Chapter 95: Contact
The person who appeared on the communication screen looked utterly haggard. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with barely restrained madness. But the moment he saw Nan Yu, he forced himself to suppress those emotions.
Nan Yu blinked and glanced at the background behind him. It looked like he was in a kitchen.
Only, the kitchen was an absolute mess, more like a garbage dump than a place to cook. It was obvious that he had been living in terrible conditions.
"Hello, Senior Zi Zhoulin."
Zi Zhoulin silently looked at Nan Yu for a moment.
"I know you. You're Nan Yu, the Mental Power User who's become extremely famous at the academy recently."
His voice was hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken for a very long time—or perhaps he had overused his voice until it became like this.
Nan Yu smiled.
"Senior knows me?"
"Of course. I've still been following the academy forums. I know pretty much everything that's happened, especially about your rather unfortunate fiancé."
Nan Yu awkwardly scratched his chin.
"Well... alright. But I didn't contact you today to talk about those boring matters. I have something important."
Zi Zhoulin had no idea why Nan Yu was contacting him.
Or rather, he had already lost everything. Whatever business the academy had, he no longer had the heart to care.
However, Nan Yu's next words completely changed his mind.
"First of all, the academy has already identified the person who tampered with the student records. He's been arrested, and they've compiled a complete list of every student's records that were altered. Senior Zi Zhoulin, you're one of them. Since the academy is a little short-handed right now, they've asked me to help."
"So I'm the one contacting you."
Zi Zhoulin's eyes widened slightly.
"The academy is actually willing to admit what happened?"
But then he thought about it again.
So what if they admitted it?
His life was already over.
He had nothing left.
He was completely alone.
What difference would it make now?
At most, they would simply restore his records to what they originally were.
Nan Yu nodded.
"This happened because of negligence in the academy's administration. Of course they're going to admit responsibility. Not only that, they're going to give all the affected students another opportunity. I'd like to know what you think, Senior Zi Zhoulin."
Zi Zhoulin looked surprised.
"What opportunity?"
Nan Yu explained,
"The academy has reached a decision. They're opening a special First-to-Third Year program specifically for students like you. For those three years, every expense while you're studying at the academy will be fully covered by the school. After completing the program, you'll also receive one opportunity to participate in the entrance assessment for Marshal Yu Lanfeng's legion."
Zi Zhoulin's eyes opened wide in utter disbelief.
"Really?"
But almost immediately he realized something this important couldn't possibly be a joke.
So...
It was true?
Nan Yu nodded.
"That's right. It's real. So have you made your decision? Are you coming? If you agree, the academy has prepared a sum of credits for every student. I'll transfer yours immediately, and I'll also send you a special pass. You can come directly to the Capital Star. Once you arrive at the academy, simply show the pass and you'll be allowed in."
Zi Zhoulin's gaze became dazed.
However, he wasn't so overwhelmed that he lost his ability to think. He quickly forced himself to calm down.
"Yes... I'm going."
"I! Am going!"
He wasn't interested in the opportunity to repeat his first through third years.
Nor did he care about restoring his academic records.
The only thing that mattered to him...
Was the opportunity to take the assessment for Marshal Yu Lanfeng's legion.
He had already tried to join almost every legion in the Empire.
But because his academy record falsely stated that he had harassed and attempted to sexually assault a Mental Power User, every single legion had rejected him.
In the end, he had only managed to enter a rather low-ranking legion through someone else's family connections.
Even though both his strength and intelligence ranked among the best there, he was bullied everywhere he went.
He had become completely disappointed with every legion.
Except...
Except Yu Lanfeng's legion.
He had never had the chance to try.
Or rather, he had wanted to, but simply had no way of doing so.
That legion had never accepted applicants who volunteered.
They personally searched for outstanding talents themselves before extending an invitation to take the assessment.
Even graduating students were treated the same way.
Anyone who didn't receive an assessment invitation had no reason to dream about joining that legion.
He suddenly remembered the regretful look his teacher had worn when he graduated.
At the time, he had only been upset about not receiving an invitation and hadn't thought much about it.
But now...
Perhaps he had only been that tiny bit away.
Just...
That tiny little bit.
That was why his teacher had looked at him with such regret without saying anything.
Thinking back to his academy days...
Although he had worked very hard, he had also taken time to relax.
He had gone out with classmates.
Played games together.
Now that he thought about it...
If he had devoted all that time to improving himself instead...
Maybe...
Nan Yu interrupted his thoughts.
"Senior, let's add each other's communication IDs. I'll transfer your credits in a moment. Please come to the academy as soon as possible. Even though the semester has already started, your situation is a special case."
Zi Zhoulin immediately raised his °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° trembling fingers and tapped the screen before him, adding Nan Yu as a friend.
