“Smack.”
The ashtray hit the projection screen, landing right on the image of the eagle. The news was reporting that Su Cha would be enrolling in the First Military Academy Affiliated High School today.
Shards of the ashtray scattered across the floor, but the eagle on the projection still held its proud posture in the illusion.
“Didn’t Ningze say he’d take care of it? This is what he calls taking care of it?”
The person being questioned didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly. After carefully gauging the other’s expression, he finally opened his mouth: “This… probably isn’t his fault.”
Who could’ve expected that Su Cha would be placed into the military school?
The subordinate could clearly feel just how furious the boss was.
The boss issued a cold order: “Find a way to eliminate this threat.”
The test subject might know quite a few secrets. His existence was extremely disadvantageous to those currently awaiting judgment.
The subordinate quickly came up with a plan: “It’s hard for us to act directly in the military school, but we can force him to drop out by other means.”
Everyone admitted there has a defiant nature, each one aggressive and unruly. For someone who got in through backdoor channels, with just a little external push, there’d naturally be countless hands ready to take care of the rest.
…
The bodyguard pulled a backpack from the trunk, filled with emergency medicine and daily necessities. After helping Su Cha put it on, he suddenly spoke with a rare seriousness: “Don’t let the General down.”
“Okay.” Su Cha promised and started walking toward the opposite side of the street.
“Watch the road.” the bodyguard reminded him.
Su Cha turned and, imitating the posture he saw in the hospital, gave a salute.
The bodyguard laughed, walked over, and personally corrected his stance: “Good luck.”
The reporters were only allowed to remain for twenty minutes. Before being escorted away by security, they snapped a few more shots of Su Cha as he walked forward.
The elimination rounds were still ongoing. The top hundred candidates didn’t need to participate and could directly enroll. The usually solemn gate was unusually lively.
Of course, there were exceptions. One of them, seeing the kid across the street looking left and right before crossing, frowned imperceptibly.
News about Su Cha had flooded major media platforms these past two days—he was impossible to ignore. Though people sympathized with test subjects, just tossing someone like this into the school? Not many could accept that.
A boy with ash-grey hair raised a brow: “Looks like the rumors were true. The school created a special admission spot just for him.”
He walked straight up to Su Cha.
A shadow loomed over his head as Su Cha looked up: “Hello.”
The boy’s family ranked among the top three tycoons in the Empire. As long as the sponsorship was right, the school would allocate them a quota each year. Because of Su Cha, they had to double the sponsorship fee this year just to squeeze in one more recommendation.
Su Cha had met enough people to understand why the boy was blocking his way.
He stepped onto a roadside stone, lowering their height difference, and politely repeated: “Hello.”
Hello. If you’ve got something to say, just say it. If you need to fart, let it out already.
The ash-grey-haired boy glared and finally forced something out: “I’ll remember you.”
Su Cha found the whole thing baffling.
A transport aircraft landed not far away. A boy walked out after listening patiently to the steward’s chatter, nodded indifferently, and turned with a black backpack in hand.
The boy with ash-grey hair immediately bolted like a mouse seeing a cat.
Su Cha raised an eyebrow. With a reaction like that, could he be some sort of death god?
He instinctively glanced a few more times at the newcomer. For some reason, even though it was their first meeting, there was a strange sense of familiarity.
Ji Tianjin, on the other hand, instantly recognized Su Cha. When his spiritual form had lost control and burst out of the hospital room, it had been drawn by a soothing scent and found its way to him. The faint floral fragrance had gently calmed it.
Su Cha obviously didn’t connect this boy to the white tiger that barged into his hospital room that day. He looked away and headed toward the school gate.
The two of them entered the campus nearly one after the other.
The campus was larger than most universities, with dedicated signposts.
Next to one signpost stood a round robot. Following Ji Tianjin’s example, Su Cha placed his ID card on the reader. The robot responded and pulled a card and student manual from its pouch.
“Report to Dexin Building, second floor.” the robot said monotonously.
Su Cha’s backpack was stuffed with supplies. Yise had kindly arranged for his living needs in advance, but with Su Cha’s slight build, it was tough to carry.
Ji Tianjin’s ears were filled with the sound of heavy breathing—annoying in the summer heat.
He glanced sideways at the weighted backpack on Su Cha’s shoulders. Watching him strain to lift his neck, trying not to be crushed under the load, was both funny and pitiful. In the end, Ji Tianjin asked: “Need help?”
