American comic book: I, with my abundant martial virtue, love to do good to others.

This time, Matteo didn't immediately retort. He held the paper bag, paused for a second, then suddenly moved closer and stuffed the thermos into the side pocket of his backpack.

"I know," he said.

Carmela looked at him, the redness in her eyes becoming even more pronounced. She seemed to have been holding it in for a long time before finally reaching out and giving the back of his neck a hard pinch: "Good to know."

"Ouch, be gentle."

"I'm already very light."

"You call that light?"

"If you don't want it to hurt, you don't have to go."

"That won't do," Matteo replied almost reflexively, then realized he had answered too quickly and coughed. "I mean, we're already here."

Carmela looked at him and finally couldn't resist, reaching out to hug him.

The suddenness of the hug startled even Matteo. It had probably been many years since he had been so obediently held in his sister's arms. He didn't know where to put his hands for a moment, and finally could only stiffly raise them and gently pat her back.

"...Don't do this," he said softly, "It's like I'm going to war."

"Pretty much the same for me," Carmela replied in a muffled voice.

Matteo's Adam's apple bobbed, and he hugged the person a little tighter, his voice even lower than before: "I will come back to see you."

"You'd better know how."

"real."

"I know." Carmela released him, took a half step back, her eyes still red, but she had tried to calm herself down. "If you dare to play dead over there and not contact me, I'll go after Lynn."

Lynn stood by the car and calmly replied, "Sure, but I recommend making an appointment in advance."

Carmela burst out laughing, wiping her eyes between laughs. Matteo also gave a low snort: "He deserved it."

"I heard you," Lynn said.

"You have really good ears."

"For convenience at work."

Those few words eased the tense atmosphere that had been building up. Matteo steadied himself, his backpack strap slung over his shoulder, the paper bag still clutched in his hand. He glanced at Carmela, then at the car, and finally, as if making his last decision, turned to Lynn and said, "Let's go."

Lynn nodded and opened the back door for him.

Just as Matteo was about to get into the car, he suddenly turned back and looked at his sister: "Feed."

"what?"

"If I go over there and actually learn something—" He trailed off, a little embarrassed to finish the sentence, and awkwardly added, "I'll come back and show you."

Carmela paused for a moment, then her eyes welled up with tears again. She pursed her lips and nodded, "Okay."

"It's not the kind of random stuff," Matteo quickly added, "it's serious."

"I know," Carmela said softly. "I'll wait."

Matteo then got into the car. Lynn walked around to the driver's seat and glanced at Carmela again: "I'll hand him over to someone and then get back to you."

"Okay." Carmela nodded, paused, and then whispered, "Thank you, Lynn."

"The journey isn't over yet," Lynn said.

"But at least it's begun," Carmela said softly, looking at her younger brother in the car.

Lynn didn't say anything more, got into the car, and closed the door. The engine started softly, the sound echoing gently in the underpass. Carmela stood there, arms crossed in front of her, not waving, just watching the car slowly drive away. Matteo looked back at her through the car window, only turning his gaze away at the last second before the exit turn.

New York City was still not fully awake in the early morning. As the car emerged from the underpass, the streetlights were still tinged with a pale gray. Breakfast shops on the roadside had just opened, delivery trucks were parked at the alley entrance, and people were hurrying down the subway line. The city was functioning as usual, as if nothing had happened, while they were driving out from under its ribs, heading to a place that most people didn't even know existed.

The car was quiet at first.

Matteo sat in the back seat, his backpack beside him, the paper bag still clutched in his hand. After a few minutes, he finally couldn't resist leaning forward: "Can I sit in the front?"

Lynn glanced at the rearview mirror: "Why?"

"It looks like they're escorting someone."

"You've got a lot of demands." Lynn turned on her turn signal and pulled the car over to a temporarily empty spot. "Change."

Matteo immediately got out of the car, walked around to the passenger seat, and moved so quickly it was as if he was afraid the other person would change their mind. After sitting back down and fastening his seatbelt, he was noticeably more comfortable, and even the angle from which he looked outside was different.

"Do you usually give these away like this?" he asked.

"I don't have to deliver everyone myself."