Nan Yu then transferred five hundred thousand credits to him through the academy account.
After that, he sent him the special pass.
"Senior, this pass is very important. Don't lose it."
Although, realistically speaking, losing it was impossible.
It existed only on his optical brain unless he deliberately deleted it himself.
Zi Zhoulin stared at the seemingly ordinary pass as though he were dreaming.
But he knew...
His future was about to change.
Only then did Nan Yu finally see the first genuine smile Zi Zhoulin had shown since answering the call.
"Thank you, Nan Yu. Once I arrive at the academy, I'll treat you to a meal."
Nan Yu raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Then I'll look forward to it."
"Alright, Senior. I still have other people to contact, so I'll hang up now. Just come to the academy as soon as you can."
Zi Zhoulin smiled and nodded.
"Alright."
Nan Yu ended the call.
Meanwhile, Zi Zhoulin hummed cheerfully to himself with a bright smile on his face.
In his other hand...
He was holding a military knife.
Still humming, he slowly walked out of the kitchen.
The place he lived in was essentially a house built inside a garbage dump.
Hardly anyone came near it.
Anything valuable had long since been scavenged away.
Even garbage collectors no longer bothered coming here.
That was precisely why he had built himself a place to stay here.
Yet even after hiding in a place like this...
That shameless couple had still gone out of their way to find him.
Why?
Simply to humiliate him face to face.
And to destroy the only shelter he still had.
Even if it was only a garbage dump...
It had still been the last place where he could rest.
The moment they saw him walking over with the knife...
The man and woman lying outside with their arms and legs already broken began backing away in terror.
The woman cried miserably.
Tears and snot were smeared all over her face, making her look utterly disgusting.
Even so, she continued pleading.
"Zhoulin... Ah Lin... don't do this... please don't... It was all his idea to come see what you've become. I never wanted to come. It's all his fault!"
"Think about how we used to be! I really liked you back then. I dreamed about being with you! You still like me, don't you? You must just be angry with me. I promise from now on I'll never—"
Before she could finish, the man beside her interrupted.
"You bitch, what nonsense are you talking about?! Weren't you the one who said he wouldn't obey you, so you dumped him and chose me instead because I was obedient? You were the one who suggested coming here to see how miserable he'd become! You even wanted to take pictures and show everyone how the once-proud genius had turned into a homeless bum living in a garbage dump! This is all your doing!"
Zi Zhoulin simply watched them argue back and forth.
Before long...
He found it annoying.
And it was wasting his time.
Now he had a far better opportunity ahead of him.
If he passed that assessment...
He would have a perfect future.
Listening to these two quarrel now was nothing but a waste of time.
Holding the knife, he slowly approached the pair before crouching down.
Softly, he said,
"Stop arguing."
"You're annoying."
The moment those words fell, both of them instantly shut their mouths.
They stared at Zi Zhoulin with trembling fear, terrified that he would kill them the next second.
What Zhou Zhou didn't know was that in Nan Yu's previous life...
Zi Zhoulin really had killed the two of them.
After that, he disappeared without a trace.
No one knew whether he had been hunted down and killed by their families or had fled somewhere else.
Whatever the case, his ending certainly hadn't been a good one.
But this time...
Nan Yu had intervened at exactly this moment.
He had completely changed Zi Zhoulin's fate.
To be honest...
If Nan Yu had contacted him just two minutes later...
Zi Zhoulin would already have killed them.
Zi Zhoulin casually twirled the knife in his hand.
"I really want to kill both of you."
Their entire bodies shook.
They wanted to beg for mercy.
But Zi Zhoulin simply stood up.
"On second thought..."
"I'll spare your miserable lives."
The two of them immediately let out sighs of relief.
As long as they survived, everything would be fine.
Once they returned home...
They would definitely make him pay.
No.
They would make him die.
Zi Zhoulin suddenly spoke again.
"What?"
"Thinking about having me killed once you get home?"
Both of them froze.
How had Zi Zhoulin guessed?
Then they realized their expressions must have given everything away.
They once again looked at him nervously, hoping he would let them leave as quickly as possible.
However...
Zi Zhoulin still needed some time before leaving the planet.
About half an hour later, Zi Zhoulin had changed into the only clean set of clothes he still owned.
Using the only place in the kitchen where water still flowed, he carefully washed himself from head to toe.
He had only one person.
One set of clothes.
One optical brain.
Nothing else.
Completely alone, he began walking toward the city.
From here to the city would take over two hours on foot.
And so he simply walked there.
This planet itself wasn't bad.
The gap between rich and poor was simply enormous.
The wealthy were unbelievably rich.
The poor were unbelievably poor.
Very few people fell somewhere in between.
Most of the population had no money at all.
