Love Cycle (XII) After three years of training, I am still a barking dog...

"There's something wrong with you."

Evans glanced at Anushka.

The three-hour freshman dinner ended perfectly. Students from various colleges left the venue in an orderly manner along the guiding light belts and returned to the campus.

Anushka Kash walked at the front of the North School team, with her shoulders straight and her steps brisk.

Including the freshmen, the North School team had only 52 people. All the students were marching in unison and at a fast pace. Only two figures at the end of the team were following the cold team at a brisk pace. The North School students were the first to walk out of the middle boundary area.

Evans Eamon walked a few steps behind Anushka's right hand side and glanced towards the middle boundary area. "You stayed in the school team all night. Have you given up chasing after the senior from the West District?"

Anushka, who was walking in front, ignored it.

We walked all the way to the subway station, but the front of the line was still silent.

"That senior didn't come to the welcome party today." Jack, who was walking on the left, whispered to Evans, who had a long face.

"Dumped?" Evans Eamon whistled and coughed. The lizard following Evans' shadow opened its mouth and laughed like a hyena on the grassland.

"Think positively." Evans Eamonn tried to protect his skull and changed the subject: "This year you can consider rushing to the special achievement list. Last year you didn't have any special achievements."

Evans Eamon glanced to his left. "Jack obtained a special achievement indicator from an East School student last semester. It was the first one from the North School."

Jack on the left lowered his head and made no response.

"Don't fall behind, you're number one in the class," Evans said.

Evans and Jack were followed by a lizard and a snake-fox respectively. They stared at the back of the blond leader and the pure black lion-vulture, their pupils pointed straight up, with eager hunting eyes.

The pure black chimera following behind Anushka swung its tail in boredom, opened its mouth full of fangs, and yawned.

"I'm wondering why you guys haven't made it into the top ten in the joint school credits ranking after working hard for a whole year." The blond leader who was walking in the front finally spoke, his voice full of habitual calmness, "Work harder and strive to be in the top ten by the end of the semester, so that I can have a chance to overtake you guys."

This matter-of-fact tone cut through Evans's newly-energized mentality like a knife.

His mood suddenly became terrible and he stopped talking.

The only sound that could be heard was the North School team's footsteps until they arrived at the campus.

For the next two months, Evans kept watching Anoushka, who never made the trip to the West Campus again.

Evans rarely asked his classmates about the news of the West Campus, which he was not interested in. He heard reliable news that the West Campus’s senior, Fit, had been replaced and would never return. Evans immediately ran to mock... and care about Anushka.

"Why don't you go offline to look for it?"

Evans' tone was a little surprised, "You pursued him for a whole year, and you just gave up like that?"

Evans looked at Anushka, who was sitting at a table by the window in the parade tower.

Anushka was no different from last year, neatly dressed, calm and composed, with a look of indifference that had lasted for ten years. The badge of the president of the North School Fraternity on her chest shone with a new light in the sunlight, and her hands were editing a document on her anti-spying smart ring.

There was no such dejection and fatigue as in the love stories that Evans had known about, that came from losing a loved one.

"There's nothing to do, just go and train for two hours." Anushka said without raising her head.

Evans sneered as if he had already gotten the answer. "What did I say? I told you not to chase after an illusory shadow. You put in a whole year's worth of credits for that shadow. No. 1."

No one in the tower spoke. For ten seconds, Evans was immersed in the precious time of educating Anoushka.

Before leaving the tower, a cheerful Evans said something normal to Anushka, "It's not a bad thing to have a taste of giving up to enrich your life. The addiction to victory is more terrible than the addiction to alcohol. Be careful not to become an idiot."

Anushka stopped typing after the tower was clear. The virtual screen, visible only to the owner, displayed columns of data pages of detailed coordinated battle plans.

The target image in the upper left corner of the data screen is Fate with silver hair and silver eyes.

Give up? How is that possible?

The moment Anushka learned that Fate had tricked him, he did think about logging off immediately and heading to the neutral zone to look for Fate who lived in the Sky City.

As early as during the summer vacation, Anushka had done serious homework on the distribution of power in the neutral zone, and had a deeper understanding of "Fate Sariel", and knew where the real Fate's residence was.

Fate Sariel is the master of the Neutral Zone. The citizens of the Neutral Zone call him Administrator Fate. He usually lives in the Sky City in the Neutral Zone, which is a fortress with strict security that can be called the best in the world. It is secretly said by the top figures in each zone that it is also the main computer room of the AI ​​Sibyl Eye, and no one except Fate has ever been there.

