“The second option involves a lifelong regimen of male hormones. Your body continuously secretes female hormones, which would need to be suppressed and regulated by these male hormones.
However, this path would accelerate your body’s aging, making you more susceptible to illness and irritability. Furthermore, you would need to have your spiritual foundation extracted, transforming you completely into an ordinary person.”
Professor Yuan took a sip of his coffee.
“Otherwise, there’s no guarantee the transformation would cease.”
‘A lifetime of male hormones, abandoning my abilities, and becoming an ordinary person?’ Huang Xiu murmured to himself.
“I’ve laid out both options for you,” Professor Yuan stated. “Frankly, the advantages and disadvantages are quite clear. But I understand that speaking about them is always the easiest part; making the actual choice is what proves truly difficult.”
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, ‘fish and bear’s paw cannot be had at the same time,’ meaning one cannot have two desirable things simultaneously); sometimes, we are forced to make choices where compromise is impossible.”
Professor Yuan patted Huang Xiu’s shoulder before rising, leaving only the continuously spinning swivel chair behind.
How cruel fate had been to this young man, offering him a fleeting glimmer of hope for a return to his former self, only to snatch it away moments later.
‘Perhaps even Heaven desires you to be a girl!’
“The re-examination is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. You have ample time to consider your decision. If you wish to join Tiandu University, this presents an opportune moment to bid farewell to your classmates as a boy.”
With his words delivered, Professor Yuan turned and exited the examination room, leaving the vast space to Huang Xiu alone.
As the heavy door closed, the young man slowly lowered his head, leaning against the spiritual energy detector as he hugged his knees and sank to the floor.
His head, once held high, now drooped lower and lower, growing heavier until it finally buried itself between his knees.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket vibrated with a buzz, its screen lighting up.
The young man silently retrieved his phone, attempting to unlock it with his right thumb—it failed.
He tried another finger, but still, it failed.
His right hand, gripping the phone, tightened further, veins bulging conspicuously.
‘Even you wish to bully me now!’
He gave a self-deprecating laugh, opting to unlock the phone with a password. On the screen was a QQ message.
[Seventeen-Year-Old Diamond Tier 1: Xiu-ge, why did you take leave? I didn’t see you yesterday afternoon. Are you feeling unwell? I asked Bald Liu, but he wouldn’t say anything.
Where are you now? Should I come visit you?]
‘Yes, he was unwell! Terribly unwell!’
As if his very bones had been drawn out, the phone slipped from his powerless grasp.
It hit the floor with a sharp crack.
Though he usually cherished his phone, at this moment, he couldn’t care less.
His body suddenly began to tremble, his eyes stinging with an unbearable ache.
“Don’t cry!”
He clenched his fists tightly, attempting to tilt his head back and hold in his tears, but it was an utterly futile effort.
“Damn it all!”
Bang!
His fist slammed heavily onto the tiled floor, the ceramic cracking and shattering as blood welled up and spread across the ground.
The searing pain, however, could not extinguish the profound sorrow in his heart.
Drip!
Large, scalding tears finally broke free and fell.
A tingling itch spread from his fist, his wound already beginning to mend.
‘Perhaps I’ll just cry this once! Just for a little while, in this place where no one will ever know, I’ll secretly shed these tears!’
‘After all… no one will ever know…’
“Wuwu!” The young man bit his lip tightly, determined not to let out any embarrassing sobs.
He had endured the confusion that followed his first transformation, but this time, he simply could not hold back any longer.
One after another, salty, bitter tears, heavy with sorrow, regret, confusion, and all the heart-wrenching emotions, cascaded down, shattering into tiny fragments upon impact with the floor.
After a long while, the wound on the web of his hand fully healed. Huang Xiu wiped away his tears and stood up once more.
‘The time had come; he could not cry any longer.’
As a man, even if only a temporary one, he had to pull himself together again.
He composed his expression, then picked up his phone from the floor.
Huang Xiu pushed open the door, striding swiftly and without a backward glance, out of the examination room.
‘He had to return to school, now, immediately, at once!’
