Ye Yang was completely dumbfounded. “You’re a freshman too. How do you know so much about everything?”
“You can find all this on the school forum. Plus, I found several upperclassmen online a while ago, so I already know everything about our school inside and out.”
“That’s amazing!” Ye Yang’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
A classmate in the back row snickered. “Don’t listen to his bragging. Besides, who even uses the school forum these days?”
Li Chanyi wanted to argue, but just then the advisor arrived, so he had to let it go.
This class meeting was about military training, picking up textbooks, and course selection. With Li Chanyi’s help, Ye Yang got everything sorted out quickly.
According to the schedule, Ye Yang was supposed to participate in military training with his classmates. But that very evening, he suddenly received a message from Shen Ming.
“You don’t need to go to military training. You’ll come with me to the lab during this time.”
The lab? What lab?
Ye Yang asked Shen Ming, but Shen Ming didn’t explain further. He just told Ye Yang to be at the school gate by eight o’clock the next morning. At the same time, Ye Yang also received a message from his advisor, saying that his medical excuse form had been received, approved, and he was exempt from training.
Medical excuse form? When did that happen? Had Shen Ming arranged it for him?
The next day, Ye Yang arrived at the school gate early with a head full of question marks.
To his surprise, Shen Ming had arrived even earlier and had already attracted a crowd.
“He’s so handsome!”
“Is he a student here?”
“Is he an upperclassman?”
“I know him! That’s Shen Ming!”
“Who’s that?”
“Didn’t you see the latest announcement on the school website? He’s the new distinguished professor, from our School of Oceanography!”
“No way, a professor this young?!”
“So handsome! What does he teach? Is it too late to sign up for his class?”
“The required course is Biological Oceanography, and there’s also an elective on something like the Evolutionary Systems of Ancient Marine Life, but both filled up ages ago!”
Shen Ming looked completely expressionless, as if he didn’t care about anything, but Ye Yang could sense that he seemed profoundly uncomfortable.
Ye Yang was still figuring out how to push through the crowd when Shen Ming suddenly spotted him. He straightened up immediately, strode out with his long legs, and gestured with his eyes for Ye Yang to follow.
Ye Yang quickly dodged around the crowd and jogged after him.
About a minute later, they regrouped at the bus stop near the school gate. Luckily, there weren’t many people around the school entrance at this hour.
After catching his slightly hurried breath, Ye Yang couldn’t help but remark, “Professor Shen, you’re really popular.”
Shen Ming said nothing, only kept urging Ye Yang forward with a push, as if afraid someone might chase after them.
·
The atmosphere at the research institute was a bit strange that day. On the surface, everyone seemed the same as usual, but upon closer observation, many people were distracted. Every now and then, they would silently exchange glances, their wandering eyes always drifting toward Shen Ming and the student he had brought.
The lab technicians and graduate students were also spending longer and longer in the break room.
As soon as Ye Yang entered the institute, he roughly understood that Shen Ming wanted to bring him here to learn. Professor Shen is so nice! Even though he could only observe from the sidelines and couldn’t do any hands-on work, he was happy just to learn new knowledge.
But soon, he started feeling restless.
The way people around him looked at him was really strange—especially when he asked Professor Shen questions. The expressions on those humans’ faces would turn terrifying, extremely frightening.
But Ye Yang didn’t dare ask. He always kept in mind what Tu Manli and Yu Bei had told him: he couldn’t let humans discover his identity.
Even though Shen Ming had reminded him last time that the Crisis Management Department could help, he didn’t want to trouble them. For that reason, he tried his best not to interact with humans at all, let alone initiate conversations with them.
As for Shen Ming, he thought he was just looking after a fellow clan member, completely unaware of how odd his behavior seemed to his colleagues who knew him.
Who had ever seen Shen Ming show such patience with anyone?
Not to say he was being particularly amiable, but he answered every question—and they were all such basic questions too!
Everyone knew that even when Professor Cui asked Shen Ming for advice, all he got was a cold shoulder, simply because Shen Ming found explaining things too troublesome.
But what was he doing now? Was this even the same Shen Ming they knew?
The female colleague who had once described Shen Ming as cold and unapproachable, a flower too high to reach, was starting to wonder if someone had swapped him out. In the past, he barely said two words a day. Today, his mouth had hardly stopped moving.
That said, no one had any issue with Ye Yang himself. In fact, quite a few people liked him.
From the second day onward, Ye Yang already knew the way and came to the institute on his own every day. He would help clean up, wash test tubes, carry laboratory animals that needed to be processed—doing everything neatly and efficiently.
And aside from asking Shen Ming questions, he barely spoke. He was quiet and never disturbed anyone.
The new lab technician was the first to proactively greet Ye Yang in the break room. Although Ye Yang didn’t want to interact too much with humans for fear of exposing himself, he was still polite and wouldn’t ignore people.
Once someone broke the ice, curious lab workers quickly gathered around. One by one, they fired off questions and soon had dug up all of Ye Yang’s personal information.
“So you’re an orphan? Then getting into Dongzhou University is really impressive.”
