In the private room, Levi's few words about his brother practically delivered the answer right to Qin Chu's face.
Even if Qin Chu was slow to understand, he would know what he meant.
There is no older brother in this world, but Levi keeps calling him "older brother," so there is only one answer: Levi has regained his memories.
He was not the pseudo-data entity that had lost its memory and was influenced by the data of this world at the beginning.
He is a conscious being with complete memories, and he has been a strategist and adversary who has been fighting Qin Chu since the very first world.
He was Zhao Yuan, who was the last to run out of the exam hall; K, who ruined all his plans; and Qi Xuan, who destroyed the plane with a box of explosives.
Qin Rui, who had followed Qin Chu for more than five years in the previous world, was the emperor who personally killed Qin Rui.
Qin Chu knew that he had regained his memory.
Levi also knew that Qin Chu knew he had regained his memories.
Both of them pretended to be ignorant when they knew the truth.
Levy confessed his feelings at this very moment.
So, is this confession from military cadet Levi to art student Milo, or from the Crown Prince of the Empire, the target of the mission, to Qin Chu, the mission executor?
They're all mixed together, making it hard to tell them apart.
After throwing away the personal terminal, Qin Chu lay back down on the bed.
He covered his eyes with his arm, causing pressure on his eyeballs. Various colored light effects burst out in his dark vision, reminding Qin Chu of the fireworks that lit up half the sky last night.
"Noah, read me Article 10 from the 235th revision of the Mission Execution Manual," Qin Chu said.
Noah stated: "Task executors are strictly prohibited from developing any special emotions towards the task target. Unless required by the mission, task executors may not initiate or maintain any special relationship with the task target. Special relationships include, but are not limited to, family members, lovers, spouses, enemies, etc. For details, please refer to Appendix 2. If a task executor violates this rule, the mission should be immediately suspended and the executor replaced."
After thinking for a moment, Noah added, "Except in special circumstances."
Qin Chu remained silent for a long while.
After a while, he said again, "Read Imperial Military Regulations No. 108 to me."
"...Military personnel, including ordinary soldiers, managers, researchers, and non-staff members, are strictly prohibited from engaging in illicit sexual relationships or same-sex relationships," Noah said.
After speaking, Qin Chu remained silent for a long while.
Noah sighed.
Qin Chu was able to pinpoint which rule and which clause was being referred to with great precision, which meant that he remembered them perfectly well and didn't need to repeat them.
Making him read this aloud will probably only have a reinforcing effect.
After lying down for a while, just when Noah thought Qin Chu wasn't planning to go to the studio all day, Qin Chu got out of bed.
He quickly tidied himself up, changed into his uniform, and left the dormitory as usual.
Students tend to relax twice without realizing it: right after submitting their papers and when the results come out. Presumably for this reason, most art students get up around these times, and the hallways are bustling with people.
It was lunchtime, and Qin Chu followed the crowd into the restaurant.
Another experience of eating lunch alone.
After yesterday noon, Qin Chu had more than two records on the electronic menu, but he still stared at the menu for a while before clicking the payment button.
Today, the art students didn't pair up with alphas. They either occupied a table by themselves or sat with other art students, discussing their paintings for the competition.
Therefore, Qin Chu sat alone in the corner, not too conspicuous.
During the meal, several more military academy students in black and blue uniforms pushed open the restaurant door and walked in.
Qin Chu glanced over there subconsciously.
His gaze swept across the faces of the people who came in and then slowly lowered.
Good, Levy isn't in it.
After finishing his meal, Qin Chu went straight to the art studio without hesitation.
Staff members were busy working in the corridor of the art studio.
The organizers of this competition were very efficient; they have already taken down the paintings from the preliminary round in the corridor and hung up the outstanding paintings from this competition.
As Qin Chu walked down the corridor, he looked up at the wall from behind the staff.
His gaze lingered on the star beast for a moment, then settled on the largest painting.
Previously, I guessed it was because the screen of the computer was too small that I didn't feel anything when looking at this painting.
But now, standing in front of this enlarged version that is taller than a person, Qin Chu felt the impact of the painting for the first time.
The painting depicts two hands clasped together, clearly belonging to different people, yet they are intimately connected, conveying a sense of security and trust.
Marking these two words is common sense for everyone in this world.
