Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Returning from Zhou Xuan's place, Baisha's aircraft had just landed when she ran into Jingyi and Yaning, who had returned to the orphanage for the weekend.

"Baisha, you're finally back," Yaning greeted her with a smile and a hug.

Having not seen them for just a few days, their reunion felt like worlds apart to Baisha.

However, a single comment from Yaning instantly broke Baisha's composure.

"They said you were taken by Teacher Homann to another planet to kill fish!" Yaning said in shock. "What happened, weren't you going to a mechanics exchange conference? Everyone said you reeked of fish, detectable from five meters away... I don't smell it that strongly, though?"

Baisha twitched the corner of her mouth, forcing a stiff smile.

Jingyi: "You believe such nonsense?"

Yaning: "That's what everyone is saying."

"I mean, the mechanics exchange conference is the nonsense," Jingyi glanced at Baisha. "You and Teacher Homann must have been up to something else these past two days, right?"

Baisha's eyes curved in a smile, "Can't hide anything from you guys."

She then roughly recounted how Homann had taken her to Hanbo Star to work as a mercenary, mentioning the young captain she had brought to Lanslo Star.

"That's so thrilling," Yaning listened with a mix of fear and excitement. "You actually went to the front lines to fight star bugs! Teacher Homann is outrageous, why didn't he take us too?"

"Homann said with his strength, he could only look after me on the battlefield. Two more, even he couldn't manage," Baisha shook her head calmly. "That's the truth. He even pretended to faint in front of the military department! If not for a stroke of luck, I might not have gotten away so easily."

"You're a pre-military academy student; taking you to the warzone is outrageous," Jingyi's face visibly darkened. "If anything had happened, you would have left your life on Hanbo Star!"

"That's because my aspiration is unique. Both Liao and Homann advised me, but I didn't want to change my mind. It's good this way, no more dilemmas in the future," Baisha scratched her cheek.

Yaning looked worried: "Your psychic power level is determined, but Jingyi and I are still undecided. What if you get into the Central Military Academy and we don't—ouch!"

Jingyi twisted Yaning's arm.

"Stop babbling. What's more important, life or testing psychic power levels? What's yours will be yours. Just wait and attend the military academy selection exam. After that, you'll know if you're qualified."

Yaning quickly shut up, rubbing his arm, then excited again: "But I heard someone sponsored our Lanslo Middle School, providing the pre-military class with a batch of holographic simulation pods! Everyone knows Lanslo Star is poor, unable to rent large training grounds outside the wasteland. With these simulation pods, we can simulate battles in various environments. They say those pods come with training chips, the same kind used in the main stars of other prosperous galaxies. Now we can see how military academy students from those developed galaxies train!"

Speaking, Yaning hesitated for a second, then added, "But there's some bad news. I also heard the donation came from the Luqi family, Parfen Luqi's father. Now the Luqi family is officially the sponsor of our western district school, and all teachers and students owe them a favor."

This meant the days for the orphanage trio might get tougher.

The teachers were okay, as Baisha, Jingyi, and Yaning were all geniuses listed in the teacher's group, unlikely to face difficulties from them. But the attitude of other students was unpredictable.

"Don't overthink it, we'll use the holographic simulators donated by the Luqi family just the same," Baisha comforted him. "Worst case, we just avoid Parfen when we see her, no fighting, no problem, right?"

Jingyi scoffed: "You think Parfen will stop her foolishness? If her father really becomes the school's sponsor, she'll be even more arrogant."

The next day, the trio went to school as usual and actually saw a new batch of sixty simulation pods installed. Though not many, they were more than enough for the students a year or two senior to Baisha. Baisha's class, still not through their first year's training, wouldn't get to use the pods yet.

Back at school, they found seven or eight more students missing from their class—since the start of the school year, nearly sixty new students had dropped out, and it was normal to find a few familiar faces missing each time they returned to class.