That question brought his shoulder soreness into sharp relief.
“No, it’s really heavy.”
Perfect response.
Initially asking just out of courtesy, Ji Tianjin now directly took the bag.
“This is it?” Ji Tianjin frowned. “How weak are you?”
Su Cha grinned sheepishly.
On the way, he introduced himself: “I’m Su Cha. What’s your name?”
“Ji Tianjin.”
The ease of that answer surprised Su Cha. He didn’t expect someone who looked so hard to approach to actually be so cooperative.
They were both newsmakers—one had made major headlines recently, the other was a top-tier heir with elite talent. Walking together, they drew a lot of attention.
Su Cha, being a recommended student, clearly didn’t enjoy Ji Tianjin’s level of popularity. There were occasional murmurs about him.
The Dexin Building had a crowd gathered. After registration, students needed to pick up textbooks.
“Ji Tianjin.”
The person greeting him turned out to be the grey-haired boy from earlier. He respectfully handed over the books: “I picked these up for you.”
Ji Tianjin didn’t react, only said two words: “Pay back the money.”
Rong Shao gave an awkward laugh: “Next month, I promise.”
The Ji and Rong families were close. Since they’d inevitably cross paths at school, avoiding each other was pointless. Rong Shao tried to curry favor while dragging out repayment.
Because of the double sponsorship fee, his family had recently slashed his living expenses.
Trying to change the subject, he glanced at Su Cha, who was standing obediently in line for books: “Why are you carrying someone else’s bag?”
Plenty of people wanted to give Su Cha trouble. They were all thinking about how to drive him away. The military school prioritized rankings—whichever class ranked lowest would lose out on resources. No one wanted a burden.
Rong Shao was also a recommended student, though his combat skills were average. He was a genius repair technician. If not for his family’s desire for him to build connections here, he could’ve chosen any school.
Compared to him, Su Cha really seemed useless.
Since Ji Tianjin came in with Su Cha—and even carried an extra bag—no one dared to mess with Su Cha for the time being.
Before Ji Tianjin could respond, Su Cha was already wobbling over with a towering stack of books in his arms.
The school emphasized all-around learning, with subjects across every imaginable discipline. With all the books stacked together, Su Cha’s upper body was completely hidden, and his wrists were rubbed red from the weight during the walk.
Rong Shao immediately looked disgusted and muttered, “What a little weakling.”
“Watch where you’re going.”
He blocked his path, but Su Cha seemed to misunderstand and mistook him for someone coming to help. “It’s fine, I got this. These books are really heavy.”
Rong Shao perked up at that. He suddenly grabbed all the books, tied them up neatly with a rope, then carried Ji Tianjin’s and his own books in his left hand, and Su Cha’s in his right.
“This? Heavy? What’s heavy about this?”
Su Cha clapped like a seal. “You’re amazing!”
“Heh, that was nothing.”
Su Cha: “I live in Block D, Building 12, Room 301.”
Ji Tianjin glanced at Rong Shao and calmly said, “That’s how I ended up carrying his bag too.”
Realizing he’d been played, Rong Shao was furious.
Su Cha, as if afraid he’d change his mind, darted away in a flash. Rong Shao’s face darkened. He even felt the urge to toss him into the trash can he passed—only his upbringing kept him from crossing that line.
“No skill, but so scheming. In the future…”
Before he could finish, a figure ran toward them. Under the blazing sun, the small figure looked like it might evaporate from the heat at any second.
Su Cha came running with three bottles of water in his arms. “Let me carry them. Drink some water first… this weather is h*ll.”
He handed one bottle to Ji Tianjin, shaded his eyes with his other hand, and squinted up at the sun. “It’s so hot—hope they don’t start any military drills.”
Rong Shao was just about to snark again when Su Cha reached to take back his books.
“Forget it. You’ll probably drop them.”
“Oh.” Su Cha twisted the cap off but handed the bottle to Ji Tianjin. “Friend, feed him a sip.”
They continued walking down the small path. Rong Shao had his hands full of books, and the trees beside them were being watered—the ground was soaked, and there was nowhere to set anything down.
Even without drinking, Rong Shao nearly choked.
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” he growled.
Was getting Ji Tianjin to feed him water a way to send him to his grave?
Su Cha blinked. “But your hands are full.”
