Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Don’t Speak Ill of Others Behind Their Backs

“Damn you! How dare you steal my kill!” Yiwen shoved Mi Xiaoliu onto the bed, pinning her down as her wicked fingers danced mercilessly along her ribs, sending Mi Xiaoliu’s legs flailing wildly.  

Mi Xiaoliu: “Sorry.”  

Believe it or not, Yiwen had all five of her potential kills stolen—by the same person.  

Yet even under this tickle torture, Mi Xiaoliu didn’t laugh. It was bizarre—even someone with a poker face should still be physically responsive to tickling.  

From Raven’s perspective, the two had clearly grown much closer. Before, Yiwen had meticulously maintained “proper distance between genders.” Now she was sitting right on Mi Xiaoliu’s back…  

Did Mi Xiaoliu reveal something? Not my fault, Mrs. Heli. Your kid slipped up—I didn’t say a word.  

Still, it was heartwarming. Her once withdrawn daughter was opening up, and the traumatized Mi Xiaoliu had made a real friend. Two birds with one stone.  

But Toby… that hopeless boy still spent his days grinning like an idiot at anime girls on his computer, peppering his chats with “nyaas” and “nyuhs”—the spitting image of his father in his youth.  

Such a golden opportunity right in front of him, yet he’s oblivious. What will become of him?  

“Stop acting like children!” Raven yanked her daughter away.  

Mi Xiaoliu scrambled to her feet and hid behind Raven, peering cautiously at Yiwen.  

“I wasn’t really mad—just playing around…” Yiwen waved her hands frantically. If she didn’t clarify, Mi Xiaoliu might refuse to play games with her ever again.  

Come to think of it, why is Mom so protective of Mi Xiaoliu?  

“Let’s try a different game tonight.” Yiwen stretched.  

As minors, their daily gaming time was strictly limited, and they couldn’t exactly ask Raven for her ID to bypass restrictions.  

Their recent matches had been brutal. For some inexplicable reason, Yiwen had bought two name-change cards and made Mi Xiaoliu adopt a matching username.  

The moment opponents spotted the cutesy couple tags, winning became secondary—they’d focus all fire on the pair, especially enjoying killing Yiwen right in front of Mi Xiaoliu, then dancing around her corpse.  

Raven didn’t mind the gaming. It beat having her daughter out fighting criminals.  

Since Mi Xiaoliu’s arrival, Yiwen’s police station visits had plummeted. The thought of the girl leaving actually pained Raven’s heart.  

Unfortunately, Heli was coming to pick her up today.  

Upon hearing the news, Mi Xiaoliu dutifully packed her spare clothes and neatly folded the bedding.  

Then, with Circle (Quanquan) perched on her head, she pressed against her bedroom window, tracking passing cars like a radar dish.  

The instant Heli’s scooter appeared below, she practically teleported downstairs.  

Raven found it oddly heartbreaking. Anyone would think I’d been mistreating her, when she’s just homesick.  

“There are… gaps in her development. As you said—intellectually sound, but missing fundamental life knowledge.” Raven pulled Heli aside. “Given her age and that she’s already menstruating, I strongly recommend comprehensive sex education. Here are two books—”  

Heli responded with a noncommittal hum, avoiding further discussion.  

She knew about Mi Xiaoliu’s memory issues—and had no intention of restoring those traumatic recollections.  

When they met, Heli first squeezed Mi Xiaoliu’s arm.  

Still no weight gain.  

“Thanks for looking after her.” The words caught in Heli’s throat as she noticed Yiwen emerging to say goodbye.  

So, that white-haired brat belongs to this household?!  

I never should’ve left Mi Xiaoliu with this family.

Heli swiftly maneuvered Mi Xiaoliu onto the electric scooter’s rear seat and sped away, leaving Yiwen utterly bewildered.  

Back home, Mi Xiaoliu presented Heli with a stack of documents and a USB drive.  

