Raytin packed his gear, ensuring every piece of equipment he needed to carry or hang on his person was accounted for. Finally, he adjusted the tension of his tactical vest straps and placed a luggage compression canister against his back.
*Click.* It automatically locked into the horizontal magnetic mount on the back of the vest.
The other students, whom he hadn't seen for a week, were also present. Some carried compression canisters like him, while others did not. The former were clearly moving on to a new assignment, while the latter would likely remain with *Crater 303* for the remaining month and a half, enduring the cold grind of deep space until the time came to return to the "happy home" of the academy dorms.
Luo Xian, Yolanda, Alan, and Lina were all among the former. It seemed this year’s superpowered mechanics were being tossed out by *Crater 303* like basketballs; it was just a question of which hoop they were aimed at.
"Brother Ray!" someone shouted from the side.
Raytin turned his head and saw it was Alan. This surprised him slightly—Alan didn't seem like the type to call someone "Brother." Of course, it was also possible that because the entire year level called him that—and even some upperclassmen had followed suit—the guy was simply following the trend.
"My previous captain told me the four of us might be following the flagship," Alan said excitedly, oblivious to Raytin’s expression or emotional reaction. "I knew Sandro’s info and deductions were right. With you around, the First Legion definitely wouldn't keep us on an auxiliary ship..."
"...You know Sandro?" Raytin was momentarily puzzled.
"Is there anyone who *doesn't* know him?!" Lina chimed in from the side, looking shocked. "He’s the Gossip King of the decade! Every post he makes on the academy forum gets a 'HOT' tag within three minutes!"
Raytin actually wanted to complain about why forum posts still used "HOT!" tags in this day and age, but then he realized it was equally hard to explain why forums still existed as a medium of communication at all, so he let it slide.
Their conversation drew a fair amount of attention as they stood before the unopened hatch of the starship. Not far away, soldiers watched them in silence. Most of their blade-sharp gazes fell on Raytin, with a few landing on Alan.
As for why they were looking at Raytin, he figured it was because he had beaten up too many of their comrades in the training grounds. And as for Alan... it was probably because he was such a show-off.
"They say the Commander of the First Legion is a stunning female Alpha," Alan said excitedly. "So many people want to marry her, but she’s nearly a hundred years old now, and no one’s managed to pull it off..."
"Shut your mouth! Apologize to the Commander, now!"
Two soldiers guarding the hatch stepped forward. One of them roared the command, his expression hidden behind a full-face visor, but his tensed, gun-holding arms made it clear just how much willpower it took for them to refrain from pointing their weapons at one of their own.
Raytin did not speak up to stop them. Alan had been disrespectful; if he didn't learn his lesson now, he would suffer for it later.
Furthermore, Alan didn't seem like the type to stubbornly refuse to admit a mistake. For someone to make it this far in a military academy, knowing how to recognize one's own flaws was a basic requirement.
"I..." Alan stammered, then immediately bowed in a perfect "sliding kneel" apology. "Sorry! I'm so sorry! Very sorry! I shouldn't have said that!"
He folded so quickly that the two guards were genuinely stunned. Both froze for a moment, their arm muscles relaxing slightly a few seconds later, unsure of how to respond.
But it didn't matter. Raytin had already sensed the approach of a massive metal structure.
"It's here," he said.
"...What's here?" The surrounding students all looked at him.
"The fleet is here," Raytin said. "Don't rush. Wait a bit longer; they'll arrive soon."
"Right, Brother. We'll listen to you," the crowd chorused.
Raytin: "..."
Raytin looked at the group beside him, speechless, yet he understood he couldn't stop the tide of public opinion. He had tried; the next day, even more people had started calling him "Brother."
*Tsk.*
Shortly after, a group of officers emerged from the depths of *Crater 303*. Raytin had... *interacted* with many of them on the training grounds.
He didn't mind, but the officers' expressions tightened slightly when they saw him.
It couldn't be helped. During the previous five days in the training grounds, in any duel where superpowers were permitted, not a single person on the ship had been a match for Raytin.
While this didn't mean they would necessarily lose in a non-powered fight, in a superpowered duel, this man’s habit was to start by sending a wave of calcium ions through your body to induce uncontrollable muscle spasms. Then came a "set menu" of other metallic trace elements acting up in sequence. If you still didn't surrender, he’d let you taste the "Emperor-level enjoyment" of having the iron ions in your red blood cells suspended from metabolism, causing everything from oxygen intake to hematopoietic function to grind to a halt...
Fine. Most people hit the floor at the first step. Few remained conscious by the second. As for the third step—where you were clearly still breathing but your blood simply refused to carry oxygen—it was a "sublime" experience that surpassed most people's combat history. Once was more than enough for a lifetime.
