Xilin was naturally pleased that he could train directly with the Training Department, but it also brought a problem: the schedule conflicted with his classes. The Training Department's timetable didn't quite match the military classes here, and getting from the Teaching Zone to the Training Department meant taking a direct shuttle that still took over half an hour to fly there.
Xilin didn't have a privilege like Knight's. He could only skip a few classes selectively; as long as he didn't skip too many, he should pass the final assessment. If attendance weren't tied to Credits, he could have skipped a lot of classes. He learned most things after one look, and going to class just meant sleeping. Only when something caught his interest and went into greater depth did he perk up and listen. After all, first-year courses rarely delved very deeply, and getting enough Credits early would let him apply for upper-year courses.
The Training Department's firing range.
The students were practicing their shooting: a hundred rounds, with targets moving at high speed.
The results were in. Knight had the highest hit rate at one hundred percent. Pride came next, also at one hundred percent, but he took two seconds longer than Knight. Xilin placed third, with a hit rate of ninety-nine percent.
At first, Xilin's results had surprised everyone, but they eventually got used to them. In several shooting drills, he'd lost by one or two shots and finished third each time.
"He's a real dark horse. He may not measure up to Knight and Pride, but he's as good as some of the upper-year students," said the person tallying the scores.
"It's a shame. Xilin missed one again. If he hadn't, he might've been able to compete with Pride for second place," another person said.
Huoding frowned and said nothing. He personally came to watch Knight and Pride's classes every time, to make sure nothing went wrong that might leave him unable to answer to the people in the military. But after every shooting class, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Xilin, even though he couldn't put his finger on what.
After the shooting practice ended, Xilin put away his gun and turned to leave. Just then, Pride was heading for the door too. When he spotted Xilin, Pride lifted his chin. "Hey, third place for life."
"No one's competing to see who can raise their chin higher. You little brat who choked on a fish—get lost," Knight sneered as he came up behind Pride.
Knight's words had clearly hit a nerve. Pride had become a laughingstock after he'd choked on a fish and word of it had spread.
Pride glared at them both indignantly, then gave a huff and walked off with his chin raised.
Knight curled his lip at Pride's retreating back. "Ignore the little brat. Come on, let's grab a drink. The Training Department's food isn't bad. You don't know how much we used to crave a drink back at military school, where they wouldn't let us have any..."
Xilin hadn't cared about coming in third at all. He could guarantee that he could hit every target in half the time Knight took, but that would only invite suspicion and trouble. Xilin didn't want to stand out too much. Enjoying the benefits that came with placing in the top three was enough; there was no need to overdo it.
The Training Zone offered many types of classes. Besides shooting, they covered military theory, Military Geography, Tactical Cooperation, and Warship Aircraft Armored Vehicle Driving Skills, among other subjects. Xilin learned quite a bit, but this routine didn't last long.
One day, Xilin skipped his classes in the Teaching Zone and boarded the direct Passenger Flying Car from the Academy's Teaching Zone to the Training Zone. The car had barely been in the air before it suddenly stopped. Apparently, a fight between two students had damaged its power system.
Xilin checked the time. Repairing the power system would probably take half an hour, but he could still make it to class over there. I'll take a nap first.
In the haze, Xilin heard a conversation nearby.
"We're so lucky today. Thank you, Old Mo. Sorry for the trouble!"
Xilin also sensed someone paying attention to him. He opened his eyes and turned to look. The moment he saw who it was, he regretted it.
"So it really is you, you little brat! You actually dared to skip class!"
It was Mo Heng.
"P-Principal, hello!" Xilin's mouth twitched. The smile on Mo Heng's face made him feel uneasy, no matter how he looked at it.
Mo Heng ignored the driver and the others. Narrowing his eyes, he strode over at an unhurried pace. "At this hour, you should be in an engineering class, right? Mechanical Manufacturing Class?"
So you've been keeping an eye on me for a while? You even know what class I'm supposed to be in. How am I supposed to argue with that?
Mo Heng glanced at Xilin's backpack. "You're going to the Training Department?"
"Yeah..."
"You're not going. Come with me. I need to talk to you." After taking a couple of steps, Mo Heng turned back when he saw Xilin hadn't moved. His bushy white eyebrows shot up. "Hurry up! What are you dawdling for? You're holding up the other passengers!"
Xilin followed Mo Heng off the Passenger Flying Car, though he wasn't eager to.
"Principal Mo..." There was still a shooting class at the Training Department today, and it counted toward his regular grades.
Mo Heng raised a hand to stop Xilin, then called someone on his communicator right in front of him. The call was answered almost immediately, and Huoding's image appeared on the screen.
"Little Ding, I'm taking Xilin with me."
"Yes! Take him wherever you like!" The reply was strong, brisk, and utterly without hesitation.
Xilin: "..."
After ending the call, Mo Heng sat in his Private Car and beckoned to Xilin with a smug curl of his finger. "Come along, be a good lad. Take a trip with this old man."
Mo Heng had only passed through this area because something had come up at the last minute. He hadn't expected to find the Passenger Flying Car with a broken power system, so he'd lent a hand and cut the repair time from half an hour to five minutes. Thanks to that coincidence, Mo Heng had caught Xilin skipping class.
Xilin rode in Mo Heng's Private Car to the Mechanical Engineering Institute in the Research Department. With Mo Heng leading the way, he got inside with almost no trouble.
Mo Heng tossed him a set of work clothes. "Put these on and come with me."
Xilin had no idea what Mo Heng was up to, but he did as he was told. He followed Mo Heng into a workshop strewn with scattered parts.
"I'm giving you half an hour to assemble a complete mechanical object. If it doesn't pass inspection, you fail. If you fail, you're not leaving today, and you'll get zero in Mechanical Manufacturing Class!" After saying that, Mo Heng shut the door and locked it.
Facing the sealed reinforced-glass door, Xilin scratched his head and sighed, then turned to look around the workshop.
One glance was all it took for Xilin to tell which parts could fit together. But there were always a few parts missing if he tried to build a mechanical device that worked properly.
Xilin didn't start assembling right away. Instead, he quickly sorted the parts into groups and memorized where each part belonged in a mechanical device. As he sorted them, Mechanical Structure Diagrams gradually took shape in his mind.
Mo Heng had given him thirty minutes, but there were so many parts in the workshop that sorting them alone took twenty minutes.
The remaining ten minutes... should be enough.
Of the seven piles of parts, only two could be assembled into complete devices. Xilin chose the slightly simpler one and got to work.
Mo Heng sat in his office, looking at the display in front of him with a satisfied smile.
Mo Heng had tested other people in the Research Department with the parts in that workshop. Some thought they couldn't be fully assembled; others could identify only one complete device. But Xilin had figured out both in such a short time. The students tested before him had been given ten hours! Some of them had even been Special Recruits. That was why Mo Heng had said at the Train Station that Xilin had what it took to be specially recruited.
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