SS 66: Longing Across Distances

However, it wasn’t a person he missed, but a beloved little dragon.

As time passed, Feng Lianzhu gradually got used to his life of squeezing in sports-related studies during his daytime internship as a teacher, returning at night to revise the essays of the Atavists, studying, and video calling the fat dragon for a minute.

He ultimately couldn’t bear to stop contacting the fat dragon. Instead, he discussed with the fat dragon and the system to limit their daily video calls to within one minute, deducting 1,000 points each time. This way, their points would last much longer, at least until Feng Lianzhu graduated from college.

Pang Kirates really wanted to disregard the points and continue calling like this, but at some point, he gradually began to listen to Feng Lianzhu. Initially, he would recklessly roar in messages and wreak havoc in the game, but now he slowly learned to restrain himself.

Thus, Feng Lianzhu needed to spare a minute every day for a video call with the fat dragon, which, most of the time, involved the fat dragon opening the video, not even roaring twice before falling asleep.

According to Pang Kirates, ever since Feng Lianzhu left the mountain of gold coins, he had been unable to sleep. Even though the molting phase required a lot of energy and rest, and he lay on a mountain full of gold coins, he just couldn’t fall asleep.

It wasn’t until the entire Bamboo Valley was moved to the mountain of gold coins and they video-called that the fat dragon fell asleep on the bamboo in the last minute of their call. Fortunately, his small size and light weight, combined with his forepaws gripping the branches tightly, prevented him from falling.

Later, the primary purpose of Feng Lianzhu’s video chats with the fat dragon became akin to a lullaby. Feng Lianzhu would say a few words, and recite a few essays (Pang Kirates strongly requested Feng Lianzhu to read “My Best Friend” every day), and the little golden dragon would fall asleep.

He could sleep anywhere and anytime, whether it was on bamboo, in the weightless state of a Ferris wheel, or on a roller coaster. There wasn’t a place in the mountain of gold coins where Pang Kirates hadn’t slept.

Seeing him sleep like this, Feng Lianzhu became somewhat worried but was reassured after consulting the system that it was normal during the molting phase, and that it would be a problem if he couldn’t sleep.

Perhaps it was the nature of a child, still needing a bedtime story. Feng Lianzhu chuckled inwardly, quietly saving the videos of their calls, planning to show them to Pang Kirates when he grew up.

Strangely, since he started video calling with the fat dragon, Feng Lianzhu no longer felt tired during the day. Perhaps because managing middle school students was somehow less worrisome than dealing with the fat dragon. He could put the fat dragon to sleep, so dealing with these young middle schoolers was naturally easy.

With the school having many students, Feng Lianzhu found a good way to earn points—the “Fake Smile Boy.”

The “Fake Smile Boy” skill currently only deducts points when used on the fat dragon. When facing others, it adds 100 points each time. With thousands of teachers and students at Feng Lianzhu’s internship school, about 30 students per class, and two classes a day, he could face 60 students. During breaks and club activities, students would scream at Feng Lianzhu. As long as he swung a tennis racket stylishly a few times, jumped high, and smiled at the students, he could earn many points.

100 points per person wasn’t much, but the large base number meant 60 people in two classes multiplied by 100 was 6,000 points. Including club activities, Feng Lianzhu could earn nearly ten thousand points a day, which further motivated him in his internship. He walked with a spring in his step every day to work.

Having wealth means having confidence. With a stable source of points, Feng Lianzhu couldn’t help but secretly extend the video call duration to watch the sleeping little golden dragon for a bit longer. He especially liked seeing the little golden dragon sleeping with his white belly exposed and his small paws moving occasionally.

Regrettably, he couldn’t pinch them, Feng Lianzhu thought with some disappointment.

Moreover, after the fat dragon reached adulthood, he probably wouldn’t show such adorable expressions anymore.

While counting seconds for his students, Feng Lianzhu remembered the little golden dragon and couldn’t help but smile—not a fake smile, but a genuine one.

“Ah!” A boy running past him exclaimed at the sight of Feng Lianzhu’s smile, stopped in his tracks, and stared blankly at him.

“What are you doing? Keep running!” the PE teacher, holding a stopwatch, came over, “Speed up a bit more, and you can get into the mech specialization in college!”

The boy seemed not to hear the PE teacher, still staring blankly at Feng Lianzhu’s face. He had always been annoyed by this intern teacher. Despite being only a few years older, he was so popular among the girls, and his smile seemed so fake. He wondered if the girls were blind.

The reason Feng Lianzhu could only gather ten thousand points a day was naturally because some people felt annoyed by his fake smile, though they were in the minority. And they didn’t deduct as many points as the fat dragon, just 100 points. After all, more people liked the “Fake Smile Boy” than not, so Feng Lianzhu didn’t mind the points deducted.

Seeing the boy staring blankly at him, Feng Lianzhu reflexively smiled at him—not a real smile, but the fake smile of the Fake Smile Boy. The boy immediately frowned and ran off unhappily, costing Feng Lianzhu another 100 points.

The progress with the Atavists was going smoothly. Under his guidance, regardless of what the Atavists thought internally, they all showed strength and aspiration for the future when facing the Alliance, creating a very inspiring image. The public opinion was increasingly in favor of the Atavists.

