Chapter 6
“This child is definitely an Awakener.”
The tester at Eternal Day handed the report to Chen He’an, his tone extremely excited:
“The concentration of Qi detected around him is very high. He is at least a Sequence 03 Awakener.”
“We also arranged purification-related tests. He can subjectively purify pollution within humans. It is complete purification, not dilution, nor transfer. Although he must purify on the spot, he is the only known Awakener currently capable of truly purifying pollution.”
Chen He’an’s pupils trembled slightly. “You mean, complete purification?”
“Yes, exactly.”
The tester was so excited he practically wanted to dance.
“You know what this represents. With him, we can at least delay the time Guardians become polluted—for a very long time.”
“And he is at least Sequence 03 or higher. As long as he grows, his ability will strengthen too. Maybe then, he won’t even need to purify at the moment of pollution. If that happens, the predicament of Awakeners can be changed.”
Outside the window, Qin Yinian leaned against the wall, looking at the tester and Chen He’an talking inside.
“Seems your Sequence level is very high, look at how excited that tester is.”
After speaking, he realized Luo Shizhen ignored him. Raising an eyebrow, he kicked the hallway chair. “Hey! Talking to you, dummy! Why are you sitting like an elementary school student?”
Chu Xiao, staring at the scene through the glass, extended his long leg and kicked Qin’s foot back. “Stop provoking him.”
Luo Shizhen, sitting obediently on the hallway chair, looked up in confusion. “Were you talking to me?”
Qin Yinian felt Luo Shizhen had a talent for being irritating.
“Who else? Was I talking to the Deadpan Face next to you?”
Luo Shizhen looked at Chu Xiao sitting beside him. He was the only person sitting there.
“How can you talk about Chu Xiao like that?”
Qin Yinian got angry too. “I talk to you and you ignore me, I call you a dummy and you have no reaction, but I say one word about Chu Xiao being a Deadpan Face and you get angry?”
Luo Shizhen debated with him earnestly, although only he considered it a debate:
“That’s different. I know I’m dull. Zhang Chuan likes to call me dummy too, but he’s joking and brings me snacks. But calling Chu Xiao a dead person… that is insulting.”
This dummy is protecting Chu Xiao?
Seriously??
Does that thing Chu Xiao need him to protect??
How did his leg break? Wasn’t it broken fighting an Anomaly?
Qin Yinian looked at the solemn Luo Shizhen, then at Chu Xiao, who hadn’t spoken but whose cold, indifferent face somehow exuded a trace of smugness to Qin.
He confirmed it. Luo Shizhen was indeed protecting Chu Xiao, and Chu Xiao was enjoying it.
Qin Yinian opened his mouth to say something nasty, but seeing Luo Shizhen staring at him so earnestly, his thoughts shifted, and he swallowed the words.
—I can’t become the stepping stone for their deepening bromance.
Chu Xiao was probably waiting for him to attack so he could pretend to be bullied in front of Luo Shizhen, making Luo Shizhen distance himself from Qin just like before.
Hah, this shady dog.
Qin Yinian cleared his throat and softened his tone.
“So that’s it. I didn’t think that much. I just felt he’s always so cold, so I called him that casually.”
As expected, Luo Shizhen’s slightly angry expression quickly softened. Qin Yinian felt better.
This guy really believes whatever people say.
So easy to trick.
He turned to Chu Xiao with a look of sincerity. “Chu Xiao, it was wrong of me to call you Deadpan Face. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
Chu Xiao was disgusted once again.
“…Get lost.”
That’s the sentence I was waiting for.
Qin Yinian immediately put on a hurt expression and looked at Luo Shizhen. “I really didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that I naturally don’t speak very nicely. He misunderstood me back at No. 3 High School, and I apologized to him, but every time I talk to him, he attacks me with harsh words.”
Chu Xiao frowned tightly, his usually cold expression breaking. “Qin Yinian, what kind of madness is this?”
