Chapter 9

Song Chunshi held the dagger and gestured it over the fat man’s body, her eyes, as if looking at a dead thing, scared the man to tears.

Carol walked over and hesitantly suggested, “If you kill him, you’ll have to deal with the body. Why not just cut off his hand?”

Although they weren’t technically within the Empire’s borders yet, they were still within the Empire’s sphere of influence. Military academy instructors belonged to the military, and they had a duty to maintain border stability. It was not good to stand by and watch a murder take place.

But he knew the girl’s upbringing, where the law of the jungle prevailed. Asking her to obey the law seemed a bit difficult.

However, when Song Chunshi heard his words, she looked surprised, “I thought beating him up would be enough. Do we have to cut off his hand?”

She looked at Carol with a “you’re so cruel” expression.

Carol: “…”

Who was the cruel one? Who was it who calmly said they would dismember someone into skin, bones, and flesh? If she hadn’t said it with a serious face, he wouldn’t have taken it seriously!

The fat man let out a pig-like scream, “No, no, no! Don’t cut off my hand! Don’t cut off my hand!”

“Shut up.” Song Chunshi found his screaming too unpleasant. She punched him unconscious, then beat him up a few more times before clapping her hands and standing up, “Let’s go.”

Carol glanced at the fat man. He was just lying unconscious in the alley. Maybe when he woke up, he would find that he was missing some parts.

But he didn’t remind the girl. People like this, who lived in the shadows like cockroaches, usually had a dirty past. Maybe they were criminals, maybe they were former pirates, unable to enter the Empire with a normal identity. They could only linger outside the border.

Back on the spaceship, Carol went out again to handle their entry procedures. When he came back, the spaceship left the spaceport the next day and jumped again.

After a total of three jumps and half a month of travel, they finally reached the capital star of the Purple Jasmine Empire.

This was a planet with highly advanced technology. In its satellite orbit, twelve artificial space fortresses were arranged in a ring, each with powerful military strength. They guarded the capital, the most important line of defense for the heart of the Empire.

Carol piloted the spaceship and landed on one of the fortresses.

“Come on, I’ll take you to get a temporary identity certificate.”

On the border, he could bring Song Chunshi in just with his military academy instructor identity, but the capital star was different. Everyone who came here had to have a legitimate identity certificate. Otherwise, even if they managed to get in, they would be discovered by the ubiquitous sky eyes.

Carol explained as they walked, “After two years of studying at the military academy, you can apply to join the Empire’s citizenship and become an Empire citizen.”

Song Chunshi nodded and looked around.

All the fortresses were made entirely of machinery, like hollow spheres wrapped in chains. Each chain was a passage. They were in mid-air, with countless spaceships flying above and below them.

They entered a silver-white dome-shaped building. With Carol’s accompaniment, she filled out complicated information, was questioned repeatedly, and then underwent various checks in a machine. Finally, she got a light brain wristband representing her identity.

Song Chunshi fiddled with the wristband, her finger swiping across the sensing area. A projection immediately popped up on her wrist. She clicked into her personal information and checked the physical examination results.

She skipped over other information like name and address, and went straight to the bottom. It showed two lines of text:

“Psychic Power: E-level

Physical Fitness: S-level”

“E-level…” Song Chunshi was a little confused. She was pretty sure she didn’t have psychic powers. She had never felt psychic power level suppression from anyone else. Could it be that because she had eaten so much star beast meat, the residual psychic power of the star beast was detected by the machine?

Carol also saw her results and looked approvingly, “Very good. S-level physical fitness. I reached A-level after genetic enhancement. As for psychic power, anything below D-level is classified as E-level. There are hundreds of millions of people in the Empire at this level. Among them, many have become outstanding talents, so you don’t have to worry too much about it.”

Where there are people, there is discrimination. Moreover, there is this kind of level division. The E-level talents Carol mentioned must have worked harder than others to achieve success.

Song Chunshi heard that he was comforting her, so she naturally didn’t refute. She just nodded in thanks.

However, Carol’s words also explained her confusion. Any psychic power below D-level would be classified as E-level, so even if she didn’t have psychic powers, she would still be E-level.

This actually helped her. Having a weak E-level was better than directly showing that she had no psychic powers.

As for S-level physical fitness, it should be the result of years of martial arts practice. Otherwise, she didn’t think that she, a native Earthling, could have better physical fitness than Carol, who had undergone genetic enhancement.

If that was the case, her physical level should also increase as her strength increased in the future.

With a temporary identity certificate, she could finally enter the capital star.

Song Chunshi stood on the spaceship and looked out. The blue ocean, the green forests, the white clouds, the towering buildings, the flying cars suspended in the air, the sci-fi scene gave her a real sense of interstellar travel.

