Xyrin Empire
Chapter 558 Qianqian’s Not So Mature Plan

Chapter 558: Chapter 558 Qianqian’s Not So Mature Plan

This is the Imperial Capital, Shadow Fortress, a military stronghold, Space-Time Management Center.

Here lies one of the most critical bonds within the multi-universe, an intersection of dimensional pathways connecting countless worlds. The very facility capable of easily breaching the sturdy barriers of planes and allowing the Empire to descend upon any world at any time is right here.

A gigantic square with a radius of one kilometer—it’s quite grand for a temporary personnel transit port. Heavily guarded, its security level SSS, with twenty World Gates that could open simultaneously. These descriptions all exude a solemn sense of awe. When it was first completed, Big Sister even proposed erecting statues of Sandora and me in the square and naming this hub after us. Of course, I rejected the proposal while breaking into a cold sweat.

Looking back now, rejecting it was the right move.

Because what’s filling this square now is enough to make anyone’s eyes well up with tears: smugglers, people transporting luggage, scalpers, tea egg vendors, pancake stalls, corn roasters, newspaper and magazine sellers, souvenir hawkers, people wearing red and yellow headbands, flag wavers, and I even ran into a couple of sunglass-wearing fortune tellers...

From a distance, it looks like the Imperial Space-time Hub, but up close, it’s more like Tangfeng Bus Station—or even worse. At least there’s no public arms dealing at the bus station, right? Which department does that bastard belong to anyway!! What are you up to, slipping a Gauss rifle into Wugeng Liu Li’s hands!?

"I feel a sense of déjà vu here."

Stunned by the bustling scene at the Space-Time Management Center’s hub square, even the usually calm and collected Big Sister couldn’t help but make such a snarky comment. You should know, my sister usually never snarks!!

"This bunch of embarrassments..."

I’m rubbing my head, which feels as huge as a fight, unable to bear looking at everything before me. Once upon a time, we had such a fine group of the Empire’s iron-blooded soldiers. Now they’ve gathered outside the waiting area, peddling tea eggs. I really blew it by not executing Sicaro at the time; his viral factor has now begun to wreak havoc throughout the entire Imperial Military Department.

"Easy there, young man!" Just as I was thinking about Sicaro, that pollution source, a familiar voice called out from behind me. I turned around woodenly, and there was Knight-faced Uncle with his explosive black attire blocking a child with oversized glasses, starting his sinful sales pitch, "Wanna buy some?"

This old rascal doesn’t spare even those under ten! Humanity isn’t so precocious that kids start buying discs from the streets at the age of ten, right?

Sure enough, the creature that seemed to be a child immediately began to protest anxiously, "No, no, no! Uncle, I’m in a hurry! That sort of thing... it’s a bit too early for me to look at that sort of thing..."

Looks like the kids are maturing early these days.

"Don’t worry, young man, I’ve got everything here!" Sicaro isn’t letting go, but instead pulls out a stack of stuff from his bag on the ground, "Do you like Ultraman? Animal World? Or the limited edition Golden Lotus?"

The kid’s face is turning purple, "Uncle! I’m really in a hurry!"

"Well then, it seems you don’t want discs," Sicaro calmly retrieves the CDs and casually pulls out a Zhou Yi Map and lays it out on the ground, "Young man, what’s your given name, surname, and birth time? Let me read your fortune for you!"

"Conan... I mean, Uncle, I really don’t have the time..."

Sicaro, looking resigned, packs away the Eight Diagram again and asks, "Then, do you need a fake ID? It’s quick, just one minute, second generation ID card, guaranteed here."

"Please, Uncle, I’ll miss it if you don’t let go!"

"Alright, here’s my card," Sicaro, seeing that the kid is also uninterested in getting a fake ID, finally scratches his head and pulls out a small piece of paper from his pocket, "If you ever need to use a receipt to buy alcohol, tobacco, or watches, you can contact me, all guaranteed genuine or ten times your money back!"

The lad who called himself Conan immediately accepted the business card with teary gratitude and turned to run: "Thanks, Uncle! I’ll be in touch... Oh no..."

