Chapter 20 (continued)

Besides...

Qi Yue glanced out of the corner of his eye at the bend in the corridor. As expected of the protagonist of a comic, he was highly valued and cared for by the dean.

Lu Zhaobei: "..."

Without a doubt, Qi Yue was still "patiently entertaining him to give the dean face." Lu Zhaobei was good at turning people down, but he wasn't good at turning down the dean. The dean had given him a second life.

Let's listen to the dean. I'll just treat it like a mission.

With that thought, Lu Zhaobei nodded. "All right."

"Sorry for the trouble, then." The dean was still hiding around the corner and peeking at them, so he could at least put the dean at ease.

Lu Zhaobei passed by Qi Yue and entered his dorm room.

At the bend in the corridor.

Seeing Qi Yue invite Lu Zhaobei into his dorm room for a visit, Li Qin, who was hiding in the shadows, stroked his snow-white beard. Beaming, he said, "Good, very good." Young talents with potential ought to stick together so things would be better in the future. Even though he still didn't know why Qi Yue had come to the Seventh Hunter Academy. But friends influenced one another.

Also at the bend, a meter away from the dean, Beixing was bewildered. "Huh?"

Hearing Beixing's voice, Li Qin turned to him. "Good boy, this doesn't concern you. You just need to wait."

"Oh, all right, then." Beixing had always been good at doing as he was told, so he didn't think much of it.

"Beixing, seeing Qi Yue and Zhaobei become friends, are you... all right?" Li Qin looked at Beixing with concern. He hadn't expected Beixing to stay and wait for him here.

"I'm fine. Why?" Beixing didn't quite understand. "Everyone likes Qi Yue, and so do I. How could someone everyone likes have only me as a friend?"

Qi Yue had noticed him and allowed him to get close. What more could he ask for?

"...Good boy."

Unable to touch Beixing, Li Qin could only look at him affectionately.

If not for this mutation, someone with a personality as good as Beixing's would surely have had many friends.

"Go find Teacher Jian and play with him. I saw him exercising on the field downstairs when I came." Qi Yue was talking to Lu Zhaobei and had no time for Beixing. Li Qin hoped Beixing could take his mind off it.

Beixing had been about to say yes, but then he thought of the book Qi Yue had pressed into his arms. He hesitated with the words on his lips, then shook his head. "No."

"I haven't finished the book Qi Yue gave me. I have to read it." He already couldn't keep up with Qi Yue. If he kept playing, he would fall even further behind. Friendship went both ways; he couldn't fall too far behind.

Looking at the book Beixing held in his arms like a treasure, Li Qin said, "...Is reading really that important?"

If he remembered correctly, Beixing used to fall asleep the moment he saw a book.

Now...

Li Qin was genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. Qi Yue said that's what friends all do in private." Beixing waved the book in his hand. "Qi Yue and I can't lose to them, of course."

Li Qin: "...As long as you're happy." Only Beixing would believe such nonsense.

If Beixing ever found out that everything Qi Yue had him do was preparation for their separation, Li Qin wondered how he would react.

Qi Yue's dorm room.

As Lu Zhaobei passed Qi Yue on his way inside, Qi Yue was still smiling, but Lu Zhaobei felt an icy pressure.

Sensing danger, Lu Zhaobei tensed all over. Rather than "making friends," he looked ready to fight at any moment.

The comic's protagonist, whom he had "offended," had agreed to come into his dorm room. Qi Yue let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief.

"Room-temperature water or hot?" Qi Yue naturally slipped into host mode, hoping to salvage the terrible first impression he had left on the protagonist.

"Room temperature is fine. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Qi Yue handed Lu Zhaobei the water.

Qi Yue's smile didn't make anyone feel warm, like a spring breeze; it only felt cold. Sitting in the chair and accepting the water Qi Yue handed him, Lu Zhaobei had only that thought in mind.

Yet this same cold person treated Beixing... with a sincerity that amazed many people. The story of Qi Yue and Beixing had spread throughout the Seventh Hunter Academy.

Everyone knew that Qi Yue had Beixing's back.

Then... let's talk about Beixing. Otherwise, this is too awkward. Lu Zhaobei took a sip of the water Qi Yue had given him.

"Um... Beixing."

Lu Zhaobei set down his glass and looked at Qi Yue, who sat in the chair opposite him.

Qi Yue had intended to wait until Lu Zhaobei finished his water and then chat about Dean Li or something. He hadn't expected Lu Zhaobei to bring up Beixing himself. He was a little surprised. One was in Class F and the other in Class A; they didn't seem to have anything to do with each other.

There was only one explanation, then: Lu Zhaobei was deliberately looking for a topic related to him.

Qi Yue: "..."

As expected of the comic's protagonist, he really was a good person. In any case, it was good as long as his hatred value didn't inexplicably increase.

Qi Yue didn't show it, though, and expressed an appropriate amount of puzzlement. "Hmm?"

