Chapter 66

Outside the window, the starship had shrunk into a green-and-white sphere the size of a fist.

However, the journey had only just begun.

The universe was boundless, and the spaceship would travel at the speed of light through the vast expanse of stars for ten hours.

Ji Xun was very excited at first, but when the excitement tired him out, he covered himself with Zhao Zhanlei’s jacket and fell asleep.

When he woke up again, only darkness remained outside the window.

Ji Xun pressed his face against the glass, looking out as distant planets and stars resembled little stones glowing with various beautiful lights.

He had only ever seen such a sight during Teacher Tina’s classes; some of those planets were inhabited by citizens of their Starry Federation, while the rest were mostly resource-rich planets holding vast amounts of supplies...

The journey was long, and Tutor Loud had already fallen asleep.

Ji Xun pressed against the window to watch for more than half an hour before getting up to use the restroom.

Passing by Zhao Zhanlei’s seat, Ji Xun saw that Zhao Zhanlei was not asleep, and their eyes met.

Ji Xun immediately gave him a flattering, ingratiating smile.

By this point, Zhao Zhanlei had run out of temper. "Are you going to the restroom?"

Ji Xun hurriedly nodded.

"I'll take you."

The ten-hour long flight finally came to an end.

Zhao Zhanlei wanted to help Ji Xun with his bag, but Ji Xun quickly refused, hanging his slightly heavy backpack across his own chest instead.

The large group gathered first, then left the underground spaceport together to transfer to the hotel.

Because he had done his homework thoroughly, Ji Xun was not startled by the prosperity of Juhong.

Towering sci-fi skyscrapers, crisscrossing overpasses, and countless spacecraft darting through the air as nimbly as swallows...

Ji Xun maintained a calm expression the whole time, looking entirely like someone accustomed to grand scenes.

Zhao Zhanlei was somewhat surprised to see him act like this.

The competition organizers had uniformly booked the Juhong District 1 Underground City Hotel for the teams that made it to the finals.

The group took the subterranean rail transit and arrived at their destination ten minutes later.

Ji Xun had to book his own room.

Upon learning that a single room cost eight hundred credits a day, Ji Xun made a prompt decision: "Thank you, I was just asking! I can just share a room with my friend!"

The receptionist maintained her professional smile: "Very well."

Zhao Zhanlei knew this would happen and said, "Let's go..."

The room was located on the sixth underground level.

Juhong was the transportation hub planet of the entire Federation, but Ji Xun did not like it here.

As the elevator descended, Ji Xun looked outside, feeling as though this planet had been hollowed out. True to the name "Juhong," it was a planet where the surface and the underground could almost fold over and completely overlap.

That evening, Zhao Zhanlei intended to sleep on the sofa, but Ji Xun refused to let his buddy suffer—after all, he was the one freeloading the room.

So the two of them ended up sleeping in the large bed together.

Yet Ji Xun could not fall asleep.

Even though the Juhong Underground City was no different from the surface and even featured artificial moonlight, Ji Xun simply felt that breathing was not entirely smooth.

The Great King Egg was different; it adapted wonderfully, bouncing around without any trouble at all.

In the morning, Ji Xun vaguely heard Zhao Zhanlei getting up to wash up. Checking the time, it was just past five o'clock.

The "sunlight" rising "punctually" outside the window shone into the room.

Ji Xun sat up.

Zhao Zhanlei came out after brushing his teeth. Seeing him sitting up, he went over to draw the curtains. "Xunxun, go back to sleep for a bit longer. I'll have room service send you some food. We're going to the venue for trial training soon, so just stay in the hotel and don't run around today. We'll probably be back around five or six in the afternoon, and then I'll take you out for dinner and a stroll."

Ji Xun’s eyes rolled slightly. After a moment of thought, he asked Zhao Zhanlei, "Why will it take so long?"

Zhao Zhanlei explained, "Because every team has to test the venue, go through the procedures, draw lots, and do interviews. Today is all trivial stuff. You shouldn't tag along; it's too tiring and not fun."

"The match is tomorrow, right?"

"Right, I'll take you to the venue to watch the match tomorrow."

"Got it!"

"Don't run around today, you hear me?" Zhao Zhanlei reminded him again, feeling uneasy.

Ji Xun: "I know, I know."

"We'll head back right after the matches tomorrow."

"Alright, alright, alright."

Seeing Ji Xun agree so readily, Zhao Zhanlei felt an ominous premonition. He reached out his hand, "Pinky promise."

"So childish," Ji Xun muttered while extending his little finger to hook with Zhao Zhanlei's. "Pinky promise, seal it with a kiss, no going back for a hundred years..."

How old was he to still believe in this?

***

Outside the door, Tutor Loud came to call for them.

Zhao Zhanlei left.

"Xiaoxun didn't wake up?"

"There's nothing much to see today, and tagging along with us would just tire him out. I told him to rest at the hotel; he'll go tomorrow."

Tutor Loud remarked, "That's true."

Hearing the two of them leave, Ji Xun immediately got out of bed, took out his small notebook from his backpack, and started calculating.

It was currently 5:30 AM, leaving twelve hours until 5:00 or 6:00 PM.

It took three hours to get to the East District Military Academy.

Six hours for a round trip.

Before coming to Juhong, Ji Xun had never thought about visiting the East District Military Academy.

Well, okay, he had thought about it.

But it only ever stopped at the level of "thinking."

However, during the spaceship ride, Tutor Loud's remarks had directly stirred up those little schemes deep inside Ji Xun's heart.

Going to the East District didn't seem like such a big deal after all!!

Besides, taking a spaceship was no big deal either.

He had already survived a ten-hour flight.

