Luo Ye’s expression immediately turned teasing. He deliberately said, “Oh? Yours? What, did you put a label on him?”
Yan Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Luo Ye without saying a word, his imposing presence more than enough to make his displeasure clear.
Luo Ye was not afraid at all. The thing he feared least was Yan Qiu giving him a cold look. Grinning, he asked Lu Qiao, “Lu Qiao, why don’t you tell me which legion you want to go to?”
Lu Qiao glanced at Yan Qiu. Yan Qiu’s gaze also turned toward him. Though his expression appeared calm, his eyes clearly conveyed the words, “We agreed on this,” and the pressure was unmistakable.
Lu Qiao scratched his cheek and said sheepishly, “I… I also want to go to the First Legion.”
Luo Ye said meaningfully, “Looks like you two already came to an agreement in private?”
Lu Qiao was about to say something when Yan Qiu suddenly took his hand and said calmly, “It’s not impossible for you to assign him to another legion.”
Lu Qiao froze.
Yan Qiu continued, “As long as they don’t mind him staying with me from seven in the evening until six in the morning.”
Lu Qiao: “…”
Luo Ye raised an eyebrow.
Yan Qiu walked past him with Lu Qiao, giving him a warning look. “Don’t forget. I’m the one he’s bonded with.”
Luo Ye clicked his tongue and muttered, “Why are you showing off in front of me?”
Beside him, Ye Lan watched the two of them leave, then turned back toward Luo Ye and said, “Marshal Yan’s possessiveness is really strong. Your Highness, isn’t it a little unwise to keep teasing him like this?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Luo Ye blinked. “Besides, I really want to know just how badly he’s going to destroy his image after falling in love!”
Ye Lan: “…”
People really did keep digging their own graves one step at a time, Your Highness…
Lu Qiao was dragged all the way to the hospital entrance by Yan Qiu. Seeing Yan Qiu’s indifferent expression, he could not tell whether the man was unhappy.
After thinking for a moment, he quickened his pace, tugged at Yan Qiu’s hand, and said, “When we get back, I’ll submit the application to become an adjutant.”
Yan Qiu stopped and looked back at him.
Lu Qiao added softly, “Yours.”
Yan Qiu smiled, his lips curving upward. He said quietly, “I’ll be waiting.”
He was pretty easy to appease, too.
Lu Qiao shifted his gaze away, his face warm as he nodded. Then he said, “Oh, right. After dinner, I’ll still come straight back here. Today, we’ll treat as many people as we can. Ye Lan really learns quickly. Maybe he’ll be able to master it after tonight.”
“Don’t rush,” Yan Qiu said with a frown.
“I won’t.” Lu Qiao paused, then looked up at the man beside him again. After hesitating for a moment, he called, “Yan Qiu.”
“Hmm?” Yan Qiu raised a hand and smoothed Lu Qiao’s hair, which had been tousled by the wind.
Actually, when Lu Qiao first realized that his ability might bring him certain problems, he had not been very clear about what kind of problems they would be. It was not until Luo Ye had spoken to him just now that he understood—his restoration ability was simply too important. Until the Empire could guarantee that this ability would not disappear, Lu Qiao would not truly be free.
However, Luo Ye had also implied that Yan Qiu would not allow him to lose his freedom.
But if that was the case, then if something happened to Lu Qiao, wouldn’t Yan Qiu be the one held responsible?
“…Although Luo Ye said that at the end just now, the pressure is still on you, right?” Lu Qiao asked hesitantly.
When they had discussed this topic at noon, Yan Qiu had told him to trust him. At that time, Lu Qiao had never imagined that Yan Qiu would end up bearing this kind of responsibility.
“I don’t want this matter to become a burden for you,” Lu Qiao said firmly. “So I’ll definitely teach Ye Lan as quickly as possible.”
Yan Qiu paused before saying, “Lu Qiao, this isn’t a burden to me.”
Lu Qiao was confused.
Yan Qiu’s hand slid down from Lu Qiao’s temple, his fingertips brushing lightly against Lu Qiao’s cheek and chin.
The man leaned closer and slowly said, “Anything related to you will never become a burden to me.”
Lu Qiao trembled.
In an instant, countless scenes flashed through his mind.
The whispers of the man who had rushed over from the border that Lu Qiao had heard while unconscious two years ago.
The bank account Yan Qiu had handed him after he woke up.
The director who had appeared before him when he was at his most lost.
The equipment in the training center that had helped him recover and resume training over the past two years, as well as the cakes and gifts he had received on his birthdays.
Lu Qiao’s chest felt sore and bitter. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Yan Qiu.”
Yan Qiu’s voice was cool and low, yet sometimes it carried an unusual gentleness.
