Chapter 16

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Not particularly concerned that Bai Lianhua decided to daydream right in front of him, Jian Yiguang continues, “then you’ve already heard about my story up to now, what do you think?”

Bai Lianhua “…”

Emm… I’m amazed Mr. antagonist, are you actively asking for praise and approval?

Then what else could he do but comply. Bai Lianhua asserts how amazing and great he turned out to be.

He isn’t insincere either. He really did get impressed by Jian Yiguang.

Before he left the world, they were going with the route of the moving teenage drama. It was about how a person who was hurt by the cruelties of reality got healed up by a gentle white lotus. When he left, though, Jian Yiguang’s plotline suddenly changed and he put up a solo act of an inspirational rebellious legend. There’s the setup with patiently waiting for opportunity, the classic scene of rising to prominence, with a great happily-ever-after face-slapping, crisp and clear, as the finale. It couldn’t have gone any better, could it? It’s practically a textbook example of inspiring confidence.

——If this trend could be kept and no wild plot twists were to follow then it would be better.

Bai Lianhua can’t help but pray so.

Jian Yiguang chuckles, the implication unknown, “mm? So that’s what you think? Good… I hope you continue to think so into the future.”

Bai Lianhua tries to control himself from shuddering from every single smile the antagonist shows.

Shit. Jian Yiguang looks so rational and normal from top to bottom, so why is he feeling chills going down his back?

Mm, maybe it’s because the system informed him beforehand that the antagonist would be acting up, so he is getting jumpy?

The system objects, “no, host, you must believe your small animal-like instinct!”

… You’re the small animal! What kind of messed up metaphor was that! Bai Lianhua starts regretting unblocking the system.

Jian Yiguang retracts his gaze on Bai Lianhua, and covers the folder with psychic power indifferently. Taking out the file, he switches to official business——For example that shocking way Bai Lianhua decided to appear in front of everyone.

“While we may know each other, there’s still the necessary procedures we need to go through, do you mind?”

“No. Just do what you need to.” Bai Lianhua shakes his head, then adds, “but to be honest I don’t know what that was myself.” It’s all the system’s fault, he’s innocent.

“How many times has this occurred to your physical body?”

“It’s my first time.”

Jian Yiguang then continues asking Bai Lianhua questions. Some Bai Lianhua answers honestly, others he made up. Not even Bai Lianhua himself knows what he’s really talking about for those.

But he tries his best to tend to a scenario where he’s not suddenly appearing, but he’s always been there, except he can be seen sometimes and not other times. He tries to make Jian Yiguang believe that this so-called shocking incident is only the weird invisibility effect deactivating on its own again.

To unconsciously hide oneself with psychic strength to effectively achieve invisibility sounds much more plausible than something like materialising with psychic power, and sounds much less jaw-dropping too.

And Bai Lianhua can recall that this skill is already widespread in other spacefaring worlds, used for concealing the physical form of the mechanical exoskeleton to confuse the enemies. It is highly practical… It’s just the technological level of this world lagging behind and no one has begun investigating this.

Most importantly, materialising a mental projection into a body is something only the system can do. No matter how much it’s studied it won’t work. He can’t reproduce it either. Using psychic power to conceal oneself, however, while he only knew the method on paper without having used it, but with his SS+ psychic strength, he’ll be able to succeed one way or another.

Then, if the research required, he could just act as if he reproduced the effect after having failed many times.

Even if he only knew that such a thing was possible without knowing the theory, if it was Jian Yiguang, then him proposing such a line of thought would probably allow the genius to come up with a whole complete set of results through that sooner or later.

This would have been another achievement to add to his formidable résumé.

Yet Bai Lianhua is headed for disappointment. Jian Yiguang only reacted with a nod.

While Bai Lianhua can’t read his expression, he feels like Jian Yiguang is intrigued but that’s it. He’s not at all moved beyond that.

… Why?

——Or maybe he’s wrong, because Jian Yiguang got up and pulled out lots of machinery in line with procedure the next moment, preparing to test and acquire data from his body.

Looking at all those machines with their odd shapes and forms, Bai Lianhua, who was weirdly confident that experiments wouldn’t be too bad goes trembling immediately, feeling frightened.

Yes, even if he knows Jian Yiguang probably wouldn’t hurt him, he’ll still feel an irrational fear facing these things… To be honest, just being the participant here already makes him feel this way, so Bai Lianhua can’t imagine how helpless the young Jian Yiguang must have felt when he was still but a teenager.

So looking at Jian Yiguang who looks quite in control of everything, he really gets a feel for how imposing our antagonist is——Does he not have a psychological trauma? If it’s anyone else, they might not ever touch any machinery like this ever again, let alone operate them.

Noticing Bai Lianhua’s expression, Jian Yiguang raises his brows and soothes him, “don’t worry, it won’t hurt. I’ve tested them on myself thousands of times. I know how to obtain data without you feeling discomfort.”

