Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 5 | A Model of Earth | Novela.app

In truth, until just a moment ago, Raytine had been haunted by an indescribable, subtle sense of unreality. It was a feeling difficult to put into words, born from the friction between his past life as an ordinary human on Earth and his current experience of living in interstellar society for over a decade. Fortunately, Raytine was still Raytine. The emergence of those memories had not caused any personality fragmentation. Currently, he was simply an ordinary citizen of the stars who had acquired a portion of the memories of a 21st-century Earthling with the same name... ...Well, perhaps not entirely ordinary. In any case, even if he occasionally felt a faint melancholy for that illusory past, he was now fundamentally different from the person who had once read novels on Earth. There was just one thing he still couldn't quite wrap his head around... How exactly had he become a "villainous boss"? Raytine looked at the silver-white cube floating before him. He had shaped it this way himself, though he hadn't forced it to be mirror-bright. Instead, it possessed a matte, silver-white texture that shimmered with gentle, starlit reflections under the soft lighting. Raytine brushed away the unnecessary pop-up windows and opened the newly loaded information interface. He found the description of the object within the data card. —High-purity metallic calcium (Ca) cube. Naturally reactive; combusts upon contact with water. Can be used as a chemical or construction material. This was something an ordinary person should never hold with bare hands, and it was the small gift sent to him by his instructor, Kingsley. Raytine stared at the metallic calcium. With a single thought, he caused a 1x1x1 cm cube to detach from the main mass and drift into his palm. He looked at the somewhat cute little thing thoughtfully. After a moment, he turned his head toward the open water glass sitting on the bedside table. ... "Raytine? Are you awake?" a voice called out cautiously. "It’s fine, it’s time for the check-up anyway," another voice said. A moment later, the hermetically sealed hatch opened. A doctor, two nurses, and two delicate-looking boys of different styles entered the room. They pulled back the curtain and froze at the sight before them. At some point, Raytine had adjusted his bed and was now sitting half-upright. He was currently focused on drawing out silver-white metallic threads and weaving them into the shape of a planet. As they entered, he said casually, "Wait a moment, I’m almost finished." The group actually stood there and waited, watching him weave a hollow, slightly prolate sphere in mid-air, etching various tectonic plates of different sizes onto its surface. "What is this?" the lead female doctor asked softly. "Earth," Raytine replied. "Specifically, how it looked in the twenty-first century." "Earth?" the blonde boy in the group asked. "You mean the one from the Origin System? It’s the fortieth century now; the Origin System was destroyed nearly a thousand years ago... I take it you’re a revivalist?" "I don't subscribe to any 'isms.' I just dream of Earth sometimes," Raytine said. Then, he turned to meet the eyes of the people by his bed and asked quietly, "Is there something you need?" "We came to... see you," Luo Xian said, lowering his head uneasily. "I’m sorry. We were all so scared that day, almost no one helped you..." "Being afraid is normal," Raytine said, somewhat puzzled. "It’s not that big of a deal." "I’m here to apologize and to give my thanks." The blonde boy took a half-step forward, nudging Luo Xian aside. He placed a black-and-gold gift box on the table and gave a reserved nod. "You did well. I heard your name is Raytine? I am Lucas Kang. You can also call me Kang Lu. I am very sorry for holding you back that day, and I’m very grateful for the hand you lent me. Shall we add each other as contacts?" Before Raytine could even react, the guy had already sent a contact request. This vigorous, decisive style of doing things left Raytine a bit dazed, but he still tapped 'Accept.' "Thank you for your permission," the blonde boy said, his demeanor shifting into something entirely different from the first impression he gave. "Kang’s Pharmaceuticals thanks you for your assistance. All medical expenses you incur regarding this incident will be covered by the Kang family. Goodbye." And then, he left as decisively as he had arrived. The hem of his uniform fluttered like a blade as he walked, though his retreating figure looked tense no matter how one viewed it. "..." Luo Xian opened his mouth blankly. "...That guy basically just ran away, didn't he?" The three medical staff members nearby kept their expressions calm—if one ignored the frantic twitching at the corners of their mouths. "..." Raytine was also left speechless by the guy's behavior. But... Kang’s Pharmaceuticals? That was a renowned pharmaceutical giant that dominated half of the Orion Arm. Because every member of the Kang family possessed brilliant blonde hair, and their surname originated from the word for "corn" in ancient Earth’s second-largest language family, people often jokingly referred to them as the "Corn Factory." However, the medicines and nutrients developed by this company were truly high-end products. It went without saying what kind of items were inside the gift box he had brought. Raytine didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The