Chapter 4
The D City Supernatural Academy is located in the core area of the inner city. It is constructed with a huge alloy skeleton and energy barriers, and is full of a cold sense of technology and an oppressive feeling of power.
The huge arched entrance was crowded with people, mostly freshmen and their accompanying families who came to report. The air was filled with excitement, tension and anticipation for the future.
Lu Cheng's appearance was like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
He stood tall and straight, dressed in the academy's custom-made dark gray uniform for special recruits. His shoulders were straight, and the silver school emblem on his left chest gleamed brightly in the simulated sunlight. His status as the city lord's son, coupled with the aura of being exempt from the entrance exam for special recruits, made him a natural center of attention.
What was even more striking was that he did not come alone. His arms were always carefully wrapped around a figure.
Her silver-white hair was like flowing moonlight in the crowd, her deep blue eyes were pure and untainted by dust, her face was delicate but sickly and pale, and she was wearing clothes that were obviously ill-fitting but clean and soft.
Lin Yao was half-protected in his arms. He looked so fragile, as if he could be blown down by a gust of wind, which was out of tune with the powerful atmosphere around him.
"Look! It's Master Lu!"
"Who is that person next to him? She's so pretty, like an elf..."
"Silver hair and blue eyes? So special! But he looks... so weak. I can't even sense any energy fluctuations."
"Being personally escorted here by Young Master Lu must be something extraordinary. Perhaps he's a genius from some powerful family, using some secret method to conceal his aura?"
"Of course! Young Master Lu is a special recruit with S-level potential who was exempted from the entrance exam! How bad can the person he likes be?"
Whispers came like a tide, curiosity, inquiry, envy, and even a hint of barely perceptible jealousy, all fell on Lin Yao.
Lu Cheng paid no attention to these glances; his focus was entirely on Lin Yao. He leaned slightly to the side, using his tall figure to block some of the probing gazes. He lowered his head and whispered soothingly in Lin Yao's ear, "Yaoyao, don't be nervous. Just follow me. The reporting process will be quick."
He led Lin Yao straight to the new student registration office. The registration teacher clearly knew Lu Cheng and spoke with a respectful and enthusiastic attitude: "Lu Cheng, welcome! Your information has been entered. Here is your dormitory access card and class schedule. You can go directly to the dormitory area."
"Thank you, teacher." Lu Cheng took the things, but did not leave. Instead, he gently pushed Lin Yao forward half a step.
"Teacher, there's this guy, Lin Yao. He's my... partner. His identity chip was damaged in an accident, but he's recently awakened a faint psychic perception ability. I've submitted an application to the college's Office of Special Potential Students, and here's the receipt. Could you please register his information and arrange for a temporary identity bracelet? During the testing phase, we'll go to the Potential Assessment Room to make up for it as per regulations."
The teacher took the receipt and looked Lin Yao over with a professional look. Lin Yao lowered his eyelashes, his long silver lashes trembling slightly like the wings of a frightened butterfly. Combined with his pale face, he looked particularly pitiful.
"Oh, I see. Psychic perception... although rare, your potential level needs to be assessed before determining whether you'll qualify for auditing or support." The teacher nodded businesslike and began operating the screen. "Student Lin Yao, please stand over there on the potential screening device. We need to collect basic energy fluctuations and ability tendency data as a basis for registration."
The primary screener is a round metal platform with a palm-sized sensing crystal in the center.
Everyone's attention was instantly focused on him, and those who had originally guessed that Lin Yao was a hidden genius held their breath.
Under Lu Cheng's encouraging gaze, Lin Yao slowly stepped forward. He mobilized his miniscule "emotional perception" ability, carefully releasing a negligible mental wave, while simultaneously suppressing the dormant core remnant of the Old World King within his body, rendering it inert.
Buzz——
The initial screening device hummed softly. The sensor crystal lit up with an extremely faint, almost imperceptible light blue halo, flickering a few times, like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
On the light screen, the bar graph representing energy intensity only climbed less than one-tenth before stagnating. Finally, a glaring, bright red letter slowly emerged.
F
After a brief silence, there was an uproar.
"F-rank?! Am I reading this correctly? The lowest rank?"
"That light... is so dim it's almost non-existent. Can you call that a supernatural power?"
"Pfft... I'm dying of laughter! Who just called him a hidden genius? That's it?"
"Why would Mr. Lu fall for this kind of...this kind of trash?"
"Damn it! I thought he was some powerful character, but after all this time, he's just a burden and a vase."
"Tsk, what's the point of being so good-looking? In the academy, strength is everything! F-rank? You can't even meet the minimum standards for a logistics cleaner, right?"
The voices of ridicule, contempt, and gloating were like cold needles, piercing through without any concealment.
Several teenagers in formal student uniforms, who appeared to come from well-off families and had arrogant looks in their eyes, sneered without hesitation. One of the tall, brown-haired teenagers even raised his voice deliberately: "Hey, Mr. Lu! Your 'partner' is truly 'special'. This 'potential', wow, it's truly 'unlimited potential'. I'm afraid it wasn't just because of this face that she got to you, right?"
Lu Cheng's face darkened instantly, and the air pressure around him suddenly dropped. His cold eyes, which were always full of tenderness when facing Lin Yao, were now like ice-hardened blades, coldly sweeping towards the brown-haired boy who started to mock him.
