Ato handed Kevin a can of energy drink. Though he did not say much, the gesture alone warmed Kevin's heart.
He was the new friend Kevin had made within MOTH—and his only friend.
Although Ato had far more seniority and should not have appeared at the recruit training camp, he had made a special trip just to deliver news about Mei.
"Thank you, Ato." Kevin raised his hand to take the drink and spoke with gratitude.
He immediately followed up with another question. "I heard Mei was taken in as an assistant researcher by the newly appointed Minister of Engineering?"
"Oh ho, your information network's gotten sharper, kid. I was just about to tell you the good news." Ato chuckled.
Kevin explained, "Mei may be unknown, but Dr. Newton is one of MOTH's rising star scientists. Anything related to her gets discussed constantly among the recruits."
"Heh, I bet they're just smitten with Dr. Newton's looks. She's young, accomplished, and a real beauty. I also heard from people in the engineering department that her personality is gentle, without the arrogance or eccentric temper you'd expect from a genius. A girl with both brains and virtue like that—what man wouldn't admire her?"
"With Mei working under her, she's bound to gain a lot of experience. She should complete her doctoral certification soon and be promoted to a full researcher, right?"
"When that happens, Kevin, you'd better treat me to a meal. And introduce me while you're at it. I'd love to pull some strings and get to know Dr. Newton too. Hahaha..."
Hearing that everything had been going smoothly for Mei lately, Kevin let out a relieved breath. "That's good."
"What about you? How's the training going?" Ato changed the subject and asked with concern.
"..."
Kevin lowered his head in silence.
Just as the late Valkyrie Ido had once said, there were no shortcuts to strength.
And the atmosphere within MOTH was far less harmonious than Kevin had imagined.
Here, the soldiers trained under extreme intensity and heavy pressure every single day in order to meet the combat requirements for fighting Honkai Beasts.
Perhaps it was because of such a grueling lifestyle that they needed some sort of "toy" to vent their stress. Or perhaps the sunny, cheerful Kevin simply looked easy to bully.
In any case, Kevin became their punching bag and endured all manner of harassment.
For example, during a marksmanship competition, someone hid the military boots he had placed in his locker and replaced them with a pair of winter women's fur boots.
Kevin could hardly wear women's boots into competition. In order to participate, he had to run everywhere searching for his own pair. In the end, he was late, became the first recruit eliminated, and was mockingly labeled "battlefield cannon fodder" by his teammates.
On another occasion, he was falsely accused of tearing open a sack of military dry flour. The squad leader refused to believe Kevin's explanation and forced him to eat the damp, damaged flour for dinner, forbidding him from wasting it.
Kevin noticed a slit at the bottom of the sack. If he lifted it, the flour would spill onto the ground. Someone kindly handed him what looked like a pot. But after pouring it in, he realized it was not a pot at all—it was an ammunition storage barrel lined with oxidized copper.
The dry flour mixed with metallic particles.
The recruits around him jeered and laughed. "Take your time picking it out, Your Highness! Hahahaha!"
There were other incidents too—his gun tampered with so it jammed, the mechanical parts assigned to him swapped out for piles of junk. Those were hardly worth mentioning.
The most outrageous incident happened when the squad leader of Kevin's recruit unit asked for a rag to wipe a stain. One of the soldiers handed him a towel embroidered with a kiwi.
When Kevin saw it, fury exploded within him.
What the squad leader held in his hand... was unmistakably the scarf Mei had knitted for him! And that wasn't a kiwi stitched onto it—Mei had said it was a little bear!
Ice flared in Kevin's eyes.
The chilling aura radiating from him was like a frozen wasteland, sending biting cold into the air. In just a few seconds, it felt as though frost would cover one's entire body.
The squad leader shuddered and immediately backed down, returning the scarf to Kevin.
After all, this was the man who had taken first place in simulated combat after only four months of training.
If it truly came to blows, several squad leaders combined still would not be enough to take him on.
...
After listening to Kevin's account, Ato did not know how to comfort him. He could only suggest, "How about I report this to the recruit camp commander?"
As a member of a special operations unit, Ato held a certain degree of influence within the barracks.
Kevin, however, let out a mocking laugh. "Heh, the recruit camp commander? He said, 'In MOTH, you obey discipline. Even if you feel wronged, you endure it yourself. You're only one person, while the unit is a group. Acting without regard for the team like this will get you expelled from MOTH.'"
It was clear the commander was a seasoned veteran of the military. He had long since identified Kevin's weak point.
When Kevin first entered the barracks, he had been too naive. In his eagerness to make friends, he had spoken freely about many things, giving others the opportunity to grasp his vulnerabilities.
Left with no other choice, Kevin endured the humiliation in silence. He did not want to leave MOTH. Leaving MOTH meant he would no longer be able to see Mei, no longer follow in her footsteps.
That was why Kevin had grown quieter recently, colder in the way he treated others.
Ato slammed his fist angrily against the bench. Bang! "That bastard! He just doesn't want any blemishes on his recruit camp record. Who does he think he's fooling?"
"I'll go talk to Mei! I'll ask her to have Dr. Newton help. As Minister of Engineering, this kind of problem would be easy for her to solve."
Ato stood up, ready to head for the engineering laboratory, but Kevin stopped him.
"Don't. I don't want Mei to worry. And I don't want this to affect her."
"As long as it doesn't burden Mei, I'm fine with anything."
A sense of helpless resignation seeped into Kevin's voice. For Mei's sake, he was willing to bear all of it.
"But you've already affected my plans, Kevin. You don't know this, but MOTH's upper management is using your life to threaten me, forcing me to tie myself to certain people."
A familiar female voice sounded from behind Kevin's ear.
Kevin looked up in surprise to see Mei's face less than an inch away from his own, gazing at him. He had been so focused on stopping Ato earlier that he had not even noticed her arrival.
"Mei? Why are you at the recruit camp? Your work at the Newton laboratory—won't that be a problem?"
Joyfully, Kevin lifted his hand toward Mei's face, only to slowly stop midair.
It was her latter words that made him realize what she had meant.
He had never imagined that MOTH's upper management would use him as a hostage to threaten Mei.
So he had become her burden after all.
Having learned the truth, Kevin wished he could slap himself twice to vent his frustration at his own dullness.