He attacked the wrong mountain (1)
Upon seeing the students he hadn't seen in a long time, the teacher was surprised for a moment, then nodded approvingly: "Very standard."
Shu Ningmiao rested her chin on her hand, turned her head to look at him, her expression indifferent, but her voice carried a faint hint of amusement, and her eyes twitched: "What a coincidence, you're also going to study Pingyi Language?"
"Ah, um." Rennagi's hand under the table grew uncontrollably cold, her fingertips digging into her palm as if sharp ice was piercing her flesh.
Shu Ningmiao's gaze was scorching hot. He desperately tried to reassure himself, it's okay, it must be a coincidence. He couldn't panic. Maybe she just came to the classroom because she had something to do...
The more he deceived himself, the more cold sweat broke out on his back.
Shu Ningmiao had dropped out of class a few months ago, so why did she come to the teaching building today and happen to sit next to him?
"I don't think I've seen you in class before." Shu Ningmiao asked curiously. It turned out that he had been in the same class as her a long time ago. There were more than forty people in the class, and it was impossible for her to remember everyone.
Upon closer inspection, his facial features bear some resemblance to Yulu's, both being overly soft and delicate, while the features of the Pines people are generally more deep-set.
“…I sat in the back.” He forced a smile, his expression one of resigned despair: “You probably haven’t noticed me.”
He tried his best to make his tone sound normal, and said casually, "I heard you've already finished your course. Are you still coming to attend?"
Shu Ningmiao did not answer him, but turned her head slightly to greet the others.
Many of the people around her were her classmates in preparatory school. Even if they didn't know her personally, they knew her name to some extent. Whether in Cornunos or String Light Academy, there weren't many people who consistently achieved the highest GPA.
More and more people are looking over.
Rennagi broke out in a cold sweat, his back completely soaked with each breath. He wanted to get up from his seat, but that would only make his guilty conscience written all over his face.
A cheerful, unfamiliar female voice came from behind: "Shu Ningmiao, it's been so long since you've been here."
Rennagi's body suddenly stiffened, her shoulders and hands trembled slightly, and her pale face quickly flushed.
A bead of cold sweat slid down his face through his hair.
He suddenly closed his eyes and didn't say another word. He could feel Shu Ningmiao's eyes looking at him, but he couldn't care less anymore. He tried his best to control himself from making any indistinct noises.
The moment the man called out Shu Ningmiao's name, the sound was like a flame ignited in an empty room, quickly taking over his mind. He unconsciously clenched his hands, feeling as if there was nothing he could avoid or block in his mind, completely exposed to the public, the name deeply piercing his nerves.
The scene etched in my mind began to rewind and replay repeatedly because of Shu Ningmiao's name, reliving the terror of my brain being invaded at that time.
"Come to the class." Shu Ningmiao was unusually kind, not only smiling but also greeting everyone in a leisurely manner.
Every time she heard someone call out Shu Ningmiao's name, Lian Naqi's breathing became more rapid, her hand holding the pen trembled more and more violently, and her whole face turned flushed.
Are you alright?
A gentle voice came from directly in front of him. Rennagi opened his eyes with difficulty and felt a physiological tear blurring his vision.
He looked up and met the gaze of Erice in front of him. The girl's eyes held a hint of confusion: "Did you have heatstroke? I can try using my powers."
Rennagi's throat trembled, and he couldn't utter a single word. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would call out Shu Ningmiao's name.
Seeing that he didn't react and seemed to be in a daze, Eric turned to look at Shu Ningmiao first, and after a long time of stumbling, he awkwardly called out, "Shu Ningmiao."
She stood right in front of him, her voice so clear it was as if she were speaking right next to his ear. Rennagi's lower lip, which was being bitten by her teeth, bled slightly, and she almost had a heart attack.
Eric lowered his head, his voice growing softer and softer: "That day, at the Shi family's house, I'm sorry... I was just too scared."
