233: College

Tianjin Seat V89.05, an industrial star system in a frontier star cluster.

In the past, to the Empire—or rather, to humanity—this place was like a chicken bone: tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away.

As a frontline industrial base, its production capacity was pitifully small; as a node in a military defense line, its defenses were laughably weak.

But today, the most crucial torch for the passing of civilization's flame was quietly lit right here—

"Beep, beep, beep—"

"Report, the docking bridge is in position."

Before even stepping off the bridge, Xi Hai could see several figures waiting for him at the port from a distance.

Standing at the very front were Speer and Keith—

They were the Deans of the Military Academy and the Cultural Academy, respectively—though currently, they were both acting deans.

Behind them followed a dozen or so elderly men who, at a glance, exuded the aura of high-level intellectuals.

"Supreme Director—"

Seeing Xi Hai walk down, the group stepped forward enthusiastically to greet him.

After shaking hands with each of them, Xi Hai nodded to the crowd with a smile.

"I personally hold the concurrent post of Chancellor of this academy."

"The title 'Supreme Director' is for soldiers to use. In school, just call me Chancellor."

Immediately, Speer snapped to attention subconsciously, saluting and shouting:

"Yes! Chancellor!"

Beside him, Keith had an expression of 'I don't understand, but I'll follow along,' and went through the same routine as Speer.

Seeing their actions startle the dozen or so old professors behind them, a few black lines of exasperation appeared on Xi Hai's face.

He patted both of them heavily on the shoulder, then walked toward the group of elderly professors.

"Alright—there's no need to be so serious."

"You all must be the faculty sent by the Sacred Stars Group, right?"

"Could you briefly introduce yourselves?"

The elder at the head of the group bowed slightly and replied:

"Yes, Chancellor."

"I am Arid, formerly a Level 3 Professor at United University Branch 29. My research field is Humanities and Social Laws."

Then, those to his right followed—

"Xu Hui, formerly a Level 2 Researcher at United University Branch 77. My research field is Materials Science."

"Kagas Vich, formerly a Level 2 Professor at United University Branch 2. My research field is High-Energy Physics."

"Angron, former Chancellor of United University Branch 12. I have overseen multiple research projects, including Biology, Anatomy, and Neural Linkage Devices."

"..."

Wait, that's not right! Did something very wrong just slip in there!?

Angron???

Xi Hai took a delayed second look at the Chancellor of Branch 12, repeatedly confirming his appearance before breathing a sigh of relief—

It was a bald man who looked to be just entering old age.

Fortunately, he didn't have a body of purplish-red muscles, nor were there any strange things plugged into his head.

However, out of curiosity, he still asked:

"Angron, you were the Chancellor of Branch 12?"

"If you came here directly, what happened to the academy back there?"

Angron rubbed his bald head and said:

"Well, I brought all the faculty and staff with me to jump ship, of course."

"Our funding was already low, and there are hardly any students left studying there now."

"We simply resigned collectively and came over—"

As he spoke, he shrugged and said with a hint of embarrassment:

"Oh, right. Not everyone we brought over joined the academy. Perhaps due to the shadow left from our time with The Consortium, many of our people applied directly to the Inquisition."

Xi Hai: ...Fine then, so it's just a coincidence of names? (Disappointed)

Wait, what was he disappointed about!

After driving the strange and dangerous thoughts out of his mind, Xi Hai looked at the scholars.

"Very well. You are scholars who have come to assist Tianjin Seat V89 in the name of volunteers."

"Whether in the academy or the Inquisition, as long as they can create value for society, they are heroes here."

Saying this, he looked at Keith and gave him a subtle look.

Keith immediately understood. He walked to the side of Xi Hai and the old professors, making a 'please' gesture and saying:

"Chancellor, Professors, the academy's first opening ceremony is in two hours."

"The hundreds of thousands of new students should be starting to take their places about now."

"Shall we go make the final preparations and chat along the way?"

Hearing Keith's words, Xi Hai nodded immediately and walked in the direction he indicated—

"Good, good, let's talk as we walk."

"Let's go. For the first opening ceremony, we cannot be late in front of our future."

...The interior of this space station was in a minimalist sci-fi style, with clean floors and walls, and bright, soft lighting.

If a person with OCD walked in, they would immediately feel an unparalleled sense of physical and mental pleasure upon seeing everything in the space station.

Compared to the 'as long as it works' scavenger aesthetic inside the Order Alliance, this place clearly fit a normal person's fantasy of 'future technological creations'—

Of course, the biggest difference was that this space station did not have those 'interstitial spaces' used to 'house Slave Laborers'.

This point was actually quite normal in the eyes of the original inhabitants of Tianjin Seat V89; after all, they had no concept of 'mechanical equipment requiring slave labor,' let alone any contact with 'slavery'.

But in the eyes of those scholars and professors from the outside, this point was incredible.

(Of course, in their eyes, an even more rebellious thing was that strong artificial intelligence could actually be used openly here.)

"Ding!!!"

Suddenly, the Shuttle emitted a crisp sound, interrupting Xi Hai's thoughts—

They had reached the destination of this trip.

This was an incredibly massive tiered hall.

Located at the very center of the space station, it was shaped like a large 240-degree fan. Behind the main podium were two large rectangular pillars, distributed symmetrically to the left and right, each bearing the emblem of the Sacred Stars Group—the circle enclosing an inverted triangle.

If the seats below were full, it could accommodate approximately two hundred and fifty thousand people.

The ceiling was very high and silver-white, which at first glance reminded Xi Hai of his days scavenging in the lower city districts—

Back then, looking up at the sky above, he could feel a similar sense of awe.

Thinking this, Xi Hai walked up to his designated seat and sat down.

Below the stage was a dense sea of heads.

The central axis of the venue divided the floor into two sides: the left was for the freshmen of the Military Academy, and the right was for the freshmen of the Cultural Academy.

The difference between them was as clear as night and day, such that Xi Hai could tell which was which at a glance—

On the left, those sitting upright and looking incredibly serious were from the Military Academy.

Most of them were officer candidates selected and recommended from various units within the Legion, here for remedial training, totaling 73,977 people—

Xi Hai even saw a few unexpected familiar faces in the first row, like that big-eyed, thick-browed fellow Gunnar.

And on the right, those who were clearly softer and whispering to each other were the freshmen of the Cultural Academy.

Compared to the tension of the military side, their half had a full sense of relaxation, and the gender ratio was more balanced, appearing to be about four-to-one.

Children of military personnel still made up a large proportion of them, but there were still about forty percent who were high-achievers who had passed the screening exams—they totaled 53,600 people.

"Dong— Dong— Dong—"

At that moment, the long, lingering sound of a bell echoed from above the venue.

The bell instantly made everyone on the floor stop what they were doing—

The first opening ceremony of this academy had begun.

(Wait for me to organize the outline; I'm a bit afraid to write the subsequent big mash-up.)

...