Qin Yinian got even more enthusiastic, looking at the increasingly bewildered Luo Shizhen. “See, he’s just like this. Shizhen, you know I’m a good person. When that Flying Jiangshi attacked you, I was the one who saved you.”
Saying this, he sat down to Luo Shizhen’s left. “We are all classmates from No. 3 High School, and we all came to Luoxia City. I can’t help it if Chu Xiao misunderstands me, but I don’t want you to misunderstand me too.”
Their legs touched, and Qin Yinian affectionately put his arm around Luo Shizhen’s shoulder.
aside from Chu Xiao, Luo Shizhen rarely had such close contact with others, let alone a top student like Qin Yinian, who had been a celebrity since transferring to No. 3 High School. He felt a bit flattered.
“I… I know you are a good person. You saved me before; I haven’t forgotten.”
“Qin Yinian!”
Chu Xiao reached out to throw off Qin Yinian’s hand on Luo Shizhen’s shoulder. Qin Yinian refused to let go and even pulled Luo Shizhen into a hug.
“Luo Shizhen, look, he’s always like this to me.”
Caught off guard, Luo Shizhen’s face bumped into Qin Yinian’s pectoral muscle. He quickly tried to mediate:
“Chu Xiao, don’t be like this. He has no malice.”
He didn’t see that above his head, Qin Yinian was smiling smugly and arrogantly, while Chu Xiao’s face was so black he looked ready to shoot Qin Yinian dead.
Qin Yinian: Hahahahahahaha!!
Finally found a way to break this nemesis’s defense. Chu Xiao, oh Chu Xiao, you have today too.
“Right, right, right, I have no malice. I just want to be friends with you guys. Chu Xiao, even if you are antisocial and don’t want to make friends, don’t stop me and Luo Shizhen from being good friends.”
Qin Yinian let go of the arm binding Luo Shizhen.
Luo Shizhen had just escaped the embrace and hadn’t sat up straight for a second when his face was cupped by Qin Yinian. Looking up, he saw Qin Yinian’s exceptionally sunny, enthusiastic, and dazzling smile.
In his memory, Qin Yinian always looked arrogant. At this moment, however, his smile was brilliant, his slightly naturally curly hair looked warm, and the corners of his beautiful peach blossom eyes tilted up, hiding a hint of mischief.
Staring at his canine teeth, Luo Shizhen remembered that Qin Yinian should be a year younger than him.
He had repeated a grade and was nineteen this year. Qin Yinian and Chu Xiao were both eighteen.
Luo Shizhen’s struggle lessened a bit; he respected the old and cherished the young.
“Luo Shizhen.”
Smiling exceptionally brightly, Qin Yinian held his face, locking eyes with him.
“We are friends now, right?”
Qin Yinian had known since childhood that he was good-looking. He had been popular since kindergarten, and growing up with good looks and a good family background, he was the center of attention wherever he went.
So he was very confident. As long as he wanted to win someone over, he couldn’t fail—especially not with someone of Luo Shizhen’s dull nature.
But on Luo Shizhen’s face—delicate but always looking a bit wooden—he saw hesitation.
Qin Yinian stopped smiling.
Hesitation? Why is he hesitating? What right does he have to hesitate??
I, Qin Yinian, am rushing to be friends with a dummy, and this dummy hesitates??
Chu Xiao rescued Luo Shizhen’s face from Qin Yinian’s hands. Luo Shizhen was pulled up to stand beside Chu Xiao.
“We actually aren’t that familiar…”
Luo Shizhen lowered his head, feeling embarrassed, and stole a careful glance at Qin Yinian. Seeing his sour face, he felt even more embarrassed.
His voice dropped a beat as he whispered an explanation:
“Qin Yinian, you are a good person, but we aren’t familiar, so we can’t be considered friends. But we are classmates, and since you are so nice, you will definitely find many friends here.”
Qin Yinian gritted his teeth, his voice sounding squeezed out:
“What? Are you giving me the ‘Good Guy’ card now? Think you can coax me just like that? A slap and a sweet date—are you walking a dog?”