When Zi Zhoulin first arrived on this planet, he couldn't adapt.
But before long, he forced himself to.
He calmly entered a small restaurant and ordered several inexpensive yet filling dishes.
After eating until he was full, he packed some food to take with him before heading to the spaceport to buy a ticket.
Naturally, the ticket wasn't directly to the Capital Star.
It was for the busiest planet in this star system, where he would transfer to a ship bound specifically for the Capital Star.
Even taking the fastest route...
It would still require more than half a month to reach the Capital Star.
This was the planet where he had joined that legion through the woman.
Later, however, he couldn't adapt to life there.
He liked that woman even less after she revealed her true nature once he was on her home turf.
In the end, he had been brutally beaten and thrown out of the legion.
After that, he wandered this planet as a drifter.
Until just recently...
He hadn't even possessed enough credits to buy a ticket to leave.
Now he did.
And because he had already been trampled into the dirt, no one paid any attention to him anymore.
It wasn't until the legion commander discovered the miserable state his daughter and her new boyfriend had been left in at the garbage dump that he remembered there was such a person.
He immediately ordered people to find him.
The final result was simple.
Zi Zhoulin had boarded a ship and left the planet several hours earlier, heading toward the system's busiest world.
When the legion commander heard this, the muscles in his face twitched violently.
He looked ready to faint from anger.
"So what?! Contact my older brother! Isn't he over there? Tell him to stop that man and arrest him! He can't possibly have many credits. Once he gets there he'll definitely have to find work first. Have them seize Zi Zhoulin when they get the chance and send him back to me!"
"Yes, sir!"
At that moment, Zi Zhoulin was already aboard the spacecraft.
Leaving that planet and reaching his destination still required several days since the ship wasn't particularly fast.
When he arrived at the spaceport on the other planet, he immediately sensed that people were secretly watching him.
It seemed they were simply waiting for him to leave the spaceport before making their move.
Unfortunately for them...
He had no intention of leaving.
Everyone knew that every spaceport was guarded by regular military forces.
All of them belonged directly to the Imperial Family.
Their discipline was absolute.
They couldn't be bribed.
Nor would they accept bribes.
In full view of his watchers, Zi Zhoulin casually walked into a small restaurant inside the airport rest area.
There, he ordered a large amount of delicious food and ate heartily right in front of them.
By the time they realized something was wrong...
He had already entered the departure area and purchased a ticket to the Capital Star.
However, the people following him had no idea where his ticket was actually for.
If they wanted to know...
They had no choice but to buy tickets themselves and enter the departure lounge to keep watching him.
Only by seeing which boarding passage he eventually entered could they determine his destination.
When the time finally came...
They discovered that Zi Zhoulin's ticket was actually for the Capital Star.
That settled it.
There was absolutely no hope now.
No one dared make a move on the Capital Star.
When the legion commander heard this news, he found it unbelievable.
"Where did he get so many credits?"
Turning toward his daughter, he asked gently,
"Sweetheart, tell Daddy. Where did he get those credits? Didn't you say he didn't have a single cent?"
The woman he was speaking to was the same woman who had nearly been killed by Zi Zhoulin earlier.
"Dad... It definitely wasn't me. I squeezed every last credit out of him already. Otherwise he wouldn't have been living in a garbage dump. He must have contacted someone else who gave him money!"
"Dad! He just ran off to the Capital Star like this. Are we just supposed to forget everything he did to me? Absolutely not! You have to think of something! He broke my arms and legs before running away!"
"Alright, alright. Daddy will think of something. I'll definitely get justice for my precious daughter. We'll bring him back and make him kneel before you. Then you can deal with him however you like."
It took him quite a while to calm his beloved daughter down.
Only after she finally settled down did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Leaving the room, he immediately gave another order.
"Keep following him. I'd like to see whether Zi Zhoulin can really turn his life around after going to the Capital Star. He's probably just putting on an act. Adapt according to the situation and keep in contact with me at all times. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Understood. I'll take care of it immediately. Which squad should we dispatch?"
Coincidentally, the man who had bought a ticket earlier just to follow Zi Zhoulin into the departure area had also purchased a ticket to the Capital Star.
Since he had received no further orders...
He simply boarded the same ship when Zi Zhoulin did.
That meant he was now aboard the very same spacecraft as Zi Zhoulin, heading toward the Capital Star.
Before long, the ship reached its first jump point and entered its first hyperspace jump.
After ending the call with Zi Zhoulin, Nan Yu had no idea what happened afterward.
He only knew that it was time to contact the second person.
The second person was Chen Yuming.
To be honest, Nan Yu still remembered him somewhat.
When Nan Yu had first enrolled at the academy, this senior had been in his final year.
By the time Nan Yu advanced to his second year, Chen Yuming had already graduated.
