A Kind Reminder

"Mm, good afternoon, Goddess."

It was four-thirty in the afternoon. The sun had tilted westward but had yet to turn red.

The old tree's roots twisted and sprawled everywhere. Wang Ji sat directly on the ground without anything beneath him.

He was actually facing away from the training field, hidden behind the tree. Quiet as he was, no one should have been able to see him.

But evidently, he still could not escape this goddess's eyes.

She stood beside the tree with one hand on her hip. Without even raising his head, Wang Ji politely greeted her.

"If you still won't speak properly to your big sister, I'll deduct your supplies from now on," the goddess said condescendingly.

Her tone was not especially arrogant, though. It carried a trace of irritation instead.

"For things that were never under my control to begin with, things I never even knew about—like Schrödinger's Cat, which may or may not exist—I won't force it."

Wang Ji answered calmly. That placid, unreadable expression of his was enough to infuriate anyone, and even Leina rolled her eyes at him.

She was beginning to suspect that this guy had some kind of split personality. When he was fooling around and when he was like this, he was practically two different people!

"There are too many things worth pursuing in a person's life, and desire is often impossible to satisfy. There are also too many things beyond one's reach, things one is naturally powerless to obtain.

"And I believe the most important thing is to grasp what can truly be grasped.

"I assume you don't have anything especially important to see me about, and I don't know whether what you're offering is worth more than the knowledge I could imprint into my mind in the next second.

"So I..."

Bang!

Leina kicked him in the shin, then calmly asked, "Are you done showing off?"

Wang Ji silently hugged his shin, which felt as though it had snapped, and replied evenly, "If you've got the guts, don't use your hands—or your feet. Let's settle this with words."

This goddess looked soft and delicate, but she was seriously strong!

His leg was about to break...

"Hmph~ Even if I don't have anything major going on, what I've got is still far more important than that copy of 'Postpartum Care of Sows' in your hands."

As she spoke, Leina frowned in distaste. "Why the hell do you read every kind of book?"

She had noticed that Wang Ji not only flipped through books quickly, but read a complete mess of subjects. If his records had not shown that he was not the type to put on airs, anyone might have thought he was deliberately putting on a mysterious act.

Of course, his earlier wormhole transport had instantly left everyone speechless, so no one dared to criticize him carelessly.

But the fact that his reading material was all over the place was undeniable.

Earlier, it had been fine: basic Wormhole Theory, Overview of Genetic Engineering, Detailed Explanation of Dark Energy Drive, Advanced Mechanical Principles, Introduction to Mecha Engineering, Artificial Intelligence Programming, Introduction to Weapons Engineering, Supercomputer Principles...

Those were at least understandable. They were all sciences that did not exist in Earth's era, so it was normal for him to be curious.

But now, mixed in among those professional scientific books were Human Anatomy, Cardiovascular Surgery, Divine Pathology, and even Treatise on Cold Damage...

There was also Introduction to Forestry Engineering, Theory of Architectural Space Composition, cell biology... medicine, biology, engineering, communications, machinery, interior decoration.

There were books from every imaginable field—professional and unprofessional, useful and useless—stacked into a pile half as tall as a person!

Who knew why the Super God Academy library kept every kind of book...

The most outrageous one was the book he was currently flipping through... Was he planning to raise pigs once the wars were over?

"You have to master all kinds of knowledge..." Wang Ji smiled indifferently. "Just think of it as me having nothing better to do."

With that, he stood up and waved his hand, putting away the huge stack of books.

None of these were in De Nuo No. 3. He had borrowed them after seeing them in the library and read them alongside his professional scientific materials.

What left him somewhat helpless was that he had not found any advanced knowledge in the Super God Academy library. It was either an introduction to this or an overview of that.

Some of the material in De Nuo No. 3 was better, but he had not started learning it yet.

"Heh, you mysterious little brat." A thoughtful look flashed through Leina's eyes before she smiled. "I know you don't like people disturbing you while you read, but I came to deliver books to you. Here~"

As she spoke, she extended a fair, delicate hand and opened her palm. Resting there was something like a USB drive, though it looked more like a red star badge.

"Introduction to Weapon Engineering Principles, Weapon Styling Design, Detailed Explanation of Dark Conversion Theory, Principles of Computing Technology, Synthesis and Properties of Advanced Materials, Intermediate Wormhole Algorithm."

With a huff, she grabbed one of Wang Ji's hands and placed the item in his palm. Then she narrowed her eyes with a smile. "So? Be more polite to your goddess big sister next time, or if I get angry, I won't give it to you."

The goddess's little hand was soft and warm, but Wang Ji did not linger on the sensation. Instead, he looked at the item in his hand with delighted surprise, his face breaking into a broad grin.

He opened his mouth. "Thank you, Goddess Big Sister~ You're the best~"

Leina crossed her arms, nodded in satisfaction, and said with a smile, "Remember to treat your big sister better from now on. Don't act so dismissive, you snobbish little brat!"

Wang Ji chuckled.

"Of course, I won't take credit for it. General Lian Feng asked me to give this to you, so you don't need to thank me too much." Looking at this guy who acted smug the moment he got what he wanted, the corners of her lips rose.

Her gaze swept over the object again, and her smile deepened further.

"Still, thank you, Goddess Big Sister. You're the best person in the world." Wang Ji smiled as he put the item away, his words equally sweet.

"The best alien in the world, you mean?" Leina huffed, then thought for a moment and added, "Being able to use wormholes and drive Dark Energy should be easy for you by now. Just pinch that red star with your fingers and channel Dark Energy into it to access the data. There's no password."

Wang Ji's preliminary ability to use wormholes was not actually all that surprising. Ordinary Space-Time Technology had already become widespread.

Things like storing supplies were merely standard features.

What truly surprised people was that he could transport human bodies.

The gap between those two things was immeasurable.

That was why General Lian Feng and the others wanted to test just how far Wang Ji could take wormhole transport and how powerful his abilities truly were.

"By the way, I heard you and that new girl, Qi Lin, are pretty close?" Leina abruptly changed the subject, asking with a gossiping smile.

Wang Ji was not surprised. There were no secrets that could stay hidden forever, and gossip spread faster than anything else.

And the people here surely kept an extremely close watch on him and the soldiers of the Super Soldier Company.

For example, the Intermediate Wormhole Algorithm he had just received could not possibly have been a coincidence.

Nor had it been a coincidence that he revealed his wormhole abilities in front of Du Qiangwei.

"Mm, I'm pursuing her." He nodded openly.

There was nothing about this that he could not tell others.

"Oh~"

Leina nodded. The gossip in her smile faded slightly as she looked him over again, as though reassessing him. Her expression remained unchanged.

"Have you won her over yet?" she asked.

"Hehe~ Of course not." Wang Ji scratched his head a little awkwardly. Clearly, his skin was not quite thick enough for this.

"You only just started pursuing her?" she continued.

"Uh, yes." He nodded.

"I heard you've only known her for a few days, and she's eight years older than you. You're not repaying kindness with pressure, are you?" There was some suspicion in her eyes, along with what seemed like a trace of contempt.

"Of course not!" Wang Ji's eyes widened slightly. "I'm not that kind of person!"

"Pfft~" Leina looked utterly unconvinced. "I think you're just a kid acting on impulse, attracted by her looks. Qi Lin probably finds it hard to refuse you, too.

"Your big sister is giving you a kind reminder: don't let Qi Lin get unknowingly bound by the favor she owes you. That isn't love."