Chapter 19

Don't come over here! Qin Su thought, though nothing showed on his face. When Zhou Kaiyu came within social distance, he naturally raised his eyes and rested his calm gaze on Zhou Kaiyu, keeping his emotions in check.

Meeting Qin Su's icy gaze, Zhou Kaiyu felt immense pressure. He already felt guilty about having taken advantage of Qin Su during class, and now he wanted to get more "benefits" from him afterward.

Since he was already here, Zhou Kaiyu quietly made his request. "Qin Su, could you come with me for a moment?"

"...Mm."

Qin Su decided to deal with whatever came his way.

The students in the classroom watched the two disappear from sight, their faces full of curiosity.

"What does Teacher Zhou want with Qin Su? Why all the secrecy?"

"That's Qin Su we're talking about. Didn't you hear the teacher praising him the whole time in class? He must think he didn't have enough time to flatter him during the lesson, so he's sucking up to him afterward too."

"Hey, is there any need to make snide guesses about the teacher like that?"

After all their gossiping, the group got nowhere.

Qin Su vanished from He Muzhi's sight, and from the comic's camera as well.

[Honest question: why does our Baby 1 get so little screen time? He only ever shows up with the protagonists or the villain. If the author gave our Baby 1 a little more screen time, we wouldn't be stuck wondering what the teacher wants with him right now]

[Agreed. If the screen time were fair, with the BKing aura our Boss Su can't keep from radiating, there's no way he'd be less popular than anyone else]

[The protagonists of this comic are He Muzhi, Lailisi, Lin Yin, and Samuel, and the villain is He Wenyuan. So what if Qin Su's popularity has skyrocketed lately? If he's not a protagonist, he's not a protagonist~ He'll never turn things around~ Being green with envy won't help you either~]

[You're talking absolute fucking propeller farts! Stop using the number of appearances to define how popular our Boss 1 is!]

Zhou Kaiyu led Qin Su to a secluded spot and cautiously looked left and right several times. Only after making sure no one was there did he turn to Qin Su.

Qin Su's expression didn't change as Zhou Kaiyu looked around. Setting aside what the teacher wanted with him, when a teacher called him over... his instinctive first reaction was to secretly think back over what he'd done wrong.

As it turned out, he'd done nothing wrong.

Having finished reviewing his actions, Qin Su felt even more at ease.

Zhou Kaiyu said, "Well... Qin Su, here's the thing. I asked you to come here privately mainly because there are two things I wanted to tell you."

When he finished, Zhou Kaiyu saw that Qin Su's gaze was indifferent, revealing no particular emotion. He could only continue what he'd started saying. "First, I need to apologize to you."

Getting started was the hardest part. Now that he'd said it, Zhou Kaiyu felt much less anxious, and he quickly explained, "Before I got to know you, I thought you were... like those people who skipped class for no reason, and I developed some prejudices against you."

"After this afternoon's lesson, I realized how terribly wrong I was. I want to formally say I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

Qin Su hadn't cared in the first place, and his tone didn't waver at all.

Zhou Kaiyu breathed a sigh of relief. He knew perfectly well that Qin Su most likely said that simply because he didn't care what Zhou Kaiyu thought of him.

"The second thing is..." Under Qin Su's intent gaze, Zhou Kaiyu quickly said, "You probably know that the Federation's current database on the Zerg is incomplete. Could I ask... would you be willing to tell me where some of the data on the bugs in your database came from?"

"..."

Qin Su fell silent.

The source?

He'd talked the system into acting as his Optical Brain and gotten it all by having the system "search" for it.

In other words, he didn't know a damn thing. Qin Su frowned slightly at his own "ignorance."

To Qin Su himself, his silence and instinctive frown meant, "The truth can't be shared with outsiders."

But to Zhou Kaiyu, who was anxiously awaiting his answer, Qin Su had been left speechless by his presumptuous request, having never seen anyone so "shameless."

After all, data on bugs that even the Federation lacked would naturally be expensive, and the channels for "obtaining" it would be secret.

