"This place seems a bit familiar..."
Xing Chang couldn't be sure.
"Mingming, do you remember the first time we captured the Grey Red?"
"I have some impression."
Lu Mingming remembered that the entire process was negotiated with Jasmine.
"This is where we first found evidence that Grey Red was acting strangely. He didn't expect us to have installed hidden surveillance cameras in a certain location. All his actions were captured on camera, which led us to confirm that Grey Red's identity was not right."
"There was such a thing."
Lu Mingming was surprised.
"Is there any relevant footage now?"
"Yes."
Xing Chang retrieved the stored videos from the optical computer.
A faint blue figure was projected onto the ground, revealing Grey Red's actions at the time – a more blurred image of a little girl was projected in front of him.
"It's her, no doubt."
Lu Mingming's face grew serious.
"He is from the Wu clan, their current leader. This body was obtained through an exchange."
The other party's deception caused the little girl's spirit to weaken day by day. So far, at least 90% had been eroded, making it almost impossible to separate the two from each other.
"I always thought it was a spirit he conjured, but I never expected it to be so cruel. He must be handed over to the executive department of the main planet for strict discipline!!"
Xing Chang was furious, his eyes burning with rage.
"Leave it to me."
Lu Mingming stepped forward. She had learned some related formations during her training. Although they were very basic, with Lu Mingming's spiritual power boost, and considering that the leader of the Wu clan would surely be heavily injured and easier to subdue when he returned from a major battle.
Waves of illusory spiritual power flew out from Lu Mingming's sleeves as pale fluorescent light. The shattered light floated in the air, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
Complex formation patterns slowly appeared around the moist earth, gradually blooming with a beautiful energy magnetic field where the lightning and ice elements condensed.
Petals composed of spiritual power spread outwards from the center, with pale purple light energy as the embellishing stamen, which lingered for a long time, eventually becoming the core of the formation and buried underground.
"The energy supply of this formation is a bit too powerful!"
Salchev exclaimed, his admiration for Lu Mingming growing.
"It seems your trip to the main planet has truly changed you a lot."
"It's just a little trick I learned during training, nothing significant."
Lu Mingming politely deflected, channeling energy from her palm into the vast formation, causing the patterns along the path to glow.
Three seconds later, a binding spirit was condensed.
"The formation is complete! Now we just wait to catch the turtle in the jar."
Lu Mingming clapped her hands and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sister, you've worked hard!"
Yi Fu gently fanned Lu Mingming with his hand.
"Shall I treat you to a good meal now? I saw a five-star restaurant nearby, it's very good."
"No need. It's too easy to expose our identities if we go out now."
Lu Mingming refused sternly. Seeing the immediate dimming of his eyes, she added.
"How about eating in the academy? I'll cook for you."
"That would be even better!"
Yi Fu beamed. A moment later, he asked with concern.
"But is your body alright?"
"You underestimate me!"
Lu Mingming pretended to be annoyed by Yi Fu's underestimation of her.
"I just rarely use it, it doesn't mean I can't. Don't worry.
"Alright."
Yi Fu put away his worried gaze.
"In that case, I'll temporarily send the chefs in the cafeteria away to prevent your whereabouts from leaking."
Lu Mingming responded softly.
"It looks like I'll be able to feast tonight!"
Cheng Shiqin clutched his chest, feigning breathlessness humorously.
Night fell.
Besides the familiar faces seen during the day, there was also Salchev's granddaughter, little Aisha.
The little girl had already sprouted a horn and was growing more and more graceful. The growth rate of beast-human hybrids was far faster than that of pure-blooded humans.
In just over a year, Aisha had also entered the senior year of the Royal Academy, serving as the student council president.
She was a well-known and kind-hearted influential president within the academy.
Upon seeing Lu Mingming's icy expression, the little girl's demeanor softened.
"It's Teacher Lu?!"
Aisha exclaimed, clutching her skirt. She walked closer with a look of disbelief, circling Lu Mingming and examining her, her eyes growing redder.
