Rat Ridge City.
Dawn. Lan Xia’s room.
“How is it? Do the clothes fit?”
Faint sweet fragrance filled the air. Cocoa milk tea powder was brewed with hot water. Lan Xia poured a cup for Shou Bing. “I don’t know your preferences. This cup has less sugar.”
“Thank you… The clothes fit well.”
Shou Bing awkwardly accepted the water cup and placed it on the table, his fingers anxiously twisting together.
“You don’t need to worry. This is Dawn, also an anti-Federation organization. You’re very safe here,” Lan Xia said.
“Mr. Lan Xia, I’m very sorry for hurting you earlier.” Shou Bing said guiltily.
He sat with proper posture, delicate features, appearing well-raised, speaking in a careful voice. Even his hair seemed to convey restraint—completely different from the person who wanted to commit suicide and the fierce look when he first woke up.
While changing clothes, Algiers had explained everything to him.
Though Algiers was his peer and handled matters well, he could sense the other had some grievance against him. He later learned that Mr. Lan Xia was the other’s teacher… and he had injured Mr. Lan Xia.
No wonder Algiers had grievances against him. If roles were reversed, his attitude might not be any better than Algiers’.
Actually, when Lan Xia had been grooming his mental storm, he had already been somewhat conscious. Shou Bing carefully glanced at the finger marks he had left on Lan Xia’s neck from choking him.
“…That attack—you actually could have counterattacked immediately, right?”
Lan Xia was stunned, then smiled: “Yes, but when an S-level mental power evolver instinctively counterattacks when ambushed, given your state having just experienced a mental storm, you probably couldn’t have withstood it.”
As expected.
Shou Bing couldn’t help but clench his fingers. So besides his father and Elansno, there was another S-level mental power evolver.
“Why aren’t you trying to commit suicide anymore?” Lan Xia said.
“I’ve figured it out,” Shou Bing pressed his lips. “I can’t just listen to Elansno’s one-sided story. The one who made Suto disappear was Wright from the Second Army. If I really died and saw my father, he’d definitely scold me for being useless again. I’m at fault, but I want to kill them with my own hands even more.”
Lan Xia nodded. “This is the Northwest Sector, safer than other places, but you’re now being hunted by the Federation with an extremely high bounty. There are probably people in the Northwest Sector with designs on you too. Have you thought about where to go next?”
Shou Bing was silent for a while, then said: “…I want to stay with Dawn.”
“I’m not an ungrateful person. You saved me, so I should repay you anyway. Besides, I have nowhere else to go right now.”
“Also…” The teenager suddenly stood up, first bowing ninety degrees to Lan Xia, stammering: “If—if you, sir, could guide me on mental power issues and help me become strong, I’d be willing to do anything!”
Shou Bing’s face flushed completely red, feeling mortified by his own thick skin. What was he doing now? Begging someone who saved him and was injured because of him to take him in. Having nothing at all, yet asking others to teach him… This was simply… an impossible request that would never be granted.
But in the entire Federation, aside from his dead father and the hostile Elansno, only this S-level evolver before him could lead him forward.
He didn’t have to wait long before a light laugh came from above.
“I’m afraid that won’t work.”
Shou Bing’s ears flushed completely red, his heart sinking.
Lan Xia said: “Algiers is the one in charge of Dawn. If you can get him to agree, you can stay. Besides, to have me teach you, you’d need to become my student first, right? But even if you stay, wanting to acknowledge me as your teacher won’t be so easy.”
Lan Xia patted the teenager’s back and left in quite a good mood.
Only after he had been gone for a while did Shou Bing slowly open his eyes wide, snapping bolt upright.
…
A few minutes later.
Algiers and Shou Bing sat facing each other.
Shou Bing stammered: “…That’s how things are. Please give me a chance to stay.”
Due to excessive nervousness, his hands lost control of their strength, and with one effort, he snapped off a corner of the table.
“…S-sorry!”
Shou Bing stared blankly, nearly crying from his own stupidity.
Algiers held his forehead in exasperation.
What stay or not stay—teacher had probably calculated this early on. He didn’t believe teacher would let go of an S-level mental power evolver reserve. Of course, even if teacher really was willing to let him go, he wouldn’t be.
Such good future labor… no, talent.
However, although he had heard early on that young master Suto was introverted by nature, he never would have imagined the other had such a personality.
Algiers considered: “Tell me what you can do.”
“I know a bit about training soldiers techniques, cleaning, helping the wounded…” Shou Bing’s voice grew smaller and smaller.
The things he knew, Dawn surely had people who knew them too, and he was clumsy and prone to messing things up… Just like his father said, a useless person who couldn’t do anything right.
He said dejectedly: “I should be pretty good at cooking…”
Algiers suddenly heard this line: “Hm? What did you say?”
His eyes lit up: “You can cook?”
Shou Bing was confused: “Yes, my father wasn’t in good health, so I occasionally made some nourishing food for him.”
“Dear brother,” Algiers solemnly patted his shoulder. “From now on, Dawn’s kitchen is yours.”
“…Huh?”
——
The half-month punishment period passed in the blink of an eye.
Kang Quan waited at the Imperial Capital port with a team. The warship hovered in the air, the hatch wide open, extending all the way to the port edge. After waiting a long time, they finally saw the guards escorting someone out.
Twilight was falling, the port behind them rendered in pale black and deep blue.
The guards formed two orderly rows, leaving a passage in the middle.
The suppression ring around Elansno’s neck had been removed. His entire body was wrapped in a wide black military cloak, his pale complexion even colder than the silver mask’s luster.
Kang Quan quickly looked him up and down. Finding nothing amiss, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Admiral.”
Elansno’s steps didn’t stop, walking directly toward the hatch.
Kang Quan turned to the guards: “Where’s your Captain Lan?”
The guard soldier said: “The captain didn’t come today. His Majesty sent him on other business. His Majesty says the Admiral’s punishment has ended. For the coming period, Adjutant Kang Quan is asked to take good care of the Admiral.”
“I understand. Please convey my thanks to His Majesty.”
The guards still had to watch them safely depart to complete their mission. After acknowledging them, Kang Quan hurried to catch up with that tall figure ahead.
The half-month punishment had ended. The Admiral seemed fine, with no smell of blood on him. His Majesty indeed favored and trusted the Admiral—the so-called punishment was just for show for the Federation citizens.
Thinking this, Kang Quan: “Admi—”
Elansno swayed, and with a thud, braced himself against the hatch with one hand.
“Admiral?” Kang Quan’s expression showed alarm.
“…”
Elansno closed his eyes, brow tightly furrowed. He seemed to have tinnitus, tilting his head as if he couldn’t hear clearly.
After a long while, he asked in a low voice as if confirming: “…Kang Quan?” His voice was weak and hoarse, as if he hadn’t spoken for a long time.
Because he was supporting himself against the hatch, the arm hidden under the military cloak was exposed. At the tightly bound cuffs, at that beautifully shaped wrist bone, were purple bruises left by chains—shocking and fierce.
Kang Quan gripped Elansno’s arm. “It’s me, Admiral.”
“…Mm.”
Elansno’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly.
The next second, without warning, his entire body fell forward silently.
…
In the consciousness.
Gong Du had become a black orb squeezed together with the small light orb.
Energy-formed sunflower seed shells rustled down.
Small light orb: “…Can you stop cracking those? This is all I have.”
Gong Du: “Can’t crack them in the real world to maintain character settings, cracking them in my brain is the same,” he said curiously. “So this is how comfortable you usually are—just like watching movies and eating snacks.”
The two of them were both in the consciousness now, clearly watching a group of people bustling about outside.
Elansno had been sent to the medical pod. Dr. Kane, who had come along, finally got his turn to be useful. A man in his prime, he sweated profusely from busyness.
In Gong Du’s consciousness were two huge dynamic screens—one from Elansno’s perspective, one from Lan Xia’s perspective.
He was now in the shape of a black orb, finding it quite novel, flying around, tossing seed shells everywhere.
The small light orb angrily swatted away the seed shells on its head: “Can you stop littering in your own brain?”
“You didn’t say that about yourself when you were littering.”
Gong Du circled around and came back. “From now on, you need to help me selectively block that chip in my brain domain that detects special mental fluctuations. If I get caught again it’ll affect my script.”
“I’m monitoring it, don’t worry.” The small light orb cracked sunflower seeds. “But I have a question—you haven’t broken Lan Xia’s gentle perfect persona, have you? I saw the Algiers siblings saying behind your back that you’re actually hard to get close to. They looked pretty sad about it.”
“When did I ever say Lan Xia was a gentle perfect persona?”
“Huh?”
Gong Du smiled.
No one is truly perfect. Although Gong Du wore a veneer of gentle perfection when first approaching the protagonist group, that was undoubtedly too fake.
“For humans, the harder something is to obtain, the more precious it is. If Lan Xia were genuinely gentle toward everyone, that gentleness would be too cheap.”
They needed to obtain positive emotions from the protagonists—the ultimate goal was to collect fortune. The higher the positive emotions, the more fortune the world consciousness would feedback to them.
“I won’t deliberately curry favor and give in order to gain positive emotions. On the contrary, I’ll make them give to me. The more they invest in me, the more they’ll care, and the deeper the bond will become.”
“Lan Xia is their teacher. Juniors yearning for their elders’ care is human nature.”
Gong Du chuckled: “Look—Lan Xia didn’t do anything except cough up blood while helping Shou Bing suppress his mental storm and say a few words. The protagonist group discovered that their teacher is actually someone warm on the outside but cold within, someone who won’t easily let others into his inner world.”
“—And not just that. They also discovered Lan Xia’s stomach illness that he never mentioned, took care of him, even worried he’d feel they were troubling him, so they carefully hid their concern, remembered Lan Xia’s preferences, just wanting their teacher to eat a bit more, wanting even more to become people truly recognized by their teacher.”
Gong Du finished his leisurely analysis, having also finished cracking seeds. “These are all things the protagonist group discovered themselves. Lan Xia didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything—clean and clear.”
The small light orb fell silent.
Having been an exam supervisor for many years, this was the first time it had heard such analytical reasoning.
After a long while, it said dryly: “…Put that way, the protagonist group seems a bit pitiful.”
“Pitiful?” Gong Du countered: “Am I not good to them?”
Small light orb: “Very good.”
“To save them, shrapnel pierced through my abdominal cavity. Was that injury fake?”
“…It was real.”
“My daily care and meticulous attention to them—is that fake?”
“…No.”
“Helping Shou Bing suppress his mental storm, my frozen meridians—was that fake?”
“…”
“As their teacher, haven’t I given them proper guidance? Have my abilities and knowledge misled them?”
“…”
Gong Du smiled: “So, I’m the one who’s injured, I’m the one in pain, I’m the one destined for a bad end. What’s there to pity them for?”
“Exam supervisor, instead of pitying them, you should pity me.”
**
