After thoroughly berating the students and sending them all off for extra training, Wan Tianming sat in his command chair, growing angrier the more he thought about it.
The Deep Space Command Academy and the Federal Central Military Academy were both among the Federation’s four major military academies. Yet, in every joint exercise between the four academies, the Command Academy was consistently trampled underfoot by the Central Military Academy.
“Morons! Idiots! Cowards!” Wan Tianming cursed under his breath. “The mecha department at the Command Academy is just as useless as the command department at the Central Military Academy!”
If it weren’t for the mecha department’s embarrassingly poor performance in the exercises, Wan Tianming wouldn’t have brought them to the Sixth Stellar Ring for live combat.
The warship’s AI asked, “Why not go to the Fifth Stellar Ring?”
Wan Tianming fell silent for a moment. “I couldn’t bear the shame.”
More importantly, he was worried these students might actually lose their lives during live combat in the Fifth Stellar Ring.
Sigh. My own students, my own headache.
They were hopeless, getting chewed out every day, their confidence almost completely shattered.
Wan Tianming stroked his chin. Considering the students’ fragile self-esteem, rebuilding their confidence by using the Central Military Academy’s special admission student as a stepping stone this time seemed perfect!
The debt owed by the seniors would be repaid by the junior!
Made perfect sense!
…
Unaware that she had inexplicably been saddled with a debt, Lin Xiaohe was having a blast farming skill points in the restricted zone, feeling richer than ever!
Only after clearing out all the mutated grass in that area did Lin Xiaohe stop her harvesting spree.
Her sixth sense was screaming warnings. Going further in would definitely mean encountering something big.
Being someone who cherished her life, Lin Xiaohe chose not to proceed.
Time flew by, and the day of departure for the exam venue arrived in the blink of an eye.
Working frantically, Father Lin finally managed to finish modifying Little Beetle just before Lin Xiaohe’s departure.
“Take it! It’s filled with your father’s love.”
Lin Xiaohe took the white box. She hadn’t even seen what Little Beetle looked like after the modifications.
“Xiaohe, your exam results aren’t that important; you must protect yourself,” Granny Lin said tearfully at the doorstep.
Lin Chiyang patted Xiaohe’s shoulder. “In the face of difficulties, we Lins never surrender! If you encounter a problem you can’t solve, remember the 36th Stratagem: if all else fails, running away is the best policy.”
Survival is nothing to be ashamed of.
Lin Jingqiu had a bellyful of words but couldn’t speak them, so she just gave Lin Xiaohe a big, tight hug.
Lin Xiaohe took one last look at her family, put on a bright smile, and waved. “Just wait for my good news.”
The distance from Hengshan Village to the starship dock was vast.
Director Chen used his authority to arrange an official flyer to take Lin Xiaohe to the dock.
The flyer was unmanned, with only Lin Xiaohe inside.
She placed the mecha box at her feet and began browsing the Plant Summoner system.
From her recent frenzied harvesting, she had gained a total of 301 skill points, but her star credits were down to only 80,000.
After some thought, she decided not to allocate the points yet. She would wait until she reached the military district, assess the mission situation, and then decide how to distribute them.
With supplies in hand, one’s heart is calm.
Holding onto 300 skill points, Lin Xiaohe felt brimming with confidence for this live combat.
After about two hours, the flyer arrived at the starship dock.
Following the instructions from the admissions office, Lin Xiaohe found a starship named Homeward Bound.
It was an active-duty starship, carrying mostly soldiers recruited from Wasteland Star, with a few students who had gotten into Sixth Stellar Ring military academies mixed in.
These soldiers were all tall and burly, looking quite intimidating.
The moment Lin Xiaohe stepped onto the starship, she drew silent stares from everyone.
No one approached her to chat. After all, everyone on Wasteland Star knew Lin Xiaohe was the Federal Central Military Academy’s special admission student.
“Tch.”
Lin Xiaohe heard a brief, contemptuous click of the tongue.
She didn’t look back or try to find the source. Instead, she found her seat and sat down quietly.
Reality wasn’t like novels; there weren’t that many tactless people.
The journey was uneventful.
The soldiers and Lin Xiaohe minded their own business. They chatted among themselves, and Lin Xiaohe caught up on her sleep.
“Recruiting soldiers from Wasteland Star again after just three months. Are we really going to war?”
“No major wars, but constant small clashes. Ordinary soldiers like us are just cannon fodder, expended the fastest.”
“Sigh, wonder where they’ll assign us once we reach the military district?”
“Just not to Mi Luo.”
“Why?”
“That’s the border between the Empire and the Federation. It’s chaos there. If you die there, you just die.”
Mi Luo Star’s location was special, a constant point of contention for various powers.
Due to an unspoken agreement between the Federation and the Empire, neither side deployed space fleets to contest Mi Luo Star’s airspace. Instead, they both sent ground forces to vie for its territory.
The Homeward Bound starship landed at a military airfield on Zeraani Star.
It was said that not far from Zeraani Star was a planet called Phantom Star, its surface filled with strange light and shadow effects.
But the people on the starship had neither the time nor the opportunity to visit Phantom Star.
The new recruits were whisked away by transport ships to boot camp. After basic training, they would be assigned to various war zones based on their performance.
Lin Xiaohe was also directly taken onto a transport ship by the officer sent to receive her. “You’re coming with me to Mi Luo. Your exam venue is there.”
This officer was quite aloof. After saying that, he left Lin Xiaohe alone and went about his business.
Lin Xiaohe sat on her white box, surrounded by weapons, ammunition, and various mecha parts, all packed tightly together.
She felt like just another mecha part, to be shipped wherever needed.
Perhaps that was the meaning of being a soldier?
Midway, the aloof officer brought Lin Xiaohe a crate of nutrient packs and then vanished completely.
The nutrient packs were military-issue, with “[Starlight Life]” engraved at the bottom.
As expected of a Federation super-conglomerate. Securing the military contract for nutrient pack production was like printing money.
Inside the transport ship, it was hard to sense the passage of time.
When half the nutrient packs in the crate were gone, Lin Xiaohe finally heard the wonderful announcement.
[Arrived at destination, Mi Luo Star. Please prepare to disembark.]
As the hatch opened, Lin Xiaohe couldn’t help but stand up. The sight before her was so stunning she just wanted to yell for her dad.
Countless vessels of various types floated in the airspace above the airfield: transport ships like hers, unmanned fighters responsible for air patrols.
In the distance, she could see a space vessel repair dock.
Docked at the pier, supported by dense networks of steel I-beams, four massive warships under repair hung silently in their berths.
Countless uniformed personnel, like ants, were busy rushing to repair these vessels gleaming with black metal.
The aloof officer appeared behind Lin Xiaohe. “Welcome to Mi Luo Star, the forward base of our Sixth Stellar Ring. I hope you’re still alive by the time I return.”
Ahhh, naming things is so hard for someone like me.
Lin Xiaohe’s journey would begin here, on Mi Luo Star!
