Chapter 14: Devilish Training; But They Don’t Care
On the other side, Lu Yin also received the notification regarding Qi He’s expulsion, though he was somewhat surprised to find no mention of himself in it.
Lu Yin closed the notification and lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Suddenly, he performed a kip-up and sat up. He leaned over to pull something out from the bedside drawer and placed it in his palm.
The silver texture reflected the room’s light. Lu Yin looked at the necklace for a long time. The spiritual power on it had almost completely dissipated, yet he gripped it tightly in his palm.
The somewhat cold touch against his warm skin felt as if Zhuang He were pressing that cold face of his against him.
Is Zhuang He’s body temperature… also this cold?
While Lu Yin was dazing over the necklace, his light-brain beep-beeped. He checked it to see a message sent by Zhuang He.
Assessment?
The Empire’s military assessments were extremely strict and cruel, and all enrolled students were required to participate. After the assessment, students were redistributed into classes based on their preferences and scores. This assessment involved not only freshmen but also upperclassmen.
Once an upperclassman’s assessment score changed, they would be reassigned. If they didn’t want to leave their current class, they had to work hard to maintain their status.
For students with scores that were too low, the Academy would conduct a comprehensive review. If they truly couldn’t continue, they would be expelled.
This was the cruelty of the assessment, which mirrored the cruelty of the military.
Normally, the assessment involved grouping students by grade and level. However, for a 3S-grade like Lu Yin, participating with other freshmen would be nothing short of a slaughter. Therefore, after consideration, the Academy decided to hold a separate individual assessment for Lu Yin. His score in this assessment would determine which grade he would join during the official competition.
People on the Academy forum were already speculating on how Lu Yin’s assessment would be arranged. Some said he’d be in the freshman camp, while others said he’d be grouped with the upperclassmen.
Regardless, everyone had their theories, until the official Academy notice was released. Only then did everyone realize—it could be done like this!
But who would conduct Lu Yin’s individual assessment? Chief Zhuang? Or a group of teachers together?
Initially, Zhuang He also thought the Academy would leave Lu Yin’s assessment to him. But to his surprise, it was ultimately handed to Shi Yan and Zhang Tanxing.
This caught him very much off guard. However, the very next second after receiving the notice, Zhuang He’s light-brain rang with a video call from Shi Yan.
When Zhuang He answered, the person who appeared on the screen wasn’t Shi Yan, but Zhang Tanxing.
“Zhuang He~”
Zhang Tanxing’s voice was as soft as the man himself. He was draped over Shi Yan’s back, leaning his face forward to squeeze into the screen, greeting Zhuang He with a beaming smile.
Then Zhuang He saw a large hand grab Zhang Tanxing’s arm that was hanging over Shi Yan’s chest, pulling him down in one swift motion.
“Shi Yan!”
With Zhang Tanxing’s shriek, his face vanished from the small screen, and Shi Yan’s handsome face appeared.
He loosened his wrist, glanced at where Zhang Tanxing had disappeared, and then looked at Zhuang He. “Did you receive the notice?”
Zhuang He nodded, his tone somewhat puzzled. “Why were the two of you put in charge of Lu Yin’s assessment?”
Shi Yan let out a sigh. “I don’t know why either. Perhaps the Academy leadership felt you…”
He had wanted to say that they felt Zhuang He might show favoritism to Lu Yin, but no matter how he thought about it, Zhuang He wasn’t that kind of person. Did the Academy leadership really understand Zhuang He less than he did?
Zhuang He pondered for a moment and then said, “When the holiday starts in a few days, you, Zhang Tanxing, and Du Yu should all come to my place.”
“Eh? Why the sudden visit? Did you discover something?”
Zhang Tanxing’s face squeezed back in from the side, asking with surprise. Didn’t Zhuang He dislike having people at his home the most?
“We’ll talk then. It’s not quite certain yet.”
Zhuang He didn’t want to talk over the video call; he couldn’t guarantee that his communication device wasn’t being monitored.
Thinking of the meeting in a few days, Zhuang He picked up the butler-cat and said, “Simulate the scenes of me being at home from last week. Save them and overlay them on the entire house during the holiday this week.”
The butler-cat tilted its head at him, but the data flashing in its eyes told Zhuang He it was reading and scanning the request.
Soon, a yellow notification bar popped up in the cat’s eyes. Zhuang He stroked its head and let it down to play.
The kitten played carefree, making Zhuang He feel a sense of envy. He didn’t know if he would ever have the chance to be so happy again.
As he thought, Lu Yin’s face surfaced in his mind.
Although Du Yu had said there were no issues with Lu Yin’s background, during his time with Lu Yin, he always felt the boy was hiding some deep secret.
Over the next few days, Zhuang He became even stricter with Lu Yin’s training. Lu Yin also knew it was to prepare for the assessment and gritted his teeth to endure it.
When one set of training ended, Lu Yin lay on the floor, drained of strength. Zhuang He, standing by his side, gave him two light kicks in the waist, but received no response.
