Chapter 36: The General’s Challenge

Xu Yuan’s declaration, "Reporting to the General, my battle plan is ready," was like a stone cast into a deep, still lake. It sent a silent yet incredibly sharp ripple through the cool morning air.

At the sound of these words, Jiang Yi’s fathomless eyes flickered, contracting almost imperceptibly. He looked at the girl before him—whose face still bore the pallor of recent illness, yet whose eyes burned with the intensity of fire and the steadfastness of a pine—and for the first time, he saw not a trace of fear or retreat.

There was only composure. And, mirroring his own, a wild, fierce intent for battle.

In silence, he reached out and took the small USB drive. It still held the faint warmth of her fingertips. He did not check it immediately; instead, he used his slender fingers to gently stroke the cold metal casing, as if weighing a heavy, prestigious medal of honor.

After a long moment, he slowly raised his eyes.

"Let’s go."

His voice remained that cold, emotionless tone. Yet, in those two words, Xu Yuan distinctly heard a flicker of hard-won approval. He turned and headed toward the school gate. Xu Yuan followed immediately.

The two moved in single file through the empty morning campus, neither speaking. But a silent tacit understanding, like an invisible net, wrapped them tightly together. They were no longer employer and part-time assistant, no longer benefactor and the pitied, and no longer mere collaborators. They were a General and his Chief of Staff, about to step onto the same battlefield.

A black, nondescript ride-hailing car was already waiting at the gate. Jiang Yi opened the rear door, sat inside, and signaled to the seat beside him with a glance. Xu Yuan did not hesitate and climbed in.

The door closed, sealing off the cold, quiet world outside. In the cramped space, the air suddenly grew subtle. Xu Yuan could smell that familiar, crisp, and pleasant scent of soap on him. She could also feel the undeniable, icy aura radiating from his person. She shifted uncomfortably toward the window.

The driver glanced at the two young people with their starkly different temperaments through the rearview mirror, asked nothing, and steered the car smoothly onto the road. The cabin fell into silence.

Jiang Yi took out his laptop, powered it on, and inserted the USB drive that held all of Xu Yuan’s painstaking effort.

Xu Yuan’s heart instantly jumped to her throat. She subconsciously held her breath, her peripheral vision locked tightly on his side profile, which appeared all the more severe under the ghostly blue glow of the screen.

She watched as he clicked open the document titled "Deep Sea Echo: User Test Report (Version 1)." Then, his brows slowly knit together.

It was over. Her heart sank. Was it too poorly written? Or did her "musings" appear too childish and laughable in the eyes of a true genius like him? Her palms began to sweat with nerves.

However, Jiang Yi simply scrolled down, page by page, in silence. His gaze moved across the screen very, very slowly. Especially when he reached the section where she had categorized him as a "Type 1 User" and placed a series of question marks behind his "needs" and "pain points," his hand on the mouse visibly paused.

Xu Yuan’s heart felt as if it were about to burst from her throat. Had she been too presumptuous? Had she crossed the line of being an "ally"? Just as she prepared to open her mouth to offer some remedy, Jiang Yi suddenly snapped the laptop shut.

The "snap" was piercingly clear in the quiet car. He turned to look at her. In those dark, obsidian eyes surged complex emotions she couldn’t decipher, yet they made her heart race.

"Xu Yuan." He said her name.

"Yes?" she replied nervously.

"This report of yours is... garbage."

Boom!

Xu Yuan’s mind went blank. Garbage? She had pulled two all-nighters, poured every ounce of her soul into it, and even dissected her deepest thoughts for this "battle plan," and in his eyes, it was just "garbage"?

A wave of immense, indescribable grievance and resentment surged in her chest. Her eyes uncontrollably began to sting. But before the moisture could pool in her eyes, Jiang Yi’s cold voice sounded again.

"The format is chaotic, there is no data to support your claims, there are too many subjective assumptions, and the logical chain is not rigorous enough."

He pointed out every "unprofessional" flaw in her report with surgical precision. Each word was like a small hammer striking her proud heart. Just as she was about to be crushed by this sudden, total dismissal, he shifted his tone.

"However," he looked at her eyes, which were shimmering with the moisture of grievance. He paused for a few seconds, then, in an extremely awkward yet incredibly sincere tone, said, word for word:

"Your reasoning is excellent."

"Especially the part about me."

"The analysis is very accurate."

Having said that, he turned his head back to look out the window, his cold, severe face revealing no further expression, as if that near-"compliment" hadn’t come from him at all.

Xu Yuan was left completely stunned. She looked at his reddened, stubborn earlobes, her heart feeling like a rollercoaster that had plummeted from the depths only to soar to the clouds in an instant.

This... damn jerk! Can’t you praise someone properly?! Do you have to use this "slap in the face then offer a candy" approach?!

She was both furious and amused. The mist that had just risen in her eyes remained stuck there, awkwardly suspended. Finally, she glared fiercely at the guy who was presenting her with nothing but a cold back. Then, she turned her head to look out the other window, the corners of her mouth, however, curling upward uncontrollably.

The car traveled steadily toward the city center. Outside, the urban scenery retreated rapidly. Inside, sunlight crept in through the window, casting a warm, glowing halo between the two of them.

Neither spoke again. But that awkwardness, now laced with something akin to sweetness, fermented and spread through the air.

Until, a solemn and imposing white building appeared at the edge of their view.

Binhai Intermediate People's Court.

They had arrived. The warm atmosphere in the car was instantly replaced by an icy, murderous tension. The smile on Xu Yuan’s lips slowly froze. She saw that the plaza in front of the court was already filled with cameras and reporters, waiting in formation.