CR CH58

Chapter 58: Probing and Indulgence

What met his eyes was a vast expanse of silver-white. Ling Kongmiao lay on the ground, his silver hair spreading like silk in the light, his pale blue eyes clear and luminous, and his fair skin dusted with a faint, sun-warmed flush.

Jiang Tianji breathed heavily as electric currents coursed across his skin, uncontrollably spreading outward before being forcefully suppressed by Ling Kongmiao’s blue luminescent energy.

The world before him felt both familiar and strange; the side effects of the mental disturbance had yet to fade.

Insecurely, he gripped Ling Kongmiao’s shoulder, his fingertips continuously channeling energy that pricked into the other man’s body. Ling Kongmiao frowned. As he sat up, rich blue energy swirled between them, swallowing the stray flashes of lightning.

Jiang Tianji was in terrible shape; his “domain” had completely collapsed.

The consecutive high-tier mental disturbances had thoroughly shattered that landscape of ruins. Nothing remained in his mental realm, leaving behind only a pitch-black void.

“Wake up,” Ling Kongmiao said, assessing his condition.

Jiang Tianji slowly rose, keeping his head low as he took a few steps back. Ling Kongmiao signaled a gesture of evacuation to the surroundings.

A cordon was set up around them, guarded by several instructors who blocked out part of the inquisitive gazes from the crowd.

Swaying unsteadily, Jiang Tianji fumbled along the wall and slowly sank to one knee.

Ling Kongmiao walked over, bending down. “Get up. We’re leaving…”

“Get lost—!” Jiang Tianji violently shoved his hand away, his breathing ragged as he looked up. “Don’t touch me.”

His eyes were consumed by darkness, a deeper energy surging within him as the power inside his body teetered on the brink of total collapse.

Ling Kongmiao paused for a moment, then held out his hand to Aileen.

“The chip.”

Aileen looked at Jiang Tianji with concern, stepping forward to hand the energy-suppression collar chip to Ling Kongmiao.

“What am I…”

As Ling Kongmiao approached, he heard Jiang Tianji mumble in a low voice.

“You are Jiang Tianji.”

Blue fire silently invaded the youth’s mental domain. Jiang Tianji hung his head quietly, but just as everyone thought the crisis was averted, he launched an attack without warning—the explosive power of his lightning far exceeding normal parameters.

Yet Ling Kongmiao seemed to have anticipated it. Chains erupted from the ground, ruthlessly pinning Jiang Tianji in place. Blue energy swirled within the perimeter, continuously devouring the surging green power.

Jiang Tianji thrashing wildly on the spot as the chains bound his legs, waist, neck, and wrists. He growled like a trapped beast.

“Let… go…”

“Jiang Tianji.”

“I’m not… I’m not!”

Jiang Tianji struggled with all his strength, completely stripped of reason.

“Let go of… me!”

Ling Kongmiao paid no heed, reaching out toward the side of his neck.

The expected pain hit, but Ling Kongmiao didn’t dodge. Holding down the frantic brat with one hand, he channeled his ability to perform emergency mental repair with the other.

Jiang Tianji clamped his teeth viciously onto Ling Kongmiao’s hand. When Ling Kongmiao used his other hand to grip his jaw and force his head up, the youth thrashingly turned his head down and bit his own hand instead. Blood smeared across their skin, making it impossible to tell whose was whose.

His strength exhausted, nothing remained in his chaotic thoughts except sheer fatigue.

Just as the chip was about to sink into his neck, Jiang Tianji suddenly stopped struggling.

Forget it. Let it end here.

When the word “give up” crossed his mind, a strange sense of relief unexpectedly surged from deep within.

Much like his thoroughly shattered mental realm, his willpower had been worn down to almost nothing by exhaustion.

“Ugh… cough, cough!“

Before drowsiness could submerge him, a massive force slammed him against the wall, a sweet metallic taste spreading in his throat.

Jiang Tianji frowned, fumbling for the hand choking his neck. The moment he felt the opponent’s extremely subtle tremor, his consciousness cleared for a brief instant.

A pair of blue eyes filled his vision. In those eyes, where turbulent waves gathered, the first thing he saw was disappointment.

That emotion was so complex that it made Jiang Tianji temporarily forget his own predicament. He saw the other man’s lips move, but in the end, Ling Kongmiao merely released his grip without saying a word, turning and striding away.

Fresh blood dripped down Ling Kongmiao’s fingers, leaving faint spots on the ground.

