Chapter 36: He Could Never Guess I Was Following Him

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“Su Yi, I’ve finished the exercise books I bought not long ago. Could you accompany me to the bookstore?”

Su Yi had just stepped into the neighboring classroom when he ran into Mu Xiaowei, who had returned after handing in her classwork. The girl seemed completely unaware of the silence and strange atmosphere among the boys in the room. She trotted inside, slung her little brown bear backpack over her shoulders, and came to stand beside him.

Her acting was already remarkably good. The moment she left the classroom, she had smiled and cast him a sidelong glance. As she spoke, her eyes kept darting away, and she hid her face beneath her fluffy bangs.

“Is she hinting that we should look out for each other later? She’s making it look so natural.”

Su Yi studied the girl’s finely sculpted profile and nodded. He felt that his own acting was already good enough, yet even he would have found it difficult to be this natural and fluent.

She looked no different from a high school girl caught up in love.

It was truly frightening. Su Yi felt he still needed to refine his skills. If he really had to confront Mu Xiaowei face-to-face and lay everything on the table one day, he would definitely have to ask her for advice on acting.

They walked all the way out of school.

Today was the finest weather since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. The entire day was warm and comfortable, with gentle sunlight—an uncommon sight in this bitterly cold season.

Weather like this made people want to wander outside, stroll through the streets, and browse the shops. Of course, it would have been even better if that persistent shadow behind them were not there…

A trace of murderous intent crept into Su Yi’s eyes. Just then, Luo Lixi came sprinting up and darted in front of him, raising a piece of cardboard.

“Commander, something is very wrong in the vicinity. I feel as though someone is watching us.”

The cardboard vanished along with Luo Lixi when she concealed herself, but Su Yi’s vision was far beyond that of an ordinary person. With the aid of his perception, he could still see her perfectly.

As expected of one of our Swordbearers. She noticed it too.

To avoid giving himself away, Su Yi merely nodded and brushed past the girl. He had noticed the man behind them ever since they left the school: he wore a white mask and a plain light-green hooded sweatshirt, and had maintained a distance of roughly eighty meters from them the entire time.

His footsteps were loose and casual. Every so often, he would stop to glance at a roadside stall, attempting to disguise his intentions—but such a trick could not fool Su Yi.

There was a vast difference between someone simply shopping and someone matching another person’s pace while following them. Even the way the man spoke with the shopkeepers felt unnatural.

In the past, Su Yi had only been wary of whether others might be following him. Being followed himself was a first since returning from the Wasteland.

He glanced at Mu Xiaowei. The girl said nothing. Apart from secretly stealing glances at his face as they walked, her temperature rising, and her pretty cheeks flushing slightly, there was nothing unusual about her.

He could not tell whether she had failed to notice or, like him, was pretending everything was normal. She merely kept her head lowered and hurried toward the bookstore.

“She really is a qualified infiltrator,” Su Yi praised her silently.

He cast a glance behind him but paid no attention to the pursuer.

Yet the man pressed closer, refusing to leave even after they turned through several streets.

Invisible, Luo Lixi watched as the distance between them steadily shrank. The fierce aura of a warrior once again erupted from her. Her pale blue eyes turned icy, and thick murderous intent swirled within them.

She moved in front of Su Yi once more and raised the small piece of cardboard in her hand.

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“Commander, shall I eliminate him? I guarantee I won’t make a sound.”

Luo Lixi’s small dagger appeared once more, clenched tightly in her hand. She was one of the Swordbearers, and protecting her commander’s safety was the highest-priority directive.

Anyone who dared follow her commander was to be shown no mercy.

Su Yi’s brows drew tightly together, and he did not answer at once.

By then, they had arrived at the bookstore. Mu Xiaowei went inside and spoke softly with the owner, carefully selecting books from a mountain of exercise manuals.

