The academy city named Kivotos will surely be destroyed.
Whether by natural disaster or man-made calamity, Kivotos, this mad city full of child soldiers, will surely be destroyed, must be destroyed.
Anyone with a conscience, anyone who witnesses this hellish scene of young children carrying guns on their backs and bombs at their waists, would surely think so.
If it hasn’t been destroyed at any given moment, it must be a mistake by God, or God’s final tolerance for the criminals who caused such a tragedy.
No healthy and just government would leave adults and robots unused and instead push children into possible battlefields, forcing them to bear adult responsibilities.
The moment you see girls treating guns as toys, the moment you see a child younger than yourself playing with a gun, putting entertaining stickers on a lethal weapon and painting it pink or blue, the disgust toward Kivotos’ current state and the sense of mission to change it suddenly erupts from the bottom of your heart, as if it had been hidden there all along.
“Damn it… Are the higher-ups of Kivotos all insane?!”
Hua Ye held her throbbing forehead, her squinting eyes fixed on the girls giggling in the night lights.
In her green goat-like horizontal pupils, there was only disgust and anger at the crime that shouldn’t exist.
“Has Kivotos become so dangerous that it requires universal militarization?!”
‘Then why aren’t those robots and beastmen armed?! Students are the political subjects of this academy city! Did possessing guns give them this status, or is there a shadow government manipulating these poor innocent children?’
‘Is it those big companies hiding behind students’ daily lives that control Kivotos? No… From what I saw on my wall, the Federal Student Council’s enacted laws are nearly cutting their flesh…’
A sense of absurdity surged in her heart.
The Strawberry Daifuku and Collaboration Doll in her hands seemed insignificant.
The sense of responsibility as an “adult” and the instinct from her past life as a “male” to “protect the tribe” blocked her appetite and confusion, stirring up a storm in her heart.
“Damn it… Of all things, I’m the Defense Office chief!…”
No time to think further.
Among all the problems she faced after waking up, none made Buzhihuo Huaye so angry that she even resented the higher-ups who created this situation, even if it might include herself as the so-called Defense Office chief.
‘—Absolutely, absolutely must not involve the children. That’s the bottom line as an adult, as a man. Bastards.’
As if activated by anger and resentment, the brilliant golden halo above her head also vibrated, and the four small crosses silently accelerated their rotation around the center.
“Then, I should propose a gun ban to the president… Guns are just…”
‘The president must have a reason for not handling this immediately. The superhuman president is perfect, so she must be waiting for someone to bring this up… This is an opportunity…’
Buzhihuo Huaye muttered involuntarily.
In her green goat-like horizontal pupils, she only saw the children she considered “most pitiful” carrying guns, but couldn’t see the natural smiles on their faces or the shining halos above their heads.
…
“What was I thinking just now?”
When the halo stopped vibrating and the crosses ceased rotating, the moment consciousness returned, Hua Ye regained her senses.
Her squinting eyes, which had been widened by anger and something else, immediately closed.
She pressed a finger to her chin, suppressing her disgust toward Kivotos’ current state and a strange excitement, trying to reflect on her day’s abnormality.
‘My state is off, very off. Since waking up, I seem to be constantly merging with the original Hua Ye—dressing habits, way of speaking, thought content… everything is rapidly converging toward hers…’
‘—No, think, Hua Ye, think think. Don’t get sidetracked by sudden topics. Think about why Kivotos can so naturally allow child soldiers… Calm down…’
‘Kivotos is wrong.’
‘First, the documents I saw in my room are almost completely unrelated to war and riots. Also, I should have been very interested in politics before, and as the Defense Office chief, I couldn’t have not collected related files.’
‘So Kivotos most likely has no large-scale external wars, nor large-scale internal riots and conflicts.’
‘Then why use guns? Why is everyone armed?’
‘Is there some internal threat? Or is Kivotos essentially a military academy facing external demands?’
…Questions she couldn’t figure out came one after another.
The continuous distress and abnormalities made it hard for her newborn will to hold on.
Dizziness, anxiety, and hunger attacked this slender girl at the same time.
After extreme emotional changes like great joy and great sorrow, fatigue, hunger, and drowsiness often follow, along with escape from reality and deliberate neglect.
Therefore, what a person extremely angry about something finally shows is an “ash” appearance that is as indifferent and unresponsive as if burned out.
Hua Ye decided to return to her room.
Even though less than two hours had passed since she left and she hadn’t collected the information she needed, she still had to go back.
‘The fact that Kivotos has child soldiers everywhere poses a great risk. Walking around at night, who knows if someone will suddenly take a shot at me from some dark corner. You can’t rely on a bunch of sensitive armed students not suddenly feeling dissatisfied with life and then wanting to blow up with someone like me.’
Especially the incident at the cake shop earlier gave her a heavy sense of burden, as if she had done something she shouldn’t have and enjoyed something she shouldn’t have—
That was due to the memories left from her past life.
Deliberately ignoring the increasingly strange looks from people on the street, Hua Ye guessed that it was probably because her expression had been too weird earlier that attracted attention.
But fortunately, it seemed that everyone didn’t really know her—was she as the Defense Office chief originally a figure who didn’t like to show her face?
