Hostility

Another day passed, and Tianyang underwent surgery. After paying two thousand contribution points out of his own pocket, he now had a Tactical Electronic Eye installed in his left eye.

Besides normal vision, it offered thermal imaging, infrared vision, and an extremely long visual range.

In the Inverse Realm, spotting an enemy a second earlier meant a better chance of survival.

So Tianyang had spent half his contribution points without hesitation. After all, he could earn more points, but he only had one life.

The Tactical Electronic Eye looked no different from an ordinary eye. Aside from the occasional electrical surge that lit a tiny blue glow deep within the pupil, there was nothing strange about it.

Tianyang could finally take off his eyepatch. That evening, he planned to tell Nanfei about his mission, but his mother seemed to sense something.

She avoided the subject and gave Tianyang no chance to speak, busying herself with tidying the house, even though their shabby shack had little to tidy.

The young man felt helpless. Not only did he have no chance to bring up the mission, he could not even get his apology out.

When he woke the next morning, Nanfei had already left. With no other choice, Tianyang left a note saying he was going on a mission and would talk to her when he returned.

After breakfast, Tianyang put on his equipment and uniform, then rode his electromagnetic motorcycle to the transit platform.

The rendezvous was at Deck 7 in Deck Three of the platform.

When Tianyang arrived, no one was there.

Looks like I'm early.

He rode his motorcycle into a corner and was about to park when a cold voice rang out. "This is Raven Squad's rendezvous point. Which squad are you from? Don't just park your bike wherever you please."

Tianyang looked back. A young man stood behind him, looking a little older than he was, though only around twenty. His dark, blue-black hair was tied in a ponytail, and his exceedingly delicate features made it easy to mistake him for a girl.

He wore the same black Nightwalkers uniform. Beneath it, the patterns on his armor shimmered with the distinctive silver glow of star crystal. It was clearly specialized defensive armor made for Ascenders.

Its design differed somewhat from Tianyang's, however, and the many scratches on it were further proof that its owner was no battlefield rookie.

The young man carried a sword on his back. Its scabbard was long and narrow, with a special opening mechanism on either side of its mouth that allowed him to draw the excessively long sword whenever he needed to fight.

Honestly, even with Tianyang's limited knowledge of weapons, he knew that neither blades nor swords should be too long.

Unless there was a particular need for it, excessive length actually made a weapon harder to use effectively.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. What are you staring at? Is this the standard of recruits these days? You're practically handing your heads to the dark denizens." The young man seemed deeply displeased with Tianyang's response.

Tianyang glanced at his shoulder insignia. He was a second lieutenant, just like him, so Tianyang swallowed the "sir" that had reached his lips. "My name is Tianyang. Chief of Staff Ling told me to report to Raven Squad."

The young man froze, then disgust welled up in his eyes. "So you're the one. I heard you killed your former superior as soon as you became an Ascender."

Tianyang sensed the faint hostility coming from him, though he had no idea why this man disliked him. Still, he had no intention of explaining himself.

Since they clearly had nothing to say to each other, Tianyang could not be bothered to waste his breath. He turned to find a quiet corner.

A hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Tianyang looked back. The handsome young man's face was icy.

"You're just a Lower Citizen. Don't think too highly of yourself!" His voice was cold.

Tianyang knocked his hand away. "Have I ever offended you?"

"No. I simply find what you've done disgusting." The young man curled his hand into a fist and held it lightly against his mouth, his two shapely brows drawing together as though he felt sick and might vomit at any moment. "You were nothing but a Lower Citizen who lucked into becoming an Ascender, and it went straight to your head. You took revenge on a superior who once offended you. Perhaps he did make mistakes, but he was an Upper Citizen. No matter how terrible his mistakes were, he should never have been put to death. At the very least, he should never have died at your hands!"

"You people at the bottom never understand gratitude. All you do is complain. Have you ever considered that without the efforts and sacrifices of us Upper Citizens, parasites like you wouldn't be able to live safely in the Fortress?"

Tianyang sneered. "Then do you know that the supposedly noble Upper Citizen you're talking about shot me in the leg during a mission so I'd draw the Wanderers away for him? What, Upper Citizens shouldn't die, but Lower Citizens deserve to be used as bait?"

The young man faltered. Although he had heard a few things about Tianyang, he truly had not known those details.

Tianyang continued, "Besides, I'm an Upper Citizen now too. Do yourself a favor and rein in that superiority complex before you make trouble for yourself!"

The young man snorted arrogantly. "Someone like you thinks he deserves to call himself an Upper Citizen? The true Upper Citizens are the families with surnames. Do you have a surname of your own?"

"I will sooner or later," Tianyang said calmly.

"That's what disgusts me. The thought that uncultured bastards, even those born to whores, might one day have surnames of their own makes me sick." The young man covered his mouth, his expression pained, as though he were physically ill.

Tianyang reached for his saber's hilt. "Say that again if you have the guts!"

The young man sneered and reached behind him, resting his hand lightly on his sword's hilt. "What? Am I wrong?"

"Say whatever you want about me, but you don't get to insult my mother!" Tianyang growled, drawing his saber an inch from its sheath.

"Oh, I never would have guessed. You're quite the-"

Before he could finish, a fist slammed into his face. He spun through the air and crashed heavily to the ground several meters away.

Tianyang froze for a moment before realizing that another man had appeared beside him.

Big and burly, with thick eyebrows and a cigarette clenched between his lips, it was none other than Raven Squad's captain, Han Shu!

"The kid's right. Every mother deserves respect. Cang Du, you'd better take a good, hard look at yourself!"

Han Shu's gaze drifted toward Tianyang, and he clicked his tongue. "But you, too-you actually drew your weapon. Hey, the weapons you're issued aren't for pointing at your comrades. Go run fifty laps around Deck 7."

"Sir, I-"

"Sixty laps!"

"I'll go right away, sir!"

Tianyang dared not argue further and hurried off at a run before the number of laps went up again.

Han Shu folded his arms, watching the young man clamber awkwardly to his feet and Tianyang run around the deck.

He shook his head and sighed. "Young people. So much energy. Couldn't they save it for those dark bastards? They just have to make trouble for me."

The captain scratched his short, hedgehog-like brown hair. "That bastard Ling Feng did this on purpose, didn't he? We already have a map, so why give me a guide? I knew it. Nothing good ever happens when the Chief of Staff comes looking for me!"