High Steps Across the Clouds (5)
who?
Shu Ningmiao curiously raised her terminal and stared at the sender's terminal number on the screen. A terminal number with only two digits was really rare. If she didn't clearly remember that she didn't have this person in her contacts, she might have thought it was her nickname.
Are there still terminal numbers with fewer than nine digits these days? That's outrageous.
Shu Ning thought for a moment and replied: Who are you?
The other end replied quickly, as if waiting in front of a terminal: Your brother.
It turned out to be Shu Changyan. Shu Ningmiao paused in her hair-drying motion. Knowing who was on the other end, even though his reply was only two words, it was enough for her to see the sorrow in his voice.
She was even more confused.
There were signal jamming devices in the central military district of Pinhes. Shu Changyan would lose all contact as soon as he left home. His terminal was shaped like a brick, and they had never been able to contact each other through it.
The next message popped up immediately.
03: I'm still waiting for you to discover this yourself... You didn't realize at all that military terminals can ignore signal jamming.
Sorry, Shu Ningmiao's usual only need for the terminal is to send and receive messages. After switching to the new terminal, her mind was completely focused on the inexplicably appearing game, and she didn't notice any difference at all.
So that's why Shu Changyan gave her the new terminal.
03: Are you adjusting well to school?
Shu Ningmiao lay on the bed, half her face buried in the soft pillow, hesitantly tapping the screen, unsure of what to say to him.
A lot happened that day, but she never had the habit of confiding in anyone.
Moreover, she currently has a Damocles' sword hanging over her head that could fall at any moment.
This secret, known only to her, weighed heavily on her heart. She wasn't sure what she could say and what she couldn't, so she decided to keep it all to herself.
After a moment of contemplation, she suddenly remembered someone, so she turned on the terminal that had automatically turned off the screen, edited a message, and sent it: Do you know Yelüqi? He is in charge of our physical training, and I heard that he used to be a user.
After a long silence, Shu Changyan finally replied: "Is it convenient to call?"
Shu Ningmiao sat up on the bed and made a voice call. The call was answered quickly, and a familiar voice came from the terminal. The voice was slightly hoarse, but it was joking and not serious: "Yelü Qi teaches you physical fitness, really?"
"Really." Shu Ningmiao was still sore all over. Hearing this, she raised her arm, and her joints made a crisp sound. "He looks to be only in his thirties. Why did he give up being a pilot to become a teacher?"
This is different from Weston's situation, where the executor represents the honor of the nation and there is no such thing as demotion. If a major mistake is made, there is no chance of being removed from office alive.
"I don't know either. He's my senior, but we haven't had much interaction. I only know that he voluntarily requested to retire three years ago," Shu Changyan pondered.
"You can retire whenever you want?" Shu Ningmiao was surprised; this was quite different from what she had heard.
"His case was an accident. He suffered irreversible damage to his body, and given his outstanding past achievements, he was granted special permission after some discussions in the council."
A muffled echo came from the other end of the terminal, seemingly from his colleague. Shu Changyan lowered his voice and explained slowly to her, his breathing steady: "Senior Yelü has a rather serious personality and high standards. Taking his classes must be tiring, right?"
Even though it was just ordinary concern without any hidden meaning, it still made Shu Ningmiao feel slightly uncomfortable. She remained silent for a while before letting out a barely audible "hmm".
Such a seemingly natural conversation was rare in her memory, and quite ridiculous.
Shu Ningmiao lightly slid her fingertips back to her inbox. Her father had sent her many text messages, but not a single one of them addressed her. The only person who cared about her school life was her older brother, who was not related to her by blood.
When Shu Ningmiao was in preparatory school, Shu Changyan had already gone to the army. One was busy with her studies from morning till night, while the other was constantly on closed missions and disappeared for half a year. They probably spent less time together than she did with Su Ni.
But whenever Shu Changyan came home, he would always take care of her. Shu Ningmiao attributed this to Shu Changyan's overly kind nature. It seemed that an optimistic and upright good person's kindness to the world didn't need any reason. Because of his purity, Shu Ningmiao could barely accept him as half a family member.
"He's very strong." Shu Ningmiao lay on the bed, shielding her eyes from the light above her head with her arm. She recalled Yeluqi's almost overwhelming strength. When the man grabbed her wrist, it felt as if a giant mountain was pressing down on her arm.
Shu Ningmiao originally had no desire to further her studies in superpowers.
Her goal has always been to acquire the mining rights to Pandora's Geyser as quickly as possible, and after graduation, to use energy extraction to develop other industries and expand her capital.
The one wielding it is indeed powerful, but that power isn't entirely what she seeks. Power is the true currency of this world, and the path only widens as you climb higher.
But when facing Yelüqi, the tremor of the body in the face of danger momentarily overwhelmed all other thoughts, leaving only the most primal human desires: life and death.
As Shu Ningmiao clearly realized the power of Yeluqi, an uncontrollable thought arose in her mind.
She also wanted to possess such great power.
"He's very strong." Shu Changyan smiled, his tone calm, as if stating a fact. "You'll become stronger too. By the way, are you aware of your special ability?"
"Not yet," Shu Ningmiao replied truthfully, recalling the research center pass Weston had given her: "I might need to go to the research center for auxiliary testing."
"So complicated, do you have a special type of superpower?" Shu Changyan raised an eyebrow on the other end.