“I told you before. I hope you can do what you want to do and live the way you want to live. That’s what matters most. I’m like this with my family, and I’m like this with you, too.”
For a moment, Lu Qiao did not react.
When he finally came back to his senses, he was somewhat stunned… Family? Yan Qiu had compared him to family?
He went over everything Yan Qiu had done for him once more, and suddenly, it was as though he understood something.
That was right. Those really were things only family would do for him.
Yan Qiu had actually always treated him as family!
Lu Qiao felt a surge of warmth rush into his heart. He tugged at Yan Qiu’s hand and said with a trembling voice, “You…”
Yan Qiu’s eyes darkened as he quietly waited for Lu Qiao to finish what he wanted to say.
Lu Qiao swallowed hard and called out hoarsely, “You—you’ve actually always thought of me as your younger brother?!”
Yan Qiu froze.
Lu Qiao cried out, “Big Brother!”
Yan Qiu: “…”
Lu Qiao: “Big Brother!”
Yan Qiu: “…………”
Lu Qiao said excitedly, “No wonder you made me call you ‘Big Brother’ when we took a shower together at the training center before. So you really thought of me as your younger brother! You should’ve said so earlier. I… I’ve always wanted an older brother, too!”
Yan Qiu: “…Lu Qiao.”
Lu Qiao gazed deeply at Yan Qiu and said, “Actually, now that I think about it, you really are as imposing as an older brother.”
Yan Qiu spoke coldly. “Lu. Qiao.”
For no reason at all, Lu Qiao shivered from the chill, blinking his eyes.
Yan Qiu said calmly, “Aside from parents and siblings, there are other kinds of family.”
Lu Qiao: “Like what?”
“Figure it out yourself.” Yan Qiu glanced at him. “I hope you can figure it out yourself.”
Lu Qiao was bewildered.
Seeing that Yan Qiu did not want to say anything more, he continued walking forward, so Lu Qiao hurried after him.
After thinking for a moment, he still softly called, “Big Brother.”
Yan Qiu glanced sideways at him.
Lu Qiao smiled sweetly. “Do you like me calling you that?”
Yan Qiu sized him up for a moment, looking as though he was smiling yet not quite smiling.
Clearly, setting aside that question that he was still somewhat confused about, Yan Qiu still liked being called that.
He was pretty easy to understand, too.
That was what Lu Qiao thought.
After dinner, Lu Qiao and Yan Qiu returned to the hospital, where Ye Lan was also waiting for them.
The hospital had gathered all the patients waiting for their consciousness bodies to be restored in one place and had their family members wait outside. They did not let the families know who was restoring the consciousness bodies, because Lu Qiao and Luo Ye had unanimously agreed that there was no need for them to know. It would only cause unnecessary trouble.
Lu Qiao guided Ye Lan’s mental power, allowing Ye Lan to experience how he identified every fragment of a consciousness body step by step, as well as how he stuck the fragments together and pieced them back into one whole.
Once Lu Qiao became proficient, his speed became very fast. Fortunately, Ye Lan did not find it too strenuous. After treating five patients, he was already able to try touching the fragments of consciousness bodies himself and sticking them together.
“Lu Qiao, how large is the range of your mental power?” Ye Lan asked during their break.
Although Lu Qiao’s mental power had no offensive capabilities, the tendrils of mental power he extended outward still had a certain limit.
“I’ve never tried it before.” As he spoke, Lu Qiao closed his eyes and extended his mental power outward.
It was only then that he discovered that when he extended his mental power, he could actually see countless balls of consciousness energy, just like in those chaotic dreams!
Inside every hospital room, moving through the hospital corridors, outside the hospital…
Lu Qiao continued expanding outward. One minute later, he opened his eyes and said hesitantly, “It seems like the farthest I can reach is the edge of District Three.”
Even though Ye Lan had already guessed that the number would definitely be extraordinary, he still sucked in a sharp breath.
From this hospital to the edge of District Three was at least ten kilometers. Yet before this, the widest known range of mental-power attacks was only a radius of one hundred meters!
Ye Lan’s own range was the same!
Ye Lan smiled bitterly. “We really aren’t even in the same league.”
Lu Qiao hesitated before telling him what he had seen while extending his mental power. Ye Lan’s face was filled with astonishment.
Ye Lan murmured, “When we extend our mental power, we can’t see any of the things you’re talking about. All this time, we could only rely on ‘touch’ to distinguish what consciousness bodies look like.”
They were like people trapped in darkness. Although things were right in front of them, they could not see them and could only clumsily use their hands to “understand” them.
But Lu Qiao was completely different.
He had a pair of eyes that could see everything even in the darkness of night.
