novelraw Chapter 7 : Academy Seven
Chapter 7 : Academy Seven
In the stone cave, Academy Seven's two members huddled in a corner, exchanging glances before looking up at the tunnels connecting to other exits.
"Go."
Academy Seven's output Jin Yu pushed the analyst.
Chen Sui watched the chaotic stone cave, with four academies gathered together, plus an energy body, all in disarray.
Academy Seven seized the opportunity; the analyst clutching the monitoring equipment in their arms, pushing toward the opening above.
Chen Sui's gaze swept over the other academies. First Academy's black commander Jiang Tianyi noticed Academy Seven's movement, but was currently surrounded by the giant rhinoceros's fire wall, with artillery from Third Academy behind him, stretched thin.
Third Academy's navy blue mecha commander Lin Fengchi disengaged from the battle at this point.
"Ice."
He was heard calmly uttering a single word.
Chen Sui saw a layer of blue energy covering the stone walls from top to bottom, frost patterns becoming increasingly visible, instantly solidifying into a hard ice wall, sealing off the opening in the stone wall.
Academy Seven's two members were blocked mid-air. The analyst's mecha hand glowed red, with a blood-red bird breaking out from the red light.
"Hold them off, I'll clear the way."
Academy Seven's output Jin Yu shouldered his gun cannon. Golden light rose from his shoulder, artillery shells fired out, carrying pure golden light, hammering down toward the blue glow beside Third Academy's commander.
The analyst's Vermilion Fire Bird let out a sharp cry, its fiery red flames like arrows, piercing toward the ice layer outside the opening.
Chen Sui was immersed in watching the battlefield situation, her gaze frequently scanning the spirit bodies with special energies.
When dealing with the giant rhinoceros, wounds caused by gun cannons would quickly heal; only the energy from spirit bodies could inflict true damage on the rhinoceros.
This is the gift of Awakening, Chen Sui thought.
She comfortably reclined on the soft cushioned backrest of the passenger cabin, just about to look up to check Academy Seven's escape progress.
But the holographic projection began to flicker.
The characters' voices became intermittent.
The jump ship broadcasted throughout: "Dear passengers, hello, this flight is about to pass through the first jump channel. During this time, signals may become unstable. Please use communication devices with caution. We apologize for any inconvenience."
Before the broadcast finished, the entire cabin's holographic projection suddenly disappeared, and the cabin darkened, with only the white light of the jump channel outside the transparent window.
"Oh no, why did it disappear at this moment?"
"Yeah, just when it was getting exciting. What was Jiang Tianyi's intention anyway? Wasn't Lin Fengchi cooperating with him? Did he turn against him?"
Chen Sui heard passengers around her peeking out of their cabins, discussing the league competition situation with surrounding people.
Now was the peak of the Star Alliance Military Academy League Competition's final phase, the decisive battle of the five major academies, the time of highest popularity on the StarNet.
Chen Sui listened attentively.
"What cooperation? I watched the previous phases; this Jiang Tianyi is quite cunning, nine out of ten sentences are deceptive."
"Lin Fengchi is just too straightforward, he can't outplay an old fox like Jiang Tianyi."
"But you know what, Zhu Jing Fu's luck is truly extraordinary. They lost three people, their commander Yun Fang also eliminated, yet they could still rise from the ashes as their opponents began fighting amongst themselves."
At this point, others agreed: "Starting from the elimination round, on the league forum's betting board, eighty percent bet on Zhu Jing Fu's elimination, yet they forcibly squeezed into the regular competition. In two elimination rounds, they never encountered strong teams. This luck is unbelievably good."
"Their analyst is decent, with strong self-preservation ability. Their mental threshold value ranks middle to upper among the five academies. With a threshold of 82, they've created quite a few opportunities for Academy Seven."
"That's true, but their overall strength is genuinely lacking," someone sighed regretfully.
"No way around it. Ever since Director Song disappeared, the council has been very dissatisfied with the resource tilt toward military academies in Zone Eleven. Academy Seven has faced resource constraints these years. It's already quite an achievement to see them in the regular competition now."
"Ah, Director Song was such a loss."
"The Song family produces pillars of society. With the Song family having a voice on the main star, people from remote star rings could live better lives. It's difficult now, but once the younger generation of the Song family rises up, everything will improve."
"Still, they're not as good as Director Song."
At this point, Chen Sui clearly felt everyone's mood unanimously drop.
Director Song, Song Baining?
Chen Sui had seen promotional articles about Song Baining on the StarNet.
They said the Song family originated from Yuguang Star. Song Baining, rebellious in her youth, left the main star to study at Academy Seven on Yuguang Star, becoming famous in one battle at the Star League Competition.
After the league competition, she joined the Border Army, later becoming the director of the Zone Eleven Military Committee, managing the entire Zone Eleven. Under her administration, talented individuals emerged frequently from the military district, casualties from energy body descents greatly decreased, and remote star rings developed rapidly in various aspects.
Unfortunately, ten years ago, Song Baining disappeared during a top-level energy field accident and remains missing to this day, her fate unknown.
Afterward, Zone Eleven was taken over by the new director Zhao Loulan, with the council hindering at every step, leading to a very unclear situation in the Star Alliance, with serious overt and covert conflicts.
Chen Sui couldn't quite discern these matters. She was only good at fighting and killing alien species. These factions, management, and intricate complexities made her dizzy. The marketing accounts on the StarNet wrote convincingly, but whether they were credible was another matter.
