Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

After hanging up on Captain Lin’s message, Ruo Manni sat there, repeatedly recalling the moment she first met Li Qixing when she entered the psychic training hall.

With her excellent memory, Ruo Manni clearly remembered that moment. At the time, she didn’t have time to think about the oddities of the situation, but now, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that the unusual sensation she experienced when her gaze met Li Qixing’s was undeniable.

The look he gave her then was one that indicated he had been waiting for her for quite a while.

That was definitely not the gaze of a stranger seeing someone for the first time.

Moreover, after he briefly assessed her appearance, his expression momentarily blanked out, as if he was looking through her to someone else.

At that moment, she distinctly sensed a complex emotion emanating from his eyes. However, he quickly restrained his feelings, and when he looked at her again, there was a hint of fondness in his gaze, as if he were looking at an exceptional junior of his own.

Ruo Manni felt no malice from him. After considering everything, she couldn’t help but speculate that Li Qixing’s intention to take her as his disciple was genuine, but someone must have deliberately recommended her to him, catching his attention.

These speculations were something Ruo Manni could only ponder on her own. Without exposing herself, she couldn’t clarify anything with Captain Lin and his wife.

However, having such a prominent figure take her as a disciple meant that the person with ulterior motives must have put in considerable effort.

Ruo Manni felt somewhat troubled; she didn’t want any involvement with that person who had ulterior motives and naturally didn’t want to owe them a favor.

But looking at the situation, it seemed that the other party also did not wish to bring the matter to light, and she herself didn’t want others to know the details of the past. Therefore, Ruo Manni couldn’t simply go up and refuse.

After thinking it over, she couldn’t come up with a good way to discreetly extricate herself from the current situation. She sat there worrying for a while before she angrily pushed the matter aside.

At that time, her mind wasn’t sharp enough to think of this point. Now that her master has acknowledged her, how could she dare to back out for no reason when it comes to such a prominent figure as her master?

This matter is beyond her current capabilities to unravel anyway. Besides, she is not at a disadvantage; in fact, she has gained significant benefits, so what is there for her to fret about?

She decided to ignore the hidden complexities behind this teacher-student relationship. Ruo Manni hoped she would never need to “know” any of the related “details.”

After putting this matter aside, she turned to her studies. However, just as she clicked on the learning website, Mentor Fang sent her a message.

Mentor Fang had learned from Captain Lin about Ruo Manni’s apprenticeship with a high-level psychic master and expressed her happiness.

“Manni, you should study hard with Colonel Li. Having such a teacher is your fortune, and of course, having such a great disciple is Colonel Li’s fortune as well,” Mentor Fang said in a tone that suggested her child was the best.

“This morning, I received the comprehensive report from your instructor, Dudley. He said you’ve been extremely diligent during these two months of special training. Manni, you’ve done very well and made significant progress. Both your Uncle Lin and I are very proud of you.”

An unspoken feeling of gratitude surged within Ruo Manni’s heart. Captain Lin and his wife were indeed good guardians. Their concern for her was why they took every opportunity to offer her uplifting words.

“Your Highness, I just received information that General Li suddenly went to Xuan Gu First Military Academy this morning,” Hua Deqi reported to the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince was silent for two seconds before asking in a low voice, “What’s the purpose?”

“It seems he had planned this in advance. Someone must have made arrangements with him. He arrived at the psychic training hall ten minutes before Subject 01, and there he personally accepted 01 as his disciple. For this matter, he even called 01’s guardian to get their consent,” Hua Deqi said, a mix of worry and joy in his tone.

The Crown Prince pondered for a while without speaking.

Hua Deqi remained silent for a moment before continuing, “To be honest, General Li is the strongest psychic in the Gus Empire. No one is more suitable than him to be 01’s teacher. Furthermore, with General Li as her backing, she will have the best…”

“For her, Colonel Li is indeed an excellent teacher. But don’t forget Colonel Li’s identity. We must first ensure that General Li has no ulterior motives toward 01. After all, she is still just a child, and her guardian is far away… Has your second aunt shown any unusual activity recently?”

“Well, there have been some oddities. Since Hua Deli got into Xuan Gu First Military Academy, my second aunt has been home noticeably more often and has shown unprecedented concern for Hua Deli, especially asking detailed questions about his special training,” Hua Deqi analyzed.

The two cousins exchanged knowing glances, and the Crown Prince rubbed his forehead, looking weary as he said, “So, it’s very likely she has discovered something.”

“Very likely. Second aunt is not an ordinary person. Ordinary people couldn’t pull off something like this,” Hua Deqi replied, half in sarcasm and half in admiration.

“With the Queen’s intervention, it’s difficult to talk about the events from back then. Over the past ten years, your second aunt has hardly stayed in touch with the Queen, even though they were very close friends before. Given the Queen’s character, if she knew about 01’s identity, she would definitely take action to suppress it,” the Crown Prince said.

“So what should we do? Should we tell Uncle? He probably doesn’t know about this,” Hua Deqi hesitated to ask.

The Crown Prince thought for a moment. “No, I still maintain my original opinion. We shouldn’t let her know about these troubling matters until she comes of age. I will talk to General Li first. If he genuinely wants to take her as a disciple, his identity is also the best protection; the Queen wouldn’t dare to move against Li Qixing.”

When Ruo Manni crawled out of the holographic gaming pod in the morning, she didn’t feel very well. However, after taking a shower in the bathroom, she felt much better.

After eating a little, she went out for a run, just like the day before.

That night, in the war realm, Ruo Manni practiced the whip techniques taught to her by Teacher Li Qixing. After some training, her damage output increased by more than twenty points.

She also attempted to use the psychic power to materialize throwing knives to attack the monsters in the war realm, and surprisingly achieved a damage output of thirty-six points. This was her first attempt at using psychic power to materialize a weapon for an attack, and she didn’t expect to succeed right away with a decent damage output.

However, the consequence of this was that her mana and health points were consumed heavily. She needed to learn to compress and condense her mental energy to reduce consumption, as taught by her teacher, in order to better utilize psychic power for weapon materialization.

Due to the intense tasks in the war realm, her mental energy was depleted significantly, which left Ruo Manni feeling somewhat fatigued after getting out of bed.

However, after Ruo Manni finished her warm-up laps, her mental energy had fully recovered. At that moment, she realized that her source of mental energy had actually expanded slightly.

This made Ruo Manni very excited; she felt that having a powerful mentor was indeed a good thing.

Since her psychic level had advanced to level five, she had always felt that her training was not as smooth as before, as if there was a barrier she couldn’t see or understand, causing her cultivation to stagnate.

Unexpectedly, after receiving targeted guidance from the big shot yesterday, it was as if she had broken through that bottleneck overnight. The barrier had vanished, and her cultivation had improved a little.