"What’s up?" Sicaro was packing up his bag just like Dingdang cat and curiously asked when he saw the other guy turning back.

"The bus already left," the unfortunate Conan said with a mournful face, "there are only two buses back today, and I can’t get a ticket for the next one now."

Sicaro, who was he? An old hand among slicksters, a veteran rascal among rogues, he chuckled instantly and pulled out a bus ticket from his pocket...

I led a group of beauties big and small, and we had seen the whole process from behind; meanwhile, one by one they were almost petrifying into monuments.

"If the Asida Sisters had that kind of brains," Lin Xue said after a long silence, gazing up at the sky, "at least they’d be able to afford instant noodles..."

"Don’t be too optimistic," I patted Lin Xue’s shoulder, "the price of instant noodles has gone up recently."

"Eh?"

This isn’t the time to discuss the price hike of instant noodles, is it?!

"Sicaro, you old scoundrel!!!"

In the end, a thunderous roar erupted amidst the bustling Tangfeng Bus Station... ahem, Time-Space Hub Square, instantly silencing the crowd within a two hundred meter radius. In the empty space, an Imperial Commander who had just sold a bus ticket was trying to slip away, but before he knew it, two cat-quick shadows charged at Sicaro the moment he took a step. Bang bang, two loud noises, and Uncle Hei Chao was sent flying back horizontally.

Pandora & Visca’s combined ultimate skill, one meter twenty of powerful low kick!

Don’t wonder why it was a low kick; those two Shortys would only manage that even with their legs fully extended.

"Cough cough, boss, long time no see..."

"Long time my ass!" I almost threw up a mouthful of stomach acid, "Was that you selling stuff at the Mars Base yesterday? Causing trouble here again today?"

"Isn’t it all in the name of economic development and practicing my anti-tracking skills? Okay, okay, I got it, boss, I’ll head to the brig..."

"I think this guy will still be a hero in the pirate world once he gets out."

Watching Sicaro’s forlorn figure disappear into the crowd, Lin Xue said sarcastically with a smile that wasn’t really a smile.

This girl, always stirring the pot!

"Alright, Ah Jun," Big Sister finally came up to calm me down as she always did. While ruffling my hair just like when we were kids, she pointed across the square, "Actually, most of the Imperial Soldiers are honestly doing their jobs as Assistant Officers, and look, not all the unreliable ones there are Imperial Soldiers, right?"

I looked over, just in time to see Lola leading a bunch of followers... Otherworldly People peddling crosses to the passing tourists, and behind her, two Tauren Shamans, seemingly not doing good business, each held up a large rack of cow horn combs, glaring furiously at Lola with bulging cow eyes.

I just want to know where they get the raw materials for those combs...

"Never mind, I’m done dealing with these guys."

Finally, I just said something utterly disheartened, wholly accepting the joyful... chaotic situation here, "For over a month, these folks have been grappling with complex tasks they’ve never encountered before, it’s been hectic. I guess I’ll just let them have a few days of fun starting today."

Visca immediately jumped over, "Brother, you’re the best!"

"Including you!" I shot a look at this exuberant little girl, "I heard that the few days I was away, you led your Personal Guard and swept through the Third Residence Area’s fruit market just because someone said eating more vitamins promotes growth—do you really think your intake of vitamins makes a difference? Look at Pandora, she’s always so well-behaved..."

Before I could finish, Visca pouted and grumbled, pointing at Pandora, "She heard drinking milk makes you grow taller, so she kidnapped the whole buffalo herd from Avalon!"

"They were all bulls!" Pandora complained, which was rare for her.

Visca immediately tilted her head up proudly, "Because I hid the cows in advance!"

Then it was time for a real-life fast-paced fight between two awkward sisters.

"Honestly, Wood, sometimes I really admire you," Lin Xue joked as we distanced ourselves from the dusty Pandora & Visca battle zone, "Were you Nightingale in your last life?"

No, I was just a broken J-11 in my last life.

