WhatAreYouLookingAt took some time to adapt to Extinction's bizarrely constructed body.
Then, she slowly crawled toward the spot not far behind Ren Yi...
When she returned, she was no longer just a jawbone; she had transformed into a wolf-like creature with four limbs.
Regarding her appearance—well, it was clear she had put in a lot of effort to make it as little sanity-draining as possible.
The two of them fell into a somewhat eerie silence for a moment.
Now that WhatAreYouLookingAt had completed her Possession of Extinction, she needed to hand over the material to Ren Yi as collateral, according to their agreement.
WhatAreYouLookingAt stared at Ren Yi with interest for a long time before spitting out a crystal with a "poof."
"Here, your stuff." She spoke lazily through the wolf's mouth, then raised an eyebrow with her lupine face. "You didn't think this lady would go back on her word, did you?"
However, Ren Yi didn't speak, nor did he show any signs of worry.
For some reason, he had been staring blankly at WhatAreYouLookingAt since a moment ago. Of course, he wasn't looking at her eyes.
"What's wrong?" WhatAreYouLookingAt clearly felt a bit creeped out. "Oh, did you see this lady's face and get captivated by me?"
It had to be said that the face she had just revealed stood in sharp contrast to her current choice of words.
Ren Yi remained silent for a long time, finally losing control over his expression as he slowly spoke.
"Does Ms. Zhang know you refer to yourself as 'this lady' out here... Class Monitor?"
Though they had been calling each other "classmate," Ren Yi never expected that he actually knew this WhatAreYouLookingAt in person!
By "knowing her," he meant from before the Awakening—and they were very well-acquainted.
At this moment, thinking back on the previous events—the "enemies becoming friends," the "friendly fire," the "exorbitant pricing," and so on—it was truly... a bit painful to recall.
But at this moment, he wasn't the only one finding the past painful.
As soon as he finished speaking, the wolf face in front of him instantly stiffened, followed by a slowly dawning, human-like expression of terror.
"What the... heck? No, who are you?"
Ren Yi didn't speak; he was trying hard to keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.
But as he remained silent, WhatAreYouLookingAt gradually grew frantic.
"Say something! Are you from our class? Who? Kong Lingcheng? Tao Siqi? Lu Zihan? Ren Yi? Or Xiao Yizhou... Wait, are you a guy or a girl? Definitely a guy, right?"
Ren Yi didn't answer her question. His gaze drifted as he made a deliberate observation.
"So the one who helped you pull strings was Ms. Zhang... and Ms. Zhang's Parent can make Anomaly Artifacts? I didn't know Ms. Zhang was so powerful."
The face Ren Yi had seen in WhatAreYouLookingAt's soul belonged to their class monitor and the daughter of their homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhang—Zhang Qiuqiu.
This Ms. Zhang was the one who had helped Ren Yi and Lu Zihan out of a jam the day before the Awakening test.
Looking back now, Ms. Zhang probably wasn't bailing them out, but rather bailing out those "university students" on the other side.
Her goal was likely to cover up whatever that thing on the ground was—whether it was an Anomaly that had accidentally fallen or a Participant who had escaped an Instance.
Returning to the present, Ren Yi remembered that the Class Monitor had always seemed so quiet and demure...
However, right now, Class Monitor Zhang Qiuqiu had already bared the sharp claws of the mutant beast Extinction. If Ren Yi didn't speak up soon, she might swipe at him at any moment.
"Alright, alright, Class Monitor, I was wrong. I'll tell you." Ren Yi raised his hands to either side of his head in a gesture of surrender.
"I'm actually Lu Zihan."
"You're full of... No, you're talking nonsense! Lu Zihan doesn't have the brains to come here and pretend to be some Son of God!" Zhang Qiuqiu snapped, though she was clearly speaking with much more restraint now.
"I know who you are now—Ren Yi! Only you would use Lu Zihan as a scapegoat!"
Seeing he had been found out, Ren Yi hurriedly tried to defend himself.
