Scummy Alpha CEO Keeps Courting Death [Transmigration into a Book] - Chapter 27.2

Di Mengzhu looked inside the door, saw Lu Xibie, and then turned her gaze to Sheng Yongzhou. “What’s going on?”

Sheng Yongzhou rubbed his nose. “This is Lu Xibie. Her innate ability is Absolute Defense, isn’t it?”

“You used your power on her?” Di Mengzhu frowned. “The alarm for the entire floor was set off by you.”

Sheng Yongzhou rubbed his nose again. “Yes.”

“She’s a student who just started school!” Di Mengzhu glared at Sheng Yongzhou. “According to the training room’s alarm protocol, your attack intensity exceeded S-rank mid-level.”

“Principal Di!” The Security Team lined up at the door of the training room.

“Mm.” Di Mengzhu nodded to the Security Team leader and entered the room first.

Security Team Leader: “We now need a statement regarding the F85 training room alarm. Principal Di, please describe the incident.”

“Ask him.” Di Mengzhu gestured toward Sheng Yongzhou.

Security Team Leader: “Principal Sheng.”

Sheng Yongzhou: “Student Lu Xibie’s innate ability is Absolute Defense…”

“Incident recorded. We’ll be leaving now.” The Security Team leader nodded to the people in the training room and led the team out.

“You probably don’t know how to control passive defense, do you?” Di Mengzhu said, looking at Sheng Yongzhou.

Sheng Yongzhou touched the tip of his nose. “Not necessarily.”

“We’ve worked together for many years; I didn’t know Vice Principal Sheng had this skill,” Di Mengzhu continued. “Is it because she’s Lu Yanhua’s daughter, so…”

Sheng Yongzhou immediately interrupted. “Di Mengzhu, how could you think that of me? It’s just that her innate ability is extremely rare, so I…”

Di Mengzhu: “You were testing her Absolute Defense?”

Sheng Yongzhou: “Yes, and she’s perfectly fine, isn’t she?”

Di Mengzhu: “Every student who enters Zhigu Military Academy is the hope of the Federation. She’s unharmed now, but what if she wasn’t? What if her Absolute Defense couldn’t withstand your attack? Could you guarantee that you could protect her the instant her Absolute Defense broke?”

Sheng Yongzhou: “She’s fine, so why be so alarmist?”

Di Mengzhu: “What if something did happen? If she died and was pulverized like a mutated creature under your Gravity Manipulation, the Federation would lose a future pillar of strength with Absolute Defense. With her innate ability, she could save countless lives in the Mutated Zone!”

Sheng Yongzhou: “Alright, alright, this was my fault. Next time, I—”

“There won’t be a next time.” Di Mengzhu turned to Lu Xibie, smiling as she spoke to her. “Come with me.”

“Principal Di,” Fan Shuangyu, who was standing by, spoke up awkwardly.

Di Mengzhu: “You can follow if you want to.”

In the suspended elevator, Lu Xibie couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know how to control my innate ability?”

Could it be that she’s just moving to another location to test her Absolute Defense again?

Lu Xibie glanced down at her optical computer, wondering how much time had passed. Chu Liruo should have finished dinner by now.

“I don’t know,” Di Mengzhu replied.

Lu Xibie: “Then…”

If even the principal of Zhigu Military Academy doesn’t know how to control her innate ability, then is this path a dead end?

“But there is someone who knows,” Di Mengzhu continued. “Her surname is Li. Call her Teacher Li later.”

“Okay.” Lu Xibie’s heart settled slightly.

The deep-blue sky slid quickly past the glass curtain wall outside.

“135th floor reached. Please take your belongings and prepare for the door to open.”

The elevator door opened to a vast, open white world. A five-meter-long, four-wheeled white flatbed glided in front of Lu Xibie and the others.

“Please step on.” A mechanical voice sounded from the axle in the center of the four wheels, which glowed with white light.

Di Mengzhu stepped onto it, turned around, and told Lu Xibie and Fan Shuangyu, “You two get on too.”

The three stood steady, and the flatbed drove smoothly forward. It was fast, and soon stopped in front of a door with a sign that read Yuanling Research Lab.

Di Mengzhu stepped off the flatbed.

“Iris verified. Visitors have been notified. Please wait.”

Three seconds later, the door slid open from the right. A woman in a loose, patterned T-shirt rose from a soft, cloud-like white couch.

“A rare sight.” Li Juqiu reached out, and a cup of tea floated from the table on the right into her hand. She handed the tea to Di Mengzhu, who took it.

“What about you? Coke, Sprite, orange juice, milk? What do you want to drink?” Li Juqiu asked Lu Xibie.

Lu Xibie: “Orange juice, thank you, Teacher Li.”

“Did you introduce me to her?” Li Juqiu reached out. A can of orange juice flew into her hand, and she handed it to the surprised Lu Xibie. “It’s magical, isn’t it?”

Lu Xibie nodded.

Di Mengzhu sat down at the table, taking a sip of her tea. “No, I just told her your surname is Li.”