The Eye of Sibyl, a godlike, efficient and terrifying war weapon AI, sits in the Ninth Heaven, and only wants Fate to trample on its shoulders at will.

It is unknown which family and technological power Fate Sariel first relied on to make his fortune. When people noticed him, Fate had already become friends with important figures in the Four Districts Continent. With advanced technology in hand, he began to discuss forming an alliance.

Another meaning is that Fit Sariye is definitely of the same age as Anushka's parents.

However, Fate's temperament is gentle and elegant, his spoken language is always in line with the trend, his demeanor is youthful, and the fatigue and hardships of the world have never left any traces on his face - "He seems to live in a dreamland." During the summer vacation, when Anoushka asked people around her about Fate in the Neutral Zone, one of the whistleblower's parents, Raven Feiduoyin, said in his usual dazed tone.

"Time has been kind to him... Your father has been an advisor to Consul Amon for many years since he came to the North... He is still very good... But something shining in his soul has been worn away by time. Fate, on the other hand, has not changed... When I saw him in the neutral zone this time, Fate was still the same as when I first saw him... Bright and light... The colorless and cold sun... If you want to catch him, his spirit will surely turn into light and flow through your fingers... It will be very hard for you to like him... It will be very happy to admire him."

Raven Feiduoyin said in a daze, "Time favors him and never erases any of his aura. If you want to follow him, you must overcome many unimaginable difficulties."

Years only kissed Fate's eyes, gently polishing those transparent silver pupils, which were sharp blades, poisoned bullets, addictive drugs, and countless lie detectors. These things often ran rampant in Anushka's dreams at night, torturing and healing a young heart.

Time never kissed his face, so Fate's age was always forgotten.

Anushka thought it would be difficult to woo Fate.

But after truly collecting in-depth intelligence on Fate, Anushka realized that it was not only difficult, but even climbing to the sky was much easier than it.

From the gossip passed down by word of mouth, Anushka heard that Fate had many close friends.

Friends come from the Four-Party Alliance. All of them trust Fate and deliver trust and love that is as important as life. They follow Fate to promote a coalition plan that seemed extremely ridiculous at the time but has now been smoothly implemented.

In recent years, most of the friends who accompanied Fate in adventures and went through years of war and quarrels have been buried in the earth, but Fate is still holding the rudder and moving forward steadily.

Fate's Neutral Zone treats any alien citizen who asks for help, and provides all necessary technology/treatment/knowledge assistance. The Neutral Zone is like a real temple that loves and accepts all those who seek help. But the master of the temple, Fate Sariel, has never loved anyone in many years.

As she reviewed the data and planned her strategy over the months, Anushka occasionally thought of what Janine had said in the hospital room many months earlier.

[If it is not my authority,——] At that time, Anushka felt that Janeen's words were just a reluctance to lose the upper hand.

Now it seems that while Jane Ning doesn't want to lose the verbal show, his words do carry weight.

In the past, if Anushka was fooled, she would definitely seek revenge.

But on the night of the freshman banquet, Anushka, who had been struck cold by the blow, sat in the dormitory and flipped through the information about Fate in her hands again and again, patiently unraveling Fate's past stories, trying to find something that could help herself... The 19-year-old Anushka began to feel that she was so naked and poor, with nothing in her hands.

Fate has everything he has, and even more.

The only chip that Anushka can put on the scale of this consideration is just a heart of longing that burns all night long.

But Fite definitely has no shortage of such young and naive or passionate hearts.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have given up at this point.

But Anushka didn’t.

At the age of 18 or 19, Anushka Kash met the most colorful characters when her mind was surging and all her emotions were about to sprout and her life was just beginning.

He felt happy and heartbroken when he thought of Fate. Due to an accident, they sucked each other's lips and tongues like a young animal sucking life-sustaining milk. The young Anushka was simply obsessed with Fate, who gave her all the joy. When they kissed, Fate only needed to touch or bite his lips lightly to suck away his soul.

Fate gave him more than any of his "friends" in previous stories.

Even if this "giving" comes from an untimely mistake, Anushka wants to carry out this fragile and shallow illusion of love to the end... His young heart is the least valuable in this pursuit plan, but also the most lasting source of motivation.

