“Doctor, I have some issues I need to consult you on.”
“Speak.”
“I’ve been feeling a constant urge to kill. What should I do?”
“...”
By the floor-to-ceiling window, Lei Ting removed the book covering his face. He turned his head expressionlessly. “Lost again?”
With his back to him, Evenheiler gently set down the controller and took a long, deep breath.
This single breath caused the air pressure in the room to shift, nearly creating a vacuum in the small space before him. As he exhaled, a glow like a silver nebula was blown outward.
For a moment, the entire room felt like a dream... though, fortunately, no gaming screens were harmed in the making of this scene.
“I am truly baffled by what they think they’re doing,” the man with hair like white gold said in a calm tone. “Playing a competitive game without killing a single person—are they just spending their play-time practicing pacifism? Didn't you just get your psychological intervention license last year? Use the trans-quantum network to help me analyze what’s going on in these people's heads.”
“...Did you run into AIs?” Lei Ting paused slightly. “Hasn't the Collective banned most non-conventional personalities of digital lifeforms from entering competitive games?”
“In the previous round, Administrator Evenheiler’s teammates were simply too foolish. Please, Administrator Lei Ting, refrain from verbally insulting digital life,” a synthesized mechanical voice rang out from nowhere. “Otherwise, I shall consider going on strike.”
“Haifamis is right,” Evenheiler said. “For the sake of her long and diligent service, you should apologize... Also, Haifamis, look up the coordinates of those teammates from the last match. I want to go have a 'chat' with them...”
“My apologies, it was my mistake. Please forgive me,” Lei Ting said. His expression was earnest, and he even reached out to pat the time-display projection beside him with just the right amount of pressure, as if he were actually receiving haptic feedback. “And, cancel that last instruction.”
“Based on detailed analysis, your sincerity level is 93%. Given that the theoretical maximum sincerity for sapient beings in the internal database is 95%, I accept your apology. Thank you both for your respect.”
The shipboard AI, Haifamis, replied, adding: “Instruction processing and feedback for Administrator ‘Evenheiler’ has been suspended. To be honest, I was almost ready to start recalculating our course.”
Evenheiler gritted his teeth, his hair puffing up until his silhouette looked like a platinum-blonde ball of yarn.
Lei Ting let out a laugh, walked over to sit beside him, and leaned in to nudge him.
Evenheiler followed the motion and leaned away, stubbornly refusing to let Lei Ting touch him.
This made Lei Ting laugh even harder. For a while, the room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, until His Excellency 'Starflow' shot him an expressionless glare.
“Alright, alright, my fault, my fault,” Lei Ting raised his hands in surrender, his voice softening. “Forgive me.”
“...” Evenheiler, who hadn't really been angry to begin with, quickly relaxed his posture. “You’ve improved.”
“Hmm?”
“In recent years, you rarely accidentally make your words sound like threats or commands anymore,” Evenheiler said.
He leaned back into the sofa, looking up at the ocean projection on the ceiling.
“It shows you’re gradually finding your true nature again, moving away from the influence of those days,” he said. “You even had the leisure to earn twenty degrees. I’m glad.”
“It’s nineteen. Last month’s certificate hasn't been issued yet.” Lei Ting shrugged. “The network is still too slow these days.”
“Which is why those teammates from earlier must be nearby...”
“No, Even. I know you’re joking, but I still have to answer you this way because you know I will.”
Lei Ting leaned down and kissed a strand of Evenheiler’s hair.
“That would be illegal, and immoral,” he said.
Evenheiler burst into laughter, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes crinkling into beautiful arcs.
“I just love seeing you like this,” he laughed, standing up and taking a few light-footed steps. “When I suggest something—something that breaks your principles—you oppose me so firmly!”
...What kind of hobby is that?
Lei Ting was stunned. He stood frozen for a full three seconds, which was practically an eternity for him.
Evenheiler seemed to know what he was thinking.
“You spoil me too much normally.” The older man opened a wall-sized cold storage unit, his tone blatant with the confidence of someone who knew they were favored. “It makes me feel like a child sometimes...
