Still the Three Elements of News

Stardust Square.

As is customary, the college holds an opening ceremony in the square every year when new students enroll, presided over by the president himself.

Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the principal was unable to attend the opening ceremony during the first semester, so the ceremony was postponed to the second semester.

Principal Lacerta looked much more serious than usual today, and the tense atmosphere was transmitted to everyone present.

Her demeanor was nothing like that of someone about to preach the college's philosophy to the new students; it was more like she was there to announce an obituary.

Lacerta stepped onto the podium, her eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow, regret, and resentment, as if she were about to speak about something extremely heartbreaking.

But Lu Guan, who knew the whole story, could read a barely perceptible hint of wild joy in Principal Lacerta's eyes. At that moment, she was sitting with her legs crossed, her face full of barely suppressed emotion.

"Jarvis, activate your tense mode."

After Lu Guan managed to control her expression, Principal Lacerta sighed, a mournful sound coming from the microphone that sombered the mood of the students present.

"Before the opening ceremony, I need to read out some sad news to all of you..."

"A few days ago, the Fractsidus sent infiltrators to infiltrate the academy and orchestrated a targeted attack, resulting in the deaths of several members of the Deep Space Union Committee who were holding a meeting in the lecture hall at the time..."

"Fortunately, Dania, who was present at the time, intervened and stopped the further atrocities committed by the Fractsidus's Scar, Shanghen, thus preventing an even worse situation from occurring. Dania deserves commendation here..."

"At the same time, we hope that everyone can, with heavy hearts and demonstrating the humanistic care that our college should have, observe a moment of silence for the committee members who lost their lives in this tragedy..."

Lacerta her head back for a moment after each sentence, as if she was overwhelmed with grief but had to maintain her image as the principal to prevent tears from falling...

There was a lot of discussion among the audience.

"I never imagined that the Fractsidus would be so ruthless and inhuman..."

"Principal Lacerta... don't be sad... it's not your fault... you don't need to blame yourself for them at all..."

"Yeah... Cheer up, Professor Lacerta..."

"Teacher Lacerta ~ I still remember you~"

Lacerta: "0. o?"

The heavy atmosphere was broken by the off-key singing, and everyone turned to look at the extraordinary person who had suddenly started singing.

The student said sheepishly, "Um... I was just trying to lighten the mood... You guys continue... continue..."

Dania, who also knew the inside story, was not as composed as Lu Guan and Lacerta, so she lowered her head to avoid being noticed by the other classmates.

But can Lacerta really hold her own? Actually, no.

The reason she looked up at the sky after saying a sentence was that she couldn't control the uncontrollable upward curve of her lips, and had to choose this method to cover it up in order to avoid giving herself away.

It took her a while to recover.

"In addition, we also express our condolences to the other victims of this incident: Yacheslav Barannikov, Anton Yudintsev, and Nikita Buyanov..."

Lacerta's lips twitched. Who wrote this speech? Were these three people among the victims? She had absolutely no recollection of them.

Thinking of this, she simply crumpled up her speech and threw it into the wastebasket next to her.

"... The deceased are gone and cannot be brought back, but we still need to live together under this sky." Lacerta opened her arms. "For our lofty ideals and goals, let us forge ahead, igniting the torch for human civilization—this is the philosophy of our Stardust Academy."

The audience erupted in applause.

Lu Guan secretly gave Lacerta a thumbs up. "As expected of the principal, she easily smoothed over what we couldn't explain!"

"That's enough, you don't need to hold back anymore." After the opening speech, Lacerta looked at Lu Guan in front of her with annoyance, "Tell me the truth, did you secretly change my speech?"

"That's right... it's true that I revised your speech, teacher." Lu Guan admitted his actions with a smile, while opening his arms. "But you also have improvisation, teacher. You could have easily used improvisation to bring the topic back on track, couldn't you?"

"Besides, there was a reason why I made those changes..."

"What's the reason? Could it be that you need these people to fake their deaths and infiltrate deep space as spies...? Are you using Dania Union to act as your informants?"