"Oh," Matteo deliberately dragged out the sound, "so I'm getting special treatment."

"It's particularly troublesome."

"Can't you say something nicer sometimes?"

"cannot."

Matteo chuckled and turned to look out the window. The city unfolded slowly in the morning light; building shadows, bridges, riverbank mist, and the GG sign just coming to life in the distance all slid past the car window. He watched for a while, then suddenly whispered, "I haven't really been out of New York much before."

"Have you been to other states?" Lynn asked.

"I went to New Jersey once with my school when I was a kid, and the food was awful," Matteo said. "I haven't been there since. I usually just wander around a few boroughs."

"So today was a day to broaden my horizons."

"You described going to the secret academy like it was a picnic."

"It will help you not be too nervous."

Matteo immediately turned around: "I'm not nervous."

"You crumpled the paper bag before you got on the bus."

"That's because the thermos is too slippery."

"what ever."

The car continued north. The morning rush hour hadn't fully kicked in yet, and the traffic was smoother than expected. Matteo was quiet for a while, then started asking questions again, more and more detailed than yesterday.

"Will anyone in the academy be able to tell at a glance that my condition is caused by injections?"

"Some people will notice that there's a hint of manipulation in your reaction."

"Won't some people look down on this kind of thing?"

"If there really is someone like that, you can remember his name first, and then decide whether or not to beat him up once things have calmed down," Lynn said.

Matteo's eyes widened: "Your college allows this?"

"No," Lynn said without changing her expression. "But don't you want to hear the truth?"

Matteo paused for two seconds, then laughed, and asked, "Won't there be some really formidable people there? You mean, the kind who are obviously not ordinary."

"Yes," Lynn said.

"You know him too?"

"I know a few."

"for example?"

"For example, some people can freeze the entire training ground into a glass surface, some people can see your next move before you even raise your hand, and some people can twist metal into rope." Lynn paused, "But don't think about comparing yourself to them right now."

"I just want to know if I can become more capable in the future."

"Whether you can become powerful depends not only on your abilities, but also on your mind," Lynn said. "Some people are very capable, but they have poor self-control and judgment, and in the end, it's still a disaster."

Matteo gave a thoughtful "hmm," then suddenly asked, "And you? What type are you?"

Lynn glanced at him: "You ask a lot of questions."

"The journey was boring."

"I am human," Lynn said.

Matteo was taken aback: "Really?"

"real."

"But the way you looked at the road, the markings, and the gun positions in the sewers yesterday didn't seem like a normal human being."

"Thank you for your high praise," Lynn said calmly, "but I truly am."

Matteo stared at him for two seconds, finally reluctantly accepting the answer: "Then why are you so familiar with the academy?"

"Work," Lynn said. "And some old cases."

"Have you delivered these to other people before?"

"It has been delivered."

"And then?"

"Some people stayed, some people left." Lynn paused, "And there's one who's now the bureau's field support supervisor, and he has a much worse temper than you."

"That's quite difficult to surpass."

"right."

Throughout the journey, this kind of conversation, both trivial and meaningful, continued intermittently. Matteo asked about the dorms at the academy, whether there was a curfew, whether cell phones were allowed, whether the cafeteria food was better than at the federal branch, whether training was exhausting, and whether being a "mutant special agent" was a really cool job. Lynn mostly gave bland answers, sometimes just two words when she got annoyed, but it was precisely these just-right responses that made Matteo increasingly relaxed.

After driving for two hours, the city skyscrapers gradually thinned out, and the scenery outside the window began to change into more open highways and woodlands. The morning light had fully illuminated the scene, and the shadows of the roadside trees swept across the car. Matteo unwrapped the sandwich Carmela had prepared, took a bite, and then belatedly asked, "Do you want some?"

"Your sister gave it to you."

"But she wore two."

"That means the other one is for you too."

"Can't you stop being so boring?" Matteo said with a hint of disdain, but still took out another sandwich and handed it to him. "Here, share half."

Lynn didn't answer.

"You're not without hands when you drive," Matteo said.

"I haven't thought about performing eating breakfast with one hand on the highway."