She later realized that she had no right to say those things to Shu Ningmiao, but at the time, her heart was filled with emotions and she was filled with the injustice of being wronged. Even though Su Ni helped her out of the predicament, her fear and unease never disappeared.
Controlled by those hazy emotions, she said many things she later regretted, yet she never apologized to Shu Ningmiao—she always felt ashamed.
He talked so much with Shu Ningmiao on his own, and now he's running over to apologize to her. She might even humiliate him.
She thought about it for a long time but didn't dare to. In the end, it was her "mother's" phone call that gave her the courage to make up her mind.
The nun at the orphanage who took them in was like a mother to them; she cared for them meticulously and was far more responsible than the average idle parent in the new land.
Many people in New Territories have children, but then they fall ill, gamble, are killed by enemies seeking revenge, or simply don't want to raise them, and then abandon them at the door of an orphanage.
Eric doesn't know what his biological parents look like, and only considers "Mom" to be his biological mother.
She never hid anything from her mother.
After listening to her story, her mother paused for a moment and gently comforted her: "If your heart tells you to apologize, then follow your heart. Honey, don't be afraid. Even if she doesn't accept your apology, at least you did it, which is better than nothing."
She also wanted to become braver... starting with this sentence.
This idea was just a spur-of-the-moment thought after making the phone call last night. Since it wasn't a class day at String Light Academy the next day, she wouldn't be able to see Shu Ningmiao, and her limited courage would probably gradually dissipate by then.
But today, Shu Ningmiao, who had dropped out of class several months ago, actually showed up in class for the first time ever. She didn't think about the reason carefully, but just felt that God had given her the opportunity to take the first step.
She made up her mind, her face flushed, making her freckles even more noticeable, and simply lowered her head and mumbled, "I'm sorry."
Shu Ningmiao stared at her coldly for a while, as if only then realizing that she was talking, and gave her a look that said, "What are you talking about?"
She didn't feel that anything Eric said offended her, and she was never angry because of what Eric said. In short, she didn't care what other people thought.
The name Erice had long since disappeared from her mind; she had been preoccupied with the Prometheus problem lately, and even when Erice apologized, she couldn't recall what it was about.
Shu Ningmiao glanced indifferently at the podium: "Class is starting."
Erici felt like a valve had been ripped out; all the courage he had just mustered vanished instantly. His curly hair drooped down, and he dragged himself slowly back to his seat.
The expected blow still made her so ashamed that she quickly forgot about Rennagi's strange behavior.
The school bell briefly saved him.
Rennagi still couldn't control her nervous trembling, but at least no one came up to greet Shu Ningmiao anymore.
He was finally certain that Shu Ningmiao had done it on purpose.
She wasn't testing him; rather, she was deliberately using the psychological suggestion implanted in him to see him make a fool of himself.
But how exactly did she find out?
Is it You An? Impossible, that silly boy still likes Shu Ningmiao, he won't reveal it so quickly.
So who else is there? Only a few people in Prometheus truly know his identity; the others are contacted through the internet. Even if Shu Ningmiao searched the memories of other Prometheus members, she wouldn't find anything.
In any case, he could no longer deceive himself.
But he still had a glimmer of hope: this was a classroom, and Shu Ningmiao wouldn't make a move in front of so many teachers and classmates. A Pinhás language class lasted fifty minutes.
In those fifty minutes, as long as he could contact Prometheus's people, it didn't matter if the police and the agents were alerted again. He was a 'neural connection' ability user, and Prometheus wouldn't easily abandon him as a pawn.
He glanced at Shu Ningmiao out of the corner of his eye; she was looking at the projected screen, seemingly concentrating on her lesson.
His hand twitched as he moved forward little by little, gripping the edge of the drawer. He was about to touch the terminal inside the drawer; once he did, he could use 'Neural Connection'.
Renna gritted his teeth and grabbed the terminal. To his surprise, Shu Ningmiao didn't react at all and let him do as he pleased.
