Chapter 713: The Unsettling Training Session

Qinggang’s advanced mental variation training continued, though the atmosphere and content had shifted somewhat.

Originally, this session was meant to address issues with individual soldiers and to review recent setbacks in the progress of the Heaven’s Kingdom Plan in Qinggang, while also sharing some documents recently decrypted by the Moon Eclipse Research Institute to deepen the researchers’ understanding.

However, due to Professor Bai—everyone assumed it was Professor Bai—who began by recounting many terrifying details, both the ability users and researchers felt a creeping sense of panic. Everyone actively pondered over the issues they needed to clarify and discuss, aiming to eventually outline a viable path forward.

Without that direction, merely listening to Professor Bai’s account would have been enough to bring Qinggang’s research work to a halt.

It might even trigger widespread panic.

Moreover, the way the training was arranged caught the observant off guard.

Logically, this session should have separated researchers from ability users.

After all, in his opening remarks Professor Bai had mentioned the shackles faced by ability users. No one could be sure that ability users wouldn’t, in their relentless pursuit of the ultimate goal, choose to hunt down their own kind. From this perspective, ability users were inherently dangerous and should have had further restrictions on their insights into mental variation to reduce the risk.

Yet, after thoughtful consideration, Professor Bai did not agree to that proposal.

“If you try to smother a fire with your hands, you’ll only make it burn fiercer.”

After a moment of contemplation, Professor Bai earnestly told the researchers in Qinggang, “We must be even more cautious at times like these.”

“We and the ability users are not separate groups; we are two sides of the same coin.”

“…”

Many let out a slight sigh of relief upon hearing his decision.

It was him.

After earlier events had sparked strong suspicions, many had feared that the Professor they discussed might be someone else entirely.

Now, hearing these words, they felt at ease.

This was exactly Professor Bai’s style…

Always leaving you with the impression that you understand, yet realizing there was no real substance…

……

……

The advanced training session officially began, and even Lu Xin, who had just returned from the Second Satellite City, rejoined the course.

The session was naturally led by Professor Bai.

Even though he had previously admitted that he only had a half-baked grasp of the content he’d initially delivered—much of it was conjecture—his knowledge and research achievements were undeniably far superior to those of other Qinggang researchers. Moreover, after recent events, it was as if he suddenly understood something, sharing many previously secret documents that had been bound by confidentiality agreements.

The researchers benefited immensely.

The ability users, on the other hand, performed… well, rather averagely.

They found the dry content too laborious, so skipping classes and dozing off during sessions became common.

The researchers were strongly indignant over the ability users snoring in class and even considered expelling them.

Yet some expressed relief at this.

In a private discussion, someone remarked, “Although theoretically there will always be ambitious individuals who, in their bid to enhance their power, abandon the baseline of being human to hunt down ability users from the same group, judging by these ability users’ mental conditions…”

“I have a hunch they’d be more likely to join hands playing cards…”

“…”

The turning point came when Lu Xin began his lecture.

Initially, Professor Bai had mentioned in a notice that there might be some issues, inviting Lu Xin, as the assistant, to share his experience.

But due to changes in this training session, Lu Xin’s role grew unexpectedly.

When researchers, seizing on Professor Bai’s early discussion of the boundaries between ability and the ultimate, mentioned some emerging difficulties in the advancement of the Heaven’s Kingdom Plan, even Professor Bai could not immediately offer a solution. At that moment, Professor Bai looked toward Lu Xin, and many researchers who were in on the inside quickly shifted their attention to him.

Including Doll…

…No, Doll had been watching Lu Xin all along.

After much thought, Lu Xin resolved to fulfill his duty and take the stage.

After an experience with Mom, he finally understood the importance of the mental core and glimpsed the future direction.

Furthermore, as his self-awareness deepened, he already understood some things.

It was as if, back in Heichao City, he could casually offer answers to some of the problems without much effort.

Yet when he deliberately tried to articulate them, they slipped away.

Besides, for him there was another significant hurdle in stepping up to lecture.

He wasn’t very good at public speaking.

He knew many things, but getting them out smoothly was another challenge altogether.

Fortunately, a countermeasure had already been arranged.

Mom had promised to cover that part for him.