Matteo stared at him for a while, then finally tore open the packaging himself, broke off half, and placed it on the center console: "Okay, you can eat it when you stop later. Don't say my sister only gives it to me and doesn't care about you."

"She didn't ask you to take care of me."

"I know," Matteo mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich. "It was a sudden pang of conscience."

"That's quite rare."

"If you keep doing this, I'll take it back."

Lynn's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't tease him anymore.

Around noon, they arrived at their first short stop. It wasn't an ordinary service area, but a discreet supply depot within the FBI's network, looking much like a regular road maintenance facility. Lynn parked the car, took Matteo inside to change his encrypted communication equipment, and also let him stretch his legs.

The wind outside was a bit cooler than in New York, but the sun was shining brightly. Matteo stood by the vending machine, examining his new phone from all angles, muttering, "This one's even uglier than my last one."

"Functionality is more important than appearance."

"Do you guys even choose the most boring models when picking equipment?"

"As long as it works, that's fine."

Matteo rolled his eyes, then suddenly looked at the empty parking lot in the distance: "What's my sister probably doing right now?"

"Maybe he's catching up on sleep," Lynn said.

"She can't sleep," Matteo said in a low voice. "She didn't say anything last night, but she kept watching my door. When she hugged me this morning, I could hear her breathing was unsteady."

"It's good that you know."

"Of course I know," Matteo said after a moment of silence, "so I have to learn something."

Lynn looked at him but didn't say anything.

"It's not to prove to her how great I am," Matteo said, kicking a small pebble at his feet. "It's so that if she asks me again, 'What are you doing right now?' I can at least give her a proper answer and won't have to lie to her anymore."

A breeze blew in from the parking lot, carrying the scent of grass, wood, and hot asphalt. Lynn looked at the young man before her, whose shoulders already bore the weight of a chaotic past, and suddenly said, "If you really want to go down this path, there's something you need to remember first."

Matteo looked up: "What?"

"Don't treat your abilities as the only valuable thing you have," Lynn said. "The academy will teach you how to use them, and people in the department may value them in the future. But whether you can stand firm in the end will not depend on whether crystals grow on the back of your hands, but on whether, even after they grow, you still know when not to act, when to protect people, and when to stop."

Matteo paused for a moment, then slowly nodded after a few seconds: "...I remember that."

After a brief stop, the two resumed their journey. The rest of the drive was quieter than the first half, not because they had nothing to say, but because Matteo began to think more seriously. He leaned back in the passenger seat, watching the road signs recede into the distance, his fingers occasionally unconsciously touching the back of his hand, as if he were imagining the assessments at the academy, the training grounds, those "similar to himself," and a future that might be more real than any of his past ideas.

As they neared their destination, the road turned into a quieter forest path. The shadows of the trees thickened, and sunlight streamed down from above, shimmering like fragments of gold. Matteo sat up straighter, clearly sensing the change in his surroundings.

"Are we almost there?" he asked.

"Um."

"Hidden in a place like this?"

"You think they'd just put up a sign on the side of a street in Manhattan?"

"That's true." Matteo stared out the window. "But why can't I see anything?"

"It's normal to not be able to see," Lynn said.

"What do you mean?"

"The academy has an outer shielding system." Lynn slowed down and turned around a seemingly ordinary tree-lined bend. "Not everyone who passes by can actually see what's inside."

Before Matteo could ask any further questions, the scenery before him seemed to be gently parted. Behind what had appeared to be a continuous stretch of trees, a wider driveway suddenly appeared, along with an unassuming yet clearly unusual entrance, and in the distance, the outline of a large cluster of buildings partially obscured by the tree lines and shadows.

It wasn't a cold, impersonal training base in the traditional sense. It was more like a historic academy estate, with an elegant main building, understated side wings, and lawns, training areas, and more secluded auxiliary facilities in the distance. Some building surfaces reflected subtle light, as if concealing some other system. The whole place was quiet, clean, and spacious, yet it clearly possessed a sense of restraint that ordinary schools lacked.

Matteo was completely stunned.

"...Damn it." He managed to squeeze out the words after a long pause. (End of Chapter)