The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Nie Erqi had been paying attention to this student for a while. Not for any particular reason, but because she was simply too conspicuous.

Although he was only taking on a temporary task and would be here for just a week, he couldn’t teach these kids much. Nevertheless, to complete his assignment well, he had carefully reviewed the information about the entire class, including those of Jiang Hui and Clarens.

Beska Intermediate Academy was divided into graded classes, with higher-numbered classes having better qualifications. The first, second, and third classes of the combat special forces department were filled with students of above-average quality from the upper half of the grade. Being in one of these top three classes spoke volumes about their qualifications.

Among the second class, the students with the best mental power potential were Clarens and Jiang Hui. Both of them had undergone their second awakening and reached the level of A-grade mental power as incomplete awakened individuals. Unless something unexpected occurred, they would likely reach at least A+ when fully awakened. If these promising candidates received good training, it was hard to say which military faction they might end up with in the future.

Of course, this all hinged on whether they were indeed worthy of cultivation.

Compared to Clarens, who was excellent in all aspects and came from a prominent family, Jiang Hui seemed relatively ordinary. Her physical fitness and constitution levels were quite low, and apart from her outstanding mental power level, there was nothing particularly commendable about her.

However, physical fitness and constitution could be gradually improved. But mental power potential was not something that could be easily enhanced later. The initial gap might very well last a lifetime, which was why he remembered Jiang Hui to some extent.

Yet, when he actually began teaching these children, he found that his attention unexpectedly shifted more toward Jiang Hui.

This student, Jiang Hui, had a rather complex aura about her. She didn’t seem as easy to understand as other children her age—or rather, she didn’t seem like a child at all, nor did she fully resemble an adult.

Over the years in the military, Nie Erqi had been to many places and met all kinds of people. He had seen stable children, but children were ultimately still children; no matter how quickly they grew, they couldn’t replace the effects of time.

Jiang Hui’s indifference didn’t stem from her personality. That kind of indifference has warmth, an outer manifestation that reflects it. However, Jiang Hui’s was a coldness of essence. Even though she outwardly displayed warmth and her personality didn’t seem too aloof, internally, she was cold and hard, showing little fluctuation. She didn’t resemble a child or an adult… like a soul floating in a mundane shell, not quite human.

She might not be aware of it herself, but hidden among the group of children, she stood out like a black owl among a flock of chicks—remarkably conspicuous and obviously different. People outside could see her immediately and felt that “she” shouldn’t be there, that she should not be confined to such a space, that “she” was being restricted.

This was also why Hess was drawn to Jiang Hui instead of the impeccable Clarens.

However… there probably wasn’t much intersection between him and this young student. What brought her here today?

It seemed like she had been waiting silently without saying a word. Stark, for some reason, was unusually silent today as well. Though Nie Erqi often appeared cool on the outside, he was actually quite an active person inside.

He couldn’t get used to such a silent atmosphere. He wanted to see what this child had come to say to him. After thinking about how she had been interrupted during her shooting earlier… perhaps she was troubled by that guy Hess.

He still had a box to seal, so while sealing it, he spoke to Jiang Hui, saying, “You performed well today.”

The girl seemed a bit surprised by his initiative to start a conversation and was momentarily taken aback.

Finally, she seemed to have a bit more presence, looking more agreeable than during training. Perhaps that was just her focused state? Nie Erqi thought uncertainly.

“Today you won against Hess, but if we’re talking about real skill, you still have a long way to go. To stabilize your level, you need to practice diligently,” he said.

The child naturally didn’t show any signs of disagreement or disappointment in her eyes, as if she had long understood this truth after countless struggles in the mundane world.

Why is she reacting this way again? Nie Erqi was a bit taken aback, wanting to say something more, but suddenly he heard her take the initiative to speak…

“Instructor Nie Erqi, I think there seems to be a problem with the positioning net today.” She hesitated for a moment, immediately capturing Nie Erqi’s attention.

He was puzzled. “What problem?” How could something as simple as a positioning net have any issues?

In Nie Erqi’s impression, things that could be called problems in life were often blood-related or even fatal incidents. When did a positioning net start being described as having problems? Alas, it seemed he had been in this comfortable place for too long; the battlefield suited him better. He didn’t know how Stark could tolerate such a disparity.

But since Jiang Hui had brought it up, he had to get to the bottom of it. He felt he had gained some “insights” from the teaching over the past few days.

“That net seems to be misaligned today,” she said, her tone sounding a bit doubtful but still quite certain.

This made Nie Erqi furrow his brow as he asked her which one. Jiang Hui pointed to one of them. It was the one set up by Nie Erqi; out of the three positioning nets, two were set up by Stark, and only this one was set up by Nie Erqi himself.

No way… Nie Erqi squinted and took a closer look, and it seemed he really did see some issues.

He couldn’t help but walk over to examine it, discovering that one of the wedges used for securing the net was indeed misaligned, slightly askew. It wasn’t obvious, but with that wedge as the base, the entire net would naturally have a bit of deviation—just subtle enough that Nie Erqi hadn’t noticed it himself.

But how did this child spot it? She hadn’t even gotten close to take a look! How precise must her eyesight be?! The key was that he hadn’t seen it himself, and yet she pointed it out… How embarrassing! He felt like he’d lost face in front of someone younger.

For a moment, Nie Erqi lost his composure. Despite his best efforts to suppress the sudden blank expression that appeared on his face, Jiang Hui still noticed.

In fact, she had sensed something was off during her first round of shooting today; it just didn’t feel right in her hands, but she hadn’t immediately identified the cause. After a few more rounds, she made slight adjustments to her angle and it returned to normal, which led her to realize that the positioning net had an issue.

When Nie Erqi had asked, she didn’t know why she spoke up. But now that she had, she felt a bit regretful. What was she doing? Was it necessary to bring up such an inconsequential matter? She could end up offending someone and might face repercussions.

It turned out that Nie Erqi was not the narrow-minded type. He indeed felt embarrassed but quickly moved past it and even curiously asked her how she had noticed it.