“...”
The silence in the room was cold and desolate. After a long while, Vallen finally looked up.
He had regained his composed, polite, and aloof demeanor, and that subtle, seemingly unfeigned exhaustion had returned to him as well.
Then, he tilted his chin up slightly, adopting an "arrogant" posture. Taking advantage of his superior height, he looked down askance at Lei Ting, who was only about 1.8 meters tall. “Know your place. Call me ‘Uncle.’”
“...” Lei Ting, hit by the boomerang of his own previous words, was momentarily stunned. But when he saw the glint of amusement in the other man’s eyes, he understood.
Then, he let out a laugh.
“Alright then, ‘Uncle Enan.’” He enunciated the last two words with extreme clarity. “Actually, I was already prepared for you to reject me just now.”
“Oh?” Vallen gave a snorting laugh. “And if I had rejected you, how would you have responded?”
“‘I see, sorry to bother you,’ and ‘If it’s not possible, don’t force yourself; a direct refusal is fine.’” Lei Ting spread his hands and shrugged, smiling amiably. “Something along those lines...”
“...You really thought that?” Vallen arched an eyebrow.
“What else? Should I have threatened to kill myself over a rejection, or said, ‘Man, you’ve caught my attention’?” Lei Ting laughed heartily. “Please, you caught my attention a long time ago!”
“Tch...” Vallen’s expression had completely reverted to its usual calm indifference, but he sat back down on the sofa and crossed his long legs. “You want to get to know me slowly? I hope you’ll be late to regret it.”
“I rarely regret things,” Lei Ting said mildly. “But if it really comes to that... I’ll just have to take it on the chin, won’t I?”
………………
…………
……
……
As it turned out, while "getting to know each other" might be a somewhat lengthy process, being friends with Vallen certainly didn't make Lei Ting regret it.
He was a knowledgeable, interesting man who knew how to be inclusive toward those beneath him. Communicating with him was very pleasant—as long as you weren't his superior or a work partner.
There was no helping it; when facing those two types of people, Vallen generally maintained a purely businesslike attitude, his face as stiff as a robot’s.
A beautiful android.
The first time Lei Ting cracked this joke with him, the other man turned the tables by throwing back a line: “Then, are you going to charge me?” At the time, it had sent the young man running with a face flushed bright red, and he had avoided Vallen for a full half-week.
The first semester of Lei Ting’s second year at the academy passed in peaceful study and training. In the second semester, the Class of 3996 conducted their first collective intensive training. Students from different departments collaborated and successfully executed a simulated combat exercise.
Logistics operations from the Management Department, intelligence supply from the Information Department, war machine operation from the Mechanical Department, and the Piloting Department flying ships through asteroid belts... After a perfect round of fire coverage, students from the Super-powered Mecha Department transitioned from low-Earth orbit into small spacecraft to enter the exercise planet’s atmosphere. Then, they docked into launch pods at appropriate positions, falling like a shower of meteors into the center of a battlefield that had been populated with a large number of training target monsters.
The launch pods landed at nearly the same time. The "Forerunner" combat squad—the sequence in which the first five Super-powered Mecha pilots were unsealed before each battle—was determined by the internal personnel’s comprehensive scores.
As the "best choice," with full marks in tactical planning, strategic significance, and on-site combat capability, Lei Ting naturally took the first slot. He coordinated with four other teammates to resolve the small-scale battle before them within ten seconds, clearing the landing obstacles for the students following behind.
The exercise ended smoothly. The Super-powered Mecha pilots quickly identified the locations of the remaining targets within range. After their classmates in the sky kindly sent down a round of auto-locking tactical strikes, Lei Ting led his team to deal with the targets hidden in bunkers and beneath the surface. After a final check confirmed no errors, they secured the mission objective and headed home.
Among the five members of the "Forerunner" squad in this exercise, one was someone Lei Ting had dealt with before in a certain sense.
It was that red-haired Alpha who used to have an Omega twin on each arm.
The man seemed somewhat dissatisfied that Lei Ting was the "First Forerunner" while he was only the "Fourth." However, for the sake of the big picture, he restrained himself from doing anything stupid. It was just that every time he received an order from Lei Ting, his tone in reply was a bit stifled and resentful. And during the actual execution, he nearly botched a minor but significant matter.
To this, Lei Ting’s response was...
“Get up,” he said coldly.
In the alien desert training ground where wind and sand swirled, the red-haired Alpha, Ryan, was covered in blood. He lay on the ground, panting heavily. Hearing the words, he struggled to support his body and try to stand, but he stumbled and fell flat again.
Outside the defensive barrier, the spectating students from various departments broke into a commotion. The twin brothers, who no longer wore so much jewelry, watched the scene—one gritting his teeth, the other pursing his lips—but neither made a sound.
In the previous exercise, these two youths, also students of the Information Department, had belonged to the group led by the department’s top student, Sandro. They had played a far greater role than they could have ever imagined when they first boarded the *Sun*.
Lei Ting stepped forward, walking slowly toward Ryan.
In this entire cold training ground, thousands of metal cubes of various sizes and colors either remained static, drifted, or swirled. The sunlight reflecting off them cast a bizarre, kaleidoscopic light over the training ground, where even the sand was orange-red.
“Can’t get up?” he asked with a smile, slowly wiping the blood the other man had just spat onto his arm. “Do you need me to help you?”
—*Who the hell would dare let you help!!*
The onlookers grumbled inwardly, but not a single person dared to speak up. After all, this guy, who usually showed only gentle kindness to everyone in the academy, hadn't even finished incinerating the monster corpses left on that battlefield yet...