Lu Mingming curved her eyes and gently stroked the soft hair on the girl's head, her shoulder-length black hair cascading down.
"You've grown so pretty. Little girl, you've grown so tall. Looking back, I miss your childhood appearance, but now you're a stunning beauty."
"Teacher Lu, don't tease me!"
Aisha's cheeks flushed red.
"You don't know how much everyone in our Class A was looking for you during the time you were gone... We were supposed to watch the保育师 (bao yù shī - childcare practitioner/beast caretaker) competition live, but we were delayed by certain counts..."
Aisha's voice lowered.
"...Certain counts interfered, and we couldn't even get through by spaceship."
After complaining, Aisha immediately lost her fear.
"Teacher Lu, is there something you're back for? We haven't received any news about you online."
"There is something, but I can't tell children."
Lu Mingming didn't intend to involve anyone unrelated and put them in danger.
"Yay! I haven't eaten food made by Teacher Lu in a long time! Those snacks you made back then were all delicious, and it's hard to find anything to replace them!"
Aisha's mouth began to recall the taste of the past.
"You little glutton, it's not that exaggerated."
Lu Mingming chuckled wryly.
"It is that exaggerated!"
Aisha emphasized.
"Teacher Mingming, you don't know your current influence in the interstellar space, do you?"
Lu Mingming shook her head in confusion.
She had been roaming the interstellar world after the competition and had no time to pay attention to extraneous interstellar news.
"Then you've missed too much!"
Aisha proactively took out her optical computer, which she had acquired after reaching adulthood: "Here, these are the posts from back then."
Aisha explained them one by one to Lu Mingming, with the large screen projecting them onto the table for easy viewing.
Yi Fu pointed to the most popular one: "Wow—the post about you has the highest discussion rate in the past year and ranks first."
Yi Fu clicked on it, and it immediately jumped to the news.
[Player Lu Mingming from Xingfu Star successfully won first place in the保育师 competition. Since then, several nobles have provided relevant sponsorship...]
The hot post had a basic discussion count of 99.99 million, and many more were invisible.
Aisha decisively switched to the hot viewing mode and scrolled from top to bottom: "Look, three days after your competition, rumors spread that you were missing. We were so afraid you'd be kidnapped to the main planet to be Goodfen's dog... I didn't expect Teacher Mingming to hold on!"
Lu Mingming's gaze shifted to the screen.
Below were fan wars, occasionally interspersed with real comments from passersby:
[Look at how a poor planet can produce a golden phoenix to change its destiny.]
[Oh my god, you're missing, hope Mingming comes back soon. I'm counting on you to release new dishes and open a shop. I'm ready to buy things...]
[Above, forget it? You're counting on human food? How many times have I said it, the conditions should be changed to allow beast-human hybrids to participate. I really don't understand what they were thinking. It would be better if you disappeared and died early!]
[Watch your mouth, upstairs. Don't forget that IP addresses are public now. Let me see which planet's person can teach you such foul language.]
...
"So many people!"
Lu Mingming's fingers slid over the comments one by one. She paid no mind to the malicious attacks or the praise.
She was no longer the Lu Mingming of the past.
The timeline of the next post arrived three months after Lu Mingming's disappearance.
[Judging by the time, Lu Mingming has been missing for three months. The live broadcast room is in a semi-suspended state. All contracts related to the streamer have been recalled. Could it be... that she's really... gone?]
[What do you mean by 'gone'? Speak more clearly.]
[To the one above, it means dead. After all, there's no contact for three months. There's reason to suspect she was killed by another team, right?]
[Makes sense. Lu Mingming knows too much, and it's impossible for human保育师 to occupy high positions. They could only sacrifice her.]
"What are they saying? My body is perfectly fine."
Lu Mingming muttered to herself as she scrolled down.
"Next are the contestants who competed with you. Do you want to see?"
Aisha asked.
"Let's see, why wouldn't I!"
Lu Mingming was itching with curiosity. She hadn't seen those friends for over a year.