“What about you, what would you like to drink?” Li Juqiu didn’t forget Fan Shuangyu.

Fan Shuangyu: “Milk, thank you.”

After handing the milk to Fan Shuangyu, Li Juqiu turned and asked, “Speak. What is it this time?”

Di Mengzhu: “Her name is Lu Xibie.”

“The student whose innate ability is Absolute Defense?” Li Juqiu looked at Lu Xibie with added interest. “I’ve wanted to grab her for research for a long time.”

Lu Xibie took a sip of orange juice, feeling Li Juqiu’s overly enthusiastic gaze.

“Don’t scare the little one,” Di Mengzhu said. “Her innate ability activates passively, and she wants to control it actively.”

Li Juqiu: “If she can control it actively, wouldn’t that be the same as Gu Ruyue’s innate ability?”

“Yes,” Di Mengzhu put down her teacup.

Li Juqiu: “You want me to help her achieve active control?”

Di Mengzhu: “Yes, I believe you can do it. Sheng Yongzhou tested her in the training room today—S-rank mid-level intensity.”

“How could he do that? S-rank mid-level intensity, what if he messed up the operation—” Li Juqiu frowned.

Fan Shuangyu drank all the milk in her cup, her hands nervously shifting the empty cup back and forth.

“I already talked to him. This little one is fine,” Di Mengzhu said, showing a hint of affection toward Lu Xibie.

“Null against same-rank attacks, absolute defense against the rank above.” Li Juqiu looked at Lu Xibie. “Fine. Leave her to me. I guarantee I’ll get her to actively control her innate ability before graduation.”

Di Mengzhu: “Thank you.”

Chu Liruo ran into Shang Le’an right after leaving the Yuanling Space, who had just emerged from the Mutated Space. “Oh! Isn’t this Chu Liruo?”

Shang Le’an glanced at the cameras around them. “Interference.”

The footage on the normally working cameras briefly warped.

Chu Liruo didn’t intend to answer Shang Le’an and quickly walked toward the suspended elevator, but she was grabbed and yanked violently. After a dizzying spin, the alloy door was left with only a crack in front of her, and then it sealed tightly.

She had been locked inside the Mutated Space.

“Shang Le’an!” Chu Liruo called out, but the only reply was the subtle ventilation noise inside the Mutated Space.

Chu Liruo looked down at her optical computer. Just like in the Yuanling Space, communication was disabled.

The red-lit Mutated Space gave her a sense of danger. The mutated creatures she had seen in her Mutated Organism Identification class were active in display cabinets with red, blue, or purple backlights.

“Is this… a Mutated Yellow Scorpion?” Chu Liruo walked to the nearest display cabinet, looking at the Mutated Yellow Scorpion waving its claws aggressively at her.

The nameplate on the right showed its basic information.

[Mutated Yellow Scorpion, B-rank]

“Clang! Clang!” The Mutated Yellow Scorpion slammed its claws against the cabinet wall. Chu Liruo quickly stepped back. She remembered what Teacher Fan Shuangyu had said in class—the Mutated Space contained SS-rank mutated organisms, and any accident would be fatal.

Chu Liruo looked around. The colorful backlights illuminated the mutated creatures in the display cabinets. They seemed very interested in her, their compound eyes, green-glowing eyes, and large, brown, light-bulb-sized eyes all staring at her.

Chu Liruo swallowed hard and took small steps toward the Mutated Space entrance, only feeling slightly calmer when her back was against the cold alloy door.

She turned around, keeping an eye on the situation inside the Mutated Space with her peripheral vision, and fumbled on the alloy door.

“Thump-thump—”

“Clang-clang—”

“—Clang! Clang!”

While she was fumbling for a switch near the alloy door, the mutated creatures in the display cabinets became active. The ones in a dormant state were woken up by the commotion of the others, and the Mutated Space began to get noisy.

Finding no switch, Chu Liruo looked at the display cabinets, only praying that the next class for the Mutation Department would be soon.

Time passed slowly. The active mutated creatures suddenly quieted down, shrinking into a corner of their display cabinets, motionless, as if affected by something.

Feeling a bit bored standing there, Chu Liruo cautiously walked toward the Mutated Yellow Scorpion’s cabinet. She saw that the scorpion, which had been waving its claws at her earlier, now wouldn’t even look at her, huddled in the upper left corner of its cabinet.

Is it the effect of the cabinet’s protective shield?

Chu Liruo dared to walk forward. Yellow, blue, green, red… lights of various colors danced in her eyes and then slipped away.

[Mutated Poison Dart Frog, A-rank]

[Mutated Golden Cobra, A-rank]

…

[Mutated Thunder Lizard, S-rank]

When Chu Liruo saw the S-rank on the nameplate, she instinctively recoiled to the side, and her hand pressed an unknown button. The display cabinet opened from the middle.

“Hiss—”

Chu Liruo’s gaze drifted to the nameplate of the opened display cabinet—

[Lagomorph Hydrosaur, SS-rank]

Chu Liruo’s hair stood on end.

