IPC Chapter 21 Part 2: Election

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Leslie

Quality Check: Lala

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 21: Election (Part 2)

The young patient’s hands were already completely recovered. Some of the lighter burns on his body had also gradually disappeared in the end. Lei Jue only removed his hands once no trace of past visible injury could still be seen on the skin. 

“Alright, just check yourself to see if there’s still anything wrong.”

The young man didn’t feel anything that was still wrong. In fact, he felt that he had never been better!

He stood up and took a few steps. “Nope, all my injuries are healed. Thank you.”

Lei Jue waved, then said, “I need to rest for a bit first before I treat the next person.”

It was then that the people who were seated snapped back to reality. The head of the audit committee asked his subordinate, who was checking the results, “Ya Ke, how is it?”

Ya Ke carefully double-checked him and said with barely-contained excitement, “It’s remarkably good; this is the kind of healing capability that only A-ranks have, and… and it doesn’t pale in comparison with Elder Ming’s. It’s practically perfect! I believe that Marshal Xiao’s poisoning will be able to be contained really well.”

Lei Jue spoke at this moment, “I probably can treat one to two more people, I don’t know if you guys…”

There were three more people, after all. If it had been up to Lei Jue, he would want to heal all of them, but just as Xiao Zhicheng said, he should know when to hide his true capabilities. If he invited unnecessary troubles his way, it wouldn’t be something to joke about. Besides, he was the only ability user on Casweir with such an odd power and it would be bad if someone really wanted to study him.

The Audit Panel left the decision-making to those few people again, letting them discuss amongst themselves. However, they ended up having some disagreements. The reason was that the old patient had hoped that Lei Jue would treat the poisoned patient next, while the poisoned one insisted that Lei Jue heal the older patient first.

Lei Jue only knew after listening to them for a time that these guys were special ops and the elder was a captain.

“Captain, I will heal eventually, and I can still move. Those bone injuries you have will inconvenience your movement.” The poisoned youngster was anxious. If it wasn’t for the captain saving him, he wouldn’t have been hit by the giant lamp frame when it toppled. Therefore, this opportunity to be healed should be given to the captain, no matter what.

“No more arguments! When I say you’re being treated first, you’re being treated first.” The captain lowered his voice and glared at him. However, when he turned to face Lei Jue, he was utterly humble. “I apologize for troubling you.”

“It’s no problem.” Lei Jue placed his hands on top of the poisoned youngster’s head while hesitation was still evident on the young man’s face.

When he was healing the first person, Lei Jue still looked to be in fairly good shape. However, when it came to the second person, everyone noticed that his face was beginning to pale and it looked like he was struggling. Despite that, he persevered, healing most of the other’s wounds.

It was then that most of the people in the room began to believe that he did indeed have the ability to maintain Xiao Zhicheng’s health, because the energy that needed to be expended to treat these two was enough to answer the question. Thus they did not make him continue treating others.

But after Lei Jue mulled it over, he still decided to heal that captain while under the audience’s shocked or worried gaze.

He didn’t do it for anything else; Lei Jue was prepared to make him feel a bit better based on his concern for a lower-ranked subordinate.

Lei Jue placed the back of his hand upon that person’s shoulder and healed him for approximately thirty seconds. After that, he looked totally exhausted.

Someone roughly noted it down, and discovered that the green webbing was only maintained for a quarter of the time it was first cast out before it was retracted again.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Zhicheng asked in concern, “Little Jue, how are you feeling? Is it because you’re too tired?”

Lei Jue showed a forced smile, looking even frailer than he was when he first arrived. “Dad, can I now go back first?”

Xiao Zhicheng felt nervous; he was essentially unable to differentiate whether Lei Jue had acting skills that were too convincing, or if he was actually unwell. He had never seen this child with such a poor complexion before, so he hurriedly looked toward the head of parliament and the head of the audit committee and said, “President Li, Leader Chen, this child is probably too tired, could you let him go back to rest?”

The two who were being addressed nodded. The president of parliament then said, “Marshal Xiao, don’t work yourself up. Little Jin, please escort young Mr Lei out to rest.”

Lei Jue said pitifully, “Dear Grandfather, can’t I return home first?”

The president was already over seventy years old, but he still froze for a bit when he was suddenly called “grandfather” by an A-rank wood element user. Following that, a trace of a rare smile appeared on his typically dignified face. “Are you not going to wait for your father?”

