Mu politely declined.

Teacher Luo didn't press further, saying he'd have Senior Brother Yan visit him, and that Zhou Mu could tell Yan Xingke if he needed anything.

Tianqi, the elementary schooler who'd added him on WeChat during training, also sent friendly greetings — a barrage of sixty-second voice messages that made Zhou Mu question his life. It took him ten minutes to listen through them all: Tianqi, in the tone of a team leader, inquired after his injury, told him to recover well, and finally encouraged him to rejoin the group soon... By the end Zhou Mu was completely dumbfounded.

After replying to the WeChat messages, Zhou Mu sat in his dorm room, opened his laptop, and began writing a diary.

As the old saying goes, what decent person keeps a diary...

But Zhou Mu believed a bad pen was better than a good memory. Not only did he keep a diary, he also made Excel spreadsheets, recording every new thing and new friend he'd encountered at the School, afraid of missing anything.

After all, having lived long in human cities, everything here was fresh to him.

When You Qi approached from behind, Zhou Mu had just typed out his own name.

What rating would he give himself?

You Qi watched in silence. Zhou Mu didn't type anything — after a moment's thought, he inserted an image and pasted five little stars onto it.

...What kind of kindergarten evaluation method is this.

'Is five stars high?' You Qi asked without warning.

Zhou Mu startled, patted his chest, and actually explained to him: 'Of course it's high! But there's no upper limit — you always have room to improve!'

You Qi: '...'

'Right, I never asked — how do you usually eat?' Zhou Mu asked curiously.

You Qi lowered his eyes and said, 'Most of the time, a Fasting Pill is enough...'

He produced specially marked utensils and a water cup. Taking drinking as an example — through these specially made utensils, the metal grid on the Mouth Cage would turn semi-transparent, allowing food and drink to pass.

In fact, he could eat inspected food this way, but You Qi preferred to take Fasting Pills.

'Aiya, how dull that must be.' Zhou Mu's courage, like his star ratings, seemed to have no upper limit — as long as his probing wasn't stopped, each attempt grew bolder than the last.

Now he carefully reached out a hand to touch You Qi's Mouth Cage.

You Qi's eyes darkened at once, but he restrained himself, didn't move. He thought he could give Zhou Mu more trust, so that Zhou Mu... might be bolder?

Zhou Mu's fingers traced the bright red Cinnabar Fuwén, grid by grid across the metal mesh. You Qi's breath caught slightly — Zhou Mu hadn't actually touched him, but the grid was still partly translucent, and in that blur it was as if it didn't exist, or as if he could feel through it. He sensed Zhou Mu pause outside his canine tooth, and couldn't help swallowing.

When Zhou Mu suddenly pulled his fingers back, You Qi came back to himself. He heard Zhou Mu announce: 'I'm hungry, let's go to the Canteen!'

You Qi felt a flicker of disappointment.

'Mm.'

……

The First Canteen had three floors. The first floor was half supermarket, half stir-fry section. The second floor had snacks, fruit, and big-pot dishes of every kind. The third floor was the breakfast section — for ghost cultivator students, the 'late-night snack' section.

This was the Canteen's busiest hour, students gathered in twos and threes eating together, laughter and chatter everywhere.

'Hahaha, this is good.'

'Really? You don't mind if I take a bite?'

'Wow, you call that a bite?!'

Zhou Mu sat obediently alone at a two-person table, looking left and right at the lively crowd, the picture of someone with no one to turn to.

You Qi had him find a seat on the first floor while he went up to the second to get some fruit — he couldn't very well make Zhou Mu queue upstairs with his ankle.

About a minute after he appeared, people gradually recognized him, and the once-noisy Canteen quieted considerably.

This was the semester's first major topic at Hualing since the term began!

The School forum was being flooded with posts — everyone discussing the new student's origins, what had happened, even how he'd ended up rooming with You Qi.

'So this is Zhou Mu? I can't smell anything — what does he actually smell like, really that fragrant?'

'Didn't they say You Qi already ate him?'

'Apparently the dean of students saved him. The grapevine says the academic office is drafting punishment.'

'Oh... he looks so pitiful and cute. *slurp*'

'Wipe your drool.'

Yan Xingke had already told Zhou Mu that Hualing's rules weren't that strict — all races were present here, and plenty of arrogant Yao Clan members had no interest in concealing their aura.

Some even thought: if You Qi can lick him, why can't I?

Especially since he smelled so delicious and had no one backing him up...

A tall male student walked up to Zhou Mu with a smile. 'Zhou Mu?'

Zhou Mu had to crane his neck to look at him. 'Do I know you?'

The student said earnestly: 'Although you don't know me, I've heard you're very tasty, so I'd love to get to know your flavor.'

Zhou Mu: '...'

The student turned and flashed an 'all good' sign to his friends watching from afar, brimming with confidence — he wouldn't eat the whole classmate anyway. At worst he'd get the same punishment You Qi did.

