Chapter 60

Military academies are located on the four outermost frontier planets of the Federation, as well as the planet right at the center of the Federation. They are respectively known as the East District, West District, South District, North District, and the Central Military Academy.

On every planet, a completely militarized management system is enforced...

Ji Xun read until very, very late.

In a sense, military academy students are already soldiers of the Federation. At any moment, they could be handpicked to execute special missions, such as setting up amnesties or providing backup on uninhabited wasteland islands, or rescuing teammates in high-intensity radiation zones, and so on...

And this kind of mission filled with unknown dangers often goes by another name: advanced actual combat assessment.

Such "assessments" inevitably involve bloodshed and injuries.

Therefore, a Guide is indispensable in the team.

Ji Xun watched as Sentinels and Guides dressed in camouflage uniforms supported each other as they left the mission zone.

Miraculously, the Sentinel in the imagery suddenly turned into Fu Shuxing...

Ji Xun thought—

After entering the military academy, Fu Shuxing will team up with any Guide.

They will become life-and-death companions, forge a deep, revolutionary friendship, and completely banish him to the back of their minds.

Fu Shuxing will forget a Guide who was once ruthlessly mocked by him!
Who saved him!
And whose future was ruined because of him!

By then, Fu Shuxing will be in the zenith of his glory.

Not to mention District 12, the entire Federation, and even the entire interstellar space will be filled with legends of him.

As for himself...

No!
This cannot happen!!

Ji Xun thought: What on earth am I hesitating for???

Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon a person!
The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

Besides, missions executed in the military academy are not solitary operations. As long as he has teammates, Ji Xun is not afraid. The Sentinels always charge at the front lines, while the Guides only need to hold down the rear. Not only that, Guides will also have the greatest opportunities for potential development, escorted by countless resources within the Tower.

At the military academy, one can learn things that are absolutely unlearnable at the Sanctuary.

That place can make a person very strong, exceedingly strong.

What on earth do I still have to hesitate about??

That is my life!

Once I team up with other Sentinels to build achievements and make a name for myself, that will still be the ultimate face-slapping life for Fu Shuxing!!

Zhao Zhanlei still had another day of exams to take.

Ji Xun, however, did not need another day of deliberation.

When Zhao Zhanlei saw Ji Xun standing at his doorstep once again the very next day, his internal state completely collapsed!

Ji Xun’s attitude was extremely resolute, demanding that Zhao Zhanlei help him train his physical fitness.

Because during the day, he had already had Qian Peng dig up the previous years' military academy entrance screening assessment questions, only to discover that while a Guide's mental power usually accounted for seventy percent, the remaining thirty percent surprisingly consisted entirely of physical fitness assessments.

At the Sanctuary, physical education classes for Guides were treated like child's play.

Sentinels were definitely much stronger in this regard.

Zhao Zhanlei remained silent. Ji Xun looked at him with puppy eyes, pitiful and full of expectation.

Zhao Zhanlei simply couldn't hold out against it. Sighing in a thorny dilemma, he said, "I can teach you, but if you fail the exam, you can't blame me."

Ji Xun immediately replied, "Definitely not, definitely not!"

Zhao Zhanlei thought to himself that mere words were useless; he had to make him write a note and sign it.

Instead, he heard Ji Xun say, "I will definitely pass the exam!!"

Zhao Zhanlei: "..."

Since Zhao Zhanlei had to help his father out during the day, Ji Xun could only go find him in the evenings.

However, the intensity of this physical training...

was truly not something a twelve-year-old small Guide could endure...

At first, during lunch.

Ji Mother watched as her son's chopsticks-holding hand shook, shook, and shook. Frowning, she asked, "What's wrong, Xunxun? What's going on with your hand?"

"Oh, I don't want the scallions." Ji Xun shook off the scallions on top of the meat, immediately shoved it into his mouth, put down his chopsticks, and stood up. "Mom, I'm full! I'm going upstairs to sleep!"

Ji Mother: "..." You got full from eating just a single piece of meat??

Later on, during lunch.

