Chapter 438: Secret Communication

Qiu Ce Yuan playground.

The wind, wrapped in a chill, swept across the track, making the Qiu Ce Yuan flag on the flagpole snap crackly.

PE instructor Zhang Rui stood by the white line, holding the group list, glancing at the newly adjusted roster. After the B09 incident, Class A was reorganized, cutting the original strength of over forty down to thirty-seven. The dead were crossed out, those who transferred were canceled, and new members came in to be re‑grouped.

"Partner pairs." Zhang Rui's voice was naturally loud, able to overpower the wind without a megaphone, "Back‑fall stretch training, free warm‑up for fifteen minutes, then begin. Groups according to the adjusted roster——"

When he got to the sixth pair, he paused half a beat.

"Lu Yu, Chen Yao."

Several gazes on the playground turned toward them at once.

It wasn't a coincidence. After B09, whenever those two names appeared together, they automatically brought up talk. It would be strange not to draw attention.

Lu Yu stepped out from the end of the line, his pace unhurried. His uniform sleeves still bore chalk dust from wiping the blackboard in the previous class, the bruise on his face had faded by half, leaving a faint yellowish undertone.

Chen Yao stepped out from the other side.

Head down, her ponytail neat, the old hairpin clipped at her temple. As she walked, both hands hung in front of her, fingertips overlapped, steps small, shoulders slightly drawn in.

The classic "don't look at me" posture.

The two met in the center of the playground.

320 meters away, the Qiu Ce Yuan bell tower.

The top‑floor louvers were shut, leaving only a two‑finger‑wide gap. An Investigation Bureau officer in a dark‑gray field uniform crouched behind the window, his right eye pressed to the eyepiece of a high‑powered telescope, his left index finger resting on the frequency knob of a nearby micro voiceprint capture device.

Behind him stood another person, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, chewing a toothpick.

"Ten o'clock direction, sixth pair," the crouched one whispered, giving the coordinates.

The toothpick guy moved over and glanced at the positions of the two heat‑signature dots on the screen.

"They're together again."

"The groups Zhang Rui assigned."

"Zhang Rui? Old Zhang that sly fox—wouldn't he know how sensitive it is to put those two together?"

"It's orders from above. Su Team said before, don't deliberately isolate them, just observe normally. The more natural, the better."

The toothpick guy didn't ask further, leaned back against the wall, and turned the toothpick to the other side in his mouth.

In the telescope's view, Lu Yu was doing the lunge stretch of the warm‑up.

Chen Yao stood one meter to his right, following along.

The distance was neither far nor near—the standard social distance for partner pairs in the textbook.

The warm‑up ended.

Back‑fall stretch.

The requirement for this subject is simple: sit back‑to‑back, cross arms and hold, use the partner's body weight for opposite‑direction pulling, stretching the shoulders, back, and core muscles. In Qiu Ce Yuan's basic PE class it ranks third from the easiest, the only technical point being to match the breathing rhythm to avoid strain.

Lu Yu sat down first.

Back to back.

Chen Yao followed, sitting behind him, with about four centimeters between their spines.

Arms crossed, elbows hooked together.

Chen Yao's arms were slender; under the long sleeves of her uniform hardly any muscle could be felt. Yet when her elbow joint slipped in, the angle was spot‑on, with no extra adjustment.

Nailed it on the first try.

Zhang Rui blew a whistle in the distance.

"First pair, lean forward."

Lu Yu leaned forward. Chen Yao's back pressed against him, her weight transmitted through the crossed arms, pushing his shoulder blades outward.

Breathing interlocked.

He exhaled, she inhaled. He leaned forward, she leaned back. The rhythm was spot‑on, as if rehearsed.

On the second alternation, Chen Yao leaned back, pulling Lu Yu backward with her. The back of her head nearly reached his neck‑shoulder area, compressing their distance to the limit.

In that very moment of the exchange, a sound reached Lu Yu's ear.

Very soft.

So soft that only the two people pressed together could hear it.

"I know you have the trump card to kill an A‑level Weird."

Lu Yu's forward‑leaning motion did not pause.

Even his breathing rhythm stayed the same.

But his brain quickly made a three‑fold judgment——

Bell‑tower direction, 320 meters, a high‑powered telescope can capture facial expressions but not pick up sound. The voiceprint capture device's effective radius is about two hundred meters, out of range. During the back‑fall stretch the two face opposite directions, making lip‑reading analysis physically impossible.

She chose to speak in this motion, not at random.

It was calculated.

Lu Yu's lips didn't move.

On the next alternation, he leaned back, she leaned forward. This time the back of his head approached her neck‑shoulder.

"Then what?" his voice squeezed from deep in his throat, volume pressed to the limit of a whisper.

"That thing." Chen Yao's breathing was steady, her tone flat as if reciting a lesson, "You released it yourself. It wasn't loss of control; you deliberately acted—of course you're not sure whether it will run wild after you do."

Lu Yu didn't respond.

Third alternation.

Lu Yu leaned forward, lifting Chen Yao's back. His arms tightened slightly; from the outside it looked like a normal adjustment of the stretch range.

"You're bringing this up now," he paused, "what are you trying to convey?"

"I'm stating a fact—I'm more perceptive than you imagine." Chen Yao's tone remained even, "You were confined in the Investigation Bureau's high‑risk ward for seven days. After coming out, wearing clothes with a signal source, whenever you walk there's always someone watching that bell tower."

Lu Yu's pupil contracted slightly.

The sensor under the desk, he knows.