"I've heard about you and Beixing too." Sure enough, Qi Yue was interested in Beixing.

"Have you?" Qi Yue smiled encouragingly. Although... he didn't know what the "story" Lu Zhaobei mentioned was. But none of that mattered. What mattered was repairing his "cold and heartless" image in the eyes of the comic's protagonist.

At first, Lu Zhaobei had only been looking for something to talk about, but at the mention of Beixing, he couldn't help empathizing. For a moment, his true feelings showed, and he said a little more. "We all think you did a great job."

"Beixing's circumstances really are unusual; there's no denying that. But none of it was Beixing's choice. Things got very strange after everyone developed abilities."

"If Beixing had a choice, he definitely wouldn't choose to have..." At that point, Lu Zhaobei suddenly remembered that Qi Yue's ability was similar to Beixing's.

Would Qi Yue think he was dissing his ability by saying that?

"...Um, I didn't mean anything else by it. I just..." Although Qi Yue's expression hadn't changed, Lu Zhaobei still felt uneasy.

Qi Yue had thought the comic's protagonist, Lu Zhaobei, was a man of few words. He hadn't expected Lu Zhaobei to talk more without realizing it when a subject interested him, and even... become indignant.

Having seen so much hostility toward Beixing in Class F, Qi Yue was rather happy to encounter some kindness toward him for a change.

"I know." Qi Yue gently interrupted Lu Zhaobei at the right moment. He had also guessed what Lu Zhaobei had been about to say. "If Beixing had a choice, he definitely wouldn't choose to have his current ability. Is that what you meant?"

More than an ability, Beixing longed to have friends.

"I'm the same, so..." Qi Yue looked into Lu Zhaobei's eyes, his smile more sincere than before. "You don't need to worry about offending me." In any case, the ability he had copied made no difference whether he had it or not.

If he could, he wished there were no abilities in this world. Then he wouldn't have to spend every day on edge at a hunter academy full of "warmongers" with abilities.

I'm the same.

Did Qi Yue mean... he didn't like there being abilities in this world either? Lu Zhaobei hated abilities because he was an artificial ability user. But Qi Yue was a "natural-born" ability user, and his ability was defyingly powerful. Yet Qi Yue had reached the same realization as him. Lu Zhaobei's heart skipped a beat.

Did Qi Yue also think that the existence of abilities was far too unfair to the vast majority of ordinary people in this world?

Qi Yue was just as proud, yet he had the warmth of humanity, whether in the way he treated Beixing or in his attitude toward abilities. That was what set Qi Yue apart from the students of the First Hunter Academy. In this respect, Qi Yue was different from that group of high-and-mighty "fake people" at the First Hunter Academy, and gave him a much better impression. That was the thought that arose in Lu Zhaobei's heart.

"Qi Yue..."

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

The vibration of his phone interrupted Lu Zhaobei.

"Sorry." Lu Zhaobei gave Qi Yue an apologetic look. "I need to check my phone."

"Go ahead." Qi Yue indicated that he didn't mind.

Zhou Zifu was calling. Lu Zhaobei suddenly remembered that he had only entered Qi Yue's dorm room in the first place to put the dean at ease. He hadn't really intended to become friends with Qi Yue, especially since Qi Yue clearly had no such intention either. He hadn't planned to talk much, either. He hadn't expected their conversation about Beixing to lead to the "ideals" in his heart.

Lu Zhaobei: "..."

He had let his guard down. He shouldn't have talked so much with someone he had just met. Was it because... Qi Yue had deliberately guided the conversation?

Now that he had come to his senses, Lu Zhaobei used Zhou Zifu's call as an excuse to leave. "Um, my friend needs me for something..."

How could Qi Yue fail to see through such an obvious excuse?

"Then..." Qi Yue also stood up and saw Lu Zhaobei to the door. "Let's stop here for today."

Lu Zhaobei breathed a sigh of relief. "All right."

As expected of Qi Yue, he was tactful in every situation. His handling of appearances was beyond reproach.

Qi Yue pulled open the dorm room door and watched Lu Zhaobei leave.

"Goodbye." Qi Yue's voice was gentle, the smile at the corners of his lips unchanged.

"...Goodbye." Lu Zhaobei smiled back. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that Qi Yue's smile was a little more "genuine" than it had been when the dean was there.

When the dean had been there, Qi Yue had worn a practiced, formulaic smile that didn't reach his eyes. Lu Zhaobei often saw it at the First Hunter Academy. Almost everyone there smiled that way when socializing. Since he wasn't much of a smiler, he was naturally on the fringes of the students' social circles.

Was it because he had brought up a topic related to Beixing?

That had to be it.

Qi Yue cared a great deal about Beixing. So when Beixing came up, Qi Yue would treat anyone kindly. Lu Zhaobei understood perfectly and wasn't envious, because he had friends like that too.

Lu Zhaobei turned around. He had only taken a few steps when hurried footsteps sounded from the corridor.