Quash sat back on the passenger seat while the captain moved the ship at a snail’s pace. It was clear that this guy was salty about his rumour with Gabriella. Which turned out to be true.

​Quash thought of whether or not to teach this guy a lesson that he would remember for life. But that might get the attention of his higher-ups. And he would like not to do that.

​Before, he didn’t really care who he offended. Because at worst, he would be tortured to death. Some might even put his soul into an eternal prison out of spite.

​As for Alan and Elina getting affected, they could just betray him and that would be the end of the story. But if they didn’t, he would break their hearts, effectively creating a narrative safety net for them.

​But now he can’t do that anymore. Because now the consequences of his actions will go beyond him and affect his wife. And that is something he doesn’t want. No matter how powerful she is or how strong her backing is, deep-rooted spite is more malicious than just normal hating on each other.

​So what if his enemies band together with her family’s enemies and attack together? Isn’t he just making the enemies friends and would be helping them take him down?

​He could only counter it by either becoming as strong as the Headmaster or creating influence...

​’Is that what she meant?’

​A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. He remembered how Gabriella wanted him to go hunting with Eleanor and Alicia. At that time, he understood that she wanted him to get together with them. But he didn’t think much of it and dismissed it as a jealous tantrum.

​But now that he thought about it deeply, he realised she may have put more thought into it than he gave her credit for. She was more familiar with politics than he was.

​And she must have gotten the basic idea of his personality and concluded that they needed to wrap themselves in a web of influence so complex and powerful that most would think a hundred times before messing with them.

​Quash couldn’t help but feel guilty. He realised he really needed to change his personality. It would take time, but it wouldn’t be hard; he just needed to keep his impulse of annoying people in check.

​He wasn’t like this, as far as he remembered. Even when he was Andrew David, he didn’t enjoy annoying people. But maybe because he didn’t have time, this side of him never saw the light.

​Or maybe he never got the environment to unleash himself. But either way, he needs to change for the better. He needs to stay calm and not let his intrusive thoughts win, and that will be it.

​Quash took a long drag of the air and slowly let it go, clearing his mind of the messy thoughts. Before everything, he needs to get this daring motherfucker to move faster.

​Though he understood why this guy was acting like this. He was feeling cucked because his goddess was rumoured to have gotten married to some random stranger. And with his passionate speech about exploring the heavens, mountains, and valleys, he didn’t doubt that many would be losing their minds.

​And this second-year student was one of the countless people he had cucked yesterday.

​Quash couldn’t help but feel triumphant. A smile involuntarily tried to appear on his face, but he quickly shut down both. He took a deep breath again to calm his ecstatic heart, then approached the dude.

​"Hey captain, can you not go faster?"

​He asked the guy respectfully. The guy didn’t turn from his steering wheel and answered cryptically.

​"No. The air maneuvering mechanics are faulty. It will cause massive damage to the ship if I go any faster."

​He said as if he had rehearsed this countless times in his mind. But Quash wasn’t one to let it go. He had the perfect antidote for this guy’s mental illness.

​"You know captain... According to Academy City Criminal Laws... maneuvering a faulty vehicle and endangering students’ lives is a crime punishable by Expulsion?"

​Quash said calmly. The captain didn’t react much, but he clearly flinched for a second. He realised that this first-year knew his stuff.

​Quash said nothing more. He let the guy himself do the mental gymnastics. He didn’t worry now. He had this guy completely under his control.

​Quash had been secretly recording their conversation. He took out his phone, stopped the recording, and replayed the captain admitting that this ride was faulty. His recorded voice rang out clearly on the deck, making the captain visibly tremble in fear.

​And as if by "magic", the ship started to move way faster than it was moving before. He again walked up to the captain, not to spite him but to praise his "skills".

​"Wow captain! This is amazing! You’re maneuvering this faulty ship so well! You’re the best!"

​Translation: Keep moving like this or this recording is going to the Studentbody Government.

​After that, he came back and sat down again. He sent the recording to Gabriella and told her the whole story. She only sent a laughing emoji back. They went shopping this morning and he bought her a phone as a gift. Her expression didn’t change much on the surface, but he knew she was happy.

​The phone Quash was using was his own, but it had lost connection to the outside world. The massive formation that covered and monitored the entire 100,000 kilometers of land of the whole Academy City blocks the signals.

​Yesterday night, every outside phone was tracked and isolated from the outside world. But all the phones work perfectly inside the formation. And they will regain access after they either graduate, get expelled, or leave temporarily.

​After his brief chat with Gabriella, he thought of sharing this interaction with the gossip-loving Eleanor, but she doesn’t have a phone either.

​He put his phone inside his pocket for now. Once he gets down, he will put it inside his Spatial Ring.

​He briefly gazed at the captain’s tensed back, probably thinking that Quash might report him.

​But he had no such plans. The Studentbody Government is the macro organisation that manages and holds authority second to none among the students. Every Academy has a Student Council, but there is only one Studentbody Government. It’s kind of like the USA in that matter.

​Every year, the President election is a big event for the Academy City, because a massive Academy-wide election is hosted.

​But Quash remembered something else regarding the elections, but decided not to think much about it because he can do nothing about anything at the moment.

​His perspective had shifted and he wasn’t very averse to the idea of running for the president position or setting up a puppet president. But that is impossible to do in the first year. He has no foothold here at the moment.

​So he decided to think about this later.