EDMLSFM Chapter 48: All his intuitive judgment, together with instinctive fear, screamed the name shrilly like alarm bells in his mind.

Translated by JayQue of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Kris, Gwyndolyn

 

Xiao Hao didn’t know that her camera was cut off. The instant Lieutenant General Pei’s dagger flew towards her, she held Head Fang’s hand tightly in hers, her gaze as determined as ever as she glared at Lieutenant General Pei’s face like she was staring at death itself.

The sharp dagger flew towards her at the speed of lightning, but Xiao Hao was not afraid. To her, the mission Head Fang gave her was already completed when she exposed Berkeley. With her abilities, she could only do so much for Aldia and the Alliance.

She didn’t complain, nor did she regret anything.

Yet the pain she anticipated never came. Xiao Hao watched clearly as the tip of the dagger stopped just a few inches in front of her eyes, and Lieutenant General Pei’s gaze stiffened for an instant. The next second, his whole body turned limp and fell to the ground in front of Xiao Hao along with the dagger.

“Not a bad expression.” The slowly emerging face behind the fallen Lieutenant General Pei was Chen YiBai’s.

Xiao Hao’s eyes were as wide as saucers, as though she had just realized the severity of what had just happened. She took a few deep breaths, the gaze she looked at Chen YiBai with carried hints of scrutiny.

When this face had populated the forums, Xiao Hao had seen it and had vented to Head Fang about how mediocre this face was. In the end, Head Fang had said not to judge only by one’s appearance and had left it at that.

This memory wasn’t really constantly on her mind, but now right behind Lieutenant General Pei was the exact same face, with some accidental splatters of blood on it, as well as those eyes that looked like the calm before the storm. Xiao Hao realized that the more she looked… the more her heart started to beat wildly.

At this moment, Xiao Hao also realized that though Chen YiBai’s facial features were truly not attractive, his slender body and the tightly packed muscles showing through his battle-loosened clothes, mixed with the unique air around him, resembled something of the highest quality. With this air about him, people could hardly tear their eyes away.

It wasn’t until Chen YiBai turned to look at their surroundings that Xiao Hao finally regained her wits and said stiffly, “Tea-Teacher Chen…”

“You said the things they wanted to find are all in the basement?” Chen Bai asked after glancing at the completely unconscious Lieutenant General Pei.

This was the deal he had made with Xiao Hao before they had come in. He would try his best to help Xiao Hao save Head Fang, and if he succeeded, she would tell everything to Chen YiBai.

“Yes.” Xiao Hao pursed her lips. Originally, she wanted to pull Chen YiBai out immediately after they saved Head Fang because she had already seen what Vanda’s group was capable of before she had escaped them.

When she had first brought Chen YiBai over, it was just wishful thinking. But now that she saw how Chen YiBai came out unscathed after fighting with Lieutenant General Pei, she couldn’t help but feel her hope rising along with the churning in her heart.

“I’ll go down and take a look. You take them away and surrender if you see any elites. Don’t get into any more scuffles.” Chen Bai glanced at the stairs in front of him. After some thought, he bent down to pick up the dagger out of Lieutenant General Pei’s hand, and his eyes unmistakably traced the camera on Xiao Hao’s wrist as he got up.

“But…” Xiao Hao furrowed her eyebrows.

“No buts. It’s troublesome with so many injured, and you don’t count as a fighter either.” In key moments, Chen Bai wouldn’t be as approachable as usual, and his words would be blunt and merciless. The fight just now had already been recorded, so it was highly possible for Berkeley to be suspicious. He must prepare himself.

“I understand.” After Chen YiBai said it like that, Xiao Hao couldn’t help but flush. But inside she knew that Chen YiBai was right; otherwise, Head Fang would not have asked her to leave immediately when they had started fighting.

Seeing that she seemed to understand his intentions, Chen Bai had put almost everything useful he could reach on himself. When his eyes landed on her and the slowly recovering Head Fang lying in her embrace, he suddenly thought of something.

“I have a question,” Chen Bai asked, “You could suppress the storm in his brain region?”

