Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The week flew by. On his way to Wen Hui's training class, Meng Shijiu found Cui Suifu waiting for him at an intersection he had to pass through.

The area was quiet. Cui Suifu, with his strikingly bright red hair, leaned lazily against the wall, his long legs crossed casually in a slightly defiant posture.

When Meng Shijiu passed by the corner and his gaze swept over him indifferently, the red-haired Alpha suddenly snapped to attention, instantly correcting his stance.

For some reason, Cui Suifu hadn't been clinging to Meng Shijiu as much these past few days. Today was the first time he had shown up. Meng Shijiu bit off the last of his ice cream and raised an eyebrow.

Cui Suifu walked over, his gaze flicking over the corner of Meng Shijiu's lips.

His lips looked particularly glossy in the sunlight, no trace of ice cream at the corners of his mouth.

...Shame, nothing got on them. Cui Suifu regretfully withdrew his gaze.

Meng Shijiu was fastidious. After finishing, no cream from the ice cream would stick to his hands. Holding just a tiny corner of the wrapper, he handed it to Cui Suifu, who took it and threw it into a nearby trash bin.

When Cui Suifu walked back, his tall shadow falling beside Meng Shijiu's feet, he finally met Meng Shijiu's eyes and said, "Do you have time this afternoon? I have something to tell you."

Caught off guard by the formal question, Meng Shijiu cautiously took a step back, looked at Cui Suifu and said, "...No."

The silver-haired Alpha's voice was feather-light, as if he were thinking, yet also carrying a hint of casualness. It was kneaded by the morning breeze into wisps of cloud, wrapping around Cui Suifu's heart.

Cui Suifu silently watched Meng Shijiu.

He didn't attach himself recklessly as he usually did. Those black eyes, usually so assertive, now revealed a rare gentleness.

Cui Suifu suddenly let out a low chuckle, keeping his voice soft. "Then, will you have time after we return to school in a few days?"

The morning light was always gentle and easy on the eyes. This smile from Cui Suifu struck Meng Shijiu as somewhat familiar.

"What for?" Meng Shijiu narrowed his eyes.

Cui Suifu raised an eyebrow. "No reason."

He suddenly leaned in close, stopping at just the right distance, shading the light that had fallen into the silver-haired Alpha's eyes. His voice still carried a laugh. "—Scared?"

This time, Meng Shijiu didn't step back. He said lazily,

"Fine, after we return to school then."

He did a quick mental calculation, thinking that after correcting the world line, he'd still have some time left. He could spend a little while with Cui Suifu before leaving this world. He gave a slow nod.

The two walked side by side past the corner.

Meng Shijiu asked, "What is it?"

Cui Suifu said, "Guess."

Meng Shijiu: ...Who wants to guess?

Unwilling to engage, Meng Shijiu extended a finger and pushed Cui Suifu aside. "Move over."

Cui Suifu stopped. He suddenly grabbed the finger Meng Shijiu had extended, pulled Meng Shijiu closer with his other hand, pressed his lips to the tip of Meng Shijiu's ear, and whispered softly.

Meng Shijiu pushed him away before he could even finish. "Go away, go away, go away, go away, go away."

He covered his ears and walked quickly ahead. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to you at all."

Cui Suifu laughed out loud, reached out, and pulled him back, holding him firmly in his arms. "It's not about that."

Meng Shijiu still covered his ears.

But even through the thin fabric of his clothes, he could clearly feel Cui Suifu's suddenly accelerated heartbeat.

Cui Suifu had acted completely on reflex, afraid Meng Shijiu would really run away, so he just grabbed him and held on.

When he realized it, having suddenly embraced the person he had been longing for day and night, Cui Suifu froze all over. His words got stuck in his throat, not a single sound able to escape, turning into a burning silence.

No one was around, but the distant sounds of training could be heard from the drill field.

The kiss came urgently and heavily, as if trying to crush all the unspoken words and pour them into it.

"..."

Meng Shijiu generally wouldn't bite like a cornered rabbit, unless the person opposite was being completely ridiculous.

Blood spread between their lips and teeth, a thread of metallic sweetness lingering, hard to disperse.

Cui Suifu's fingers tightened, gripping Meng Shijiu's waist painfully.

"...Let me..." Meng Shijiu finally managed to turn his face away. "...catch my breath."

Cui Suifu loosened his arms slightly but still held him. When he lowered his head again, his bleeding lips landed on Meng Shijiu's trembling eyelid, like stamping a seal.

Meng Shijiu recovered for a moment, then complained, "First thing in the morning."

Cui Suifu chuckled.

Meng Shijiu kept his head down, not moving, as if looking would be too much. "Silly dog."

——

Wen Hui's office.

When Meng Shijiu pushed the door open, Wen Hui was in the same posture as during their first meeting—

The Alpha was half-crouched on the ground, wearing a white lab coat, adjusting a mecha.

The faint, mechanical hum was rhythmic and peaceful.