Back then, he had missed first place by the narrowest of margins and graduated as the year's second-ranked student. Even so, it had been an honorable graduation.
Who would have imagined that his records had also been tampered with...
Nan Yu initiated a call to him.
The first attempt went unanswered.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then a third time...
It wasn't until the fifth attempt that the call was finally accepted.
The very first thing Nan Yu saw made his eyes hurt.
He blinked, staring at the scene on the screen in disbelief.
Chen Yuming also seemed surprised.
He had assumed the caller was another debt collector. After the communicator kept ringing over and over, he had impatiently answered just to show them that he was working hard.
But he hadn't expected the caller to be...
Who was this again?
Nan Yu awkwardly looked away.
Because Chen Yuming was in the middle of having sex.
And he looked completely unconcerned that someone had caught him in the act.
Chen Yuming spoke in an utterly calm tone while continuing what he was doing.
"What is it?"
His casual voice made Nan Yu feel as though Chen Yuming wasn't doing that at all, but was instead sitting across from him on a sofa discussing business.
Nan Yu quickly regained his composure.
"Can we talk privately?"
Chen Yuming took a deep breath, his entire body trembling for a moment. He stood up just like that, completely naked, walked into the bathroom, grabbed a bathrobe, draped it over himself, and then stepped out onto the balcony.
The person still lying on the bed watched him with a teasing smile, as though looking at a little pet.
Leaning casually against the balcony railing, Chen Yuming said,
"Go ahead."
Nan Yu nodded.
"I'll keep it brief. The academy has caught the person responsible for altering the student records back then. They've discussed a solution, and I'd like to tell you about it. If you think it's acceptable..."
Chen Yuming looked completely indifferent.
"So they're going to restore my records and give me some compensation?"
Nan Yu paused briefly.
"Of course not."
Chen Yuming glanced at him.
"So they'll just fix my records and not even compensate me?"
Nan Yu sighed helplessly.
"That's not the solution they've decided on. After careful discussion, the academy intends to give all of you another chance."
Now Chen Yuming looked slightly more interested.
"What kind of chance?"
Nan Yu explained,
"The academy plans to bring back every graduate whose records were altered. You'll be given one to three years to study at the academy again. During that time, every expense will be covered by the school. Most importantly..."
"At the end of those three years at the latest, you'll receive one opportunity to take the entrance assessment for Marshal Yu Lanfeng's legion."
Chen Yuming's eyes widened.
"What did you just say?"
"An assessment opportunity... for Marshal Yu's legion?"
Nan Yu blinked.
"That's right. The academy has also prepared a sum of credits for each of you to cover travel expenses and your living costs for the time being."
"And once you choose to return to the academy, your records will be restored to the way they were when you first enrolled."
"So..."
"What's your decision?"
After a burst of excitement, Chen Yuming suddenly calmed down again.
Then he returned to his previous lifeless, indifferent expression, as though he were simply drifting through life.
Nan Yu looked puzzled.
Chen Yuming laughed bitterly.
"So what?"
"I've already signed myself away. I'm not a free man anymore."
"Hm?"
"How could that be..."
Nan Yu couldn't understand.
Chen Yuming had only graduated a few years ago.
No matter how unfortunate his circumstances were, he shouldn't have fallen this far.
Could it be...
Chen Yuming gave a mocking smile.
"That's right. Exactly what you're thinking."
"I'm adopted."
"When I was studying at the Royal Military Academy of the Capital Star, my adoptive parents treated me like a treasure."
"But after I graduated and they realized I was useless to them..."
"They sold me to someone else."
Nan Yu blinked.
"You signed a contract?"
"How much is the penalty for terminating it?"
Chen Yuming replied,
"The man is very wealthy."
"Compared with some of the richest people on the Capital Star, he isn't inferior at all."
Nan Yu repeated,
"How much?"
Chen Yuming looked at him speechlessly.
"One hundred million credits."
"I'll probably never earn that much money in my entire life."
Nan Yu quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately...
Although it was still a painful amount for him, it was something he could afford.
After accepting several commissions—especially the one from Lan Yu and the others—his total earnings had reached nearly five hundred million credits.
Helping this senior...
He felt it was worth it.
Nan Yu folded his hands neatly on the desk before him and looked at Chen Yuming with a gentle smile.
"Senior."
"What I'm about to say has nothing to do with the academy."
"This is something I'm saying to you personally."
"Please hear me out first."
Chen Yuming looked confused.
"Go ahead."
Nan Yu said calmly,
"I'll pay the one hundred million credits needed to terminate your contract."
"If I do..."
"Will you seize this opportunity?"
Chen Yuming stared blankly at him.
For a long moment...
It was as though he hadn't understood a single word Nan Yu had just said.