There were any number of methods involved that couldn't be disclosed to outsiders, things that money and power alone couldn't get. The people selling this data might not lack money at all.

To obtain data on certain bugs, one needed money, power, connections, and favors. None could be missing.

What he was doing now was equivalent to shamelessly asking Qin Su to connect the Federation with the people secretly selling the data behind the scenes, who would do the Federation a favor for Qin Su's sake and sell them the data.

Free planets that didn't belong to any system were one thing, but among them were very likely planets hostile to the Federation because of differing ideals.

Why should Qin Su use his connections to do all this for the Federation? His background was a mystery, and they didn't even know which planet he came from. It was perfectly normal for him to refuse.

Qin Su's brief silence lasted less than three seconds, but the guilty Zhou Kaiyu thought of many things in that instant. Still, he really didn't want to miss this opportunity, so he braved Qin Su's cold, "speechless" gaze and spoke again, thick-skinned as ever.

"I know there must be many illegal ways and channels of obtaining it, and it wouldn't be convenient for you to say, or to tell anyone. But the data on bugs that didn't come from illegal channels, their sources..."

"Wait."

Hearing the word "illegal," Qin Su's brow twitched, and he interrupted Teacher Zhou.

He still remembered that the Optical Brain's product description said, "It can search for all the information it knows."

By the same logic, the system, as his "Optical Brain," could naturally search for everything it knew.

That was perfectly reasonable. How could it count as an illegal method?

Besides, he had no idea which bugs the Federation lacked data on, much less which ways of obtaining data on them the Federation considered "illegal."

Once he understood why Zhou Kaiyu had sought him out privately, Qin Su immediately decided to take the initiative rather than be put on the back foot.

Zhou Kaiyu was asking Qin Su for a favor, and when he heard that Qin Su didn't want to listen to him ramble anymore, an ominous feeling rose in his heart.

Not to mention the icy look Qin Su gave him from above, which made Zhou Kaiyu's heart pound even harder.

Qin Su is... refusing me, right? Well, why would...

Before Zhou Kaiyu could finish his dejected thought, he suddenly heard Qin Su's indifferent voice.

"All right."

To maintain his persona as a "man of few words," Qin Su always kept his sentences short in private conversations, except during class. "Tell me what data you need."

What Zhou Kaiyu had just said had given him an idea for "making money."

Even if he had no use for star coins at the moment, he had to have them.

"!"

The answer caught Zhou Kaiyu off guard. The disappointment vanished from his face in an instant, and he looked at Qin Su in surprise, his eyes lighting up.

"But..."

Qin Su's tone shifted.

"But what?"

Zhou Kaiyu's heart, which had just settled, rose into his throat again.

Seeing Teacher Zhou suck in a sharp breath because of his words, Qin Su silently apologized to him in his heart, then said calmly, "Send someone else to negotiate with me."

He needed more than just this world's common currency, "Star coins." He could also use this matter to raise the upper limit of his "background."

So what if he didn't have a background? It was enough that they thought he did.

Zhou Kaiyu wouldn't do, and neither would the Fourth Military School.

Whoever dealt with him had to be at a higher level.

In his opinion, the "Federation" would do nicely.

Of course, because it was his Optical Brain, the system wouldn't charge him any "fee" for data he "searched for and viewed" that didn't require a "physical" presentation.

As for data that needed to be packaged and turned into a link for others to use, Qin Su wasn't sure whether the system would charge "Life Points" for it. So he also needed time to go back and ask the system how many "Life Points" it would cost to generate an "untraceable delivery" link for him.

That way, even if the other party obtained the data, they wouldn't be able to trace its source at all.

"Someone else?"

Zhou Kaiyu was stunned, but he quickly understood. He really wasn't qualified to discuss these things with Qin Su.

Then... who was?

Unsure whether Qin Su would be satisfied with the person sent to him, and afraid that his dissatisfaction with the negotiator might cost them this precious opportunity, Zhou Kaiyu tentatively asked, "Qin Su, would the principal of the Fourth Military School do?"

