Chapter 131: Reckless Youth
Chapter 131: Reckless Youth
"Today in class, the teacher asked us about our dreams for the future. My classmates all said they wanted to become Espers, and even claimed they'd be the strongest Espers in the world! Hmph, a bunch of brats. Who cares about being an Esper? I want to be the greatest scientist in the world!"
Ji Xinghuo scrolled up to the very first post.
This was from when he was in second grade, only eight years old. He had just registered an account on his foster father's phone and this was his first journal entry.
Back then, hardly anyone commented, but now there were thousands of replies, most of them mocking.
"Ugh..."
Ji Xinghuo's face turned red.
If not for this post, he wouldn't have even remembered that his childhood dream was to be a scientist.
"Sigh, math is so difficult. I actually got a 78 on the final exam."
This one was from when he was in fourth grade.
The comments were full of schadenfreude, with people laughing and asking how he still expected to become a scientist.
"The Sun King is so awesome!"
"I want to fuse laser eyes too. With just a glare, I could scare people to death, hehe!"
This was his reaction after watching a video of the Sun King when he had just entered middle school.
"Working out is so tiring, but it also feels great!"
The post was accompanied by a photo of a sweat-soaked shirt, no face visible. The background was the track field, indicating he had just finished running 10 kilometers.
"The only one who can beat me is myself." There was a cool, defiant emoji next to this sentence.
"Wang Chaozhuo actually started dating! Damn, his girlfriend is the class flower from the neighboring class. Sigh, women... they'll only affect my training efficiency. Ji Xinghuo, you're going to be the strongest man in the world one day, so stay strong and don't give in to distractions!"
Ji Xinghuo slapped his forehead when he read this.
He checked the date—it was from when he was in the third year of middle school, at the age of fifteen. Wang Chaozhuo had been his deskmate, secretly dating behind everyone's backs.
That relationship had lasted half a month.
"Hahaha, Wang Chaozhuo got dumped because he was too ugly, hahaha..." This was posted half a month later.
"Can't believe the Skywalker lost, damn..."
"RNM, refund my money!"
Ji Xinghuo clenched his teeth as he read this.
Skywalker had been a powerhouse team in the APC Super League, dominating the rankings. At sixteen, he had bought an expensive ticket to show his support during the championship match. However, Skywalker had performed abysmally that day, losing in a most embarrassing fashion and missing out on the league title.
After the match, he had posted seven or eight angry rants, cursing out Skywalker.
It was only years later that he learned some of the Skywalker players had thrown the match. They may have lost the championship, but they had profited immensely off the field.
"I'm the handsomest man in the galaxy!" This was a sleepless night's ramblings.
"The Sun King is nothing. I'll step on him eventually, just you wait!" At seventeen, the Sun King had once again defeated several other kings, solidifying his global number one ranking. After watching the live stream, he had gone online and boasted arrogantly.
"A Sword Master at eighteen, that's just too absurd and exaggerated. Sword Immortals are invincible!"
"Zhao Manying is so beautiful!"
"If Zhao Manying asked me to be her boyfriend, even though I'm not interested in women, I might consider it given her beauty and strength."
Ji Xinghuo was tempted to jump up when he read this.
He had forgotten he'd posted such narcissistic things. Checking the date, it was indeed the day Zhao Manying had become a Sword Master, and he had been eighteen.
This post had the most comments, over ten thousand.
And every single one was flaming him.
Back then, Zhao Manying had just become famous as a genius girl, but her fame and popularity weren't as terrifying as they were now. So, when he had posted this back then, only a few classmates and friends had cursed him out for being shameless.
Now, thousands of people were flooding the comments with insults. Most of them were Zhao Manying's fans.
Even though it was obvious to everyone that this was just a joke, and many people had posted similar boasts, now that he was an Esper on the Tower, his identity was different, and so was the implication of his words.
"A toad wanting to eat swan meat."
"Why don't you take a piss and look in the mirror to see what you really are?"
"You're just dreaming!"
"How could a Sword Immortal possibly look at you? Don't get full of yourself just because you've had some achievements and climbed the Tower. Once you fall from the Tower, who will even remember you? Stop dreaming."
These were still among the more polite comments. There were also plenty of mocking, sarcastic, and abusive remarks, with some even escalating to personal attacks and vicious insults against his family.
They had also attached a slew of mocking emojis.
The internet within the APC was not a lawless place. Any comment involving personal attacks could be reported and prosecuted with a single click, sending it to the Internet Speech Tribunal for judgment. The offender would then face legal consequences without the victim ever needing to show up in person.
Previously, Ji Xinghuo had been in the Star Sector and unable to see these comments, which was why he hadn't taken any action.
As a result, some people had become increasingly brazen.
Ji Xinghuo's expression remained unchanged as he reported and prosecuted at least thirty people, who would now have to pay fines and spend a few months in jail.
However, he didn't delete the comments or close his social media account.
This was the last post.
After turning eighteen, Ji Xinghuo had focused on his training and entered university, maturing a lot along the way. Thus, he had never posted anything online again.
From eight to eighteen, over a span of ten years, he had posted thousands of updates, chronicling a boy's journey to adulthood.