medical staff began tidying the room and checking the values on the monitoring equipment, all while trying to hide their smiles. Luo Xian looked around awkwardly and, mimicking Lucas, placed the gift bag in his hand on the table. "I hope you recover quickly, uh..." "Alright, thank you," Raytine nodded politely. "Have a nice day." Luo Xian looked into his eyes and felt a brief moment of daze. For some reason, he felt as though this person knew exactly what he was thinking—both the parts he showed and the parts he kept hidden in his heart. "...You have a nice day too," he whispered. "I’ll be going now." After he left, the ward finally fell silent again. A nurse came over to check the area near the bedside table. She picked up the water glass, saw the silver-white cube sitting quietly inside, and frowned. "What is this?" "Nothing, just a small toy," Raytine answered. In the next second, the silver-white cube flew out of the glass. With a gentle spin, it shed every drop of water clinging to it and landed back in Raytine’s hand. Simultaneously, the model of Earth in mid-air collapsed and melted in an instant, merging back with that small piece of metallic calcium to return to its original hexahedral cube shape. The medical staff were startled by the sight. The older female doctor frowned. "I wanted to say something earlier. Your ability is calcium manipulation, and this thing is metallic calcium? Don't you know it can't come into contact with water?" "I do, but I can suppress its chemical reactions. It’s safe," Raytine replied with a nod. "Thank you very much for your concern." The doctor stared at him for a while before sighing helplessly. "Fine, the Esper Mecha Department..." "Hmm?" Raytine looked up blankly upon hearing the name of his department. "I’m used to kids from the Esper Mecha Department doing things like this," the doctor grumbled. "Last time, there was a student whose ability was to heat a designated area. He insisted on cooking hotpot in the dorm by himself. He ended up blowing himself and a student who could control water right into this ward. He was in the room next to yours until he was discharged." Raytine: "..." Using... using superpowers to cook hotpot, and then blowing oneself into the hospital?? Good heavens, was that pot made of sodium? He was dumbstruck, slowly glancing at the metallic calcium in his hand. At this moment, he had a strange feeling that his future academy life was going to be very... eventful. ... Three days later, Raytine left the medical department. Only seven days had passed since the incident. In the eternal night of deep space, the *Sun* hadn't even reached the vicinity of the nearest star system yet, but the freshman curriculum was ready and would begin tomorrow. While collecting his luggage in the lobby, he thanked each of the medical staff who had cared for him over the past few days. "What a polite young man..." a doctor lamented. "And yet those people ruined him like that. He was nearly dead when he was brought in." "I know, right?" someone agreed. "And some people are saying he did it to himself. How is that even possible?" "Exactly. Those people really aren't human... *Sigh*..." Raytine didn't listen to what they were saying. He simply unlocked his storage box via his optical computer and picked it up. At the First Academy, all students' luggage was sealed in standardized automated storage boxes. When boarding the ship, these items were secured along the corridors on both sides of the cabins—a standard military practice. This "storage box" usually looked like a hexagonal compressed canister, about half a meter long and twenty centimeters in diameter, with a handle fixed to one of its edges. Its weight limit was five kilograms. When lifted, an internal light-duty anti-gravity device would automatically reduce the perceived weight by half. When placed on the ground and confirmed by the owner's optical computer command, it would automatically expand into its original form—a trunk emblazoned with the academy's emblem. As he stepped out, Raytine wore his uniform and the hat that had survived because it had been left on the table. He carried his high-tech luggage in one hand, while two small metallic calcium cubes orbited each other rhythmically by his side. Starlight—simulated as sunlight—spilled over him, and silver-white light flickered around him. Following the academy's AI guidance, the handsome youth walked straight into Student Residential Area 07, to which he had been assigned. Each dormitory area was a building with its own independent functions. Inside those uniform silver-white structures, the interior decor styles varied. It was now the final day of freshman registration, and most students on the road had already become familiar with the place. When Raytine, a fresh face, found his dormitory, a group of people gathered in the corridor lounge area whispering to one another all looked up at him. Raytine: "...?" Under the intense scrutiny of those thirty-odd people, his pace faltered for a moment. He then silently continued forward and turned the corner. A green light flashed on his optical computer, and the hatch to Dormitory 02, which had been assigned to him, slid open automatically to welcome him. The handsome youth with the upright posture disappeared into his cabin without a word. A moment later, someone in the stunned crowd suddenly cried out: "Holy crap... no way? Did they really assign another Alpha to our floor?!"