While the tone is gentle, Bai Lianhua is touched as he continues to feel scared.

It’s probably a habit by now, but when testing, Bai Lianhua unconsciously held back… Until he left this world the last time around, he’s never exposed the fact that he had SS+ psychic strength.

And seeing the S-grade psychic strength on the display, Jian Yiguang shows a faint smile.

“I’ve guessed it as soon as you appeared, but I did need to see it to feel relieved… Your psychic power is back.”

Bai Lianhua pretends to be spooked and blows, “eh? What? My psychic power is back…? What do you mean, hasn’t it always been there?”

Jian Yiguang looks unconvinced, “really?”

“Really really.” Bai Lianhua is not confident and is a bit dejected because his acting was overdramatic just now. He doesn’t let his lie up, though.

Sigh. Can Jian Yiguang be trusted at this point?

Before he left, he did imply Jian Yiguang in a really roundabout way that it’s possible to heal the hidden damages to his psychic power… He didn’t even imagine he’d be returning to the world then. Just returning is fine, but now his psychic power is also back. This isn’t easy to explain.

The best case scenario is that Jian Yiguang doesn’t know about it… Huh, wait, isn’t he doing a good thing here? Why must he try to cover it up? Even if Jian Yiguang knows about it, he should be thanking him. He would have been biting the hand that feeds if he wanted to cut him up for study!

Jian Yiguang looks at Bai Lianhua who’s working hard to keep a straight face and is so nervous his body is stiffened, and lets the topic go for now.

——It’s fine if he wants to deny it. It’s not yet time to confront it.

“But it’s incorrect. Still incorrect.” Touching the measurement shown on the machine, “you don’t have to pretend in front of me… I know your psychic strength isn’t that different from mine.”

“If you only had S-grade psychic strength, how could you have saved me under the heavy defence and intense surveillance of the institute? I knew about it already.”

… Yes, you do, so couldn’t you have said nothing? Well, there’s an SSS-grade Jian Yiguang in front of him, so it’s probably fine for him to be exposed.

Bai Lianhua unwillingly nods as he can’t conceal it, “yes, my psychic strength is SS+.”

Bai Lianhua tries to explain himself, “I’m just worried this thing will break.” Before, this machinery showed SS+ at most. That machine Jian Yiguang was allocated was specifically designed back in the institute.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Since I came back here, I’ve raised the limit of all testing equipment to SSS-grade.”

Bai Lianhua takes the machine again and stops constraining himself. The S-grade reading jumps and turns into SS+.

Bai Lianhua makes an “oh” in an unenergetic tone.

He’s even come up with an explanation for why he hid his psychic strength, but Jian Yiguang doesn’t ask.

Sigh. He’s bored.

Jian Yiguang looks with interest at the expression on which Bai Lianhua’s emotions are practically written down in words, saying, “you’re bummed I’m not asking you why?”

Bai Lianhua nods obediently.

“It’s not a meaningful question to ask, really. A psychic strength too high is an original sin. If you went public with it, you might have been accompanying me in being stuck inside the laboratories without freedom.”

“I thought you saved me because you felt that we were the same.”

“We’re the same, aren’t we?”

Bai Lianhua counters in his mind, nah, it’s just my mission.

Mr. antagonist, you’re making yourself moved way too easily!

…

So Bai Lianhua is staying in the institute for now.

He’s eating well and sleeping well in the institute. There’s a living area behind the door at the back of the study with everything he needs. He is quite free to do what he wants, and is even allowed partial access onto the celestial Internet.

Bai Lianhua has logged onto it once, and he saw that there were quite a few people still following the news of his shocking appearance a few days ago, and the discussion isn’t died down completely yet——And, because there’s news that Mr. Jian Yiguang has taken over this research project, the discussion is even renewed, so he feels a bit sulky about that.

All in all, though, this level of treatment is already way more humane than before. Even the time allocated to studying him is limited, and it must be observed so that the participant isn’t tired out.

Bai Lianhua has also looked up information and participants are paid as well. Short-term studies pay all at once at the end, and there are regular payments for long-term studies.

In any case, if they hear that they’re being invited to be a participant in a study, the public in this world wouldn’t be particularly afraid. There are even people that base their livelihood on this.

These are all fascinating to learn.

Though, the one problem is that the only person he can ever see day in, day out is Jian Yiguang alone.

Even if he’s in as public a location as the institute, he feels as if he’s under house arrest.

Where are the other staff members? Where’re the assistants to his research? This is neither appropriate nor observant of the conventions. Each research topic should have a whole team.

Bai Lianhua tries his best to tolerate, and even if that sentence of asking if he’s trapping him in the little black house is already on the tongue of his tip, he still holds it back. He’s cowardly, and he isn’t brave enough to say it.

Author’s notes: Hmm. The antagonist that is doing his best to suppress his nature will probably blow up next chapter~ [Looking at plot outline]

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