The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

“Shift a little to the left… yes, just a bit more… don’t move the barrel. Right, follow the direction I’m pointing…”

Jiang Hui focused intently, carefully controlling her mental energy as it extended along the path marked by her teammate’s spiritual signature. Like an extending pole, her reach stretched farther and farther, surpassing the limits of her physical vision.

She could clearly feel Huan Xian’s mental power following her extended mental field to reach even farther into the distance. Together, they pinpointed and locked onto their target with precision, enabling her to fire a shot that decisively neutralized the enemy.

This process might sound complex, but in practice, it was even more challenging. The technique required immense focus and consumed considerable mental energy. Only someone with extraordinary spiritual attributes like Huan Xian, or Jiang Hui—whose mental strength was abnormally profound for mysterious reasons—could pull it off.

Huan Xian’s mental energy level was comparable to Jiang Hui’s and even slightly exceeded hers. However, the plasticity and energy density of his abilities fell short of hers.

He was capable of detecting and marking enemy movements up to two or three kilometers away and could attempt long-range shooting. However, because his awareness was spread thin across such a vast range, his accuracy was often compromised, increasing the risk of alarming the enemy prematurely.

Jiang Hui, on the other hand, had dense and highly adaptable mental power. With just a bit of instruction, she quickly mastered most of the technique. Guided by Huan Xian’s directives, she efficiently constructed a “bridge” of mental energy along the designated path.

As the bridge connecting this mental energy pathway, Jiang Hui naturally found it easier to pinpoint the trajectory needed to eliminate the target.

Thus, with their seamless collaboration, Jiang Hui successfully used a laser training gun, which typically had an effective range of about 1.5 kilometers, to take down an enemy over two or three kilometers away.

The feat was so remarkable that even Jiang Hui herself found it hard to believe. ‘Was that really her doing?’
From her position, she couldn’t even see the enemy. She could only sense a faint presence through the distant, extended thread of mental energy.

‘Huan Xian is incredible,’ she thought, marveling at his abilities.

Unbeknownst to her, Huan Xian was having his own moments of amazement. He had never encountered someone like Jiang Hui before—not just because of her impenetrable magnetic field, but also because of her latent talents, of which even she seemed unaware.

Huan Xian knew his own neural waves were unusual. He had been subjected to countless experiments and transformed into something neither fully human nor entirely monstrous. Over the past two years, he had struggled to find true acceptance in the vast human society. Apart from the military, nowhere else seemed to have a place for him.

He had assumed that this academic journey would end as abruptly and pointlessly as the one a few months ago. Its unremarkable beginning had reinforced that belief. But just when he was losing interest, he encountered this intriguing group of individuals. Suddenly, he found himself reluctant to let this experience end too soon.

Still, he was keenly aware of his own otherness. If these people ever learned the truth about him… they wouldn’t understand his darkness.

However, he had recently realized something unexpected: there might be another person—a kindred spirit, perhaps—among them.

At first, Huan Xian thought it was merely Jiang Hui’s magnetic field that resisted him. But now, he discovered that his invasive spiritual energy couldn’t even penetrate her mental field. It was like oil and water, fundamentally incompatible. Even the military’s senior instructors, who had helped mold him, weren’t entirely immune to his mental influence.

To guide Jiang Hui’s mental energy precisely toward the target he had marked, their fields had to intertwine closely, nearly merging like a single thread. His own spiritual energy, as usual, carried its distinct aggressiveness. But hers…

Only upon closer “observation” did Huan Xian realize that Jiang Hui’s mental energy field was vastly different from that of ordinary people. It wasn’t a thin, evenly distributed layer, but rather compressed into a densely woven structure, layer upon layer, forming a unique and impenetrable barrier. No force could easily break through its outermost layer.

Their mental energies remained distinct, never interfering with one another. Together, they successfully completed the operation, taking down the enemy two kilometers away.

Even for Huan Xian, who had only theorized the feasibility of such a collaboration, this outcome left him with complex emotions.

After Jiang Hui finished the final shot, sensing the enemy’s mental energy plummet sharply to an extremely low point, Huan Xian gave her a complicated glance.

He didn’t know why her mental energy bore traits as inhuman as his, but… perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Uh, is that it?” Jiang Hui asked. With her current perception abilities, extending her mental awareness to such a distant endpoint and reading the surroundings was a stretch.

She followed Huan Xian’s instructions to complete the last shot, but when he fell silent afterward, she felt a little uneasy. Had she missed the target and allowed the enemy to escape? If so, all their effort would have been for nothing.

“It’s done. Your opening shot was critical. After their mental energy field surged, it became much easier to mark them. Don’t worry—you aimed well. They’ve been eliminated,” Huan Xian replied.

Jiang Hui nodded and finally relaxed her tense arms. Her fingers were trembling uncontrollably. At some point, she realized her back was drenched in cold sweat, and the chill from the breeze sent a shiver through her. “This approach works, sure, but it’s exhausting. And you don’t even get any points. My mental energy feels pretty drained now. Are you holding up okay?”

“…I’m fine. Use some supplements,” Huan Xian’s voice came from the other side.

Neither said much after that, likely both rummaging for mental energy supplements.

Meanwhile, the three other teammates, who hadn’t dared interrupt: …

“What just happened that we don’t know about? Did you not have time to call us?” Xierman asked, his throat feeling dry.

“They probably never planned to call us,” Zhou Xiuwen commented calmly. “There wasn’t a single place where we could’ve been useful.”

Clarens: …

“Wait, how…?” ‘How is that even possible?!’

Enemies over two kilometers away—are you sure they hit the target? If not, wouldn’t this have just alerted them instead?

Clarens wasn’t doubting Jiang Hui’s abilities; he knew them well. As a relatively experienced shooter himself, he had observed her closely before and could vouch for her skills. Though there were still some rough edges, her potential for growth was staggering.

The last time he saw her shoot, just a few days ago, she was at a much lower level. Compared to what he witnessed today, it was like she had been completely transformed. The improvement wasn’t minor—it was groundbreaking.

What made it even harder to believe was that they were using a laser training rifle, which lacked significant power and precise aiming capabilities. The enemy was still two to three kilometers away. How had Jiang Hui and Huan Xian managed to track and hit them? This wasn’t something you could pull off by blindly firing in their general direction.

Earlier, Clarens had felt a surge of intense, nearly tangible mental energy rising beside him and shooting straight toward a specific direction. It lasted for a very short time—barely a fraction of a second—yet within that brief moment, it seemed to undergo a series of complex transformations and interactions.

Then, with Jiang Hui’s four successive shots, everything ended, as if a conclusion had been drawn.

Even though Clarens couldn’t help voicing his disbelief, a small voice in the back of his mind whispered to him that it was real.

—

PS: I think Clarens deserves a nickname: ‘Ellipsis-kun.’

Clarens: My unlucky teammates have shocked me into rewriting my worldview yet again today.

Little note: Poor Clarens is still clueless about Huan Xian’s abilities since he joined the team late. He just thinks everyone has blind faith in Huan Xian’s intel. Once he learns the truth, it’s bound to shatter his worldview all over again.