Ji Mother watched as her son wolfed down his food with huffing breaths, only to get up once again to scoop a third bowl of rice. "Xunxun, your appetite has been so good lately."

"Maybe I'm growing recently." Realizing that eating too much would easily give the game away, Ji Xun didn't dare to eat anymore. He shoveled down two quick mouthfuls of rice, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and said, "Mom, I'm full! I'm going upstairs to sleep!!"

Ji Mother: "..." Didn't you just scoop that? And now you're not eating it? I really shouldn't have opened my mouth to say that extra sentence.

Later still, Zhao Zhanlei finally didn't have to help his father out anymore.

Ji Xun was finally able to go out during the day.

Watching Ji Xun bite off half a loaf of bread in one go, Zhao Zhanlei handed over a bottle of water and said, "Eat slower, don't choke. Didn't you get enough to eat at home?"

"I don't dare to eat too much." With such high physical exertion came a huge appetite. Eating while speaking unclearly, Ji Xun said, "I'm afraid my mom will get suspicious!"

Ji Mother noticed that her son no longer rested during the day, but instead ran outside frequently. Suspicious she wasn't, but she was somewhat worried.

She discussed with her husband whether they should tell their child about the Fu family moving away.

Ji Father folded his newspaper and said, "He hasn't even asked, why bring it up? Stop borrowing trouble and worrying blindly. A child's attachments change every single day—didn't you see him hanging out with the Zhao family's kid these past few days? Who knows, our son probably forgot all about that Fu brat long ago."

Ji Mother: "..."

Physical training can enhance one's physical constitution.

After a mere half-month of training, it wasn't very noticeable on Ji Xun's body, but the changes in the Great King Egg were much more obvious. It no longer looked as wrinkled as it had back at the hospital; it had regained its former vibrant, hydrated luster and seemed full of vigor.

When the shuttle runs ended, Ji Xun collapsed onto the ground with his clothes soaked in sweat, declaring that he could no longer move an inch.

Zhao Zhanlei, who had been running alongside him, wasn't even breathing heavily, but he accompanied him in taking a break nonetheless. "You've made huge progress," he said. "Let's call it a day for now."

"That won't do," Ji Xun said. "It's not enough. Where does this even rank?"

Seeing the sweat all over his face, Zhao Zhanlei wiped it away with a towel. "Haste makes waste. I'm afraid your body won't be able to hold up."

"I have zero problems at all!!"

Truth be told, even though the training intensity had gone up, Ji Xun noticed that the frequency of his backaches and joint pains had decreased by a massive margin.

On this day, Ji Xun received a message from Uncle Gao stating that the makeup exam time had been arranged.

It left him with several days of review time.

Consequently, Ji Xun temporarily suspended his training with Zhao Zhanlei to focus on studying books first.

Just like the training, this too had to be kept hidden from his mom and dad.

Ji Xun pretended to be a salted fish on the surface while secretly hiding under the quilt, using a flashlight to read his books.

The makeup exam was scheduled for two days before New Year's Eve.

Teacher Tina was the one who helped organize the makeup exam statistics for Ji Xun.

Though they hadn't seen each other for a little over twenty days, Mentor Tina found that Ji Xun seemed to have grown taller and looked much healthier and sturdier to boot.

Mentor Tina said, "Once you finish the exam on the day, I'll grade your scores on the same day."

"Will it be tallied together with the rest of the classmates in the class?"

"Of course it will," Mentor Tina said. "It will also be uploaded to the military academy side."

"Thank you, Teacher!!"

Ji Xun's examination went very smoothly.

He basically knew how to do all the questions on the test paper, and he was naturally quite skilled at the practical course material. With his physical fitness having recently caught up and his mental power well-mastered, his completion rate was even higher!

There was an intelligent brain recording the entire process during the assessment.

Mentor Tina did not show any favoritism.

Ji Xun obtained the excellent scores he deserved. He wasn't first, but he broke into the top three of the entire class.

Put in the past, Ji Xun would have already flown high with joy!

However, after training with Zhao Zhanlei for this recent period, his temperament had settled down a lot. Moreover, compared to the military academy assessment questions, these were truly small fry...

