Dorm, Roommates

"Are you truly ready to give your life, to give everything, for the survival of humanity in the apocalypse?"

"Yes."

"Even if it means fighting Mutant Beasts with your bare flesh, facing the risk of death at any moment, and having to execute infected humans, earning the hostility and revenge of their relatives?"

"...Yes."

___

This dream was much shorter.

Lately, whenever Xu Lingqu suffered a strong stimulus, falling asleep or passing out inevitably brought fragments of apocalyptic memories. She suspected it was due to her psychic power awakening. As she gradually adapted, these fragments had grown shorter and shorter, until they would eventually vanish.

"Awake? Enjoy the infirmary bed?"

A face appeared before the glass shield. Doctor Li operated the controls to open the device and gestured for Xu Lingqu to come out.

This time, the sensation of being reborn was even more pronounced than the last. Looking down, Xu Lingqu found her clothes dry and neatly pressed, her whole body seemingly cleaned.

"Don't worry, I didn't see anything. A household robot handled everything for you," Doctor Li said, sitting down to input information into her smart device. "Tsk, did Kai Ang take you all fishing? You came in filthy, and when you lay down here, I thought they'd hauled in a drowned corpse."

Xu Lingqu: "..."

Listening to Doctor Li talk gave her a feeling of helplessness, not knowing where to begin.

"Come on, fill out the form, and make up for last time while you're at it." Doctor Li transferred a file to Xu Lingqu's smart device. The blank spaces were for her to detail the cause and effect of this latest "fainting spell" for the records.

Xu Lingqu silently wrote down "physical weakness and overexertion" twice.

Doctor Li paused. "Also describe in full the training content that made you faint."

Xu Lingqu obediently wrote the truth.

"You're in a non-combat track, right? Command or analyst? Sometimes you just have to coast. Your instructors are under a lot of pressure; they've been acting like madmen lately." Doctor Li muttered as she watched Xu Lingqu complete the form, then nodded in satisfaction. "You can go."

Xu Lingqu actually enjoyed listening to Doctor Li talk; last time, key information had slipped out in her words. What pressure could Instructor Kai Ang and Instructor Chen be under? She pondered this as she walked out, so when someone jumped out at her, her reflex was to slap them.

Jin's reaction was quick enough to avoid the slap landing on his face, though he dodged clumsily, nearly crashing to the ground.

"Serves you right for trying to scare my sister." Xu Xiqin pursed her lips and sneered at Jin.

In her eyes now, Xu Lingqu was practically a deity. She was glad she hadn't listened to her brother and mother and distanced herself. With Xu Lingqu around, Xu Xiqin felt far more confident about the trial period.

"This is the second time, the second time you've done this to me..." Jin stared at Xu Lingqu with a hint of grievance. "And here I was, kind enough to come check on you..."

Xu Lingqu didn't respond. She glanced at the time on her smart device—about an hour remained before today's formal training began.

"Shen Shouli has already showered three times today. No matter how I try to drag him out, he won't leave the dorm, or even the bathroom," Jin said, exasperated. "So I had to come find you two to keep me company..."

"What's there to do? Training's soon, and you still want to play," Xu Xiqin bickered with him.

Jin refused to back down. "You can want to play anytime, okay?"

The two squabbled like elementary school kids.

Xu Lingqu watched thoughtfully.

According to the Moye Military Academy internal program on her smart device, Jin's profile only showed him as an A-level psychic power student from the Tri-Star System; there was nothing else. Why was he so close to Shen Shouli? Given how familiar he seemed with Shen Shouli, they must have known each other for a long time. And Shen Shouli had a special identity. From that, she could infer that Jin's background wasn't simple—in fact, it was likely very special, requiring him to hide his identity at Moye.

Xu Lingqu looked at Jin and Xu Xiqin, who were still locked in a childish debate, and interrupted, "How's the dorm?"

At that, Xu Xiqin immediately dropped her fierce posture and looked at Xu Lingqu with a pitiful expression. "We didn't get assigned to the same room, but it's not far. You're on the first floor, I'm on the sixth..."

"That's not far?" Jin chimed in to complain. "There's five floors between you!"

Xu Xiqin shot him a glare. "Is five floors really that far? It's easy to come and go!"

"Of course you're not tired if you take the elevator..."

The two immediately launched into another round of childish bickering. It was useless to rely on them. Xu Lingqu checked the dorm number on her smart device and decided to go back and take a look herself before formal training began.

The dormitory building was decently constructed, clean and tidy. The first-floor lobby was equipped with about ten household robots that students could activate and bring back to their rooms.

Xu Lingqu's dorm was on the first floor. She glanced at the number 104 on the door, pushed it open, and came face to face with a familiar person.

Liu Zheng had apparently just gotten out of bed. Her long hair cascaded down, and she wore a set of bear-print pajamas, her face cold, creating a stark contrast with the outfit.

"These pajamas were issued to everyone," Liu Zheng explained, catching Xu Lingqu's gaze. "Yours are on your bed."

All the students had been "kidnapped" by the sudden warp, so none of them had any luggage except their smart devices. All daily necessities were provided by the training base. Xu Lingqu walked to her bed and saw her own rabbit-print pajamas.

Xu Lingqu: ...

The dorm door opened again, and this time another familiar face entered.

Lin Xiao's eyes lit up at the sight of Xu Lingqu, like a cat spotting a fish. She approached quickly but halted respectfully about a meter away.

"Are you feeling better?" Lin Xiao asked cautiously.

"No big deal," Xu Lingqu replied, raising her hand for Lin Xiao to see. The wound had been fully healed by the Xirake condensate.

Lin Xiao let out a relieved breath. Xu Lingqu had been gone so long to treat her hand that everyone was gossiping about whether something serious was wrong. Mainly those guys led by Sun Liao were gleefully spreading rumors that Xu Lingqu's injuries were so severe—broken legs, broken arms—that she'd have to withdraw from the trial.

Though their words carried little credibility, Lin Xiao had still been anxious not seeing her. Now that Xu Lingqu stood there safe and sound, Lin Xiao felt at ease.

Xu Lingqu pointed to the remaining empty bed. "Who's this?"

Lin Xiao, as the designated dorm head, sent her roommate's profile to Xu Lingqu via smart device.

"She's apparently a mech pilot. They've got it worse than us. This planet is apparently a rare metal mining site, and they were taken to the mines to dig," Lin Xiao said with a sympathetic expression. Rare metal was one of the main materials for mech manufacturing, so rare it earned its name, and even if a vein were found, the extraction process was extremely complex. Lin Xiao couldn't help but sigh. So being taken away back then wasn't an escape; it was a darker hell.

She had envied them for nothing.

Xu Lingqu looked over the profile card. The person seemed familiar. After a few seconds, she remembered who it was.

This was the girl who had clung to her during the warp. Her name was Natata.