Although he was an ordinary Beta teacher—and in fact, aside from special courses, the vast majority of courses like this one, which required knowledge and experience rather than physical strength, were taught by Betas—the principal of the Fourth Military School was his teacher's teacher's teacher, the highest-ranking person he could call on.

"..."

The principal? Of course not.

Since he hadn't achieved his goal, Qin Su deliberately narrowed his eyes, looking at Zhou Kaiyu even more coldly.

Come on, Teacher Zhou. Let your "imagination" run a little wilder.

Seeing Qin Su's dark eyes suddenly narrow dangerously, Zhou Kaiyu knew he'd said the wrong thing. He hesitated for two seconds, then ventured another guess. "The Fed... Federation?"

Although the Fourth Military School had been established on Ikelios Planet, it had been established there with the Federation's permission. In other words, Ikelios Planet had no authority over the Fourth Military School.

That was the highest level he could think of.

He'd have to get his teacher's teacher's teacher to call someone in.

Having heard the answer he wanted, Qin Su's expression remained unchanged. He merely said indifferently, "There's no need to meet."

Meeting the person selling the data behind the scenes was absolutely impossible, especially since there was no such person behind this "business deal" of his.

To maintain his "big-shot style," the Federation was now the one asking for a favor. Even if they were from the Federation, he, the "middleman," wouldn't meet them.

Now that he'd said that, anyone with a brain would know to add him as a friend on his Optical Brain.

"Qin Su, you really... are such a good person!"

Qin Su had actually shown such great mercy, willing to use his connections to provide the Federation with a purchasing channel. He was going to cry!

Qin Su: "..."

That really wasn't necessary.

Qin Su didn't respond to Teacher Zhou calling him a "good person." Unruffled, he simply asked, "Is there anything else, Teacher Zhou?"

"No, no." Zhou Kaiyu smiled so broadly that wrinkles appeared on his previously unlined face. "Goodbye, Qin Su."

"Goodbye."

Qin Su nodded slightly and strode away under Zhou Kaiyu's fervent gaze.

He also needed time to look up the selling price of "data on bugs."

"This is wonderful! Thanks to Qin Su, the Federation will be grateful to me!"

After watching Qin Su disappear from sight, Zhou Kaiyu clapped his hands and excitedly began calling people on his Optical Brain.

Zhou Kaiyu made quite a commotion, and before long, the entire upper echelon of the Fourth Military School knew the news.

The more they knew about the bugs, the greater their advantage on the battlefield. The Federation attached great importance to this and immediately discussed whom to send to contact Qin Su.

Although Qin Su didn't want to meet them, the Federation was extremely cautious about choosing someone who, without being his teacher, could add him on his Optical Brain.

Zhou Kaiyu returned to his office to find a group of colleagues sitting inside.

Guessing why they'd come, Zhou Kaiyu was so excited that he forgot to close the door.

When Zhou Kaiyu returned, a gossip-loving teacher got up and hurried over. "Teacher Zhou, is that Qin Su really..."

"Stop!" Although the other person hadn't finished speaking and the other teachers in the office hadn't had a chance to speak either, Zhou Kaiyu put himself in their shoes and imagined what those who hadn't yet had the chance to meet Qin Su up close and speak to him would think of him.

Zhou Kaiyu said bluntly, "First of all, Qin Su is different from those other Alphas, Omegas, and Betas who are just here to gild their résumés."

"Second, does Qin Su need to attend class? If you ask me, I'm the one who needs to attend class! Besides..." Zhou Kaiyu took the opportunity to slip in a little personal boast. "Come to think of it, how could Qin Su attending my class not count as doing me a favor~"

"Sigh, there's no explaining it to you. You don't understand how valuable 'Qin Su' is. Once you've personally taught him, you'll understand. Huh? I forgot, a lot of you don't teach our Comprehensive Class, do you? Looking at it that way, doesn't that make our class the one with the most potential among the Class of 26 freshmen?"

