Jiang Lijin looked at him and said nothing.
Rex continued, his tone growing colder. "Besides, do you really think those five matched partners actually like you? They only want you because you are the only 3S-grade female and can save their lives. Once they find someone better—"
"Someone better?" Jiang Lijin interrupted him, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Rex, did you fail your language class? Aren't you contradicting yourself? You just said I'm the only 3S-grade, so where would this 'better' someone come from?"
"Hmph, are you really a 3S-grade?" Rex looked at her with a cold face. "You didn't fake the report through some shady means, did you?"
Jiang Lijin couldn't help but laugh. "Are you saying I fooled the Main Brain? And then tricked five 3S-grade males into playing house with me? If I had that kind of ability, it would be way more impressive than just being a 3S-grade female."
Rex choked on his words, and even Felwin, who was beside him, looked displeased.
[Host!] Xiao Yi's voice rang out in her mind. [Roast him! Keep roasting him! Let him know who the real trash is!]
Jiang Lijin ignored Xiao Yi. She looked at Rex and spoke in a flat tone, "So, did you come here today for a reason?"
Rex's face turned green, and it took him quite a while to recover.
"Nothing," he said, his tone stiff but no longer as aggressive. "Just passing by."
"Oh." Jiang Lijin nodded. "Then continue passing by. I'm leaving."
After saying that, she turned and walked away.
Felwin grew anxious and chased after her with a step forward. "Sister—"
Jiang Lijin paused her steps, turned her head back, and her face turned cold.
"I told you, don't call me sister."
Felwin's eyes instantly turned red, and her lips trembled slightly as if she had suffered a massive grievance.
Seeing this, Rex's face darkened further, his rationality on the verge of snapping.
"Jiang Lijin!" His voice rose a few pitches. "Miss Felwin is an S-grade female. She calls you sister because she thinks highly of you. Don't be ungrateful!"
Jiang Lijin's footsteps stopped completely. She turned around and looked at Rex.
"Thinks highly of me?" She repeated those words, the corners of her mouth curling up. "Rex, get one thing straight. I am 3S-grade, and she is S-grade. Who is thinking highly of whom? What's wrong, are you bad at math too? Do you need me to teach you?"
Rex's face instantly flushed red. He opened his mouth to retort, but found he couldn't speak at all.
Because what Jiang Lijin said was the truth. There was a gap of two whole grades between 3S-grade and S-grade. In this world where mental power reigned supreme, an S-grade was nothing in front of a 3S-grade.
Felwin stood to the side, her facial expression as stiff as it could be. Her eyes were red, and her lips trembled slightly, looking as if she were about to cry at any moment.
But at this moment, Jiang Lijin remembered something. She had previously doubted Felwin's grade...
She stepped a bit closer to Felwin and called out to Xiao Yi in her mind: [Xiao Yi, quickly scan this green tea's mental power grade.]
[Received!]
Felwin was startled by Jiang Lijin's sudden approach.
"Also," Jiang Lijin spoke, looking at Felwin with a flat tone, "Miss Felwin, how many times have you accidentally passed by my beast husband's door now? If you really like this road so much, why not move in together with us? It will save you from walking this far every day."
Felwin's face turned completely pale.
[Host, the scan is complete and is currently analyzing... Uh, let's get out of here quickly. Being this close, there's such a strong stench of tea!]
Jiang Lijin didn't look at Felwin again. She turned around and walked away with large strides.
Behind her, Rex and Felwin stood frozen in place, one with an ashen face and the other deathly pale.
After walking a dozen steps, Jiang Lijin said to Xiao Yi in her mind: [You can actually smell things?]
[It was a metaphor!] Xiao Yi said, sounding confident despite being unreasonable.
[...Are the analysis results out?]
[Almost there, 96%, 98%... 100%! Analysis complete!]
Xiao Yi's voice exploded in her mind. Jiang Lijin didn't stop her footsteps and continued walking toward the main gate of the residential area.
[So, what's the verdict?]
[How should I put it...] Xiao Yi's tone suddenly became a bit strange, as if double-checking something. [Host, this data is a bit weird.]