“But clearly, you’re the younger one, Lei Ting. Can’t you show a bit more youthful vigor? Let me feel, just occasionally, like I’m not talking to a peer—or even someone older than me?”
...
...Youthful vigor?
Lei Ting fell into deep thought.
...
...
“...How can one be more ‘vigorous’?” Susanna’s tone was full of confusion. “Excellency, are you sure you haven't used the wrong word?”
Lei Ting shook his head, then smiled. “After all this time, you still can’t drop the habit of using honorifics?”
“What do you think? If this were twenty years ago and the war hadn't ended, I’d suspect you were about to say ‘Then I’ll help you change it’ before my head went flying, and my own control permissions wouldn't have done a damn thing,” Susanna deadpanned.
“Don’t test me, Susanna. I never said that. The only time I did something like that was fifteen years ago when you needed help,” Lei Ting spread his hands, his handsome face wearing a gentle smile as always. “When your own permissions were seized by a digital lifeform's virus, I had no choice but to separate the main control core from the chassis.”
Super-cyborgs didn't mind a bit of 'decapitation' anyway.
“Fine.” Susanna confirmed he was himself and let out a simulated sigh of relief, steering the topic back to the beginning. “Vigor... Excel—Lei Ting, I want to ask you a question.”
“What?”
“What were you thinking, coming to ask a person who is currently only 5% human this question?” Susanna’s synthetic face wore a very complex expression. “And, have you considered that since our school days, I’ve been just like you? Sandro used to say, ‘When you walk over, I thought a teacher had arrived.’”
These words were like a thunderclap. Lei Ting opened his mouth, nearly unable to make a sound. “...Ah.”
Right. Susanna never had a drop of youthful vigor in her entire body back then, and now she didn't even have a trace of 'human' left in her. Why was he asking her?
Perhaps it was because, among the people he knew back then, so few had survived.
“You’re right.” Lei Ting shook his head with a strange expression. “Anyway, as a friend, do you have any suggestions?”
“Think back to the days when you could actually laugh—how did you act then?” Susanna shrugged. “Back then, you were much more human than me. Don't be fooled by how much I laughed; I was just imitating Sandro. That’s right, I was always imitating him.”
With that, she hung up the communication without even a goodbye. For a moment, Lei Ting thought she was sad, but by the time Susanna’s human percentage had dropped to 8%, she should have already digitized her primary consciousness and carefully edited her emotional response modules.
—She must have written all of that into her base data, Lei Ting thought.
His intuition wouldn't be wrong. Susanna had absolutely written everything—everything about Sandro, about her best friend, from their meeting to that day of... eternal parting, and every detail in between—into the data that formed her core. She could never move on, because if her life were a tree, her roots had been destined to entwine with Sandro’s from the moment she was a seed.
Even if they could never have been lovers, it was only because they understood each other too well.
Lei Ting sighed, leaning back into the pilot’s seat, wondering what opportunity he could find to make up for his earlier 'stodginess.'
“What’s wrong?” Evenheiler asked.
He had just walked into the bridge, carrying a plate of strangely shaped but fragrant fruit and two handmade desserts. Lei Ting had made them earlier and put them in cold storage; they tasted quite good.
Lei Ting pulled back his thoughts and met Evenheiler’s gaze. “In a moment, we’re going to see a supernova explosion.” He tilted his chin toward the front viewport. “A magnificent birth from twenty-six million years ago. The string of 'photographs' the universe took of it will pass through here today.
“Actually, it shouldn't have taken this long; we aren't that far from it... but there’s a special environment near it that, without affecting the laws of mathematics, caused the light’s progress to be stagnated and delayed. It’s a rare spectacle.”
“I see. I didn't see any news about it. You found this yourself? But you didn't seem to use the main computer's processing power to look for it?”
“Of course not. I calculated it myself.”
Evenheiler’s brow twitched. “...Fine. I’m a Limit-Breaker too, so why don't I have your calculation capacity?”
“Perhaps you just need to practice and tap into your own infinite potential... Do you want me to prepare a set of practice problems for you? I’ll try to keep them—”
“Don’t.”
