Chapter 71

The two of them squared off in the hallway, trading icy remarks like a couple in the middle of a row. The guards on duty didn't so much as flinch, their gazes never straying.

Ming Yu pressed a hand to her forehead, unsure why she was even arguing with Wu Ying. Had she always been this irritating? Ming Yu couldn't recall—they hadn't spent much time together.

She turned and walked away, and Wu Ying immediately followed, her tone softening. Her mouth never stopped. When Ming Yu wouldn't speak, Wu Ying resorted to wild guesses, just to be a nuisance.

Someone had to give in. For the sake of peace and quiet, Ming Yu briefly outlined the treatment plan.

That night, Wu Ying slept terribly. She didn't trust the plan at all. Using stimulants to force Asher's brain awake wouldn't solve the problem—it would only add to the strain on his mind. She disagreed.

But her opinion carried no weight. When she'd voiced her objections, Ming Yu had only looked up coolly and asked if she had a better idea. If she did, would she even be standing here? All she could do was trust the doctors.

Too anxious to sleep, Wu Ying pulled up Dr. Vido's credentials on her Light Brain. He seemed reliable. Staring at the endless list of honors after his name, she finally managed to ease a little of her worry.

Just a little.

Something in her chest felt off-kilter, a chaotic sense of dread. Every time she thought of Asher lying unconscious, she was hit by a wave of absurdity, anxiety, and pain.

Mental power surges—what did that mean? The Light Brain surfaced some terrifying terms, all of them closely tied to death.

That same evening, Asher's mental power began to decline. The medical team convened for an emergency meeting and ultimately agreed that tonight was the optimal window for treatment.

"Ma'am, should we inform Mrs. Wu?"

Ming Yu paused mid-motion. The mere mention of her made Ming Yu's head ache, as if the buzzing in her ears hadn't faded at all.

"No. She's too noisy."

Soon after, Ming Yu and Dr. Vido's medical team gathered at the door. This treatment was critical. If Asher's mental power kept surging, the consequences would be impossible to predict—they had to act fast.

In the monitoring room, the freshly prepared medication dripped slowly through the IV line into Asher's body. Ming Yu, Vido, and his entire medical team, clad in thick protective suits, stood outside the door. The display at the entrance fed back every piece of data from inside the room in real time, and they were ready to enter at a moment's notice—even if Asher's mental power attacked them.

Vido didn't even dare blink. He stared fixedly at the display, his pressed lips betraying a hint of emotion. Beneath that calm surface, Vido felt a thrill he could barely contain. After being stimulated, the mental power had grown again. Asher's level had already reached the highest in the Federation. What came after that growth? Perhaps mental power itself was capable of growth. Perhaps this was the emergence of a condition for its expansion...

Of course, his primary duty was to treat the Commander. He believed that once the Commander woke up, he would agree to his research.

Ming Yu could roughly sense what was on his mind, but she didn't see a problem with it. As a fellow researcher, their passion for research and experimentation was exactly the same.

Of course, Ming Yu was even more certain that Vido knew his limits. She turned her head slightly to look at him. Fine beads of sweat had broken out across Vido's deeply lined forehead, and his breathing was so shallow it was almost inaudible.

Everyone's eyes were locked on the display, afraid that a moment's distraction would cause something terrible to happen.

"There's a change!"

The stimulant was taking effect. They had controlled the dosage carefully, increasing it little by little, probing for the critical threshold.

Now, that threshold had appeared. The Commander's brain region was beginning to awaken. That flat, steady line started to ripple.

Vido immediately ordered them to stop the infusion of the stimulant and wait for a reaction.

The next second, the mental power monitor shorted out. The line representing the mental power value vanished from the display in an instant. Everyone's heart clenched, and they all turned to look at Vido and Ming Yu at the front.

"What do we do?"

"Should we activate the backup plan and abort the treatment?"

Vido raised a hand to quiet them. "Wait. Ma'am, trust me—the Commander's brain region is gradually waking up." The situation hadn't reached its worst point yet. Asher's brain activity was slowly recovering. All they needed was a little more time.

"But the Commander's mental power seems even more—"

"But his mental power isn't attacking him. Wait a little longer."

This was a gamble—a gamble on a possibility.

