From the Abyss of Stars Part 1

017. Fleecing

017. Fleecing

Li Aozi kept a low profile, leveraging his high charisma to effortlessly portray a sunny, considerate, and gentle personality—traits stereotypically attributed to men from Frosted Land, where a strong female culture inevitably fosters gentle, non-aggressive men.

When Nordri spoke the common language, it carried a hint of a Frosted Land accent, and Li Aozi took advantage of this, deliberately engaging her in conversation during leisure moments.

With his high charisma, Nordri would almost always respond. Li Aozi then displayed characteristics typical of Frosted Land men, such as saying things like, "What are you doing~~ Oh my, oh my," "Is your Aozi amazing?" and "I practiced security at a bank for two and a half years, and I enjoy singing, dancing, rapping, and basketball."

Li Aozi's judgment was correct.

In the desolate and impoverished outer regions, there couldn't be many educated people. Despite Nordri's tall and strong appearance, her education level was likely only an undergraduate degree at most.

In the outer regions, where survival is paramount, education naturally falls by the wayside. After chatting with Li Aozi for a while, Nordri inadvertently revealed that she was from Frosted Land.

Fellow countrymen had much to talk about, and without realizing it, Nordri became less harsh towards Li Aozi after getting to know him.

Li Aozi was also tactful. Though he knew ZX-101 was one of his targets, he avoided mentioning the ZX-102 room, which was a sensitive topic for Nurse Nordri.

Over time, coupled with Li Aozi's cooperation in training, Nordri's favorability towards him gradually increased to 20 points—reaching a level of indifference.

Assistant Anna would occasionally come by to check on Li Aozi, drawing blood and conducting tests. After taking indicators, she would also take X-rays.

Every afternoon, he would be called by psychologist Elni, a gentle and kind older sister who patiently talked to him about his past. Initially, Li Aozi pretended to be 'reserved,' 'impatient,' and 'nervous,' but he gradually opened up and began cooperating with her therapy and consultation.

At night, alone in the isolation ward, Li Aozi secretly practiced manipulating gravity, training himself. Though he wasn't unfamiliar with this Aoneng, his 【Agility】 attribute wasn't high enough, making the practice somewhat strenuous.

"Such a miraculous power."

Li Aozi tossed a spoon into his palm. With a thought, the spoon hovered 10 centimeters above his hand. He gently flicked his hand, and the spoon spun rapidly in a circular motion until his Aoneng points were depleted, causing a slight headache, and the spoon lost its gravity and fell into his palm.

He played this repetitive game with great enjoyment.

As a humanitarian aid organization, Abyssal's isolation wards naturally didn't have surveillance cameras. However, his monitoring bracelet constantly sent his personal health status and information to the doctors.

This was more useful than mere surveillance; through his heart rate, brainwave frequency, pulse, and temperature, the doctors could easily infer his mental and physical state—whether he was exercising, tense, having a good dream, or a nightmare—all could be deduced.

However, these doctors overlooked one thing: on Azure Star, only the four nations had the capability to detect traces of Aoneng usage, and gravity manipulation was known for its subtle and invisible nature.

In other words, unless Li Aozi explained it himself, no one would know he had mastered an Omega-grade top-tier Aoneng.

Li Aozi ate, drank, chatted, and had doctors constantly monitoring his physiological state. He had ample time for exercise every day—aside from the heavy restrictions on his freedom, there were virtually no problems.