The sun rose from the east before long.
The girl curled up in the embrace of a plush toy slept deeply with a frown, a low snore rumbling from her throat.
The small figurine in its display box by her pillow had tipped over, probably knocked over by accident sometime during the night.
Sleeping in after extreme fatigue is physically and mentally pleasant, but if interrupted by the body’s usual routine, it only heightens discomfort, with the brain throbbing in dull protest.
This was Hua Ye’s condition.
Wearing a weary expression, she maintained her curled-up side position, reluctantly yielding to her body’s instincts, slowly struggling to open her eyes.
Before her was still the familiar yet unfamiliar azure wall, plastered with important political documents from Kivotos.
Hua Ye squinted at those things with a look of boredom, slightly opened her mouth, let out a small yawn, then rose from the plush toy’s embrace and got out of bed to prepare for washing up.
But before that, there were other things to take care of.
She lowered her head and sniffed the uniform she was wearing.
There was a faint sour smell—
She had forgotten to change into pajamas last night.
Still, it was okay; when she had rummaged through the closet yesterday, she found another set of washed uniform and stockings.
She quickly changed clothes, then stood in front of the full-length mirror.
The girl in the mirror yawned reluctantly, and even with squinted eyes, the tears welling at the corners were visible.
“Umumu…”
Even so, the uniform on her was still immaculately arranged.
The young lamb tiredly and seriously examined herself in the mirror.
The slightly narrowed horizontal pupils, the somewhat childish face, and the petite figure still made her feel awkward and uncomfortable, but it no longer provoked her to the point of needing to beat a plush toy to vent her anger.
One day alone shouldn’t have been enough to adjust her mindset, but yesterday’s massive stimuli had, by accident, accelerated the integration of her body and soul.
—Because there were more important things to consider, the physical change became a minor issue.
She struggled to pull out her paper-thin phone from a hidden pocket, and Hua Ye tapped the screen with irritation, constantly passing various verifications.
‘Is this girl too paranoid? The phone’s security measures are so complicated. But luckily, there’s no password lock, just some biometric verifications.’
She opened the message from yesterday’s Federal Student Council president, carefully read the tips inside, sighed, then exited that Momotalk app with a white peach and pink background pattern.
After searching around, she found a software that seemed to be for the internet among a bunch of apps with various passwords—
Dedicated to D.U. White Bird District, with a blue Wi-Fi icon.
Although she had never seen the name “White Bird District” before, Hua Ye speculated that it was probably the name of this Federal Student Council autonomous region.
It made sense—
In her previous life, her company also used a separate independent network for work;
How could a government be directly connected to the wide area network?
She tapped in. Same password lock.
‘My past self really put effort into work-related things…’
Hua Ye gave a wry smile.
She didn’t have complete memories now, only occasionally recalling fragments of information.
How could she know such trivial but important details?
She stuffed the phone back into her pocket and let out a breath.
Squinting, Hua Ye mulled over the Federal Student Council president’s summons with a worried expression.
Now she didn’t know common sense, didn’t understand specific politics, and wasn’t familiar with others.
If she went directly as that old lady said, there was a high chance of major problems.
…But not going meant disrespecting a crazy supreme authority figure who dared to recruit child soldiers.
In this jurisdiction where the Federal Student Council was all-powerful, that would not come without a price.
Even if she was truly favored, she would probably be targeted.
Daring to use child soldiers meant this person was definitely insane.
And making child soldiers willingly take up guns and shoot showed even deeper cunning.
‘Can only pray…’
After hesitating for a moment, Hua Ye still pulled out the brooch-style nameplate she had found in an exquisite little box yesterday and pinned it on her uniform.
The engraved words “Defense Office Director” gleamed on it.
She hadn’t worn it when going out yesterday, mainly afraid of meeting acquaintances from her past or attracting unnecessary attention from passersby.
But it seemed now that her position as Defense Office Director wasn’t well-known—
Yesterday, no one recognized her except that shop clerk.
Then this identity badge could barely serve as a kind of insurance—
If the Defense Office really was the kind of existence similar to a disciplinary committee that she imagined.