His Yao aura was already leaking out, and knowing Zhou Mu was from a Human Race settlement, he revealed his true form with deliberate intimidation in mind. His upper body stayed human-shaped, but his two legs split into eight long tentacles covered in fleshy spines, slowly writhing across the floor...

—'Octopus with spines, great and mighty; wraiths for company, ghost among fish.'

This student was indeed a ghosthead fish.

Zhou Mu stared up at him blankly.

The ghosthead fish, seeing Zhou Mu had been scared silly by him, grinned proudly, very confident in his magnificent form. He extended a tentacle toward Zhou Mu's waist—

'Wait, what's going on here?'

A lazy voice spoke up.

Faster than the voice was Chun Shijiu's action — he pulled Zhou Mu to him a step ahead.

'Gui Youqi, bullying a new student?' Chun Shijiu said with a half-smile.

Gui Youqi was indeed the ghosthead fish's name. He glanced warily at Chun Shijiu and forced a smile: 'No, I'm just getting to know him.'

Chun Shijiu drew out his words: 'I don't think you just want to get to know him.'

He bent down and exaggeratedly sniffed Zhou Mu. 'Mm, smells like fish!'

Zhou Mu looked at Gui Youqi, hesitated to speak.

Of course everyone wanted a taste of something good. Gui Youqi weighed his own strength against Chun Shijiu's and figured he'd try again next time. He lifted his arms, and several long tentacles began to retreat—

*Slap.*

Something stepped on them.

Gui Youqi whipped around furiously: 'Don't step on my damn foot!'

His angry turn brought him face to face with You Qi.

You Qi, holding a plate of fruit, unclear how long he'd been there, said without a trace of apology: 'Does it hurt?'

Gui Youqi was so startled he leaped straight up on the spot, his eight legs nearly tangling into a knot.

He cursed his friends internally for their bad intel — they'd said You Qi had been taken away by the academic office to await punishment, but You Qi was clearly unscathed and guarding his food right here!

Even more outrageous — when he looked over, his friends who'd been watching the show had each shoved their faces into their rice bowls, eating furiously.

The situation was now embarrassingly one of him trying to steal food from You Qi's bowl — if he didn't leave, he'd likely get beaten.

'N-n-no problem.' Gui Youqi's teeth chattered. He twisted his tentacles, keeping his upper body movements and smile unchanged, and slid smoothly forward. 'Bye-bye classmates, I'll just head back now.'

'Goodbye.' You Qi also said a casual farewell, but his foot didn't loosen in the slightest. All that immense force concentrated on that one point, and Gui Youqi was in a hurry to bolt forward...

*Snap.*

A tentacle broke off.

It wriggled freshly on the ground.

Gui Youqi: '...'

He glanced at You Qi; You Qi glanced back. He immediately turned away, clutching the stump with an expression of grievance he didn't dare voice.

Zhou Mu, who'd been meek moments ago, now looked like he had backup. He pushed at Chun Shijiu: 'Let go of me, let go!'

You Qi extended his hand toward Chun Shijiu.

He said nothing, but clearly meant: hand over Zhou Mu.

Chun Shijiu's smile gradually faded. He held down the squirming Zhou Mu: 'What, the School didn't punish you? And you still dare?'

'None of your business. Let go.' You Qi said. 'Don't you have your own roommate?'

Chun Shijiu's eyes flickered. The implication was...

They were still roommates?

What were the school leaders thinking, still assigning Zhou Mu to share a room with You Qi?

The thought that he'd been the one to pick up Zhou Mu first — that he'd only wanted to tease and scare him for a moment before letting him into You Qi's dorm — and now he hadn't even gotten a bite, and couldn't get him back.

'I tell you, won't you really consider moving in with me? At worst I'll be nicer to you too.' Chun Shijiu didn't hide his feelings — he was simply consumed by envy and jealousy. Especially because, the moment he finished speaking, Zhou Mu had already wrenched free of his grip and was hopping on one foot toward You Qi.

So close already — limping and still heading toward You Qi...

Hmm, wait, that's not right.

Zhou Mu was indeed hopping toward You Qi, but halfway there he stopped and crouched down.

Then... he picked up Gui Youqi's severed tentacle, sniffed it appreciatively, poked it, and inspected the flesh.

'So fresh!' Zhou Mu's face filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest. 'Didn't expect you could go beachcombing at the Canteen!'

Gui Youqi, who'd been planning to slip away while no one was paying attention to him: '&$%#@#@!'

Is that something a person can say? Is having backup really that great?!

Chun Shijiu: '...'

He was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. Good, little demon, that's you all right — with someone backing you up, you get this cocky.

Zhou Mu, holding his seafood, said hypocritically to Gui Youqi: 'Classmate, you don't mind if I take a bite, do you?'

Gui Youqi: '...I don't mind!'

Having backup really is that great...!