Clap! Clap! Clap!
At nine o’clock, applause erupted precisely on schedule, and Huang Xiu joined in.
“The senior students applaud, while the new students listen to the thunderous clapping. The senior male students from both departments are so daring in their conformity; this is the ‘herd mentality’ in action.”
A slightly magnetic male voice suddenly emanated from the speakers mounted at the four corners of the stage.
The left side of the stage rotated, and a girl in a pristine white gown emerged. Not a sound was heard from her, nor from Huang Xiu.
After the applause subsided, everyone in the audience watched with unwavering attention.
“Some say the herd mentality is merely a psychological urge to conform,” the girl continued. “But here, at Tiandu University, the ‘herd mentality’ is a legacy, a tradition.”
“Every year, during the freshman ceremony, Tiandu University welcomes all of you in a truly special way.”
“This time, we welcome [number] new students to the Exploration Department, and [number] new students to the Research Department.” [TL: The original text contained a placeholder for numbers, which Huang Xiu later refers to having forgotten.]
The male host stepped forward, a smile gracing his face.
‘Both of them spoke with the standardized cadence of professional broadcasters,’ Huang Xiu mused. ‘Their intonation rose and fell perfectly, their pronunciation was precise, and their script was exceptionally professional. In just a few sentences, they had covered the founding purpose and establishment date of Tiandu University.’
‘Huang Xiu felt a jolt of surprise. Tiandu University should have been established a long, long time ago. Did the male host just say it was only [number] years old? Had she misremembered?’ [TL: The original text had a placeholder for the number of years, which Huang Xiu refers to as a small number.]
She idly twirled a strand of hair by her ear, falling briefly into contemplation.
“Since everyone is already familiar with the initial introduction, let us now proceed to the second segment of our ceremony.”
‘Only [number] years,’ Huang Xiu thought, somewhat relieved. ‘Finally, the boring part of the school ceremony is over.’ [TL: The original text had a placeholder for the number of years.]
The male host, suddenly adopting a solemn demeanor, then uttered words that made most of the new students’ eyelids flutter.
‘A boring segment?’ a new student thought, their eyes widening slightly. ‘So the senior male students are truly daring enough to stir things up.’
“Please welcome our Principal to the stage!”
The female host announced with a hint of excitement.
Before her words could fully fade, the entire auditorium plunged into darkness.
When the lights flickered back on, only an elderly man in a simple Zhongshan suit stood upon the stage.
His appearance matched the one from their admission letters: the very Principal who had sat on the special train, welcoming all the new students.
He raised his wrinkled hand, meeting the expectant gazes of all the new students, and slowly declared, “Write a book.”
‘Write… a will?’ Huang Xiu wondered, bewildered.
Huang Xiu was utterly bewildered.
Two new students exchanged glances.
But the elderly man quickly repeated himself, his voice louder than before, ensuring everyone heard him clearly.
“Write down your last wills and testaments. This is not what you heard earlier.”
Huang Xiu remained utterly bewildered.
She noticed that all the senior students, however, wore expressions of complete understanding, as if it were only natural.
‘So… we really have to write our last wills?’
Huang Xiu gazed blankly at her two roommates beside her.
They, too, wore expressions of bewilderment.
Yet, as the three of them turned to look around, they found all the senior students nodding with a knowing, matter-of-fact air.
“You new students have arrived here, feasting on gourmet dishes personally prepared by master chefs, transported by brand-new buses, and sleeping in luxuriously appointed private dormitories.”
The old man paced the stage with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sweeping across the crowd like a sharp sword.
“But why are you privileged to enjoy all of this? Is it because you—”
“—are one-in-a-million geniuses?”
“Yes!”
He declared emphatically.
“Because Tiandu University only recruits geniuses, you are undoubtedly all geniuses.”
After all, the nation’s only S-rank Awakened individual of this generation had come here. [TL: The original text used a placeholder for the rank, implying the highest possible tier.]
Huang Xiu, who had just begun to listen with a sense of ease, suddenly felt an uneasy twisting in her heart. She had been under the constant surveillance of the Jurisdiction Bureau, and the Principal’s words had struck a chord.
‘?????’
‘Why was the Principal suddenly calling her out?’
She could feel sharp gazes piercing her from all directions the moment those words left his mouth.
Huang Xiu fidgeted uncomfortably.
