The First Day of School

The war came so suddenly.

Long years of peace and comfort had dulled people's minds. So when the Bauhinia Federation suddenly declared war without warning, the border defenses nearly crumbled at the first touch. The powerful air-defense network was easily overrun without firing a single shot, allowing the Armored Airships to surge deep into the kingdom and sending shockwaves through the nation.

Of course, the city where Wu Ming lived was affected, too.

His first reaction to the war was hatred. After all, in a chaotic world, the odds of a three-year-old infant surviving were slim indeed. His second reaction was helplessness.

For someone like Wu Ming, war might have been an opportunity, but this war had come far too soon! He couldn't do a thing, and had to entrust his safety to the Sterlings. For someone used to being in control of everything, that was almost unbearable.

Although the Armored Airships ultimately dropped no cruise bombs, proving the alarm had been false, the war had indeed broken out, and it had a huge impact on the Sterling family.

First of all, Jamie lost his job.

He had been a successful salesman, earning enough in commissions each year to support the whole family and buy a car and an apartment. Unfortunately, his company made mostly luxury goods. Once wartime controls were imposed and everything was redirected to support the war effort, business plummeted. The company went bankrupt, and he, its salesman, naturally lost his job along with it.

To make matters worse, although Jamie had earned a lot of money, he had invested most of it in the Stock Exchange and the Futures Market, hoping to reap enormous profits.

There had been no problem with that before. But now that war had come, the stock market had crashed across the