Out of tune (4)

Cornunos closed its schools for a week, giving students a week off.

Shu Ningmiao slept well in her dormitory on the first night and went to the training ground to train the next day.

At that time, the messenger named Zhao extinguished the flames in time, and the school was rebuilt quickly. The main facilities of String Light Academy no longer showed any trace of Prometheus's presence, but it was also not very popular.

There are quite a few students living in the dormitory, but it still looks lifeless.

Shu Ningmiao knew that the impact of Prometheus's matter might be far greater than she had imagined.

After the list was completed, apart from the students who had fainted, officers from the Public Security Bureau came one by one to ask them what they saw during the period when the simulation system went black.

The good news is that no one saw her purify the humanoid contaminant with Erici; otherwise, it's all bad news.

When she was questioned, the man sitting opposite her was Yu Lu, whom she had seen before. He spoke in a calm voice at a normal volume, and his pronunciation was so clear that he could have been a news anchor.

The other member of the police station sitting next to Yu Lu was of medium build and had an average appearance; he was the kind of person who would look like several other people on the street.

Shu Ningmiao noticed that the Public Security Bureau seemed to have certain requirements for appearance when selecting people. Yu Lu also had this kind of delicate but inconspicuous appearance, unlike the flamboyant Envoy.

Is this also determined by strength?

Yu Lu asked her a few questions in an official tone, which were not out of line. Shu Ningmiao had no intention of hiding anything, but she omitted some details.

After she finished speaking, she caught a glimpse of the person sitting next to Yu Lu nodding.

Shu Ningmiao was taken aback. Could it be that this person's special ability could distinguish whether she was telling the truth or lying? Fortunately, she hadn't made up any lies; there were just some things she hadn't said.

Everyone in this world has different superpowers, making them virtually impossible to guard against.

She used to think that the invention of the "heart stone" was useless, but now she has her eye on it. If there is something that can tell whether someone is using superpowers, she will be much safer.

Her "Arrogance" state can display additional superpowers, but only those superpowers added to her.

Shu Ningmiao paused for a moment after thinking about this.

Something seems off.

She opened her terminal and went into her personal information. The "Arrogance" status was always displayed after her superpower, indicating that she had been in a passive state for a long time and was immune to additional superpowers.

When Wei Shengqianheng helped her clean her clothes, the superpower she used was not an auxiliary superpower at all, because auxiliary superpowers have no effect on her!

Shu Ningmiao frowned deeply when she realized this, but this only proved that Wei Shengqianheng had concealed his supernatural ability. He was already under the wing of the Yangsong Church and was not her partner or friend, so it was understandable that he concealed it.

But Shu Ningmiao just found it strange.

A sense of foreboding danger lingered over her.

Looking at her expression, Yu Lu sighed deeply and nodded to the person next to him: "Today's questioning is over. You can go now. I'll take Miss Shu home."

He offered to walk her part of the way, as if he had something to say to her.

Shu Ningmiao walked quietly with him on the road to String Light Academy. The man spoke first: "We will provide psychological counseling for the students present. If you feel uncomfortable, you can seek help."

Shu Ningmiao's eyelashes fluttered, and she turned to look at him curiously.

Does she look like she has psychological problems?

Yu Lu knew her; her outstanding performance in the combat simulation had left a deep impression on him. Most people couldn't be as decisive and ruthless as her when facing a battle for the first time.

After all, textbooks are one thing, and reality is another. Depending on each student's personality, they will deal with such situations differently. Some people are naturally difficult to empathize with, and their burden during the battle is relatively low; but some people may not even dare to kill a live animal by hand when cooking in reality.

He was also a graduate of String Light Academy. Many of his classmates began receiving psychological counseling after their first experience with superpowers, which continued until they left their positions related to superpowered individuals.

Not everyone is a born fighter; most people, when faced with battle, bloodshed, and death, will only gradually accumulate and deepen their burden.

Based on repeated questioning, they have almost confirmed what Prometheus did during the time the combat simulation system went black—showing them humanoid contaminants, diseases brought by Pandora… This will only increase the psychological burden on the students in their supernatural practice.

Yu Lu knew about the existence of these things, and also knew the reasons why they couldn't be made public.

A seemingly safe, peaceful, and powerful country requires many means to maintain, even if these means are incorrect or dishonorable.

Even the most celebrated executor of Pines was merely a glamorous facade created through countless propaganda and reports.

Shu Ningmiao is very outstanding and looks very well-behaved.

Shu Ningmiao had just thought of Wei Shengqianheng and couldn't control her expression for a moment. He thought he saw struggle and pain on her face and didn't want to leave a psychological shadow on a promising talent at the beginning, so he suddenly decided to talk to her.

"Don't take Prometheus's matter too seriously," Yu Lu said to her after carefully considering her words. "At your age, the perception of 'right' is still very vague."

Shu Ningmiao placed her hands in front of her with an elegant posture and looked straight ahead: "I am not interested in Prometheus."

She did have a little interest, but not in that area. She hadn't forgotten what Achini said about being able to "see the future," and she was determined to find out why. Nothing in this world was bigger than her own life.

She can only perceive the world if she is alive.

