Chapter 10

It took Song Chunshi less than five minutes to decide on her future major.

She even went on the star network to check out what netizens thought of the logistics management major. Most of the comments were “niche,” “unremarkable,” and “marginalized.”

Instead of being discouraged, she became even more determined.

After all, for a slacker like her, just getting into one of the Empire’s top universities was already enough to make her nervous. If she chose a popular major, wouldn’t she be as conspicuous as a flea on a monk’s head, surrounded by a bunch of academic overachievers?

After choosing her major, she casually browsed the star network. News, economics, entertainment, shopping… countless pieces of information exploded in front of her, with holographic projections surrounding her in 360 degrees.

Song Chunshi was quite curious at first, but she soon felt dizzy and confused. She was used to the quietness of the barren planet and couldn’t adapt to this bustling environment in a short time.

“I’ll just listen to the news.” She mumbled and turned off the image, leaving only the news broadcast function.

“Early this morning, renowned geneticist Avid Lodge passed away at his home in the Central District…”

“Due to rampant star beasts, the Empire government has announced the indefinite closure of the Z-089 energy mine…”

“The Purple Jasmine Empire is about to celebrate its eight hundredth anniversary…”

While listening to the news, Song Chunshi opened her personal account and checked her assets.

She had sold a few stones on the border, bought two outfits, and had 11,800 credit points left on her card. The Empire Military Academy had transferred 8 million credit points to her account as payment for the Starlight Stone. In addition, the population security system had also given her a minor’s allowance of 1,000 credit points per month.

She had a general understanding of the prices in the Purple Jasmine Empire from browsing the star network. A basic nutrient supplement only cost 2 credit points. A government-subsidized rental apartment cost 300 credit points per month. Traveling by flying car cost 1 credit point and up. The average salary for ordinary people in the Empire was 3,000 to 5,000 credit points per month.

In other words, she had 8 million credit points. If she didn’t do anything, she could just lie flat and live for a lifetime.

But Song Chunshi checked the energy prices.

The energy cards she bought on the barren planet cost 100 credit points each on the capital star. To charge the system 1 energy point, she needed one hundred of these energy cards, which is 10,000 credit points.

So her 8 million assets could only charge the system 800 energy points if she used them all. The system’s goal was 1 million energy points, which translates to 10 billion credit points.

She couldn’t lie flat. She couldn’t lie flat at all.

“Why does it feel like I’m getting poorer the more I calculate?” Song Chunshi muttered, frowning.

She opened the system panel and checked her personal information. Most of the data remained the same. She had dug another energy mine before winter arrived on the barren planet, so her energy points had changed.

[Name: Song Chunshi

Total Energy Points Collected: 529

Current Energy Points: 21]

Her current energy points should have been 27, but three of her arrows had broken. To match them, she spent 6 energy points buying three new arrows.

Besides that, there were some changes in the martial art “Eternal Spring Manual.” Its current state was: [Eternal Spring Manual ( entry 5/40)].

The increase in internal energy was the result of her hard work practicing martial arts in the cave before leaving the barren planet. She hadn’t practiced much on this trip to the capital star because Carol was around, so the data hadn’t changed for a while.

Thinking about this, Song Chunshi reached out to close the panel and the news, ready to practice martial arts.

She was curious about everything in the capital star, but her own strength was more important.

She had already learned “Spring Wind Caressing Willows,” a light-footed martial art. Now she wanted to learn a powerful attack move to use in conjunction with it.

The “Eternal Spring Manual” contained a total of eight martial arts moves. After studying them, Song Chunshi decided to practice “Raging Rain of Pear Blossoms.” This was a hidden weapon martial art. In the introductory stage, it could release dozens of hidden weapons at once.

The system sold weapons suitable for hidden weapons, like darts and throwing knives. Song Chunshi looked at the prices and thought they were not worth it. She casually picked a small stone from the pile she had collected on the barren planet.

She drew a small dot on the ground, then injected internal energy into the stone, controlling the strength of her wrist, and hit the dot from different directions and distances.

At first, her accuracy wasn’t very good. The amount of internal energy injected and the angle of her hand needed to be calibrated and honed repeatedly.

Once she could accurately hit the dot on the ground, she changed the target location, setting the dot on the wall, on the ceiling. When she completely mastered the attack method of one hidden weapon, she didn’t stop. She continued to practice launching two hidden weapons at the same time.

She had been in the capital star for a whole month, and Song Chunshi hadn’t stepped out of her room. The colorful world outside seemed to have nothing to do with her.

When she received Carol’s video call, she could already launch three hidden weapons simultaneously and hit different targets from different directions.

During this time, the military academy was enrolling students, and Carol, as an instructor, was busy. Occasionally, he would have time to send Song Chunshi a message, asking if she was doing well.

