Chapter 30: Peeping Tom – Aren’t I Still By Your Side?
The military doctor accompanying the team arrived quickly, bringing along the twenty-six sets of weights.
The students of Mechanical Class One watched as these weights were placed onto the field one after another. The unpredictable trials of their immediate future made everyone’s heartstrings pull tight. Gao Zhou looked at his classmates, then at Shao Yan who was about to test these weights, and stepped forward, picking one up to weigh it in his hands. “Actually, it’s not that bad. It doesn’t feel very heavy. With this weight, running a few kilometers shouldn’t be a huge problem.”
Thus, the very kind military doctor stepped in and adjusted the weight for him. “Alright, it’s now set to the standard for new recruits. Try it again?”
Gao Zhou took the freshly adjusted weight back from the doctor.
He silently placed the weight back down and said to Shao Yan, “Monitor, take care of yourself. We will remember you.”
Instructor Yi effortlessly picked up the adjusted weight from the ground and snapped his fingers. “Come on, Student Shao, it’s time to prove your potential.”
Shao Yan pursed his lips, but ultimately put the weights on.
Instructor Yi went to supervise Shao Yan’s run, leaving the rest of the students looking at each other. Finally, they shifted their gazes to Yu Xia. Meanwhile, Yu Xia was still holding onto Qin Yizheng’s arm, explaining to him earnestly, “I definitely didn’t sense it wrong. There’s definitely someone in that direction. More than one person, actually. And they were just looking at me.”
Wen Luo slowly shuffled over to Yu Xia’s side. “Um, Student Yu Xia, have you already learned mental power perception? I remember that’s supposed to be an advanced course for the Mecha and Command Departments…”
Their Mechanical Department shouldn’t need to learn it. For the Mechanical Department, it was more important to precisely assemble and polish components.
Hearing someone call him, Yu Xia followed the voice. “A little bit. When I was taking my exams, Major General Ning was my proctor. She taught me some basics afterward. It’s probably not as refined as what the Command or Mecha Departments learn, but it’s enough to notice if someone is observing from the shadows.”
After a pause, Yu Xia added, “When I first arrived on Capital Star, that’s how I noticed someone watching my hospital ward.”
As a native of Capital Star, Gao Zhou immediately realized what was going on. “Oh right, people with high mental power, reaching S+ or above, can learn basic mental power perception. If Yu Xia is an SSS, and came here from another planet, Major General Ning probably taught him a rough overview so he could keep his guard up.”
Wen Luo found a relatively clean spot on the ground, laid down his military training jacket, and sat down. “I also have S+ mental power. Why didn’t anyone teach me?”
Gao Zhou secretly rolled his eyes. “That’s just because no one taught you. There still aren’t that many people with S+ mental power around, but if you want to learn it, you can. You just can’t study it deeply. It seems only the Mecha and Command Departments learn mental power perception in depth.”
Qin Yizheng, standing beside Yu Xia, agreed. “It is indeed only taught in depth to the Mecha and Command Departments. And even for them, they can’t just use it casually in daily life, otherwise they could be suspected of invading others’ privacy. Only those with mental power above S+ are allowed to perform basic perception in their daily lives. Because these people are highly sought after by the Alliance and are extremely prone to harassment from Alliance agents, they are granted this special privilege.”
“But they still can’t investigate as finely as they would on the battlefield. Later on, instruments can detect an individual’s mental power fluctuations and determine whether they were doing a rough scan or a detailed investigation.”
This was the first time Yu Xia had heard this explanation. He blinked at Qin Yizheng. “Major General Ning didn’t tell me this before she taught me.”
Qin Yizheng placed a hand on Yu Xia’s head, gently ruffling his hair. “She knows what she’s doing. She only taught you how to scan your environment. Someone with mental power as high as yours is naturally more sensitive to others’ gazes anyway. Plus, while you can’t do detailed scans in public, once you’re home, you can scan however you like. If your mental power is high enough and you master mental power manifestation, you could even make your mental power dance in your own house without any problems.”
The classmates, having never heard of such a thing, let out gasps of amazement. “Mental power can actually manifest and dance?”
“It’s possible, but right now, it seems the only person who has truly mastered mental power manifestation is Dr. Lu Yao. Everyone else’s manifestations are involuntary, which is quite dangerous.”
Yu Xia tugged at Qin Yizheng’s arm again. “That’s not the point right now. Over there…”
Qin Yizheng gently pressed a finger against Yu Xia’s lips. “Don’t worry, someone will handle it. None of the instructors sent to train you at the academy are ordinary people. Dealing with one or two individuals will be no problem for them. Besides, that doctor who tried to steal your mental power data has been hiding quite thoroughly since he left the hospital. Isn’t it time we lured him out?”
Yu Xia understood. He pulled Qin Yizheng’s finger away from his lips and nodded. “I get it.”