Lei Jue bit his lip and his voice dropped several decibels lower, as if he were embarrassed, “Big Brother Lingyu is still waiting for me outside.”

Everyone in the room knew exactly who Xiao Lingyu was. Every one of them was of high status, so it wasn’t unusual for them to have a troublemaker in their family. However, there were very few troublemakers as notorious as Xiao Lingyu.

Leader Chen smiled; he did indeed like this little ability user who looked good and was obedient. “I saw him before I entered the room; he’s in the waiting room.”

Lei Jue thanked him. He was just about to exit the room, but strange changes on his left palm had him standing at the same spot for a few seconds. Following that, he turned around and transferred a sliver of energy to the sole person that he hadn’t treated, saying, “Although I wasn’t able to help you today, this bit of energy should help to speed up your recovery.”

That person had already been overjoyed upon seeing his fellow comrades, who he was close with, recover, but hadn’t imagined that he would receive his concern as well. And so he said sincerely, “Thank you.”

Lei Jue smiled and left to find Xiao Lingyu.

He hadn’t glanced at Lei Jianying even once throughout the entire process. Perhaps it may not have counted as a significant matter, but was there anyone present in the room who wasn’t a wily fox in their own right? With thoughts that had as many twists and turns as theirs, it was impossible for them to be complacent. Furthermore, with Lei Jianying and Yu Fenglai’s attitudes during the wedding, some had already begun imagining outrageous fictional scenarios.

Continuing on from before, after hearing the door open, Xiao Lingyu looked up and saw him. He had been perfectly fine when he first entered, but now his face was stark white. Sweat beaded across his forehead and he looked like he had no strength at all. Xiao Lingyu didn’t think twice before coming to meet him halfway. “What happened? Is it because you’re too tired?”

Lei Jue shook his head. “Hurry and support me.”

He knew in one glance that Lei Jue wasn’t faking this, so Xiao Lingyu simply swept him into a princess carry and walked swiftly to the helipad.

There were still many reporters and press outside. They were originally there to report on the election, but they hadn’t thought that they would get an extra scoop! This group of people instantly circled them as if they were losing their mind to ask what had happened, completely blocking off Xiao Lingyu’s path. Fortunately, Xiao Lingyu was not a weakling. This time, his S-rank physique was put to its best use; he simply jumped right across the crowd of people and landed lightly. The flex nearly blinded Lei Jue; it even made him forget about his discomfort.

Was there any difference between this and a chicken?! Although they couldn’t fly, they could still leap to ‘fly’ short distances!

Fuck!

Lei Jue looked at Xiao Lingyu as if the other was an alien. And then he thought it over again—Xiao Lingyu actually was an alien.

Xiao Lingyu completely didn’t know that he had turned from a human into a fowl, and then into a human again. Instead, he was still worried about Lei Jue. “What is actually going on?”

Lei Jue fished out a venomous spider—one that was local to the Northern Ling District—from his pocket. “If you want to hoodwink so many pairs of eyes, you’ll have to pay a price. His venom is a bit strong, that’s all.”

Xiao Lingyu took a look at the furry little black critter that was leisurely crawling all over Lei Jue’s body. “You… you got a venomous spider to bite yourself?”

Colour had already begun to return to Lei Jue’s face. Upon hearing Xiao Lingyu’s words, he ‘ah’ed indifferently in response. “I spent so much effort just to find this little guy. Thankfully, my endeavors were not wasted.”

XIao Lingyu just didn’t know what to say anymore.

Lei Jue placed a hand on his chin, the other hand playing with the little black furry spider that had crawled onto his shoulder. “It’s so adorable. Do you want to let him kiss you too?”

Xiao Lingyu could feel his scalp going numb. He was actually afraid that Lei Jue would give this little thingy to him, so he simply shut his mouth. Then he realized that at some unknown point, he couldn’t exactly match Lei Jue wit-for-wit anymore. He teased him and all, but Lei Jue’s teasing skills were better than his! He was frequently teased until he was all tongue-tied and bewildered!

The imagination of the press was unmatched. Right now, they had already figured out Xiao Zhicheng’s health condition from the scene of Xiao Lingyu carrying Lei Jue out. It was just that no one dared to carelessly speak about the results. 