The pressure from the superiors and the enthusiasm of those who were about to enter the academy to develop their potential mixed together, forming a strong sense of oppression, which instantly silenced the noisy sounds around.
"What's your name?" Lu Cheng's voice was not loud, but it had a cold and penetrating power that clearly reached everyone's ears.
The brown-haired boy was locked in Lu Cheng's gaze, and his heart inexplicably chilled. However, relying on his numbers and family background, he stiffened his neck and said, "What? Master Lu still wants to stand up for your little lover? Am I wrong? F-grade! Trash among trash! He doesn't even have the qualifications to stand here! He..."
“Bang!”
A loud and crisp slap interrupted the brown-haired boy's words!
The one who did it wasn't Lu Cheng, but a tall, thin man beside him who looked like a henchman. The tall, thin man looked at Lu Cheng in horror, his face pale. He then glared at the brown-haired boy fiercely: "Wang Rui! Shut the fuck up! How dare you talk to Master Lu like that!"
He obviously understood the situation. Lu Cheng's identity and potential were not someone they could afford to offend.
The brown-haired boy named Wang Rui covered his face, shocked and angry, but he didn't dare to fight back or retort. He just stared at Lu Cheng and Lin Yao with resentment.
Lu Cheng didn't look at Wang Rui again, as if he were just an insignificant ant. He strode to the primary screening machine, ignoring the various looks around him, and very naturally took Lin Yao, who had just walked down, into his arms again, his movements full of protectiveness. His cold eyes swept across the entire audience, with an unquestionable declaration:
"I heard everything clearly."
"Lin Yao is my partner. Whether his potential level is F, A, or S, it is none of your business to comment!"
"Whether he has the right to stand here or not is not decided by you or this machine!"
"If I say he's qualified, he's qualified!"
"What are the academy's regulations?" Lu Cheng's lips curled up in a cold arc, with the absolute confidence and strength of the city lord's son. "I will personally explain to the dean about his special potential application. I, Lu Cheng, will guarantee it with my special recruitment quota and all future honors in the academy!"
"As for you," his gaze finally fell on Wang Rui, who was covering his face with his hands, his face ashen, as if he were looking at a piece of garbage. "I remember your name. I hope you can maintain this strong desire to express yourself in the actual combat classes at the academy."
A blatant threat! Using a special recruitment spot and future honors to guarantee an F-rank loser! And publicly threatening his classmates! Lu Cheng's aggressive defense and undisguised partiality made everyone gasp. No one dared to mock him to his face anymore. Everyone looked at Lin Yao with eyes filled with envy, jealousy, fear, and deep confusion.
Lu Cheng ignored everyone and looked down at Lin Yao in his arms. The ice in his eyes melted away instantly, leaving only heartache and comfort. "Yaoyao, ignore that garbage. Let's go. We'll just go through the process in the potential assessment room. The result is not important."
He carefully protected Lin Yao as if he was guarding a rare treasure. Under the gazes of the crowd, which were either awe-inspiring or complicated, he left the reporting hall as if no one was around.
Lin Yao leaned gently in Lu Cheng's arms, feeling the boy's slightly rapid heartbeat due to anger, and the strong arms that completely isolated him from the outside world's malice.
The deep blue eyes were lowered, and the long eyelashes hid the cold and satisfied light that flashed across the eyes.
Sure enough, the original choice was extremely correct.
Lin Yao's heart remained calm, even holding a hint of cold joy. Those taunts were like scratching an itch through a shoe, unable to touch him at all.
In the old world, he was accustomed to curses and murderous intent a thousand times more vicious than this. The only thing he cared about was the outcome.
Lu Cheng's reaction was perfect.
She forcefully, directly, and efficiently cleared away all the noisy obstacles for him, even resorting to privileges and threats, saving him countless possible troubles and arguments.
What a...handy tool.
A thought clearly emerged in Lin Yao's cold heart.
Lu Cheng's identity, status, potential, and the ardent, blind love and protective desire he had forcibly distorted with his supernatural powers, at this moment, demonstrated immense practical value. Like an incredibly sharp, deadly knife, it cleaved the first thorns of the strict rules of this new world.
He savored the warmth and security of Lu Cheng's embrace, as if it were a comfortable garment. This warmth was novel and soothing, but he knew clearly that it came from the lies and manipulation he had woven himself.
To him, Lu Cheng is a pass to the core of the academy, a shield that isolates him from external troubles, and a springboard to obtain resources... a tool that is extremely useful and will not backfire for the time being.
As for the intense love and heartache in Lu Cheng's eyes? Lin Yao raised the corners of his lips slightly, his smile pure as an angel, but his eyes were filled with indifference.
Tools only need to be useful. Who cares about the ideas behind the tools themselves?
He let Lu Cheng hold him as he walked towards the potential assessment room. He knew that there, he would once again "prove" how "weak" he was as a F-level psychic.
And this was a crucial part of his plan. Low profile, weak, dependent on the strong... a perfect disguise.
However, when this tool truly touches the core of his cold heart one day in the future and he finds himself positioned as a "tool", will the anger that turns from love to hate burn everything?
A hint of cold interest flashed in the depths of Lin Yao's azure eyes. That would be... another interesting challenge.
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