Have you ever seen the sun at six in the morning?
All the freshmen of the Mecha Single Soldier System: We have.
At half-past five, the sky was still dark. That patch of light in the sky could have been the sun or the moon. The diligent robot dorm manager began her dayâs work.
First, she plugged herself in, then connected to the entire buildingâs sound system and began her dailyâ
"JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE BELLS! Time to assemble!"
"My dear students, it is now 5:30 in the morning. Today is the first day for our departmentâs freshmen to head to the Federationâs stationed forces. The Hovercar is already on its way!"
"All students, please get up as soon as possible!"
The voice was very, very loudâso loud it was impossible to ignore.
But what was even more impossible to ignore was the next sentence: "At 5:50, the system will begin releasing cold air into any dorm room where it still detects life signs~ Please evacuate your dorms as soon as possible!"
Although it was slowly turning to spring, it was still a bit chilly.
âReleasing cold air?! Only they could think of something like that.â
The residents of Dorm 501 scrambled out of bed. Jiang Qiuqiu was the fastest; she got dressed and immediately went to wash up.
The dorm only had one washroom, so they took turns to avoid a line.
The robotâs time calculation was pretty accurate. After waking up at 5:30, everyone was washed up by around 5:45. Bathed in the light of the hallway, they quickly left the dormitory building.
It was still dark outside, but the dim, half-lit path was already filled with fellow travelers.
Everyone was dressed in military uniforms. (The university military training version.)
By six oâclock, most of the students had made it to the Hovercar on their own.
But a few couldnât make it on time. The teacher chaperoning the trip stood at the door, glanced at her terminal, and chuckled. "Six oâclock, and some students are already late for their first trip as Mecha Soldiers?"
After speaking, she took a step back, and the Hovercarâs door shut with a BANG.
The display was quite imposing.
The cabin fell silent. Even Liu Tingting couldnât help but tug on Jiang Qiuqiuâs sleeve.
Just as Jiang Qiuqiu thought the angry teacher would order the robot to drive the Hovercar and leave immediately, the teacher, having closed the hatch, simply waited.
âThat was strange.â
"Did you think I was going to leave?"
"How could I? Making sure you complete your military training is part of our schoolâs standard curriculum for every studentâ"
As she spoke, the students who hadnât arrived yet began trickling in.
They were nervous, apprehensive, shy, or politely apologetic to the teacher.
But the teacher didnât care.
After the robot indicated that everyone was accounted forâsome inside, some outsideâthe accompanying teacher opened her terminal and, with a CLICKETY-CLACK, did something on it.
Then, everyone saw a few robots suddenly appear outside.
The students standing outside were quickly restrained by the robots, then suddenly vanished from the Hovercarâs windows.
About two minutes later, the Hovercar took off.
Just as everyone was wondering where the latecomers had gone, a screen in the center of the Hovercar lit up.
This screen, the kind that would have been used for showing promotional videos on a tourist train thousands of years ago, was now playing a video.
All the tardy students appeared on it. It turned out there were several seats on the exterior of the Hovercar, only partially shielded from the wind. This group of late students had been strapped into these external seats by the robots.
On this cold day, as the Hovercar flew along with a WHOOSH, the ears of the latecomers were filled with the sound of the roaring wind, and their hair was all blown straight up.
The cold wind blasted their faces, and those who couldnât control their expressions already looked contorted and grimacing.
Normally, it would have been too dark for anyone to see clearly. However, the robots guarding the students "thoughtfully" turned on the large lights on their chests.
In that instantâ
360-degree surround lighting.
Illuminating your ugly and pathetic state.
"..."
A buzz of discussion quickly swept through the cabin. "Thank god I wasnât late."
And so, in the hushed whispers of young men and women, a military training that was destined to be anything but ordinary had begun.