This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 170 Old Classmates

Okay, regardless of whether the stars are the same as they used to be, what matters most is what's happening now.

Ping Xingdou sat dejectedly in the reception room: "So, Fu Nian, you two know each other?"

“Of course I know him.” The female astronomer, Fu Nian, looked somewhat nostalgic. “We were high school classmates. He sat in the front row when we were in school, and I sat behind him. I borrowed an eraser from him several times.”

She turned to look at Nie Weiyang.

“I heard you went to study medicine later. Actually, we all thought you would join the army… Are you a doctor now?” she asked.

“No,” Nie Weiyang said. “I came here before I even did my internship after graduating with my master’s degree.”

Fu Nian was taken aback: "Internship? I graduated with my master's degree a year ago."

Even Nie Weiyang choked for a moment: "...Medical school is five years."

These words, combined with descriptions of medical students on the global internet, instantly imbued him with a sense of desperate realism… Meanwhile, Yi Jian's head popped over from the side: “So, Brother Nie, you really are studying medicine?! Our organization will have a doctor now?”

Nie Weiyang looked away: "It can't be cured. We have specialized medical professionals."

Yi Jian was somewhat puzzled, but didn't press the matter. Nie Weiyang didn't say much either—studying, graduating, and finding a job—these things were only a few months ago for others, but for him, they were twenty years ago. He had no work experience whatsoever, and it was considered relatively considerate to say that he had forgotten everything he learned from his teachers… Now, at most, he could make his healing skills work a little more systematically than others; all his other knowledge had been assimilated by his killing techniques.

“A while ago I was wondering, are there really that many people named Nie Weiyang in this world? I never imagined it was the same person.” Fu Nian laughed. “You used to dislike being the center of attention, but now everyone in the world knows you.”

Nie Weiyang simply smiled and glanced at Ping Xingdou.

Activating mind-reading requires two necessary conditions and one of three optional conditions. The necessary conditions are: 'the target's current mental strength is lower than the skill holder's mental strength' and 'the target's mind is not protected by an excessively strong barrier.' The optional conditions are: 'the target is within the holder's perception range', 'the target makes eye contact with the holder's gaze', and 'the target makes mental contact with the holder's mind.'

Of course, if the target's emotions fluctuate drastically, all these conditions can be relaxed a little.

These conditions were far too easy for Nie Weiyang to meet. His passive perception range was usually around 70 or 80 meters in radius... which made him overly susceptible to receiving the thoughts of others. However, his mental strength was so powerful that these interferences could not disrupt his thinking.

And what Ping Xingdou truly felt...

Ever since Nie Weiyang and Fu Nian started talking, this guy's head has been filled with screams like, "Aaaaaah, why do they know each other?" "Nian Nian! Nian Nian! Stop looking at him, look at me!" "No, me competing with Nie Weiyang? Me?" "Why is Nian Nian always looking at him... He's more handsome? No! It must be because they were classmates before! It must be!"...

Fu Nian's thoughts were relatively pure, consisting of only one sentence: "Life is unpredictable...it's truly sad."

The stark psychological contrast between the two people made Nie Weiyang, who was socially anxious, feel somewhat at a loss for what to do.

"Let's get down to business," Nie Weiyang said, trying to steer the conversation back to the main topic.

“Okay.” Ping Xingdou finally found a chance to interject, and he quickly said, “In the past few days, dark creatures have been appearing around here. They should be native dark creatures, not humans with dark creature blood, because we have seen them a few times. It was a shadow that didn’t quite look like a human.”

"Did anyone get hurt?" Nie Weiyang asked.

“It didn’t intentionally hurt anyone, but it injured several colleagues and soldiers while fleeing from our pursuit,” Ping Xingdou said.

He pointed to the open doorway, where a dazzling array of astrological stone tablets hung in the hall.

“Recording the celestial phenomena every day is our daily task and our duty. Every night, there are always people at the observatory looking up at the sky... but that's also when the dark creatures roam. Damn it.”

"How many times has it come?" Nie Weiyang asked again.

"Four times."

What did it take away?

"It took nothing with it..." "Then what did it leave behind?"

“I’ll leave this behind.” Ping Xingdou took out a cloth bag and poured out four glittering stones.

It was a peculiar black stone, about the size of a thumb, that looked very much like a ghost crystal, with a ghostly blue starlight shimmering on it.

Nie Weiyang picked it up and examined it carefully.

[Star Stone] -
The stones are peculiar, as if they didn't come from the earth.
An interesting stone; if you approach it at night, you can hear a faint rumbling sound.

Its function is unknown.
-
Is this a song? Or perhaps, a note from a musical piece?

Starstone... how could it be this?
Nie Weiyang raised his eyebrows.

"You know about it?" Ping Xingdou cautiously observed Nie Weiyang, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over the edges of those eyes. "We've never figured out its function."

“It’s normal not to understand,” Nie Weiyang said.

He casually tossed and caught a few star stones, then threw them into his backpack.

"Can I know what it is?" Ping Xingdou asked cautiously. "Where does it come from?"

Nie Weiyang turned his eyes and gave him a smile.

"How high is your mental attribute?" he asked.

“65 points.” Ping Xingdou’s expression turned serious.

“Then you can’t know yet,” Nie Weiyang said.

He could clearly sense the intense emotional fluctuations around him—they were all curious about just how high his mental attributes were. Nie Weiyang simply got up and walked towards the door.

“We’ll stay here for the next few days until it comes back,” Nie Weiyang said. “Yi Jian, come out for a bit.”

Yi Jian nodded, smiled and apologized to Ping Xingdou and the others, then quickly followed Nie Weiyang. Only when they were out of earshot did he whisper, "What is it?"

“Go tell Lao Liang that Ping Xingdou’s condition needs to be monitored,” Nie Weiyang said softly. “When he relaxes, I can hear some strange noises in his head…”

He had no intention of concealing information or investigating it himself; he simply didn't describe the strange, clear melody in detail to prevent any problems from arising.

“Ping Xingdou… no, these astronomers all need to be closely monitored.” Nie Weiyang said solemnly, “If anything goes wrong, control them immediately.”

This is strange, as there was no such person at the observatory last week, and Fu Nian was not here either. The astronomers also appeared calm, and although they had some speculations about the current situation, they did not form many factions.

In the new world, one cannot afford to be complacent about anything related to astronomy. After all, almost all dangers point to the depths of space.

“If they show any danger, kill them, and I will search their memories.” Nie Weiyang’s expression was calm.

Yi Jian nodded seriously. He glanced furtively in the direction of the cabin and asked in a low voice, "Including your female classmate?"

Nie Weiyang looked at him with a puzzled expression and pondered for a moment.

He recalled the phrase "Life is unpredictable...it's truly sad" from Fu Nian's mind. His intuition told him that this might not be a good thing, and the subtle details of Fu Nian's expressions over the years told him that his intuition was probably right.

“Especially my female classmate,” he said.

(End of this chapter)