[The scene continued.]
[Looking at Mark, now transformed into a Devourer, Xutong—wearing his metallic Peking opera-style mask—asked in confusion:]
["So are the people up in that giant dome trying to save someone… or collect evidence?"]
[Suixing pondered for a moment, then analyzed aloud:]
["Master Lai once said that this guy's physique is special. Could it be that—"]
[But before she could finish, Shan Da impatiently cut her off:]
["Who cares what it is!"]
[Then, as if suddenly realizing something, Shan Da sucked in a sharp breath and frowned.]
["Hiss…"]
["But… coming into the vortex at a time like this…"]
[Suddenly, some terrifying possibility seemed to strike him, and he blurted out in shock:]
["Holy crap! Don't tell me he's already had a taste of flesh!?"]
[The instant he got worked up, his composure broke, and the state of Return to Origin he had been maintaining collapsed.]
["ROAR!!!"]
[Below, the Devourers that had already gathered beneath the Mana Bloom glowing with eerie red light suddenly sensed the disturbance overhead. Blue motes of light shimmered from the tendrils on their necks as they all lifted their heads toward Shan Da's position.]
["Mm!"]
[Realizing he had nearly exposed their location, Shan Da quickly covered his mouth and hurriedly steadied his emotions, returning himself to the Return to Origin state.]
[Sure enough, the moment he regained it, his presence vanished again from the Devourers' perception.]
[Once they found nothing unusual, the Devourers stopped probing and lowered their heads again, continuing their crawl toward the Mana Bloom.]
["Control your emotions. Stay in Return to Origin."]
[Though the danger had passed, Bai Yuekui repeated the warning anyway.]
[The rest of the surface team nodded and quietly continued observing the situation below.]
"That white-haired big sister is so cool!
Jiuyue, what if you tried tucking your ears away too? Wouldn't you become just as cool as her?"
At Dashi's villa, Xiaoyu the Jade Rabbit looked at Bai Yuekui on the screen, then at Jiuyue beside her, and reached out to press Jiuyue's ears down.
But Xiaotian immediately waved his hand dismissively.
"No way. Jiuyue's not even as tall as that big sister's legs. No matter how much she copies her, she'll never look that—PUFF!"
Jiuyue casually drew back her fist and ignored Xiaotian, who was now sprawled on the ground with more breath going out than coming in. She dusted off her hands and turned back to continue discussing whether or not she should tuck her ears away with Xiaoyu.
While everyone else was busy watching the excitement on screen, only Dashi sat quietly on the sofa, gazing at Xia Dou's figure in silence.
In the Netherworld, at Babyls Academy, inside the Royal One classroom—
Under the guidance of their Abnormal Class instructor, Balam Shichiro, all thirteen problem students and their homeroom teacher Kalego watched the sky together.
Scratching at the mask covering the lower half of his face, Balam sighed.
"I never imagined the human world was this dangerous too, having to face so many terrifying monsters.
I thought the people from the last video were just a special case. Turns out I was being too naive."
*No… this one's a special case too!!
A normal human world does not have horrifying monsters like those…*
Sitting in the back row, the human boy Iruma, boxed in between his two demon best friends, silently screamed that in his heart.
Only in his heart.
Because this was the Netherworld. If the demons here ever found out he was human, he'd probably go from best friend to entrée in the next second.
[The scene continued.]
[After approaching the Mana Bloom, the Devourers below actually lined up in orderly rows, stepping forward one by one and prostrating themselves around it.]
[The Devourers in the first row then pointed the tendrils on their necks—glowing with blue fluorescence—toward the Mana Bloom.]
[Threads of pale blue light floated out from the tips of those tendrils and were completely absorbed by the Mana Bloom above.]
[But Mark-Beast, who stood out from the ordinary Devourers, had no tendrils on his body. Though the patterns on his neck were already glowing blue from strain, nothing emerged from within him to drift toward the Mana Bloom.]
[As if sensing Mark-Beast's abnormality, the tumor-like Mana Bloom extended a special tendril unlike all the others—one radiating a golden light—and slowly reached toward him.]
[When the bulging tip of the tendril neared Mark-Beast, it suddenly bloomed open like a flower. From within, an even thinner tendril extended, tipped with several wriggling little feelers.]
[The instant those tiny tendrils touched Mark-Beast's abdomen, they burrowed into his body, establishing a direct connection between him and the Mana Bloom.]
["Could Master Lai actually be one of their spies?
Making us bring this thing back… is he trying to pull some kind of inside-outside pincer move?"]
[Watching Mark-Beast form a connection with the Mana Bloom, Guayan turned to Bai Yuekui with concern and asked.]
["Exactly. I always thought he looked like a Devourer's relative anyway," Xutong chimed in.]
["Cut it out!"]
[Xia Dou thought the idea that Master Lai was a Devourer spy was complete nonsense, but even she couldn't figure out why he had wanted them to bring Mark back.]
[When she couldn't make sense of it, she simply turned to the all-powerful Boss Bai.]
["Boss~ why would Master Lai want us to bring a Devourer back with us?"]
[Bai Yuekui only stared at Mark-Beast below, brows knitted, and said nothing.]
[It was Suixing who spoke after some thought:]
["If… he really did become this from being Mark…"]
["Even if he used to be human, what use is there in bringing him back like this now?"]
[Shan Da once again interrupted Suixing before she could finish.]
[Just then, Bai Yuekui—who had been closely observing Mark-Beast—noticed the calm group of Devourers around him quietly transmitting life-source essence to the Mana Bloom. In that instant, she grasped the key point and turned to the others:]
["Think about it. Other than Devourers… who else can enter the spring at the center of the vortex?"]
["Mm…"]
[Guayan thought it over briefly and quickly understood. He nodded lightly, showing that he agreed with Bai Yuekui's reasoning.]
[Xia Dou, on the other hand, mulled it over for quite a while before finally understanding what Bai Yuekui meant, and brightened up.]
["Mm… ah! If it's him, then maybe he really can get inside!"]
[But Suixing still looked worried.]
["But his spirit essence has probably already been corroded almost completely. He should no longer have any human consciousness left…"]
["Exactly!"]
[From behind them, Shan Da loudly agreed.]
["Boss! We can't take that risk!"]
["While these ugly freaks are still busy paying rent, let's get out of here!"]
(Bonus: a picture of my wife Heguangzhe, please support with flowers and monthly tickets, orz!)