That Madman

Lan Jing Shui pondered for a moment. "I'm not sure if she'll see you. You have great potential, and I've mentioned you to her, but..."

But Nan Yue's rank was still too low. Although those who could make it onto the Top Rankings were already one in ten thousand, they still weren't enough to be taken seriously by high-level players standing at the peak.

Moreover, Nan Yue was too young. She had potential, but she was still immature.

Things within Sharp Blade hadn't been stable lately, so Lan Jing Shui wasn't sure if Fu Xi Ming would be willing to meet her.

"Tell her that Bai Yao is on my team."

Lan Jing Shui fell silent for a long time after receiving this message before finally replying.

"Bai Yao? He joined you?"

Nan Yue gave an affirmative response. "So, do I have the qualifications to meet Fu Xi Ming now?"

This time, Lan Jing Shui replied very promptly. "Understood. I'll tell her."

"By the way, do you remember me telling you about a high-level player who went crazy after an extreme mission with me?"

Nan Yue thought for a moment and had some recollection. "I remember. Why bring it up?"

Lan Jing Shui replied quickly this time. "That madman is Bai Yao. :)"

Nan Yue stared at the chat history for a moment, dazed.

That high-level player was Jiang Siyan?

Although she had always known Jiang Siyan was the Top 9 high-level player, she didn't have a direct understanding of him.

She knew he had severe world-weary and self-destructive tendencies, but the element of madness wasn't particularly obvious in him.

Nan Yue hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to talk to Jiang Siyan.

One reason was the special situation they were facing, as she needed all her teammates to be united without any rifts between them.

The other reason was that she had just said she should trust Jiang Siyan more and not doubt him, so she intended to align her actions with her thoughts.

Jiang Siyan was currently researching the next city state to visit with Gu Xiang Kai. Because of Jiang Siyan's presence, the team had already defaulted to obtaining Eden's identity certification.

They had remained in the color city state partly because they wanted more time to prepare and partly because they were afraid of being dragged into the conflicts of high-level factions too early.

However, at a normal pace, they should be moving toward a higher-level city state, not to mention the even more dangerous situation they were currently facing.

"Jiang Siyan, come out with me for a moment."

The movement of Jiang Siyan's hand on the mouse paused as he searched for city state information. He then replied with a smile, "Alright."

His reaction was so fast that even Gu Xiang Kai didn't notice anything was wrong.

Zhu Xi Ning took over Jiang Siyan's spot, whispering with Gu Xiang Kai as they selected the next place to settle.

Nan Yue and Jiang Siyan went to the hotel's private meeting room. After ordering two cups of coffee, the waiter enabled privacy mode, making it very safe to talk.

Jiang Siyan drank his coffee quietly. Seeing that Nan Yue seemed unsure how to start the conversation, he chuckled softly.

"Did Lan Jing Shui agree to help you contact Fu Xi Ming?"

Nan Yue breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was an opening, it was fine. She really didn't know where Jiang Siyan's bottom line was, and she didn't like testing her teammates.

"Yes, but it's not certain if Fu Xi Ming will see me."

Jiang Siyan set down his cup. "Did Lan Jing Shui mention me to you?"

"No, did he mention Bai Yao?"

Nan Yue nodded. "He said you two went through an extreme mission together and that you were in a pretty bad state during that mission..."

Jiang Siyan laughed. "You're putting it quite mildly. Lan Jing Shui definitely didn't describe me like that."

Nan Yue fell silent. She could be said to know nothing about Jiang Siyan's past, but that didn't affect her trust in him.

This trust wasn't blind. Although she didn't know his past, she knew what he wanted for the future, and that was enough.

Jiang Siyan was silent for a moment before saying leisurely, "That mission was from a long time ago. My state wasn't good during that period because a very close brother of mine died."

Nan Yue looked at him. She didn't offer comfort because this was a subject that every scavenger couldn't avoid.

"He was two years ahead of me and always took great care of me at school. I was talented and smart, and my grades were good, but I didn't have many friends and was often bullied."

Seeing Nan Yue raise an eyebrow, Jiang Siyan explained somewhat helplessly, "When I was young, I didn't like to talk. Also, I preferred logic courses over attack courses."

"Only he always looked out for me. Later, I started calling him brother."

Scavengers had no families. They were raised by machine nannies. Due to pollution, scavengers capable of producing offspring were very rare, and they would die after giving birth.

Therefore, they had never seen their parents or relatives.

They hadn't even seen anyone around them get pregnant because that was a very rare constitution that required immediate protection and meant they could no longer participate in the purification project.

But humans all needed affection. It was common to acknowledge others as brothers or sisters, especially when they were young.

It was just that this behavior usually disappeared as scavengers grew up because the world was cruel, and purification was cruel as well.

"He... was one of the people who went with Shen Nian."

Nan Yue was truly surprised this time. "He was that healing-type scavenger?"

Jiang Siyan nodded. "It was him."

Nan Yue noticed something slightly off. "You really aren't blood relatives?"

Jiang Siyan knew what she wanted to say. He gave a smile that lacked warmth, a smile completely different from the one he usually wore, yet Nan Yue felt this was his true smile.

"No."

"I was also very surprised that I awakened the same ability as him."

Nan Yue paused before asking cautiously, "Do you mind if I ask when your ability awakened?"

Jiang Siyan said, "Three months after I joined the purification project, which was also three months after he died."

Nan Yue couldn't say why, but she felt it was strange.

Could two people have such similar awakened abilities?

There were thousands of abilities, and Nan Yue had never seen identical ones on the forums.

Even for control-type abilities, the ones He Jiang and Huo Fuyu had were different.

"What's the difference between your ability and his?"

Jiang Siyan looked at Nan Yue and remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Our awakened abilities are exactly the same."

Nan Yue keenly noticed that after he said this, he seemed to relax a bit, as if some of the gloom weighing on him had dissipated.

"...Sorry, please continue."

Nan Yue's thoughts were numerous and chaotic. She didn't have a clear lead for the moment, so she could only let him continue.

"That mission was a mental attack type. People would be trapped in their own illusions, experiencing their greatest fears over and over again."

"In the illusion, any attack you made would land on yourself. You thought you were fighting ghosts, but in reality, you were hacking off your own arm."