[Weird? Weird how?]
[Felwin's mental power grade... is unstable.]
Jiang Lijin's steps slowed by half a beat.
Unstable?
In this world, a female's mental power grade was generally stable. Take herself for example; when she was a C-grade before, she remained a steady C-grade. Later, when her mental power started to rise, the curve was slow and steady, climbing up little by little like walking up a slope, until it locked in after reaching 3S.
[What do you mean by unstable?]
[I mean, her mental power grade is jumping around.] Xiao Yi's speaking speed increased. [It's repeatedly jumping between A-grade and S-grade. Not the occasional fluctuation kind, but jumping every single moment. One moment it's A, the next it's S, then it drops back to A, and shoots up to S again. It's like an electrocardiogram, constantly jumping and unable to stop.]
Jiang Lijin frowned. This was indeed abnormal.
[Could there have been an error when you scanned her?]
[No!] Xiao Yi's tone was very certain. [We were so close, there's absolutely no way it was a mistake. Her mental power is just like that, jumping back and forth between A and S.]
Jiang Lijin stayed silent for a few seconds, her mind working rapidly.
Felwin indeed possessed S-grade mental power; there was no doubt about that. Otherwise, when she was doing mental power purification at the hospital before, she would have been exposed long ago. Being able to tangibly perform S-grade purification and channeling meant that, at least during certain periods, she truly was at an S-grade level.
[The Main Brain didn't detect any anomalies?]
[Most likely not.] Xiao Yi's tone carried a hint of helplessness. [The jump from A to S isn't considered drastic, unlike shooting straight from C to 3S, so it probably wouldn't trigger the Main Brain's anomaly detection threshold. Plus, Felwin can indeed perform S-grade tasks.]
Jiang Lijin walked onto the main road of the residential area, her pace unhurried. So, there really was a problem with Felwin's mental power.
But what did that have to do with her?
Although she did dislike Felwin—or rather, utterly loathed her—to say it reached the point of "having to make her an enemy"? It was far from it.
In the original plot of this world, Felwin was the darling of her three ex-husbands. It would be best if the four of them were tied together forever, as long as they didn't come being an eyesore in front of her.
[Host, should we save this data to use as evidence later?] Xiao Yi's tone carried an eager desire to stir up trouble.
[Save what? To prove what?] Jiang Lijin rolled her eyes in her mind. [Then how am I supposed to explain where this data came from?]
Xiao Yi choked.
[Uh... I guess you're right.]
[Exactly.] Jiang Lijin's thoughts were very simple. [Why should I care if her mental energy is stable or not? I am not her mother. She can jump around however she likes, what does it have to do with me? I am going to travel and explore this world in the future. There is no need to waste my time fighting with her on the capital planet!]
Xiao Yi was silent for two seconds before letting out a sigh-like response. [True. Anyway, those three ex-husbands aren't anything good either. Being lumped together with Felwin, they are actually quite a match.]
As they conversed, Jiang Lijin had already walked to the main gate of the residential community.
The security guard at the gate clearly froze for a moment upon seeing her. He had probably just seen the interstellar announcement and recognized who she was.
However, the guard was a professional. He merely gave her a slight nod and did not step forward to strike up a conversation.
Jiang Lijin stood by the roadside and raised her hand to hail a hover-cab on her optical computer. For the destination, she entered the address of the first house, the detached villa in the western suburbs.
The reason she chose to look at that one first was simple: it had a yard.
When Su Han showed her the holographic projection, she had taken a few extra glances at that private courtyard and its greenery area. In this world, green plants were incredibly precious!
A silver-white hover-cab pulled up silently by the curb.
Jiang Lijin opened the door and got in. After she confirmed the address, the cab took off smoothly, soaring through the sky above the capital city.
She leaned back in her seat and looked down through the window. The capital city was massive. From high above, the dense clusters of buildings spread out endlessly, and flying vehicles crisscrossed through the airspace. Occasionally, she could see lights flashing on the roofs of a few exceptionally tall buildings.
Once they left the core district, the architecture noticeably thinned out.