The last class in the morning was combat training. As usual, Baisha knocked down her sparring partner and, upon withdrawing, saw Jingyi watching her, saying, "Your combat awareness has improved."

Baisha: "Hmm? Has it?"

Baisha naturally restrained her psychic power in combat class; fighting these students who hadn't awakened their senses with full psychic power would be bullying. So, she didn't feel she had improved much since before.

Jingyi raised an eyebrow slightly: "How about a match with me?"

Memories of being trounced by the devil Jingyi instantly awoke in Baisha's mind.

Baisha inhaled sharply, noticing Jingyi's eyes shimmering golden in the sunlight, burning with battle intent—a sign of Jingyi's eagerness to fight.

"Let's not," Baisha pleaded softly. She aimed to be a mech pilot, a delicate, easily bullied one! Why should the violent mech soldier Jingyi spar with her? It would be better to fight Yaning!

"If you don't fight back, I'll take it as consent," Jingyi smiled, pulling out a whip and adopting a fighting stance.

After students' fighting styles began to emerge, the teachers set out various weapons like swords, spears, whips, and hammers on the training ground, mostly made of wood or special materials to minimize injury. Students could choose bare-handed combat or practice techniques with weapons.

Mastering one technique can lead to mastery of all. No one could beat Jingyi in the training ground, even with eighteen different weapons. Today, she picked a whip, usually wielded for its agility, which seemed contrary to Jingyi's usually forceful and fierce fighting style. However, she wielded it with the unpredictability and immense power of a dragon in water. A match with her left one aching all over, making the whip the least desired weapon for students to see her use. Baisha's best weapon was the spear, limiting her in close combat, and she was not eager to endure this hardship.

As Jingyi's whip came at her, Baisha had no choice but to engage.

She pulled two knives from the rack next to her, spreading her arms with one blade high and the other low. The whip first wrapped around one blade. Baisha smoothly pulled the knife to her waist, straightening the whip, then slashed at it with the other knife. Jingyi closed in rapidly, the whip soaring high and entangling Baisha's other knife. As Jingyi moved in for an elbow strike to Baisha's abdomen, she found Baisha had released one hand, using the entangled whip to lock the knife hilts together—forming a makeshift emei piercer, angled towards Jingyi's neck.

Even Jingyi was speechless: "Where did you learn those tricks? Can't we have a proper fight?"

"This is strategy," Baisha responded. "Mech weapons can transform; this isn't cheating. When I design my own mech, I'll make the weapons have at least three forms, changing in battle. I want to see how my opponents guess my next move."

Actually, she had learned this knife technique from watching Zhou Xuan's real combat.

"You with a knife and me with a whip, neither material giving way to the other, we won't determine a winner this way, just test our awareness," Jingyi explained. "I know you're skilled with guns, so you probably don't bother much with these close-combat weapons. But unexpected dangers are always around a mech pilot. It doesn't hurt to practice another melee weapon."

The two sparred for a while, and whether Jingyi was holding back or Baisha had truly improved, the whip barely touched her. As they practiced, a circle of onlookers formed around them, many classmates stopping their own fights to watch.

After an intense match, both wiped their sweat, returned the weapons to their places, and left arm in arm, leaving the spectators behind to discuss.

"Jingyi's whip technique is incredible. I've never seen any teacher give her special training. Where did she learn it?"

"Baisha's not bad either. Her combat skills weren't so prominent before, but now she can keep up with Jingyi... She must have improved, right? Maybe those days she took off were for special training?"

"I heard she went to kill fish to earn tuition fees..."

"A mech pilot reserve earning money by killing fish? Are you too naive or too gullible?"

"That's not necessarily true," someone argued, "Have you seen the tuition fees for the Central Military Academy? 48,000 star coins a year! Who can afford that?"

"But the Central Military Academy offers various scholarships and living allowances. I've never heard of any student unable to attend due to lack of money. Look at the neighboring Saint Cyril Military Academy, charging 100,000 star coins a year, and that's without factoring in different accommodation and meal plans. Four years there, and you owe the academy 400,000 star coins. Your salary after graduation goes straight to repaying student loans!"