With every step Lei Ting took, Ryan trembled as he stood up a little more. By the time Lei Ting reached a distance that was safe for ordinary people but extremely dangerous for them, Ryan had finally stood up completely. His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Lei Ting as he gritted his teeth and opened his mouth...
Then he vomited another mouthful of blood.
“You don’t look like you’re doing very well,” Lei Ting said politely. “Do you need me to call the Medical Department for you?”
“Heh... cough, cough cough...” Ryan coughed and spat blood. “Just because... my attitude toward you... was bad, you...”
“No, you’re wrong. This isn't a matter of your attitude toward me,” Lei Ting said softly.
Amidst the orange-red wind and sand, he knelt down on one knee and lightly patted the other man’s shoulder. Then, he grabbed the body that was about to be crushed to the ground by this sliver of strength.
“Listen closely, my dear classmate,” he said in a broad, gentle voice. “I don’t care what you think of me, nor do I care how everyone reacts to this scene.
“I just want to tell you... in the academy, you can be as hostile to me as you like. But on the battlefield, as long as you are someone’s subordinate, you must obey every single one of that person’s orders. And please, try your best to erase your personal feelings, because that is your duty.”
Having finished, he reached out and tapped the emergency call button installed by the academy beneath the optical computer at the other man’s ear.
The synthesized voice of the *Pacific*, which hadn't changed in a century, rang out: [Emergency call in progress. Estimated time for medical personnel to arrive at the target location: 2 minutes and 13 seconds.]
Lei Ting let go, watching the other man fall into the wind and sand with clenched fists.
“Things didn't go wrong this time because Number Three and Number Five were there to clean up your mess. You need to thank them and apologize to everyone, including them. Also, if there is a next time, I will apply to the Dean to have you removed from the ‘Forerunner’ candidate list.”
He said softly, “Remember this—if that were a real battlefield, I would have pinned you to a solar sail.”
...
It was quite a while after he had smiled and nodded to the spectating students and left with his metal that exclamations finally erupted from the crowd. “He didn't use his metal at all... Good grief, Lei Ting can beat the ‘Fourth Forerunner’ to death with his bare hands?! His level of frontal combat could practically count as a superpower on its own!”
“Stop talking. Are there any students from the Medical Department? Go stabilize the Fourth Forerunner’s injuries first... Eek, why is he getting up?!”
“Don’t move!” Several Logistics and Super-powered Mecha students, who had rushed into the training ground even before the two Omega brothers, reached out to support Ryan, but he pushed their arms away. “You...!! Uh, this recovery speed...”
“It’s him...” Ryan’s gaze was vacant and dazed. He sat back on the ground with a bitter smile. “It’s him...”
“He didn't... not use his ability...”
His logic was beginning to blur and scatter. A terrifyingly intense sense of frustration nearly made him break down. He shook his head in despair and said hoarsely, “...He simply... didn't deign to... launch a superpower attack against me...”
At this moment, everyone realized—what normal Esper could withstand a few extra punches from a "Double S" who maintained high-intensity training day after day and wore heavy metal even while resting?
With a body that was two major ranks and countless hours of effort ahead of his own, Lei Ting could have snapped the other man’s bones just by squeezing them with his bare hands.
—The reason this guy could take a beating for half a day was because Lei Ting had been treating him the whole time...
...
When he returned to the dormitory, Lei Ting saw Sandro in the common rest area near the building for the umpteenth time. The other man was animatedly saying something to the people around him. When he saw Lei Ting, he shouted and waved his arm vigorously. “Hey! Hey! Brother Lei! I’ve got something to tell you!”
Thinking of how much of a gossip this guy was, Lei Ting, who had originally wanted to go straight back to his room to rest, naturally took a turn into the rest area. Under the gaze of the smiling crowd, who spontaneously adjusted their positions to make room, he gave his thanks and sat down in a single-seater sofa.
“What’s wrong?” After sitting, Lei Ting asked curiously. “Why are you all looking at me with those expressions?”
It would have been better if he hadn't asked; as soon as he did, everyone burst into laughter, their voices so boisterous they seemed to pierce the clouds.
Lei Ting waited in confusion for them to finish laughing. He even manipulated his metal to pick up the cups in front of the dozen or so people and poured them water or refilled their juice.
After a long while, Sandro leisurely raised his cup and took a sip of water. Then, adopting the air of an information broker, he said, “It’s like this. Do you still remember that Crown Prince ‘Yalin’?”
“...” Lei Ting’s eyelid twitched. Since that incident had happened on academy grounds, it had naturally become known to this bunch from the Information Engineering Department who spent their days roaming joyfully through the *Pacific’s* public surveillance system. And if they knew, it meant the whole school knew...
After that, he had truly been teased by these guys for several days.
“—That’s right, that very Prince Yalin. After he was deported back to his Empire by the Syndicate’s law enforcement, he immediately sent a message to the Federation ‘seeking a royal husband.’ The full ceremonial guard has just arrived in Federation space.” Sandro said with a grin, “But don’t worry. This time... it’s not about you.”
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
先行者 | Forerunner | A title/rank for top-performing students in the academy's combat squads.
太平洋 | Pacific | The name of the academy's central AI system.
太阳号 | The Sun | Likely the name of the academy's main vessel or station.
求娶王夫 | Seeking a royal husband | A formal diplomatic request for a marriage alliance, specifically for a male consort/husband to a royal.
综合体 | Syndicate | Likely referring to the "Interstellar Syndicate" or a similar governing/law enforcement body.