Rong Shao sneered. “Why don’t you feed me then?”
Su Cha paused, then said slowly, “If I feed you, I’ll have to hold the bottle up, and you’ll have to bow your head and hunch over to drink.”
With their height difference, he meant that quite literally.
Rong Shao went quiet. He subconsciously imagined the scene and got goosebumps all over.
Just as he was struggling with this visual, Ji Tianjin silently took all three bundles of books from him.
Rong Shao froze.
Right. Why not let Ji Tianjin hold the books while he drank?
But as soon as he looked up, he saw Ji Tianjin looking at him like he was mentally challenged. Rong Shao’s anger turned back toward Su Cha—was this kid born just to mess with him?
He was about to snap, but swallowed the words.
Su Cha’s skin was clearly delicate. Even unscrewing a bottle cap turned his palm red, and his arms were still rubbed raw from earlier. Making a fuss over him made him feel like the jerk.
Su Cha, too, was speechless. All this just for a sip of water? It had dragged on for over a minute.
The three of them finally continued toward the dorm building.
New students were all housed in Block D, including Ji Tianjin, who had been admitted on recommendation. Rong Shao grumbled on the way: “Your old man’s crazy—sending you to a war zone. I heard your spiritual power almost collapsed.”
“It wasn’t the battlefield. I just circled the perimeter.”
“Oh, come on, drop the modesty,” Rong Shao said. “Everyone knows that place is a meat grinder.”
Su Cha slowed his steps, quietly listening to their conversation.
Battles on interstellar battlefields were often over resources or wormhole ownership.
Every so often, a rare material called Meteor Sand would form, sparking fierce competition among factions. Meanwhile, wormholes determined spatial travel routes—everyone wanted to chart new interstellar paths.
The competition between planets was even more brutal than anyone imagined.
Before they knew it, they’d reached the dorm building.
“Don’t forget curfew,” a voice barked.
There were no dorm supervisors here, only monitors. The monitor could detect any fluctuations in spiritual power in the building to prevent students from losing control—or getting assassinated. This one was a burly man who growled at everyone he passed.
When he saw Su Cha, he instinctively frowned. He’d heard they accepted a little weakling this year—this must be the one.
Oblivious, Su Cha kept walking upstairs. At the corner, Rong Shao muttered, “I passed the girls’ dorm earlier. Their monitor was gentle and pretty.”
Su Cha twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Rong Shao kept complaining. “This school’s got no flexibility. If they had a beauty for a monitor, one look and everyone would fall in line.”
Su Cha thought of the monitor’s bulky physique just now and replied honestly, “One punch from him and we’d fall in line too.”
The third floor was dim and smelled a bit moldy. There were only two small windows, barely letting in any daylight.
“Now you see? Staying here is like punishment. The better your grades, the higher the floor—and the better the living conditions…”
He was about to go on when he noticed Su Cha looked surprisingly pleased. “Third floor is great!”
In real estate, they say third floor is gold, fourth is silver. No need to wait for elevators—going up and down is easy.
Rong Shao gave up and walked away.
The elevator was rarely used. Most freshmen took the stairs. As Su Cha took out the trash, he saw many climbing the stairs.
Some paused when they saw him, then looked on with disdain. No one had lived below the fifth floor in ages—just how bad did you have to be?
They pitied Su Cha; Su Cha pitied them. Exercise wasn’t about climbing stairs—it could even hurt your knees. Climbing twenty stories in this heat—
“Miserable. Truly miserable.”
Su Cha genuinely felt bad for them.
He didn’t know how others were assigned, but he had a single room and found it quite cozy—small, but comfortable. After tidying up all afternoon, just before sunset, Su Cha laid on his bed, eyes glued to his communicator, cramming knowledge.
A sudden blaring alarm made him sit bolt upright. Through the window, he saw the monitor downstairs. Amplified by spiritual power, his voice boomed like a shockwave:
“Emergency assembly!”
The girls’ dorm had someone shouting too. All of D Block instantly descended into chaos.
Midnight drills were common in military schools, but it wasn’t even dark yet—no one expected this.
On the dorm field, the monitor was timing them with a stopwatch. All these kids were elite; none wanted to submit to others. He had to crush their spirits early or they’d be hard to manage later. Then he remembered Su Cha… well, except that one. Backdoor entry cases like him—he hadn’t seen one in ten years.