Fortunately, after speaking, the Principal skillfully drew everyone’s attention back to himself.
“To enjoy privileges that ordinary people cannot, we must bear responsibilities they are unable to shoulder.”
Huang Xiu felt a flicker of worry as the Principal’s words resonated like iron.
“With great power comes great responsibility!”
The Principal’s voice boomed, echoing like a grand temple bell.
“Tiandu University is no ivory tower, no greenhouse. There is no Jurisdiction Bureau here. We bear the responsibility for the safety of Tiandu’s lands, and our students must be prepared to become warriors at any moment.”
The Principal waved his hand.
“Therefore, write your last wills and testaments, to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… A tremendous gust of wind suddenly erupted from behind the stage, despite them clearly being indoors!
The next second, countless white sheets of paper transformed into two white dragons, soaring out from the left side of the stage.
The white dragons coiled in the turbulent air, flew through the aisles, and finally shattered, dissolving into a sky full of white paper butterflies that fluttered towards the new students.
One of them, trembling slightly and propelled by a strong breeze, flew directly towards Huang Xiu, settling gently before her.
The delicate white paper butterfly gracefully landed in her palm.
It unfurled, transforming back into an A4 sheet of paper imprinted with text.
A pen was clipped to the paper.
“We will safeguard your last wills and testaments. Each year, at the start of the semester—”
“—you may rewrite your wills, or review whether your objectives have been achieved.”
“Based on that, you can then set new goals as appropriate.”
A faint smile touched the Principal’s lips as he continued:
“I sincerely hope that every goal you set—”
“—you will achieve.”
“So, write your wills. You can write a will for each of your four years here,”
“and accomplish four years of objectives.”
“What if we have insurance, and something happens midway through?” A new student from the Exploration Department suddenly called out from below the stage.
“Yes!” The Principal nodded. “We provide you with the most comprehensive insurance coverage.”
“You can designate your beneficiaries, and we will do our best to—”
“—allow you to decide where you wish to be laid to rest,”
“in a place of beautiful feng shui.”
“Hahahaha!”
A burst of laughter erupted from the audience.
Huang Xiu let out a soft hum.
She flipped open the A4 paper in her hand. It had two pages, front and back.
It was divided into two sections, clearly numbered, from freshman year—
—to senior year.
[Your Goals, Last Will and Testament, and Instructions for the Disposition of Your Remains]
Huang Xiu let out another soft hum.
‘How could she possibly write this?’
In truth, compared to others, she had a far more brutal reality to face.
Because she had experienced the Void Realm,
and stood on the brink of life and death!
“We are not forcing anyone,” the Principal suddenly added. “If you don’t wish to write, you may apply to withdraw.”
“The Jurisdiction Bureau isn’t nearly as dangerous. Why would you voluntarily come to the Void Realm?”
No one answered. No one dared to speak up in front of the Principal, or embarrass themselves before such a crowd.
“Teacher, we students from the Research Department are here to defend the nation in the Void Realm, to protect its people!” A tall male student shouted.
“But we aren’t Awakened individuals…”
Huang Xiu listened quietly.
The new students from the Exploration Department felt a certain imbalance in their emotions.
Because the Principal’s preceding words, in every phrase and sentence, had essentially been directed at the new students of the Exploration Department, as if he hadn’t even considered the Research Department.
This left them feeling quite displeased.
“They are academic elites. They toiled through over ten years of study; which university in the country wouldn’t welcome them with open arms? If not for the ideal of understanding the world and defending the nation, why would they come to this wretched place?!”
However, these special privileges granted to the Exploration Department, compared to their Research Department, were merely a result of being born with good aptitude and having good luck.
“Principal, why are their benefits so much higher than ours? It’s supposed to be a freshman ceremony for both departments, yet it feels like a solo show for the Exploration Department’s new students!”
“Actually, there have always been suggestions to hold separate freshman ceremonies for the Exploration Department and the Research Department,” he countered. “But we haven’t. Because, in essence, you are all the same. I want to ask you: are the residents of the Void Realm ordinary people?”
“No!”
“We are the warriors on the front lines, and you are the warriors on the second lines.”
“Without your Research Department’s developed AI systems, various Void Energy devices and Void Artifacts, the situation in the Great Xia Nation might have long since collapsed beyond repair.”
The Principal’s voice was slow yet firm as he declared, “You are also warriors.”