In the meeting room, about half an hour later, the voting had already ended. Since the voting was done anonymously through photon computers, the results were released on the spot, which was why the entire voting process was so efficient. The list of the new ministers and deputy ministers for all twenty departments of the nation’s government had already come out, fresh from the oven.

It was just that the results weren’t to the liking of a certain few people.

It wasn’t that Lei Jianying had never thought that he may lose, but never in his dreams did he imagine that he would lose in the first voting round!

He had begun networking a year ago in order to rise up and become the minister and was practically sure that there would be no problem this year. But now, with such a result, how could he not be outraged?!

It was very obvious that Xiao Zhicheng’s faction did not support him at all, otherwise there was no way that he would have such a low number of votes!

Feng Qingyuan was no less furious. He, too, had thought Lei Jianying would be able to rise by rank this year, and this was the biggest reason that he’d supported his son’s match with Lei Haige. He had never once thought that this simpleton would end up making him suffer a loss on top of a loss!

The most infuriating thing was that he still had to congratulate others when he was this enraged!

Xiao Zhicheng gave his congratulations to his friends who’d kept their positions. After that, he confirmed the time for the next meeting, chatted with some colleagues, then left. Feng Qingyuan and Lei Jianying didn’t stay too long, either. It wasn’t because they were like the other people, who wanted to go and have lunch or listen to others congratulate them, but because if they’d continued staying in the conference room, they might have suffered a stroke from holding back their rage!

However, much to their misfortune, since Feng Qingyuan had landed his aircraft by the Xiao family’s fighter jet when he arrived, the two of them bumped into Xiao Zhicheng as they walked there.

Xiao Zhicheng was conversing with the two children who had come to pick him up.

From their conversation, it seemed like Xiao Lingyu had suggested they go home, while Lei Jue had said they should go for a spin before returning.

Seeing them looking so happy and cheerful, Feng Qingyuan went over and smiled as he said, “Congratulations, Marshall Xiao. It seems like there is hope for your recovery.”

Lei Jianying quashed his anger and said, “Little Jue, you’re really making me see you in a new light.”

Lei Jue laughed. “It’s all thanks to Uncle. If you hadn’t let my cousin erase my memories behind the Feng family’s back, and made me come to the Xiao family, then how would I have this life now? Isn’t that correct?” With those words, he shot a meaningful look at Feng Qingyuan. That look was filled with too much “sadness” and “regret”.

Feng Qingyuan had practically shifted his gaze the moment those words fell. He stared at Lei Jianying, as if to ask, ‘Is what he said true?!’

It was human nature. It was the same terrible outcome, but the feeling when it was your choice was completely different compared to a choice that someone manipulated and forced onto you. When it came to the former, you may feel depressed about it, but you would let it go since you couldn’t just let yourself hang onto it forever. However, when it came to the latter, then of course you would loathe the manipulator, because you couldn’t help but think that if the other party hadn’t plotted against you, you might have achieved a favourable outcome.

In reality, if Feng Qingyuan had thought it over properly, he would have been able to guess that as long as Lei Jianying was not a moron, he would never have given away someone with an A-rank wood ability. This is because the best thing to do when there was such a person in the family was to let them remain in the family. However, Lei Jue’s move had blindsided him, so much so that he couldn’t help but overthink.

Lei Jue sat in the aircraft. Whenever he recalled that suspicious look on Feng Qingyuan’s face, his heart felt a sense of glee.

It all boiled down to one thing in the end—since Lei Jianying and Lei Haige had stirred the pot, they should reap what they sow.

Seeing Lei Jue’s expression, which was one of nonchalance and flippantness, Lei Jue laughed and shook his head. “Aren’t you worried that Lei Jianying and Lei Haige would get desperate and activate ‘Plan A3’ to put you in your place?”

Lei Jue could not battle against the jet lag anymore; he felt sleepy, so he closed his eyes. “I’d be troubled if they didn’t.”

‘Plan A3’ was a boil. Once it had been popped, you only needed to apply some medication and it would heal. It would only be truly disgusting if you left it just as it was. Either way, even a nitwit knew that this thing would eventually activate.

With their actions, however, Lei Jianying probably couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

Lei Jue’s guess was right; the first thing Lei Jianying did upon boarding the aircraft was to contact a person called ‘Li’, and in a few mere seconds, that person established holographic communications with him. It was none other than the primary doctor that went missing for days after he had implanted ‘Plan A3’ into Lei Jue.