Street, Silence, Vehicle

The dusty gray sky and the ruined wasteland below were sights long since worn thin.

Inside the stuffy cabin, the air was murky.

Even with the deafening roar of the rotors, the passengers inside were drowsy.

Su Lixiao leaned against Ye Lan’s shoulder, dozing.

Zhou Zhanying sat at the pilot’s seat with his eyes closed, resting.

In the co-pilot’s seat, Haiderui typed away on his laptop, leaving the helicopter’s controls to autopilot.

Ye Lan didn’t know what to say to break this heavy atmosphere.

The trip was already halfway through, with about an hour left before they reached the freshman welcome venue.

And perhaps it was only his imagination, but Ye Lan realized he hadn’t heard an explosion in quite some time.

“The streets are awfully quiet, aren’t they?” said Haiderui.

He had stopped typing, apparently planning to rest, yet this silence gave him the same uneasy feeling as Ye Lan.

Peering out the co-pilot’s window, Haiderui frowned.

“We’re already deep in the old city district, yet I hardly see any military deployment. Don’t tell me the fighting’s already over?”

Then his face lit up.

“Well, that’s good news. We’ve been flying nearly two hours. The welcome venue isn’t far now. Once we get there, our work’s done.”

It wasn’t bad news that the fighting had stopped.

Even though the plane carried a friendly-force recognition code and wouldn’t be targeted, stray bullets were always a possibility.

For Haiderui, a smooth, uneventful trip was ideal—he just wanted to hurry back to his dorm and shut himself in.

Ye Lan asked, “What’s at the freshman welcome venue?”

“Honestly, not much. Just clubs showing themselves off, a little pageantry, some fun for the new students.”

Haiderui sounded bored just thinking about it.

“What really matters,” he added, “is that from the venue to the academy’s main campus, there’s still quite a distance. And that stretch is tough.”

“Huh? Another leg?”

The conversation roused Su Lixiao from her nap.

Her voice was drowsy.

“Can’t they just take us directly to the main campus?”

“That’s a matter of rules. Complaining to us won’t help.”

Haiderui spread his hands helplessly.

“But don’t worry, you won’t be walking. Vehicles are provided. What makes the road ‘tough’ isn’t the lack of transport—it’s something else.”

“When the freshmen leave the venue and enter the combat zone, the opening ceremony stops being for you. It becomes an upperclassmen’s celebration.”

At that, Zhou Zhanying opened his eyes.

“I’m sure you already understand the importance of points. Out there, you freshmen will be walking points.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Su Lixiao couldn’t make sense of it, while Ye Lan stayed silent.

“That’s not for us to explain. Someone at the venue will tell you.”

Haiderui shrugged, indifferent.

“We’ve already said more than we should. Spoilers, really. But, old Zhou, have you sensed anything?”

The plane’s radar screen was empty, showing nothing at all, as if their aircraft were the only thing left in the sky.

“…”

Zhou Zhanying frowned, his instincts prickling at the strange heaviness in the air.

“Not good!”

His face suddenly changed.

He turned sharply toward Su Lixiao and Ye Lan in the back.

“Strap in! Haiderui, activate the radiation defense system, now!”

“What!? Okay, okay, turning it on!”

The abrupt order sent Haiderui scrambling, but he still moved fast to obey.

The cabin lights snapped on.

All the windows, even in the cockpit, sealed with armored shutters.

In the last moment before the shutter closed, Ye Lan glimpsed a flash of light bursting through the gloomy clouds, streaking down toward the earth.

[Warning! Warning! Incoming fusion strike detected! Warning! Warning!]

All four emblems in the cabin simultaneously projected the alert.

“BOOOOM——”

Even with isolation measures in place, the thunderous blast left Ye Lan deaf for a moment.

Though the plane was outside the direct strike zone, the following electromagnetic pulse was unavoidable.

The aircraft jolted violently.

Then—“crackle!”—all electronic systems went dark.

“Dammit! Everything’s dead!”

Haiderui cried out, trying to manually control the plane, but it was useless.

“We’re finished!”

The craft shook violently, like a leaf tossed in a stormy sea.

The lurch of weightlessness told them it was falling.

Ye Lan clutched the armrest with his belt secured tight, but the crash impact still turned his vision black.

He lost consciousness.

…

“Do you want to become stronger?”

Ye Lan seemed to hear a voice.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

He answered without hesitation.

The voice asked again.

“In your past life, you lost everything, yet gained more. You were hailed as a hero, remembered for eternity. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“So what if it is?”

If he could sneer, he would.

But here, he could only reply in thought.

“In this era, being born without powers is a sin. Without war, I’d have remained a nobody forever.

Why did I sit on the highest throne?

Because every other contender was already dead.”

This was Ye Lan’s truth.

He never believed he grew strong.

He believed his rivals only grew weak.

He thought of that pale violet silhouette, dancing with her sword.

If Su Lixiao had not died, her achievements would have been boundless.

At twenty, she had already become the youngest S-class esper in human history.