‘I hope so… The child soldiers, and possibly the real veterans, should have received hierarchical education and discipline, right?’
…
After washing up in the hotel’s dedicated bathroom, Hua Ye took her student ID and that plush toy figurine, and set off, steeling herself.
The student ID was for identity verification, and the plush toy figurine was intended to cater to the president’s preferences—
Wasn’t it said that gifts from children to adults often softened their hearts?
Although the halo above her head trembled and flickered faintly from nervousness, on the surface she still put on a calm and composed look.
This time, all the pedestrians on the street seemed to recognize her.
Whether it was students carrying guns with halos, or those animal-eared people wearing clothes, or robots with monitors for heads, they all immediately showed expressions of respect and unease upon glimpsing the badge on her chest that read “Defense Office Director.”
That kind of reaction, compared to her experience yesterday, seemed to indicate that although the head of the Defense Office wasn’t famous, the department itself had considerable power.
Hua Ye, still hurrying down the street, inexplicably let out a sigh of relief.
Even though on the surface she appeared calm and dignified, deep inside she was churning with anxious doubts—
If she spoke in front of that president, her current state of having no memories would likely be exposed;
If she didn’t speak, she might be seen as disrespectful.
Her only hope now was to retrieve that document the president wanted to see before anyone else, quickly memorize it, and then use a barrage of questions to defend herself and show loyalty.
This was what corporate slaves called “advancing as defense,” answering questions with questions.
—The old lady president who dared to implement a child soldier system only needed to summon people, but the poor souls executing orders below had a lot more to think about.
Walking and stopping repeatedly to adjust her direction, she ultimately relied on her body’s instincts to arrive at the foot of that Pure White Spire.
She glanced at the time.
Ten o’clock.
There was still one hour before the formal meeting with the president.
Enough time to find the document and come up with enough questions to advance as defense.
Scanning her student ID at the slight concave crack at the base of the white giant tower, she entered, and before her was a scene comparable to a sci-fi movie.
“What… is this…?”
Hua Ye’s squinted eyes flew wide open, and her incredulous gaze fell upon the fantastical sight inside the Sacred Tower.
The river-like stream of physical data flowing within the central beam that pierced the heavens, students moving busily and orderly like worker ants on the spiral roads protruding from the inner walls of the giant tower, four-winged drones rising and falling between different spirals.
Everything operated busily and swiftly in a world of incredible vastness.
Yet all this was still insignificant.
The world inside the tower was grand and magnificent; the entire interior seemed completely hollow, with only the pure white shell acting like a honeycomb to house rooms.
The students’ halos were incredibly tiny here—
Everything was just an insignificant part of the giant tower’s life pulse.
Only the beam that pierced heaven and earth was eternal and unique.
“Here… is the Federal Student Council?”
Hua Ye suddenly felt that the president using child soldiers wasn’t that important anymore.
More importantly, what kind of thing was it that made such a sci-fi student council and the academy city behind it choose to implement a child soldier system to exhaust war potential?
‘Is Kivotos really a training camp specifically for raising child soldiers?’
‘The student council and the outside city were already worlds apart! Among the academies, probably only Millennium Academy, whose technology was said to surpass the city by over a decade, could match or surpass the Federal Student Council, right?’
…
The elevator was beside the entrance, still requiring scanning of student card and face for entry—
A special transparent elevator.
Hua Ye stood at the edge of the elevator, looking down at the busy students on the spirals.
They wore the same uniform as her, with a unified azure emblem embroidered on their chests:
The silhouette of the sacred tower overlooking the city below.
After recovering from the initial shock, Hua Ye keenly and uneasily noticed a detail: here, there were basically no adults, and no males.
All the staff, regardless of rank or posture, were all girls.
All of them.
Not a single adult, not a single male.
Reviewing the situation on the streets when she came, and combining it with what she observed yesterday.
“Kivotos… has no adults or males? That can’t be, right?”
The halo above her head remained silent.
Only Hua Ye, pressed against the elevator wall, stared nervously at the world that suddenly seemed strange and unsettling, with her slightly panicked emerald eyes.
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