Luo Shizhen didn’t know what a “Good Guy card” was. He just said earnestly and a bit stubbornly:
“I’m not coaxing you. You really are a good person, and you aren’t a dog.”
Qin Yinian couldn’t feel smug at all now. He even suspected these two were in cahoots to play him.
Otherwise, how could Luo Shizhen, with his soft personality looking like dough, turn hostile so suddenly?
Chu Xiao found Qin Yinian an eyesore no matter how he looked at him. “Qin Yinian, if you have an issue, come at me. Don’t drag Shizhen into it.”
Qin Yinian treated him as nonexistent. Luo Shizhen had his head down, so Qin leaned his head to look at Luo Shizhen’s face, forcing him to give an explanation.
“Luo Shizhen, speak clearly. In what way am I not qualified to be your friend? Chu Xiao is fine, why not me?”
Forced by him, Luo Shizhen could only look up. “Because I feel that the way you were just now… you didn’t truly consider me a friend.”
Qin Yinian choked. “How was I not sincere? Do you just look down on me? Or is it because of Chu Xiao? You don’t want to be friends with me because of him?”
Luo Shizhen looked at Qin Yinian. His gaze was crystal clear, his dark eyes honest and simple.
“I saw it in your eyes. You only said it with your mouth, but you didn’t think it in your heart.”
Qin Yinian’s aggressive expression paused, feeling a bit guilty.
What he thought in his heart was indeed to coax Luo Shizhen over to watch Chu Xiao have a breakdown.
Luo Shizhen: “Before, people also said they considered me a friend. I took it seriously. When they finished school, I wanted to go to the cafeteria or get water with them, but they felt I was pestering them. Later they told me they were just saying it. It was just casual talk.”
“They would say that to anyone; they didn’t mean it in their hearts. Ordinary people can distinguish it, but I’m stupid, I couldn’t. Only later did I slowly learn to distinguish.”
Chu Xiao stood silently to the side, saying nothing, but he rubbed Luo Shizhen’s head.
Comforted, Luo Shizhen smiled at Qin Yinian. The smile held no other meaning; it was just a pure smile.
“Really, it’s not looking down on you, and it has nothing to do with Chu Xiao. You are quite nice, and your grades are so good. I just don’t want to make fake friends. Ms. Gao said friends are companions, supporters, and understanders. If I did that to you, you would be very troubled, right?”
Looking at Luo Shizhen’s earnest expression, Qin Yinian’s mind went blank. He felt his worldview being impacted, along with an inexplicable sense of shame.
“Are you for real? You’re kidding me, right?”
Luo Shizhen was serious. “I really think so. I never lie.”
Saying this, he was a bit proud.
Luo Shizhen’s grades had always been poor. The only time he received praise from teachers was for being honest and not lying, being a good, honest child. So he had always been proud of this.
Qin Yinian: “…”
So Luo Shizhen really thinks I’m good?
What true friend fake friend??
There are actually people like this nowadays???
Does he really think I’m very good??
Qin Yinian had grown up among shrewd people. He had never seen someone like this. At this moment, staring blankly at Luo Shizhen, he didn’t know how to react.
Chu Xiao interrupted their stare-down in time. “Shizhen, I want to go to the bathroom. My leg hurts a bit; help me?”
“Okay.”
Luo Shizhen shouldered the heavy responsibility of supporting his friend again. He smiled kindly at Qin Yinian, and the two walked away together.
A moment later, the door opened. Chen He’an walked out of the room with a smile on his face.
“Shizhen, good news, your Sequence level is very high…”
Coming out, he only saw the back of Chu Xiao—who was usually arrogant and refused to show weakness—being supported by Luo Shizhen in a frail manner.
And beside the chairs, Qin Yinian, usually thinking he was number one under heaven, was holding his head with an expression of questioning life and the world.
Chen He’an: “?”
What happened?
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Whaaaaa!! Luo Shizhen is so earnest! 😭 It just takes him a while to learn. What a heart of gold 💛✨