The Class of 26 Comprehensive Class teachers who hadn't had a chance to teach yet: "?"

The speed of Zhou Kaiyu's change in attitude truly surprised them. They distinctly remembered that when they'd received Teacher Zhang's group message, they'd all privately complained that Class 6 had acquired a precious young master there to gild his résumé.

The teachers from the other classes: "..."

Their fists itched.

"And lastly?" To keep Zhou Kaiyu from getting a bag thrown over his head and being beaten up, a Class 6 teacher changed the subject, telling him to stop showing off.

"Lastly! Although we don't know which planet Qin Su comes from or which family's carefully groomed successor he is, at least he's now willing to use his connections for our Fourth Military School to provide the Federation with a purchasing channel. What does that show? It shows that Qin Su has our Fourth Military School in his heart!"

The teachers: "..."

They couldn't argue with that.

A teacher who hadn't spent time with Qin Su and had only heard the "rumors" about him said, "The fact that only someone from the Federation can contact Qin Su already says a great deal."

"That's..." A Class Two teacher had started to agree, but when he saw He Muzhi at the door, he changed what he was about to say. "Oh? Muzhi, why are you here? Are you looking for your brother?"

He Muzhi had frozen when he heard the words "someone from the Federation contact Qin Su..." Before he could speak, he heard a teacher's voice from inside.

He Muzhi recovered from the shock of the news he'd accidentally overheard and nodded, pretending he hadn't heard it. "Yes. Teacher Zhao said all the teachers had gathered in Teacher Zhang's office, and Teacher He might be here too, so I came over."

"Teacher He," He Mulin, was a Beta thirty years older than him and his biological brother, but at school, He Muzhi properly addressed him as "Teacher He."

He just hadn't expected to overhear gossip about "Qin Su" by accident.

As he spoke, He Muzhi quickly scanned the office. Not seeing his brother, he politely took his leave of the teachers.

Because He Muzhi left, the comic's camera followed him away, forcing the viewers to leave with their heads full of questions.

[??? The Federation is contacting Boss 1? What for?]

[Wait, no, Mu Bao, you're just leaving like that? How can you resist gossip at sixteen? Have you quit gaming before? Aaaaah, what on earth does the Federation need to contact Baby Su about? Is this damn comic trying to drive me to death so it can inherit my delivery discount-boost coupons?!]

Qin Su: "..."

Back in the dorm, Qin Su had already had the system search for the selling prices of information on special bugs and was browsing and comparing them. He hadn't expected the protagonist to learn that the "Federation" was contacting him.

But...

That was fine too. It saved him from having to quietly "spread the word" himself.

"Although this child is only sixteen, he knows how to conduct himself and is levelheaded. Given time and a little experience, he'll only grow faster. The He family has a promising successor." Watching He Muzhi leave, a teacher spoke with emotion.

Once He Muzhi, who couldn't see the bullet comments, was out of the teachers' sight, he stopped looking for his brother. The "levelheaded" He Muzhi, as the other teachers saw him, quickly darted onto the train.

On the train, He Muzhi contacted his other three friends through his Optical Brain.

Five minutes later, the four gathered. In front of his childhood friends, He Muzhi dropped the deliberately taut, composed expression he wore before Qin Su. Excited, he rapidly poured out all the gossip he'd heard in class and from the teachers.

He Muzhi's account left the other three briefly silent, all of them stunned by Qin Su.

"As expected of someone whose data has a conspicuous '?' on it, and whom no one has managed to uncover more information about to this day." In the classroom, Samuel exclaimed, "Even the Federation is bowing to him!"

"Then here's the question." Lailisi was still hung up on the fact that Qin Su was more interested in He Wenyuan than in them. "What on earth makes He Wenyuan worthy?"

"We don't have to be so discouraged," Lin Yin said comfortingly.

"How so?" He Muzhi asked, looking at Lin Yin.