“Teacher… I feel like I’m going to die…”
Lu Yin said weakly. He felt the touch of the boot tip near his waist, which brought a slight tingle, but he had lost all his flirtatious thoughts and only wanted to close his eyes and have a good sleep.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Seeing him looking like a corpse, Zhuang He didn’t push him further. He walked to the control console to export Lu Yin’s training data from just now.
“Teacher, why aren’t you the one doing my individual assessment?”
Zhuang He didn’t turn around, his voice faint. “It’s the same with Shi Yan and the others.”
Lu Yin stopped talking and just stared fixedly at Zhuang He.
From the broad, straight back to the thin but powerful waist, then to the rounded buttocks. Those firm thighs had once squeezed his face, and the strong calves had stepped on his chest.
As he watched, he felt his throat grow somewhat dry and parched. He quickly turned his head back and stared blankly at the ceiling.
The sound of dull footsteps rang out, stopping by his side. Lu Yin looked up and met Zhuang He’s somewhat condescending gaze.
It was called condescending because he was looking down at him from above, and with his expressionless face, it did seem a bit like he was looking down on him.
However, from Lu Yin’s perspective, the first thing he noticed wasn’t Zhuang He’s sharp chin, but his robust chest muscles.
Because of the exertion from the training just now, the muscles were pumped and swollen, casting a shadow over Lu Yin’s face that made him feel a shameful… heat.
When he realized his eerie thought, Lu Yin flipped himself up and sat, telling the Zhuang He beside him, “Teacher, let’s continue.”
Zhuang He nodded, and a new round of devilish training began.
By noon, Lu Yin was like a pile of mud. He sat against the wall with a dazed expression, nearly drooling.
Zhuang He showed a rare moment of consideration, asking with concern, “Are you alright?”
“I’m… okay… Teacher…”
Lu Yin’s voice was as thin as a thread; he even felt that moving his eyeballs was a chore.
“Mhm. Have some water.”
Seeing that Lu Yin really looked like his soul was about to depart, Zhuang He took the water cup from the side, poured a glass, and held it to Lu Yin’s lips.
Lu Yin was still in a daze from fatigue when he felt water being fed to his mouth. He instinctively took a sip, then suddenly realized—it was Zhuang He feeding him water!
At that moment, all exhaustion vanished. Lu Yin’s eyes widened as he looked at the Zhuang He who was sitting very close to him, and he became somewhat at a loss for what to do.
With well-defined fingers holding the cup and the two of them so close, Lu Yin didn’t know where to look.
“T-teacher, I can do it myself.”
Lu Yin reached out a trembling hand to take the cup, but was refused by Zhuang He. “Your hands are shaking; you can’t hold the cup.”
Then he fed Lu Yin another sip of water.
Lu Yin drank this glass of water with trepidation, on one hand loathing the reaction caused by high compatibility, and on the other, fearing Zhuang He would discover his thoughts.
By the time the glass was empty, Lu Yin felt more exhausted than he had from the training. Zhuang He, who had been very close to him, rose and walked back to the console to return the cup. Along with Zhuang He’s departure, a faint, lingering fragrance also faded.
The familiar scent made Lu Yin’s mind wander. His gaze unconsciously fell on Zhuang He, who was copying the training data. A certain emotion in his heart seemed to undergo a subtle transformation.
However. Lu Yin’s eyes darted around. He felt his status in Zhuang He’s heart should be somewhat different now, so he asked tentatively, “Teacher, do you always pilot a spacecraft when you go on missions?”
Zhuang He didn’t turn around, and he didn’t care why Lu Yin suddenly asked this, simply answering in a faint tone, “Mhm. There are specialized spacecraft.”
“Oh… do the spacecraft all have Empire markings?”
“Of course.”
Zhuang He turned back to give him a strange look and asked, “Why do you ask?”
“Nothing. I saw a spacecraft once when I was a child. Back then, I just thought it was a novelty. It was only after I came to the Empire that I realized it was an Empire spacecraft.”
Lu Yin showed no anomaly on his face, as if he were truly just telling a story from his childhood.
Fortunately, Zhuang He didn’t suspect anything. Thinking of something, a hint of a smile touched his eyes as he asked, “Is that why you came to the Empire?”
“Pretty much. Also because the Empire offers free testing, and since I don’t have any relatives or friends, I decided to take a gamble.”
Lu Yin spoke casually, but his words struck Zhuang He’s heart with a dull ache.
He was only eighteen, yet he already had no relatives or friends. Even when he himself had gone through so many hardships at eighteen, he had two or three close friends to encourage and accompany him.
“Teacher, were you this tired when you trained in the past?”
“My training in the past was even more than this.”
Lu Yin was somewhat surprised. Even if Zhuang He was a 3S-grade, he was only a Guide back then, right? Why would he undergo such arduous training? Was the Empire’s training always this severe?
Zhuang He lowered his eyes to watch the progress bar on the screen and said no more. His hands were braced on the console, half his face hidden in the shadows.
What did this level of training matter? This was only physical torment. Real training was a torment of the brain and the psyche, enough to make a person lose their will to live and only want to seek death.
But how could they let you die? They would only wake you up time and again, year after year of high-pressure training.
Until you became the version they desired, even if that version was no longer yourself.
But they didn’t care.
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