Chapter 94: The Ninety-Fourth Day of Being a Salted Fish

Goudan let out a laugh. “You’re just going to wait for us to do all the work? That’ll take forever. We might not even finish before the rainy season starts.”

“…” Lu Yuan was speechless. “There are only two Mental Power Awakeners over there, and they’re incredibly weak. You could tear through them all by yourself. What are you dawdling for?”

“How do you know so much!” Goudan asked in surprise.

He had originally intended to trick Lu Yuan into moving around and helping out, but he hadn’t expected to squeeze actual intelligence out of him. It gave him a genuine shock.

Then he realized that for Lu Yuan, this might truly be effortless.

“I just took a quick glance.” Lu Yuan acted as if it were nothing. At this distance, there were no obstacles for him. If he wanted to, he could accurately report the size of that area, the total number of people inside, the breakdown of men, women, elderly, and children, and even the height and weight data for every single person.

But he was too lazy.

He hadn’t even looked at the area where he lived that closely.

Goudan’s eyes darted back and forth.

“By the way, can you see the situation of the entire Desolate Planet?” he asked.

“I can,” Lu Yuan nodded.

“We have a map of the Desolate Planet. It was compiled by Siming’s subordinates,” Goudan said. “But there are probably many places that haven’t been recorded. It’s missing a lot of detail. Could you help us fill it in?”

“…”

Lu Yuan stood up and began moving his chair back into the house, making a sound of refusal. “That’s way too much trouble…”

“Alright.” Goudan didn’t push him.

He had only been testing the waters. Since Lu Yuan was unwilling, he would let it go. Although Lu Yuan had such ability, whether he chose to use it was his own business. Goudan had neither the power nor the right to force him.

However, Lu Yuan turned back and pursed his lips. “But if you’re going to hold a war council, you can hold it here at my place. I’ll listen in.”

Goudan’s eyes lit up. This time, he was truly delighted. Lu Yuan was an expert in warfare. With him watching over things, they definitely wouldn’t lose this fight.

Though he hadn’t thought he would lose to begin with… having Lu Yuan there made him feel much more at ease.

“Don’t you regret this now,” Goudan said with a chuckle.

Lu Yuan shook his head and smiled as well. “I won’t. It seems quite interesting. To be honest, I’ve never seen this kind of… urban combat. It should be a different kind of experience.”

He had commanded campaigns that spanned star systems and led Star Pirate Syndicates to plunder entire fleets. If one had to put it a certain way, he had seen both the largest and smallest scales of warfare.

But he had always been drifting in the universe.

Silent, empty, and swaying.

There was absolute freedom there. You could pilot a Mecha or a Starship in any direction. No gravity restricted your flight, no land dictated your path, and no wind or snow interfered with your vision.

Yet there was also absolutely nothing to lean on.

Humans always need smaller spaces to provide a sense of security. The space between the stars was too vast and distant; it always stirred a powerful sense of insignificance and helplessness.

Lu Yuan didn’t exactly feel helpless. But occasionally, a sense of loneliness would arise, the feeling of having nowhere to call home.

Perhaps this was why he was willing to stay on the Desolate Planet. The planet was small, his range of activity was limited, and it was poor and miserable, yet it was here that he possessed a small corner that belonged to him.

Of course, Lu Yuan himself would never admit to that.

The “war” on the Desolate Planet was also completely different from anything Lu Yuan had seen before.

This was a place cut off from the world. There were no thermal weapons at all, and even cold steel weapons were rare. The people here didn’t care for tactics or techniques. With feet planted on the ground and bodies rolling in the mud, they fought relying purely on their primal instinct for survival to achieve victory.

There was no thunderous artillery fire, no flickering of stars, no starships weaving back and forth. But the hazy air was listening, the warm sunlight was watching, and the mottled earth recorded every mark.

Every movement was solid. Every person was vividly alive.

Accustomed to grand spectacles, accustomed to pain and wailing, accustomed to shredded starships and corpses drifting in the cosmos, Lu Yuan had never seen a fight quite like this… so crude and savage.

Even in the military, when hot-blooded soldiers got into conflicts and stripped to their waists to brawl, there were usually set patterns and a sense of restraint.

So, it would be quite novel, wouldn’t it? Lu Yuan thought. He had conquered the universe, yet this was the first time he would witness a single person going out to conquer a planet.

It was a bit like the stories from the Mother Planet Era.

The kind of… mythological epic.

–

Meanwhile, Siming was currently…

Handling the school enrollment procedures for Zhu Rong.

In the grand scheme of things, education reigned supreme.

While the Empire had many irrational systems and the imperial government often suffered from bureaucratic laziness and tedious, drawn-out procedures, no one dared to slack off when it came to the education of minors.

It had to be said that this was to the credit of the Imperial Family, and specifically, Emperor Nan Hui.

Successive emperors had placed great importance on education.

Unlike the philosophies of certain monarchs during the Mother Planet Era, the royalty of the Galactic Empire never chose “obscurantist education¹.” Perhaps due to confidence in their own rule, they always did their utmost to encourage learning and progress.

Nan Hui was no exception.

The current educational system of the Galactic Empire was personally formulated with Nan Hui’s participation. He had even personally reviewed the textbooks for every educational stage. Even Lu Yuan had nothing but praise for these materials and curricula.

In fact, even Old Fourth, who harbored an extreme loathing for Nan Hui, couldn’t find a single fault in him regarding education. Upon hearing that Goudan had obtained the Empire’s textbooks, he had actively participated in the teaching activities.

Consequently, Zhu Rong’s enrollment process went quite smoothly.

Schools in the Galactic Empire operated on three-month semesters, with a one-month break between each. Zhu Rong had arrived at an opportune time; the new semester had just begun two days ago.

The middle school curriculum focused on vocational experience, with students trying out a different profession every three months—essentially every semester. The first two weeks were for observation and study, the middle two months involved actual participation, and the final two weeks were dedicated to a summary report.

They were currently in the observation phase, so missing a couple of days wouldn’t matter much. Zhu Rong’s late entry wouldn’t present any major obstacles.

Due to the unique nature of the curriculum, physical “schools” ceased to exist once a student reached middle school. After enrolling, students simply applied for the profession they wished to experience. The Ministry of Education would then have dedicated personnel review the student’s situation, assign a suitable learning location, and issue a credential.

Once they received the credential, the student could head to the learning site on their own. There, a designated teacher would meet them. Generally, one teacher would lead a group of about twenty students.

Inside the Ministry of Education’s student service office, Zhu Rong was applying for her first vocational experience project under the guidance of a staff member.

Siming was stopped at the door, barred from entering to watch. The reason was that the Empire worried parents might interfere with a child’s choice, preventing them from experiencing a profession they truly liked or found interesting.

Although few parents did such things in this era, everyone remained extremely cautious regarding educational matters.

The display screen in front of her showed various occupational categories. Clicking on each category revealed a long list of job titles. Selecting a specific job would trigger a holographic projection, providing a brief demonstration of what the profession entailed.

Zhu Rong already had a goal in mind, but she was in no hurry to choose. Instead, she opened the full list of occupations and began reading through them seriously.

Having just arrived in the Empire from a Desolate Planet, so much remained unknown. Such information was actually difficult to gather and hard to ask about; Zhu Rong and Siming had already agreed to use this opportunity to collect as much data as possible.

Translator’s Notes