Ming Yu clenched her fists, her expression grim. She hadn't missed the words of the people behind her. Every one of them stabbed into her chest like a knife, but she had to hold steady. Only by staying steady could the treatment plan work its full effect.

"Dr. Vido, ma'am, we can't gamble with the Commander. Three minutes. If there's no effect in three minutes, the plan must be aborted."

The speaker was a military doctor. Beside him stood Wei Li'an. If anything endangered the Commander during the treatment, he would step in to stop it.

"Fine."

Time stretched endlessly, second by second. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the display. Another monitoring instrument went into failure!

Three minutes—it was slow, and it was fast.

"Cough, cough..."

!!

"The Commander is awake?!"

Wei Li'an recognized Asher's voice almost instantly. But the mental power monitor was out of commission—they had no way of knowing what was happening inside the monitoring room. If they barged in blindly, they might get attacked.

"I can go in."

Wei Li'an's hoarse, low voice rang out. He stepped to the front, looking ready to go in at any moment.

No—he was going in. The door to the monitoring room opened, and Wei Li'an walked in without hesitation. The thick protective suit hit the floor with a heavy thud.

Through his protective mask, Wei Li'an looked ahead. He took a few steps forward, and the hospital bed came into view. At the same time, he saw someone on the bed moving!

"Commander!"

Wei Li'an quickly mustered every muscle in his body to push the heavy suit forward, sprinting toward the bed. The moment he got close, Asher's mental power pierced through the protective suit and struck him. "Ah—" Wei Li'an's head split with pain, and he crumpled to the floor beside the bed.

"Commander, it's me. Wei Li'an."

He forced the words out, his hands braced on the ground. His entire body was pinned down, Asher's mental power pressing over him like a solid weight.

Wei Li'an? Asher blinked slowly, as if it took an eternity for him to register who this person was. His confidant. A man he could trust.

His mental power sensed that there were more people nearby and a great many instruments emitting unknown signals. Asher withdrew his mental pressure from Wei Li'an.

He was too tired. His brain was like a machine that had worked for too long—even a single turn cost an enormous price. His body felt as heavy as shackles.

Wei Li'an struggled to his feet, shuffling step by step to the bedside. Asher was encased in the equipment, his brows slightly furrowed, his eyes closed. Wei Li'an's heart jumped—for a second, he thought the Commander had passed out again.

"What's going on? As far as I remember, there was nothing special about that battle last night." His voice was faint. His vocal cords were just waking from a long sleep, barely strong enough to hold up the words.

Wei Li'an quickly began analyzing what had happened. Just then, the communicator on his belt crackled—it was Vido from outside. "The Commander likely has amnesia. Colonel Wei, if you could determine the scope and extent of the memory loss, and if possible, communicate with him not to damage the equipment."

They needed the instruments to analyze Asher's current condition. The display showed several more instruments still disconnected, which meant the mental power inside the room remained uncontained.

Wei Li'an asked bluntly, "Commander, what date is it in your memory right now?"

Sensing that something was wrong, Asher opened his eyes. His dark pupils were half-exposed, his gaze hollow as he stared at the ceiling. He spoke a date: December 5th, 1893 in the Era Calendar—the time two years ago when he had been stationed on Alpha Star.

Wei Li'an told him the current date, then relayed the doctor's instructions. By the time he was done, Asher had silently drifted back into sleep. But the situation was better than before. He'd only fallen into unconsciousness from sheer exhaustion; now, all they needed was to replenish his nutrients.

Outside the door, the tension that had been gripping Ming Yu's heart finally eased. No one knew that the moment the display had gone dark in one section, she had nearly suffocated.

Thankfully, it had worked.

Ming Yu flexed her stiff wrists, a trace of a smile appearing in her eyes. She turned to Dr. Vido and expressed her gratitude. If he hadn't held firm, the treatment plan wouldn't have gone through smoothly.

Thinking about Asher's current state, she began to consider the next steps. Asher had woken up—now the matters that needed facing had to be put on the agenda. Amnesia wasn't a big deal. His achievements wouldn't be erased just because he had lost his memory.

"Send someone to Asher's villa on Alpha Star to bring back all the important documents from the last two years. Also, the people assigned to crack the terminals of Meng Ke and Asher must speed things up."

Ming Yu lowered her gaze, rolling her index finger and thumb together back and forth. She changed her mind—military classified materials weren't something she could just send someone to retrieve. "Contact Da Li. Have him handle it."

