Finishing the final adjustments, Feng Zhixi pulled out the star map he had acquired at the Rose Heart auction. He looked toward Ji Yeran, only to find the other man staring back at him, his pupils dark and deep.
"?" Feng Zhixi instinctively took a step back, scanning the surroundings warily. He was on high alert for any small service robot that might pop out from an unknown corner holding a cup of milk.
He was fully recovered now; he absolutely refused to drink any more of that!
Sensing the sheer defensiveness in Feng Zhixi’s eyes, Ji Yeran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He shook his head, temporarily setting aside his suspicions, and produced the other star map he held.
The two star maps, both from Rose Heart, were placed side by side. They bore no resemblance to one another; even the planetary orbits they depicted were inconsistent.
This was precisely why the appraisers at the Rose Heart auction house had failed to realize that these were two halves of a whole—complementary maps where one represented the "surface" and the other the "interior."
In truth, one couldn't blame the appraisers for being ill-informed. The creator of these star maps had been intentionally misleading. That creator—whether brilliant or simply malicious—had employed an extremely rare cryptographic method, breaking the orbital data down into fragmented factors.
As a result, the final versions of these two maps were distorted beyond recognition and appeared, on the surface, to have no correlation whatsoever.
Furthermore, the cipher used was so obscure that even in the future, when one of these maps became a prize contested by all, the combined efforts of the Federation’s great families couldn't produce a single person capable of recognizing it as a code.
Yet, by some stroke of luck, when these two maps finally found their way into the hands of Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran, both men recognized the truth behind them instantly: this was a cipher composed in a foreign language.
The exquisitely embedded code essentially reconstructed an entirely new star map, camouflaging every trace so seamlessly it could be called a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
Neither Feng Zhixi nor Ji Yeran had any memory of ever encountering such a strange language.
And yet, the moment they held the maps, their intuition outpaced their logic. It was almost primal; without needing to consciously decipher it, they understood the map immediately.
They had both forgotten where they could have possibly learned such a cipher.
Back in the present, as the two seemingly disparate maps lay together, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran exchanged a glance. With silent rapport, they began to decode their respective portions.
As the two deconstructed and re-encoded maps emerged, the left joined the right. Flight paths connected, trajectories completed themselves, and a brand-new set of coordinates—fused from both maps—appeared before their eyes.
On the holographic screen, a clear interstellar corridor manifested within the vast star chart. It pointed directly to a coordinate within a specific star system. However, the path beyond those coordinates remained shrouded in mist, awaiting the next stage of decryption.
This was actually a multi-stage, progressive star map.
Feng Zhixi: "..."
Ji Yeran: "..."
Seeing the coordinates revealed by the first stage, both men were struck by an ominous premonition. This "stage-by-stage" unlocking mechanism felt suspiciously like a prank played on children. It inexplicably reminded them of a certain individual—
The Vice Principal of Benn Military School and Dean of the Interstellar Combat Command Department.
Their suspicion deepened when they looked closer at the coordinates. The destination was none other than the home of Benn Military School: Kanta Star, the very place where they had both been forced to attend school years ago.
Feng Zhixi: "..."
Ji Yeran: "..."
Could it really be such a coincidence?
Looking at the star map that had become unrecognizable after its fusion, the two found it increasingly strange. How on earth had that "luckiest loser" in the future managed to stumble upon the Xi Ore using only half a broken map?
Just how heaven-defyingly lucky did one have to be?!
Meanwhile, far away, the "lucky loser" in question let out a massive sneeze. He scrambled to adjust his flight controls.
"Ahhh! Off course again! Wrong direction! Start over! Start over!"
This was also one of the reasons why the great families of the future had failed to find the correct route. After those greedy clans had immediately executed the poor fellow, they had secured both the map and the starship that had traveled the route. Finding the Xi Ore should have been as easy as following a recipe.
But no one expected the map to be incomplete and incomprehensible, let alone fraught with danger. Every fleet that set out following that map vanished into the void.
Even more unimaginable was the state of the man’s flight logs. The navigation records were a tangled mess, like a ball of yarn tied into dead knots.
Those overlapping, chaotic logs were so disorganized that even if someone followed the exact path recorded, they still wouldn't find the destination.
In many places, that "lucky loser" had narrowly escaped death by skimming the edges of white dwarfs or supernovas. Not to mention the numerous chaotic spatial corridors and asteroid belts he had blundered through like a headless fly.
That flight log was less a navigation record and more a living history of narrow escapes.
Trying to find the Xi Ore using that mess plus a broken star map was a fool's errand!
In the future, the great families who had participated in the execution regretted their haste countless times.
However, the only person who had actually reached the destination was dead by their hands, and the path was lost forever.
Now, since the first coordinate pointed to Kanta Star, Feng Zhixi and Ji Yeran hesitated no longer. Their small starship set sail, heading directly toward the system where Kanta Star resided.
***
Kanta Star was the site of the Federation’s Benn Military School; the institution occupied the entire planet.