"No, no, no... Professor Lacerta, how could you think of me as so scheming?" Lu Guan looked at Lacerta with disappointment. "Of course, I have a very high degree of trust in you and even your mother."

"So, what you mean by revising the speech is...?"

"Because adding this paragraph will make the speech even more difficult to maintain, I want to test whether you can still handle it easily."

Regarding the three elements of news reporting.

Lacerta: "0. o?"

She was both annoyed and amused, and also somewhat relieved. She was annoyed that Lu Guan had altered her speech without her permission, and amused that his motives were too pure, so pure that they were almost unbearable.

Thankfully, Lu Guan hasn't changed; he's still the same as before. Perhaps more responsibility will make him less relaxed and carefree than before, but his noble and kind soul remains unchanged.

"Ahem... Getting back to the point, didn't you take Dania to the Black Shores before? Where is she? How is she?"

"She heard there were limited-edition snacks at the cafeteria during the opening ceremony, and went straight there after your speech..." Lu Guan shrugged helplessly. "As for Black Shores... she's basically a full-fledged employee now."

"Joining?" Lacerta, puzzled. "I don't remember Black Shores ever recruiting on campus here at the academy, right?"

"Oh no, she's working through BOSS Zhipin," Lu Guan explained. "After graduating from the academy, she'll come back to Huanglong with me first, and then she'll officially join Black Shores."

"Hmm... Black Shores is more suitable for her development than the Deep Space Union." Lacerta nodded approvingly. "Speaking of which, the research institute has made some progress recently regarding the ' Desolation '..."

"Professor Mornye discovered that a certain property of the ' Desolation ' artifact you gave me can be replicated using a combination of materials in a similar frequency band, and he is currently advancing his research in this direction."

"What about the artificial sun?" Lu Guan asked. "Professor Mornye has been leading this project for a long time. Does she really have the extra energy to study ' Desolation '?"

"Or has the ' Helios ' project been temporarily shelved?"

"No, that's not it." Lacerta her head in denial. "The artificial sun project is still progressing, but currently, the ' Desolation ' takes far higher priority than the ' Tacetite Core '..."

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Professor Mornye temporarily handed over the "artificial sun" project to other researchers, and is now focusing all his efforts on understanding the nature of "Desolation"...

Lu Guan nodded. "Speaking of research, I've reached a consensus with the Shorekeeper, and they should be sending people from the Black Shores as well."

"With the help from the Black Shores, Professor Mornye's progress should be much faster."

"Yes, I will convey your message to the higher-ups." Lacerta, then changed the subject, "Speaking of which, do you know who Huanglong's side will send?"

Lu Guan shook his head. "According to convention, the Ming Court should send an official of sufficient rank to oversee the affairs of Lahai-Roi, but I really don't know who that person is."

"Leaving aside Huanglong for now, why hasn't the New Federation caused any major disturbances? That's not like them."

"... Perhaps something has held her back, who knows?" Lacerta looked towards the direction of the Intermodal Vertebra. "The situation there is also complicated; it wouldn't be surprising if some unexpected event occurred."

Meanwhile, at the college cafeteria.

"Yaya! You really are here!" Sigelika quietly approached Dania and hugged her from behind.

"Oh! Xixi, really... you scared me!" Dania exclaimed in surprise, nearly dropping the ice cream in her hand.

"Hehe... Long time no see, I really missed you." Sigelika chuckled and sat down next to Dania, taking out a few candies from her small handbag.

"I just ran into Dr. Lu, and he gave me some Rainbow Bean Popping Candy. Want to try some?"

"... I have a bad feeling about this." Dania picked up a candy; the color of the coating was so tempting that she wanted to eat it in one bite, but at that moment, an ominous premonition rose in her heart.

When Sigelika handed her the candy, her eyes kept darting around. Could there be something wrong with the candy?

"Awoo~"

If you avoid trying such tempting sweets, you can avoid being pranked by Sigelika... but that's... the mindset of a weakling!

Then Dania regretted it.

"Sigurd!!!"