Did they think he was already trapped no matter how much he struggled? No—as long as he could contact Achini, he could use his strange fire to teleport.
Rennagi pursed her lips, immersing her consciousness into the terminal, trying to connect to the signal as if she knew how, but suddenly stopped.
The data space he was once familiar with is now as closed as a dark little box, with no way out.
Lian Nagi suddenly opened her eyes and looked incredulously in the direction of Shu Ningmiao.
Shu Ningmiao propped her head up and looked straight ahead.
She didn't do anything special; she just climbed to the roof and turned on the signal jammer before class. The elective course building in Cornunos is used as an exam room for the final exams, and the signal jammer can probably cover the entire building.
“I want to have a serious talk with you,” she said, emphasizing the last sentence: “Just the two of us.”
Lian Nagi fell completely silent. He was physically weak, and his greatest asset was his 'neural connection'. He had no chance of winning against Shu Ningmiao head-on.
After an agonizing wait until get out of class ended and most of the students had left, Rennagi finally managed to utter, "Are you going to kill me?"
His eyes were red from the tears, and he said unwillingly, "A superhuman suddenly died at String Light Academy. The Phine authorities will definitely investigate you."
Shu Ningmiao was somewhat surprised: "Don't you hate Bini? If you let them get justice for you, won't you die with regrets?"
He choked, his eyes turning red.
Of course, Shu Ningmiao wouldn't kill him. He was a core member of Prometheus and the mastermind behind the attacks on supernatural abilities—she could do so much with him. She had been searching for clues about Prometheus for so long, and now the biggest clue was right in front of her.
It was like a cow standing in front of her, asking her whether she wanted to eat the tenderloin or the neck first.
Shu Ningmiao turned around, grabbed his shoulders, and moved closer and closer. Lian Naqi was stunned and didn't understand what her gentle touch meant, but soon he felt his shoulders making a cracking sound in her tightening hands.
With a snap, Shu Ningmiao dislocated all the joints on both of his shoulders before abruptly letting go.
He trembled in pain, as if his arm had been chopped off; he was unable to move or make a sound.
"Alright." Shu Ningmiao picked up his terminal, made sure he couldn't touch anything on his own anymore, and then dragged him to the storage room on the same floor.
Today is the last class, and almost everyone in the teaching building has left. No one will disturb them until the staff comes to lock the doors in the evening.
Rennagi's arms were dislocated, and her whole body was throbbing with pain. Finally, she couldn't help but collapse into a pile of dusty equipment, her hair soaked with cold sweat, just like when she first met Rennagi during a supernatural practice, only her eyes were dim.
Shu Ningmiao fiddled with his terminal, half-kneeling in front of him, looking at him coldly, seemingly unmoved by his pain.
He suddenly felt a little confused. What was it that moved her? What was she thinking?
He could see all the data in the simulation system. She watched with her own eyes as the little girl named Lanlan slowly rotted in front of her. Did she really not feel anything at all?
She didn't care about the fate of the planet beneath her feet, nor about the suffering of others; she was so indifferent...so arrogant.
"Where is your base?" Shu Ningmiao pointed the terminal at his face, unlocked it with biometrics, and said while flipping through it, "How do you usually contact each other? With your superpowers? Tell the truth, or I think your brain is the same."
"No." A cold smile suddenly appeared on Rennagi's lips: "You don't dare to connect with me. You don't have the confidence to compete with my abilities."
This is his superpower that he awakened three years ago. No one understands 'neural connection' better than himself. Even if Shu Ningmiao imitates his superpower, she cannot imitate his understanding and use of it.
Connecting directly to his mind would give him a chance to retaliate, something Shu Ningmiao would never do.
“You don’t have to say it.” Shu Ningmiao narrowed her eyes, feeling that he still didn’t understand the situation: “I don’t need a neural connection. I’ll hang a lock on the storage room, first dislocate your legs, then your hands, and finally your jaw, so that you can’t even lick the dust on the ground and starve to death here as a dried-up corpse.”
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