She yawned, dispelling the thoughts in her mind.
The white light of the jump channel shone in the cabin. The crowd opening passenger cabins for discussion was reminded by the cabin voice alert, and one by one they lay down, the interior returning to tranquility.
The transparent barrier of the passenger cabin was covered with a tea-colored honeycomb web-like film. The white light was filtered, the view as if the exposure had been lowered. Chen Sui lay down peacefully, closing her eyes briefly.
The length of the jump channel was longer than she had imagined. Combined with the back and forth processing of documents and submitting application information these past few days, she was too tired. Chen Sui unconsciously fell into a dream.
This sleep was unusually peaceful. The passenger cabin adjusted to sleep mode, blocking out all the holographic images of the five major academies in battle, artillery fire, spirit bodies emerging, and even the sound of passengers cheering loudly.
The jump ship docked at the port of Yuguang Star, and the wake-up device in the passenger cabin roused Chen Sui.
Upon opening her eyes, she saw a dazzling golden sea.
The central star port of Yuguang Star was located above the Flashing Golden Sea, a huge suspended metal structure supporting an entire starship port.
Its area was easily half the size of the Flashing Golden Sea.
Transparent descending passages surrounded the star port on all sides, connecting to all areas of the entire coast of the Flashing Golden Sea.
Chen Sui followed the guidance to find the closest place to Academy Seven.
Entering the descent passage, from the top of the stairs, one could see the golden waves of the Flashing Golden Sea. The setting sun scattered gorgeous flames, ostentatiously covering the surface of the Flashing Golden Sea.
Artificially cultivated aquatic creatures floated on the sea surface, reflected all red.
As the wind blew, the entire sea surface rolled, splashing water like broken gold, wrapped in red molten iron by the sunset.
The wind from the rapidly descending passage blew away the fragments of hair on her forehead, and the buttons of her deep green coat were also blown open. The cold wind rushed in, carrying a natural sea smell.
In the mid-air of Yuguang Star, intersecting suspended tracks were planned, divided into several layers according to the type of hovering vehicle. Only pedestrians and sanitation robots roamed the streets on the ground.
Chen Sui rode the city hover bus, meeting the towering buildings in mid-air. The neon signs hanging high cast her face in various colors, making her green pupils appear particularly profound.
"Tatamu City, Songluo District, we've arrived. Please take your luggage and belongings. Mind the traffic when alighting. White Day Intercity Bus wishes you a pleasant journey."
At the bus station hall, Chen Sui downloaded a map of Tatamu City on her light brain, locating her destination, Star Academy Seven.
Academy Seven was situated in a remote location in Songluo District, with the academy's front facing the exit of the most prosperous commercial street, and natural terrain hills behind the academy.
The commercial street only became truly bustling at night, with the parking spaces for hovering cars at the entrance nearly full. Duty robots were guiding late-arriving tourists to another side.
Along the commercial street, shops had their doors wide open, with various simulated human voices hawking. Creative shopkeepers wrote special greeting words, and some projected scenes from the currently hottest serial novels on the StarNet on the light screens at their entrances.
The colorful font made Chen Sui pause momentarily at the entrance.
"Holographic-Green Mecha Literary Network, God-tier writer Buxie's new short work 'My Ex-husband Became an Energy Body', holographic text, now trending!"
In this era, novels could directly transform from text into images. After Chen Sui finished watching the preview clip, just as she was expectantly waiting for the subsequent plot, the scene suddenly changed, and a familiar mecha part appeared on the screen.
"Tyno Mecha Retail Store, fine craftsmanship for parts, personalized design, making your mecha stand out."
Chen Sui's just-raised interest seemed to have been doused with a bucket of cold water. She looked up at the shop's neon sign.
Tyno Mecha Retail Store.
Very well, all traffic driving.
"Boss, are you going to show it or not?"
"Yeah, isn't Buxie's new book tonight? Are you showing it or not?"
The boss's traffic-driving tactics were indeed clever. Combined with Buxie's current popularity, it attracted many fans. Seeing there was no continuation, they immediately started shouting.
The boss of Tyno Mecha Retail Store helplessly expressed: "Oh dear, I'm really sorry, everyone. We're still negotiating the authorization for this new work with Teacher Buxie. Sorry to disturb everyone's interest. I'll make a decision—today, all parts in the store are 20% off for everyone!"
After speaking, Chen Sui saw the boss turn around, breathing a sigh of relief, his lips moving slightly, followed by a look of satisfaction as if the business deal was successful.
Based on his lip movements, Chen Sui guessed that his muttered sentence was: "What damn authorization, so expensive, why not just rob me? But the advertisement worked well. Luckily I marked up the prices several times in advance. Today we'll make a killing."
Chen Sui revealed a knowing expression in the crowd.
So it was all marketing.
Clever, truly clever.
However, watching the crowd instantly disperse, showing no interest in the store or the 20% discount without Buxie's new work, they seemed accustomed to such tactics, making her think the boss's scheme had failed.
Just as this thought emerged, she saw a young red-haired man in the crowd glancing between the surrounding shops, then stepping into Tyno Mecha Retail Store.
Chen Sui was slightly surprised. Hmm, someone actually went in.
She was also curious about how much markup the boss of Tyno Mecha Retail Store would have to add to claim he'd make a killing.
So she also went in to take a look.