Anushka is not afraid of mistakes and falsehoods, but is afraid that she will never get these mistakes and falsehoods again. The silent young North District people reviewed all the collected information about Fit over and over again, and polished themselves with more rigorous training than ever before, for two months, one school year, and three school years.

Before achieving real success and power, Anushka followed Fate's parting hint: keep a distance from the boundaries.

Until they meet again. Can they meet again? Anushka actually doesn't know. After Fate disappeared from the campus, no one can contact him unless he wants to contact people outside the neutral zone. AI Sibyl protects Fate tightly.

Anushka was not discouraged by Fate's disappearance. Young and talented people always have an illusion that with time and waiting, all the life plans they have arranged can get a good feedback.

Anushka, 19, crouched and observed her other opponent in silence.

Some persistent actions are touching, while others are simply offensive. Anushka is sure that all of Jane's efforts are the latter in Fate's eyes.

During the years when Anushka was in school, Frankie Miller Jennings was active in the political arena. For Jennings from the ASEAN, losing a diploma for a peace project was nothing.

Led by his parents, Frankie Miller Jane smoothly joined the Eastern Union's House of Representatives and represented some factions of the Eastern Union to contact Fate's neutral zone to discuss various technological cooperation projects.

Anushka stared at Jane Ning, watching the power beast hatched by another nest of power being fascinated by the silver aura. Jane Ning's successor, who had left the campus, changed his attitude again, politely imitating the gesture of another old friend of Fate from the Eastern Alliance, and lowered his arrogant head in a friendly manner towards the neutral zone - and then, was rejected by Fate again and again.

In the fragmentary stories of Fate's wanderings across the continent that Anushka was familiar with, Fate once had a loyal follower of the Eastern Alliance, Crawford Morgan, who was expelled.

Anushka asks her relative from the Eastern Alliance what kind of person Crawford Morgan is.

"A typical ASEAN member, but not as cunning and sarcastic as Nero Janning. He is very courageous and trusts Fate very much."

Flamingo Cash said, "In his early years, he invested all his wealth in Fate's plan, and took the initiative to lobby the Eastern District's big families who once did not trust Fate's plan. He was Fate's hand that penetrated the Eastern Alliance. It's a pity that he died early, and Fate's rewards and attention all fell on Crawford's descendants."

A courageous and bold ASEAN ally who is willing to lower himself to serve as a lobbyist for Fate?

Morgan, a big family name in the East. Such a character is rare...very rare. For more than a thousand days and nights, the young Anushka quietly analyzed the intelligence of every dead old friend of Fate.

Anushka patiently dug out the character details of the people that Fate had unconsciously cared for from the dead bodies, absorbed useful things, and gradually improved her strategic plan to pursue Fate.

And try to judge through the eyes of the dead whether Jane Ning can successfully make peace with Fate.

The answer is no.

The facts are just as Anushka calculated.

When Anushka was about to graduate from her senior year, Jane Ning from the Eastern Alliance had already negotiated several major technology projects with the Neutral Zone.

But for the past three years, the representative from the Neutral Zone who came forward to sign with Jane Ning every year was not Fit Sariel.

The representative who signed the Neutral Zone in 234 was a weapons director named Raleigh Sariel.

In 235, it was a staff member in the same department named Rolly Sariel. As the last name suggests, the Sariel brothers are related to Fate.

In 236, the head of the security department was a retired lieutenant named Bill. He was a northerner and one of Fate's few important friends still alive.

These signatories were very important, and they attended the contract signing on behalf of Fate himself, so Jane Ning's group could not say that it was rude to sit in the neutral zone.

Over the course of three years and hundreds of silver-eyed dreams, the 22-year-old Anushka pieced together Fate's interests and hobbies, and learned part of Fate's personality, based on bits and pieces of information she had gleaned from corpses and old stories.

Anushka is sure that Fate will attend his graduation ceremony.

They are the first generation of students from four districts to graduate simultaneously from Prometheus.

…

At the end of October, on the day of the graduation ceremony, the auditorium and celebration square in the central area of ​​the holographic school were expanded five times.

AI Sibyl opened a holographic network channel for non-school visitors to visit, allowing the parents of this year's graduates to come and participate in this important parent-child festival.

Important industrial companies, independent energy institutions, and relevant departments of the United Nations Parliament were also invited to a three-day campus recruitment fair.

This was the start of the first generation of peaceful coexistence after the Peace of the United Nations. Many big names who had only appeared in news broadcasts and biographies came.

