11. Uninvited Guest

"Han Han, the beast fang you're wearing around your neck is glowing."

"Really? Wow!"

"Take it off and let me have a look."

"Here you go!"

Shen Qinghan obediently removed the beast fang and handed it to Lin Zichen in front of her.

Lin Zichen took the beast fang and examined it carefully in his hands.

The room was dark because the lights were off, making the light emitted from the beast fang unusually bright, like fireflies in the night.

Holding it in his hand, he could feel the vigorous life force contained within the fang.

However, it wasn't a life force belonging to humans—it felt more like it came from Exotic Beasts, filled with brutal wildness.

It wasn't until this moment that Lin Zichen realized the non-human aura emanating from the white-haired girl was from the beast fang, not the girl herself.

So what kind of creature's tooth could this be?

An Exotic Beast?

Lin Zichen studied the beast fang for a good while but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

The light radiating from the beast fang soon dissipated.

It became inconspicuous once more.

Investigation was not possible.

Seeing this, Lin Zichen had no choice but to pocket the beast fang for the time being, then, urged by Zhang Wanxin, he went downstairs with Shen Qinghan to have breakfast.

While eating breakfast, he borrowed Zhang Wanxin's phone to take a picture of the beast fang and uploaded it to the internet for image recognition.

Unfortunately, he still ended up empty-handed.

Now he had no choice but to rely on himself.

So before leaving for school, he returned to his room, took his own beast fang with him, and planned to study it thoroughly at school.

...

On the way.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan walked side by side, drawing the gazes of people around them wherever they went.

The two of them were so good-looking that they outshone even the filtered child stars on television, prompting passersby to turn for a look.

Lin Zichen was already used to all the attention and didn't care much about it, silently hurrying to school with Shen Qinghan.

"Wow, such good-looking kids, are you two brother and sister, or sister and brother?"

As they passed a bar, a heavily made-up woman came over, smiling maternally at them.

Her clothes were very revealing as though she was eager to show off every part of her body that might attract a man's gaze, and she held a lit cigarette in her hand, not looking like a decent person.

"We're not siblings; we're childhood sweethearts, best friends," Shen Qinghan said softly.

"Childhood sweethearts, how nice, I wish I had one too," the woman said with an envious smile, then asked, "You're so young, why are you going to school with your backpacks all by yourself? Where are your mom and dad?"

"Our parents, they..."

"Stop talking. We're going to be late. Let's go."

Shen Qinghan hadn't finished speaking when Lin Zichen interrupted and quickly pulled her away by the hand.

After they were a good distance away, Lin Zichen slowed down a bit and said earnestly to Shen Qinghan:

"Don't chat with strangers on the road in the future, okay?"

"Okay, I got it," agreed Shen Qinghan, nodding obediently.

...

Soon, the two arrived at school.

During class, the teacher on the podium droned on while Lin Zichen bowed his head and studied the beast fang below.

The scene he had seen in his room that morning filled him with curiosity about the beast fang given by the white-haired girl.

What kind of creature's tooth could it be that could glow mysteriously and still contain such a vigorous life force after being separated from the mouth for so long?

Ordinary creatures obviously couldn't do this; it was most likely from an Exotic Beast.

Moreover, it was probably one not yet recorded by humans.

Otherwise, the distinct characteristics the beast fang had shown in his room that morning would have been easily identified with a simple internet search.

However, he had specifically borrowed Zhang Wanxin's phone during breakfast to check, and he found nothing.

This somewhat proved that the owner of the tooth could very well be an unknown Exotic Beast not yet recorded.

What exactly does the white-haired girl's family do?

How could her mother give her such a special birthday gift?

Could she be the illegitimate daughter of a Martial Arts Family?

Lin Zichen was utterly baffled.

...

Time flew by swiftly.

In the blink of an eye, it was time to leave school in the afternoon.

As various cries of "Goodbye, teacher" rang out, the students in the classroom quickly left, leaving only the unhurried Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan behind.