If a mental-power manipulator like this also possessed offensive abilities… just how terrifying would that be?
And when that time came—
He subconsciously glanced at the man sitting beside Lu Qiao.
The man happened to meet his gaze, his eyes calm and still.
Ye Lan clenched his hands.
Marshal Yan had never even considered such a possibility.
Or perhaps, even if such a situation did arise, the choice he would make was obvious.
All they could say was that it was fortunate they did not have to face such a situation.
They finished the treatment before eleven that night. Their speed had been quite fast; in total, they restored the consciousness bodies of ten patients.
Ye Lan returned to the hotel where Luo Ye was staying to rest, while Yan Qiu followed Lu Qiao home.
Early the next morning, before six, Lu Qiao went to the hospital again, with Yan Qiu accompanying him the entire time.
Ye Lan stayed close behind Lu Qiao, treating patient after patient.
They hardly stopped to rest. During that time, Lu Qiao also remembered the strange man he had encountered on the mountain, but he did not see him among the wounded, so he figured the man was probably fine. As for whether that person had actually gone to the District Three Administrative Bureau to ask for help on his behalf, Lu Qiao did not particularly care.
By noon, they had finally finished treating all the patients.
By then, Ye Lan could already restore consciousness-body fragments using his own power—although his speed was extremely slow, and he had only succeeded in one case.
But regardless, once Ye Lan had reached this level, Lu Qiao’s burden had already been greatly reduced.
It was also at this moment that Luo Ye sent over some news.
Lu Qiao could go and meet Gavin.
“The man was captured this morning. They went through the interrogation procedures, and I came to notify you as soon as they finished,” Yan Qiu’s adjutant explained as they entered the police station. “The situation is more or less the same as we previously suspected. After the owner and doctors of the clinic left, he used the location to secretly contact those seven people. Some of the seven knew they were going to undergo genetic mutation surgery, while others weren’t fully aware and had been deceived into coming. But he only admits to the facts themselves and refuses to answer many of the other questions.”
Lu Qiao nodded hurriedly. He had no other thoughts in his mind as he was led all the way to the door of a room.
As they stopped at the door, Lu Qiao was just about to open it when he suddenly thought of something. He turned back to Yan Qiu and asked, “You… come in with me?”
Yan Qiu only said, “Okay.”
The two entered and closed the door behind them.
With a heavy heart, Lu Qiao walked toward the middle of the room and saw Uncle Gavin on the other side of the glass window, wearing a prison uniform.
Gavin was sitting against the wall, his eyes lowered. His chin was covered in unkempt stubble, and his complexion looked even worse than before.
Although Lu Qiao and Gavin could only see each other once a year, Gavin was his father’s friend, an uncle who had watched him grow up since he was young.
There was no one left in Lu Qiao’s family except him.
There was no one left in Uncle Gavin’s family except him, either.
They were both living alone in this world.
In Lu Qiao’s heart, his father’s old friend, Gavin, had always held a very special place.
Lu Qiao truly did not want to see him become the way he was today.
“Uncle,” he called softly.
Gavin raised his head and looked at him, but his gaze quickly shifted to Yan Qiu beside him.
“Heh, an Imperial Marshal,” Gavin said with a lazy smile. “You’re really impressive, Lu Qiao, to have a friend like this.”
Lu Qiao pursed his lips and asked, “Why did you perform genetic mutation surgery on those seven people? If you wanted to make money, there had to be other ways, right?”
“Make money?” Gavin smiled and lowered his eyes again.
“The only thing those seven people have in common is that they all awakened consciousness-race genes,” Lu Qiao slowly said. “Why consciousness-race genes?”
Gavin remained silent. He even closed his eyes, refusing to communicate any further with Lu Qiao.
Lu Qiao could never have imagined that Uncle Gavin would treat him this way, and he was somewhat stunned.
“You—” Lu Qiao clenched his fists and said in a low voice, “Have you forgotten how Sister Mia died back then?!”
Mia was the woman Gavin had met while serving in the military. After the two fell in love, Gavin had brought the girl back to San Guang Star, where she had met all of them.
That older sister had been very beautiful, and she truly seemed to love Gavin.
Back then, Lu Qiao had always thought the two of them would get married before long. He had never expected that when he was five years old, not long after news came that his father had died in battle, Uncle Gavin would return with one leg missing.
As for Sister Mia, her consciousness body had been shattered on the battlefield. When the starship exploded, she fell into a coma and died.
Sister Mia had died because of mental power.
And more than ten years later, Gavin had performed surgery on seven people, all of whom had awakened consciousness-race genes.
Why?
What exactly did Uncle Gavin want?
