Chapter 102: Handsomer Than Ever Again

After the contamination zone was cleared and rewards distributed, Yan Luo did not go to meet Chen Beixue and the others. The residential area was vast; he led his horse, avoiding the gaze of the Modulators, and slipped away quietly.

This was caution.

The heroic spirit mask of Guan Yu had already been used, and after all, his true self was just a Level 1 novice Modulator.

The Dream Space had safe zones, but the real world did not.

Even though he still had the "Drunken Sword Immortal Li Bai" card as a hidden trump, that was reserved for the next instance of the Inner World, just in case.

Those people might not harbor any ill will, but Yan Luo could not leave his fate in the hands of others. Caution would never be wrong—at least until he became a true powerhouse.

In fact, this departure also allowed him to avoid one thing:

Registration with the government.

Officials sent to handle matters within the residential district would record the information of Modulators. This was for social stability; a Modulator with special abilities, if turned rogue, could cause immense destruction.

Leaving Evergrande Oasis, Yan Luo mounted his horse. Though he lacked Guan Yu’s horsemanship skills, the horse now possessed low-level intelligence, making riding much easier and safer. It was also stronger than before, meaning that even with just four legs, its running speed was faster.

He had originally planned to skip afternoon classes, but this whole operation had only delayed him an hour or two. Yan Luo realized he still had time to return to school...

Then he might as well go back.

Riding the horse through the streets once more caused a stir among passersby. Upon arriving at school, he rode into the staff residential area and left the horse at the home of the elderly Ma Jianmin.

Ma Jianmin had drunk a bit at noon and his face was flushed. Seeing the horse, he was momentarily stunned, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. “Did I drink too much? How did your horse’s color change? I remember it used to have brown and white fur.”

Yan Luo fell silent. He could not possibly say it had been altered by alien biochemical technology, so he scrambled for an excuse:

“I took it to get dyed at noon.”

“Huh?”

Ma Jianmin’s expression turned into the classic “black guy question mark” face.

“Don’t a lot of people like blonde hair? Japanese anime even worship blondes. The original fur color was a bit ugly, so I took it to a salon for a hair treatment—well, more like a full-body fur care—and dyed it blonde. But since the original color was darker, it turned out yellowish brown.”

“Dyed its hair?”

Ma Jianmin’s mouth twitched.

You could feel the intense emotion:

Shock +1

The old man then reached out to stroke the horse’s back but immediately felt something wrong. “Huh? Why has the horse’s skin become so rough? And hard!”

Yan Luo: “...”

After a moment’s thought, he said, “The horse’s skin must be allergic... allergic to the dye.”

Leaving the horse at the old man’s, Yan Luo headed to class. As soon as he sat down, he overheard a group of students whispering:

“I heard someone rode a horse into school.”

“People from several classes saw it...”

“Rumor is, it was a really handsome guy. Is he a student here?”

Listening to their chatter, Yan Luo quietly took out his English textbook for the afternoon lesson. His deskmate, Zheng Hong, scooted closer to gossip.

“Did you hear? Someone rode a horse to school today.”

“Oh.”

“Why aren’t you surprised?”

Seeing Yan Luo’s calm, unruffled expression, Zheng Hong was shocked. “It’s a horse! Riding a horse to school!”

“It’s not like I rode a dog,” Yan Luo replied, deflating his chatty deskmate in one sentence.

Zheng Hong fell silent for a moment, then muttered, “Horses are pretty expensive... I wonder what kind of family rides a horse to school. Maybe the son of some big boss? Like An Zixuan? But I never heard of this before. Could he be a transfer student?”

He tilted his head curiously, studying Yan Luo. “Why do you look so worn out? Where were you at noon? I didn’t see you in the cafeteria.”

Yan Luo: “...Guan Gong fighting aliens.”

Zheng Hong blinked, then caught on immediately. “That old movie? Must be decades old by now. But honestly, I’d rather watch Guan Gong fight the Xenomorph or the Predator.”

“The Xenomorph and Predator are aliens,” a boy behind them interjected.

This sparked a lively topic among the students before class, with everyone chiming in—Guan Gong fighting the Calabash Brothers, Voldemort, the Transformers—all sorts of wild imaginings.

Since Guan Yu was a martial saint everyone knew well, their imaginations ran wild. Eventually, the discussion turned to Guan Gong fighting Japanese devils, with someone even singing the “Great Sword March”: “Swing the blade down on the heads of the devils!” The conversation had certainly taken a bizarre turn.

It wasn’t until class started that the topic finally ended.

In the afternoon, during a break, Yan Luo gazed out at the playground and once again spotted Chen Beixue, a Level 5 Modulator.

The young girl had returned to school as well, though now her title above her head had changed from “Master Healer” in the contamination zone to “Big-Breasted Kind-Hearted,” probably because she thought ordinary students couldn’t see it, so she flaunted it freely.

After school, Yan Luo headed to a small eatery and ate heartily. With the assets gained from the Azure Dragon Gang, he no longer had to worry about meals. Unfortunately, the Spring-Autumn Great Sword had been ruined in battle.

As a great blade, to be broken in the hands of Lord Guan while fighting alien beings—that was an incomparable honor.

As dusk fell, Yan Luo retrieved his horse from old Ma’s house, mounted it, and prepared to leave.

“Horse, you stay in the kitchen by yourself.”

The horse, now equipped with low-level intelligence, entered the kitchen on its own. Yan Luo did not practice the Ten Directions Staff Technique in the hall. Instead, he went to the bathroom, washed up, then lay in the bathtub. Immersed in water, he decided to use his gene points.

He had gained 2 gene points from the contamination zone, bringing his total to 10.

Now, without hesitation, Yan Luo was determined to spend all 10 points on the Dream Gene, upgrading his biochemical genes—advancing from basic life to intermediate life.

Using 10 gene points.

Yan Luo’s body had always been comparatively perfect—ivory skin, streamlined muscles, and even his usually pollution-prone facial skin was delicate and smooth. Now, with the upgrade to intermediate life and gene modification, his appearance, skin, muscles, and bones were refined again, each aspect further approaching “perfection.”

The bathtub water turned murky, stained with numerous dead cells interlaced with blood-like streaks, creating a strange sight.

This transformation of life form—from inside out—felt like being shattered and painstakingly pieced back together. Even though Yan Luo suppressed his emotions, pain was etched across his face.

It was unbearably painful!

Probably more so than childbirth.

And it wasn’t a fleeting pain or contractions, but a prolonged, profound agony.

Minute by minute, hour by hour passed. Enduring the pain, Yan Luo changed the bathwater seven times. After more than ten hours, as dawn broke, the pain gradually waned and vanished. The water in the tub cleared.

Getting out of the bathtub, Yan Luo stood before the bathroom mirror.

“Well, looking even more handsome.”