Baisha and Jingyi paid no attention to the debate behind them.

It was Monday, and they were eating boxed lunches brought from the orphanage. Yaning usually joined them for meals, but today he was an hour late. By the time he arrived, Baisha and Jingyi had finished eating.

"Sorry!" Yaning panted slightly, his cheeks flushed, devouring his meal. Between bites, he said, "Today I... I went to the senior's training room and tried that holographic simulator..."

"Swallow what's in your mouth first before speaking," Baisha cautioned, worried he might choke. "Aren't the simulators only open during class hours? Did you sneak into a senior class?"

"No," Yaning waved his hand, swallowing a big mouthful of rice, his face still showing delight. "It was Parfen, she has the unlock codes for those simulators. There was no one using them after 10:30 this morning, so she took me to try them out. You won't believe it, but the holographic simulators have a 'simulated command' feature. I fought four AI battles in there..."

Jingyi: "Did you win them all?"

Yaning patted his chest: "Lost them all!"

Baisha/Jingyi: "..."

"Hey, winning or losing isn't the point. The important thing is, during the replay, I learned a lot of practical details not covered in books!" Yaning blinked, adding, "Details and rules even our teachers haven't taught us!"

"There's a possibility we'll only get to real command courses next year." They were currently mainly taking military theory classes, identifying weapons, military types, the combat environments of various star systems, analyzing tactical strategies, "Command in actual combat is training for the seniors."

"It's always good to learn more, especially since there are only a few holographic simulators, and we can't just use them whenever we want," Yaning said with a hint of regret. "I should thank Parfen—it was her idea to let me try the simulator's command courses. Seeing me lose four times in a row made her very happy. I pretended to be embarrassed and sad, saying I wasn’t satisfied and wanted to continue practicing during lunch break, and she agreed without hesitation."

Baisha: "..."

No wonder Yaning, despite his naivety, is considered a command talent.

Is this how Parfen intends to suppress them? Good, she should do it more often.

Yaning arrived in high spirits and left the same way, reminding Baisha of herself when she first got a photon brain.

Baisha: "Jingyi, what do you think?"

Jingyi, unconcerned: "Just a toy for the rich."

Indeed, although the holographic simulators claim to synchronize all five senses perfectly, that's for people without psychic power. If a row of holographic simulators could perfectly replace reality, then why would military academies spend a fortune training across different star regions every year? Still, the simulators have their advantages. As a medium, they can perfectly recreate various human-designed scenarios, essential for both commanders and mech soldiers to enhance their combat experience with such versatile and easy training methods.

The bedroom was in a small loft on the second floor. Climbing the wooden stairs and opening the door, Baisha found the young man awake. He sat on the bed's edge, quietly watching the Back Alley through a small floating window. His black brows hung low, his demeanor calm and collected, exuding a cool aura.

Hearing Baisha say this, Jing Yi became interested. The fight she had with Baisha that morning had left her craving more. Ever since she had advanced to the preparatory class and Huoman stopped teaching her combat skills, she rarely felt the thrilling sensation of battle.

The young man turned his head, his face expressionless. He looked at Baisha and asked, "Who are you?"

"If we can't use it during class, then we should be able to borrow it at night, right? Otherwise, how did Yaning manage to get into the simulator today?" Baisha stretched lazily, adding, "But you need to hurry. Yaning's tactic against Parfen won't work for long and will soon be discovered. Though looking at Yaning's determination, he'll probably spend tonight in the simulator too. You could use that opportunity to join him."

Suddenly, Baisha felt her temper rise.

Baisha: "I have a way."

That afternoon, surprisingly, Baisha and Jingyi, who were usually inseparable, went their separate ways. Throughout the entire military theory class, they did not glance at each other, treating one another as if invisible.