Yet even after hearing Mia’s name, the man who had once loved her deeply remained unmoved.
Lu Qiao was silent for several seconds before saying, “I saved all thirty-plus people whose consciousness bodies had been shattered and who had fallen into comas.”
The moment those words fell, Gavin abruptly opened his eyes. He sat upright and looked at Lu Qiao.
Lu Qiao stared directly at him and said, “I awakened consciousness-race genes.”
Gavin’s voice tightened. “Ordinary mental-power manipulators simply don’t possess the ability to restore consciousness bodies.”
Lu Qiao said, “So my ability isn’t ordinary.”
Gavin stood up and took two steps forward, pressing both hands against the glass window. “You… what is your mental-power threshold?! Do you have your genetic test report? What are the numbers on it?!”
Yan Qiu’s eyes narrowed slightly when he heard this.
Lu Qiao understood as well.
He said incredulously, “Uncle, you performed genetic mutation experiments simply to create a mental-power manipulator capable of restoring consciousness bodies?! There are so many people in the Empire researching this field. If genetic mutation could create such a mental-power manipulator, they would have done it long ago! What are you doing this for? Sister Mia? But how many years has it been since she died?! If I hadn’t awakened mental power, how many people would the seven people you operated on have killed? Did you ever think about that?!”
“What is your mental-power threshold!!” Gavin slammed hard against the glass window and roared. “An ordinary level isn’t enough for a mental-power manipulator to possess restoration abilities. It has to be extraordinarily powerful. It has to be someone completely on a different level from the mental-power manipulators we currently know… Over five thousand? Eight or nine thousand?… More than ten thousand?”
Gavin’s eyes were somewhat crazed. “A threshold of over ten thousand. A mental-power manipulator like that must be capable of doing so many things… For example, instantly wiping out an enemy army in a war!”
Lu Qiao stood frozen in place.
Yan Qiu spoke at this moment. “For war?”
Gavin glanced at him, his eyes bloodshot. He laughed nervously. “Heh… What else would it be for? To save a woman who’s been dead for so many years?”
“Uncle!” Lu Qiao’s eyes widened. He had never expected Gavin to mention Sister Mia in that tone.
Gavin stumbled backward, staggering. “What use would saving her be? Mia wasn’t like me, someone who joined the military just because I wanted to make something of myself. She was like your foolish father, becoming a soldier wholeheartedly to protect others, to protect the entire Empire. What use would saving her be? As long as there’s war, as long as she continues charging to the front lines, she can’t avoid ending up the same way!”
“Lu Qiao, the problem isn’t with individuals.” Gavin shook his head. “The problem is war. Only by controlling war and eliminating war can we save everyone.”
Lu Qiao stared at him in shock.
He remembered how Uncle Gavin had once told him that the farther away from war one could stay, the better.
But he had never imagined that those words had become an obsession in Uncle Gavin’s heart, to the point that they drove him to do all these things afterward.
In order to eliminate war and bring about “peace,” he had used repeated experiments, attempting to create a top-tier mental-power manipulator?
Gavin panted and slowly said, “All these years, I’ve thought about it again and again. In the end, I came to believe that mental power is the most crucial force in this world. Why did mental-power manipulators undergo a transformation five years ago? How much of this power is there that we still don’t know about? What does the pinnacle of mental power look like? What exactly can this mysterious ability accomplish when it reaches its strongest state—you don’t want to know?”
Lu Qiao wanted to speak, but Gavin interrupted him.
“No. You already know. You’re that person, aren’t you, Lu Qiao?”
“—But why did you only appear now?” Gavin’s tone changed rapidly. He spoke through gritted teeth, and his bloodshot eyes slowly filled with tears. “Why did you only appear now? If you had appeared sooner, Mia wouldn’t have died. Your father wouldn’t have died. And we wouldn’t all be alone today!”
Lu Qiao fell silent.
His hands and feet were cold, and his spine had gone rigid.
No. When all was said and done, Uncle Gavin had never truly let go of everything.
…In the end, he had remained trapped in the past, trapped in that period when he still had both legs, when he could happily sling an arm around his best friend’s shoulder and hold the hand of the woman he loved most.
Lu Qiao did not know how to describe what he was feeling. He suddenly became speechless.
Facing the tears overflowing from Gavin’s eyes, he could not say a single word. His mind was completely blank.
Then he heard the voice of the man beside him.
The man’s voice was as clear and cool as ever.
“War isn’t something that can be eliminated by the power of one person.”
Gavin glared fiercely at Yan Qiu.
Yan Qiu met his gaze and calmly said, “The kind of power you’re hoping for doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist within Lu Qiao, nor does it exist within anyone else in this world.”