"You can't blame me, Class Monitor. I didn't know it was you before. It's all the fault of... the Anomaly Web! Why are the friends and groups from before entering the Instance unavailable?"
Zhang Qiuqiu gestured with her claws for a long time before finally retracting them under Ren Yi's apprehensive gaze.
"Class Monitor, I'm really sorry for how I spoke to you before. You should keep this soul yourself," Ren Yi took the opportunity to apologize.
"You keep it!" With her alias and image shattered, Class Monitor Zhang Qiuqiu had completely given up on appearances.
Ren Yi followed her lead and spoke quickly. "Yes, Class Monitor. I promise not to tell anyone about your 'image.' If I break this oath, may Lu Zihan fail to find a girlfriend for ten years!"
Just as the two were exposing each other's secret identities, a sudden, thunderous boom echoed from outside. The entire gymnasium seemed to vibrate.
Both of them fell silent, their expressions turning serious.
"The Holy City has started its attack. They must have seen us come in... What's your plan, Class Monitor?" Ren Yi asked.
"I plan to pretend to be Extinction and let them capture me. Given Extinction's uniqueness, they probably won't dare to kill me," Zhang Qiuqiu said after a moment of hesitation. "I want to keep this body."
Noticing Ren Yi's puzzled look, Zhang Qiuqiu explained, "An Anomaly with my kind of ability is quite special. When entering or leaving an Instance, I can take the body I'm currently possessing with me."
"This body is very powerful. I'm a bit reluctant to let it go."
Ren Yi understood. Extinction's special ability was indeed comparable to an Anomaly Artifact in some respects.
However, Zhang Qiuqiu might not know the full story behind Extinction and the Holy City.
Ren Yi quickly explained everything to her, from the Three Cities Meeting and the method of salvation to the Pope's abnormalities.
Zhang Qiuqiu looked at him in shock. "So, in order to protect your identity, you actually had to find this guy anyway?"
Ren Yi gave an embarrassed chuckle and began to change the subject.
"So the Holy City isn't exactly safe. Class Monitor, can you commit suicide now and transfer to another piece of flesh? Extinction should have left some flesh elsewhere just now, right?"
"You really have a way with words, asking me to kill myself right off the bat."
Zhang Qiuqiu sighed. "You think I didn't think of that? It might be due to the influence of the soul's change, but I've lost contact with those other pieces of flesh."
"It's fine. As a semi-humanoid soul, I'm definitely better at running than you. That old man won't dare to kill Extinction, and any other risks are within manageable limits."
Ren Yi nodded.
Even though the Class Monitor said that, the truth was that having the two of them look out for each other was better than being alone.
Burying his gratitude deep in his heart, Ren Yi listened to the sound of artillery outside and continued, "So, there's nothing we need to do now?"
Zhang Qiuqiu tilted her head, her eyes lighting up as if she had suddenly remembered something.
"Right. Even though this soul has been turned into a crystal, I can still extract some memories. Is there anything you want to know?"
"Definitely." Ren Yi's heart skipped a beat.
Zhang Qiuqiu raised her claw and grabbed the soul crystal. Before long, a faint light flickered on the crystal's surface, and a dim shadow emerged.
The shadow was extremely blurry; only a humanoid outline with a head and four limbs could be seen. Anything finer was impossible to discern.
"His will has dissipated. This is just the remaining power... but why does it look like this?" Zhang Qiuqiu wrinkled her nose and muttered in confusion.
Once she signaled that he could ask questions, Ren Yi spoke immediately. "What is the method of salvation you obtained?"
One second passed, then two... After a long while, the soul remained motionless, showing no intention of responding.
Ren Yi looked at Zhang Qiuqiu in confusion, only to see her frowning with a grim expression.
"The attempt is spent. He doesn't know," Zhang Qiuqiu spoke first, her tone explaining with some helplessness.
"What do you mean?" Ren Yi was stunned.
Zhang Qiuqiu shook the crystal in her claw and explained:
"In all of his memories, there simply is no method of salvation."
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