As the door closed, the light dimmed.

Wen Hui: "You're here."

Meng Shijiu acknowledged him. Wen Hui stood up, his calm gaze falling on the silver-haired Alpha. "Go ahead."

Meng Shijiu casually twirled the card he took from his pocket, swiped it in front of the transport pod, and the hatch slid open silently.

He had just stepped into the transport pod. As the door closed, Wen Hui walked over.

Meng Shijiu blinked quietly, his long eyelashes casting faint shadows on his pale cheeks.

Wen Hui: "Wait a moment."

Meng Shijiu nodded from inside the glass.

Wen Hui stood on the other side of the glass. He had originally just glanced up casually, but his gaze stopped when it swept over a certain spot on Meng Shijiu's face—the bloodstain on Meng Shijiu's eyelid had already disappeared, but because it had been roughly wiped away by its owner, a faint, thin redness remained, like it had been roughed up.

Wen Hui looked down and tapped on the transport pod's screen for a moment. At the sound of a beep, the green light above the pod door lit up, and the transparent glass instantly frosted over.

Meng Shijiu shut his eyes quietly, gradually feeling the rhythm of his breath slip away. In the final second before his consciousness fully sank into the holographic map, his five senses were completely shut off.

The holographic map was unchanged from last week's.

In a world forged of glaciers and permafrost, stunted trees were sheathed in a layer of blood-red twilight, like frozen flames or smoldering incense.

The sensation of having his senses blocked was indescribable.

His sense of touch drained away like fine sand in an hourglass. Meng Shijiu knew he was on his feet but couldn't feel the pressure on his knees. Eyes closed, he sat down right where he was, just as he had last time.

Releasing his psychic energy came more easily this time, unlike the interrupted attempt last week, as it swept through and scanned the map.

Time crept by.

In this data-built map, time was in flux too.

The twilight on the horizon grew denser and redder.

Wen Hui hadn't spelled out the rules for this training session.

Meng Shijiu only knew his opponent was Wen Hui.

How could he win? And how would Wen Hui appear—in a mech or on his own?

It was all a mystery.

The silver-haired Alpha's psychic energy acted like a precision scanner, leaving no corner of the map unchecked, searching for any trace of life.

The map's cold data streams took shape one by one in his mind. His psychic energy probed the cracks in the permafrost, bored through tree rings, and didn't even spare the dust motes drifting in the twilight.

But he stayed silent at the heart of this data storm, tirelessly exploring every inch of this wasteland.

Until his relentless psychic energy halted under a particular squat, sturdy tree.

In that instant, even the wind seemed sliced apart by psychic force.

Meng Shijiu "saw"—a hundred meters off, under dark green needles—

An Alpha with brown eyes, calm and still.

…Got him.

Not a mech, just Wen Hui himself.

Meng Shijiu's psychic energy snapped taut.

A rush—

Another wave of psychic energy, like a violent tornado, suddenly tore through.

Meng Shijiu's cold, expansive psychic energy was brutally ripped open, slamming down the tree that had hidden Wen Hui, once more obscuring those eyes.

Next to Meng Shijiu's precise, icy psychic energy, Wen Hui's was like a cold meat grinder, with astonishing destructive power.

Where it swept, glaciers splintered, permafrost churned. Trees were ripped up, shredded to splinters, and buried under the permafrost.

The areas Meng Shijiu had meticulously scanned were now collapsing at a shocking rate.

Meng Shijiu didn't act impulsively. Coolly, he used his psychic energy to seize a branch and hurl it at Wen Hui.

—Useless.

In the map mode Wen Hui had set, physical attacks were useless against a person.

…Then it was down to psychic energy alone.

Meng Shijiu understood the only way to win—

Victory meant using psychic energy to "force" Wen Hui out of the map.

Across this wildly crumbling glacial waste, Wen Hui's psychic energy was like a beast swallowing everything whole, dragging all order into a chaotic vortex.

Just like that, Wen Hui broke through the cold defenses, gradually approaching Meng Shijiu.

Everything tended toward entropy; resistance seemed the most meaningless thing.

Meng Shijiu's psychic energy hovered in the air like a detached observer, calm to the point of cruelty.

He watched coldly, neither being drawn into Wen Hui's mental hurricane nor completely withdrawing from the battlefield.

—Was he going to lose?

Meng Shijiu "watched" as Wen Hui stepped across the permafrost, walking toward him step by step.

The Alpha's low voice was transmitted through psychic energy—

"Don't be afraid of losing yourself. Do what you want to do."

Meng Shijiu still "watched" Wen Hui.

Approaching his physical body was meaningless. According to the rules, Wen Hui could only win by expelling his psychic energy from the map.

That Alpha coach walked over, now only two steps away from Meng Shijiu.

The silver-haired Alpha, deprived of his senses, still sat on the ground with his eyes closed, his hair in a high ponytail, silent as a statue. He was dressed thinly, with several tears ripped open by the air currents, revealing pale skin and faint blue veins beneath.