Zhao Zhanlei had said that these scores would serve as a stepping stone to the military academy, which was already an exaggeration.

Ji Xun took the exam simply to give an account to the hardworking self of the past.

Besides, having a stepping stone was indeed better than not having one at all.

After the exam, Ji Xun trained with Zhao Zhanlei for another two days.

Then arrived New Year's Eve.

Every household ate the New Year's Eve dinner and stayed up late to see in the New Year.

Star Navigation District 12 would launch fireworks for two hours.

Ji Xun and Zhao Zhanlei sat on the double horizontal bars in his courtyard, raising their heads to watch the colorful fireworks.

Ji Xun said, "I didn't expect Uncle Gao and the others wouldn't even come back for the New Year."

"They will definitely attend tomorrow's banquet," Zhao Zhanlei said. "It's just that the war doesn't seem very tense right now, yet they aren't coming back even once. But come to think of it, time really flies; the winter break is almost over."

"School starts as soon as winter break ends, but I feel like the Sanctuary is already not worthy of me anymore."

"Oh, get over yourself," Zhao Zhanlei laughed. "Look at you getting all puffed up with conceit. Once you see Xing-ge tomorrow, you won't think that way anymore. He's the one undergoing a true qualitative change."

Speaking of Fu Shuxing, what came to Ji Xun's mind was the apology message the other party had sent him.

Ji Xun asked, "Have you been in contact with him recently?"

"Yeah, I have," Zhao Zhanlei said. "He frequently asks about you. Xing-ge was the one who told me that we're attending the banquet tomorrow."

"Asks about me? Asks what?"

"..."

He had let a slip of the tongue escape.

Ji Xun immediately asked, "You didn't tell him about these recent events, did you?"

"Of course that's impossible!" Zhao Zhanlei said. "I promised you to keep it secret. Xing-ge just occasionally asks me how you've been doing lately."

"...Why doesn't he ask me himself?"

Zhao Zhanlei said, "How would I know?" Come to think of it, Xing-ge was also rather strange. Before the final exams, he had claimed he was going to pursue Ji Xun, but after a while, he had simply vanished into thin air. Had something happened in between that he wasn't supposed to know about?

Ji Xun said, "Hand me your communicator."

Zhao Zhanlei handed it over. "What are you going to do?"

Ji Xun wasn't going to do anything; he swapped and handed his own communicator to Zhao Zhanlei instead. "The two of us are going to swap and use these. You mustn't tell him about this either, or you're dead!"

"..."

This was the kind of romantic play he simply didn't understand.

Ji Xun flipped through the message history between Zhao Zhanlei and Fu Shuxing.

The most recent one was from two days ago.

[Fu Shuxing: Doing well?]
[Zhao Zhanlei: Doing great, full of spirit!]

There was no calling anyone by name.

Ji Xun felt this didn't necessarily mean they were talking about him. He flipped further up, and they were all more or less these kinds of cryptic-sounding inquiries, except for the topmost one.

[Fu Shuxing: Ji Xun is at the hospital, 18th floor of the inpatient building]

Ji Xun fell silent.

Could this prove that Fu Shuxing had actually come to the hospital that day?

Otherwise, how could he even know the exact floor?

So why didn't he apologize in person...

Propping his chin with one hand, Ji Xun flipped through their dry chat logs. Conversations between Sentinels were just that straightforward.

Zhao Zhanlei could be a bit more lively, but Fu Shuxing's texts were practically as bland as plain boiled water.

Just as he was about to shut down the communicator, it suddenly vibrated, prompting a notification of a new message.

Ji Xun tapped it open to read.

[Fu Shuxing: Say Happy New Year for me]

Ji Xun: "..."

Why should I say it for you! Can't you say it yourself?!"

Ji Xun looked at Zhao Zhanlei's communicator. "Shitou, help me send a message to Fu Shuxing, just say Happy New Year!"

"Send it yourself," Zhao Zhanlei replied.

Unable to swallow his pride, Ji Xun thought about it over and over, and simply sent the exact four words Zhao Zhanlei had told him to Fu Shuxing.