I headed for the showers under the watchful eyes of my roommates. After what happened last time, I decided not to tempt fate again.
Denis and Marlon took turns standing guard outside the door while I washed up.
Naturally, I slept through dinner, so by the time breakfast rolled around, I wolfed it down without even tasting it. My roommates were patient about my state—but once I’d partially satisfied my hunger, Marlon started asking questions.
I was a bit surprised that it was Marlon and not Denis.
"Checked the rankings?" Kay asked.
"What’s up?"
"You’re at forty-seventh."
"No way!" I didn’t believe him. And rightly so, because when I checked—
"Already down to fifty-first," I said, earning a bitter sigh from Denis. Seemed like his luck wasn’t much better.
Cultivation Level: 414/2467
Not bad! Two or three more sessions like that, and I’d hit my first bottleneck.
"Had your tea?" Marlon asked.
"Of course."
"Spill it."
He didn’t stop grilling me until he’d squeezed out every important and unimportant detail.
After breakfast, the guys went off to do their own thing, while I stocked up on snacks from the nearest vending machine and went back to my room to rest.
To my surprise, Bao Feng was there.
He lay on his bunk, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Well, look who it is!" I greeted him. "How are you feeling?"
"Don’t pretend you give a damn," Bao shot back.
His voice sounded flat—none of the usual fire behind it.
"Suit yourself."
I dumped my snack haul onto the table, grabbed a bag of crisps, and tossed another one to Bao. It landed on his stomach. That, at least, seemed to snap him out of it. Bao picked up the bag, looked at it—then angrily chucked it back at me.
"I told you—I don’t need fake pity!"
"Oh, I can see that! What you need is a damn therapist!" I shot back.
Bao sprang off his bunk and stepped right up to me.
"I need my job!" he snarled, his eyes burning with anger.
"Whoa!" I raised my hands. "Don’t look at me—I never asked for it. Maybe try asking Liang Shi about that."
"I already asked!"
"Then you should know—it’s a punishment, in a way."
"An interesting punishment!" Bao nearly shouted. "I’ve never seen anyone punished like this! They don’t just hand out assistant positions to random losers!"
I felt my anger flare.
Screw him!
And right at that moment, my alert went off. The marker sat dead centre on my mini-map—right where I was standing.
"Shit!" Whose shift was it right now?
"Calm the hell down, idiot!" I snapped at Bao. "You just triggered an alarm. In a minute, this place is gonna be crawling with your former colleagues. Want to embarrass yourself in front of them?"
Bao’s fists clenched, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"Step back, cadet!" I ordered—just as the door swung open.
Standing in the doorway were Sun Hao and Lin Jiao.
Oh, for fuck’s sake! Just kept getting better and better.
I had a feeling Sun Hao had been on good terms with Bao. At the very least, better terms than he was with me.
"If it weren’t for my injury…" Bao didn’t finish, but he didn’t have to.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Deal with it!" I told him. "Do us both a favour!"
"Sullivan!" Sun Hao snapped at me.
"Shut it, Sun! Your damn bias—" I pointed straight at him, turning to Bao. "He! You may thank him for why I ended up in your spot!"
Bao frowned, trying to piece it together.
Luckily for me, when Bao looked at Sun Hao, the guy visibly tensed and immediately went on the defensive.
"It was random," Sun said quickly.
"What?" Bao Feng didn’t get it.
"How the hell was I supposed to know it’d turn out like this?" Sun protested.
Even Lin Jiao facepalmed and quietly echoed my thoughts.
"Shut up, Sun. Seriously, just stop talking," he said, not even angry, just exasperated. Then he turned to Bao. "Come on, let’s talk before you do something stupid."
As Bao stormed out with Lin Jiao, my alarm faded from the mini-map.
I let out a breath. Then I put the kettle on and opened a pack of sweet biscuit sticks.
I silently spooned Gunpowder tea into the strainer, poured in the boiling water, and settled into my seat, enjoying the sharp, earthy aroma spreading through the room.
I still needed to recover from cultivation, and the less stress—the better. I was also still a little hungry, so carbs were exactly what my body needed. I finished off the first pack of sweet biscuit sticks and poured myself some tea—just before Bao came back.
I glanced at him instinctively.
He met my gaze with a challenge, but said nothing. Fine by me.
I mentally spat in his direction and opened another pack.
Bao didn’t push back either. He just climbed onto his bunk, lay down, and stared at the ceiling—exactly like before.
Very productive.
Then again, I wasn’t doing much better myself.
I took a sip of tea.
He stayed silent.
I bit into another biscuit.
He stayed silent.
I side-eyed him.
No change.
Oh, fantastic. So now we were just going to sit here, pretending the other didn’t exist?