Wen Luo quietly enjoyed the gossip. “I feel like the time right before Yu Xia entered Imperial Star Academy was incredibly thrilling!”
Gao Zhou nodded in agreement. “Not only that, I think his life will continue to be very thrilling for a while. His mental power makes him far too easy of a target.”
Yu Xia chatted with his classmates for a little while longer before deciding to leave.
His original goal was just to get to know his classmates. Plus, he needed to do his own training, and he had already rested for a while. It wasn’t appropriate to stay on the field any longer, so he simply said his goodbyes.
Right before leaving, he heard Gao Zhou analyzing the situation with the classmates very logically: “After everything that happened today, Shao Yan probably won’t be able to stay on as class monitor. Plus, during military training, the most important things happen on the training ground. The tutor will probably ask me to fill in temporarily, and then we’ll hold a new election once training is over. By then, everyone will have a fresh understanding of each other and know exactly what kind of people make up our class. Something like this shouldn’t happen again.”
Qin Yizheng glanced at Yu Xia and pulled him along as they walked back. “His analysis makes a lot of sense. That’s highly likely how they’ll handle it.”
Yu Xia obediently let himself be pulled along. “But, I still can’t figure it out. I don’t even know that person named Shao Yan. Why would he target me so much? Also, even if he didn’t stop right away, if he hadn’t forced me to give a reason—or even if he had just backed off after I gave my reason—this wouldn’t have blown up so much, right? Now, he’s left a bad impression on the class tutor, the homeroom teacher, and the instructor. Why put himself through this?”
Qin Yizheng, holding Yu Xia’s hand, shook his head as well. “Who knows? Just like how we still don’t know why Ye Zhichen went out of his way to say all that nonsense to your face back then, right?”
That made sense.
Unable to come up with an answer, Yu Xia simply tossed the questions aside and stopped dwelling on them. He turned to Qin Yizheng. “So what are we doing next? Are we going straight back for the next round of running?”
Qin Yizheng shook his head. “That would be way too soon. You might feel like you’ve recovered, but you actually can’t run very far right now. You should rest for a bit. Or… do you want to go check out the two people you spotted earlier?”
Yu Xia’s interest was immediately piqued. “How do we check?”
Qin Yizheng smiled and led Yu Xia back toward the spot where he had noticed something was wrong. But as they walked, he deliberately enveloped both of them in his mental power, seamlessly blending them into their surroundings.
When it came to utilizing mental power, Qin Yizheng was undoubtedly the more skilled of the two. After studying in the Command Department for three years, he could use mental power in all sorts of fancy ways. They definitely wouldn’t be discovered by the other party.
Yu Xia and Qin Yizheng stealthily slipped back, finding a well-hidden spot to conceal themselves.
Perhaps because they were now observing as a third party, or perhaps because of their vantage point, Yu Xia—who could previously only sense gazes directed at him—quickly got a clear view of the entire situation. He easily spotted the two people hiding behind a tree, as well as a young man in military uniform hiding in the branches above them.
Yu Xia tugged at the hem of Qin Yizheng’s shirt, pointed at the young man in the tree, and lowered his voice to ask, “Is that one of the instructors?”
Qin Yizheng gave a soft chuckle and told him, “Probably the instructor for that student undergoing military training down there. Slipping away during rest time to have a secret rendezvous, and with someone acting incredibly suspicious—an instructor would definitely follow them. But obviously, the agents the Alliance sends are no match for proper military instructors. They haven’t even realized they’re being watched. And if you look closely, doesn’t that student look familiar?”
They were a bit far away, so Yu Xia could only tell it was a student in a training uniform. After observing closely for a moment, he finally recognized the person, looking incredibly shocked. “That’s Yun Shaocheng? How did he get mixed up with Alliance people? Logically, he only just left the orphanage, so he shouldn’t have had any opportunity to get involved with them, right?”
Qin Yizheng shrugged. “There are plenty of reasons. This classmate of yours, who came from the same planet as you, doesn’t have exceptionally low mental power himself. He was already on the radar of people the Alliance would contact. Furthermore, he arrived at Capital Star the same year as you, from the same planet, and there seems to be some bad blood between you two. Getting information about you from him should be pretty easy. The news about your Mental Power Disorder won’t stay a secret for much longer.”
Yu Xia didn’t really care about that. “I wasn’t planning on hiding it anyway. My physical condition is obvious, so I couldn’t hide it for long regardless. But the specific details shouldn’t be discovered, right?”
“Not likely. I asked my mom. Both Ye Zhichen, who triggered your mental power shock, and Yun Shaocheng only know that your mental power rose and worsened your disorder. They don’t know your specific grade. They probably wouldn’t guess that a single shock boosted you up two whole ranks.” While explaining to Yu Xia, Qin Yizheng subtly flashed a hand signal to the instructor hiding in the tree. “Don’t worry, you won’t be in any danger. Besides, aren’t I still by your side?”
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