She only quickened her pace, carrying anxiety, anger, and unease.
Her hair strands fluttered in the evening breeze with a faint pink glow.
Tap tap tap, the sound of high heels hitting the street was more distinct than all the noise.
The world seemed to quiet down, listening to the unease and boredom in her footsteps.
For a teenage girl, having a tired will suddenly stuffed into her body probably wasn’t pleasant.
So when Hua Ye, troubled by many questions, finally struggled back to her room, she threw herself into the arms of that stuffed toy just like an ordinary girl tired from playing with friends.
She stared blankly at the azure ceiling, constantly deducing the answers to the piled-up questions in her mind—
About the reason for Kivotos’ gun ownership, about the abnormality in herself, about her identity…
For an hour, Hua Ye spent an hour thinking about these difficult questions, but unfortunately, today’s harvest was not enough to complete the argument and proof.
All questions seemed to be covered by a veil, unclear through the broken memories.
Thus, the frustration of spending time and effort with no return arrived as expected.
Even with a complex and unwilling expression, she didn’t want to think anymore—because she couldn’t.
The stabbing pain in her brain warned that today’s events were far more complicated and annoying than she had imagined.
She just lay in the embrace of the big doll, feeling the warm and soft touch beneath her, then gently took the figurine out of the bag and stared blankly at the silly bird with crooked eyes and a sticking-out tongue.
The Strawberry Daifuku was right at hand.
The strawberry decorated with a layer of white cream was carefully shaped into the form of the silly bird, even the small wings and legs were shaped.
On the eyes, special cream outlined the stupid and simple expression of the fool bird.
With tired eyes, she carefully placed the figurine by her pillow, slowly took out the Strawberry Daifuku, stared at it blankly, played with it carefully in her hands for a while, then, as if eating this kind of high-end food for the first time, she tentatively licked the pure white cream.
‘—Sweet, not so greasy, not so scary. Unbelievably more delicious than what I remember. The hunger caused by overthinking and extreme emotional swings all day melts into the cream.’
Her appetite seemed pitifully small.
She kept licking the layer of cream that was now exceptionally sweet and delicious, blankly accepting that unfamiliar yet familiar feeling completely different from what she remembered.
—Finally, only the strawberry with its bumpy surface remained inside.
Hua Ye hesitated, then bit into it.
The strawberry inside was hard and sour.
Even though the skin had a milky fragrance from the cream, the inside was still the strawberry’s own flavor.
‘Right, hard and sour… Not tasty at all…’
The sweet and sour fragrance of the strawberry filled her mouth, and her consciousness slowly slid into a dream.
The world before her eyes gradually blurred.
‘Tomorrow, what about tomorrow?…’
‘My second round of life, from today, seems extremely strange…’
‘It’s okay… It’s okay… Everything will get better… It definitely will…’
But heaven never follows man’s wishes.
Just as Hua Ye was about to fall into slumber, embracing chaos and confusion, a beeping notification sound came from some corner of her clothes.
‘—It’s the phone. The phone Hua Ye had never found in her room. The sound was familiar, letting her know immediately what it was—the Momotalk special alert tone.’
She forced herself to perk up, opened her eyelids, and fumbled around her uniform.
Finally, in a hidden pocket on the inside of her clothes, she found a phone as thin as three or four sheets of paper.
The phone seemed specially customized, fitting perfectly into that nearly unnoticeable hidden pocket, and it was surprisingly light.
Too exhausted to think about Kivotos’ technology represented by this “paper phone,” she simply poked at the screen with difficulty.
After going through fingerprint, palmprint, voiceprint, and iris verification, she saw a message.
[Momotalk Special Follow: Federal Student Council President â–³ sent a message: Hua Ye, after you wake up at 8 AM tomorrow, remember to report to the Federal Student Council’s lecture hall at 11 AM~]
[You should remember, it’s that central giant tower. Enter from the side facing the sunrise and go inward until you see a U-shaped gap. Enter there, then take the elevator directly to the top floor. I have something important to announce, okay?]
[Remember to bring the Defense Office’s position list and territorial allocation documents, okay? They’re the files on the only desk in the room at the easternmost side of the second floor~ I have a big use for them tomorrow~]
‘What is this…?’
‘Am I even directly connected to the highest authority? And in such an intimate tone… and so detailed about the location… This president really cares about Buzhihuo Huaye…’
‘But judging by the tone, it’s not an uncle, but that kind of strong woman auntie who’s nearly forty and likes to pretend to be young… Using tildes and interjections like “oh” and “la”… No wonder Buzhihuo Huaye seems to super admire her—probably a child not understanding the elder’s abilities, leading to blind respect…’
‘And the other side probably raised Hua Ye as a daughter… So they don’t even care about reality, letting a minor take charge of the Defense Office? Hahaha… Kivotos is really doomed… No wonder they can come up with the mess of child soldiers everywhere…’
‘A teenage girl… really not to be underestimated…’
The phone was connected to the internet.
She should be able to find more information online.
She’ll check again tomorrow morning.
That was the last thought in Hua Ye’s heart before she fell deeply asleep.
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