Chapter 17: Never Collide with “Great Fortune”—The Vital Importance of Traffic Safety.

The next morning, the accumulated snow had completely melted, leaving the roads slick and wet, with only a few patches lingering beneath some small trees. Su Yi yawned listlessly as he slung his shoulder bag over his back. Bending down, he tied his shoelaces and turned to Lori Xi, who had been glowing brightly all night in her pristine white tracksuit.

“Today, I’m taking you to school to broaden your horizons. Besides secretly charging yourself a bit, don’t wander off without my permission, and don’t speak unless I’m talking to you. Understood?”

Lori Xi blinked a few times. “Officer, wasn’t the power restored? Why do we need to go to school to recharge?”

“It’s true the power’s back on… but you have to understand, energy here still costs money.”

“Money?”

“Gold coins. Charging consumes gold coins.”

Just talking about this made Su Yi’s heart bleed. In a matter of seconds yesterday, he had learned what it meant to have an electricity meter spin wildly; charging Lori Xi’s chip once had cost him over 500 in electricity fees.

Back in the wasteland, energy was a vague concept to him. Only after arriving on Blue Star and experiencing its quantification system did he understand why the wasteland suffered such shortages. Five hundred coins just to charge a chip was exorbitant.

Better to go to school to charge it and let the principal worry about the bill.

“Ahem—once we’re at school, behave yourself. Don’t overload the school’s power grid.”

After giving a few more reminders, Su Yi opened the apartment door. Lori Xi immediately activated her invisibility mode and silently followed behind him as they walked side by side toward Luocheng High School.

Su Yi had mentioned before that his residence was in a school district, just two streets away from the high school. The high school and middle school were connected, bustling with people coming and going. During peak hours, walking was often faster than driving.

The sound of car horns blaring filled the air. Su Yi glanced around and pointed to the road. “You saw this yesterday. These metal shells are called cars. Essentially, they’re the same as the battlefield vehicles from the wasteland but civilian versions. You can think of them as machines stripped of weapons, used only for transport.”

Lori Xi quickly grasped the concept. A simple explanation was enough for her to understand their purpose.

They moved forward a few steps and arrived at the crosswalk. Su Yi pointed at the traffic light and said again, “I told you yesterday to walk on the left side—wait, right side. From now on, always pay attention to these lights. Only cross when it’s green. Otherwise, you risk getting hit by passing vehicles.”

Green light flickered in Lori Xi’s eyes as she looked at the cars around them, then glanced at herself.

“What are you thinking? You don’t seriously believe you can outrun a car, do you?” Su Yi immediately tapped her on the head, stopping the dangerous thought. “I know these cars’ safety levels usually mean they won’t hit you, but it’s best to avoid trouble.”

“Don’t injure those cars driving properly!”

“Officer, I understand.” Lori Xi lowered her head embarrassedly, ashamed that her officer had guessed her thoughts.

The two of them, one large and one small, stared for a long time at the crosswalk, watching the 99-second seemingly endless countdown of the red light. Their eyes instinctively scanned the surroundings.

“Officer, there are so many people here, and it’s very noisy. If there was an ambush, it would be hard to detect,” Lori Xi warned reflexively.

“No need to worry. This is peaceful Daxia, not the wasteland. No one’s going to take a potshot.”

“B-but… officer, why are you still holding that dagger?”

Lori Xi’s eyes flicked to the small black knife tucked in Su Yi’s sleeve. Ever since they left the apartment and saw the cars, he hadn’t put it away — mirroring her own reactions perfectly.

Startled by the reminder, Su Yi scratched his cheek awkwardly and sheathed the dagger. “Consider this a negative example. Always conceal your weapons so others don’t notice.”

“Alright, the school’s here. From now on, I won’t speak to you. Stay silent.”

“Yes, sir!”

...

It was the busiest time at the high school. In just nine days, final exams would be over, followed by a vacation of more than twenty days — a brief pain for a long period of comfort. For high schoolers who toiled like beasts day in and day out, this was a tremendous joy, at least there was something to look forward to.

Su Yi adjusted the strap of his bag and entered the high school. After the minor incident with the class group chat last night, he encountered several classmates along the way, but no one greeted him. Instead, they all kept their distance, stranger than strangers.

This kind of distance suited them just fine, and Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to explain. Back in the wasteland, people feared him far more deeply than they did now.

Lori Xi remained obedient. Once instructed to remain silent, she made no extra movements, following quietly behind him, blending perfectly into the surroundings.

The classroom building was on the sixth floor — the highest in the school, notoriously called the “Doomsday Tower.” Climbing those stairs was exhausting, and going to the cafeteria during lunch offered no advantage. Only a few of Luocheng’s fastest students could keep pace with the main crowd.

Before traveling to the wasteland, Su Yi would get winded climbing just a few flights. Now, hearing “sixth floor” was nothing; even running up sixty flights three steps at a time wouldn’t leave him gasping.

...

“The radiation level at school is over ten times normal... nothing’s going to happen, right?”

The current radiation level was negligible to someone from the wasteland, no different from usual. But for Blue Star natives, it was like being forced to have continuous CT scans.

Su Yi didn’t understand why the government hadn’t issued alerts, evacuated people, or suspended classes for at least two weeks until the radiation dissipated.

But there was nothing he could do now. Even if he shouted to everyone, “Radiation levels here are too high! You should evacuate!” nobody would believe him — especially with his reputation as a lunatic.

Inside the sixth-floor classroom, students were noisy. Most had arrived early, waiting for class, but few were as punctual as Su Yi, who arrived just five minutes before.

He took the second-to-last seat by the window, set down his backpack, and gave Lori Xi a glance, signaling her to squeeze inside the narrow space and sit on the pile of textbooks.

Luocheng High School didn’t provide lockers, so students left their books in the aisles between desks. Su Yi’s seat was by the wall, next to a wide crevice perfect for the girl to sit unnoticed.

In front of him sat Mu Xiaowei, a hardworking and diligent girl, especially as the college entrance exam approached. She rarely turned around to chat, so there was no fear of exposure.

Yet just as he thought this, Mu Xiaowei suddenly turned her head and fixed him with an unusually intense gaze.

“What’s wrong?” Su Yi felt a pang of guilt. Though he knew Lori Xi was invisible, in his own perspective, there was a living person sitting right beside him.

“Did you do your homework?” the class study committee member asked.