Thus, everyone quickly concluded that "Double S rank paired with this kind of ability is goddamn inhuman," and they began to follow the students' lead in calling him "Brother" in private.
Before Raytin could even react, he was forced into a "Schrödinger’s state of seniority-boosting." It left him with very complicated feelings.
He was nineteen. He could accept people younger than him calling him "Brother" without pressure. He could even grudgingly accept it from twenty-year-olds. But when people in their seventies or eighties started casually calling him "Brother" in private, wasn't that a bit inappropriate?
*What is wrong with you officers?!*
Wait... come to think of it, Supervisor Valen was also, in a sense...
...No, absolutely not. So far, everyone older than him who called him that had been beaten by him.
And... the key issue was that even if he made such a wicked request of *that* person in private, he would definitely be the one getting beaten.
Raytin quickly wiped away this bizarre, suicidal thought. After all, while he didn't much care about the fighting part, it would be bad if Valen kicked him out of the shop.
Besides... with Valen’s ordinary human constitution, if Raytin accidentally injured him with a reactive shock, he would feel guilty.
*Forget it,* he thought. He already called Valen "Uncle." If Valen started calling him "Brother," the family tree would become a tangled mess of "to each their own seniority."
Raytin’s chaotic thoughts wandered, though his face remained calm and indifferent. If he were a game character, this young man would likely possess a "+Self-Management EX" attribute. His mind drifted back into that "sea," making his aura light and airy despite his cold expression. He was practically one step away from humming a tune.
But he wasn't like his classmates from the *Sun* who had passed through "Chang'an." He rarely listened to modern pop songs and didn't know what to sing when he was in a good mood. The songs he knew belonged to the twenty-first century, to a land nearly two thousand years in the past. Now, he was flying through the vast, boundless starry sky of the year 3996, waiting to board the flagship of one of the most powerful fleets in the universe, while thinking of an "Uncle" more than twice his age.
"You seem to be in a good mood," Lina whispered, standing beside him.
"I am indeed," Raytin nodded politely.
"What are you thinking about?" Lina squinted with an interested smile, looking up at his handsome profile. "Your lover?"
Raytin: "..."
Raytin: "!"
The black-haired youth started, quickly pulling his mind back from his memories.
"It's none of your business," he said calmly and gently. "We aren't that close, Student Lina."
Lina’s expression didn't change. She giggled and said, "We'll get close if we spend time together. Why don't we get to know each other? Who knows, maybe we could be great partners in the assault position?"
"..." Raytin looked at her and tilted his head slightly. "Why?"
"Why does there have to be a 'why'? Isn't that just how people are? You do things, you live your life, you move forward, and you meet all kinds of people. You interact, you get to know them, you like or hate them, and then you part ways, cordially or otherwise." Lina swayed her head. "Just like stars. See? They travel in their orbits, and we travel in ours..."
"Why must we part ways?" Raytin asked again amidst the gazes coming from all directions.
"What? Don't tell me you don't want to part with me?" Lina covered her mouth in "shock."
"No, not you," Raytin said softly. "By the way... I don't like 'getting to know' just anyone." He lowered his voice. "Especially... someone with an unknown controller in their head.
"It's very interesting. Its 'information terminal' characteristics are such that if I didn't look closely, I might have mistaken it for a built-in light computer... Of course, things are different now. You shouldn't have talked so much, but you did, and it felt a bit deliberate. Why is that? I'm curious.
"And..."
He leaned down, meeting her eyes directly, a sudden smile playing on his lips.
"...How did that mental nuclear explosion taste the other day?"
Lina stared blankly into his eyes.
Then, she actually seemed to smile even more happily.
"So you recognized me... You're a good person for not giving me another blast the moment we met." She winked at Raytin, then raised her hands behind her head. She called out loudly to the officers whose faces had immediately turned grim upon overhearing the conversation: "I want to turn myself in! I've committed a crime! The crime of leaking military secrets!"
"Hm?!" The crowd fell into a sudden, dead silence.
In the next second, several officers drew their sidearms and lunged forward, quickly cordoning off the area and leaving only Raytin and Lina in the center.
One of them pulled out a palm-sized silver-blue disc and tossed it. It was a Federation military-issue live target capturer. Under the lock-on of the officer's light computer, it automatically sought its target and transformed, projecting a solid fluorescent blue barrier that enveloped Lina.
Lina obediently held out her hands, allowing a pair of manacles to fly out from the capturer and snap onto her wrists with a heavy *Clang!* as they magnetically locked together.
"..." Her abnormal, inexplicable obedience made Raytin narrow his eyes. He watched her with a cold gaze through the barrier.
***
Glossary Table:
