The window was half-open. A seventeen-year-old Evenheiler lay on his side in bed, his consciousness blurred by the throbbing pain in the back of his neck and the unfamiliar scents that had begun to permeate his every breath.
Energy surged violently, and sparse, fragmented starlight flickered around him. Compared to Lei Ting’s unnervingly stable reaction during his own awakening, this was the normal manifestation of a superpowered individual entering their awakening period.
Yet, bolstered by the hypersensitivity of his senses during this period, he still heard the voices he wished he hadn't.
Within his mind, Lei Ting’s consciousness frowned deeply. Setting aside the fact that brainwashing and illegal gland-removal surgery without consent were violations of the law and personal rights, Katryn Kang’s thoughts, actions, and the ideas he had been intentionally or unintentionally instilling in Evenheiler were clearly aimed at molding this highly gifted child into his own ideal image.
To achieve this, he was willing to sacrifice the boy’s health, his power potential, and his entire future.
After all, to Katryn, this child had never been more than a "glittering facade." A facade only needed to be bright enough; merchants were masters of deception, and they never pursued the absolute best—only the most useful.
As for why he was like this, Lei Ting had no interest in understanding. He only felt...
His fists tightening.
...
Sensing the agitation and fury in Lei Ting’s heart, Evenheiler instead let out a sudden smile. A small portion of the pain that had long haunted his heart seemed to peel away, falling like flakes of pale paint from a crumbling wall.
This was good... wasn't it?
The events had already passed, but those old scars that Evenheiler had learned to ignore were, in the eyes of the young Sun, each a valid reason for rage.
This feeling of being truly seen and cared for would make anyone realize: *I am special to him.*
And Evenheiler... liked that feeling.
"So, even though your family owns a pharmaceutical company, you abused inhibitors to that extent..." Lei Ting recalled the sensation of first perceiving the other man's physical condition. The ship—no, the *grip strength meter*—under his hand let out another sharp *crack!* "Because you were indoctrinated with a twisted logic from childhood. In that logic, you should be an Alpha, you could only be an Alpha, and if you weren't..."
【...Then I was bringing shame upon the family and my father.】 Evenheiler’s voice was calm. 【Therefore, even though I gained the right to live as myself through Essengar’s pleas, the younger version of me still held myself to that twisted logic. And later... I could no longer turn back.】
He understood. Everything finally made sense. Whether it was why Evenheiler, as a powerful man, always harbored a trace of self-doubt, or why someone from a pharmaceutical family with a high-level education would abuse inhibitors that weren't even addictive.
—Because to his past self, everything about him was a mistake, a series of false curtains.
His bloodline had provided no warm harbor; his wisdom and strength could not earn him the only familial affection he had ever known.
On the contrary, the day he gained power and differentiated his gender, he realized the true face of his environment. So, he spent the following years deceiving himself and forcing changes upon his body, until even after realizing it was wrong, he could no longer restore his health to a normal state.
His psychological state was also explained—from that moment on, his once-solid personal convictions were shaken by it all: *They say only those who do wrong are punished, and I have done no wrong, nor have I been punished, so why am I in such pain? Why would the father I rely on treat me this way?*
To the boy he was then, his father’s image was still the one from years ago—tall, brilliant, and beyond reproach. If his father couldn't be wrong, then the fault had to lie with the child.
From that moment, the dependency and affection built since childhood drove the boy to try and become what his father wanted, even at the cost of self-destruction.
【He said it was for my own good.】 Evenheiler flew down to land beside Lei Ting, sitting cross-legged. He looked down at Lei Ting’s hand, which was deathly tight around the edge of the ship’s hull. 【Of course, if the current me heard those words, I’d definitely tell him, "You’re full of shit!" —Hah, it’s just a pity he died when I was nineteen...】
Katryn died that early?
Lei Ting was stunned, his anger dissipating slightly.
【And,】 Evenheiler chuckled, 【back then, I actually ran away from home in a daze and wandered around my city. Some of my classmates... I met them during that time.】
The sense of weakness and confusion faded slightly. Lei Ting blinked and found himself standing at the mouth of a dim alleyway. Inside, a one-sided bullying session seemed to be unfolding. Lei Ting instinctively moved forward and, as expected, triggered a battle.
There wasn't much to say about this fight. Lei Ting didn't even use Evenheiler’s energy within the illusion; relying solely on his own combat prowess as a master of weapons and martial arts, he nearly sent the group to the afterlife.
Afterward, amidst the unconscious bodies littering the ground, he locked eyes with several other young people who had also rushed out to help.
The leader of this group had a peculiar appearance. He had poorly-textured white hair and a pair of red-and-green prosthetic eyes that moved with a certain mechanical stiffness when he looked away, yet his smile was broad and warm, instantly inspiring goodwill.
Lei Ting’s gaze turned subtly strange. He had seen this man before, in... the archives of the Resistance founders.
His name was Solo Morgan. He came from a frontier star system and was one of the few students who had dropped out of the First Military Academy. An A-rank esper, he was currently the leader of the Resistance, though he hadn't appeared publicly in interstellar society for over a decade.