Ye Yang quickly waved his hand. “It’s mainly because of the policies. The authorities gave me a lot of help. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity.” There wasn’t anything wrong with that statement—wasn’t the YCG exactly that kind of authority?
“That’s still very impressive. By the way, Xiao Ye, where are you from?”
Ye Yang answered “Nanhai” based on the documents Director Tu had prepared for him.
“You’re from Nanhai Province? You don’t have any accent at all—that’s also impressive.”
“Haha, it’s nothing special.” Ye Yang thought to himself, When I was in Nanhai, I couldn’t even speak human language. I only learned it after coming to Dongzhou. How could I have an accent…
“Your grades must be really good. Otherwise, there’s no way Boss Shen would think so highly of you. You know, he usually never gives us the time of day.”
Ye Yang objected, “That can’t be right. Professor Shen is a really nice person. He’s very kind.”
The speaker choked on his words. Does this kid have some kind of misunderstanding about Boss Shen?
Ye Yang had no idea what the man was thinking. Instead, he thought the man had misunderstood Professor Shen and wanted to say a few more good things about him.
The new kid was well-behaved and adorable. Several of the older female staff members took a liking to him and couldn’t resist teasing him further. “Xiao Ye, what exactly is your relationship with Boss Shen?”
“Professor Shen is my teacher.” That was the truth, but it was also equivalent to saying nothing at all.
The gossip-loving older women wouldn’t give up. “It can’t be that simple. Boss Shen seems very invested in you. We’ve never seen him treat anyone else this way.”
“Yeah, you two eat lunch together, don’t you? We’ve never seen Boss Shen eat, and we’ve never seen you eat either, Xiao Ye.”
“Right, right! So, are you two relatives? Or maybe… lovers?” Another younger lab technician grinned mischievously.
Ye Yang’s mouth twitched. He was about to be overwhelmed when, fortunately, Shen Ming suddenly appeared at the break room door. “What’s taking you so long to get a glass of water?”
The colleagues scattered instantly, pretending to be busy. Ye Yang breathed a sigh of relief and hurried toward the exit.
Shen Ming watched him dash past without a word, walked silently into the break room, and picked up the water glass Ye Yang had forgotten.
After he left, the colleagues in the break room gathered together again. “I told you their relationship wasn’t ordinary. See? He even picks up his cup for him!”
Back in the lab, Shen Ming thought for a moment, then said to Ye Yang, “The technicians here are decent people, and they’re very skilled. You can learn a lot from them too.”
He was Ye Yang’s advisor, but his main responsibility was to ensure Ye Yang didn’t cause any disruption to human society—not to teach him knowledge.
Besides, he knew very well that he wasn’t much of a teacher. In that regard, he was no match for the researchers.
Over the past few days, watching Ye Yang diligently study things that were utterly useless for a demon clan member, he didn’t understand it, but he respected it.
Ye Yang’s pen paused. “Professor Shen, thank you, but I think I’ll pass.”
Seeing how Ye Yang shunned humans, Shen Ming immediately understood his concern. “Are you afraid of exposing your identity? Too scared to get close to them?”
Ye Yang gave an awkward smile. “You noticed, Professor?”
Since leaving the YCG, Ye Yang had actually been tense. Only in his apartment could he relax a little, since it was YCG property. But he was still in human society, and he couldn’t fully let his guard down—after all, this wasn’t his first time coming ashore when he knew nothing.
Shen Ming still wore that same expression of not caring about anything, but his words were almost earnest. “Ye Yang, you’re underestimating yourself, and you’re underestimating humans. Don’t overthink it. Since you’ve chosen this path, you can’t isolate yourself from people forever. Building connections with humans is inevitable.”
Ye Yang countered, “What about you, Professor Shen?”
Shen Ming suddenly fell silent.
On a theoretical level, he understood all of this. But he was truly socially anxious and a homebody, and he’d been putting it off.
The only ordinary human he could claim to have a close connection with was Professor Cui Xipeng. Other than that, it was Yan Yungui, one of the heads of the YCG who held a status comparable to Old Li’s. But Yan Yungui was a cultivator who had lived for who knows how many years—hardly an ordinary human.
…
Ye Yang was a good child who listened to his teacher. Though still nervous inside, he decided to follow Shen Ming’s advice.
And then Ye Yang suddenly discovered a talent he had always overlooked—one that, when applied correctly, worked wonderfully.
The “scent” and perception of Ye Yang’s antennae could grasp the emotions and thoughts of his target and soothe their intense feelings. In his interactions with ordinary humans, he unconsciously used this talent, making him more approachable and easier to trust.
The institute’s staff quickly grew familiar with Ye Yang. The graduate students, in particular, got along with him like old friends. Ye Yang adapted swiftly.
Now, in his eyes, these humans weren’t much different from Little Thirteen, Huanhuan, or Lan Bao. They all had their own personalities and preferences.
By the time military training ended and Ye Yang was ready to return to classes, he had finally relaxed completely. His anticipation for future university life had fully overshadowed his worries. He got along well with everyone in the lab. Surely, interacting with more different humans down the road wouldn’t be a problem, right?
But no one expected that the next social challenge Ye Yang would face was neither human nor demon clan—but a little crow.
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