Just as he was thinking that, his expression shifted.
There, under the lights, stood that weakling who couldn’t even carry books—grinning up at him.
“You? Why are you here?”
The words left his mouth before he realized how dumb the question was.
Su Cha also thought it was dumb but answered patiently, “You told us to come.”
The monitor was used to handling freshmen. Normally at this point, someone would complain about unfair floor assignments, and he’d respond with a cold sneer and tell them the world is unfair.
Problem was, Su Cha lived on the third floor.
Su Cha’s sharp eyes spotted a bag near the basketball hoop.
“Is that a reward for early arrivals?”
The monitor flinched. It was. He’d prepared it to spark competition.
To Su Cha’s surprise, Ji Tianjin arrived second. Coming from the 20th floor, it shouldn’t have been possible—but he made it. Then the third, fourth… after about ten students arrived, the monitor’s face darkened.
“Did you crawl here? People with worse stamina got here before you.”
Among the late arrivals was Rong Shao, still dripping from his interrupted shower.
Everyone lined up by height. Su Cha stood first in the front row.
“Introduce myself—I’m Li Huai. I oversee the boys of D Block. You can call me Instructor Li.” His jaw looked permanently clenched. “I’ll be in charge of the next two weeks of military training.”
He scanned the young faces. Normally, he’d praise the early ones and scold the latecomers for low vigilance.
But when he saw Su Cha pretending to stand at attention while sneaking glances at the reward bag…
He just couldn’t say the words.
“The thirty late arrivals will copy the school motto—100 times.”
And the motto wasn’t short. It filled an entire page.
Instructor Li picked up the reward bag. At first no one cared—until he pulled out a mechanical glove. Eyes lit up with envy.
He tossed it casually to Su Cha, who scrambled to catch it. His face flushed with nervousness, eyes sparkling with relief.
Caught it.
If it hit the ground and broke, what a loss that would be.
Instructor Li took it all in. He’d never seen such a weak student—catching something took all his effort.
The top ten received rewards. Su Cha didn’t pay attention to the rest; they looked like strategy textbooks or something.
Before dismissal, someone asked, “Instructor, are these surprise drills going to happen often?”
The kid lived on the 15th floor—doing this daily would be h*ll.
Instructor Li replied with a death glare.
“Dismissed,” he barked.
As everyone scattered, Rong Shao looked longingly at the tall, bad*ss female instructor across the field. “I want to train over there.”
Neither Su Cha nor Ji Tianjin responded.
Su Cha was still focused on his newly acquired glove.
“Freshmen haven’t all arrived yet, so it probably won’t be too strict for now…” Rong Shao glanced at the glove and said bitterly, “Good luck surviving.”
He’d gone through h*ll to get one back then.
Su Cha: “Exactly. My blessings are only just beginning.”
“…”
Back in his room, Su Cha immediately searched everything related to mechanical gloves. The entries listed models over the years and the spiritual power thresholds needed to operate them—but nothing too detailed.
He’d already looked up spiritual power before.
The technical explanations likened it to “inner force” from martial arts novels. Whether you could unleash a big move or how destructive it was—it all came down to spiritual power.
But once it exceeded the brain’s limit, loss of control often led to death.
Su Cha was left-handed. The glove from the instructor was gray—less sleek than Ji Tianjin’s—and a bit bulky.
Thankfully, it wasn’t heavy. The cool metal felt nice in the summer heat.
With a soft beep, the glove unfolded like a curtain and revealed a screen.
Cuckoo V40.
Shuangyi Corporation.
Two lines of bold text appeared.
Just like setting up a new device, it asked for language, fingerprints, and voice settings before running a smart scan. A mechanical voice announced:
[Mental strength: 69
Awakening level: Initial awakening
Mental amplification: 0
Assessment: Trash]
[Second scan initiated:
Physical amplification: 0
Assessment: Trash]
Scanning deeper, please wait——
[Awakened ability: Healing
Assessment: TREASURE BOY!!!]
It was so loud in the middle of the night it nearly scared Su Cha awake again.
His room was on the third floor, the only one occupied. Still, the noise echoed through the thin walls.
The prompt seemed thrilled: “Treasure boy! Treasure boy! Treasure—”
Su Cha slammed his palm over the screen and dove under the covers, turning red from lack of air.
“I know I’m a treasure, now shut up already!”
