Today’s weather was very good. The blue sky was spotless, and the sunlight spilled down from the air, passing through the lush branches and leaves to cast warm, slightly dreamy and misty light spots on the young man under the trees.
The young man lowered his eyes, his silver hair fluttering in the breeze. Such a pretty person just standing quietly was a pleasant sight to behold.
However, the seemingly calm young man had a mild heart attack right now.
Very well, he now knew why the Empire’s General had attended the associate professor’s funeral.
He might as well have gone to the front gate and squeezed his way out.
Lin Xiansheng just wanted to slip away quickly right now, but running away without a word while being called by the old man would be telling everyone else that he had a problem.
This was originally a small path where very few people passed by, making it very quiet, with cicadas only occasionally chirping.
Quietly hiding his spiritual power, his vision suddenly became blurry. Lin Xiansheng vaguely felt his body getting a little hot, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. After losing his eyesight, all the sounds around him became increasingly clear.
He could hear the slight rustling inside the black car, followed by the sound of leather boots making contact with the asphalt road.
Without looking, he could imagine the tall man in a black military uniform stepping out from the dim carriage, the light and shadow shifting across his sharp-angled face as the man moved.
Those cold, golden-yellow pupils gazed at him once again.
He couldn’t see anything, yet it felt as if he saw everything.
His heartbeat was so violent that it felt like it would explode in the next second, making it a bit hard for the young man to breathe.
Lin Xiansheng heard the old man’s voice, “General, this is precisely the associate professor’s other close friend.”
The young man slowly raised his eyes. Without the assistance of spiritual power, both the old man and the man blurred together with the street background.
Yet in this blurry world, only those pair of golden pupils shone with a faint light, acting like a navigational beacon in the dark night to guide the small boat back home.
Staring intently at the direction of the faint light, his crow-feather-like eyelashes fluttered slightly as the young man quickly suppressed all his emotions.
At first glance, he looked extremely calm without any abnormality.
The old man smiled cheerfully and asked Lin Xiansheng, “Mr. Lin, do you remember us?”
The young man’s voice was steady, and he smiled faintly, “Of course I remember. Our last meeting was just last time, only a few days ago.”
“Indeed.” The old man originally started reminiscing along, then paused, feeling as though he had just heard a piece of nonsense.
However, because the young man’s tone was too polite and natural, he suspected that he had misheard due to his advanced age.
The old man’s expression turned amiable again as he said, “As for the person beside me, introductions shouldn’t be necessary, right?”
Lin Xiansheng’s smile stiffened for a second. He forced himself to turn his head to make eye contact with the man, curling the corners of his eyes: “I have long heard of the General’s great name. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Yet Lu Xincheng did not speak for a long time, remaining silent as he looked at the young man with those golden pupils.
The two stared at each other, neither speaking a word, making the atmosphere a bit awkward for a moment.
The old man coughed softly. He had followed Lu Xincheng for over a decade. Although Lu Xincheng’s personality was extremely cold, he wasn’t the type to make others lose face.
What’s more, while they were in the car, the General had taken the initiative to ask him if there was a silver-haired teacher at Xinghai Academy.
Reason and logic dictate that this shouldn’t be his reaction.
The three of them fell silent together. No one spoke, leaving only the sound of summer cicadas on the narrow street.
Feeling that this wouldn’t do, the old man forcefully came up with a topic to break the slightly eerie atmosphere, “Right, isn’t today the anniversary of Xinghai Academy? Why is Mr. Lin here?”
Lin Xiansheng’s mouth twitched, thinking to himself that it was all to hide from their General! However, a weak smile appeared on his face as he apologetically said, “I haven’t been feeling well these past few days, so I just asked for leave to go see the doctor at the hospital.”
The old man had looked over the young man’s profile a few times and knew that Lin Xiansheng’s health had always been poor. Hearing this, he nodded with some regret: “Is that so? Then let’s chat another time when you’re free.”
Lin Xiansheng was waiting precisely for these words, though he couldn’t show any urgency on the surface. After uttering an “Mm,” he wanted to leave, but right before he made a move, the man finally made another move.
“Have we met before?” The man’s voice was very faint, carrying no discernible emotion. Yet his eyes grew profound, and coupled with those golden pupils as cold as a cold-blooded animal’s, it inexplicably added a hint of danger.
The old man’s eyelids twitched slightly, and he said nothing.
Lin Xiansheng’s movements paused, and he replied gently, “Is the General referring to the associate professor’s funeral a few days ago? When walking back that day, I did indeed see you. I wonder if you still remember.”
Of course, what Lu Xincheng meant by “before” did not refer to the funeral. He believed Lin Xiansheng understood his meaning, so the young man’s answer was telling him that, counting the previous time, the two had only met twice.
But was it really only their second meeting?
“You look very much like a close friend of mine.” When mentioning the two words “close friend,” Lu Xincheng’s voice lowered slightly, carrying an ambiguous meaning.
The expression on the young man’s exquisite face distorted for a split second.
What close friend?
Just a close friend??
Cursing Lu Xincheng eight hundred times in his heart, the young man blinked his eyes on the surface, looking somewhat flattered: “You flatter me. The General’s friend must be an exceptional person.” Saying that, he smiled self-deprecatingly, “I’m just an ordinary person—no… maybe even worse than an ordinary person.”
