Chapter 484: Day 12 into the Alien War Story

Chapter 484: Day 12 of Being Thrown Into a Mutant War Novel

The bell rang right at that moment.

The crisp ringing echoed through the hallway, and the kids immediately stopped goofing off and scrambled back to their seats.

Ms. Chen, their homeroom teacher, walked in with a stack of textbooks: "Good morning, class."

"Good morning, teach—er—"

The kids chimed in all together.

First period was Chinese class, and today they were learning pinyin.

An Yi sat up straight at his desk, eyes on the blackboard, occasionally jotting down a few strokes in his pinyin notebook.

His posture was perfect, his pencil grip flawless, and the letters he wrote were neat and beautiful.

Ms. Chen paced the room as she taught.

When she passed by An Yi, she made a point of glancing at his notebook, an approving look in her eyes.

But honestly, An Yi's mind was a million miles away.

He was mentally reviewing the info he'd pulled from the Riftborn last night.

Those pale gray, skinny, stick-bug-like creatures—their whole civilization ran on spatial abilities—pretty wild.

In An Yi's way of thinking, the application of spatial power could roughly be divided into several levels:

Level one was what most people got. Sensing and using existing space for moving, defending, or attacking—like teleporting, putting up space barriers, or storing stuff in pocket dimensions.

Level two was sensing dimensions. Being able to detect multiple layers of space, feel parallel worlds, and understand how different dimensions connected. This level took insane talent and understanding.

Level three was messing with the structure of space. Being able to alter local spatial rules, create temporary pocket spaces, or stitch and fold different spatial fragments together.

Level four was creating or wiping things out. That was basically god-tier stuff—opening up brand-new worlds from nothing, or erasing something from existence entirely. That was An Yi's goal, and he was working toward it.

The Riftborn's gift was an extreme offshoot of level two.

They didn't seem to need to learn anything—the instinct to sense parallel worlds was just baked into their bloodline, like how migratory birds just know their routes, or how deep-sea fish can feel changes in water pressure.

The way they locked onto world coordinates wasn't so much a skill as an art—an intuition built on resonance, a knack for hearing worlds breathe.

An Yi tried to mimic that feeling in his mind.

He stretched his senses out, through the classroom walls, over the playground, past the city skyline... all the way beyond the atmosphere, into the silent void.

He could feel where Earth sat in the universe, catch the ripples of the moon's pull, and sense the faint tremors of solar wind brushing the magnetic field.

But what about the "echoes" from parallel worlds?

He listened hard.

The void was full of countless ripples, like an invisible ocean.

Gravitational waves, electromagnetic waves, cosmic microwave background... but none of that was what he was after.

What he wanted was that one-of-a-kind resonance—like another version of himself was whispering from another dimension.

Nope.

At least right now, he couldn't catch that "echo" from the Riftborn's memories.

Oh well.

An Yi wasn't about to give up.

The Riftborn's gift came from their bloodline, but since this power clearly existed, it had to have rules and logic behind it.

As long as there were rules, they could be broken down, learned, and copied.

He was dead set on believing this was a learnable system—even if the Riftborn themselves thought it was just a random bloodline thing.

Fine. He'd change that.

And besides... his mind drifted to that dark-red mutant world.

That world was a goldmine.

The energy there was totally different from Earth's, and nothing like the apocalypse or cultivation worlds—it was the source of all those crazy mutant abilities.

He could test how well he adapted to different energy systems, study what made supernatural powers tick, and even try fusing rules from different systems.

So yeah, thanks again, Riftborn.

"Student An Yi."

Ms. Chen's voice snapped him back to reality.

An Yi looked up to see Ms. Chen at the podium, smiling at him.

The room was dead quiet, every kid staring at him.

"Please read the pinyin on the board." Ms. Chen pointed at the board.

The board read: "ch—un—chūn."

An Yi stood up and read in a clear, soft kid voice: "ch—un—chūn."

"Very good, please sit down." Ms. Chen nodded, looking pleased. "Your pronunciation is spot on. Everyone should take a page out of An Yi's book."

She'd thought this kid was zoning out earlier—his eyes were on the board, but they seemed a little far away.

Turns out he wasn't. He'd been paying attention the whole time.

An Yi sat down and saw his deskmate Lin Yiduo quietly breathe a sigh of relief, mouthing "thank god" at him.

Phew, An Yi got it right, so the teacher wouldn't pick on her now!

An Yi gave her a soft smile. These little kids were just too cute.

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The second the recess bell rang, the classroom went wild.

An Yi had barely shut his pinyin notebook when a bunch of kids swarmed around his desk.

First-graders showed they liked you in the simplest, most direct ways—they just honestly wanted to hang around this cute, chill classmate.

"An Yi, which kindergarten did you go to before?" a little girl with a topknot asked curiously.

"Your hair is so soft, can I touch it?" A little boy reached out a hand, then shyly pulled it back again.

"Can you fold paper airplanes? I'll teach you how to fold one that flies super far!" Another boy said.

"Let's play together! I have a new set of Chinese checkers!"

The children all talked at once, their eyes fixed on him.

An Yi patiently answered them one by one.

Fine, fine, he'd play with them for a bit.

After school that afternoon, An Cheng was already waiting at An Yi's classroom door.

He stood up straight with his backpack on, his eyes glued to the classroom door.

The kids from Class 3, Grade 1 filed out in a line led by their teacher. An Yi walked in the middle of the line, and when he saw him, his eyes crinkled into a smile.

An Cheng immediately stepped forward, took An Yi's backpack, and carried it in his own hand.

"An... big brother." An Yi called out.

An Cheng gave a soft "mm," took his hand, and said, "Let's go home."

The two walked side by side in the flow of students heading out of school.

At the school gate, the driver's car was already waiting by the curb. Auntie Wang stood by the car, and when she saw them come out, she smiled and waved.

On the way home, An Yi leaned against the car window, watching the street scenes go by.

The evening in Xingshi City was peaceful—people on the streets, kids out of school, old folks walking their dogs—everything in perfect order.

No one knew that just yesterday, this world had nearly faced its first attack from another world.

After this, the world's population would be reduced by two-thirds.

But fortunately, that threat had already been casually erased.