Leverage

"Life originated from the motion of matter. This is an unchallengeable truth!"

"Any defiance of the [Second Law] is an act of heresy."

"Heretics will never be tolerated within Yero City!"

At the podium, Lu Guanhong delivered his lecture with force and conviction.

To the ordinary students, his "earnest" performance seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

But to those who knew better, it was painfully conspicuous and awkward.

Damn, has Old Lu lost his mind?

This wasn't his attitude when we were in the library a few days ago.

What a loss. If Old Lu had lost his mind sooner, I might already have become his final disciple.

I wonder if it's still not too late.

Even though Lu Zhan was focused on his studies, Lu Guanhong's "performance" still got a rise out of him.

Thanks to Lu Guanhong, Lu Zhan had become almost allergic to the word "heretic," even reacting to it by reflex.

Had they not been in class, Lu Zhan would have asked Old Lu whether he could finally shed the "heretic" label hanging over his head.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the two of them could pick up where they had left off?

"Heretics?"

"Does Lu Guanhong even have the nerve to call anyone else a heretic?"

"What the hell has gotten into that old man?"

In another corner of the classroom, Ajak and his two companions could barely stand to watch Lu Guanhong's "shamelessness."

Heaven knew that the very reason the three of them lacked absolute conviction in the authentic [Second Law] was the influence of Lu Guanhong's own ideas, slipped into his lessons.

Yet now Lu Guanhong had actually "switched seats" and planted himself on the opposite side.

Did he have no basic decency left?

Good. Very good!

I'll keep lecturing in this style until the assessment ends.

Even if teaching this way feels like swallowing flies.

But any indignity is worth it if it lets me escape the cage that is the Training Center.

I'm enduring humiliation for the sake of life alchemy!

As he lectured, Lu Guanhong observed the students' reactions.

They were all the same as usual. Nobody liked listening to his lectures.

Seeing this finally made Lu Guanhong feel a little better.

In the past, Lu Guanhong had lectured solely for his own satisfaction, never caring whether his students enjoyed listening.

Now that he had "seen the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf," even he found his lectures painful.

If the students actually enjoyed them, wouldn't that make his suffering all the more unfair?

As for whether the students disliked listening or failed to learn, what did that have to do with him?

Lu Guanhong's assignment at the Training Center was simply to impart knowledge by following the textbook.

The criterion for his assessment had never been the quality of his teaching, but whether he had repented and reformed.

Back when there had been no hope, Lu Guanhong had harbored resentment.

Naturally, he had taught however he pleased, covertly slipping in his own ideas.

But now, everything had changed.

His former colleagues at the Eighth Research Institute had sent word that they had submitted an application to the [Tribunal], requesting his recall.

Although the application was still being processed, his former superior had emphatically assured him that his return to the institute was a done deal.

Lu Guanhong trusted his former superior's assurance.

After all, when the incident had come to light, he alone had taken the blame for all the Eighth Research Institute's wrongdoing.

Of course, if that were all, Lu Guanhong could not have guaranteed that his colleagues would not turn out to be ungrateful.

After all, too great a debt of gratitude could breed resentment!

But Lu Guanhong had all the project's information stored in his head, including several crucial pieces of data.

This was what he had "gained" by stepping forward to take the blame and destroying all the evidence.

To obtain those crucial pieces of data, the Eighth Research Institute had been "left with no choice" but to use certain "Forbidden Arts."

It was those Forbidden Arts that had triggered the Great Review of the entire Eighth Research Institute.

With him as their scapegoat, the Eighth Research Institute had successfully weathered the ordeal.

But if they wanted to restart the project, the data in Lu Guanhong's head would be indispensable.

Without him, that project of the Eighth Research Institute simply could not function.

This was also leverage Lu Guanhong had deliberately kept for himself.

Old Lu's mind seems especially lively!

Unfortunately, my fusion with the Blood-Red Antenna has only just begun.

Otherwise, I could pick up Old Lu's brain waves. Maybe I could even hear the voice in his head!

While Lu Guanhong was observing all the students in the classroom, he inadvertently met Lu Zhan's eyes.

It should have been perfectly ordinary. Even Lu Zhan had not expected anything to happen.

Yet perhaps because Lu Zhan's "Eye Art" had grown stronger, or because the thoughts in Lu Guanhong's mind were especially "fragmented," something happened.

The instant their eyes met, Lu Zhan actually saw-or rather, received-some of Lu Guanhong's thoughts.

[Great Review], [holiness]!

These were the only two pieces of information Lu Zhan caught from Lu Guanhong's mind.

As for what those two pieces of information actually meant, Lu Zhan had no idea.

He succeeded only once. Afterward, Lu Zhan deliberately met Lu Guanhong's eyes several more times, but received nothing.

Not only that, Lu Zhan's repeated eye contact also displeased Lu Guanhong.

He thought Lu Zhan was deliberately "provoking" him to avenge the "humiliation" he had suffered in the library that day.

Instinctively, Lu Guanhong wanted to teach Lu Zhan a proper lesson.

Although he had been banished to the Training Center, dealing with a student who had no backing whatsoever was still child's play.

At the very least, having Lu Zhan locked in solitary confinement for half a month would be no problem at all.

No. This is a critical period for me. I absolutely cannot stir up trouble.

I have to endure it!

Not only must I avoid antagonizing that little bald kid Lu Zhan, I need to win him over.

I was a little too careless back in the library.

If that little bald kid Lu Zhan brings up what happened in the library during my review, I'll be in serious

trouble. At the very least, there's no escaping a verdict of stubbornness and failure to repent.

Despite all Lu Guanhong's usual sarcasm and the personal ideas he slipped into his lectures, there was a limit to what he said.

His statements were all ambiguous. Even if they were openly scrutinized, they could only establish that he harbored resentment.

That, however, was perfectly normal and entirely consistent with the psychological trajectory of a convict undergoing reform through labor.

The library incident was different. Lu Guanhong had branded Lu Zhan a "heretic."

But in doing so, he had also exposed his own position completely.

That was not something his current "reform" could conceal.

Originally, it had been a trivial incident, one even Lu Guanhong himself had already forgotten.

After all, in his eyes, Lu Zhan was merely a shameless little nobody who had come crawling over to seek his patronage.

Had Lu Zhan not seemed reasonably eager to learn, and had Lu Guanhong not had a few ideas of his own, he would never have bothered with him.

When dealing with a nobody like Lu Zhan, Lu Guanhong naturally did whatever he pleased, without any reservations.

As a result, he had handed the other party a piece of potentially fatal leverage over him.

If he had remembered this incident sooner, Lu Guanhong would not have lectured on the [Second Law] today.