But he didn't expect Chen Yao also knows.

"They are raising you in captivity." Chen Yao said.

Neat and straightforward.

No rhetoric or euphemism.

Captivity. Not protection, not supervision. It's captivity.

Like raising a ferocious beast whose bite is uncertain, first lock it in a cage, feed it full, observe its temperament, after figuring out its habits decide whether to release it as a guard dog or directly dispose of it.

Another round of alternation.

Zhang Rui's whistle sounded again, reminding each team to increase the amplitude.

Chen Yao leaned back, the back of her head brushing Lu Yu's shoulder.

"Do you need help?"

Six words.

No padding, no probing, no beating around the bush of "I know some people."

Direct.

Lu Yu rapidly flipped through every layer of meaning of that sentence in his mind.

"Help." The help spoken from Chen Yao's mouth.

The Zhao family's fate is still warm. A hairpin was broken, the whole family evaporated from the business map within forty-eight hours, and finally even the corpses were ground into slag by the Correction Place's rules domain.

This level of "help," a few light words were just handed over.

But Lu Yu's answer was suppressed by another layer of consideration before he could speak.

Bell tower.

Telescope.

Although sound pickup can't be done, if his facial expression shows any abnormal fluctuation during this conversation—tension, vigilance, or that kind of "caution unique to negotiations"—those watching him will add a line of annotation in tonight's report.

Then Su Ming will see that line of annotation.

Then everything will change.

Lu Yu leaned back in the sixth round of alternation, the corner of his mouth twitched, bringing out an extremely faint, adolescent-specific shy arc.

From the telescope in the bell tower, the interpretation of this expression is only one—a fourteen-year-old boy standing too close to a female teammate, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No need." He said.

His voice was kept very low, his tone carrying just the right sincerity.

"Teacher Su arranged a specialized treatment plan for me. Three times a week, targeted suppression training." He paused, took a breath, "That thing inside me... the Investigation Bureau people know better how to handle it. Following their plan, at least I won't lose control again."

Chen Yao's forward-leaning motion didn't stop.

But Lu Yu felt the force from the crossed arms change—not loosened, not tightened, but an evaluative micro-adjustment—she was gauging his muscle tension and heart rate transmission through bodily contact to judge the truth of his words.

This girl.

Lu Yu silently sighed in his heart.

Every word he said is true.

Su Ming indeed arranged the treatment plan. The Investigation Bureau is indeed conducting suppression training. These pieces of information verified by the people in the bell tower cannot be faulted.

But between truth and the whole truth, there's a vast difference.

Chen Yao stayed silent for two rounds of alternation.

Then she spoke. Her voice still as light and flat.

"It seems their plan works for you."

Not a question.

It's a statement.

Lu Yu's back muscles showed no abnormal reaction, but his mind was already racing.

She understood.

Not just understanding the literal meaning.

She also understood the unspoken layer—

"The Investigation Bureau's treatment plan works for me" equals "I am using their resources."

"Following their plan" equals "I have my own rhythm."

"Won't lose control again" equals "I am cooperating within controllable limits."

Thirteen years old.

A kid this age should be worrying about whether tomorrow's cafeteria has strawberry milk, not completing an intelligence-level information exchange during gym class using breath gaps.

But Chen Yao did it.

Moreover, she did it cleaner than many adults.

Next seven rounds of alternation.

Zhang Rui's whistle sounded twice briefly, indicating the first stage ended, each team rests in place for thirty seconds.

Lu Yu and Chen Yao simultaneously released their crossed arms.

The two sat facing opposite directions, with several centimeters of air between them.

Chen Yao lowered her head to tidy her uniform cuffs, moving slowly and deliberately.

From any angle, it's just an introverted girl alone during break.

"Then that's good."

She said the last three words.

Same as last time in the classroom, the way of concluding.

Clean, neat, no extra tail.

But this time, the weight of the three words "that's good" is completely different.

Last time was thanks.

This time is confirmation.

She confirmed one thing—

Lu Yu wasn't forced, and he wasn't the Investigation Bureau's dog.

Thirty-second break ended. Zhang Rui blew the whistle again.

"Second phase, change direction!"

The two stood up, swapped positions, preparing for reverse stretch.

On the bell tower.

The observer who had been squatting for nearly forty minutes rubbed his sore right eye, stepping back from behind the telescope.

"How is it?" the toothpick man asked.

"Normal." The observer moved his neck, flipped the record book to a new page: "Group Six, Lu Yu and Chen Yao. Coordination average, physical contact limited to training requirements, no abnormal communication behavior. Expression natural, no interaction beyond the norm observed."

He wrote this line into the log, closed the notebook.

"These two kids are pretty boring."

The toothpick man snorted, swapped in a new toothpick.

"Kids, huh."

On the playground, the wind grew a bit stronger.

As Lu Yu bent to tie his shoelaces, his right index finger brushed the edge of his pants pocket. The milk candy was still in his pocket. The ballpoint pen markings on the back of the wrapper, he had memorized them last night.

The number wasn't stored in any electronic device.

It's all in his head.

He tied his shoelaces, stood straight, and moved with the formation to the next training item.

Chen Yao walked three positions ahead of him.

The ponytail swayed left and right with the steps. The old hairpin reflected light in the sunlight, soon covered by clouds.

She didn't look back.

He also didn't look at her.

The two were among thirty-seven classmates, ordinary as two drops of water falling into the sea.

But in Lu Yu's pocket, there was an extra line.

A line that leads to the heart of Eden Garden.

And the eyes on the bell tower saw nothing.