New Imperial Calendar Year 268, Aslan Star City, Third District.
Ding dong… ding dong dong.
The electronic doorbell rang at the front door, and the man cooking in the kitchen raised his head at the sound.
Jiang Sheng shook his dripping hands in the sink, wiped them on his apron, and poked his head out to call. “Wenwen, are you back?”
A woman’s response came from the door.
Wen Helga bent down to remove her leather shoes. The woman had cloud-like black hair and brown eyes, wearing well-tailored formal attire.
She was holding a briefcase in one hand, and in the other hand, a cake box that didn’t match her elegant appearance. “Jiang Sheng, come help me with these things.”
Jiang Sheng walked out quickly, smiling. “How did it feel to argue face-to-face with Speaker Orlando at the Interstellar Union meeting? —Oh, you bought cake!”
“How do you think it felt? I was nearly fuming with anger,”
Helga tossed the briefcase into Jiang Sheng’s arms, taking off her coat with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, “That Orlando person, if he had been born in chaotic times, would definitely be a tyrant, a dictatorial tyrant!”
“That’s why,” Jiang Sheng caught his wife’s briefcase with one hand and draped her coat over his arm with the other, “you should be a little careful too, don’t be so provocative. What if you push him into a corner?”
Helga: “Relax, the next election is coming soon, and right now only the two of us are leading in votes. If anything unusual happened to our family at this point, everyone would suspect Orlando did it.”
“The Speaker should actually be praying to the gods every day, hoping I don’t get into a car accident or something on my way to and from work—”
Jiang Sheng: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
The couple walked into the living room together, and Helga sat down on the sofa, massaging her waist. “Is Mingming still at school?”
Jiang Sheng: “Yes, Mingming is about to graduate. Sigh…as his father, I don’t want my child to join the military, but with his talent, not going to Silver Big Dipper would be a waste. It’s worrisome!”
Helga smiled. “The human empire hasn’t had a major war for nearly two hundred years. The military isn’t like it used to be. With Mingming’s abilities, even Far Star wouldn’t be dangerous for him.”
“Sigh, that’s true,” Jiang Sheng pressed the start button on the automatic coffee machine, and a humming sound echoed throughout the living room.
Soon, the rich aroma of coffee wafted in the air.
Helga placed a white porcelain cup under the coffee machine, and used those brown eyes to gaze at the cup being filled, suddenly saying softly, “But, I sometimes worry too.”
“The ancient sages said, ‘The world has existed for a long time, with cycles of order and chaos’*… It’s been two hundred years since the Crystal Particle Battle, yet the era of human universe that scholars claim has never truly arrived. Perhaps…”
A broad hand landed on her shoulder.
Jiang Sheng patted his wife. “Don’t overthink it. Being vigilant in peacetime is one thing, but are you hoping for war? Peace and prosperity aren’t easy to come by, let’s just take it one day at a time.”
Helga couldn’t help but smile, and they looked at each other and laughed.
Just then, the doorbell was urgently pressed twice, accompanied by loud knocking on the door.
Someone anxiously shouted from outside. “Jiang Sheng, Ms. Helga, are you home?”
It was the voice of their neighbor, old Mr. Tang Ren.
The two exchanged puzzled glances, hearing something unusual in their neighbor’s voice.
The door opened, and Tang Ren stuck his head in. “Ms. Helga, your child…”
Jiang Sheng and Helga both changed color, and the couple exclaimed in unison. “What happened to Mingming!?”
“My grandson just told me that Xiao Jiang, he, he, he beat up Andrew Orlando at Kaios Military Academy! That’s the spoiled eldest son of the current Imperial Speaker Orlando—”
Helga’s eyes lit up as she clenched her fist. “Well done!”
Tang Ren: “…”
Jiang Sheng’s expression was panicked. “Ah, but Mingming wasn’t hurt, was he?”
Tang Ren: “…”
I just told you it was your son who beat someone else up…
Old Mr. Tang Ren put on a pained expression, with parents like these, no wonder their son dared to beat up even the Speaker’s son!
“…No, he wasn’t hurt, but…”
Tang Ren said, “They say that the ‘little monster’ from Speaker Orlando’s family just returned from Yongle Garden Star City, and is also at Kaios Military Academy.”
“You two should go quickly, it would be bad if this escalates!”
****
At the front gate of the First College, Kaios Military Academy.
Several hundred brave students had already gathered here to watch the excitement. Some were taking videos with their wrist devices, others were excitedly covering their mouths making “wow” sounds.
Some were shouting: “Well done, Senior Jiang!” “Beat him up, shatter his crystal bones in the groin! Hahaha……”
In the center of the crowd, a splendidly dressed young man lay on the ground, emitting howls of extreme pain. Broken crystal bones were scattered everywhere, a pitiful sight.
A few steps away, Jiang Jianming looked down at the Speaker’s eldest son, his expression indifferent.
The blade-like sharp crystal bones slowly retracted, disappearing behind his shoulder blades, leaving only traces of silver-blue light reflected in those pitch-black eyes.
Like a comet illuminating the universe.
Mysterious, serene, beautiful… and terrifying.
In the crowd of onlookers, a freshman stood with his mouth agape.
“Wow, who is this senior student? Did he… did he just shatter Andrew Orlando’s crystal bones!?”
—Yes, shattered crystal bones. This was no ordinary scuffle; it was a deliberate severe attack.
And it happened in broad daylight, at the front gate of the First College of Kaios Military Academy…
“Oh, you don’t know?” A senior year student beside him laughed, “Well, Senior Jiang keeps a low profile, so it’s normal for freshmen not to know him.”