One could say that Kanta Star *was* Benn Military School.
As one of the Federation’s top military academies, Benn was a fully enclosed, militarily managed institution. Because the barrier to entry was so high, the number of faculty members on the planet actually exceeded the total number of students.
Due to this, the planet-sized campus was usually extremely empty, with only a few students visible at any given time.
However, this time was different. The residential areas outside the school proper were exceptionally lively.
The area was flooded with many unfamiliar, young faces, each brimming with vitality and spirit.
This was because the All-Federation Inter-Academy League—the highest-level competition held every four years—was being hosted on Kanta Star for the first time.
Representative teams from countless top-tier schools had gathered, including, of course, members of the Lanli Academy.
As the Federation’s premier research institution, the Lanli Research Institute not only recruited talent but had also established its own small school—Lanli Academy—to cultivate high-end specialists.
For an intern like Hill, the initial goal was to enter Lanli Academy and become a true "direct descendant" within the Institute.
In the Lanli Research Institute, the Chief Researcher for the past three consecutive terms had been a direct descendant raised within Lanli Academy. There were no exceptions, a fact that had long displeased researchers from outside factions.
In the Institute, the title of Chief Researcher represented more than just a name; it came with a massive tilt of resources from the Federation’s highest research body.
Ordinarily, Hill would have had no right to be here as a member of Lanli Academy.
However, his senior—Benjamin, the Head of the Upperclassmen at Lanli Academy—had pushed through all opposition to include Hill’s name on the substitute list.
"Senior, I don't know how to thank you." The petite Omega gave a sweet smile. That blossoming sweetness not only conquered the senior but also silenced the grumbling of the other teammates.
*Fine, he’s just a well-behaved little Omega. It doesn't matter if we bring one more or one less.*
The others from Lanli Academy shrugged, begrudgingly accepting this little Omega who seemed to have no notable traits other than being cute and obedient.
As the elite of the Lanli Research Institute, they probably wouldn't have come at all if the competition weren't being held on Kanta Star. After all, in the entire Federation, only Benn Military School was worthy of their attention—and Benn didn't always deign to participate.
This time, they would definitely have a showdown with the students of Benn!
While the Lanli students were full of fighting spirit, they didn't know that their "formidable rivals"—the teachers of Benn Military School—were currently nursing massive headaches.
On the other side of Kanta Star, inside the host school, the old Principal sat in a conference room, looking solemnly at the Deans of the various colleges.
The Principal spoke heavily: "Who is going this time?"
Since the League was being held on their home turf, they were "forced" to field a student team. So, whose turn was it?
The Deans, upon being asked, looked at the ceiling, the floor—anywhere but at the Principal. They acted as if this had absolutely nothing to do with them.
*Not me. Not even if you kill me. Let someone else do it!*
Principal: "..." *This is infuriating!*
An awkward silence filled the room. After a long while, one of the Deans spoke up slowly. "Actually, the best way is to rotate."
Hearing someone speak, the Principal looked at him with hopeful eyes, only to hear the Dean continue:
"It seems every college represented here has already taken a turn. If my memory serves me right, the only college that hasn't sent anyone is yours, Principal." As he spoke, the Dean turned his gaze toward the Principal and suggested, "Why don't we send the students from the Interstellar Combat Command Department this year?"
"I agree!"
"I agree!"
The chorus of approval was instantaneous. The Deans began to clap, praising this "brilliant" idea.
Everyone unanimously agreed that they should send the students from their most "ace" major to show the other schools what true "pinnacle of the pyramid" style looked like!
Principal: "..." *Agree my foot! The Interstellar Combat Command Department hasn't recruited a single new student in years!*
At this moment, the representative teams from other top Federation schools had no idea that, unlike their own teams which were composed of the strongest talents from every discipline, the Benn Military School team was always the result of the Deans passing the buck.
This also meant their competition style changed drastically every time.
Unlike other schools, whose strengths and weaknesses were clearly defined, the Benn Military School team’s defining characteristic was having no characteristics at all. They were erratic and impossible to analyze.
If any school tried to formulate a strategy based on Benn’s performance in previous years, they were walking straight into a death trap.
Meanwhile, Benjamin, the leader of the Lanli Academy team, circled the name "Benn Military School" and told his teammates with a grave expression: "They are our greatest rivals in this competition!"
***
**Glossary**
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 康塔星 | Kanta Star | The planet where Benn Military School is located. |
| 本恩军事学校 | Benn Military School | A prestigious, elite military academy in the Federation. |
| 蓝礼学院 | Lanli Academy | The educational arm of the Lanli Research Institute. |
| 本杰明 | Benjamin | A senior student and leader at Lanli Academy. |
| 星际作战指挥专业 | Interstellar Combat Command Department | A prestigious but currently student-less major at Benn Military School. |
| 联邦学院总比 | All-Federation Inter-Academy League | A major competition between top Federation schools. |