"How long will it take for everyone here to be sent back?"

In such a joyous (?) atmosphere, it took us roughly two hours to inspect every facility in the Hub Square. As soon as I found a place to rest, I couldn’t wait to ask the person in charge here, Sivis.

"Repatriating transmigrators is a task that starts off very smoothly but becomes slower and more troublesome as time goes on," Sivis, with her external-type thinking circuit and the persona of a long-haired black beauty older sister, flipped immediately into serious mode when reporting her work. Despite the fact that her generals and their younger sisters had just been fight a moment prior and she was the first to turn into a monument, "Although it seems we’re making rapid progress now, sending a thousand Otherworldly People through the space-time conduit every hour, it won’t be long before this rate slows down. A third of the transmigrators still can’t have their origins confirmed, or even if we’ve found their worlds, they can’t be reached directly due to their remote location, and we need to establish beacons in the Void—this is the most time-consuming part. If we want to send everyone home, it might take another month."

"That’s not too much longer than what I expected." I nodded.

"Also," added Sivis, "a very small number of transmigrators wish to settle in Shadow City and have passed the screening, or we have invited them to settle here after comprehensive consideration, like Lilina and Du Dao Kazuko. Although they’ve already been registered with the World Management Terminal, final arrangements are still a problem. They’re living in the residence area for the time being, but in a month the residence area will be gone. We can’t preserve such a large space just for a few dozen Otherworldly People. The most suitable solution would be to have them live with the existing residents of Shadow City, but..."

But currently, a large portion of Shadow City’s residents belong to those who fall outside of standard conventions, right? Besides Imperial Officers, there are heroes from various worlds. They’re not exactly ideal neighbors. It’s not that these diverse racial heroes have xenophobic vices, but...

How do I put it, would you accept a King of Hills who turns into a giant every day, clanging away at his forge in the yard, or a Blood Elf Mage who researches Arcane Energy and seems to cause an explosion every twelve hours or so as a neighbor? They may have gotten used to each other by now, but I’m sure others wouldn’t stand it.

"Unless there’s a dangerous species like a Saiyan, all the others should be placed in Academy City District," I decided after weighing the options, "as long as they don’t disrupt the daily life of Sister Misaka... Eh, right, if there are suitable transmigrators among them, appoint them to teach at the sisters’ school. And have those Imperial Soldiers teach the Misakas? Next time Mikoto comes, she’s going to nag me to death!"

"To tell you the truth, I’ve always been concerned about the education of the Misaka sisters," Lin Xue pretended to frown seriously, "Wood, don’t you think the classes they’ve been taking are a bit too diversified?"

I scratched my head: "But they seem to be reacting well, Sister Misaka said they’ve been having a lot of fun with their current life."

"Fun to the extreme..." Lin Xue shrugged, "Besides the regular cultural classes, they also have classes including operating Gundam, building Mecha, warship maintenance, Quantum Engineering, Elemental Magic, Advanced Arcane, violin, sand painting, Advanced Alchemy, Soul Studies, Shaman Secret Skill, Voodoo, Heroic Spirit Summoning, martial arts from various worlds, Divine Techniques, Shooting Science, Ballistics, manufacturing and maintaining Nuclear Bombs, Space Magic, Cold Weapon Combat, Assassination Technique, highly poisonous, Etiquette, Dance, Strategy Commanding, Stealth Skill, Hunter Skills, Advanced Holy Light..."

"Stop, stop, stop..." I urgently called for a halt as Lin Xue’s rambling made my head feel as big as a bucket, but the other party completely ignored my plea and continued bobbing their head: "...anime production, 3D modeling, combat aircraft piloting, firepower covering science, archaeology, sculpture, flower arrangement, biological engineering, priest studies, cooking, massage, anti-matter weapon improvement study, paper cutting, singing, mind control study, annihilation theory, shadow energy, spells, dark magic... Last month, Qianqian even started a class on time history, and this time there are likely two transmigrators who can teach Freedom Techniques... Wood, I’m not finished yet!"