Empire law stipulates that anyone under the age of twenty is considered a minor and can enjoy social welfare. Song Chunshi is now a pending citizen and can enjoy the same benefits.

It was the military academy’s enrollment period, and school hadn’t officially started yet. New students couldn’t enter the school, so Carol helped Song Chunshi apply for benefits, including free housing, monthly subsidies, public courses, and so on.

Before the spaceship landed, the population security system sent a message, assigning her a residence.

Following the address, Carol parked the spaceship at the edge of a square and pointed to the buildings around the square, “The uniformly assigned residences are all in this style. If you don’t like it, I’ll take you to rent a place elsewhere.”

Song Chunshi looked up. Tall buildings stood around the square, a bit like apartment buildings, but they were very high, with no visible top. The layout was a bit dense, but considering that this was the capital star, a place where every inch of land was valuable, and they had free housing, what was there to complain about?

“No, this is fine.” She said sincerely.

“Alright then.” Carol nodded and got off the spaceship—

“Let’s go, I’ll take you upstairs.”

They had only taken a few steps when a robot slid over, “Please show your identity certificate.”

Song Chunshi tried to swipe her wristband. The robot beeped, “Welcome home. Your residence is G1003. The route has been sent to your light brain.”

Then it slid over to Carol, swiped his wristband, and its volume increased significantly, “Foreign personnel, please stop and register! Foreign personnel, please stop and register!”

At this time, there were quite a few people in the square, all minors living in the welfare housing. They heard the sound and looked over. A group of young children looked at Carol with the same eyes as if they were looking at a big bad wolf.

Carol was embarrassed, his face almost the same color as his hair. He said impatiently, “Stop yelling, stop yelling. I’ll register, alright!”

Song Chunshi held back her laughter, “Why don’t I just go up myself? Thanks for taking care of me all the way.”

The robot was still blocking Carol’s way, refusing to move. Being watched by so many children, he couldn’t handle it either. Thinking that there shouldn’t be any trouble later, he said, “Alright. You have my contact information. Call me if you need anything.”

Song Chunshi nodded and threw something at him casually before turning and leaving.

Carol watched her enter the apartment building, feeling a little bit of melancholy, as if he were watching his child leave like an empty nest elder.

When he lowered his head and saw what the girl had thrown at him, his melancholy feelings immediately flew away.

She had actually wrapped the Starlight Stone in a piece of cloth and just casually thrown it at him! How could Starlight Stone ever be treated so poorly!

If the robot hadn’t been blocking him, he would have chased after her and given the child a good scolding!

Carol didn’t even go home. He directly drove his spaceship to the Empire Military Academy.

On the other side, Song Chunshi followed the light brain’s guidance and quickly found her room.

It was called a room, but it had a separate bedroom, bathroom, living room, and even a small kitchen. All the furniture was intelligently controlled, and the housework robot provided services at any time.

After Song Chunshi toured the place, she only had one feeling: the Empire is really rich.

How else could they support such a large and complete welfare system if they didn’t have money.

Just as she finished, Carol sent a communication. A miniature version of Carol’s projection appeared above the light brain.

Song Chunshi found it amusing. She reached out and poked it, discovering that the projection could move, zoom in and out, and even become three-dimensional. She projected Carol onto the floor, enlarging him to life size.

“I’ve already given the Starlight Stone to the military academy. Next time, you can’t…” Carol was interrupted before he could finish.

He looked at the girl speechlessly as she walked through his body. Although it was just a holographic projection, it was still a strange visual effect, okay!

However, seeing the excited expression on her face, he couldn’t bring himself to stop her.

Although he admired the girl’s strength and believed she had unlimited potential, she hadn’t really acted like a child of her age before. It was only in the past half month that she had started to show the kind of liveliness that children should have. Carol couldn’t bear to interrupt her happiness.

He could only say helplessly, “The school will deposit the credit points into your account soon. Also, enrollment has started. Take a good look at the link I’ll send you later.”

He disconnected the communication, unable to speak any further. His body was about to be turned into a sieve by the girl.

Song Chunshi was immersed in the wonders of high technology. The projection suddenly disappeared, leaving her a little unsatisfied.

She received two messages on her light brain in a row. One was a balance reminder, saying that the Empire Military Academy had deposited eight million credit points into her account. Her assets instantly expanded hundreds of times.

The other was a link sent by Carol, about detailed introductions to the various majors at the military academy.

Song Chunshi read through them one by one. Majors like mecha infantry, command, and mechanic, which required psychic powers at B-level and above, were not suitable for her.

Majors like intelligent information and military medicine, which didn’t require psychic powers but did require a professional background, were also not something she could handle.

Finally, her eyes fell on the words “logistics management.” This sounded like managing a warehouse. It should be quite suitable for a slacker to fish in troubled waters, right?