I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate-Chapter 114: Second Evolution

"Senior Su Ze!"

Han Xiaoke’s excited voice shattered the classroom’s silence.

Su Ze smiled at her. "Don’t call me ’Senior’ anymore. We’re in the same year."

Han Xiaoke nodded, embarrassed. She had seen Su Ze on campus at Dongli University before and subconsciously assumed he was an upperclassman who had enrolled ahead of her.

The other students in the class snapped back to reality, their faces flush with excitement. A few of the bolder girls, in particular, looked like they were ready to fight for the seat next to Su Ze.

The male students, however, had more complicated feelings. On one hand, they felt honored to share a class with Su Ze. On the other, they knew they were doomed to never be the hottest guy in the room—the ’prime mating rights’ had already been locked down.

If the teacher hadn’t been there, the classroom would have likely descended into chaos.

Even so, students were still pretending to be casual while secretly taking photos of Su Ze in the back row with their phones, ready to post on social media and show off.

"Alright." Jiang Hong was a teacher, after all. Despite his own shock, he didn’t forget his duty to maintain order. "You’re all classmates now, so you’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted. Settle down for now. We have important matters to discuss!"

Once all eyes were on him, Jiang Hong continued, "I’m here today to go over a few things. First, we need to select our class officers. Second, in a few days, after the freshman assessment concludes, you all need to prepare for the freshman military training."

"First up, class officers. Any volunteers or nominations?"

The moment Jiang Hong finished speaking, several female students raised their hands.

"Sir, I nominate Su Ze to be class president."

"I agree!"

"I agree, too!"

Su Ze blinked, completely unprepared. ’I don’t want to be class president,’ he thought. ’It’s a lot of work and way too much trouble.’

An even bolder female student chimed in, "I suggest we make Su Ze our dorm leader."

’Geez,’ Su Ze thought. ’It’s a girls’ dorm. How would I even get in?’

Making him the dorm leader was obviously a joke, but making him class president was clearly the popular consensus.

Seeing Jiang Hong’s gaze land on him, as if asking for his opinion, Su Ze quickly went up and whispered a few words in his ear.

A look of understanding dawned on Jiang Hong’s face. "It seems Su Ze won’t be able to serve as class president," he announced. "Please nominate someone else."

Many of the students looked disappointed.

Su Ze had simply told Jiang Hong that even though he was in the Research Department, he had already made an arrangement with Pei Wuhua to participate in the Six-Nation Exchange Tournament. As a result, he would need to spend a significant amount of time preparing and wouldn’t have the energy to manage class affairs.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Jiang," Su Ze added, seizing the opportunity. "I need to prepare for the freshman assessment over the next few days. I’d like to request a few days off."

If any other student had asked for several days off right at the start of the semester, Jiang Hong would certainly not have agreed so easily. But since the request came from Su Ze, he didn’t give him a hard time. He just asked a few questions before approving it.

After all, if Su Ze took first place in the freshman assessment, it would bring glory to their class.

And just like that, with his leave approved, Su Ze left class early. He went home and dove headfirst into practicing the Swan Dance.

Meanwhile, on the Dongli University student forums, several posts shot to the top of the trending topics list.

"Shocking! Su Ze Abandons the Sword for the Pen!"

"Su Ze’s True Dream Is to Become an Evolutionary Scientist."

"Su Ze Enrolls in the Research Department’s Evolution Program!"

At first, the students of Dongli University refused to believe the posts claiming Su Ze was majoring in evolution. But the posts had photographic proof, and a growing number of first-year students from Evolution Class 2 were confirming the news.

For a while, nobody could quite accept the news.

Was Su Ze really going to abandon his incredible talent to become a researcher?

No one could understand Su Ze’s choice.

All sorts of theories and speculations began to surface.

Some claimed Su Ze had failed his second evolution and lost heart. Others speculated that his power during the Pupa Stage had come at the cost of his future potential, meaning his path of evolution had come to an end. Still others said he was just a flash in the pan...

But Su Ze paid no attention to any of it. He was in the final sprint.

The freshman assessment had been scheduled for January 15th.

On January 14th, the day before the freshman assessment, Su Ze finally finished absorbing the Black-bellied Flood Dragon Extract.

’A Tier-3 S-rank extract is really tough to absorb,’ he mused. ’I’ve already used up all my Tomorrow Flower Petals.’

Su Ze lay back on his bed, regulating his physical state.

His body was now at the absolute peak of the Pupa Stage; it was virtually impossible for anyone else at this stage to be stronger than him.

To have reached this point, he had absorbed a total of eight vials of extract.

These included two vials of Tier-1 S-rank extract (from the Giant Power Ant and Unihorn Rhinoceros), one vial of Tier-2 D-rank extract (from the Rock Scorpion), three vials of Tier-2 S-rank extract (from the Undying Salamander, Mutated Giant Crocodile, and Mutated Upright Ape), and one vial of Tier-3 S-rank extract (from the Black-bellied Salamander), in addition to the unranked extract from the Divine Grace of Evolution.

The sheer quality and quantity of these extracts were unparalleled by anyone else in the Pupa Stage.

This had laid an incredibly solid foundation for him, making his second evolution a foregone conclusion.

A red evolutionary light suffused Su Ze’s body. Sensing he had reached his peak state, Su Ze focused his will. The evolutionary power within him began to boil as he initiated his second evolution!

The evolutionary power began to transmute, steadily shifting from red to orange.

This newly converted orange energy surged into Su Ze’s body, permeating every cell and remodeling him from the inside out.

Once all the evolutionary power in his body had transformed to orange, it began to weave an orange cocoon around him.

The evolutionary cocoon enveloped Su Ze completely. He felt as if he were melting, each of his cells detaching from his body one by one. Eventually, he was "melted" down into a great mass of liquid, sloshing within the cocoon.

The sensation was bizarre. Su Ze remained fully conscious, observing the changes within himself. It was as if he were a piece of iron, melted down only to be reforged anew.

In the process, his cells were strengthened and his genes rewritten, allowing him to take a step toward a higher plane of existence.

An unknown amount of time passed before Su Ze felt his "body" begin to flow. Inside the cocoon, it was slowly molded back into a human form, complete with a skeleton, a skull, and four limbs. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Then, the evolutionary power that formed the cocoon began to unravel, like silk being reeled from its source, flowing from the cocoon and merging into Su Ze’s body.

As the cocoon grew thinner, the details of Su Ze’s body became clearer. His facial features and hair gradually returned to normal.

When the evolutionary cocoon vanished completely, fully absorbed, Su Ze had returned to his original form. The only difference was that his skin seemed healthier and his spirit more vibrant.

Su Ze felt the changes in his body and a smile spread across his face. "So this is the second evolution... It’s incredible. No wonder they call it the Cocoon Stage."