****
In the distance, Yun Ning, who had been silently watching Huang Xiu’s retreating back, extended a hand, only to retract it in the end.
While his speed would allow him to intercept Huang Xiu, what then?
‘It was better to let Student Huang make his own choice.’
Sighing, he turned and returned to the gym; his tasks for the day were far from complete.
****
At the entrance of First High, the old security guard, holding a palm-leaf fan, scrutinized Huang Xiu from head to toe, his eyes filled with distrust.
“Are you sure you’re from our school? How come I don’t recall seeing you before?”
“My name is Huang Xiu, and here’s my ID card.”
Huang Xiu pulled out his ID card from his pocket—an item he had kept on him since the preliminary examination. “I’m a student from Senior Year Two, Class Four. I took two days of leave recently, do you remember?”
“Ah, you’re that kid who took leave that day, the one the teacher took out!” The old security guard suddenly realized.
“How come I remember you looking different before? If it weren’t for your short hair, I would’ve thought you were a girl.”
Huang Xiu’s lips twitched involuntarily.
On his way back to school, he had sought out a barbershop.
Despite the barber’s bewildered expression, he ultimately opted for a buzz cut.
This was precisely to avoid being mistaken for a girl.
“Alright, go on in!” The old security guard waved his hand, unlatching the small iron gate.
It was barely two o’clock in the afternoon, just as the lunch break ended and afternoon classes began. The campus was deserted, save for the classes having physical education.
Huang Xiu walked in silence all the way back to the foot of the teaching building.
He gazed up at the U-shaped building, hesitated for a moment, then finally stepped inside.
Ascending to the third floor, he turned left and walked to the second classroom.
He knocked twice, then pushed the door open, announcing, “Report!” before striding directly inside.
On the podium stood the math teacher and Bald Liu.
It appeared Bald Liu had something urgent to convey, which was why he had come over unexpectedly.
Bald Liu, holding two envelopes, broke into a wide smile upon seeing Huang Xiu.
“Oh, it’s Huang Xiu! Quickly, return to your seat.”
Huang Xiu had no desire to linger at the front of the classroom; the astonished gazes of his classmates made him feel as though he had been stripped bare.
‘And… he also feared others might perceive his transformation.’
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, everyone was staring at him as if he were a giant panda.
‘Had his changes truly been noticed?’
Huang Xiu couldn’t help but grow nervous.
Keeping his head down, he walked all the way to Shi Lei’s side. Seeing Shi Lei staring blankly at him too, the young man snapped irritably, “Aren’t you going to move?”
“Oh, oh!” Shi Lei, as if startled awake, stood up, allowing Huang Xiu to pass and take his seat.
“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! We were just talking about him, and here Student Huang Xiu is!”
Bald Liu’s face glowed with excitement, his upturned lips curving into a smile that was harder to suppress than an AK’s recoil.
“Let us once again congratulate Huang Xiu and Fang Miaoging for successfully passing the preliminary examination for Tiandu University’s entrance exam!”
Clap, clap, clap!
Immediately, enthusiastic applause erupted throughout the classroom, and many students turned their heads to look at him.
Whispers filled the classroom.
Thanks to his enhanced physical abilities after his awakening, Huang Xiu could distinctly pick out the words amidst the applause.
“I understand Fang Miaoging passing the preliminary exam, but how did Huang Xiu manage it? His grades are so ordinary, and he doesn’t have any special talents.”
“What do you mean he has no special talents? His family background is incredibly impressive; doesn’t that count?”
“Ah, it always comes down to connections! But Huang Xiu was always so low-key; I never would have guessed he had such a powerful background.”
‘No, that’s not it at all. He had no background; he passed the preliminary exam simply because he…’
His fists clenched beneath the desk, but Huang Xiu found himself unable to explain.
The intelligent mainframe monitored the current world at all times; he could not disclose anything about special ability users to anyone else.
“Huang Xiu, remember to come see me after class to collect your certificate.” Bald Liu waved the envelope in his hand. “Alright, let’s continue with the lesson!”