“So you, too, must write your wills!”
“What about us? Do we also have insurance?” Someone else shouted from the audience.
“Do we also have insurance?”
“Everyone does!” the Principal affirmed. “From the elderly delivering goods on electric scooters to those working at experimental benches, everyone can be insured.”
“Alright, then I can rest assured.”
The subtle tension that had begun to build between the Research Department and the Exploration Department imperceptibly dissipated.
The Principal did not continue speaking. He simply stood on the stage, smiling as he watched the new students, many of whom were biting their pen caps, pondering what to write.
These were the future vitality of Tiandu University!
Tap-tap!
Just then, the windows were struck by continuous fine rain, followed by large raindrops tapping loudly.
Tap-tap!
It was raining!
********************
Tap-tap.
A glistening drop of water trembled, spreading a dark circle on the ground.
Then, another drop slid down a face mask, finally landing on the insulated delivery box on his chest.
He continued riding with one hand, wiping his face haphazardly with the other.
The yellow delivery uniform clearly identified him: he was a delivery rider, from Good Group.
“Ding, you have a new delivery order.” The phone in its holder, protected by a waterproof pouch, popped up with a new notification.
He quickly checked the distance and estimated the route in his mind. The man then pressed the accept button.
‘This order is acceptable; it’s on my way.’
He veered his electric scooter, navigating through the bustling traffic and old, gray houses. This large urban village had always existed.
It was a place of refuge for migrant workers like him, so he was intimately familiar with the area.
‘But this order… it’s too remote. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have accepted it!’ the man complained inwardly.
Morning orders were scarce, and this was a source of income.
Who knew a new order would come right after he accepted the previous one? Now, it was too late to regret.
The electric scooter weaved through the urban village.
He rode slowly because the rain had intensified, making the concrete roads slippery and prone to accidents.
The man remembered last month, he’d almost crashed the scooter badly.
But he failed to notice that the signal bars on his phone had suddenly vanished.
“Squeal!”
The moment he fully crossed a certain boundary, the dashboard of his electric scooter and his phone screen suddenly went black.
The entire vehicle lost power, its rear wheel stopped turning, and it continued forward only by inertia.
“Damn—! The scooter broke down?”
His right hand instinctively squeezed the brake, and he began inspecting it.
“Trash brand, it’s only been…” He grumbled, then suddenly felt a chill.
In a puddle formed in a nearby hollow by the rain, a distorted, hideous figure lay.
Screech!
Blood sprayed, and the headless corpse ran a few steps before collapsing.
The meals in the insulated box tumbled out, and the delivery slips on them were stained red with a mixture of mud and blood.
********************
…in the Yanghai Hall.
While the new students were still grappling with the concept of writing a will, a thought that shouldn’t occupy minds of their age, the senior students had already begun a different activity: the commendation ceremony for outstanding students from the previous semester.
The timing of this ceremony was also deliberate, intended to allow new students to observe their seniors and see them as role models.
Tiandu University’s commendation process was unusually straightforward.
The Principal stood on stage, holding bank cards and cash, flanked by the two hosts.
Each time a name was called by a host, a senior student would step forward. The Principal would then present them with cash or a bank card, depending on the award’s impact and value.
Of course, cash was never as much as what was on the bank cards.
Even so, a thick stack of bills, at least ten thousand yuan, was enough to make Huang Xiu’s eyes widen.
“Yun Ning!” The male host’s voice echoed on stage. ‘No wonder he’s dressed so ostentatiously today,’ Huang Xiu thought, filled with a mix of envy and admiration.
Having anticipated hearing his name, Yun Ning slowly stood up, straightened his clothes, and ascended the stairs along the sides of the stage.
“Last semester, you made significant progress, advancing successfully into the top hundred. You are hereby awarded the Tiandu University Progress Award.” The female host explained Yun Ning’s achievement with a smile.
The Principal and Yun Ning shook hands, then the Principal handed over a bank card.
Yun Ning accepted it with a beaming smile, then turned to descend the stage. As he did, his gaze inadvertently swept over the audience, and he spotted his junior female student.
‘How cute!’ he thought, and with a slight nod, he stepped off the stage.
“I’ve decided on my goal!” Huang Xiu suddenly whispered to her roommate beside her.
“What’s your goal, Sister Xiu?” Ying Zhiyu had already written her own goal, and generously offered it for Huang Xiu to reference.