"That would be for the best. Don't let a moment of impulse ruin your entire life." Yu Lu cleared his throat and remained silent for a long time before speaking again: "Also, during the superpower practice, I remember you eliminated six Corrupted Bodies, do you remember?"

Although he phrased it somewhat tactfully, Shu Ningmiao had heard far too many of these roundabout ways of speaking. As soon as he opened his mouth, she almost understood what he meant. She smiled slightly and said, "I remember, because my memory is pretty good."

"But my mood was not affected."

Shu Ningmiao walked a few steps ahead of him, turned around to look at him, her eyes still showing a cold emotion of not understanding why he said that: "There is no difference between me facing it and it facing me. If I fail, I will die anyway. I just won."

Yu Lu discovered that she did indeed think differently from ordinary people.

Shu Ningmiao is not a born fighter who is emotionally detached. Her expression is rich and gentle, but she does not waver in the slightest when faced with the lives she has taken, which is remarkable.

If I had to describe her, I would simply say she was extremely focused.

Her focus on her goals allows her to overlook many things, including her sense of morality. She knows very clearly what she wants and what she is pursuing.

This powerful willpower generated in order to achieve a goal can overcome difficulties that ordinary people cannot.

But to some extent, it is also a form of indifference.

Yu Lu focused his gaze on the swaying ends of her hair and said nothing more.

For some students, the contaminant may just be a monster they don't feel anything about. It's probably only when they actually face a "person" with the same physical structure as themselves that they will really need psychological counseling.

——

Shu Ningmiao didn't take Yu Lu's words to heart. She had too many things to do. Although she was very wary of Achini, Prometheus's limelight hadn't died down yet, so she couldn't show that she cared too much about their news, or she would easily be seen as their accomplice.

Whether it was because of Wei Shengqianheng's suggestion or not, the transfer procedures that had been stuck at a certain stage for a long time finally made progress, and Shu Ningmiao instantly forgave him for the fact that nine out of ten of his sentences were lies.

She spent two days at the training ground, recalling Weston's basic "control" and "attack" on Pandora.

Weston was probably the most skilled Pandora among all the people Shu Ningmiao had ever met; even Yeluqi, who taught them, paled in comparison.

This made her curious about Weston's abilities for the first time. She had never seen Weston use his abilities before; all his attacks relied on his masterful use of basic "control".

She had previously guessed that Weston's superpower was related to brain enhancement, which was why he had several research achievements at such a young age—this was something she found on the terminal.

There were even unsubstantiated reports claiming that the research center's latest combat simulation system was developed by Weston himself.

Shu Ningmiao really wanted to find out the details of Weston's superpower. Although Erice's superpower was very strong, it was not very useful unless he was facing the corrupted entity. She used "Light" on him a few times behind his back when Shi Yu was not paying attention, but she felt that he did not become more cheerful.

She might not even remember to use this ability during a battle.

She wished she could steal Weston's powers; she wanted to experience what it was like to see everyone in the world as a brainless idiot.

With this in mind, she didn't look too upset when Weston summoned her during her vacation.

Walking through the empty common room, Shu Ningmiao arrived at his office. After seeing the mountain of assignments in front of Weston, she immediately felt that she should put on a less cheerful face.

"With such a big incident, will the main school in Cornunos not close for classes?" Shu Ningmiao opened the first book, saw the familiar ancient Phineas language, looked at the crooked handwriting, and took a deep breath.

The first translation in Old Pinhian is wrong. The correct meaning of the phrase is "love our mother," but this person translated it as "eat our manra."

Was Weston actually attending classes?

She forcefully suppressed her anger to avoid breaking Weston's quill pen again. Who knows if that stingy guy might bring out something she broke one day and demand she do chores again?

“You could talk to the principal.” Weston fiddled with his monocle, his tone devoid of emotion. “You’d better get him to consider canceling the Opulent language course, because there’s no point in making monkeys sit down and learn a human language.”

Shu Ningmiao skillfully finished correcting half of the homework. When she heard his words, she stopped and stared at him for a while. Just as he was about to reprimand her, her tone suddenly became exceptionally polite: "Teacher, actually I plan to apply to Teacher Yeluqi to be the class representative for physical training."

Weston was now able to roughly discern the purpose behind her change in tone; the more melodious Shu Ningmiao's voice was, the less likely it was to mean anything good.

The last time she spoke in this tone was when she wanted to secretly flip his teacup over and pretend it had accidentally spilled on his head. However, she wasn't skilled at controlling Pandora, and the teacup flew out the window and landed with a splash in the pond in the academy's park.

He raised an eyebrow indifferently: "You plan to learn from him how to pass the final exam using your overgrown muscles?"

Shu Ningmiao completely ignored his words and continued softly, "After this superpower practice, I fully realized the importance of superpowers and physical skills. The teacher also said that he was very worried about whether our strength could cope with the superpower practice in the future, so I decided to spend my spare time on superpower training."

Weston said, "I didn't say that."

He probably only said: "With your level, you don't need to participate in superpower practice anymore. The only difference between you and the pollutants is that you are species, not brain capacity."

Shu Ningmiao pretended not to hear.

“So after that,” she said, putting down her quill, resting her hands under her chin, and smiling at him, “I might not have as much time to help the teacher anymore, I’m so sorry.”