The senior patted the freshman’s shoulder, pointing with his thumb, excitedly introducing. “That’s Senior Jiang Jianming, a genius at Kaios Military Academy, a legend of the First College. If I were to tell you all his achievements, three days and three nights wouldn’t be enough!”
In fact, it didn’t take three days and three nights. With the senior’s excited narration, the freshman only needed three minutes to get a basic understanding of what kind of background this senior student had, who dared to violently beat the Speaker’s son.
—Jiang Jianming, belonged to the First College of Kaios Military Academy, with the highest grade and about to graduate.
His mother, Wen Helga, was one of the chief members of the Imperial National Assembly; his father, Jiang Sheng, was a proper retired military mecha master.
And he himself possessed S-class silver-blue crystal bones, and was a natural tactical genius. He was specially recruited to Kaios Military Academy at the age of thirteen, and in the talent-filled First College, he consistently achieved top grades with overwhelming results year after year.
Now about to graduate, countless opportunities had already been extended to this young genius. Whether he chose to join the military or enter politics, his future was bright.
Even if he just wanted to find a stable job, countless prestigious schools would make exceptions to hire him as a special teacher.
“And Senior Jiang has an exceptionally good temperament, he’s never arrogant about his talent. But those who dare to provoke him all end up running away with their tails between their legs… It’s said his greatest achievement was making a tactical professor resign in shame. He’s definitely the protagonist of a modern fantasy novel!”
Amid the discussions, the disheveled Andrew Orlando could only squirm on the ground. He raised his bloodshot eyes and muttered hatefully. “You… you… how dare you…”
Unexpectedly, Jiang Jianming quickly stepped back, blinking sincerely, “Oh, how did you end up like this? My goodness…”
He took another step back, “I’m so sorry. I’ve always been a bit fragile mentally, prone to overreacting. Just now when you suddenly came close and touched me, I was really startled… It was excessive self-defense, I’m truly sorry.”
Andrew: “…”
Onlookers: “…”
“Damn it,” from within the crowd, Tang Zhen couldn’t bear to watch, slapping his forehead.
Jiang Jianming: “Everyone, please don’t make a fuss about someone being beaten… I didn’t mean to do it. Can someone help call an ambulance for this gentleman?”
He caught sight of his roommate and casually called out, “Ah, Tang Zhen, you’re here. Help him call for emergency services, would you? I’m still so scared my hands are shaking, I can’t hold my wrist device steady.”
Tang Zhen: “.”
Great, too scared to hold a wrist device steady, but able to shatter someone else’s crystal bones with one strike…
“Jiang. Jian. Ming…!!!”
Andrew’s face turned the color of a pig’s liver, whether from anger or pain was unclear. “I’ve done… nothing to you!?”
Jiang Jianming smiled silently. He suddenly bent down, his lips close to Andrew’s face, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear:
“Two years ago, you bullied a girl named Sylph Song, and during the struggle, you released your crystal bones, causing her lover Lin Ge to lose sight in her left eye. Remember?”
Andrew was startled, breathing heavily.
This incident… if it hadn’t been mentioned, he would have almost forgotten it.
Looking back now, his strongest impressions were that “that silver-haired blue-eyed girl was extremely attractive” and “the other crazy woman was completely reckless.” As for injuring the other person’s eye? In this era, replacing an eye would cost just over ten thousand currency points, and even a better artificial eye would cost only a hundred thousand or so currency points at most. What was the big deal?
But today, the black-haired young man in front of him coldly sneered. “I’ve been thinking for a long time that if I ever had the chance to meet you, I would definitely beat you up.”
Andrew trembled. “You, you’re finished, Helga is running for Speaker this year…”
“Want to sue me in court?” Jiang Jianming withdrew nonchalantly, “You were the one who provoked me first, and there are security cameras at the college entrance. Also, I only used one strike to destroy your crystal bones, and once you lost the ability to fight back, I didn’t touch you again… In court, it might not even count as excessive self-defense.”
“If you want to prove I had deliberate intent to harm you, you’ll need to provide evidence of my grudge against you. Sexually harassing a minor girl, deliberately causing someone to lose sight in their left eye…”
“If these two charges come out, who would be in more trouble—my mother, or your father?”
“You, you…!!” Andrew couldn’t even form insults, “You just, just wait…”
Jiang Jianming didn’t take this guy’s threats seriously at all. Since he had chosen to act, he was prepared to bear all consequences and would have no regrets.
He turned away amid the cheers of the Military Academy students, calmly picking up his backpack that had fallen to the side, preparing to leave school and go home.
“Xiao Jiang!” Tang Zhen caught up with him in a couple of steps, sighing. “You’ve got some guts. Will Auntie Helga scold you?”
Jiang Jianming: “Don’t talk nonsense, I only accidentally injured him, mom won’t scold me, she’ll just say ‘yay’.”
Tang Zhen: “…………”
Just as they reached the school gate, Jiang Jianming suddenly stopped. Tang Zhen followed his gaze and immediately showed an expression as if facing a great enemy.
At the gate of Kaios Military Academy stood a handsome young man. Emerald green eyes, platinum blonde curly hair, cold as an artistic sculpture.
Many people whispered, lowering their heads and walking away, not daring to meet his gaze.
Tang Zhen’s face turned pale as he whispered, “Damn, is that guy… the one from the Orlando family…”
Unexpectedly, Jiang Jianming smiled slightly, waving his hand at the figure opposite. “Ryann.”
The beautiful young man opposite suddenly came to life, his emerald eyes brightening imperceptibly, like a voice-activated robot whose switch had been triggered, or a pet waiting for its owner’s call.
He quickly walked up to the two, completely ignoring Tang Zhen’s existence, while gently taking Jiang Jianming’s hand. “I heard someone fought with you, who was it?”