Ignoring the drive, Heli flipped straight to the final pages of the paperwork. Most information about Black Element she’d already reviewed—she was primarily checking for updates from the past year.  

Disappointingly, even Easter hadn’t made significant progress in that timeframe.  

The thought of this foolish girl risking a trip to an Easter branch for such trivial updates ignited Heli’s temper. She seized Mi Xiaoliu’s expressionless face and gave it a thorough kneading.  

Mi Xiaoliu blinked in confusion, interpreting this as affection akin to the Hermit’s head pats. Though unpleasant, she obediently leaned in to accommodate.  

A week of covert experimentation had yielded limited results, but they’d successfully replicated Easter’s methods to collect stellar radiation samples.  

Black Element’s earliest documented cases stemmed from such radiation. Cities like the Fallen City, built near meteor craters, saw higher incidence rates—though nowhere near the 100% infection rates of strains like LW1204 and N1202.  

Without pharmaceutical intervention, contraction odds remained remarkably low, and the disease showed no contagious properties. Hence, in its century of existence, it never garnered the notoriety of plagues like the Black Death.  

But with modern Black Element primarily appearing in drug users, people forgot its original form wasn’t this “gentle” version granting years of survival.  

The variant attached to ability-enhancing drugs was practically mild—true Black Element rarely permitted six months of life.  

Stellar radiation could produce ZP15, a precursor to ability drugs. At this stage, it merely induced Black Element poisoning without conferring powers.  

This was the crucial research material—the purest form of Black Element.  

Theoretically, combining it with a soul-like substance yielded HY5 ability drugs. But HY5 provoked severe rejection reactions—a carryover from its ZP15 origins.  

In essence, consuming HY5 directly would only cause ZP15 poisoning without granting abilities.  

Unless something could adapt ZP15’s radioactive properties to human biology beforehand…  

Though the documents proved useless, Heli patted Mi Xiaoliu’s head to avoid discouraging her. “Helpful intel. But do this again, and I’ll room you with Gloria.”  

Mi Xiaoliu shook her head vigorously, then retrieved her homework for Heli’s inspection.  

Heli declined. “I’m swamped these days. Show Gloria—she came home early. I’ll cook something special tonight.”  

Mi Xiaoliu clutched Heli’s sleeve, shaking her head with unprecedented desperation. Her face remained blank, but Heli somehow recognized the plea.  

Misinterpreting it as fear of Gloria, Heli sighed. Despite Gloria’s “she-devil” persona, she wasn’t truly malicious—just eccentric within reasonable bounds.  

Heli stuffed two hundred mira into Mi Xiaoliu’s hand as allowance and shooed her off. “I’ll ask Gloria about your progress tonight.”  

Mi Xiaoliu hugged her backpack and bolted to her room.  

Too much incriminating evidence in those textbooks needed erasing.  

“So you see, Master,” Sasha chimed in, the utterly useless non-emergency-supply, “being a backbiting brat has consequences—even if Gloria is the worst.” She took vindictive pleasure in this turn of events.  

Sometimes, she believed, only painful lessons could steer her master’s development in the right direction.  

Not that she liked Gloria either.  

Thus…  

“Meow meow meow!”

As Gloria dutifully inspected the homework per Heli’s instructions, Circle (Quanquan) relentlessly batted at her ankles with tiny cat punches.  

All while Gloria had Mi Xiaoliu in a headlock, wedged firmly under her arm. Flipping through the vandalized textbook, she alternated between exasperation and amusement as she read the altered passages aloud:  

“Gloria scored zero again. This ‘Punishment Certificate’ is hereby awarded as encouragement?”  

“Gloria violated traffic laws. Fine: 10,000,000,000,000,000 mira?”  

With each absurd edit, her grip around Mi Xiaoliu’s head tightened incrementally.  

“Sorry.”  

“Oh, you little brat think you’re funny?” Gloria ignored the apology, relentlessly flicking Mi Xiaoliu’s forehead with her free hand.  

Really, what possessed this kid to think scribbling a single line through her insults counted as destroying evidence?