Chapter 7 - Carried Back (1/2)

From an early age, Zhong Yan knew the importance of power.

He was once adopted by a couple who had tried but failed to produce a child even after a long time. The husband of the couple was the boss of a big local business, and they were considered to be a very wealthy family in the area. He still remembered how jealous all his peers at the orphanage were when he was being adopted.

But, before even a year had passed, his foster mother was pregnant. They paid their fines and gave birth to another child before returning Zhong Yan. It was not until he returned to the orphanage that he found out that his adoptive parents had told them that he had stolen their family belongings, but his adoptive father was a generous man and did not wish to stain the child’s credit record and ruin his life, so they did not report it. Then, an annulment of his adoption was signed with the orphanage.

Somehow or another, word of it had leaked out, and the orphan children were all discussing it. That Zhong Yan who looked the best was a thief, that was why he was returned!

“I did not steal!” At only seven, Zhong Yan’s face was flushed red as he said in agitation, “How could he say that? Let him report it, let ‘Butterfly’ investigate it! I didn’t do it!”

But they all ignored him. The staff grabbed his arm and sent him back to the dormitory. It did not require a very wise mind to understand the situation; they had their own child and chose to abandon their adopted son, but they did not want to be punished, so they could only push the blame onto this parentless child.

Ten years later, Zhong Yan was admitted to the Supreme Institution. The first thing he did when he got away from that little planet was to make a report that the director of the orphanage had received a bribe.

He was the newly promoted champion of the Federation, the most honourable representative of the Supreme Institution’s new students. The speed in which the Capital Star accepted his report was very fast, and in just the second week of school, he received news that the orphanage was seized, and several local giants were also led along.

It was so easy! The mountain he could never push even after exerting all his strength, he was able to topple it with just the swipe of his fingers.

This was his first taste of power in life, and he could not help but share the good news with his roommate. His roommate told him that he should not take what happened in the orphanage as an example, their so-called surveillance system of today was just a way to monitor the civilians. The higher up you were, the more ways you would have to evade it—they could even use the so called “ubiquitous” artificial intelligence for their own gains.

His roommate was not a supporter of AI. Zhong Yan did not mind this very much, and to be honest, don’t even mention artificial intelligence, even if the one ruling over humans was a gigantic space rabbit, whether the human race was still alive or dead after a hundred years was none of his business as long as he could live a good life.

You could call him heartless or immoral, but he had never been cared for by anyone since he was born, so he would care for no one as well.

But there was no need to tell his new roommate this—even though his roommate came from a big family from the Capital Star, he did not put on airs like all the other pompous young masters, and he was treating him very well instead, even taking him as his good friend.

Nobody had ever been this nice to him, this was the very first friend he had in his life.

But Adrian told him he would no longer be his friend.

Zhong Yan was prostrated dizzily over the stairs, covering his face with his hands as crystalline droplets of liquid seeped through the cracks of his fingers, leaking drop by drop down onto the ground.

In the middle of the night, the sudden sound of footsteps disrupted the silence of the stairwells.

Zhong Yan had an abrupt start, and quickly wiped his face with his sleeves in a hurry before raising his voice to ask: “Who?!”

Those footsteps were completely unaffected by his question, and was headed steadily towards him. Zhong Yan felt the subconscious need to hide his sorry cut of a figure, but he had no strength left in his body, so he could only watch with eyes wide as that person slowly appeared in his sights—

……

It was true that Adrian had never seen this side of Zhong Yan. He was crumbled down onto the ground powerlessly, his complexion sickly, and his beautiful phoenix eyes were glazed with tears as its surroundings were circled with red.

Adrian spoke with a little unease, “I haven’t even started crying yet, so what are you crying about?”

“I’m not crying,” Zhong Yan denied.

Adrian glared at him, and for a moment, he could not find what to say. After a long while, he started again, “Are your assistants dead or what? Tell them to pick you up.”

“I’m fine, I’ll return after I sit for a while.”

Calm down, calm down, don’t get angry, Adrian tried to urge himself; it’s not as if you don’t know what this guy’s virtues are like.

“Are you not going to contact your men?” He asked again after suppressing his temper.

Zhong Yan’s entire body was feeling chilly, and it was so cold that he was nearly on the verge of shaking. He could wish for nothing more than for Adrian to leave quickly, so that he would not have to see this side of him. He insisted, “I’m fine.”

“Fine, I’m contacting my men.”

“Wha…” Before Zhong Yan could finish, Adrian had violently covered him with his coat, and he was suddenly lifted up. He was so shocked that he subconsciously reached out and wrapped his arms around his neck—he was being carried like a princess.

……

Fayn has had a very mentally exhausting day today.

He knew that explosions would light up as soon as Adrian and Zhong Yan were to meet, but he still underestimated the ability of the two in causing trouble. He never would have expected them to create so much news in just a short half day. The virtual community was like a carnival right now, and just thinking about people from different time zones waking up to it, the heat would definitely be here to stay for a while…

Well, they can say whatever they want, this thrilling day was finally over.

But this was not all bad; with everyone’s attention was focused on the pair of enemies, the true purpose of their ensignment to the Institutional Star would be concealed.

While Fayn was still trying to comfort himself in these trying times, an image suddenly popped up from his terminal—Adrian was requesting a voice call.

“Commander, that was a mighty long walk you’ve had, are you ready to return?”

“Yeah, I’m on the way.”

“Alright, I’ll tell the crew to prepare for…”

“Hold on, don’t return for now. Go inform the medical officer…Stop moving!”