Chapter 9

Having gained a basic understanding of Beixing's new form, Qi Yue moved aside to dodge the hand Beixing reached out once more, turning to face him at the same time.

"Continue." Qi Yue's breathing was steady, and he spoke at an unhurried pace.

In front of everyone, he had to maintain a perfect, flawless image no matter what. Fortunately, he could manage to dodge physical attacks of this level and maintain his distance for the half-hour match.

If he got too close, they might accidentally touch. Too far away, and Beixing might get discouraged and sad. So... he would make sure to stay 20 cm away from Beixing every time he was attacked.

For the next half hour of the match, Qi Yue put that principle into practice.

"Very good."

"Nice angle."

"Almost."

"Well done."

"Again."

"Believe in yourself. You can do it."

Relaxed and patient, he took on the gentle, gentlemanly manner of a guide, handling everything with ease. He used no superpowers and casually made up a seemingly trivial, playful condition for the match against Beixing... Just as he had promised Beixing beforehand, he never once attacked him.

These were the facts the Class F students watching had seen with their own eyes.

To them, rather than fighting Beixing, Qi Yue seemed to be using the match to show how he made an exception for him.

With so many students watching, someone soon noticed something unusual.

"Did you see that? Every time Beixing attacks Qi Yue, he's this far away from him." Zhao Yu raised a hand to indicate a distance of 20 cm and emphasized, "Pay attention. That's every single time. His control is incredibly precise! And Qi Yue hasn't used any superpowers."

"So what... exactly is Qi Yue's superpower? Does he think we're beneath seeing it, or... can't he show it to us?"

"I don't know," a male voice said. "But luckily, tomorrow is Superpower Testing Day. We won't have to wait long for an answer."

The students nodded.

"This is the first time I've looked forward to Superpower Testing Day!"

"Speaking of which... was Beixing always so 'lively'? Hopping up and down like a bat in a sack. He's kind of cute..."

At those words, the atmosphere fell silent.

In their eyes, Beixing had never been anything close to "cute." The labels they had given him were dark, crawling in twisted ways, dangerous, an ill omen to stay away from... and so on.

After a long pause, a faint voice spoke.

"Do you think it's possible that, aside from some purpose we don't know about yet, part of the reason the transfer student has acted this way toward Beixing since joining Class F is... that Qi Yue noticed our... hostility toward Beixing? He brought out a completely different side of Beixing to mock us..."

Otherwise, there was no explaining why Qi Yue always made such a show of favoring Beixing in front of them.

The undeniable truth spread like a foul stench, and the silence suffocated them as though it had seized them by the throat.

"Qi Yue said to Beixing, 'I know you, Beixing.' So that 'know' included all of this... There's no hatred or targeting without a reason. No wonder he made fun of us the moment he transferred into Class F. It turns out he was standing up for Beixing..."

"I actually... was just afraid of Beixing's superpower."

"Everyone said they hated him, so I..."

"No one talked to him. I thought if I talked to him, everyone would think I was strange too."

"..."

Without realizing it, they had fallen into a vicious cycle. It was as if "hating Beixing" and "staying away from Beixing" had become topics they used to socialize.

Qi Yue's actions embarrassed them more than outright mockery and sarcasm would have.

When Qi Yue first entered Class F, they had called his manner hypocritical. Now that they had glimpsed a sliver of the truth under Qi Yue's guidance, who were the real hypocrites?

Was the monster they had banded together to name Beixing, or was it themselves...?

The little group fell silent, their gazes turning as one to the open space in the middle.

The one-on-one match was still going.

Every second of his match with Beixing, Qi Yue remained completely focused, not daring to relax in the slightest. One small mistake, and he would not only lose his precious chance to verify the Panel's words, but cracks would also appear in the situation he had carefully maintained.

Once fine cracks appeared in his perfect mask, the truth hidden beneath them might be exposed, layer by layer, and uprooted entirely.

The same was true of Beixing.

Although he was exhausted, Beixing's gaze grew more determined and serious as he tirelessly attacked Qi Yue again and again.

Beneath the gray-black cloak, Beixing's body was sometimes like a piece of cloth spread flat, sometimes like a highly elastic rubber band. At other times, he fell into a puddle on the ground, only to rise abruptly again.

But no matter how he changed, he kept charging toward Qi Yue, trying to touch his body from all sorts of tricky angles.

The entire time, the cloak clung firmly to him, showing no sign of falling off.

Qi Yue: "..."

It was as secure as if it had been stuck on with 502 glue. In a sense, that was impressive.

