Legion Descends?

(This chapter is free)

Although a rather serious Campus Shooting Incident had occurred that morning, what surprised me was that the school had not suspended classes or locked down the campus. All teaching activities continued as usual. It was utterly baffling. Could someone really disregard logic entirely just for the sake of plot development... Ahem, slip of the tongue...

In stark contrast to us, Canglan Private High School, where the shooting had taken place, was swiftly sealed off. The students inside were promptly moved somewhere safe. Compared with our school, which acted as if nothing had happened, it was like heaven and earth.

Senior year classes were incredibly dull. For an entire year, you had to desperately cram all sorts of things that seemed completely unrelated to your own world into your head, just so you could write them down on a stack of papers every July and then forget every last bit of them over the next four years.

Our English teacher was a very kind old lady. Apparently, she had once taught Chinese to foreigners at a private school in Britain. As a result, our adorable teacher had a rather distinctive habit: every class, she would rattle off long passages of English at lightning speed, then slow down dramatically when translating them into Chinese, pronouncing every stressed syllable with crisp precision as if terrified we would not understand.

In short, it was a rather speechless situation.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, trying hard to pick out the parts I could understand from the authentic London Accent around me and piece them together into comprehensible sentences. This was quite a challenge; I estimated it was no easier than reconstructing an Ancient Egypt pharaoh's breakfast menu from half a stone tablet. Then a little paper ball suddenly flew over from beside me and smacked me squarely on the head.

I caught the paper ball and quickly calculated its direction, elevation angle, speed, the wind speed at the time, local gravitational acceleration... All right, I should just open it.

A line of highly encrypted, seemingly alien writing appeared before my eyes. "A Jun, how is your little sister?"

That Chinese handwriting, which looked like Van Gogh had downed two jin of Ertou Liquor and written with his left hand, was undoubtedly Qian Qian's. In this world, only a handful of people, myself included, could decipher her atrocious handwriting in a short time. This meant that whenever Qian Qian and I passed notes during exams, we never had to worry about someone else picking them up and benefiting from them. In a sense, Qian Qian's handwriting served the same purpose as a codebook.

"She's doing well. Her classmates and teachers seem to be taking good care of her. I don't think anyone would be heartless enough to bully a blind girl, right?" I wrote in handwriting no easier to read than Qian Qian's.

"That's not necessarily true. You'd better take good care of your sister. She's so pitiful. If you let anyone bully her, I won't forgive you!"

...I never expected Pandora's adorable appearance and the tragic childhood I had invented for her to be so devastatingly effective that even carefree, thick-nerved Qian Qian had become her die-hard protector in such a short time...

Bully Pandora? I thought of how terrifying Pandora had been in Battle Stance that morning, and the corner of my mouth twitched.

How many fully armed regular troops would it take to bully that strategic-level war machine?

Just as I was imagining Pandora in combat, wielding an Anti-Phase Cannon in one hand and a Psionic Siege Cannon in the other as she fought the human Allied Forces, a strange sensation suddenly rose from the depths of my mind. This feeling... Could Pandora be contacting me?

No, it was not Pandora. According to her, as my Chief Aide, she and I had a connection called the Unlimited Communication Channel, allowing her to directly hold mental conversations with me whenever necessary. But this fluctuation deep in my mind felt more like a connection request—Pandora had no need for that.

Though I did not know who it was, I could be certain it was related to that again.

I lowered my head and pretended to read seriously, hiding any surprised expression that might appear in a moment, then accepted the connection.

"This is Gaia, Second Unit of the World Arbitration Organization. I request direct communication authorization with the Emperor." A message identifying the other party appeared in my mind.

Gaia? I froze slightly, then immediately realized who she was—the translucent projection I had seen in my dream.

In truth, I had always had many questions about that dream. For example, why had there only been one Sky Fortress in the sky? Where had the other two gone? Why had it nearly touched the ground? What exactly was the so-called World Arbitration Organization? More importantly, was the female projection named Gaia the consciousness of that enormous fortress in the sky?

Though I had so many questions, unfortunately, my connection with the Shilin Mother Planet had been intermittent. Those remaining signal fragments that had traveled such a long distance through the Zero Time Difference Space Tunnel could no longer synchronize scenes from that world into my dreams. It was like an online game freezing due to a slow connection. The world in my dreams had remained fixed on the scene I last saw that night, and my connection with the Shilin Mother Planet had nearly been completely severed. Even Pandora could receive only vague signals.

When I asked Pandora about it, however, she said that her authority level was insufficient and that she had no authorization to access any information concerning the World Arbitration Organization.

What could this artificial intelligence on the distant Shilin Mother Planet want with me now?

Out of curiosity, I accepted her request to speak with me directly. At the same time, I felt another mental connection arrive on a different frequency.

It was Pandora's mental signal. Because of the immense distance, Gaia's signal was severely distorted. Without Pandora's information correction, understanding these messages would probably have been no easier than understanding the old English teacher's authentic London Accent.

Although it was supposedly a zero-latency transmission, the absolute spatial distance was still there, and Pandora had to correct and filter it as well. Several seconds passed before Gaia's voice came through. Her tone was as flat and bland as ever, distinctly Shilin in style, but what she said directly shocked me.

"The First Legion of the Imperial Expeditionary Force entered Space Jump one hour ago according to your local time. It is expected to arrive at your planet in twelve hours. Please prepare to receive it."

What? What did you say? Wait a second, Goddess, you must have gotten something wrong, right?

But the string of questioning messages I sent received no reply. The mental connection had already been cut off.

It seemed this connection had also been forcibly established and unstable. It could not last more than a dozen seconds, leaving me here with a head swollen with confusion.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force?

What exactly were you planning to expedition against?

"Hey, Pandora, did you hear that? About the Imperial Expeditionary Force."

"Yes."

"Do you know what's going on? Why did a force like that suddenly appear?"

"Simply put, it is my directly subordinate force: the Armored Pandora Legion."

Pandora replied in a calm tone. Although we were connected only on a mental level, I could still easily imagine the serene, matter-of-fact expression on her face as she answered.

Perhaps to her, sending an army somewhere was simply too trivial to mention.

But to me, this was an incredibly huge matter!

In that instant, I seemed to see my peaceful life rapidly slipping away from me...