“Alright.”
Evenheiler hurried out to get drinks, his retreating back almost looking like he was fleeing in terror. Beside the wall, a stationary delivery drone’s indicator light flickered, letting out a low, humble "woo—" in protest.
“He wasn't trying to steal your job, Thoth.”
Lei Ting comforted it without turning his head. Taking advantage of Evenheiler being scared off by the mention of practice problems, he opened his communication interface again.
After scrolling through a long list of contacts, he sent messages to several names.
Ten minutes later, they sent their replies.
【[Work Contract Direct Email] (Lucas Kang): Good question, but the bigger problem is I don't know either, bro. I think I’ve always been pretty vigorous, but everyone says I’ve been looking scarier and scarier these years QVQ】
【[In Prison...] (Upton Onye): Are you okay? Is there anything in the observable universe that can actually possess you, Lei Ting??】
【[Retired, Do Not Disturb] (Gerrahel Yorndale): Fun fact: I am currently four times your age. Going to drink tea now. Do not disturb.】
【[What's Wrong With Liking Sleep] (Atlin Cortares): Someone actually hacked your account?? Okay, joking aside, I mean, do you want to compare which of our races is older?】
【[Mushroom people eating mushroom soup isn't actually cannibalism wait can this ID really be this long let me see exactly how long it can get haha gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua gua] ([???]): Huh?】
【[Why am I, a former rebel leader, now being forced into the position of Federation President? Is this really reasonable? And the workload is so exhausting! Why does the Federation have so many meetings? I have two hundred pounds of paper documents to sign every day! Why is this happening? Shouldn't some hands-off bosses reflect on themselves? I'm talking about you, Evenheiler and Lei Ting! If you see this, I'm—] (Solo Morgan): Yo, back in the network coverage zone? Look at my ID, look at my ID, look at my ID, look at my ID... [Click to expand collapsed content]】
...
...Tsk. Not a single useful one.
Lei Ting selectively ignored certain things and closed the communication interface. The light screen flickered and vanished. Immediately after, a surge of electromagnetic waves arrived, causing the starship’s surface shields to fluctuate for a moment.
He tapped the armrest of his chair and activated the cosmic viewing mode.
The projections broadcasting the external environment quietly vanished. The starship’s heavy bulkheads slowly folded, retracting into the hull’s outer shell.
He saw the forward deck, which appeared nearly infinite to the eye. He saw the lush trees and flowers beneath the transparent layers being revealed from under the dark iron partitions.
He saw the modest park within the orchard, and the passengers and merchants playing there. They were looking up, gazing at the true starry sky—
And looking toward the end of the dark deep space where stars twinkled in the distance, at a beam of light that was beginning to ignite.
A drink was placed by his hand as Evenheiler sat down beside him. Soft, beautiful music began to flow from all directions—echoes plucked by electromagnetic disturbances, tuned and calculated by the intelligent system.
The first cry of a star meeting the great void was transformed into a musical score humans could understand. It was powerful when melodious, rhythmic when high-pitched, surpassing all sapient imagination, pointing directly to the most primal forces of the universe and that spark of original 'passion.'
In such music, bathed in the light sent from the other side of the universe tens of millions of years ago...
A smile involuntarily spread across Lei Ting’s face. An excited smile he didn't even realize he was wearing. He clasped his hands, leaning forward, his eyes bright, his smile even wide enough to reveal his sharp canines. He briefly cast aside everything of the mundane world, immersing himself entirely in this grand event, as if infected by that passion from the dawn of creation—
Of course, what he realized even less was that the person beside him wasn't looking at the light on the horizon.
Evenheiler rested one hand on the armrest, leaning his head against it, watching Lei Ting’s profile.
He watched those dark, bright eyes, his gaze soft.
Even his breathing was so light it was almost non-existent, like a timid dragonfly merely skimming the ripples, afraid to splash even a single drop of water upon the sunlit depths.
***
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Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 285 | A Spark of Vitality | Novela.app | Novela.app