Come to think of it, because the cloak was so oversized, he still hadn't seen what color Beixing's hair was. Whenever Beixing looked up at him, all he could see was a face two-thirds covered in mosaic.

"Time's up!"

The 30-minute countdown reached zero. Jian Haosen pressed the timer, blew his whistle, and wrote the result of the match on the record sheet.

"According to the result, Qi Yue wins. Five points added to this month's score, bringing the total to five."

[Congratulations! You have perfectly copied the superpower of Class F's Beixing with 100% accuracy: Call from Ancient Times. Superpowers +1. Reward: access to the Manga Forum.]

The Panel appeared before Qi Yue again, with a "Confirm" button beneath the two lines of text.

He had won the gamble.

Just as he had thought, copying a superpower required him to have witnessed it firsthand, set a condition, and defeat its owner while they were using it.

Call from Ancient Times... Just as he had previously guessed, Beixing's superpower really was connected to Him.

He finally had a superpower.

Qi Yue lowered his gaze slightly, suppressing his excitement.

Forums... Qi Yue was no stranger to them. He wondered whether the readers currently reading this manga and discussing its contents on the forum belonged to the world he had originally come from.

Qi Yue discreetly clicked confirm, and the Panel disappeared.

Having reached his limit, Beixing went limp and fell straight backward.

Qi Yue swiftly caught Beixing as he fell straight back.

"...Are you all right?"

When the Panel notified him that he had successfully copied Beixing's superpower, Beixing had been within one meter of him. Because their powers shared the same origin, even though he had become one of the Esper Ability Users and was no longer an Old Human, were their powers harmless to each other?

Then... what about other Esper Ability Users? Now that he had the same superpower as Beixing, would he also cause those who came close to him to... lose control of their bodies and minds in indescribable ways, just like Beixing did?

The questions lingered in Qi Yue's mind.

The cloak covered Beixing's eyes, which he had no strength to open.

He was very tired, but very happy. Beixing answered Qi Yue in his mind and, thinking he had spoken aloud, closed his eyes in contentment and began breathing evenly.

Qi Yue: "..."

It was nice to be young. He could fall asleep as soon as he lay down.

Jian Haosen put the record sheet in Qi Yue's hand, took Beixing from him, and slung him over his shoulder. "I'll take him back to the dorm to sleep. Qi Yue, I'll leave the match records to you until I get back!"

Qi Yue watched Jian Haosen give a casual wave and stride away from the training ground.

"...All right."

A student was approaching him. Judging by the footsteps, it was Jin Yuxuan.

"Hey."

Qi Yue didn't particularly want to call Jin Yuxuan by name.

Huh? Who's he calling? Jin Yuxuan's steps grew hesitant.

Qi Yue took his eyes off Jian Haosen and Beixing and turned, fixing his gaze precisely on Jin Yuxuan, who was walking toward him.

"Stop."

He wasn't sure what would happen if a superpowered person came close to him now.

That went not just for Jin Yuxuan, but everyone else too.

Qi Yue's gaze swept over the students.

"Stay away from me. All of you."

From what he had observed, Esper Ability Users were fine as long as they stayed at least a meter away from Beixing. To make the students understand the seriousness of the problem, Qi Yue instantly wiped the gentle smile from his face, swept his gaze over the Class F students, and reminded them expressionlessly:

"Keep at least one meter away."

Chapter 9

"The same goes for the rest of the time."

"Of course, this is for everyone's safety." Until he had determined the precise effects of the superpower he shared with Beixing on himself, this was the best arrangement for them.

"..."

Jin Yuxuan wasn't the only one who froze. The other Class F students did too.

As soon as Jian Haosen and Beixing left, Qi Yue's expression turned cold, and he warned them. His face changed faster than a page turning. He had removed his friendly mask, and his icy tone was full of disdain.

Otherwise, why that number and not another? Why "one meter" of all things? That distance associated with Beixing, known throughout the Seventh Hunter Academy.

Jin Yuxuan: "..."

He had only wanted to fight first and leave early, so Qi Yue would be out of sight and out of mind. But the transfer student, who had been so kind to Beixing that he couldn't bear to attack him even in a match, had given him and the other students the blunt, cold threat that it was "for everyone's safety." His double standard was plain as day.

He had to be doing it on purpose. He knew Jin Yuxuan didn't want to see him, yet insisted on making him endure it.

Jin Yuxuan had never been so desperate for Jian Haosen, the Old Human he had always looked down on, to come back and take over this damned combat training.

"..."

No one spoke. But no one came any closer to him either. Qi Yue thought that was enough.