Behind her, Vido and the rest of the doctors were deep in a heated discussion over Asher's data, each one apparently holding a unique opinion. Only Vido himself watched the display in silence. Most of the instruments that had been blocked by mental power had recovered, except for the one monitoring Asher's mental power threshold. That one might be completely dead.

Vido cut off the others. Asher had woken briefly and then entered another period of dormancy. Now was the time to get all the restorative agents and nutrient fluids in, and follow-up repair plans had to be drawn up as well.

Ming Yu nodded. "I'll leave it to all of you."

After everything was settled, the night was just beginning to lighten. Ming Yu stood by the window, looking into the distance. She didn't rest. She wrote up a concise report on Asher's current condition and sent it to Abner.

It had been a sleepless night, but at least it came with some good news.

For Wu Ying, though, that sleepless night had been an absolute nightmare. Before going to bed, she had been too anxious about Asher to sleep, flitting across medical websites like an ant, trying to find some shred of comfort. She shouldn't have stayed up so late—then she wouldn't have gotten that call from Xia Ji. Yes, the same one who had swapped experiment tasks with her. And then she wouldn't have learned that the alien plant she had been responsible for had died, under unclear circumstances.

A thunderbolt out of the blue. Before Wu Ying could even figure out where to start asking questions, the voice on the other end just tossed out—he wasn't swapping experiment tasks anymore. He wasn't handling the alien plant. It was already her problem now. Then, with a click, he hung up. Wu Ying was so stunned she wanted to start cursing. What kind of person was this? He wouldn't even explain the situation clearly before trying to dump the blame on her.

Wu Ying knew perfectly well that the alien plant had been healthy and lively before she left—it had even attacked people. How could it die just a few days after she was gone? If it died after she left, what did that have to do with her? And what was all this about him not handling it anymore? The task swap had been signed and reported to the college—that counted for something. How could it just not count?

Wu Ying confronted him, but he only shot back, "That alien plant was yours from the start. Do you think you can dodge the responsibility? Whatever. Worst case, I'll report you to the school for cheating to earn credits."

Damn it, hadn't they agreed on this before? Now that something had gone wrong, he was threatening to report her! The teacher had even said it was fine. Now he was saying he'd report it—wasn't he afraid the teacher would be angry?

Wu Ying tried to break the situation down for him piece by piece. Maybe there was still a way to salvage the alien plant... "Ugh, this idiot won't even reply to messages or answer calls!"

She was completely unable to sleep now. She lay in bed researching until the middle of the night, and the next morning, she contacted Professor Lucia early. She wasn't sure if the professor was aware of the situation, but it was clear that Xia Ji's actions would cause problems even if Wu Ying and the professor ended up fine in the end. A first case in the entire college—no professor would want to deal with that.

Lucia had been enjoying a leisurely breakfast when she woke up, and Wu Ying's call ruined every bit of her good mood. She wanted to ask: why did this group have so many problems?

"Your group didn't report any issues today. Xia Ji, you say? If he wants to file a report, he'd better do it quickly—I can begin an investigation at any time. But that's where it ends." Lucia said stiffly. She had no idea what Wu Ying's goal was in calling, but either way, she wasn't going to waste any more time on them.

Great. So the professor wasn't going to help.

After the call ended, Wu Ying collapsed on her bed. Her head, after staying up all night, was no longer capable of handling something this complicated. She rubbed her temples hard, trying to relieve the pressure, but the more she rubbed, the worse it hurt.

The professor didn't care, but Wu Ying couldn't afford not to. If Xia Ji really did report her, the first thing at stake was her vacation—it would be completely ruined. She'd have to cooperate with the investigation, and who knows what would happen. If the investigation dragged on, would her experiment task even be finished on time? She didn't know. If the investigation impacted the experiment, she might not get the credits she needed. More importantly—what if the investigation lasted a long time? What if the review process shut down her graduation assessment from the start? She was terrified that this report would affect her graduation.

Her mind was a mess. She had no clue how to solve this. She thought about asking Su Yi to go check things out for her, but everyone was busy—Su Yi especially. She had too many things on her plate. As for the others, Huo Lin and Cynthia were probably already at their limit just trying to finish their own experiment tasks.