Rumors started to spread that Baisha had gone to Roden Star during her leave to get her psychic power level tested and was about to transfer to Roden Star's prep academy. There were also whispers that Baisha and Jingyi had fought that morning. Baisha had improved remarkably, making them evenly matched, which supposedly caused Jingyi to lose face and led to their current cold war.

Yaning Kelly's reaction was the most genuine. He had no idea what had happened between the two, asking questions and trying to mediate, yet unable to draw a pleasant expression from either of them. This left him looking gloomy all afternoon, lost in thought while the teacher lectured on and on.

Parfen Roden observed this scene, smirking with satisfaction, but then felt a twinge of sadness.

Jingyi’s reaction clearly indicated that Baisha had confirmed her psychic power level. Soon, they would no longer be in the same world, and naturally, their friendship would suffer.

After dinner, Jingyi approached Parfen Roden with a stern face, asking for the activation key to the holographic simulation chamber.

"You want to try the combat class in the simulation chamber?" Parfen was in a good mood. "Sure, as long as you can defeat Baisha in combat someday, you can use the chamber as you please."

"You don't need to tell me that," Jingyi replied, sharp as an unsheathed sword, a faint aura of menace in her eyes. "I won't let anyone defeat me."

Parfen happily handed over the key.

Parfen didn't control all the simulation chamber keys, but her father had donated additional chambers to the school, exclusively for Parfen and her followers.

Parfen Roden thought she had successfully divided the trio from the orphanage, only to find Jingyi and Baisha sitting together the next day, intimately sharing a plate of cherry tomatoes.

Parfen was shocked: "Weren't you two fighting?"

"Hmm, were we? When was that?" Baisha nonchalantly popped a cherry tomato into her mouth and countered.

Parfen paused, quickly realizing something, then exploded in anger, shouting: "Jingyi!"

"I'm here," Jingyi replied calmly, lifting her eyelids. "Are you challenging me to a fight? Fine, I'll be your opponent in the next combat class."

Parfen's face twisted in anger before she turned and left without a word. She had learned from her previous defeats against the trio that arguing with them was just humiliating herself.

On the other hand, after easily dealing with Parfen, Baisha watched her storm off and casually asked, "Why did you get bored of the simulation chamber so quickly?"

"The combat courses in there are not very interesting. The opponents are high-level, but they are still artificial, predictable after a few rounds, lacking the liveliness of real people," Jingyi summed up. "It's less interesting than sparring with Teacher Homman."

Baisha: "Next time he's back at the orphanage, I'll help you corner him."

Jingyi: "Can we really do that? I always feel he's not very willing to spar with me these days."

Baisha confidently said: "We can. He still owes Old Liao some money, and there's also the matter of him leaving me alone at the military office last time. He wouldn't dare refuse my request."

In just a few words, they had already planned out a strategy involving Teacher Homman.

After Parfen Roden saw through their plot, the most affected was Yaning, who was ousted from the simulation chamber by Parfen. Though he was pleased to see Parfen's plan thwarted, he still felt a sense of longing for the holographic simulation chamber.

"Cheer up," Baisha consoled him. "When we have money, we'll buy ten or eight of them!"

Yaning whimpered: "I only want one!"

Baisha: "But we still need to save for tuition. Think about it, the Federal Central Military Academy, the tuition is nearly fifty thousand star coins a year."

Yanning looked up, asking with a bit of wishful thinking, "How much have we saved up now?"

Baisha thought for a moment and said, "We've been saving separately, so let's each report our amount."

Yanning: "One thousand star coins."

Jingyi: "Three thousand star coins."

Baisha: "Sixty thousand star... wait, the money I earned as a mercenary last time was swallowed by Teacher Holman."

The three exchanged glances—only Baisha's savings were barely above the surplus line, enough to cover the first year's tuition.

The Federal Central Military Academy does subsidize students, but first you have to get admitted, right?