Most importantly, he had posted thousands of updates, many with photos, illustrations, and emojis, but he had never revealed his appearance. His selfies only showed his body from the neck down, and he had always cropped out the part above his neck before posting.
In photos posted by classmates and friends that included him, his face was blurred for privacy protection.
Unless they had met him in person, no one would recognize him.
Ji Xinghuo breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as no one bothered him in real life and his family was unaffected, he didn't mind the online abuse.
He glanced at the time.
It was currently January 1st, 2225, 12:30 pm.
New Year's Day in the APC was one of the most important festivals, with seven statutory holidays. At this time, his brothers and sisters were probably still on vacation.
They didn't know he was back yet.
Ji Xinghuo thought about giving his family a surprise, so he put away his phone and walked out of the teleportation hall.
The Star Gate Fortress was a gigantic structure, with seven layers of alloy and concrete walls enclosing it from the outside in. Each layer formed spacious streets filled with countless merchants and a heavy military presence, including nuclear weapons armories.
Ji Xinghuo made his way through the indoor streets of the Star Gate Fortress, undergoing three security checks before finally exiting the massive fortress.
The bustling Chaka City unfolded before him.
The weather was cold, at 4 degrees below zero.
Ji Xinghuo wore a lightweight ceramic-steel armor that provided average warmth, but this low temperature didn't affect him at all. He summoned an unmanned car with his phone and settled inside, enjoying the warmth within as he watched the rushing scenery outside, feeling as if he were in a different world.
Suddenly, a hologram appeared in the front row of the car, projecting the upper body of a bald man.
"Ji Xinghuo."
Min Chongwu's expression was grim as he glared at Ji Xinghuo and said in a low voice, "You finally decided to come back from the Star Sector."
However, Ji Xinghuo remained casual and replied, "Captain Min, long time no see."
The response from the Sword Bureau was a little slower than he had expected. He had thought that as soon as he turned on his phone, the Sword Bureau would call him.
Min Chongwu stared at Ji Xinghuo for a few moments before huffing and saying, "You disappeared into the Star Sector so casually, leaving me to be chewed out by Director Zhou."
"Director Zhou is a generous man. He won't hold it against me, will he?" Ji Xinghuo tested.
"Hmph..."
Min Chongwu neither agreed nor disagreed. "I knew from the start that you were an unruly one. When Director Zhou wanted to recruit you into the Sword Bureau, I was against it. It was his insistence that brought you in, and you ended up embarrassing him. If you had died in the Star Sector, that would've been the end of it. But since you're back, you won't get off easy."
He seemed rather pleased at the prospect, clearly eager to see what would unfold.
Ji Xinghuo's face darkened. "Are you not afraid I'll just return to the Star Sector?"
"You can't go back." Min Chongwu smiled triumphantly. "This car has been taken over by the Sword Bureau, and its destination has been forcibly changed. When you exited the Star Gate, Yan Xiao had already boarded an aerospace fighter with his team. You'll be meeting him soon."
Ji Xinghuo remembered Yan Xiao, the pale-faced man with snake-like pupils, who was the one with the most ill intentions toward him.
Yan Xiao had wanted him for his rotating magnetic field ability, and he hadn't hidden his malicious intentions at all.
Yan Xiao was a Superpower.
A year and a half ago, facing Yan Xiao had left Ji Xinghuo feeling powerless and weak, forcing him to be cautious. But now...
The corners of Ji Xinghuo's mouth curved up in a barely perceptible smile.
He said calmly, "I've returned openly and have no intention of evading the Sword Bureau."
"Good!"
Min Chongwu nodded, his gaze intense as he studied Ji Xinghuo, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I have to admit, Director Zhou's vision is incredible. Your improvement surpasses imagination. In just over a year, you went from an ordinary person to a Tower Superpower. How did you do it?"
"Because I'm a genius," Ji Xinghuo replied seriously.
"Nonsense!"
Min Chongwu scoffed, knowing that anyone who could climb the Tower was a genius. He shook his head and said, "If you don't want to talk about it, then don't."
With that, he cut off the communication.
Ji Xinghuo looked out the window and saw that the unmanned car had changed its route and was no longer heading toward the vacuum train station he had set as his destination. The car doors were also locked tight.
Of course, if he wanted to force the car to stop and get out, it would be easy.
But there was no need for that.
Soon after, the car drove into a secluded building in Chaka City, apparently one of the Sword Bureau's bases.
A medium-sized aerospace fighter was parked in the spacious area in the middle of the building, with Yan Xiao standing at the cabin entrance. Seven or eight Sword Bureau swordsmen were scattered around, and every high ground and concealed spot in the surrounding buildings and floors was occupied by fully armed swordsmen.
Ji Xinghuo's magnetic field perception swept the area, and he narrowed his eyes as he looked at Yan Xiao through the car window, thinking, "This doesn't look good."
Yan Xiao had never gotten along with him, and now Zhou Yishang had sent him to pick him up, indicating that he was truly angry.
The Sword Bureau was giving him a warning.
Or perhaps, it was a test to gauge his current strength? Ji Xinghuo's thoughts raced as the car came to a stop. He opened the door and stepped out before Yan Xiao waved his hand and ordered, "Take him!"
(End of Chapter)
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