Hearing this, Xiao Hao’s eyes flashed slightly. She mumbled, seemingly hesitant.

“I can see the movements of your mental tentacles surrounding his brain region,” Chen Bai said bluntly after seeing her state, “Just say it.”

Hearing his words, Xiao Hao’s gaze suddenly turned into a glare.

He could see Head Fang’s brain region? And also see her own movements? She was already a really strong S-ranked psychological manipulator, and Head Fan was also an S-ranked explosive controller. To be able to see both of their brain regions and mental energies, just how strong was the person standing in front of her?

Reminded of his sharp fighting moves just now, Xiao Hao couldn’t help but gulp, her instinctive premonition telling her that Chen YiBai was definitely not the simple character described in the forums.

Forcefully pushing away the guesses that popped up in her head, Xiao Hao swallowed and said truthfully, “Once..” Her face reddened as she said this, pausing for a while before continuing, “I felt that my mental energy could meld with his. It was a little hard at first, and we only succeeded once after a lot of tries. He-he often had a headache then, and he told me that every time our mental energies melded together his headache would be alleviated, and that it felt really good…”

Xiao Hao’s face carried hints of shyness, but she still finished her explanation quickly, “Then we started trying to fuse our mental energies. After a few tries, I found out that I could control my mental energy easily. Head Fang’s headaches were completely relieved by then, and his body became better and better. Not only that. Sometimes, I could also get a stronger burst of power, and our ability to react to each other became super strong as well. Anything that had happened to the other, we could somewhat sense it.”

“I don’t know the exact reason,” Xiao Hao said and looked down, reaching her hand out to touch Head Fang’s face gently, “But this feeling… both of us feel very blessed by it.”

Leaning on the corner of a wall, Chen Bai watched Xiao Hao and was silent for a while. Finally, he told her to quickly leave, then turned to walk towards the underground basement.

As expected, in the forest earlier, he already felt that something was wrong when Xiao Hao hadn’t followed his mental guidance easily.

They could resolve the issue of a brain region storm in an explosive controller. Clearing their muddled brain could put them at another peak of their abilities, and they didn’t even need to fear stronger brain region storms after reaching the peak. Moreover, the psychological manipulator’s body constitution and brain region defense would become sturdier. When something happened to one of them, the other would have a clear sense of it.

These were all written as the future human’s contract agreement in Ramon’s notes: when two people are highly fused together, they could form a contract with the highest resonance between their souls and mental energies.

This mutually beneficial relationship was referred to as Sentinel and Guide by Ramon. The former giving the best protection for the latter, whereas the latter pushes forward with the best brain region guidance.

.

“How is it?” In the dim basement, Professor Vanda sat in a corner. After hearing a sound he immediately sat up, questioning the people walking out of the darkness.

Beside him stood three other members of his group. Hearing this, they turned to look in the same direction in an instant, nervousness written on their faces.

Originally, the mission that Berkeley had given them was to stop the other teacher groups. But greed is human nature, and Vanda often thought he had worked for Berkeley for so many years and was not satisfied to have all his missions be on the first floor. He wanted to go into Berkeley’s deepest secrets.

So, after he took care of Head Fang’s group, he immediately took his men to the basement. He really wanted to take a look at what Berkeley had traded its exposure for.

But his information was still incomplete. As a precaution, he had sent three people down to investigate, with the other three waiting around him.

And now, two people stumbled out of the darkness… no, it was a person who could walk normally supporting another who was heavily injured. Professor Vanda couldn’t help from furrowing his brows when he sensed it.

“A man who is never content is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, Professor Vanda.” In the next second, a mocking voice sounded from the darkness, and Professor Vanda’s eyes widened helplessly. His hands gripped the sides of his wheelchair tightly, veins popping out.

It was not just the voice… That intense pressure of mental energy that accompanied the voice from the tunnel put him in immense pain. Even if Vanda put his all into it, he couldn’t even get a small hint of relief from it. This overbearing mental energy rushed over him, and he couldn’t even struggle.