“Comprehensive Practice Tests,” “Doodle Notes,” “Must-Do College Entrance Questions,” “Authentic Exam Papers”—the girl’s choices covered a bewildering variety of exercises. She reached out to flip through them, standing slightly apart from him as she searched.

Su Yi noticed that the pursuer had stopped outside as well.

Already displeased, Su Yi seized the opportunity to move closer to Luo Lixi and give her a quiet instruction.

“Go. If he can’t see through your invisibility, hide behind him. Wait for my signal, then stab him.”

Su Yi had never shown mercy to stalkers. He would definitely make sure this one vanished from the world.

The instant Luo Lixi received permission, she gathered her aura and disappeared from his side.

“Su Yi, do you want to buy some practice books? I’ve noticed that during class, you only flip through the textbooks you’ve already finished.”

Completely unaware of what was happening, Mu Xiaowei picked up a book titled Math Tracking Problems and placed it in his hands. She asked softly, “I looked through it just now. The problem types are very new and different from the ones we’ve done before. Do you want one too?”

So Mu Xiaowei had noticed it as well…

Su Yi stared intently at the words “Tracking Problems” on the cover. The girl was truly clever with her signals—she had actually found a way to warn him through a book title.

Not a bad ally at all.

Su Yi picked up the tracking book, nodded solemnly, and gave her a thumbs-up.

“This one really is good!”

“You haven’t even read it yet!”

“The cover alone is enough to tell.”

…

Beside a utility pole outside the bookstore

“Is that student Su Yi? He really does seem to have a distinctive air about him… There’s a heaviness to him, a kind of oppressive feeling that’s difficult to describe.”

Xu Chen watched furtively from a distance.

Su Yi’s life experiences matched the conditions for awakening supernatural abilities that he had deduced far too closely. Although the pilot program was not scheduled to begin until tomorrow, Xu Chen could not resist coming today to see what kind of student he really was.

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Still, he was accompanying a female classmate to the bookstore. He did not seem as withdrawn as the reports had suggested.

He would have to observe him more carefully.

“Hiss…”

A sudden chill ran down his back.

Xu Chen, who had been secretly observing them after following them all this way, could not help shivering. It felt as though some filthy thing had latched onto him. He hurriedly turned around, but found nothing.

A pursuit of this level should not lead to any accidents…

Xu Chen assumed that he had simply become overly sensitive after spending too long away from missions. Although he was not a professional combat operative, he had undergone systematic military training and education. Following a student was effortless.

Besides, he had only decided on a whim to keep an eye on Su Yi. There had been no preparation or warning whatsoever.

What ordinary student would ever imagine that he was being followed?

He was being far too suspicious.

With that thought, he took a miniature listening device from his hand. If he wanted to gather more information, he had to keep close track of his observation target.

Based on the results of his research, Xu Chen had deduced that a student with experiences like Su Yi’s had a very high probability of awakening supernatural abilities.

For that reason, he had specifically asked the special operations team for an expensive, exquisitely designed listening device. It was cutting-edge technology: small, lightweight, and difficult to detect. Once attached to the body, it could clearly pick up sounds within twenty meters.

Before the pilot program began, he would attach one to Su Yi first, making it easier to monitor the situation and gather intelligence afterward. That was the main purpose of this pursuit.

The fact that Su Yi was lingering in the bookstore presented an excellent opportunity.

Xu Chen pulled his hood lower and slowly walked toward Su Yi. It was only a matter of attaching a listening device; there was nothing difficult about it.

Even if a student had awakened a supernatural ability and wanted to conceal it, he certainly would not expect Xu Chen to have such a trick up his sleeve.

Confidently, he approached the bookstore.

Unbeknownst to him, Luo Lixi, invisible and holding a dagger, was circling him. She adjusted her position with every step he took, like a specter, the tip of her blade always pressed against his heart or throat.

She quietly awaited Su Yi’s hand signal. If anyone could have seen her at that moment, they would surely have found her face covered with words.

“How dare you follow the commander…”

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

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