With their current financial condition, even having two extra eggs for breakfast requires careful consideration of whether they deserve it.

It's truly shocking when you don't calculate, but once you do, it's startling.

Yanning was almost in tears: "I was wrong, I'm a poor devil, I don't deserve a simulation pod. Let's wait until next year, when we move up a grade, then we can use it legitimately."

Baisha was silent for a moment: "I feel the urge to go back to the front lines and kill fish for a few days."

"Shut up, we'll find a way to solve our tuition on our own," Jingyi rubbed her hair, "Lanslo Star has a funding program for students who get into the military academy, but I don't know how much it is. It's doubtful that we can cover this fifty thousand gap entirely with scholarships. We need to think of other ways to make money."

But the fast ways to make money are all written in the criminal law, especially on Lanslo Star.

The three made up their minds to ask Teacher Holman for his opinion the next time they saw him, and if all else fails, to go to Mrs. Qiong to see if there were any part-time jobs available.

……

The weekend, a holiday.

Baisha, preoccupied with thoughts of making money, piloted her flyer towards the back streets. Throughout the journey, the flyer's thrusters rumbled loudly. Upon landing, Baisha immediately checked and found that several parts were aging and needed replacement.

When luck turns sour, even a sip of cool water gets stuck in your teeth. Without spare materials on the flyer, Baisha had no choice but to buy them from a repair shop in the back streets.

She found a shabby-looking repair shop, where the owner was lounging in a chair, smoking. Noticing her enter, he paused briefly and said, "Aren't you the young lady who's with Old Liao?"

Old Liao was widely known among the civilian mechanics on Lanslo Star, and many people recognized him.

Baisha greeted with a smile, "Hello, boss. I need to buy some parts. Since you know my master, could you give me a discount?" After listing the needed parts, the owner nodded and said, "No problem. Sounds like trouble with your flyer, huh? Around these back streets, it's common for flyers and hovercars to break down."

The owner went to the shelves, calculated the cost, and quoted a price to Baisha.

Baisha nodded. Though it was 10% more expensive than elsewhere, it was still a bargain for the back streets.

Moreover, Baisha didn't need the owner's help with repairs, as she could handle them herself, saving even more money.

Carrying the parts, she returned to her flyer, pulled out a borrowed cot, and slid under the vehicle. While repairing, she realized she needed another type of wrench, located in a nearby toolbox. Spotting a pair of shiny, new boots next to the flyer, she casually asked, "Brother, could you pass me the number two wrench from the toolbox?"

The sleek, high boots paused for a few seconds, then the person bent down, picked out the number two wrench, and handed it to Baisha.

They were long, fair hands – their palms like jade, with a few distinct lines, otherwise flawlessly perfect.

Startled, Baisha pushed the cot away and crawled out from under the flyer.

Standing before her was a strikingly handsome young man. His black hair, tied up, partially draped over his shoulders. His refined coat concealed a crisp military uniform, with two gleaming military insignias dangling under the silver tassels. His features were delicate, with an aura of luxurious jade and gold, his complexion fair – a stark contrast of black and white on his face, like the ultimate embodiment of beauty.

Such a luminous figure stood before Baisha, yet the passersby seemed blind to his presence.

It was a psychic shield.

Zhou Xiang once mentioned that with ultimate psychic training, one could achieve an "invisibility" similar to that of ghost bugs. It wasn't about becoming physically invisible, but using psychic power to make all living beings around ignore his existence.

Upon closer inspection, this man bore a resemblance to Zhou Xiang, almost certainly from the same family. His features were even more striking, with an enchanting beauty.

Moreover, he exuded an unfathomable aura – just a glance was enough to set off alarms in Baisha's mind.

"Hello."

The young man greeted Baisha with a flawless smile and impeccable manners, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he might turn hostile and strike from the shadows at any moment.

"I am Ning Hongxue, Axiang's uncle."

Baisha: "..."

Had the Zhou family come to settle accounts with her?