Thus, once Lu Xin stepped onto the stage, he casually scanned the audience in the Auditorium and said with a smile, “I don’t really understand.”

“But I’ve found you a teacher.”

“I grew up in an orphanage, but later I was taken in by a family.”

“I’ve always called her Mom and admired her greatly—she knows so much more than I do…”

“…”

He finished his sentence slowly, then turned his gaze to the entrance of the Auditorium.

Swish, swish, swish!

Not only him, but all the researchers—even the ability users who had been dozing off a moment ago—turned their heads to look.

A palpable tension and astonishment spread across everyone’s faces.

Yet there was nothing at the Auditorium’s entrance.

……

……

Lu Xin saw Mom walking in from outside the Auditorium, impeccably dressed with a reserved smile on her face, as she gracefully approached the stage. With a gentle wave of her hand,

“You, get out.”

Her first gesture pointed at Gecko.

Gecko looked baffled, stared blankly at the podium, shrank his head, and scurried out.

Mom then pointed towards the Bear Child huddled behind a computer: “You, get out as well.”

The Bear Child, who had been amused at Gecko’s antics, paused, closed his laptop, and ran off.

Next, Mom pointed at Red Serpent and Godly Woman.

They sat together, looking serious, yet their feet were discreetly kicking back and forth.

“All of you, get out!”

Red Serpent and Godly Woman hesitated, slightly offended, then stood up and left together.

Soon, yelling erupted outside the Auditorium.

Mom then pointed at the Watchdog in the center of the room, who sat as motionless as a statue: “You, get out.”

The Watchdog raised his head slightly, clearly discontented.

Mom said, “Wearing sunglasses, do I not see you nodding off?”

The Watchdog let out a sigh and silently got up to leave.

Mom’s gaze swept over the timid Luohan and other ability users who had sat aside.

When her eyes met Doll’s, Doll obediently stood up.

“You may stay.”

A smile suddenly lit up Mom’s face as she nodded gently, “If you don’t understand, just stay put.”

Doll, slightly surprised, obediently sat back down.

“Listening to what I have to say is a huge benefit for you all.”

Mom slowly picked up a piece of chalk from the podium, then pulled down the blackboard behind her. In a soft voice she addressed the now alert audience in the Auditorium, “Because I won’t be speaking in vague terms—everything is for your use.”

“The first topic is the relationship between religion and political systems.”

She smiled gently and looked toward Professor Bai and Mr. Su, who sat at the back too nervous even to sip, and said,

“One thing you must admit, in a world confronted with the emergence of the Red Moon, religion is an incredibly efficient and effective way to maintain order. That’s why both the Southern Technology Church and the Flame’s Mysterious Organization are a step ahead of you all.”

“But let me add, they are on a dead end—the only lifeline lies with you.”

“This is precisely why I’m willing to share this with you.”

“…”

The entire Auditorium listened in tense silence, as if facing an imminent threat.

They watched as Lu Xin, with a gentle smile on his face, methodically laid out a wealth of previously perplexing issues that had long troubled them, his words stirring their minds like a brewing storm.

Even Han Bing began to feel nervous.

She discreetly glanced at Linda and saw the shock and fear mirrored on her face.

She moved only minimally, fearing she might be kicked out.

Even though she had known some of Lu Xin’s background for a long time, she never imagined that one day he would so candidly and calmly reveal this side of him in front of everyone with no reservations…

Thus, the audience in the Auditorium divided into three groups.

One group was the researchers, captivated by Lu Xin’s lecture and too engrossed to notice anything else as they jotted down notes furiously.

Another group, including Han Bing and the others, was internally shocked, finding the whole scenario both eerie and frightening.

The third group was Doll, who rested his chin in his hands, listening very intently.

……

……

“Professor Bai, can you really understand all these… these things?”

It wasn’t until a pause in the lecture that a shocked researcher quietly asked Professor Bai.

Professor Bai sat calmly in his chair, fell silent for a long moment, then gently nodded as he said, “When facing the unknown, there’s no need to rush for answers.”

“Just remember that the answers will come to us.”

“…”

The researchers beside him were taken aback, nodded in agreement, then relaxed as they turned to discuss among themselves, relieved.

“So it’s not that our level is too low… after all, even Professor Bai doesn’t understand.”