I admit, at that moment, I became a monument that all could come to see.

"Roughly two hundred elective courses in total, I think, and what’s more is that including the cultural courses mentioned before, all these classes are chosen based on personal interest. It’s okay if you don’t learn, it’s okay if you don’t finish everything, and it’s even okay if you don’t learn at all; you could even go mad from your studies and you’d just be sent off to the World Tree Temple—my god, that military academy has practically turned into a monster barracks or a daycare center—that kind of life is a bit too fun, don’t you think?"

Anyway, Qianqian definitely likes that kind of school atmosphere; she declared herself as the honorary principal quite a while ago.

But I have no intention of changing Sister Misaka and the others’ current way of life. Letting them live happily is originally what I intended, and since they now enjoy it, let them be happy. And from my perspective, such a fearsome military academy might just be a success. If someone really put their mind to it, they could probably become Clark Kent in just half a semester. Lin Xue is right to call it a "monster barracks"; last time, two Blood Elf Great Mages even submitted applications wanting to enroll their children there, aiming for the Divine Technique and Priest Studies offered by Dean Lilina (I meant to say Dumbledore). Unfortunately, the next day, Lilina had vanished...

Speaking of Lilina, I wonder how that girl is doing, adrift in another world—probably her worst fear. It’s a pity, but according to Taville’s final analysis, all coordinates will have to wait until the space-time turbulence completely settles down before we can pinpoint them accurately. Now all I can do is pray for the oppressed people of other worlds in her stead...

"Oh right, Ah Jun, I have a not-so-mature idea!"

Just as I was deeply reflecting on Lilina, now merely a distant figure across the Santu River, Qianqian’s eyes suddenly twinkled, and she jumped over.

Can’t you just, like, not say it?

"Let’s preserve this hub station!"

But Qianqian said it anyway.

"Preserve it?" I tried to guess what kind of plan Qianqian could be coming up with, which of course was futile. "What are you trying to do?"

Qianqian bashfully lowered her head, "It’s been so fun to have everyone gather together, and now that everyone’s about to leave, it feels so empty... If we keep this teleportation hub, maybe the otherworldly people will want to come back and gather... Um, Ah Jun, I know this might be a bit much, and it could cause a lot of trouble for Sivis and the others, but..."

That’s the reason, huh? The genetic love for excitement stirred within her.

While it was a bit unexpected, it actually fit Qianqian’s consistent character: she’s a silly girl who loves to see everyone happily together, and any commotion brings her joy. It looked like the wave of transmigration over the past month had given her a chance to enjoy herself thoroughly, and now, as things were about to settle down and the fun and interesting visitors from various worlds had to go their separate ways, Qianqian felt a sense of loss.

Leaving the teleportation hub would allow those otherworldly people to return and keep the party going forever. It was just a bit of whimsy from Qianqian.

"Sandora, is it possible?"

This time, Qianqian didn’t rush into executing her plan as usual. Instead, she considerately recognized the potential trouble it could cause others, which pleased me. So, after a brief consideration, I asked about the feasibility of the plan. As long as it wasn’t too excessive, fulfilling a small wish for Qianqian wasn’t a problem.

"Sivis nodded, "It may require long-term security considerations for the entry of otherworldly civilians into Shadow Fortress, but this can be easily resolved through technical means and military control. And in fact, this plan is not without benefits—the coordinates and stable pathways of a multitude of new worlds would be a valuable intangible asset for the Empire, Ah Jun. I didn’t tell you that after these transmigrators leave, I also intend to preserve those world coordinates and spatial channels. With those, we could expand our reach to an unimaginable extent given the right conditions, although that may take a long time. However, using these channels to implement Qianqian’s plan wouldn’t be troublesome."

"Hooray!" Qianqian cheered instantly, her excitement palpable, "Ah Jun, Ah Jun! Let’s start a travel agency! I even have a name for it already..."

I knew it; that girl’s brainstorming was just beginning.

But let’s put the travel agency aside for now; it seems, I’ve just come up with a pretty good idea...(To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com. There are more Chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)