“Ray… Ray Ming—” Vanda’s hoarse voice was squeezed out from his throat. He had once felt this mental energy before, from Berkeley’s first class prosecutor, who was also the strongest mental controller in Berkeley. Every time they made contact with each other, Vanda could feel his own insignificance.

Ray Ming sneered. He loosened his hand, and a person who had breathed his last was thrown to the ground. Looking at the three people surrounding Professor Vanda, he hummed with disdain.

His mental energy was only directed at Professor Vanda, so the other three did not feel it.

Actually, with his abilities, it was not necessary for Ray Ming to do this. He just didn’t like the old guy Vanda who paraded around with his mental tentacles just because he has SS-ranked psychological manipulation abilities.

“I’ll report your transgressions this time to the higher ups. If you act soon enough, perhaps that big shot would think about overlooking your mistakes. So, Vanda, take your men and leave now.” Ray Ming’s fingers felt around the cold metal wall, as though trying to sense something while addressing Vanda.

“Why?!” Vanda hadn’t regained his wits from the immense pain just now, and the others were not very familiar with Berkeley, so they didn’t even know who Ray Ming was.

Especially Fen Duo. She was always brash, and their group’s smooth sailing in the competition had boosted her morale. This time, she couldn’t help but huff, “Who do you think you are? We’ve already dealt with the people above, and the support hasn’t come yet, so it’s natural that we come down to prevent any mishaps…”

“Dealt with?” The instant Ray Ming turned his head, Fen Duo felt as if something sharp had directly stabbed into her brain region. Her eyes suddenly widened, and her heart started beating wildly. Before she could even react, she fell to the floor two seconds later.

The other two yelled out Fen Duo’s name in surprise, their expressions ugly as ever.

“That female teacher came back, and even explained ‘Aldia and Berkeley’s special deal’ to the whole Alliance through her camera. This happened, and you say you’ve finished your mission?” Ray Ming laughed as he pondered the subtleties.

Finally regaining his strength after some difficulty, Vanda’s eyes were blood red. He couldn’t care about Fen Duo as he said hoarsely, “Impossible. I sent Pei up there! Xiao Hao is not Pei’s opponent, and even if she came back she wouldn’t be able to run away, much less broadcast it live…”

“Then it was an error in your judgement,” Ray Ming shrugged, “I’m going to go in now, and before I come out, you better have disappeared from here. Otherwise, I won’t be this gentle next time.”

Watching Ray Ming’s slowly disappearing silhouette in the dark hallway, Vanda’s eyes gradually turned dim. He knew Ray Ming’s abilities and would not act recklessly. But it was already at the key moment here, and knowing Ray Ming, these few people must have reached that key location just now.

The thing he yearned for day and night was not far away from him… He was not satisfied!

He was not satisfied. He knew Ray Ming was always acting alone, and he had three people with him, two of which were healthy fighters. There must be a way.

His thoughts ending here, Vanda became determined. He wanted to try!

.

“Captain Ray.”

When Ray Ming walked around a corner, he saw all the men he brought from Berkeley, as well as the other two that Vanda had sent over.

This incident happened too suddenly, so he didn’t really arrive in time. The people he brought with him were also ordered by the higher ups, so he only knew that the mission was very important but not the details of it.

When he had first arrived, the three people sent by Professor Vanda were already lying unconscious on the floor.

Ray Ming was always daring but careful, and this time he had also made thorough inspections. The three people’s brain regions… were all completely shattered.

He was only trying to bluff Vanda when he brought one body out. Even if Vanda wasn’t his opponent, if Vanda decided to be annoying at this time, it could cause him a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Ray Ming looked at the two people lying on the floor, and then the metal ball that was not too big from inside the opened door.

What was exactly inside this… that could destroy someone’s brain region to this extent? This method of shattering brain regions… He had only seen one person use it before… but after that person used it, he would also be drained of energy.

To Ray Ming, this method of attack was quite excessive, since if you wanted to kill someone, you could just poke a hole in their brain region and attack them, without needing to spend all that energy shattering it to this extent.

Unless…

His thoughts wandering here, Ray Ming’s gaze turned dark.

Unless this was an unconscious and indiscriminate attack.