They hadn’t seen each other for half a month. He thought that the girl, having just arrived in the capital star, would encounter a completely different world, suddenly face many temptations, and have a lot of wealth in her hands. Her life would definitely have earth-shattering changes. Some children, whose will wasn’t strong enough, would even change their personalities.

But in the holographic image, the girl was still wearing the same old sweater. Not to mention personality changes, she hadn’t even changed her hairstyle.

Carol thought it was incredible. Even at his age, having already gone through many tests, he would still be influenced by the outside world. How did the girl manage to stay true to herself?

Also, what were those things on the floor and walls of her room?

Carol took a closer look and found that they seemed to be some kind of soundproofing material. It was just that they were now pockmarked with holes from something, turning into a honeycomb panel.

He asked with a smile, “Have you been busy demolishing the house lately?”

When she first started practicing hidden weapons, Song Chunshi discovered a problem. This wasn’t her cave. There were many things she had to consider, such as not damaging the house, —

“It’s this.” She tossed the small stone in her hand, her wrist suddenly flipped, and there was a thud. A deep hole appeared in the soundproofing material.

Carol’s eyes widened slightly. As far as he knew, this soundproofing material wasn’t very hard, but it was very resilient. Ordinary knives couldn’t cut through it. How could the girl use a stone to make a hole in it?

Looking at the thousands of honeycomb eyes in the entire room, how many times had she practiced?

Facing this child, even though she was only half his age, Carol still felt a sense of admiration.

He saw the girl’s submitted major application and discovered that she had chosen logistics management. He wanted to comfort her and tell her not to be discouraged, that gold would shine wherever it was. But now he realized it was completely unnecessary. The girl didn’t need comfort. She would use her strength to tell everyone this truth.

In the end, he said with a smile, “Come to the military academy tomorrow for registration. Meet your classmates.”

The next morning, Song Chunshi washed up, but instead of going downstairs, she went out to the balcony.

Her room was on the hundredth floor. On cloudy days, the clouds would roll by outside the window. On clear days, if you looked down from the window, the people below would be smaller than ants.

But she was standing on the balcony of the hundredth floor, and she could summon a hover car with a wave of her hand. It was impossible not to marvel at the wonders of technology.

The hover car was self-driving. It would automatically depart once the destination was set.

Song Chunshi’s residence was a bit far from the Empire Military Academy. Through the car window, she looked at the areas they passed by, including skyscrapers, quiet green spaces, and countless hover cars and spaceships flying through the air. People in the interstellar age were also busy with their lives.

They soon arrived at the military academy. The hover car stopped outside the school gate. Song Chunshi got out of the car and looked around. She didn’t see any signs or robots giving directions. She was a little confused and opened her light brain. Fortunately, the registration notice sent by the school had detailed directions.

“Logistics Management Teaching Building. First, walk two kilometers west-northwest 30 degrees, then north…”

“Excuse me…” Someone next to her hesitated before speaking, “Are you a new student in logistics management this year?”

Song Chunshi turned her head and looked at the speaker. It was a slightly chubby boy. She had noticed him earlier. All the other kids her age were full of vigor, but he looked miserable, as if he wasn’t going to school but into a dragon’s lair.

“Yes, are you too?” she asked.

The boy said happily, “Me too! My name is Alan Garcia. You can call me Alan.”

“Song Chunshi.” She gave a brief introduction, quickly memorizing the directions. Seeing that the boy was still there, she tilted her head slightly, “Shall we go in together?”

“Sure!” As if he had been waiting for her to ask, Alan immediately leaned closer.

As they walked and chatted, Alan said that he had impulsively applied to the military academy. He wanted to change his mind, but he was afraid of being laughed at, so he could only grit his teeth and come to register.

“My sister said that there’s a fifteen-day training session before the new students start school, and then there’s an assessment. If you don’t pass the assessment, you’ll be kicked out.”

“Assessment?” Song Chunshi’s ears accurately caught these two words.

She couldn’t help it. Slackers were always extra sensitive to words like exams and tests.

Alan’s round face showed a bit of worry, “Yeah, I hope it’s not too hard.”

Although he didn’t really want to go to the military academy, it would be too embarrassing to be kicked out for not meeting the school’s requirements.

But soon, he was beaming again, “Did you watch the military academy’s graduation assessment this year? The performance of each team was amazing. The most unexpected thing was the Barren Planet team. No one thought they would do well, but they surprised everyone!”

Song Chunshi casually asked, “What surprise?”

The Barren Planet team should be those strangers she met in the desert. They seemed to be stuck in one place, and nothing special happened. Did they find an energy mine later?

“They met a native of the barren planet. They call her the Passerby Girl on the star network. She’s super amazing!”

Then Alan looked at her tentatively, “Has anyone ever said that you look a bit like that girl?”

Song Chunshi: “…”