Wu Ying was so furious she pounded the bed. She forced herself to calm down and immediately had Jiujiu book her a ticket. She had to go back and see for herself. Asher had Ming Yu watching over him, but her experiment credits were hanging by a thread.

She quickly packed her things, grabbed Jiujiu, and left the family ward.

Upstairs, Ming Yu saw Wu Ying rushing in and assumed she had already heard about last night. She was just thinking about how to explain why she hadn't told her.

"Mrs. Ming, something urgent came up with my lab course. I need to go handle it first. I'll have to rely on you to take care of things here. I've got a flight soon—I'll be back as quickly as I can. If anything happens with Asher, just let me know."

Ming Yu hadn't expected that to be the reason. She swallowed the words in her throat. "Mm." Just as well—it saved her the trouble of explaining. As for telling Wu Ying about Asher's condition, Ming Yu didn't see the need.

On the way, Wu Ying kept reviewing the old records. The alien plant had been her responsibility since the start of the experiment, and the data had always been normal. Since she didn't know who from the group would be tending it on the day she left and the day after, she had specifically asked Cynthia to help fertilize it. But when Cynthia went, someone was already there fertilizing it, so she just took a photo for Wu Ying.

Xia Ji still wasn't replying to messages. Wu Ying contacted the other group members, but they all said they didn't really understand the situation and didn't want to get involved. Not their business, not their problem. As long as their own tasks were fine, they were happy. They didn't want to get dragged into the mess between Wu Ying and Xia Ji.

Wu Ying let out a heavy breath, leaned back in her seat, and slowly closed her eyes. What a mess.

Meanwhile, after Wu Ying left, Ming Yu went about her usual business, with one addition: she made more frequent visits to the monitoring room to check on Asher.

The re-sedated Asher's mental power was in much better shape than before, but there were still occasional episodes of it being out of control. Vido believed this was because Asher's brain region was currently bearing too heavy a load, which was causing the phenomenon. With continued medication, it would gradually recover over time.

He slept for two days. In that time, Wu Ying crossed several planets and made it to the experimental base, confronting Xia Ji face to face. She pulled the base's surveillance footage, then investigated the cause of the alien plant's death. Fortunately, it wasn't hard—it had just been over-fertilized, and then a mild agent had been applied, which had probably provoked the plant into attacking.

In the end, Wu Ying smiled as she slapped a pile of evidence down in front of Xia Ji and asked him, are you sure you want to report me? She didn't have time to waste on him.

Xia Ji hadn't expected her to be this thorough. He stammered, "I never said I definitely wanted to report you. Just help me resolve the alien plant's death and we're good."

"Then why didn't you answer my calls? You refused to communicate, and now you want my help?"

This guy was genuinely insane. But once Wu Ying arrived at the base, he latched right onto her. Xia Ji stuck to her like a shameless leech. If his experiment task failed, he wouldn't get his credits—and he was determined she'd lose hers too.

"This guy's insane! Isn't this extortion? Wu Ying, how can you just take this abuse?"

At lunch, Cynthia was so angry she was practically fuming, in sharp contrast to the lighthearted Huo Lin. "She's not just taking it—she's actually obediently getting ready to help him."

"What else am I supposed to do? Let him actually report me?"

"Just let him! You have all the evidence you need. Why should you be threatened by him?"

Su Yi, holding a tablet, looked up to speak on Wu Ying's behalf. "The college takes reports very seriously. Wu Ying's graduation assessment is equally strict on this matter. If she's reported, she'll face a double review. It'll cost her time and energy. With everything else she has to handle, she might not make the graduation assessment deadline."

Exactly. That was the crux of it. Over the past few days, Wu Ying had already looked into the matter thoroughly. The qualification review for the graduation assessment was different from a regular college review. Wu Ying didn't dare gamble on it. She had to graduate this year.

"So infuriating!"

Cynthia plopped down angrily, glanced at Wu Ying, then at Huo Lin, and declared fiercely, "Fine. You help him. Leave the rest to me. Messing with my friend—this guy's asking for it."

"Call me if you need backup." Huo Lin gave a knowing nod.

Wu Ying looked at the two of them, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Just... go easy on him." She was angry too.

She busied herself cleaning up the mess while keeping an eye on Asher's condition. She was worried that so-called stimulation treatment might have done something to him. Unfortunately, Ming Yu rarely replied to her.