Undercurrents

Ring-ring-ring!

That afternoon, as the dismissal bell rang, Tiandao, who had been assigned a window seat at the back of the classroom, immediately prepared to put his head down and catch some sleep.

But just as he was about to do so, he suddenly noticed that the sunlight around him seemed to have been blocked by a shadow.

Tiandao immediately raised his head in confusion, only to find more than a dozen pairs of gleaming eyes before him.

The things blocking his sunlight were none other than over a dozen female classmates filled with curiosity about him.

Before he could even figure out what was happening, the girls began speaking one after another.

"Classmate Tiandao, I heard you're only here for a month. Can't you extend your exchange period?"

"Classmate Tiandao, is your hair naturally like this? It feels like the texture is so nice."

"Classmate Tiandao..."

The girls' enthusiastic, overlapping questions left Tiandao instantly dumbfounded.

Even for a "Popularity King" like him, someone accustomed to being watched by others—

This star-chasing level of frenzy was a bit much to handle. He had absolutely no experience with it.

After all, if those people in Ember had dared to surround him like this, he would have sent them to the infirmary one punch at a time to reflect properly.

Fortunately, while these girls were enthusiastic, the questions they asked remained within reasonable bounds and were not overly abrupt.

So Tiandao was not made too uncomfortable.

Watching Tiandao get surrounded by everyone, Chen Kong, seated behind him, had eyes full of envy.

They were both exchange students. They had both come to Class 1 for the first time.

Yet the way the class treated him and Tiandao was like heaven and earth.

When he had arrived that morning, everyone had been somewhat curious about him too, but it had stopped at curiosity.

No one had shown any intention of approaching him on their own.

But Tiandao was completely different.

From the moment he appeared in the classroom that afternoon, he had drawn the attention of many people.

Quite a few of them had even turned around from time to time during class to sneak a look at Tiandao.

They were clearly very interested in him.

Compared to that, the treatment Chen Kong had received upon first arriving could only be called abysmal.

Still, while Chen Kong was envious, he did not find it strange.

Because ever since he had known Tiandao, Tiandao had always been the center of everyone's attention, someone born to stand beneath the spotlight.

So even though the two of them had now entered a completely unfamiliar environment—

Tiandao was still Tiandao, and he, Chen Kong, was still Chen Kong.

Everything seemed to have changed, yet everything... also seemed unchanged.

However, just as Chen Kong's thoughts began to wander, a familiar voice suddenly pulled him back to reality.

"Kong, stop sitting there spacing out. Come help me explain things. They have too many questions—I can't answer them at all."

Tiandao grabbed the still-dazed Chen Kong, then dragged him into the crowd without even asking whether he was willing.

What surprised Chen Kong was that—

After Tiandao forcibly shoved him out as a shield, the female classmates who had barely acknowledged him that morning all gathered around him gently.

"Classmate Kong, are you close with Classmate Tiandao?"

"Classmate Kong, can you secretly tell us what type of girls Classmate Tiandao likes?"

"Classmate Kong, do you know what hobbies Classmate Tiandao has?"

Faced with so many strange questions, Chen Kong, who had never interacted with so many girls before, immediately had his ears turn visibly red, and his words became hesitant and stammering.

Yet instead of laughing at him, the girls around him found him innocent and adorable.

This harmonious atmosphere stood in stark contrast to the near-ignoring cold violence from that morning.

Although Chen Kong knew that the reason for their huge change in attitude—

Was simply that he knew Tiandao, and they wanted to learn more about Tiandao from him.

He had to admit that he truly liked this atmosphere.

Because in this atmosphere, for the first time, he felt that he was not some dispensable bit of air, but a living person whom others noticed and cared about.

Unfortunately, this pleasant atmosphere that Chen Kong had grown attached to did not last long.

Because the brief break between classes... ended.

When everyone returned to their seats, Chen Kong was still grinning foolishly as he rubbed the back of his head, clearly in a very good mood.

Seeing him like that, Tiandao immediately leaned back, resting his chair against Chen Kong's desk, and said with a smile, "Kong, if you ask me, you think too much sometimes."

"You should know that most people in this world aren't nearly as complicated as you think. The reason they're indifferent toward you, when all is said and done, is simply because they don't understand you at all."

"So be more confident, Kong. Don't see yourself as so lowly."

Hearing Tiandao's words, Chen Kong's expression turned slightly distant.

After a moment, he could not help asking, "So, Brother Tian Dao, is that why you're always so popular?"

"Oh, that's not it."

"Then what is it?"

After thinking for a moment, Tiandao pointed at himself and said, "Kong, when you're as handsome as I am, even if you're a mute who can't speak, you'll still be just as popular as me."

"..."

That was a great consolation, but please do not console me again next time.

Looking at Tiandao's "confident" face, Chen Kong experienced for the first time in his life what it meant to be speechless.

Thus, in a rare moment, Chen Kong voiced the true thought in his heart to Tiandao.

"Brother Tian Dao, has Sister Caroline ever told you that you're actually pretty bad at comforting people?"

At that, Tiandao said without hesitation, "How could that be! Whenever Caroline feels down, I'm always the one who comforts her and helps her walk out of the shadows of disappointment."

"Sister Caroline didn't get mad?"

Tiandao thought about it, then said uncertainly, "Probably... I don't think she did?"

Seeing that even Tiandao himself could not be sure, Chen Kong immediately had his answer.

Case closed. Brother Tian Dao had never known how to comfort people since he was little.

After all, as a genius, how could he possibly understand the feelings of ordinary people like us?

"Alright, enough talking. Time for class."

Seeing the teacher enter the classroom, Tiandao immediately ended the meaningless discussion with Chen Kong and put on a show of preparing for class.

Though he appeared to be looking at the blackboard, he had actually opened the Dimensional Screen and started watching the airing Stellaris Prequel: Embers, openly slacking off.

At the same time, as this little episode between Tiandao and Chen Kong came to an end—

The camera in the anime also moved away from the two of them, switching to Dekola, the wealthy young man who had not come to class that afternoon.

At that moment, Dekola was alone in the school dormitory, secretly making a phone call.

Before long, the call connected.

"Dad, I have the results of the investigation you asked for. That transfer student named Chen Kong really does have a problem."

"When I used the Star Energy Sensor you gave me to get close to him, it detected an obvious Star Energy reaction."

"According to the readings, he has at least over 100 points of Star Energy Value. He is undeniably a Rank 1 Star Envoy."

"What about the others?"

"I happened to run into that guy called Tiandao Siming this afternoon, but I didn't get the chance to make contact with him alone, so I still can't confirm his identity. As for Caroline and Chen Xing..."

Dekola paused, then continued, "They're not in the same class as me, so I currently don't have enough opportunities to observe them."

Hearing this, the person on the other end of the call fell silent for a moment before saying, "Understood, Dekola. Go back to class for now. Contact me again if you make any new discoveries."

"Don't worry. My efforts to enter Skysea Group's decision-making level are proceeding very smoothly. I'll soon obtain more shares."

"Before then, maintain that arrogant and overbearing persona of yours, and keep provoking those transfer students."

"Best if you can force them to use their Star Source in public as soon as possible, confirming their identities as Star Envoys."

At this point, a cold laugh suddenly came from the other end of the line.

"And once their identities as Star Envoys are confirmed, the Star Envoy Association in our city will have a perfectly legitimate reason to act."

"When that time comes, even if these people of unknown origin manage to get through safely, they definitely won't be able to easily return to Trillan and ruin our plans."

"So work hard, Dekola. Our family's future... depends entirely on your performance."

"Understood!"