Given time, she might have reached that legendary realm—beyond life and death, where past and future could be seen.

But Ye Lan had no esper genes.

That gulf between them was already like a chasm.

If she truly reached that realm, then no matter what Ye Lan accomplished, they would never again belong to the same world.

And so Ye Lan longed for strength, by any means necessary.

“I see…”

The ethereal voice faded.

“Wait—who are you?”

Ye Lan tried to grasp it, but it slipped further and further away.

…

Suddenly, pain and dizziness surged through him.

His consciousness snapped awake, eyes flying open.

The smell of smoke filled his nose, making him want to cough.

A pale blue shield shimmered in front of him—the energy barrier of his emblem.

“Lan! You scared me half to death!”

He realized someone was clutching him tightly.

It could only be Su Lixiao.

She must have stayed by his side while he was unconscious.

“How… how long was I out?”

Ye Lan held his head, recalling that strange conversation.

He felt the cold ground beneath him.

Turning slightly, he saw the crashed helicopter not far away.

Its frame was still intact, but it would never fly again.

“Not long, just ten minutes.”

That was Zhou Zhanying’s voice, calm and steady.

He was unharmed.

Ten minutes. Not bad.

Ye Lan exhaled in relief.

At least the blast hadn’t knocked him out cold like before.

Yes, that blinding “white light” in his memories—he had suspected it was from a tactical nuke’s shockwave.

This time, though the crash was the same, he had recovered quickly.

“Clack-clack-clack—”

The sound of typing.

Of course it was Haiderui.

Ye Lan blinked.

“Your laptop… survived?”

“Don’t underestimate me! This is my livelihood.”

Haiderui muttered, fingers flying over the keys.

Judging from his condition, he hadn’t been hurt either.

Clearly Zhou Zhanying’s warning had made a difference.

“These fireworks are way too much. What kind of grudge justifies this? All it does is make more work for me.”

Despite his complaints, Haiderui kept working.

Around the crash site, engineering drones were already constructing defenses.

“We’ll have to hold here for a few days until a transport arrives.”

Zhou Zhanying handed Ye Lan an energy drink.

As Ye Lan drank, Zhou Zhanying spoke.

“So, what do you plan to do? Wait here with us for rescue, or cross the combat zone on your own?

If you stay, you’ll probably miss the opening ceremony—and the first classes too.”

Su Lixiao asked, “And the other option?”

“The other option,” Zhou Zhanying said, “is to jump straight into the next stage after the welcome ceremony—actual combat.”

“But we’re freshmen!”

Su Lixiao bristled at the inhuman rules.

“People don’t really die, do they?”

Zhou Zhanying tapped his emblem.

“Our emblems have two modes. The first is the regular shield, a standard generator.

But on Beacon Star, there’s a second mode: reception mode.

In that mode, the normal shield is weakened below 10%, and the emblem shifts to receive external shield energy.”

“Once activated, the shield’s strength becomes enormous.

It can stop kinetic bullets and completely negate energy rounds.

But in exchange, the wearer is immobilized, entering a ‘downed’ state until rescued.

Anyone who continues to attack a ‘downed’ student triggers an alarm.

Such behavior violates academy rules, and in severe cases, can lead to expulsion.”

“If you still don’t get it, just think of it as war-play for students.”

Zhou Zhanying smiled lightly.

Though Ye Lan and Su Lixiao couldn’t see it.

“Well, that’s acceptable.”

Su Lixiao nodded thoughtfully.

If there was no risk to life, then there was nothing to fear.

Zhou Zhanying turned to Ye Lan.

“So, what’s your choice?”

Su Lixiao didn’t want to decide, so she looked at Ye Lan.

Even Haiderui paused his typing, watching them.

All eyes fell on Ye Lan.

His answer was: “We’ll go ourselves.”

“Good!”

Zhou Zhanying admired his courage.

He handed them each a tactical dagger, including his own and Haiderui’s.

“Since you’ll need to find your own weapons, I can’t give you much. Only the basics.”

Ye Lan recognized them—these were no basic daggers.

They were their personal blades.

So much for “the basics.”

“The road ahead is yours to walk.”

Zhou Zhanying gazed at the distant sky.

The mushroom cloud had not yet cleared.

What lay beneath it, none of them could know.

Ye Lan only knew their first mission was to recover the weapons they had purchased.

Without them, they would be lambs before the upperclassmen.

Su Lixiao hesitated.

“So… we just leave now?”

Zhou Zhanying nodded.

“Mm. Good luck.”

“May fortune favor you,” Haiderui added.

Then he looked at Ye Lan.

“You can handle my dagger, right?”

Ye Lan nodded.

Haiderui waved him off.

“Then go.”

“Goodbye, seniors.”

Su Lixiao’s first impression of them hadn’t been great, but now she knew—they were good men.

“No need to be so somber. Who knows? We might meet again.”

Zhou Zhanying waved as they left, watching until Ye Lan and Su Lixiao vanished into the ruins.