Did I just release an SS-rank mutated creature?

Chu Liruo repeatedly pressed the button she had just pressed with one hand, while covering her mouth with the other to suppress any sound.

The display cabinet repeatedly opened and closed. When it closed for the last time, a strange voice appeared in her mind.

“Human, are you done playing?”

!!!

Chu Liruo clenched her optical computer, desperately running toward the Mutated Space door. Her back hit the cold alloy door again, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.

She can’t run out.

Chu Liruo looked at the display cabinet where she had just pressed the button. It was the largest display cabinet in the Mutated Space, yet the creature inside was tiny, like a pink rabbit made of cotton candy.

“Human, that thing on you is really cute.” A voice, sounding about fifteen or sixteen years old, entered Chu Liruo’s mind.

She looked behind her and realized the voice was referring to the Yuanling on her.

At this moment, her Yuanling was perched on her shoulder, baring its teeth at the mutated creatures in the Mutated Space.

Chu Liruo: “Who are you?”

“In human terms, I am the Lagomorph Hydrosaur.”

Lagomorph Hydrosaur—

In a flash of realization, Chu Liruo turned, trying to pry open the alloy door.

“Don’t be afraid. If I wanted to attack you, I would have attacked when you opened the display cabinet.”

“What is that red-flashing thing in your hand?”

Chu Liruo looked down. The optical computer in her hand was continuously flashing red.

I must have pressed the emergency button while running. The optical computer has used all its energy to pierce the isolation layer and send a message.

Oh, right! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?

Her emergency contact was—Lu Xibie.

Shang Le’an hummed a tune as he entered the resting room of the Holographic Practice Center.

Ma Binglu: “Why are you so happy today?”

Shang Le’an: “You know Chu Liruo, right?”

Ma Binglu: “Lu Xibie’s wife?”

“Yeah, I locked her in the Mutated Space,” Shang Le’an said, grabbing a towel and hanging it around his neck.

Ma Binglu: “Wouldn’t a student from the Innate Ability Department entering the Mutated Space be a dead end?”

Shang Le’an: “It’s not that exaggerated. Just to scare her a bit.”

Dan Ruijing, standing nearby, listened to Shang Le’an and Ma Binglu’s conversation, unscrewing a bottle of water and taking a drink.

Accidents are common in the Mutated Space.

“Beep-beep-beep-beep—”

Lu Xibie’s optical computer, which was being examined by Li Juqiu, emitted a continuous alert sound. She flipped over, got out of bed, opened the optical computer, and said with a serious expression, “Teacher Li, Chu Liruo is trapped in the Mutated Space.”

Di Mengzhu blurted out, “Isn’t she a student from the Innate Ability Department? How did she end up in the Mutated Space?”

“I don’t know, her optical computer sent me an emergency alert. I need to go to the Mutated Space immediately,” Lu Xibie said anxiously.

“Alright, let’s go.” Di Mengzhu put her arm around Lu Xibie’s shoulder. The two vanished from where they were and reappeared at the entrance of the Mutated Space.

“Iris verified. Principal Di Mengzhu, please enter.”

The alloy door slowly opened in front of Lu Xibie. Before it was fully open, she slipped through the narrow gap just wide enough for a person.

“Chu Liruo!” As soon as Lu Xibie saw Chu Liruo, she ran toward her, grabbing her hand and checking her condition up and down. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Chu Liruo shook her head, letting Lu Xibie lead her toward the door. She glanced back. The Lagomorph Hydrosaur in the display cabinet was bouncing up and down as if it had springs, its pink tail tassels rippling in the water.

“How did you run into the Mutated Space?” Di Mengzhu asked.

“I wasn’t paying attention while playing around with a classmate,” Chu Liruo replied.

Di Mengzhu placed her hand on Chu Liruo’s arm, felt her pulse, and said, “It’s good that you’re fine. Don’t go into the Mutated Space casually.”

“Understood, Principal.” Chu Liruo nodded.

“Lu Xibie, bring your optical computer closer. I’ll send you Teacher Li’s contact information,” Di Mengzhu reached out, bringing her optical computer near Lu Xibie’s. “If you want to control your innate ability, keep in regular contact with Teacher Li.”

“Okay.” Lu Xibie nodded.

“Alright, you two go out first. I’ll stay and check things over.” After Lu Xibie and Chu Liruo left the Mutated Space, Di Mengzhu closed the alloy door.

“Who pushed you into the Mutated Space?” Lu Xibie asked Chu Liruo in the suspended elevator, gripping her wrist.

Chu Liruo was not the type of person to get into the Mutated Space by playing around with a classmate, unless someone deliberately pushed her.

Chu Liruo looked at Lu Xibie’s brown eyes and shook her head. Should I say it was Shang Le’an?

Thoughts raced through her mind. The words of the Lagomorph Hydrosaur surfaced again.

“Human, do you crave powerful strength?”

“Help me escape, and I will give you a generous reward. If your innate ability is Healing, you won’t survive here, you know.”

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