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He returned to his room, took a proper bath and the medicine he had brought back from the hospital, then lay down in bed to catch up on sleep.

He slept in a haze for another two days.

If someone hadn't started pounding on the front door downstairs, subjecting him to the double assault of that and the doorbell's hellish ringing, he thought he might have slept another day.

The reading on his wristwatch had dropped to 37.8.

The curtains were drawn tight in his room. Not bothering to turn on the light, he felt his way through the dimness, grabbed something from the closet to change into, threw on a coat and went downstairs.

The show of force outside the door was unexpectedly large.

When the people in silver-and-black uniforms met his gaze, they tensed into combat-ready stances for some reason, tightening their grips on their guns.

He asked the system suspiciously, "Didn't you say the matching results for Shen Tingyu and me wouldn't come out so soon?"

The system said, "...They shouldn't have, by all rights."

The person at the front, who was sizing him up, was an older man.

He had a cigarette between his lips and looked a little familiar, but Xu Qingran couldn't remember where he had seen him.

A flicker of surprise crossed the man's eyes. He hesitated before asking, "Mr. Xu Qingran?"

"Mm," he answered.

Several layers of bandages were still wrapped around Xu Qingran's neck, and he looked quite weak with his sleepy eyes. His features were delicate and harmless, yet a faint chill lurked in his gaze—the kind only an experienced killer would have.

The middle-aged officer asked him, "Let me confirm first. Mr. Xu, you're nineteen this year, and your ST—that is, your Soul Spirit Type—hasn't settled yet, correct?"

Xu Qingran didn't know what he was asking about, but he quickly found the answer on the wristwatch that recorded his health data.

ST: unknown.

He nodded again.

The people at the door fell silent for a few seconds before the man said, "Here's the situation. Based on the reports we've received and some of your recent extreme behavior, we believe you have the potential to awaken as a Type E Extremist."

"Starting today, you'll be placed under observation and sent to the Evil Tower for some criticism and education in proper conduct."

Chapter 6: The Evil Tower

Xu Qingran narrowed his eyes.

It was the first time he had heard someone say they wanted to teach him how to behave.

The system saw him clench his fist and thought he was about to go crazy and attack again. It hurriedly stopped him. "Host! The weapons they have aren't ordinary guns like the ones you encountered before. They're used in conjunction with Mental Power, and their speed and kill rate are much higher than you'd expect!"

"Besides, the people sent out to arrest Type E Extremists all have Spiritual Pools rated A or higher. You can't beat them as you are now!"

"Calm down. Keep a low profile and bide your time, keep a low profile and bide your time!"

Xu Qingran sent it a question mark: ?

"Who said I was going to resist?"

He had been interested in the Evil Tower ever since the system mentioned it that day. When he heard that many so-called Type E Extremists were also locked up inside, he wanted to see it even more.

And now the opportunity had come knocking, hadn't it?

So he answered at once, "Okay. Are we leaving now?"

Before closing the door, he also asked, "My fever hasn't gone down yet. Can I bring some medicine?"

Chen Bin exhaled a puff of smoke. The person before him was unexpectedly cooperative.

He also hadn't expected such a coincidence. He had only just been transferred to the Evil Tower's guard unit, and his first assignment was to arrest the young man he had met at the South 13-11 Checkpoint that day, the one whose white clothes had been stained with blood.

With the cigarette between his teeth, he chuckled. "No problem."

The sea of stars was vast, the universe boundless. A journey across galaxies was bound to be long.

After Xu Qingran was taken aboard a military aircraft, it docked with a starship as large as a space station, carrying him inside. The starship was made of a special material and looked extremely sturdy and capable of taking a beating. It was also equipped with quite a few fighter craft and weapon ports. But in this world, starships, like ordinary vehicles, relied on trained personnel's Mental Power to operate.

More than a day passed between their departure and their arrival in the destination's domain.

The atmosphere aboard the craft was actually quite peaceful and harmonious.

The younger guards were less patient. When they got bored, they would pull out card games from centuries ago and gather around to play, talking and laughing. The older, more steady guards kept their attention on the "criminal" they were escorting at all times.

The person who should have been most nervous, on the other hand, treated the cramped cabin like his own bed and slept the hours away.

He wore an off-white cotton coat, its pale color softening his cold edges. Quiet and still in his sleep, he looked even more gentle and well-behaved. On top of that, he was injured and weak, his face pale; a few extra glances at him were enough to stir a trace of pity.

"Hey, he's a pampered young master from a wealthy family, after all. With a body that weak, I don't know if he can take being sent to the Evil Tower."

On the other side of the aircraft, several guards were discussing the cabin's principal subject in low voices.

Anyone who had followed the juicy gossip that had caused such a stir in the Silver Dragon Camp some time ago basically knew the name Xu Qingran. The affair had blown up so much, and he had even shown tendencies toward self-harm and suicide, so it was no surprise that orders had come to take him to the Evil Tower for correction.

What surprised them was that the legendary crazy eldest young master of the Xu family looked so frail.

"I heard his Spiritual Pool rank is really low too, right? Like F rank... His Soul Spirit Type hasn't settled yet, but I don't think he can really jump straight from F to above 3S once he fully awakens."

"At most, they'll go through the procedures and give him some criticism and education."

"That'll still be rough..."

"But if Colonel Lu doesn't even think the eldest young master is good enough, what kind of heavenly beauty must his fiancée be?"

As soon as the casually voiced question fell, a man in the corner, still holding two game cards, scoffed.

"I've seen her. She's nothing special. Putting the two of them side by side is an insult." With that, he tossed his last two cards onto the low table made from stacked game boxes, ending the game.

"Damn, Qi Heqian, you sneaky bastard!"

The man everyone was pointing at and jokingly cursing didn't continue playing. He tucked his hands behind his head, and the military cap perched loosely on it slipped as he lowered his head, neatly covering most of his face.