Interstellar Power Couple
Translator: Leslie
Quality Check: Lala
Editor: Chesh
First Published on Chaleuria
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Chapter 41 Part 1: S-Plus Rank Metal Elemental Abilities
Every single wood element user was protected like invaluable, treasured possessions. The reason Lei Jue had no guards specially assigned to watch over him was that Xiao Zhicheng himself qualified as a chaperone. Otherwise, the Elemental User Council would have long since sent people to protect Lei Jue. So when they heard that Lei Jue had gotten hurt, both the regular people and ability users at the general military academy were astounded. When they heard that Lei Jue was attacked in a moment of vulnerability as he was healing someone, they were furious beyond belief.
What kind of person would abuse someone’s kindness like that!
Xiao Zhicheng waved his hands. He did not seem to wish to elaborate on this. “It happened already, there’s not much point in talking more. We should examine Little Jue to see if there is anything wrong with him first.”
The chairman of the Elemental User Council frowned. “How can we do this? Of course we have to run that medical checkup, but we must also find out who is responsible. Marshal Xiao, you must not let such a matter go by like this. If you think this is inconvenient for you, we, the council, will investigate this.”
Xiao Zhicheng said sheepishly, “Then think of it as you helping me with a favour. Let us not discuss this right now. We’ll talk more once Little Jue has been checked.”
The old director was a long-time acquaintance of Xiao Zhicheng; during the year when Xiao Zhicheng had been poisoned, he would come here every two or three days, which was why they were on relatively good terms with each other in private. When he heard Xiao Zhicheng say those words, he naturally understood why the man felt troubled, so he shot a look toward the chairman of the council. After he had done so, he signaled one of the people under his command to hurry up and see what was wrong with Lei Jue.
Lei Jue was actually perfectly fine; it was just that his mind was now filled with memories that didn’t belong to him. Sometimes, when he recalled one, his head would ache. However, it was fine as long as he did not think about them. But when one acted, they had to go all out and put on a convincing show. Thus, he underwent the checkup in the end.
At this moment, He Ping personally brought over his eldest son and his own precious daughter, and rushed to the military academy. No matter what Xiao Zhicheng thought of this, this apology must be made. Otherwise, not only would they be gossiped about and slandered, if things were to go south they might even face a lawsuit.
He Yunshu had not wanted to come and apologize. When she found out that Lei Jue had gone to the military academy for a physical checkup, she was even more unwilling to meet him. “I think he’s just putting on an act. Isn’t he an A-rank wood elemental user? If he can’t even heal such a small injury, what kind of A-rank wood elemental user is he? He’s clearly just being a two-faced bastard trying to garner pity by going to the hospital. He just can’t stop stirring up trouble.”
He Ping was disappointed by, and frustrated with, his daughter, but he still held some hope that she would come around. “And you still have the nerve to say this! If it weren’t for you, would it have come to this point?!”
“That’s why I refused to be healed by him! My brother’s the one who asked him to heal me anyway, and now you’re blaming me?!” He Yunshu glared at He Jie. “In any case, I won’t apologize. If either of you want to apologize, then you do it!”
“You’re the cause of this! If you don’t apologize later, you cannot refuse the arranged marriage with the Qin family. I’ll be free of a burden if you get married sooner!”
“Dad, how could you!” He Yunshu felt a wave of disgust at the word ‘Qin’. She was so repulsed that she didn’t want to speak any further.
He Jie’s mind was on something else, however. “Dad, what if they’re not there when we go…”
“Even if they aren’t, we still have to let others know that we made the trip.” With that, He Ping pressed his fingers heavily to his forehead.
Once Lei Jue’s checkup was done, the monitor showed that his synapses were extremely active. His headaches may have been caused by this. The director recommended that he should rest more to hasten his recovery, and shouldn’t think about things too hard in the meantime.
Xiao Lingyu carded a hand through Lei Jue’s hair in heartache. “It must be because you’ve been too exhausted lately.”
The old director also knew that Zuo Zihuan had also been poisoned with the same poison as Xiao Zhicheng. Lei Jue must have had a hard time healing the two of them. Hearing Xiao Lingyu’s words, he nodded. “I heard that Marshal Zuo’s condition is stable right now, thanks to Little Jue here.”
Lei Jue immediately activated two-faced mode and smiled warmly, seeming so feeble and kind. “You’re giving me too much credit. Being able to heal others already makes me happy.”
The old director smiled at him, then turned to Xiao Zhicheng to praise Lei Jue for being an understanding child.
Xiao Zhicheng thought to himself that, yes, while Lei Jue was an understanding child, he still kept an angelic face on even when he wrought havoc; no one would suspect him.
“Director, the testing chamber has been prepared,” an assistant said. “Do we proceed to perform the power assessment on Lieutenant Colonel Xiao now?”