With his sanity fully restored, his dark-green eyes regained their usual clarity. Jiang Tianji froze on the spot.

“…”

After Ling Kongmiao left in anger, the atmosphere froze, and everyone exchanged uncertain glances.

Once Jiang Tianji collected himself, he slowly crouched down, picked up the chip, and pressed it into the side of his neck.

The collar tailored for S-tier ability users activated, his aggressiveness entirely draining away. Yet he still hadn’t fully recovered his composure, his eyes tracing the direction Ling Kongmiao had left, lost in thought.

A clean handkerchief suddenly appeared in front of him. Tang Min pointed toward the blood on his knuckles and the corner of his mouth.

“Wipe it off first.”

“…Thank you, Instructor.”

Jiang Tianji took it. Seeing the glaring crimson on the cloth after wiping himself, he bit his lip softly.

“Kid, biting isn’t a good habit,” Aileen sighed, patting his shoulder.

“Before being reassigned from the Special Ops to Z01, Captain held a record of going a maximum of one month without shedding blood during missions.”

“Since coming to Z01, he’s been bitten twice already.”

Jiang Tianji said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

Aileen replied, “You should probably say that to him. Who knows where he’s hiding and feeling hurt right now.”

Tang Min leaned over as well. “Mental-type ability users are extremely sensitive. Their pain perception is several times higher than normal people, and the stronger the ability, the more sensitive they are.”

“Your situation is a bit special. You have exceptional combat talent, but your mental force seems to have a congenital flaw. You can’t really be blamed for losing control.” She offered a few words of comfort, her smile carrying a deeper meaning.

“After the Captain got bitten the first time, I advised him to bring a bite guard for your next mental stabilization session. He seemed a bit unhappy back then and said you didn’t need that kind of thing.”

“Even if you don’t trust yourself, someone has always been believing in you.”

Tang Min withdrew her ability, raising her eyes to look at Jiang Tianji.

“A total collapse doesn’t necessarily mean the end—it could also be a new beginning.”

“I can’t enter your mental realm; I can only vaguely sense a few things.”

Jiang Tianji’s throat worked, his voice somewhat hoarse: “Sense?”

“Indeed. For certain high-tier mental types, perception is no different from mind reading,” Tang Min shrugged. “But my ability leans toward mental split, shaping, and regeneration, so I can only perceive some of the most prominent feelings.”

The squads began evacuating in an orderly fashion. Jiang Tianji didn’t speak again, silently following behind the instructors.

To be safe, Aileen placed energy-suppression handcuffs on him.

“Sorry, little guy,” she sighed. “Your innate ability is indeed too strong. Now that the only person who could suppress you is gone, if we had to step in, we’d have to use brute force, which might leave you severely injured. So this is the best we can do for now.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He nodded cooperatively, his face somewhat pale.

“Sister Aileen, what’s over there?” Tang Min’s gaze shifted to a distance.

A group of black-robed figures in strange attire stood there. Their builds were virtually identical, their faces obscured.

“Star Alliance people. That’s their proprietary cloaking technology—I didn’t expect them to show up here.”

Hearing the name of this organization, Jiang Tianji looked up. The black-robed figures happened to be facing his direction, completely still.

It gave him the distinct illusion that they were staring directly at him.

Just as his mind wandered, one of the figures suddenly waved at him.

Jiang Tianji came to a dead stop. Sensing the resistance on the extension chain, Aileen turned back in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

The two instructors had been looking in the direction of the black-robed figures the entire time. That gesture had been so abrupt—there was no way they hadn’t seen it.

“Just now…” Jiang Tianji hesitated before asking, “Didn’t you see that?”

Aileen and Tang Min exchanged glances, looking at him in confusion.

“See what?”

“Nothing. Maybe I saw wrong.”

Jiang Tianji refrained from saying more. When he glanced toward that direction again, he found that they had vanished into thin air.

“…”

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, he walked quietly at the very back of the formation.

“Alright, next you need to undergo repair and energy testing.”

Stepping into the battleship, Aileen escorted him to the medical bay and prepared to leave.

“Ma’am.”

Jiang Tianji suddenly called out to her, his head lowered so that his expression was hidden.

“Under what circumstances do you think a person would indulge someone who is lying?”

“Oh, that…”

Aileen’s eyes flickered. With a smile, she tapped the space between her brows. “If it’s not love, then it must be tolerance.”

“His boundaries are softening for you.”