As Wen Hui's psychic energy swept past, Meng Shijiu casually tilted his head.

This subtle movement caused the silver-haired Alpha's hair tie to snap abruptly. The moment his silver hair fell, it was lifted by the wind, making the person sitting on the cracked permafrost appear excessively aloof and languid.

Half-melted ice particles "rustled" down from the trees. Boots crunched as they stepped on the ground. The orange-red twilight cast a thin filter over the silver-haired Alpha.

The elongated shadow of his eyelashes trembled slightly on his cheeks, and that touch of orange-red suddenly became vivid.

Wen Hui leaned down, half-kneeling on the ground, just like the scene Meng Shijiu had seen when he first pushed the door open.

On this data-constructed map, beside the lips of Meng Shijiu, who had lost his five senses, he gently placed a kiss.

A kiss.

—?

His cold psychic energy froze for an instant.

Meng Shijiu suddenly opened his eyes.

He crashed into a pair of brown eyes, their color as deep as an autumn pond sealed for millennia, where all light fell in and lost its sound. Meng Shijiu saw his own reflection slowly sinking into that bottomless calm.

Scenes flickered through his mind... Wen Hui suddenly adjusted the control panel of the transfer pod in front of him... He said, "Wait..."

The silver-haired Alpha locked eyes with those calm ones.

—Wen Hui hadn't completely blocked his senses; he'd left his vision intact.

Why?

Meng Shijiu blinked blankly, his long hair cascading down, softening his features like a serene ink-wash painting where all sharp edges blurred into gentle curves.

Wen Hui straightened up and explained, "The sky is really beautiful right now. Of all the places I've been, the sky at this moment here is the most beautiful... You can't truly appreciate this beauty through mental power alone."

Meng Shijiu lifted a hand to his lips.

Having lost his sense of touch, his aim was slightly off, landing at the corner of his mouth. With no sensation, he felt nothing.

Meng Shijiu thought—

You could have just reminded me with your mental power.

Or told me from the start.

Or...

Anyway, any of those would have been more reasonable than suddenly kissing me.

...

But Meng Shijiu said nothing. He followed Wen Hui's gaze toward the horizon.

The twilight of the blue hour spread like diluted ink, gradually soaking the entire frozen plain, blurring Meng Shijiu's silhouette into a solitary outline.

The sky looked like indigo-dyed silk, layered with cool tones from afar to near. Wisps of cloud wrapped in icy blue gauze, their edges tinged with gold.

Tranquil and profound.

It truly was a very beautiful sky.

—Don't be afraid of losing yourself. Do what you want to do.

Wen Hui's deep words rang out like a bell piercing through fog, sending clear ripples through the silver-haired Alpha's chaotic awareness.

Meng Shijiu suddenly realized this wasn't a match; it was a training session with a purpose.

Looking at the sky, Meng Shijiu broke the silence with his mental power: "What if I get lost?"

Wen Hui looked at him: "Your true self never gets lost."

Meng Shijiu went quiet again, continuing to watch the horizon.

Yet his mental power flowed like seawater, silently washing over the fragmented frozen plain.

The glaciers did not vanish or melt; they were restored, newborn.

For a moment, Meng Shijiu had indeed imagined, as he had countless times before, vying with Wen Hui for control of this map.

He was inherently bloodthirsty.

But... a sky this beautiful deserves a fitting backdrop.

Those calm brown eyes gradually faded from view.

Wen Hui was effortlessly expelled from the map by Meng Shijiu's mental power.

Before leaving, he gave Meng Shijiu a faint smile.

As for the silver-haired Alpha remaining in the map—

His eyes glowed with a soft jade-green in the twilight, like sea currents tinted by the sunset, shimmering with a pale blue at the boundary between day and night.

*

The final exam of the intensive training arrived. When the students learned this assessment would also be livestreamed, they all wore expressions of "of course."

A3 Obstacle Zone.

Meng Shijiu and Yue Xuanli arrived together. Perhaps due to excessive mental exertion the previous day, Meng Shijiu was practically hanging off Yue Xuanli.

Like a completely exhausted cat, his entire body slumped softly against Yue Xuanli's shoulder.

Meng Shijiu mumbled into Yue Xuanli's ear: "Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy, sleepy..."

Yue Xuanli frowned, gently lifting a hand to steady him, holding him more securely: "Why aren't you better yet?"

Meng Shijiu's voice was muffled against Yue Xuanli's neck: "No, I'm sleepy because I couldn't sleep last night."

The hall before the obstacle zone wasn't as noisy as outside, but it was distinctly different.

Hearing the surrounding commotion, Meng Shijiu's ears twitched, and he lifted his buried face.

He glanced around at the crowd, then buried his face again, his voice tinged with frustration: "Didn't I say to put me down before we reached the entrance? This is so embarrassing!"