In order to make Lei Jue’s ‘injuries’ seem more severe, and also because Xiao Lingyu’s power assessment required some preparation beforehand, Lei Jue was the first one to have his checkup, and it was Xiao Lingyu’s turn now.
The old director looked at Xiao Zhicheng and Xiao Lingyu. When he saw them agree, he nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Isn’t it being done here?” Lei Jue asked.
“No, it’s in another block,” said the director’s assistant. “This building’s stress resistance isn’t enough for this. We have a site built specially for power assessments.”
The place was a fair distance from the military hospital’s treatment area. It was surrounded by a circle of exceptionally sturdy-looking metal nets. Lei Jue and the others boarded a solar-powered buggy once they had exited the place. It took about two minutes before they arrived at the site. Once they arrived, he saw a dome-shaped building with a metal surface. There were two soldiers standing guard outside of it. When they saw that the director and Xiao Zhicheng had brought others with them, they parted off to the sides, one to the left and one to the right. After that, the director had his biometrics scanned and opened the door.
It was after they entered that Lei Jue realized that there were no apparatuses inside the room like he had imagined. The entirety of the room was white like cotton, which softened its appearance. The only two things he could see were a measurement device and a testing chamber. The testing chamber somewhat resembled the ice room in the Zuo residence’s garden. The only difference between them was that the testing chamber was sturdier and had walls that were more transparent than the ice room.
Under the instruction of the director’s assistant, Xiao Lingyu entered the transparent cylindrical testing chamber. It was about three meters high and 1.5 meters in diameter. Xiao Lingyu stood inside and flashed a smile at Lei Jue before he then strapped on something that looked like a helmet. The helmet was black and obscured his eyes. From the outside, Lei Jue could only see the lower half of Xiao Lingyu’s face.
“Dad, what’s this helmet for?”
“In order to bring out the elemental powers lying dormant within them, every single ability user who undergoes the power assessment needs to face their greatest fears,” Xiao Zhicheng said. “The preparations before were for this.”
“Their greatest fears?” Lei Jue wrinkled his forehead. “But isn’t this all fake? You already know this before going in, so what use is there?”
“Little Lei, you underestimate the power of medical technology,” said the old director. “This monitoring room is capable of completely influencing every one of a person’s senses. Anything that is possible to be felt in reality, such as happiness, sadness, pain, suffering… every one of these feelings can be clearly felt. You’ll know in a moment.”
“Then what will Lingyu see?” Lei Jue suddenly had a bad premonition.
“What’s the reason for his sudden activation of his metal elemental powers?” Once the director finished speaking, he silently gazed at the monitoring room.
Lei Jue shouted internally in disgruntlement, F*ck!
Didn’t Xiao Lingyu’s powers suddenly awaken because he was afraid for him? Although he had fainted after that, he still clearly remembered the frantic look Xiao Lingyu had on his face as he cradled Lei Jue in his arms. From what he recalled, Xiao Lingyu had never lost control of himself to this extent, with the exception of the ‘Plan A3’ activation incident.
Right at this moment, Xiao Lingyu moved inside the testing chamber. The testing chamber wasn’t large; Xiao Lingyu could not take two steps without crashing into the high-grade blast walls, so he only made small movements on the spot. Lei Jue assumed that Xiao Lingyu’s mind was still rooted in reality since he knew not to bump into the blast walls.
“Director, are the walls really enough?” Lei Jue was worried. After all, Xiao Lingyu had brought down the entire house during the incident at He Jie’s party.
“Rest assured, the walls have undergone many stress tests. They can definitely hold up to a beating and safely isolate us from him,” said the director with confidence.
Despite that, Xiao Zhicheng still pulled Lei Jue back. “Little Jue, stand here.”
Lei Jue knew at a glance that Xiao Zhicheng didn’t have much confidence in these walls, either. Right at that moment, Xiao Lingyu suddenly turned and looked in his direction. “Little Jue?”
There was no way to hear any sounds from the outside world once you were in, but through the apparatuses, the people outside could still see the situation inside. Lei Jue could hear the franticness and unease in Xiao Lingyu’s cry. Following that, Xiao Lingyu abruptly took a big step in his direction and smacked the perfectly transparent blast walls heavily with his hands. The heavy, battering noises seemed to hammer away at people’s hearts.
Lei Jue’s heart slightly twinged with pain at that and he stole a look at the others.
There were four other people in this room, aside from Xiao Lingyu and him: Xiao Zhicheng, the director of the military hospital, his assistant, and one of the chairmen of the Elemental User Council.
Every one of them was holding their breath as they watched Xiao Lingyu.
Xiao Lingyu had already entered a new landscape. To the people outside, this was simply a power assessment, but to Xiao Lingyu, it was something that was really and truly happening to him.
He saw Lei Jue.