The graduation ceremony was extremely lively. Under the clear holographic sky, ribbons, gold foil, flowers and ceremonial balloons were floating everywhere. The air was filled with the rich caramel cream of festive desserts, champagne, flowers, fragrances and the fresh smell of high oxygen and plant flavors. Every guest who walked through the long garden path in the middle area and entered the auditorium would have some of the fallen sparkling firecrackers stuck to their hair and dresses.

The holographic auditorium was directly converted into an open-air arena by AI Sibyl. The bright sunshine illuminated the ribbon decorations of the seats, making them gleam with velvety silver light, and the air turned light gold.

The ceremony guests were entering the venue one after another. They stopped on the lawn from time to time to take photos, chat, and introduce their classmates from other districts to each other.

Anushka and outstanding student representatives from three other campuses arrived at the auditorium an hour early to rehearse the final graduation speech. After Anushka finished her part, she avoided other students who were rehearsing and quietly walked to a remote corner of the huge curtain in front of the stage, gently brushing aside a fold of the heavy curtain with one hand.

A ray of sunlight shone straight in through the gap in the scarlet curtain, casting a ray of light on Anushka's expressionless face, illuminating only her scarlet left eye.

Anushka hid behind the dark curtain and peeked out through a narrow fold. Soon she found an exquisite plaque with the words "Neutral Zone: Fate Sariel" on it on the table in the third seat from the left in the first row of the VIP seats below the podium.

Anushka's scarlet left pupil stared at the silver plaque for a long time.

For three years, Anushka rehearsed day and night the scene after reuniting with Fate. His courtesy and greetings could be better and more appropriate than those of Jane, a fourth-year student. He would not be stupid enough to be excited for two months by Fate's ambiguous joke and miss the opportunity like he was at the age of 18.

But when the 22-year-old Anoushka actually saw the sign that Fate was about to reappear... Fate himself had not yet appeared, but only a silver medal marking Fate's coming... Anoushka's chest suddenly tightened and hurt, and it almost seemed that the confidence that had been prepared for three years had just cracked a painful seam. Something childish, twisted, resentful, and ecstatic crawled out, turning into an invisible rope that strangled Anoushka's neck fiercely. The feeling was as strong as an unreasonable passion. The twisted passion echoed in his mind: Fate, Fate, Fate...

It was not until she heard her classmates calling out to her from behind again and again, "Kash! The last line up! Come on." that Anushka looked away, her eyes unconsciously scanning the seating order.

“…”

In the first row, second seat on the left, next to Fite's nameplate, there is a nameplate that reads: [Eastern Alliance: Frankie Miller Jenning].

Anushka stopped and said: "?"

Coincidentally, a holographic static warning tape was set up on the VIP walkway on the far left of the open-air auditorium, and specially invited guests began to enter one after another.

Some parents and people from other districts who had already sat down in the open-air seats stood up again and made some noises: "This is a rare thing. The representative of the neutral district this time turned out to be that Fate."

"The rumors are not true...Jane Ning is traveling with that Fate. Are they going to work together?"

Anushka looked up at the VIP walkway on the left side of the auditorium.

Fate, dressed in a formal white suit, walked in the middle of the VIP red carpet, with a pair of nearly two-meter-tall bodyguards following on his left and back.

On Fate's right was Frankie Miller, who was dressed in a black suit.

They walked side by side, whispering something.

The two distinguished guests were about to reach the front row of the VIP seats at the podium when they suddenly paused. Shi Cunjin turned his head and whispered to the guard on his left, "Luo Lai, go to my seat first. I have something to discuss with Mr. Jane. Luo Li, follow me."

The tall silver-haired guard on the left, Luo Lai, nodded expressionlessly. He escorted another section of the red carpet, and when he saw his brother Luo Li escorting Mr. from the other end of the VIP carpet into the garden maze path and disappearing behind the green wall, Luo Lai turned around and walked towards the VIP area.

The VIP seats were about five meters below the stage. When Luo Lai passed by the stage, he suddenly noticed the heavy curtain in the left corner of the stage swaying twice and then returning to calm.

"Where's Senior Cash?"

"He was there just now... eh? Where is he? Help! The show is about to start in 20 minutes! Senior Cash is the first round speaker... Where is he!!"

Luo Lai walked quickly and uninterestedly past the vintage spiral staircase on the left side of the stage, ignoring the faint shouting coming from behind the curtain.