However, Huang Xiu couldn’t take any inspiration from it.
[Goal: I want to find a boyfriend]
“I’m going to win the most scholarships next time!” Huang Xiu declared. “I want the next batch of new students to watch me receive my money with their own eyes!”
“That’s a great goal!” Ying Zhiyu praised, biting her pen, her eyes sparkling with anticipation like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.
“Alright, Ying Zhiyu, what’s your goal, Sister Rou?” Jia Qianrou asked again.
“I won’t tell you!” Jia Qianrou not only refused to say but also shifted her paper away.
“Fine,” Ying Zhiyu said, looking a little dejected. “The will isn’t urgent; we can hand it in tomorrow night before the deadline, the Principal said.”
Next, the commendation ceremony for the senior students had concluded. Now, the female host began the third segment of the program.
“Let’s give a warm round of applause to our senior student representative, Yun Ning!” she announced loudly.
The applause was instantly thunderous, but just then, a piercing buzzing alarm suddenly blared from the speakers.
Accompanying the alarm, the cylindrical white lights on the stage all turned into flashing red warning lights.
Red light pulsed across the stage, casting the Principal’s gaunt face into an eerie, indistinct glow.
The new students below had not yet reacted to what was happening, assuming it was just another new trick from the school.
Thump, thump, thump!
A series of abrupt movements came from the back rows, followed by the砰砰 (bang-bang) sound of folding chair seats snapping back into place against spines.
The new students turned their heads to look.
In the back, senior students, dressed in various styles of school uniforms, stood up calmly.
The warning lights continued to flash. Their school badges on their chests reflected the red light, appearing as if blood was dripping down them.
“Warning! Warning! The AI system has detected a large-scale Void Realm anomaly in [Dragon Bay]. Preliminary assessment indicates a Touchpoint Coverage event.”
A cold, mechanical voice emanated from the speakers.
‘A Touchpoint event… is this really happening?’
Despite having experienced one last night, the new students still found it hard to believe.
‘Why are these incidents so frequent?’
Without a moment’s hesitation, Huang Xiu also stood up.
At the same time, several other new students also rose. Their uniforms varied, but the one thing they all shared was the gleaming Tiandu University school badge.
It was like a signal, awakening the still-confused new students. They exchanged glances, then followed suit and stood up. At this point, no one in the hall remained seated.
Looking at the students standing like a forest below the stage, the Principal’s face was filled with relief. He repeated, “Good! Good!”
“I told you, you are students, but you are also warriors. Now is the time for you to become warriors.”
His gaze lingered on each student’s face. “Set out! Defend the nation, protect the people!”
With that, he abruptly waved his hand.
Crash!
The two side doors were kicked open, and a middle-aged man in a white coat strode in with swift, purposeful steps.
“The transport planes are ready! They can take off at any moment!”
Tiandu University’s vehicles are always in standby activation state, ready to depart as soon as an alarm sounds.
“Let’s go! New students follow the seniors. AI system! Immediately divide the teams: three seniors with one new student!” the Principal shouted.
“Instruction received. Teams are being sent to everyone’s mobile phones.”
Various phone notification sounds rang out. Huang Xiu’s pocket vibrated, a notification arriving for her too.
She took out her phone and saw her team assignments and a photo of her team.
There were even arrows indicating the real-time location of her teammates. Yun Ning, gentle and refined, and Jia Qianrou, were assigned to her team.
Huang Xiu’s eyes narrowed slightly, then she turned to Ying Zhiyu and Jia Qianrou.
“Both of you, be careful. Don’t be reckless. If you can’t win, just run.”
She instructed them earnestly.
“I will!” Ying Zhiyu clenched her fist, her voice a mix of excitement and nervousness.
“The team assignments are complete. Let’s go, Huang junior female student!” Yun Ning walked over to them, having unbuttoned his small suit jacket and casually tossed it onto a chair.
“Aren’t we missing a senior female student?” Huang Xiu asked.
Yun Ning turned to look at the female host on stage.
She smiled faintly, kicked off her high heels haphazardly, and then, lifting her elegant dress, she walked over.
“Let’s go!” Yun Ning said gently.
“Sister senior female student, aren’t you going to change your clothes or put on shoes?” Huang Xiu hesitated for a moment.
Yun Ning turned to look at the stage.