With such a foundation, once the second trial was over, he could push for the abolition of the “Atavist Protection Act.” Abolishing or passing certain acts required a vote from the public, and Feng Lianzhu’s efforts were aimed at repealing the act.

Abolishing the old act would certainly lead to the introduction of new legislation. Before the new laws were enacted, the Atavists could propose independence. These 100 Atavists were already the focus of society, and many from the welfare institutions were surely watching them. If they called for it, many Atavists would voluntarily follow them.

Most importantly, Feng Lianzhu felt that by then, the fat dragon should have reached adulthood. An adult fat dragon would be powerful enough to contend with the entire Alliance’s might. The Alliance, already troubled by the Empire’s military, wouldn’t likely start a war over 3% of the population destined to be abandoned, against a Kirates dragon. Leveraging the fat dragon’s might, they could gradually bring the Atavists back to the primitive star to grow and strengthen.

Decades later, once the Atavists truly became a force to be reckoned with, the Alliance wouldn’t dare to provoke them easily but would have to seek alliances. At that time, the Atavists would only need to choose whether to join the Alliance as a subordinate confederation or join the Empire’s constitutional monarchy. The best outcome would be for the Empire’s military to lead a portion of the planets’ populations to split from the Alliance, establishing a tripartite balance between the Alliance, the Empire, and the Atavists, achieving true equilibrium.

Actually, this wouldn’t require much military force from the fat dragon. His role would mostly be that of an ultimate weapon, not to be easily deployed, generally serving more as a deterrent.

The good news was that during the first trial, the prosecutor, following Laurie’s instructions, demanded economic compensation for the Atavists from the underground arena: one hundred million standard gold coins and one billion star coins. Due to the Alliance’s heightened attention to the Atavists, the court straightforwardly awarded a portion of the confiscated underground arena’s assets to them.

There were only eighty million gold coins, and the Alliance was probably reluctant to give more, but they compensated with extra star coins, eventually paying out three billion star coins. This money could enable many Atavists to attend school.

Logically, such a large compensation wouldn’t have been feasible, but the prosecutor stated that the money and gold coins would establish a fund to help more Atavists. It was this pretext that persuaded the court to agree to the compensation.

Of course, the money and gold coins would aid the Atavists, but not through a fund. Instead, they would be taken back to the primitive star to invest in armaments (the fat dragon) and education.

This money would be available after the second trial, and Feng Lianzhu had left his account details to receive it all then.

Withdrawing the gold coins would require the presence of a legal team. Feng Lianzhu planned to borrow a pouch from the fat dragon to bring them all back.

Half a month passed unconsciously, and tomorrow the results would be announced. Feng Lianzhu was unusually nervous, not using his Fake Smile Boy skill all day, which worried the teachers and students who knew him well.

During the athletics club activity, about ten girls who weren’t members of the club gathered around Feng Lianzhu, sitting next to him and asking with concern, “Teacher Feng, are you feeling unwell today?”

“No,” Feng Lianzhu shook his head simply, not understanding why the girls were asking such a question, but he politely said, “Just a bit tired.”

“Teacher Feng, you haven’t taken a break since you started your internship, have you? I see you training with the athletics team even on rest days,” a girl with twin ponytails said. “Which planet are you from? Are you from Eimiral?”

“I’m not from here. My home is on a more remote planet that you probably haven’t heard of,” Feng Lianzhu replied politely, smiling to reassure the students.

“That explains it. Most people find it hard to adapt to Eimilar’s environment,” another girl with short hair said. “Eimiral’s schedule is too chaotic. Schools on other planets are on winter break now, but we have to attend classes because this is the only time the weather is good on our planet. We won’t have a break for another three months.”

Aside from the students taking the college entrance exam, the holiday schedule of Eimiral’s other students was different from that of other planets. This was why Feng Lianzhu could intern for two months during the college entrance exam period when most schools would already be on break.

“Teacher, teacher,” a girl with big eyes boldly hugged Feng Lianzhu’s arm, “do you have a lover?”

Feng Lianzhu withdrew his hand the moment he felt her skin, his smile fading, and his demeanor becoming colder. His voice carried a hint of distance: “No.”

The girl with big eyes seemed not to notice Feng Lianzhu’s rejection and whispered, “Then, when your internship ends, can I be your girlfriend?”

During his internship, Feng Lianzhu was considered a teacher, and the school strictly prohibited relationships between teachers and students, especially with middle schoolers. However, once the internship ended, there would be no issue, as it would just be a relationship between a young man and a young girl.

“I cannot,” Feng Lianzhu stood up, distancing himself from the girls.

“Why not? Do you already have someone you like?” the girl boldly confessed.

Feng Lianzhu intended to say no, but as he was about to reply, the image of the little golden dragon sleeping flashed through his mind. It was as if something clogged his throat, preventing him from speaking.

Seeing the fervent emotion in the girl’s eyes, Feng Lianzhu realized his feelings for the little golden dragon were not as intense, yet…

After a long pause, he slowly nodded and said, “Yes.”

But it wasn’t a person he liked; it was the little dragon he favored.