A drop of blood

"After all those hardships, all those trials, I could finally, finally kick back again!"

"As expected of a place that trained Armored Warriors, the accommodations really were good."

Inside a clean, tidy dorm room at the Armored Warrior Training Center in Yero City.

Completely unaware that anyone was "worrying" about him, Lu Zhan lay comfortably on his back in bed.

Compared with the rental he had shared with several other people, this place was practically heaven.

At least Lu Zhan could enjoy an entire room to himself in peace.

Thanks to Xu Dayong's influence, Lu Zhan's check-in had gone very smoothly.

Not only had he been assigned his own dorm room before dark, he hadn't even missed dinner.

From now on, he was a student in the Basic Class for Armored Warrior training.

According to the contract he had signed with the Military.

Although Lu Zhan received no 3,000-yuan settling-in allowance, all his expenses during training would be covered.

That included the all-important [Life Essence].

In exchange, Lu Zhan had to serve for twenty years.

If one considered only the twenty-year term of service and ignored the risks of being stationed in the Wilderness.

The Military's contract was far better than those offered by the various factions, large and small, in Yero City.

Yet in reality, very few people in the outer city with the talent to become Armored Warriors enlisted.

The situation in District 13 alone made that clear.

I'll start my Life Alchemy classes tomorrow!

Although my predecessor had the title of alchemy apprentice, his actual job was tightening screws.

He'd never even heard of life alchemy before.

I hope the classes won't be too difficult. Surely I'll be able to learn it!

With the experience of his previous life, Lu Zhan had originally been very confident in his ability to learn.

Unfortunately, his education in this life-his predecessor's education-had been woefully limited. He knew only some basic, commonly used characters.

By Lu Zhan's standards, that was equivalent to third grade in his previous life, at best.

If he could have another month to study on his own and shore up his foundations, Lu Zhan was confident he could reach a high-school level.

But now, he had to join a class already in progress.

Life alchemy sounded like a sophisticated, advanced subject.

Even if it was only comparable to biology in his previous life, it would still take some serious studying on Lu Zhan's part.

Whatever happened, thanks to his "efforts," Lu Zhan was now walking toward a bright future.

Filled with hope for what lay ahead, Lu Zhan drifted into a heavy sleep after an exhausting day.

In his dreams, Lu Zhan felt that his surroundings were terribly noisy.

Some of that noise came from within his body, and some came from outside.

Had Lu Zhan not been through so much that day and been so mentally exhausted, he might not have been able to sleep at all.

"Strange. Why is the signal so scrambled today?"

"Ajak, did that drop earlier damage the radio?"

"Impossible. It only fell onto the bed, not the floor. It's not that fragile!"

"Keep your voices down. A newcomer moved into Room 305. Don't disturb him."

While Lu Zhan slept, three "senior students" were huddled together in another room several walls away.

An old-fashioned Ore Radio sat between them.

The red-haired Ajak kept adjusting the frequency, but all that came out of the radio was a jumble of noise.

Occasionally, a clear voice came through, but it kept cutting out. The signal wouldn't hold steady at all.

"What's going on?"

"I still want to hear Avril sing!"

"Tonight is the weekly [Music Request Station] broadcast. It's already started!"

"That's strange. The frequency is right, so why can't we hear it clearly?"

Life at the Armored Warrior Training Center was isolated and monotonous.

Unlike the other senior students, who loved playing cards, Ajak and his two friends had a more secretive hobby: sneaking a listen to Underground Radio.

At the Armored Warrior Training Center, all devices capable of exchanging information with the outside world were strictly prohibited.

These included telegraph machines that could send and receive messages, as well as radios that received outside broadcasts.

Of course, compared with the former, enforcement against the latter wasn't nearly as strict.

Even so, Ajak and his friends still had to sneak around.

In Yero City's outer city, only three frequency bands were legally permitted for use.

Any programs broadcast on other frequencies were known as "Underground Radio."

Compared with the stiff, dull, unimaginative official programs, Underground Radio was far more exciting and much more appealing to young people.

"Still no luck?"

"Could it really be broken?"

"Impossible. Those three official channels came through perfectly just now!"

"Why don't we give up for tonight? There's probably some unknown interference. Maybe the official stations are behind it."

"They've been making a lot of noise about cracking down on Underground Radio lately."

They still couldn't tune in to the Music Request Station, leaving Vikem, a devoted fan of Avril, increasingly agitated.

With no other choice, Ajak and Zhou Qi both began serving as human antennas.

In the past, whenever interference disrupted the signal, they had used this method to get through it and listen to Underground Radio.

This time, however, no matter how they adjusted their positions or angles, the signal remained unstable.

At their most successful moment, they managed to catch only a single line of Avril's singing.

That heavenly voice was like a spark dropped into a barrel of oil, setting Vikem's emotions ablaze.

"The Music Request Station is broadcasting. Since there's nothing wrong with the station, those three official channels must be behind this."

"How despicable! Using a trick like this to sabotage their competition."

"Damn it, damn it! How dare they interfere with me listening to my idol's new song!"

Growing more and more agitated, Vikem made a move that shocked the other two-

an action.

He bit his finger and dripped a drop of blood directly onto the Magnet in the Ore Radio.

Incredibly, the noisy, unstable signal instantly became clear.

As Avril's familiar voice rang out, Vikem finally calmed down and began listening, utterly entranced.

"This, this..."

Vikem had calmed down, but Ajak and Zhou Qi were reeling inside.

They had bought this Ore Radio from the Black Market and assembled it themselves.

At the time of the purchase, the Black Market vendor had told them a trick.

If the signal was truly bad, they could drip their own blood onto the Magnet. He guaranteed immediate results.

They had never taken it seriously.

They had even been rather wary of that "trick."

As Armored Warrior trainees, they knew very well how important their blood was. They couldn't casually waste even a single drop.

But now, Vikem had made an exception.

Fortunately, today's circumstances were unusual. Vikem had probably just lost his head and acted on impulse.

Once the interference disappeared and the signal recovered, there would be no need to waste blood like this again.