The people around him were also mostly identified as high-ranking members of the Resistance, all of whom had dropped out alongside Solo Morgan.
The Human Federation’s internal investigation files explicitly stated that Evenheiler Kang had been very close to this group during their school days. Thus, when "Starstream" was declared missing and subsequently appeared on the side of the Resistance a few times, the Federal Council’s decision-makers weren't surprised at all.
—So this was when they met...
Lei Ting was thoughtful.
He intentionally kept his thoughts on these official matters messy and fleeting. Evenheiler showed no intention of introducing the group further, merely remarking after quickly calculating the battle score: 【Your combat techniques are indeed excellent.】
Lei Ting raised an eyebrow. "Compared to you?"
【You’ve still got a long way to go, kid.】 Evenheiler gave a snorting laugh, but then reached out to press his hand over Lei Ting’s slightly relaxed fingers, prying them open one by one and holding them in his own, looking down at the gauntlet.
【After that,】 he said nonchalantly, 【they escorted me out of those 'Cracks.' Most of the people we met on the way were genuinely smiling at them, which made me curious—why? When I arrived, those people had nothing but indifference and hostility in their hearts.】
"Maybe because they were acquaintances?" Lei Ting replied casually.
【No.】 Evenheiler said. 【Perhaps you don't understand... it's because they treated those people as equals.】
Lei Ting fell silent.
How could he not understand? He was the person in this world who understood that best: *If you love the people, the people will love you.*
He watched everything through Evenheiler’s perspective, seeing a kind-faced old lady pull Solo aside to chat. Inexplicably, he thought of those two Stargates—'Chang'an' and 'Rome'—and everything they represented, as well as the lives changed by them generation after generation.
And in this story, Evenheiler’s gaze had also been fixed on all of this.
Watching everything that existed outside his original life.
【...Then I went home. I believed an Omega could do anything an Alpha could, and even be stronger. I could become what my father wanted—I tried to find a balance within the chaos.】
Evenheiler said.
【Of course, I realized later that my successful escape from home was itself my father’s instruction. He wanted me to suffer outside because of my exposed Omega status so that I would more readily accept the modification surgery. Unfortunately for him, I was too strong; I didn't turn out the way he envisioned.】
Lei Ting’s fingers twitched. This time he resisted the urge to grip down—if he did, it wouldn't be the "grip strength meter" that had a problem, but Evenheiler’s hand.
Though that level of pressure would only cause the other man a bit of pain, he wanted to avoid it if possible.
Evenheiler smiled and lowered his head, kissing Lei Ting’s hand through the gauntlet, which remained clean due to the isolation of his superpower. 【Later, I got into the First Military Academy and went to school according to the original plan.】
The scene shifted, and the scenery of the *Sun* from over twenty years ago appeared before Lei Ting’s eyes. He breathed in the familiar yet strange air, looking at people who were almost entirely strangers... well, okay, the "Logistics Chief" and the "Principal" hadn't changed at all.
【Unsurprisingly, I was still the strongest in the crowd. And, I had a group of new, true friends.】
Class after class, battle after battle, laughter after laughter... Evenheiler walked through the first truly transformative year of his life with friends Lei Ting had seen many times on wanted posters and danger assessments. Throughout it all, he wore his blue inhibitor collar, always the most brilliant and dazzling person at the center of the crowd.
But at the same time, Evenheiler continued to inject himself with excessive doses of inhibitors at necessary moments, pretending to be just a less-sensitive, ordinary Omega.
Then, the screen suddenly went pitch black.
【During my first internship... in my own hometown, I saw a scene I had never imagined.】
Evenheiler’s tone dropped and grew heavy. A deep-seated melancholy and pain finally woke from the brief moments of joy.
And Lei Ting—or rather, the Evenheiler of that time—stood at the mouth of an alley in those familiar "Cracks." Before him lay over a hundred corpses scattered haphazardly, with some half-dead survivors being kept barely alive by medical personnel dressed in white.
"Looks like someone got high again and dared to speed a test-model hovercar on the Capital Star." Someone beside him muttered indifferently. "Hitting these people doesn't matter. If they hit a landmark or someone important up there, then I'd like to see what they'd do!"
"How can you talk like that?" someone on the other side slapped the speaker. "What if someone records you? It’d be bad—alright, submit the evidence and move out. Wait for orders from above!"
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 六元性别分化 | Six-way gender differentiation | Refers to the ABO gender system (Alpha/Beta/Omega, male/female). |
| 夹缝 | The Cracks | A specific slum or marginalized area in the city. |
| 索罗·摩根 | Solo Morgan | Founder/Leader of the Resistance. |
| 星流 | Starstream | Evenheiler's title/codename. |
| 太阳号 | The Sun | Likely the name of a ship or a specific academy facility. |
| 首府星 | Capital Star | The primary administrative planet of the Federation. |
Enjoying the story? Rate this novel:
Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 128 | Echoes of the Past | Novela.app | Novela.app
