After all, we’re all repeat offenders

There was‌‌​​‌⁠‌⁠‍‍⁠‍⁠⁠‍‍​⁠‍‌‍​‌‍ no one in the cafeteria.

An Yu sat in Jian Xing’s former seat, summarizing their recent discoveries for Fengjian, who had just joined them.

Fengjian pushed his own portion of compressed biscuit towards him. “Actually, this isn’t a complete dead end. The key is how strong the Mirror’s protection mechanism truly is.”

An Yu chewed his biscuit, looking at him, puzzled.

“I can lock blood,” Fengjian explained. “For example, if I set a blood line at 5%, no matter how fast the Mirror kills, the moment the target’s health drops below 5%, my ability will trigger, pulling them back to 5%. If the Mirror only launches one fatal attack, my ability is enough to withstand it. But if it continuously attacks until the target dies, then I can’t hold on.”

Although Fengjian hadn’t yet demonstrated his blood-locking ability, his competent and sincere eyes inspired exceptional trust. An Yu pondered, “If that’s the case, wouldn’t setting the bloodline at 90% be safer?”

Fengjian lowered his head and chuckled. “The outcome wouldn’t be different, but setting the threshold higher demands much more of me. It’s best not to.”

An Yu nodded, thinking that healers truly cared about energy consumption.

No one had ever directly confronted the Mirror. Killing Jian Xing would mean risking their lives to test the Mirror’s mechanism, and the strike had to be swift and decisive.

Fengjian looked out at the snow, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, he said softly, “Jian Xing… he must have retained his human will, right?”

“It’s uncertain,” An Yu honestly shook his head. “But it’s possible. He certainly seems more human than an aberrant.”

Fengjian gave a wry smile. “In that case, acting against him itself would be a difficult hurdle to overcome… Where’s Law?”

“Hmm…” An Yu raised a hand and gently rubbed his throat. “Nearby.”

Fengjian looked around, confused. “Nearby?”

“Yes.” An Yu finished his last bite of biscuit. “By the way, do you think I’m different from usual right now?”

Fengjian nodded. “Of course. The Ladder panel recorded your ability as ‘Advent State,’ but I didn’t expect it to be so powerful. Frankly, every step I took towards you just now was instinctively repulsive. It was as if…” His gaze paused slightly, then dropped to the ground. “I was approaching a presence that couldn’t be approached, nor directly looked upon.”

An Yu didn’t respond. He got up, cleared his tray, and walked towards the return area. Fengjian had misunderstood. This wasn’t the Advent State; it was a peculiar phenomenon that only occurred when the Commander was close enough to him, and neither he nor the Commander himself were aware of it.

In his earpiece, Qin Zhilu said, “Though mysterious, it’s at least a way to override your attraction to aberrants and keep those things from getting too close.”

“Mm.”

Slade opened the team channel. “Jian Xing and A-Yue left the cafeteria and went back to the activity room together. It seems they had an argument. A-Yue came out by himself, and Pat and I are following him.”

“Then Fengjian and I will go to the activity room,” An Yu said. “Where did A-Yue go?”

Pat replied, “He went back to the sleeping nest and got a bag of things, probably food and water. He plans to go back to the activity room to find Jian Xing.”

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An Yu recalled the basic knowledge about mutations that Ling Qiu had explained to him. “People living together, a hidden mutation for two years, Jian Xing couldn’t possibly have avoided it, right?”

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The rustling of pages suddenly stopped.

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Fengjian sighed. “A bit pitiful.”

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Hazardous gene test, that was an unfamiliar term to An Yu. Although he had spent eight years in an orphanage, he had never heard of it.

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Energy could be broken down into percentages, but it was hard to imagine what one percent of that pain was like.

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Qin Zhilu connected to the public channel and asked, “What were his symptoms?”

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“He quickly established trust with the counselor, but the counselor could only help him sleep for a short while through hypnosis and medication. They never truly helped him recover from the trauma.”

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“Found it.” Jiang Xiao’s finger tapped the document. “In August 2138, A-Yue, an orphan from District D, and assistant supervisor Li Yin were simultaneously transferred to District B. According to the counselor’s records, A-Yue was a child with abundant inner energy and a giving personality. He had a strong liking for Jian Xing and quickly became Jian Xing’s first friend in the orphanage in almost a year. Li Yin was a woman around thirty years old. Before working at the orphanage, she was a music teacher. She could sing and play the harmonica. Oh, she was Bai Jing’s assistant supervisor when she was in District D, and she even recommended and vouched for Bai Jing when he applied to stay at the orphanage as an assistant supervisor. Soon after she transferred to District B, Bai Jing’s application to stay at the orphanage was approved.”