“It’s an offensive type.” Shu Ningmiao looked down at her palm, which was fair and smooth, with no indication of the power it contained. “It might be related to strength enhancement, but there are still some points I’m concerned about that I want to confirm.”
"Do you want me to go with you?" Shu Changyan frowned, but didn't want to show it in front of her, so he tried to keep his voice down.
Shu Ningmiao asked in surprise, "Do you have that many fakes?"
“I’ve been in the capital lately, so you should keep an eye on the news.” Shu Changyan sighed and said, “Since Tuoli has taken the initiative to propose a ceasefire and reconciliation, things should be peaceful for a while. Besides… Phine is not very safe lately, so we need to have people stationed there.”
At this point, his tone became more serious: "Actually, the reason I applied for a military terminal for you is because of this. I can't say anything else, but in short, it's safer to stay on campus recently. If anything happens... the terminal can contact me at any time."
Shu Ningmiao wasn't someone who wouldn't listen to advice. Due to confidentiality, Shu Changyan didn't tell her exactly what had happened, but something that required an operator of that level to stabilize it must be no small matter.
Could it be that a parliamentary representative was assassinated?
Shu Ningmiao thought to herself, "It doesn't seem to be that serious."
The various factions in the Joint Parliament are fiercely competing. A representative might die one second and be replaced by someone else the next. People who don't care don't even know what the representative's name is.
Chris invited her and Lin Chuxu to her villa for a back-to-school themed party, but they both declined.
Aside from listening to her brother, Shu Ningmiao couldn't quite understand what was so great about "starting school" that was worth celebrating. In her experience, Chris's parties were just a bunch of people dancing wildly to music, each having their own fun. She didn't understand it, but she respected it.
Out of courtesy, she has learned various dances, but she has no passion for them whatsoever, and she will never participate unless the occasion requires it.
Lin Chuxu chose literature, philosophy, political science, and international relations. Apart from being at String Light Academy, they had no interaction. Shu Ningmiao went to and from her elective classes alone every day, all of which were observed by Ai Ruiji.
But Shu Ningmiao was never short of people surrounding her. Wherever she went, she was surrounded by a circle of girls. She herself was not interested and didn't talk much. She just sat there arrogantly, her eyes not reflecting anyone's image.
Erice and she took the same Pingyi language class and always sat in the same row, one in front of the other.
Eric's choice to study a less commonly taught language differs from the extravagant interests of the wealthy; it is purely out of practical considerations.
Pingyi was originally an inconspicuous and poor vassal state. After the experiment polluted the area, most of the creatures in Pingyi and the surrounding waters mutated. Because of the novelty of the species, the trade volume between Pingyi and Pinhe has increased in recent years.
Learning a foreign language might be helpful for her job search after graduation.
Shu Ningmiao was neither deaf nor blind, so she naturally knew that the protagonist had attended the same class as her.
School has been in session for a few days, but the so-called plot has not progressed at all, and the game content has remained stuck on the previous page. Only You An's affection level has increased by five points, probably because of the friendship points from running together in every class. As of now, only she, You An, Ai Ruiji, and two other people are still attending physical training classes in Class A.
Since you can pass even if you don't run, most people think it's not worth it to run 20km for a semester for 40 credits. Besides, Yelüqi hasn't updated the training plan yet. In his words, people who can't even meet the running fitness standard don't need to do any other training.
Therefore, Shu Ningmiao's only progress these days is reducing the time it takes to run 20km from two hours and forty-five minutes to less than two hours.
But given this trajectory, what reason could she possibly have for targeting Erice and embarking on the path described in the game?
The path leading to her "death" remains shrouded in mystery.
As Shu Ningmiao pondered, she tidied up her textbooks. The next elective class was drama appreciation, and it would be in the same classroom, so she wouldn't have to leave.
Some familiar voices interrupted her reverie, followed by Erice's easily recognizable hoarse voice.
She glanced in the direction of the sound and saw a slender girl sitting in a seat, cupping her face in her hands and giving Eric a bright smile.
The girl leaned on her companion's shoulder, her voice friendly and sweet, and winked playfully at Eric: "My coffee is in the fifth teaching building, thank you for bringing it to me."
The teaching building where they had classes was the first teaching building, which was about two kilometers away from the fifth teaching building.
Eric's face was flushed slightly, whether from anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell. He neither said yes nor no, and remained rooted to the spot, not moving for a long time.
The girl looked at her with a smile: "Didn't you hear me?"
Shu Ningmiao withdrew her gaze, recalling the malice suffered by the protagonist in the game's opening animation. It turned out that it happened at the main school of Kornunos, which made much more sense.
This is easy to understand, because String Light Academy only admits people with superpowers. Although people with superpowers are more likely to appear in the upper areas where Pandora concentration is high, the ratio of upper-level students to ordinary students is 3:1.
At the main school in Cornunos, this ratio can reach 100:1, with only a handful of exceptional students from ordinary families receiving tuition waivers.
Not everyone possesses a mind as superior to that of Weston; this vast class difference cannot be overcome except by awakening superpowers.
There are just as many bored rich people as bored idiots in Cornunos, she’s experienced it firsthand.
Shu Ningmiao closed the book, the crisp sound of the hinges drowning out Eric's barely audible reply.
"I heard you clearly... Okay."
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