Master of the Stars

Luo Nan was unable to mediate the conflict between the two women, so he had walked forward two steps to respond to his Aunt in a whisper.

His Aunt was certainly waiting somewhere nearby; she had been waiting by herself until the dinner party was over. This sort of supervising action was not considered the least bit accidental to Luo Nan.

This was his Aunt’s nature. Tonight she had the indomitable will to bring Luo Nan back home. She wouldn’t wouldn’t allow Luo Nan any reason to refuse.

If it were the past few days, Luo Nan would have certainly tried to escape from his Aunt’s evil clutches by every possible means. But today his drug production supplies were in a deficit. He would have nothing today even if he returned back to Blue Bay Community. His thoughts of refusal weren’t that resolute.

Luo Nan performed a few symbolic exchanges of refusal, but in the end, he still cast in his defeat: “I’m together with my friends right now. I’ll be down soon. Aunty, mam, where are you? I’ll find you in a bit......”

It wasn’t much to give his Aunt this victory, but Luo Nan still had some concerns left: The influence from drug withdrawal weren’t easily ignored. A sudden cut off of his drug supply would likely cause some anomalies and variations within his nervous system. His Format did what he wanted just now, but some reversal in progress seemed to happen because of it. How should he go about things to make it better?

He looked at his friend list on the HexaEar and more or less gained some confidence. It seemed that he had truly gained an additional and alternative channel upon entering the Society.

First, he dealt with his Aunt using “yep yep”s and “ah ah”s. Then he turned around to ask Zhang Yingying: “Bro Octopus is quite the expert in drug synthesis. Does he sell his goods outs?”

Zhang Yingying blurted: “Who do you harbor errant thoughts with?”

“......” It was impossible to proceed with this conversation. Sister He, unleash your might! Twist her to be properly educated!

Luo Nan rolled his eyes. He felt that it would be better to directly communicate with Octopus. But perhaps his expression was too obvious, leading Zhang Yingying to be discontent and reign in his collar with his hand:

“Hey. Speak clearly. What are you up to? Doing business with Octopus, 9.5 times out of ten, involves bad things. Oh. Hold on......”

Zhang Yingying suddenly reached out her hand to turn his face, but obviously, Luo Nan wouldn’t let her do so. He was unable to resist her, however, for this woman’s strength far exceeded his own by an unknown factor.

Just how many times did this make?

Luo Nan’s face flushed red. He was somewhat unable to restrain his anger.

He Yueyin couldn’t bear to keep watching, her eyebrows furrowed as she sought to stop Zhang Yingying. But Zhang Yingying called out to her, appearing to have forgotten her former enmity: “Come come come. Let’s look together. I felt that there was something abnormal about this kid’s pupils. It seems he took too many drugs. Explain clearly kay? Do you normally have this nasty habit?”

How did she become so sensitive all of a sudden?

Luo Nan was shocked for a moment, forgetting to struggle. Zhang Yingying forcefully peeled his eyelids back, but what could she see under the dusky lighting of the club?

He Yueyin pulled on Zhang Yingying’s arm, speaking in a very low voice: “Don’t cause a ruckus. We still haven’t left this Order’s domain......”

Luo Nan was finally able to wrest free from Zhang Yingying’s controlling grasp, but he was still gritting his teeth in depression. What the heck was up with this woman’s monstrous strength? Was his body really weak to the point of being a cripple under the eyes of an Awakened?

He vented with hate in secret. He’ll wait until his fleshly body reaches an equilibrium with his mind, when he truly becomes an Awakened. Then he will have a proper “talk” with Zhang Yingying.

In any case, He Yueyin had already interrupted Zhang Yingying, so Zhang Yingying no longer looked into the matter of Luo Nan taking drugs.

Luo Nan also didn’t want to stay with Zhang Yingying for now. Originally he wanted to leave immediately, but then he thought of Xue Lei and Chen Xiaolin placed on the 81st floor. He had to go see what their conditions were like.

He made it to the 81st floor without any problems, but the sound of clamor came over upon leaving the elevator and entering the corridor. Luo Nan didn’t pay attention to it at first, but after a few steps, he saw outlines of people strewn at random. There were servers, medical personnel, He Yueyin’s bodyguards, and so on. They were talking outside a door.

Xue Lei should have been lying down in the room, but he was outside leaning against the wall with his head drooping down. He looked to be extremely dismayed.

Luo Nan had a good impression of this fellow student who possessed a straightforward temperament and high martial abilities. But after their shoulder to shoulder combat together, Luo Nan felt that something was different. He asked in a probing nature upon walking over:

“Leister, you alright?”

Xue Lei lifted his head from hearing Luo Nan’s voice. He saw Luo Nan and his eyes lit up for a moment: “Nanster, you’re alright!? That thing just a moment ago...... arg!”

A multitude of loose ends, ones that Xue Lei didn’t know how to even start talking about. In the end, Xue Lei could only wave his hand; it was difficult to continue the conversation.

“What’s the matter?”

He Yueyin asked the bodyguard in charge of looking after the injured. The bodyguard could only force a bitter smile and brief her on the circumstances that transpired.

There were three patients. Xue Lei had only been knocked unconscious by He Yueyin; his body didn’t receive any injuries, so he was the first to wake up. He was easy to talk to, easy to calm down, and he even went to look after his unconscious girlfriend. He looked after her all the way until the doctors, which were called by He Yueyin, had arrived.