Jiang Xiao read the counselor’s evaluation word for word. “Perhaps because Li Yin’s age and demeanor were similar to Jian Xing’s deceased mother, her harmonica playing had an incredible effect on Jian Xing. After listening to her play for three consecutive days, Jian Xing fell asleep on his own in the activity room for the first time, sleeping for 48 minutes. The next day, he fell asleep on his own again for 76 minutes.” He quickly skimmed through the long descriptions. “82 minutes, 74 minutes, 90 minutes… 132, 162, 148… Jian Xing’s self-initiated sleep time fluctuated upwards. After about a month, he could consistently sleep soundly for about four hours. Initially, he would wake up from nightmares, and when he woke up, A-Yue would be there with him. Later, as his sleep time lengthened, the frequency of nightmares also decreased, but A-Yue had already moved into the activity room and slept with him every night, waking up together. It could be said they were inseparable.”

Pat sighed. “This child, is he lucky or unlucky?”

An Yu couldn’t comprehend the pain of insomnia; he even found it hard to understand that someone couldn’t sleep. But from Jiang Xiao’s almost robotic reading of the files, he vaguely grasped the despair of the white-haired, golden-eyed little boy, just like him, in that enclosed storage room over a decade ago.

“Still lucky, I suppose,” he answered, almost to himself.

Just as he had met Ling Qiu and found a family. Jian Xing also found A-Yue; and he was even luckier, he found two family members in A-Yue and Li Yin.

In the silence of the group, Qin Zhilu spoke. “The orphanage incident happened on December 25th. Check Li Yin’s fate.” His voice was calm, almost cold, as if completely untouched.

“It can’t be checked,” Jiang Xiao said. “This archive room hasn’t been maintained since the incident. The last record about Li Yin was on December 25th, during the day. She reported on the condition of the dozens of children she was responsible for, as usual.”

An Yu walked out of the cafeteria towards the activity room. Qin Zhilu said in his earpiece, “Jian Xing’s social circle is very simple. He has no direct connection with Bai Jing. Their only link is Li Yin. And now Bai Jing is protecting Jian Xing, as if fulfilling some promise to take care of him on her behalf. So, it’s highly probable that Li Yin is dead.”

An Yu looked at the small activity room in the distance. “Will you do it, or shall I?”

Beside him, Fengjian’s steps paused, and he looked at An Yu in confusion. After a moment, he realized An Yu was speaking to Qin Zhilu in a private channel.

Qin Zhilu said, “I thought you would order Slade and Pat to take that risk.”

“I certainly prefer to transfer the risk of death to people I dislike,” An Yu said calmly. “But unfortunately, Protectors maintain a high degree of human loyalty. When acting against Jian Xing, even a moment of hesitation means a futile death.”

Qin Zhilu seemed to let out a breathy chuckle. “So, the inhumane tasks must be done by us?”

An Yu said, “After all, we’re all repeat offenders.” He recalled his past combat experience. “In District 53, that state only appeared when my health dropped low enough. Perhaps I should try to reach that limit again.”

There was a long silence in the earpiece. An Yu walked a few more steps before tentatively asking, “Commander?”

“I’ll do it,” Qin Zhilu said firmly. “Don’t leave too much room for external criticism.”

An Yu asked blankly, “Why?”

“Every supervised subject is a high-level reserve officer,” Qin Zhilu said nonchalantly. “Before your wings are fully grown, you should learn to cherish your feathers.”

An Yu couldn’t quite follow the Commander’s train of thought. He lowered his gaze, thought for a moment, and then softly asked, “If you mean that those at the top of the Spire cannot have blemishes, then what have you been doing all this time?”

“After District 95, everyone already understood who I truly was,” Qin Zhilu’s tone was calm. “Even earlier, I had already revealed my true colors.”

An Yu’s steps suddenly halted, and it was a long moment before he continued walking. The voice in his earpiece sounded utterly unconcerned, yet for some reason, his heart felt heavy in that instant.