A battle was unfolding within the territory of the Human Federation, close enough to be considered right on Lei Ting’s doorstep. The combatants were the Orion Human Federation and an alien fleet arriving from the direction of the Perseus Arm.
No... perhaps "fleet" was the wrong word. They were more accurately described as a "cluster of high-speed marching space bases."
This was because the enemy soldiers suffered no physiological issues from the bases' extreme marching speeds. They simply had no concept of "physiology" to begin with.
In short, they were a silicon-based sapient race known as the "Gah." Resembling clusters of multi-colored crystals, they were energy-crystalline lifeforms that naturally possessed a supernatural power core. When the Orion humans had genetically optimized the "Heavenly Eye" structure, they had actually referenced the energy circulation methods of the "Gah Core."
Within the Gah society, ranks were divided by the color of the crystal clusters, as different colors represented the different elements they could manipulate—mostly metallic elements found on the periodic table.
As for the pronunciation of their racial name, in their official native tongue, it meant "The Power of Ga." "Ga" was the sole deity in the Gah faith, believed to preside over everything from the birth to the extinction of silicon-based crystalline life.
"I recall Vice Speaker Erndell’s name, 'Glaherl,' is actually quite unlucky in the Gah linguistic system..." During a work handover, Suzanne chatted idly while her secondary brain processed documents at high speed.
"It is," Lei Ting nodded, floating about a dozen centimeters off the ground. As the record-holder for perfect scores in "Interspecies Relations" and related courses in recent years, he picked up the topic with ease.
"'Gla' is an onomatopoeia. In Gah culture and daily life, it only appears when a Gah individual’s supernatural core shatters and they can no longer maintain their radial crystal form—in other words, when they die. One of the reasons the first group of Gah established contact with us back then was that, like humans, they fear and loathe death.
"Therefore, when communicating with the Gah, one must try to avoid using onomatopoeia similar to 'Gla' or 'Ka'... and Vice Speaker Erndell’s name, in their system, likely translates to 'The Power of Death.'"
"Good grief, he comes with built-in intimidation..." A voice drifted in from the open doorway. "But if someone had 'Ka' in their name, wouldn't it be impossible to even talk to them?"
Lei Ting didn't need to turn around to know it was Legion Commander Valianna. And beside her stood another person...
...Shayne?
He turned back. His light-blocking visor was pitch black, faintly reflecting the glow of the incandescent lights on the ceiling.
"That is why the Gah do not have good relations with most races in the galaxy. Even with us, they severed diplomatic ties just a few decades after establishing them. Later, they gradually vanished from interstellar society, and now their average military strength has fallen completely behind the curve. This proves there must be something suspicious about their invasion."
As he spoke, he nodded toward Legion Commander Valianna and Shayne, who was peeking at him from behind her. "Good evening."
"..." Valianna looked thoughtfully at the space outside the simulated window. "To be honest, how do you always know the time of day, regardless of where you are?"
Although there was a strange trend among Orion humans to greet each other according to Earth time, most people nowadays couldn't even be bothered to check their optical computers when saying hello, let alone accurately state the time in a space environment every single time like Lei Ting did.
Lei Ting did not dodge the question. He said calmly, "I am in the habit of calculating time."
Ever since his school days, he had developed the habit of remembering every minute and second he spent. Thus, in all those years, he had never once misstated the time when greeting someone. Of course, his distraction with keeping time was actually just to rush to class or to time his reading and training sessions...
"..." Valianna fell silent for a moment, marveled with a "Truly, it could only be you," and then said, "I have a matter to discuss, and it concerns our 'S-class'."
Shayne? What could be the matter with him?
Lei Ting was somewhat puzzled, but he instinctively raised his guard: *Has something gone wrong with this 'protagonist'?*
At the same time, Valianna explained the reason: "Shayne believes people from Angye are trying to approach him. Given that Angye isn't exactly a good th—cough, a good person, I’d like to ask you to help look into what’s going on. As you know, I’m busy fighting a war, and I only know how to fight..."
*Valianna seems to value Shayne quite highly? And... Angye’s people?*
Lei Ting tilted his head slightly toward Suzanne. The latter gave no reaction but sent a message through the comms: [Unclear. I haven't received any related news. My apologies.]
[Angye has a very interesting team of his own. It’s normal that conventional intelligence methods can’t find them,] Lei Ting replied graciously, lost in thought.
*Angye’s people, approaching Shayne?*
Could Angye be the one who caused Shayne, this essentially passionate and kind 'protagonist,' to end up so miserable in the 'original work'?
No, not necessarily... at least based on what he knew of Upton Angye’s style, if the man wanted to utilize Shayne’s power, he would never choose the option of "turning a promising S-class esper into a weapon of war."
It wasn't that Angye was a man of high morals, but rather... if he actually did that, he wouldn't be able to pass either the Gazer or the Recorder.
Lei Ting "looked" at Shayne.
The beautiful blonde hair, the mysterious purple eyes, the handsome and delicate face, the tall, straight, yet slender and elegant build... Lei Ting looked at none of it.
What he focused on was the young man's physical health and mental state as an "S-class esper."
To his surprise, while Shayne’s mental state in the "original work" at this point should have already begun to fracture to the point where his abilities were becoming unstable, the youth standing before him now looked as healthy as could be.
"Shayne, code name 'Destroyer'?" Lei Ting spoke his name.
