Cell Evolution System: The Rogue Queen

7

POV: Leon

The tips of my chopsticks hung in mid-air. A drop of oil slid down the edge of the braised pork, dripping onto the white rice and blooming into a small grease stain. I didn’t respond immediately. My brain was working at high speed, analyzing the guy across from me—Lucas—from head to toe. Thin, harmless-looking, wearing glasses thick enough to stop a bullet, he radiated the aura of a total nerd who only cared about books.

Yet, this very person had just uttered a sentence that could ruin me.

"Not a creature of our world."

The sentence was like a precision scalpel, slicing through all my disguises. I slowly placed the piece of pork back on my tray, my voice flat and devoid of emotion. I decided to play dumb. Until I knew his background, it was the best choice. "What is this 'Facehugger' you're talking about? And what world are you referring to?"

Lucas pushed up his glasses. The lenses reflected the cafeteria’s overhead lights, masking his expression. "Stop pretending. It’s meaningless," he said, his tone as casual as if he were stating a physical formula. "I’ve been watching you since your first day. You have no energy fluctuations indicative of an opened Taming Space, yet you can summon creatures out of thin air. That in itself violates the Fundamental Laws of Beast Tamers."

The cafeteria was deathly silent. Everyone was straining to hear this life-or-death conversation. They couldn't hear Lucas’s lowered voice, but they could see that Leon—the monster who had just crushed Mark—had stopped eating for the first time. This was more shocking than the fight itself.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" I asked. *This guy is either a total lunatic or a genius,* I judged internally. *And a fearless one at that.*

"I want to make a deal," Lucas finally revealed his intent. He leaned forward, dropping his voice even lower. "I know what your 'Facehugger' needs. I know its growth patterns and what it will eventually become. I even know it’s not your only 'pet,' right? There’s something else inside you."

My pupils constricted almost imperceptibly. This Lucas knew too much—enough to make me consider killing him. But logic told me that acting out in the academy was the height of stupidity. Moreover, his lack of fear suggested he had a safety net I didn't know about.

"The terms of the deal," I said concisely.

"Simple. I’ll keep your secret. I can even help you refine its growth path, provide the special 'nutrients' it needs, and handle any trouble it brings. In return, I need complete data on its every developmental stage—energy composition, growth rate, gene sequences... of course, gene analysis requires equipment, so we can take that slow." Lucas spoke lightly, as if discussing an afternoon lab class.

*A freak. A total scientific freak,* I confirmed. To him, my Xenomorph was just a new species of ant to be studied.

"How can I trust you?"

"You have no choice." Lucas leaned back and shrugged. "You could beat me up or kill me right now, but you can’t handle the aftermath. The academy’s upper management has already noticed you. Do you think a nobody like Mark really caught the principal’s eye? No, it was that creature of yours that 'shouldn't exist.'"

Having finished, he stopped talking and began shoveling his cheap meal into his mouth as if the world-shaking conversation had never happened. I stared at him in silence for a long time. Eventually, I picked up my chopsticks again, ate the now-cold pork, and finished my meal in a whirlwind before leaving without another word.

As I left, the air in the cafeteria finally began to move. Everyone looked at the still-eating Lucas like he was a god. "Who is that guy? A freshman? I've never seen him before." "He stood up to Leon and stayed seated... terrifying!"

I didn't go back to the dorms. I went to the teaching building. I needed to cool off. Lucas’s appearance was like a boulder dropped into a still pond. I thought I had hidden well, but I was just kidding myself. I checked the internal school forums. The headlines were insane: "Who is Leon's mysterious pet?", "Technical analysis of Mark's defeat," "Are the top ten monsters?"

I frowned. Sophia, Alexander... even the student council and the martial arts club were reviewing my fight. Trouble. I clicked a technical analysis thread. "The host’s taming space shows no fluctuations... likely a higher-dimensional stealth or deep cellular fusion. Danger level: Extreme."

I closed my phone. The narrative was spinning out of control. Just as Lucas said, the school wouldn't stay silent. Meanwhile, in the principal's office, Mr. Harris—my homeroom teacher—was watching the footage of the Facehugger over and over. As a veteran, he felt the "evil" and "unluckiness" of the creature. It didn't belong to the light of this world.

A knock came at his door. An administrator handed him a file: "Mr. Harris, the final plan for the Assessment Exam. The principal has signed it."

Harris opened it: "Freshman Assessment Rules: 30% Theory, 70% Practical." He thought of my ice-cold face, then remembered my theory grades which were consistently in the single digits. He rubbed his temples. *This kid is doomed.*

The next day, when the rules were posted, the freshmen erupted. "30% Theory? Are they insane!" "I'm dead, I know nothing about theory." "Hahaha, those thirty points are a gift to me!"

I sat in the back row by the window. The sun didn't disperse the heavy aura around me. On my desk was a book as thick as a brick: *Introduction to Beast Taming*. I stared at the pages. I knew every word, but together, they were gibberish. "Coping factor? Mental micro-currents? Do I need to sing it a lullaby?"

My head felt twice its size. I’d rather fight ten lions than read this. Practical was 70%, and I had absolute confidence, but the 30% theory was a death sentence. If I failed, school rules dictated expulsion. Then I’d never find out about my past.

"Is being a good fighter not enough in this broken world? I have to be a scholar too?" I slammed the book shut.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "In trouble?"

I ignored it. It buzzed again: "Introduction to Beast Taming, page 78. The 'Coping Factor' is a micro-current mixed with mental power. Rote memorization won't work; you must understand the conduction model."

I froze. I flipped to page 78. There it was: a diagram of a "Mental-Bio Micro-current Conduction Model" that I couldn't understand.

The phone buzzed a third time: "Want to pass? Library, 3rd floor, Zone C. I'll teach you."

It was signed with two letters: LC (Lucas)