Both of them walked to and from school on their own, without the need to rush out of the classroom to find their parents like other students, worried that a slow departure would lead to traffic jams on the way home.

"Xiao Chen, our birthdays are next month, and I've already prepared your gift in advance. Have you prepared mine yet?"

Just stepping out of the classroom door, Shen Qinghan looked expectantly at Lin Zichen and asked.

Their birthdays were only a day apart, and ever since they were young, their families always celebrated together. This year was no exception.

However, Lin Zichen had never even thought about his birthday, let alone prepared a gift in advance.

Now suddenly asked by Shen Qinghan, he could only lie: "Same as you, I've already prepared it in advance."

"Really?" Shen Qinghan's face beamed with joy, "I'm really looking forward to the gift from you, Xiao Chen."

Lin Zichen simply smiled without speaking.

"Xiao Chen, which way shall we take home today?"

Shen Qinghan hopped along cheerfully, looking up at Lin Zichen and asking.

After a moment's thought, Lin Zichen replied, "Let's walk through the abandoned alley in the old town area today. There are still many paths there we haven't tried; let's go and see."

For some reason, after being reborn, he had developed an intense desire to explore, preferring different routes home each time after school.

He had thought about this curiosity, feeling it was probably because he found himself in an unfamiliar world where he was eager to understand this world at every moment.

Gradually, a strong desire to explore formed as he grew.

"Zi Chen, it's so quiet in the alley."

Walking through the deserted old alley, Shen Qinghan looked around curiously with big shining eyes.

Lin Zichen explained, "This place will be demolished next month, and the residents who lived here have mostly moved away. That's why it's quieter."

"Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen, look here!"

"There's a dandelion here!"

"This is the first time I've ever seen a wild dandelion in my life!"

Shen Qinghan ran ahead to a dandelion in the corner, her face expressing excitement.

Lin Zichen walked up smiling, while she crouched down, gazing at the fragile dandelion in front of her with eyes full of pity, saying, "Dandelion flowers are so beautiful; if only they could grow stronger, they wouldn't fear being scattered by the wind, and could always look bright and pretty for everyone passing by."

Lin Zichen chuckled, "If dandelion flowers grew stronger, then you wouldn't see this beautiful dandelion flower now."

"Why is that?"

Shen Qinghan looked up at Lin Zichen with innocent, clear eyes.

Lin Zichen enlightened her, "Because the 'fluff' in the dandelion flowers are seeds of the plant, which need the wind to scatter them, carrying them to various places to take root, sprout, and grow new dandelions."

"What a magical dandelion," Shen Qinghan exclaimed in wonder, finding it incredible and thinking that Lin Zichen was very smart, knowing almost everything.

After the explanation, Lin Zichen also crouched down beside her, gently picked the dandelion flower, and handed it to Shen Qinghan, speaking softly, "Han Han, stand up, hold the dandelion flower up high, blow away the 'fluff,' and let the dandelion seeds drift with the wind to various places to bloom."

"Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen, watch closely, I'm going to do 'Fairy Scattering Flowers,'" Shen Qinghan said excitedly as she stood up, holding the dandelion high, even tiptoeing to reach higher.

Then, taking a deep breath, she blew hard at the dandelion flower in front of her!

The next instant, the 'fluff' was blown away, drifting forward in a big cloud, soon dispersing further and further away.

Both felt the moment was beautifully serene, tacitly remaining silent, quietly watching the dandelion seeds floating into the distance.

Until the appearance of a familiar woman at the entrance of the alley ahead broke the hard-won peace.

It was the woman they had encountered that morning while passing a bar on their way to school.

Now, the woman's demeanor had changed from the approachable attitude she had in the morning to one where her eyes were greedily fixed on the two of them, chuckling:

"I've been following you two cuties the whole way, and finally I've found my chance."

...

PS: Bowing and asking for monthly and recommendation tickets!