"Is it possible..." Under her friends' expectant gazes, Lailisi shared the conclusion she'd come to. "Qin Su saw He Wenyuan's hidden purpose long ago? His interest in He Wenyuan is actually a warning."

Lin Yin shrugged. "After all... who says being 'interested' has to mean something good? It can be something bad too. For example, being 'interested in someone's life' is also a kind of interest, and that kind of interest takes the other person's life."

The other three, who had reached a dead end because they loathed He Wenyuan so much, were enlightened when they heard this.

"Yinyin, that's just like you. An excellent idea!" Lailisi lightly patted Lin Yin on the shoulder. "I declare that this is the answer, and I won't accept any objections!"

"Strongly agreed!"

He Muzhi and Samuel nodded vigorously.

The four of them instantly felt better about Qin Su being more interested in He Wenyuan than in the four of them.

He Wenyuan, who was always secretly watching He Muzhi and was wherever He Muzhi was whenever circumstances allowed: "..."

It was much as he had thought during the time he had taken off from class.

Qin Su was interested in him? What a joke. How could that be? Qin Su looked at him as coldly as if he were looking at an ant.

But...

Watching the four "satisfied" people in the distance, a gloomy look flashed through He Wenyuan's eyes behind his pink colored contacts. He unconsciously raised a hand and began biting his nails again.

Did Qin Su warning him make them that happy?

[...Hard to say. That lunatic Plague God is at it again. The protagonists are in high spirits, while Plague God is having a psychotic episode.]

[Healthy friendship is delightful and all, but twisted love is just so much tastier to ship. Delicious~ (piercing shriek)]

[I won't say who got triggered (doge) @Plague God]

Dormitory.

After returning to his private space, Qin Su searched and compared prices. Since he didn't know what insect data the other party wanted, he used the prices of insects whose data sold for high prices on the black market as a basis. After setting an expected price for each insect that had a bounty on the black market but whose bounty no one had claimed, he got straight to the point and asked the system:

"How many Life Points would it take to create a link that, once sent, no person or device in this world could detect or trace back to its source?" If it were him, he would definitely trace it back. Only if the other party couldn't find anything would everything about him become more mysterious and elusive.

"A link like that costs 60 minutes of Life Points."

"..."

It was literally "costing him his life" and "exchanging his life for money."

Fortunately, the price was within a range he could accept.

Qin Su had initially wondered whether the prices he had set were too high, even though he had based them on black market prices.

But as soon as he thought about how it would cost him his Life Points, he no longer thought they were expensive. After all, in most people's eyes, no matter the world, "life" was the most expensive luxury of all, yet one that could never be bought.

This kind of information about sources could only be obtained through connections. Fearing that Qin Su might change his mind, the Federation didn't dare waste a moment. As soon as they had decided who would liaise with Qin Su, they immediately had him add Qin Su as a friend on his Optical Brain.

Under his colleagues' watchful eyes, Ellis sent Qin Su an Optical Brain friend request.

Then, as everyone waited anxiously, Qin Su's Optical Brain appeared on his friend list.

"!"

"Qin Su accepted the friend request! It worked!"

"Ahem..." someone cautioned. "He only added you as an Optical Brain friend. Don't celebrate too early. There'll still be time to celebrate after the deal goes through."

"True. Ellis, communicate with Qin Su as planned. Remember, be careful and don't say the wrong thing. We're the ones asking him for a favor."

"Don't worry, everyone. I remember it all." Ellis sent the message they had discussed in their meeting beforehand, then grew a little worried as he stared at the screen, still without a response after ten seconds.

Once people started worrying, they were prone to overthinking.

Ellis bit his lower lip. Like everyone else, he stared at the screen until his eyes turned red, but didn't dare blink. He muttered anxiously to himself, "Why isn't he responding? Could Qin Su have already discovered that we secretly traced the source of the link he sent us?"

Good night! (Tomorrow will probably, maybe, perhaps... be at this time too... I think [cat head])