Lu Xincheng was noncommittal and made no comment.
Clearly standing in the sunlight, the young man’s complexion still didn’t look very good.
After waiting for a moment, Lin Xiansheng maintained his smile: “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first?”
Seeing that neither the old man nor Lu Xincheng said anything, Lin Xiansheng turned around calmly and soon disappeared at the end of the horizon.
Watching the young man’s gradually receding back, Lu Xincheng said in a deep voice, “His body is in very poor condition.”
“Yes.” The old man recalled the profile data and frowned: “According to the hospital’s diagnostic data, Mr. Lin’s illness is very strange. Current medical technology cannot even identify the cause.”
“Moreover, judging by the degree of organ failure from Mr. Lin’s last checkup at the hospital… he shouldn’t be alive right now.”
The man’s gaze grew slightly heavy, wondering what he was thinking, “Follow him. If there are any accidents along the way, notify me immediately.”
The General’s attention toward the young man was obviously unusual, but the old man was smart enough not to ask too many questions. Having reached his current status, he naturally knew crystal clear what should and should not be said, so he simply acknowledged, “Understood.”
At first, to avoid looking abnormal, Lin Xiansheng walked very slowly. But upon confirming that he had left the range where those two could probe with their spiritual power, he immediately picked up his pace.
However, not long after, he sensed someone tailing him.
Furthermore, the person tailing him possessed spiritual power of at least Grade A, concealing their presence so well that even Lin Xiansheng couldn’t tell who it was.
The young man narrowed his eyes dangerously, his expression growing increasingly amiable.
Wasn’t he just like a former “close friend”? Just because of a mere “close friend,” they went as far as arranging someone to tail him?
Lin Xiansheng’s expression remained unchanged as he casually altered his route. Although he couldn’t tell who was tracking him, shaking off a tail was still quite simple. However, just as he turned into another alley, his vision suddenly went dark, and he realized that his body, which had only felt a bit hot earlier, now felt like it was lying inside a furnace—scalding hot.
He stopped in his tracks, leaned against the wall, and panted heavily.
There happened to be a puddle on the ground, and in the water’s reflection, Lin Xiansheng saw an unnatural flush breaking through his normally pale complexion.
His right hand covered his forehead, touching skin, and a scorching temperature radiated from his palm.
It seemed he had a bit of a fever.
The young man raised his eyes and swept a glance at the sky.
The church with the widest spread and largest number of believers in the interstellar era worshipped the Star God of the starry sky. Their doctrine held that spiritual power, which still could not be cracked to this day, was bestowed by the Star God.
Furthermore, the ancient methods possessed by the church, combined with modern technology, allowed them to research spiritual power even more deeply than various technology research institutes, which was why evaluation of spiritual power in the empire was handed over to the main church to conduct.
Of course, alongside the orthodox Star God church existed cults that worshipped evil gods and were unrecognized by the world. The evil god churches believed that the Star God did not exist at all, and that what brought eternal existence to humanity was only the evil gods that polluted the starry sky.
Lin Xiansheng had no interest in the church.
If forced to name hobbies, one was desserts, and the other was the starry sky.
He didn’t worship any gods, but he loved the starry sky. The starry sky shone brightly in the dead of night, and looking up made one feel as if they could sense the gaze of the stars.
Whenever he was under the starry sky, his emotions would be soothed, and even the pain in his body would weaken.
However, this time, probably because the temperature had dropped too drastically last night, he had merely stood in the courtyard to look at the stars for a while, and today he caught a cold and ran a fever.
Judging by the looks of it, the fever was also a bit severe.
The starry sky wasn’t working this time.
He had come out in a rush today and hadn’t carried any medicine with him. After standing for a while and finding that the dizziness was worsening with the possibility of fainting at any moment, Lin Xiansheng sighed.
No one knew better than him how terrifying another “himself” was, or rather, the past self he had buried with his own hands.
Lin Xiansheng wasn’t afraid of encountering danger if he fainted; after all, if he really passed out, the things that should be afraid of would-be danger itself and everyone around him.
For the safety of others, he couldn’t pass out here at least.
He truly was a good person!
With no other choice, the young man turned around, faced the empty alley, and asked politely, “Would you mind giving me a ride to the hospital?”
Believing his concealment had been quite good, the old man seemed to understand why the General’s attitude toward Lin Xiansheng was somewhat unusual. His spiritual power was at Grade A, and when he deliberately hid it, not many people could detect him.
It seemed Mr. Lin was also extraordinary.
However, the old man could also see that Lin Xiansheng’s physical condition at this moment was extremely poor. Tucking a white towel over his arm, he stepped out from the shadowed hiding spot: “I have already arranged a car. Please wait a moment, Mr. Lin.”
Lin Xiansheng hadn’t expected Lu Xincheng to actually send his personal adjutant to follow him, but the dizziness was growing increasingly intense, leaving him no time to think too much.
A dozen minutes later, the young man sitting in the back seat of the sedan closed his eyes.
The young driver in the car first gave a military salute before asking the old man in the front passenger seat, “Lieutenant General Ke, where are we going?”
The old man looked back at the young man, pondered for a moment, and said, “Wait.” Following that, he sent a text message to Lu Xincheng.