Black Wolf’s spine was broken, so he had been lifted out for an operation early on. As for Chen Xiaolin, she was undergoing treatment locally. Who knew that things were fine as long as Chen Xiaolin was not awake. As soon as she woke up, as soon as she saw Xue Lei, her mood became stirred with emotions of terror, of anger, and of depression. She even chased Xue Lei out of the room and startled the servers of this floor; she was awfully noisy.

“She lost control of her mood?”

Luo Nan immediately thought of the Human-Faced Arachnid, and clearly, He Yueyin had thought the same way. The two crossed eyes for a single glance, then both entered the room.

He Yueyin actually blocked him for a moment, allowing Zhang Yingying to come over. The smile on this woman’s face had become far weaker. The noble aura on her body grew thick; clearly, she had accumulated energy waiting to be unleashed.

But when Luo Nan entered the room, he didn’t find anything eye-catching; there was nothing exceptional at all. Chen Xiaolin was in a deep sleep on the bed. Other than her being weak, there were no traces whatsoever of the Human-Faced Arachnid.

The three people exchanged gazes. All were somewhat stunned.

The doctor was extremely dissatisfied to these three people who had suddenly barged in the room: “The patient was just tranquilized. She needs to recuperate. All unrelated people, get out.”

He Yueyin faced towards Luo Nan to confirm that her problem really didn’t involve the Human-Faced Arachnid. She then indicated to Luo and Zhang to leave first. She stayed behind to talk to the doctor.

Not even a few minutes later, He Yueyin came out the room.

“It’s stress symptoms from facing incomprehensive facts that exceeded her common sense. She refused to be touched, has serious rejection, and maybe she has selective memories...... Members of the Society come across these cases frequently.”

Zhang Yingying shrugged: “I have suggested early on, ever since the mutants1 exploded to ten times their number after the war, that we should broaden the scope of common sense for the ordinary citizen. Let them become accustomed to the existence of ability users. Humph. Those mutant species, those unscientific playthings, have wreaked havoc for several dozen years already. Yet so many people continue to bury their heads in the sand!”

Luo Nan finally understood. So it turned out that Chen Xiaolin was unable to accept the sudden life or death fighting between Xue Lei and the Black Wolf. Then there was also the Human-Faced Arachnid....... And even the effects of Luo Nan’s hypnotism. All these caused the issues with her mind.

He Yueyin gave a suggestion: “It’s best if you let your friend go home first. He’ll only make the patient more anxious if he’s nearby.”

Zhang Yingying shot a glance at the still-dejected Xue Lei: “Your friend is quite the material. His foundation is much better than yours. His adaptive ability is quite strong. He should be the disciple of some martial artist master.”

Luo Nan quite approved of her conjecture. When they were in the elevator, Xue Lei’s reactions were really admirable. He even suspected that Xue Lei’s big body had sensed the threat of the Human-Faced Arachnid through intuition.

Anyway, Zhang Yingying’s decent behavior didn’t even last a dozen seconds before she started talking smack: “This kid’s clearly about to topple over from depression. You might as well introduce your friend into the Society to find people similar to him. This sort of transparent and buff guy will certainly be more popular than some tooth-pick boy!”

Luo Nan glared at Zhang Yingying before asking He Yueyin with a few questions about Chen Xiaolin’s condition. Then he walked towards Xue Lei: “Sister Chen’s condition isn’t that bad. The doctor will take good care of her and we can’t really help much by sticking around. Let’s first go back home.”

Xue Lei shook his head, as expected: “I’m still going to wait here.....”

Luo Nan pressed against his arm: “Sister Chen will be sent to the hospital to receive follow-up treatment. She just needs a few days of peace and quiet and then she will be good. She needs to calm down. Let’s go. It’s getting late. My Aunty’s car is downstairs. We’ll send you back on the way home.”

When Luo Nan spoke of “calming down”, Xue Lei clearly dropped his head even lower.

Luo Nan sighed, he used some force to pull Xue Lei up. Of course, Xue Lei’s mind was wavering right now. Otherwise, how would Luo Nan have been able to move him?

He faced He Yueyin, Zhang Yingying, and the others for goodbyes. Then Luo Nan and Xue Lei left side by side.

They just so happened to enter the elevator where Xue Lei had engaged in combat with the Black Wolf. Xue Lei looked at the remnant traces of the conflict within the elevator walls and was lost in thought for some time. Then he suddenly spoke:

“You guys aren’t ordinary people right?”

“You’re not either. I have to say, this is fate.”

Luo Nan smiled and extended a fist out towards Xue Lei. Xue Lei was stunned for a moment, but he also extended his own fist to lightly bump with Luo Nan’s. Then his lips split into a grin.

1. Mutants (畸变种, literally Distorted Species). It’s been a while since this term was used, so here’s a brief reminder. Mutants emerged in large numbers after the Third War (Chapter 13.1). It’s implied that they drove people to live in large metropolises, and here we have more evidence that ability users have been fighting Mutants. In Chapter 22.2, President Ouyang of the Xia City Branch of the Wilderness Explorer Society announced the threat of the Human-Faced Arachnid, that the Arachnid is a Mutant, and that it’s the first live specimen to come from the ’Gate’, which is what they believe to be the source of the mutant species.