But in Qin Chu's heart, it was overshadowed by the power of his heat cycle.
His relationships with others were superficial, and Qin Chu couldn't imagine what kind of intimacy the mark represented. But now, looking at this painting, he vaguely sensed something.
After walking past the painting, Qin Chu paused in front of his studio door, then took out his key and opened the door.
The person who lay on that small bed last night is gone, leaving only a room full of pheromones.
Levy must have spent the whole night in the studio yesterday; his pheromones are very strong, with a slight hint of alcohol.
Qin Chu walked over and opened the window.
The cool, damp breeze that blew in from outside the window had just arrived when his personal computer in his pocket beeped.
Qin Chu paused, his hand gripping the window, but quickly took out his personal computer.
This is not a private message.
The message came from the competition organizers, saying that the competition rules had been adjusted and they were notifying him to check.
Qin Chu leaned against the window and logged into the system to take a look.
To Qin Chu's surprise, this adjustment was quite significant.
The second stage requires another submission, with the average score of the two submissions taken. At the start of this stage, the organizers went to great lengths to urge them to select a model, and theoretically, both submissions should be related to the model.
However, the second stage has opened up another direction, allowing for a focus on scenery.
In other words, the artist can now terminate the relationship with the model.
Upon seeing this message, Qin Chu almost couldn't help but curse.
If he had said there was another direction, why would he have gone to so much trouble to find models?
Now that the model has been found and the painting has been submitted, they're telling him they don't need a model anymore?
Qin Chu stared at the new rules for another two seconds and realized that the choice of direction was voluntary. In other words, the artist could continue to draw themes related to the model, or choose to change direction.
After thinking for a while, Qin Chu understood the reason.
Although the purpose of this base is to foster friendships, we can't just force people together.
By the time these results were released, those who were meant to connect had already clashed, and some might have even marked each other's names. As for those who didn't feel anything or even disliked each other, it's impossible to keep them sharing a room.
Qin Chu refreshed the page and found that in just a short while, more than a dozen people had applied to change their direction.
This is good news for Qin Chu.
He hesitated for two seconds on the apply button, then pressed it.
A pop-up window appeared: Would you like to change the scenery theme?
The painting he had just seen flashed through Qin Chu's mind again.
Trust and intimacy are states that he and Levy could never reach.
Qin Chu reached out and clicked "confirm".
Levy grabbed his hair and sat up in bed.
His roommate, who was about to leave, glanced at him and said, "Oh, you've only slept for a few hours? Didn't you just get back from training in the early hours of the morning?"
"Okay. Get up and eat," Levi replied lazily.
"Are you sure you're okay not going to the art studio today?" my roommate asked again.
Levi paused, but did not answer.
What's the point of him going? There are people who won't go anyway.
Before he could answer, his roommate nodded to himself: "That's true, a lot of people had the morning off today."
Are you on holiday?
Levy thought for a while before realizing it was the rating.
He subconsciously opened his personal terminal and glanced at it, and unsurprisingly saw the star beast displayed on the homepage.
Qin Chu had previously forbidden him from looking at this painting for too long, but now, after staring at the star beast for a while, Levi finally got out of bed to wash up.
Everyone had left, and the dormitory was quiet.
Levy splashed some cold water on his face and looked up at himself in the mirror.
With icy blue eyes and golden-brown curly hair, he uses his real-life appearance in this world.
That's his most authentic self.
but……
Thinking of Qin Chu's departing figure yesterday, Levi chuckled self-deprecatingly and turned off the tap.
He looked at himself in the mirror and said with a smile, "Don't be a coward, don't be such a sore loser."
Isn't this just the first and only time in my life that I've been rejected after confessing my feelings?
He was about to go out when he heard the dormitory door open.
One of my roommates came back and sighed loudly, "Ah, at least I don't have to force myself to stay strong anymore."
"What happened? Didn't you go to the studio?" Levy asked.
The man, lying on the bed, shrugged: "The relationship is over. The system has a new rule: artists can change direction and end the relationship with models, of course, with the consent of both parties..."
Levi was taken aback and quickly went to the bedside to pick up the personal computer.
As soon as I turned on my personal terminal, a message popped up: "Your artist has requested a change of direction. What are your thoughts...?"