At first, it was kind of funny, but after ten minutes, the silence started to seriously piss me off. I downed the last of my tea, glanced at Bao again—still motionless—and decided I’d had enough. For some reason, this bastard was seriously getting on my nerves.
I wasn’t up for working in the garden or training with my armour’s formation, but I wasn’t about to sit here in this passive-aggressive atmosphere either.
I got up and walked out.
Bao didn’t even flinch.
Good.
I stepped into the corridor, aimless. Plenty of free time, and since training was off the table, I might as well scout the area. Without my armour, going outside wasn’t an option...
Outgoing message to: K. L. Wong
Subject: Break
Content: Any chance I can take a walk outside?
Kate didn’t reply. Instead, she sent me a list of geolocations. The closest one to the dorm was a greenhouse—just a few minutes away.
I adjusted my bearings and headed in that direction, hoping to find something more interesting than Bao’s aggressive silence and my own thoughts about that asshole.
The greenhouse was a massive glass dome, revealing Verdis’ pale morning sky.
A few stars still flickered faintly, their light unfiltered by the thin atmosphere.
I still didn’t fully understand how day and night worked on this moon, but the schedule roughly followed a standard 24-hour cycle.
Inside, the air was warmer, wetter—a sudden transition into another world.
The plants were... alien. Some looked almost normal—short trees with thick foliage, something like vines, shrubs with clusters of tiny white flowers. Others? Others were strange. Some resembled carnivorous flowers with thick, fleshy petals that twitched, as if breathing. Some leaves glowed softly, while others shifted colours in slow pulses, reacting to nearby movement.
I walked slowly, taking it all in.
The air was thick with scents—sweet, herbal, fresh. Now and then, the aromas turned sharp, almost overwhelming. It wasn’t just plants filling the space—there were cadets everywhere, none of them in a hurry. Most of them were second-years. Not surprising. Kate hadn’t picked this place at random. I had a feeling the greenhouse was one of the academy’s top relaxation spots.
And then I spotted a familiar figure. That hairstyle—I knew it.
The tattooed girl from my first day.
The dragon on her neck peeked out just above the collar of her standard-issue jumpsuit. She was standing near a long shelf, lined with small pots of deep blue—almost black—flowers.
I checked my interface.
N. A. Rahman.
As if sensing my gaze, she turned her head. Recognition flickered in her eyes.
"Pervert," she said.
"Exhibitionist," I shot back.
"I was half-unconscious after the capsule!" she snapped.
"And I wasn’t?"
"You literally admitted to staring at my tits!" she said—loud enough for the other cadets to hear.
"You literally shoved them in my face!" I shot back, just as loudly. "Besides, your tattoos curve in an interesting way over there. Never seen anything like it before. Actually…" I added, quieter, "never seen tattooed tits before, period."
"A—" She stopped herself, inhaled deeply, then exhaled, calming down. "Forget it. You weren’t staring at anything just now, were you?"
It was a clear invitation to de-escalate.
I raised my left finger and traced the air just above my collar—where she had her dragon.
"Tattoo," I said. "Hope that doesn’t offend you."
Her eyes locked onto my ring.
Then her gaze dropped, following my hand down.
She stared. Hard.
For a few long seconds, she looked at it so intently that my stomach turned to ice. Seemed like this time, I’d hooked the right fish. And then—
"Ah—!"
She winced sharply, clutching her temple and staggering slightly.
I instinctively took a step toward her, but she steadied herself and stopped me with a gesture.
"Just a migraine! Happens sometimes!" she said, forcing a strained smile.
Her right eye twitched.
"Riiight…" I drawled.
This was suspicious as hell.
What the fuck was I supposed to do? If she was a demon agent, that meant—
There were people around. Some were even watching us. She wouldn’t pull anything in public… right?
But then, why that reaction? Why was she so shaken? Shouldn’t a demon’s agent have better self-control?
"I think we can forget our little misunderstanding," she said quickly, stepping back.
"Uh-huh."
"You should see a doctor," I told her.
"Absolutely! In fact, I’m going right now!"
I almost offered to escort her. Caught myself just in time. The last thing I wanted was to be alone with her.
She turned sharply and disappeared behind the nearest shelf.
I stared after her, thoughts racing. What the hell do I do now? A few curious eyes were still on me, so my first move was to get the hell out of the greenhouse. Then, once I was sure no one was following me, I sent a message to Novak.
Outgoing message: V. Novak
Subject: REACTION!!!
Content: N. A. Rahman!!!
Novak called me instantly.
"Can you talk?" he asked.
"Well…" I hesitated, glanced around, and whispered, "I might be getting a little paranoid."
"Get to me. Now!"
Novak’s voice left no room for argument.