"Yes, sir!" Shayne seemed a bit excited, instinctively snapping to attention, his boot heels clicking loudly together. This was despite the fact that he was currently trembling from the suffocatingly powerful and terrifying pressure Lei Ting exuded.
*Why is this guy so jumpy?*
Thinking back, this wasn't the first time Shayne had reacted this way. That one look back at the Academy headquarters—the gaze of those purple eyes had been filled with adoration. But back then, Lei Ting's information had only just been declassified, and he hadn't done anything that could elevate his image to "idol" status...
It was too strange.
Could it be that the AI "Kurt" he carried with him had given him enough information? No, Shayne shouldn't be the type of person to admire someone purely for their power level.
As he pondered, Lei Ting’s mental strength swept over Shayne’s collarbone. Theoretically, there should be a wooden pendant there with heavy signs of wear—the only memento left to him by his parents and the place where "Kurt" resided.
But under this scan, Lei Ting couldn't help but freeze.
The pendant did indeed exist, but... there was no metallic reaction inside.
It wasn't like in the "original work," where a desperate Shayne had hollowed out the original compartment to stuff a chip processor inside. Furthermore, an emblem that felt somewhat familiar was carved into the inner layer of the wooden plaque.
Lei Ting searched his mind for a brief moment and directly located the environment where he had seen it for the first and only time.
An abandoned starship floating in space.
That was... the first mission site during his first internship with the First Legion!
Yes, right there in that starship’s hangar—that emblem that was completely colorless and difficult for Orion humans to identify!
His thoughts expanded and then retracted in an instant; Lei Ting grew solemn.
The situation had been urgent back then, and he hadn't thought deeply about it before or after. He had only remembered the mark because of the passive photographic memory of a high-level esper. Thinking about it now... it was far too familiar: a double-layered perfect circle representing the basic structure of a Ring World, with a crosshair base and an "eye" symbol inside...
Wasn't that the emblem of the Galactic Empire? The crest of the Galactic Imperial Royalty?!
Moreover, the Galactic Empire did indeed have a tradition of using coatings that other carbon-based lifeforms could not visually perceive to decorate their own symbols. They believed this was a good way to draw a line between ordinary carbon-based beings and the Empire, perfectly embodying the distinctiveness of the Imperial people.
Lei Ting fell silent. In the eyes of the three people around him, he was currently like a mountain of steel.
But a moment later, he suddenly said, "'Destroyer,' report your situation."
"Yes, sir!"
Shayne’s face flushed slightly, as if he felt ashamed of this overly chuunibyou title. What was even more embarrassing was that the registered name of his superpower was "Hand of Destruction"...
*I really should have picked the name myself back then!! Even calling it "Dice" would be better than this!* Shayne scolded himself inwardly.
Then, he gathered his thoughts and reported his situation to Lei Ting.
...
...
A long while later.
"So, you personally received invitations from Angye more than once, and in the two weeks after your third refusal, you discovered Angye’s people tailing you multiple times?" Lei Ting asked in a calm tone.
"Yes." Shayne nodded nervously.
"You seem very tense," Lei Ting said suddenly.
"No... I’m not!!" Shayne became even more tense, his emotions fluctuating wildly, though not much of it was negative. "I’m just... just..."
"He just admires you," Valianna said with a smile.
"..." Lei Ting remained silent.
"Yes... uh, yes!" Shayne quickly gave up on trying to hide it. "Your Excellency 'Solar Star,' I admire you very much! You can just call me by my name..."
*As long as you don't use that chuunibyou title!!*
"Thank you," Lei Ting nodded slightly.
"Ah... uh? Eh?" Shayne was dazed.
"I mean, thank you for your admiration. I hope I have brought a positive influence to you."
Lei Ting’s tone was peaceful, but in his mind, he was constantly rewinding the memory details the "Recorder" had given him previously, finally confirming that the emblem indeed belonged to the Galactic Empire.
To that end, he pondered for a moment how to tactfully bring it up, then abandoned that unnecessary and time-consuming thought within a second.
"I will ask Angye about his business," Lei Ting said deeply. "Now, Shayne, who gave you your necklace pendant?"
"...?"
This question, which seemed completely unrelated to the matter at hand, made Valianna raise an eyebrow. But she knew Lei Ting wouldn't speak nonsense, so she also looked toward Shayne’s collar.
"...?"
Knowing that anything Lei Ting specifically pointed out must be serious, Suzanne looked up from her documents.
"...?"
Watched intensely by three powerful individuals, Shayne’s throat tightened. "..."
---
### Glossary
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 加赫 | Gah | A silicon-based crystalline alien race from the Perseus Arm. |
| 加的力量 | Power of Ga | The meaning of the Gah racial name; "Ga" is their sole deity. |
| 格拉 | Gla | An onomatopoeia in the Gah language representing the shattering of their core (death). |
| 毁灭之手 | Hand of Destruction | Shayne's official registered superpower name. |
| 毁灭者 | Destroyer | Shayne's code name. |
| 环世界 | Ring World | A massive space structure; its basic shape is part of the Galactic Empire's crest. |
| 银河帝国 | Galactic Empire | A powerful interstellar empire; its crest is hidden on Shayne's necklace. |
| 阿普顿·昂耶 | Upton Angye | A powerful figure in the Federation; potentially suspicious. |
| 记录者 | Recorder | One of the high-level entities or roles mentioned in the context of memories. |
| 凝望者 | Gazer | Another high-level entity or role mentioned alongside the Recorder. |
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