What was three hours??

Ji Xun flipped out the flight schedule between Juhong and the East District Military Academy that he had looked up online.

There was a flight at 7:00 AM, followed by another every hour and a half, totaling sixteen flights a day, with the same number for the return trips.

What did this mean?

Even if he got delayed along the way, the margin for error was extremely high.

Ji Xun bit his lip, his heart beating wildly.

I'm just going to take a look at what the military academy looks like...

The military academy is so huge.

There's no way I'll just casually run into Xing-ge.

Besides, staying alone in a hotel room for a dozen hours would be way too boring.

I really am just going to take a look at what the military academy looks like.

I'll come right back after looking.

Without hesitation, Ji Xun put on his backpack and brought the Great King Egg.

He walked out of the room.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door handle.

Ji Xun had considered that military academies had strict discipline, and this trip might result in him seeing nothing at all and returning empty-handed.

But Ji Xun had never imagined...

——That he wouldn't even be able to board the spaceship to the East District at all!!!

Buying a ticket required providing a student ID number for the East District Military Academy or a military district identity serial number.

In other words, only two types of people could go to that place.

First, military academy students. Second, people who had previously served in the military.

If Tutor Loud were here, he could definitely take him along; he used to be in the military before retiring to teach students at the Sanctuary.

Why didn't any of the online guides mention this ahhhhhhh!!!!

Disappointed, Ji Xun had no choice but to take back his ID card and leave the ticket counter.

Considering all the mental preparation he had done along the way.

Who could have guessed it would end in empty joy.

Ji Xun sighed heavily, put his ID card back into his bag, and walked toward the exit of the spaceport. But as he walked, his steps slowly, slowly came to a halt.

His eyes lit up as he suddenly thought of a method!!

Ji Xun hurried back to join the very end of the queue!

The sentinel standing at the end of the line watched the whole process and asked him, "What's wrong with you?"

Ji Xun looked at him, his mind spinning, and immediately smiled. "Big brother, could you lend me your ID number so I can buy a spaceship ticket?"

"I want to go to the military academy to find my brother. His name is Fu Shuxing, and I want to give him a surprise."

"Don't know him."

"..."

"No."

"...Oh."

The sentinel found it strange, "Then why are you still in line?"

Ji Xun glared fiercely, "Mind your own business!"

The sentinel: "..."

Smelly kid, he was calling him big brother so sweetly just a moment ago.

The ticket-buying line moved very quickly.

When Ji Xun reached the counter, he sweetly called the ticket seller "Auntie" first, then handed over his ID card. "Auntie, can I use my dad's ID card number instead?"

"Tell me the number and I'll look it up for you."

Ji Xun immediately reported his father's ID card number. His dad had also been on the battlefield in the past, so there should be a corresponding military serial number.

The ticket-selling auntie said, "Nothing came up."

Ji Xun: "..."

The sentinel standing right ahead of Ji Xun, who had already bought his ticket and hadn't left yet, let out a chuckle from the side.

Ji Xun frowned and quickly glanced at him.

Seeing that his ID card was about to be returned, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Ji Xun. His eyes lit up, and he immediately blurted out, "Auntie, I remembered wrong, let me give it to you again!!"

Ji Xun successfully re-recited a sixteen-digit number.

The ticket seller looked it up and asked, "What is your father's name?"

"Gao Mingyuan."

Ji Xun finally managed to buy his ticket successfully!!

His heart surged with excitement!!

Good thing he had once seen Uncle Gao's officer ID! He had remembered it!

Ji Xun left the counter and saw that the tall sentinel was still standing nearby without having walked far. Carefully protecting his ticket, Ji Xun walked past him, lifted his chin, deliberately gave a loud "Hmph," and then strode away quickly!

"The boarding gate for the East District is over this way, little kid."

A voice came from behind him.

Ji Xun: "............"

The spaceship from Juhong to the East District Military Academy was different from the starship that traveled to Juhong.

There were restraint harnesses and visors attached to the seats.

Ji Xun and that sentinel had bought their tickets one after the other, and their seats happened to be adjacent.

Ji Xun stood on tiptoe to put his backpack away.

He wasn't tall enough.

The sentinel casually helped him out. Seeing that Ji Xun looked blankly at his seat, not quite understanding how things worked, the sentinel said, "These are used during spacetime jumps. Pay attention to the instructional video in a moment."

"Oh..." Ji Xun got in first and sat down, then said, "Thank you, big brother."

Now he was calling him big brother again.

The sentinel sat down and, out of sudden benevolence, demonstrated to Ji Xun how to use the seat restraint and visor.

Ji Xun watched with intense focus and learned earnestly. Following along step-by-step, he realized it was actually quite simple—just a matter of snapping a few buckles into place.

Once he learned it, Ji Xun thanked the sentinel once more, then took a deep breath to calm the nervousness inside his chest.

He was actually going to the military academy...

All by himself.

If this were half a month ago, he would never have believed this was something he could pull off!!

It was fine.

He was going to be a person who accomplishes great things in the future; what was something like this?

Compared to the ten-hour voyage, the three hours it took to get to the military academy passed extremely quickly.

A little over an hour flying through space.

Half an hour for the spacetime jump.

Another hour for descent.

As the jump concluded, Ji Xun vomited a mouthful of bitter acid into a plastic bag.

Dizzy and lightheaded.

Nauseous and sick.

The sentinel remarked, "I told you not to look."

Before the spacetime jump, the spaceship had broadcasted a reminder that a spacetime jump was imminent and requested all passengers to close their eyes to prevent motion sickness and other physical discomforts.

Ji Xun had only peeked with one eye for a tiny moment.