21: The choice without a choice

Su Wan's words, "I need time to consider," exhausted almost all of her strength; her voice was hoarse, carrying a distinct sob and signs of struggle.

She lowered her head, not daring to look into her teacher's eyes, and even less daring to look at the man beside her who made her feel incredibly embarrassed and resistant.

She needed space and time to digest this earth-shattering shock, to try to convince herself, or to find the courage to refuse.

However, Qin Qingxuan did not give her this opportunity to buffer.

"Time?"

Qin Qingxuan's voice remained cold and clear, yet carried an unquestionable resoluteness. "Wan'er, what do you think we are currently lacking the most?"

She slowly walked out from behind the desk, her high heels clicking crisply and unnervingly against the floor, stepping toward Su Wan one by one.

Each step felt as if it were treading on Su Wan's violently pounding heart.

"I understand your shock and resistance."

Qin Qingxuan stood still in front of Su Wan, her gaze like a torch, as if she could see through all of her psychological defenses. "Ethics, the teacher-student relationship, personal emotional preferences... these are all very important; in times of peace, they might be the primary considerations. But now, they are not!"

Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a firm and decisive force: "I can tell you right now why I chose you, instead of just finding any woman with matching Aptitude from inside or outside the group!"

"First!"

Qin Qingxuan held up a finger. "You are a student I raised with my own hands; I trust your loyalty to the Federation and the group, and I also trust your obedience to me. This secret must not have the slightest risk of being leaked! An outsider, no matter how high their Aptitude, how can I ensure their Heart-Nature? How can I ensure there are no entanglements with other forces behind them? Empire spies are everywhere!"

"Second!"

A second finger went up. "You are an Elementary War God with a solid Foundation and stable genes, currently in the Peak period of your life's vitality! You are one of the best candidates to verify Mr. Chen's 'hypotheses'! There may be female War Gods in the group stronger than you, but they either hold high positions or are too entangled in interests; they are not as pure as you!"

"Third, and most importantly!"

Qin Qingxuan's gaze was sharp as a knife, piercing directly into the softest part of Su Wan's heart. "Chen Xi, Chen Yao, and Chen Lu, who has just enrolled! They are all your students! You know better than anyone how outstanding they are and how much they yearn to become stronger to protect the Federation!"

Su Wan's body trembled violently, and she raised her head, her eyes filled with pain.

Chen Xi's composure and diligence, Chen Yao's liveliness and competitiveness, Chen Lu's intelligence that, despite just arriving, already showed no signs of losing to her sisters... She had indeed poured a great deal of effort into these three children because they were worth it, because they were the future of the Federation!

The extra guidance she gave them privately far exceeded that given to other students; their relationship was called teacher and student, but it was better than mother and daughter.

"Can you bear to see them step onto the battlefield in the future, only to fall into danger because of a lack of top-tier Federation powerhouses?"

Qin Qingxuan's voice was like a demonic spell, fiercely striking Su Wan's conscience. "Can you bear to see the opportunity to potentially give birth to an 'Innate Star Body' that could change the war situation be wasted simply because of your personal resistance?"

"How will they look at you as their teacher in the future? When they know that you once had the possibility to create a stronger brother, sister, or guardian for the Federation and for them, but refused because... you 'minded their father's appearance and identity'?"

Qin Qingxuan's words were extremely sharp, even carrying a trace of cold cruelty, bloodily dissecting the subconscious disdain Su Wan felt for Chen Jun's image!

Su Wan's face instantly turned as pale as paper, and she staggered back a step, on the verge of collapsing.

Her teacher's words were like heated daggers, stabbing into the most conflicted and unfaceable parts of her heart!

"As for the physical conditions of Ms. Lin Wei and Mr. Chen,"

Qin Qingxuan's tone softened slightly, but remained coldly rational. "I am very clear about the medical department's evaluation report. Although Ms. Lin is also F-grade, she is young and her vital signs are vigorous, like a woman in her twenties; her genes are just dormant. Expending huge resources to forcibly awaken her and help her condense an Acquired Martial Body, while risky, has a success rate of over ninety-nine percent."

Her gaze turned to Chen Jun, who wished he could shrink into a crack in the floor. Her tone was flat but appeared even more cruel: "But Mr. Chen... his life Origin is abnormally depleted, and his bodily functions are severely aged, like an old man in his twilight years. Even if we invest many times more resources than for Ms. Lin, the probability of successfully awakening him and condensing an Acquired Martial Body is... less than ten percent. It might even directly accelerate his life's decline during the awakening process."

Hearing this, Chen Jun's heart felt as if it had been pierced by an ice pick; although he had long expected it, being sentenced so bluntly still made him feel a bone-chilling coldness and despair.

Sure enough... his body had already been hollowed out by the System...

Qin Qingxuan looked at the nearly collapsed Su Wan again and delivered the final, fatal blow: "Wan'er, look, this is reality. We cannot even guarantee how much we can extend Mr. Chen's lifespan to continue 'generating value.' Every opportunity might be the last! We cannot afford to waste it! And the Federation cannot afford to wait!"

"Therefore, you have no time to consider."

Qin Qingxuan's voice returned to absolute calm, yet carried the weight of a final judgment. "This is not a request; this is... an order. An order from your teacher, and from the highest person in charge of the Star Rail Group on Zhiyuan Star. For the Federation."

"For the Federation!!!"

These four words, like the heaviest shackle, completely crushed the last line of defense in Su Wan's heart.

She thought of Chen Xi's firm and clear eyes when she played war news for the children in class; she thought of the bright smiles of the fallen soldiers before they died and the desperate tears of their families; she thought of the immense pressure on her teacher's shoulders; she thought of the hideous muzzles of the Empire's fleet...

Personal emotions, ethical struggles, physiological disgust... under the huge and heavy banner of "civilization survival," these seemed to truly become insignificant and not worth mentioning.

But... that was the father of the three students she regarded as her own!

How would she face Chen Xi, Chen Yao, and Chen Lu in the future? How could she calmly accept their respectful address? Thinking of that scene made her feel waves of suffocating pain and shame!

Her pride, her fantasies of love, her dignity as a teacher... everything was crushed to pieces at this moment.

Tears finally gushed out uncontrollably, sliding down her pale cheeks.

She did not cry out, but just shed tears silently, her body trembling slightly, like a delicate flower battered by a violent storm.

She raised her head with extreme difficulty, bit by bit, looking at Qin Qingxuan with tear-blurred eyes; in those once bright and confident eyes, there was now only a shattered despair and a hollow, resigned emptiness.

Her lips trembled for a long time before she used her last ounce of strength to squeeze out a few almost inaudible words from the depths of her throat: "...I... understand... teacher... for the... Federation..."

After saying this, it was as if all her Soul had been drained away; her body went limp, and she almost collapsed to the ground, only managing to stay upright by bracing herself against the wall beside her.

Qin Qingxuan looked at the completely defeated student before her, a trace of extremely subtle, almost imperceptible complex emotion flashing in her eyes, but it was quickly covered by absolute rationality.

She nodded, her tone still calm and waveless: "Very good. I will have the medical and biological departments follow up on the specific arrangements. You... can get familiar with each other first."

She waved her hand as if she had completed a routine work deployment: "You may leave."

Chen Jun stood where he was, at a loss, looking at the tear-stained, nearly collapsed Su Wan, and then at the icy-cold Qin Qingxuan, his heart filled with immense guilt and a sense of absurdity. He opened his mouth, but found he couldn't say a single word.

Behind him, there was the sound of Su Wan's uncontrollable, extremely faint sobbing.