If so, then if they took this thing out successfully, it would be such a strong weapon. Ray Ming gasped and finally understood. No wonder Berkeley risked throwing a wrench into their own plans to get him here.

“Captain Ray, I’ve never seen these kinds of wounds before. This, this…”

His subordinate swallowed, then asked helplessly.

They came one step later than the others and had learned from their ‘predecessor’, along with Ray Ming’s warning of not touching anything after his inspection. If they opened this metal ball without any prior planning… then every one of them may face the same demise as those on the floor.

“Black.” Ray Ming swallowed and suddenly opened his mouth to ask, “When your captain had a mental breakdown before… Was it like this as well?”

The captain he spoke of was Chen Bai.

A lot of Berkeley’s new members didn’t know of Chen Bai’s existence. In their eyes, Black was a member of the lowest rank who had committed a great mistake, and they all usually looked down on him. Now that he was suddenly called out by Ray Ming, their eyes carried hints of surprise.

And… For a mental breakdown to result in a similar situation… Can a human really do it?

The others couldn’t help but look at Black with astonished and curious gazes.

The latter was different from the people Ray Ming brought here. His experience with Chen Bai had taught him to be calm in every situation. In any arduous environment, he would have his own judgement and wouldn’t easily stumble. This was also why most people hated him. He had a low rank but extraordinary strength. When they were with him, they would always be put down at key moments. Everyone watched as he crouched down to look left and right, then nodded with a solemn expression.

“But then his mental energy was drained in the end, the level of shattering was different. But in general… it should be about the same.”

Once when Chen Bai was on a mission, he was severely injured and triggered his brain region. Their leader had fallen, but the small team that was supposedly in a perilous situation had survived, thanks to the explosion caused by Chen Bai’s mental breakdown, shattering the brain regions of the six enemies surrounding them.

That mental energy had completely astounded everyone and had cemented Chen Bai’s status in Berkeley.

His thoughts following here, Ray Ming couldn’t help but close his eyes. He knew Chen Bai because they often used to go on missions together, and they were quite close.

Although many had said that his brain region’s abilities were similar to Chen Bai’s, only he alone knew… that guy’s brain region’s abilities were immeasurably strong.

This mission he received was too sudden. Though they had kidnapped President Ruble, they hadn’t asked for any deals. According to that big shot, they were supposed to drag it on, to let the conservative party be thrown into a state of confusion before making any demands.

But no one knew what had happened as the news of President Ruble’s kidnapping traveled to the roundtable meeting. Not only that, they hadn’t made any demands, and yet a guard had announced their conditions of a deal.

And coincidentally, the demands were exactly what they wanted.

When this happened, though Berkeley wanted to investigate it, it was also imperative to take X-5 for themselves, resulting in their hurried actions.

Now what should he do?

The mission’s info and preparations were not good enough. Ray Ming couldn’t help but think, if Chen Bai was here, then the thing inside the metal ball… how would he handle it?

Just as Ray Ming was about to call out his thoughts, a soft noise suddenly sounded beside his ear. In the next second, three people beside him all fell to the ground, their wounds neat and clean. It came from the direction he had walked from just now.

Ray Ming’s gaze immediately turned into a glare.

Was it Vanda?

—Impossible.

He quickly rejected this thought. Vanda didn’t have this ability, and it was impossible for him to not detect the other’s movements. Same goes for the members he had with him.

… Ray Ming couldn’t help but widened his eyes at this thought!

He could sense the energy several meters away. The three that had fallen to the ground, weren’t those three he met from Vanda’s group?

But—but how could it be, those three were not weak in the slightest. How could they be taken down this easily? And how did he not sense it?

In that instant, Ray Ming’s mind was like a high grade calculator, continually estimating who the attacker might be. A faint idea kept popping out and teased his nerves but was rejected again and again.

And when that vast mental energy surged over, mercilessly crushing all of their brain regions, Ray Ming felt as though his throat was tightly grabbed as his men were swiftly put down in front of him.

He couldn’t control that thought in his head anymore. All his intuitive judgement, together with instinctive fear, screamed the name shrilly like alarm bells in his mind.

— Chen Bai.