The next day, Shen Hex completed the checkout procedures and walked out of Yunlan Hotel carrying his luggage.
As soon as he stepped out of the hotel doors, he saw a hover car zoom over and stop steadily in front of him.
Vengeance?
Naturally impossible. The rules of the Upper City District aren't something those sewer rats can challenge.
The car door opened, revealing a youthful, radiant face — it was Zhong Qin, who had left wordlessly yesterday.
"Get in!"
Zhong Qin gestured to the front passenger seat, "I'll take you to orientation."
"Thank you very much."
Shen Hex smiled, didn't stand on ceremony, and directly sat in the spacious back seat.
"You really take me as your chauffeur?"
This made Zhong Qin somewhat annoyed, but there was nothing she could do; she had to shut the door and head to Tianbei Second Middle School.
Education is a tremendous power, always held by the Academy Faction, which is why there are basically no private schools under the empire's rule, only martial arts halls and similar external training and tutoring organizations.
This is also why schools are named in simple order, by city and establishment time; for instance, Tianbei Second High School is the second high school established in Tianbei City, and stands as a top-notch academy in Tianbei with robust faculty.
Because of this, its fees are extremely high; although still not comparable to universities, not every family can afford them.
If the Shen Martial Arts Hall were still around, Shen Hex would have no problem attending this high school. But now that the Shen Martial Arts Hall is gone, he still wishes to attend this high school, and it's still... no problem.
There's a reason for the high cost; as one of the top three ranked high schools in Tianbei City, Tianbei Second High School offers excellent faculty, hardware, software, and the career resources and development opportunities provided to students far exceed other schools.
This is exactly what Shen Hex is interested in. Given that he currently has no capital to clash with the empire, he can't use the "Martial Madman" method to acquire resources anymore; to develop, he can only join the empire and use its resources to strengthen himself.
If you can't beat them, join them!
But joining the empire isn't that easy; for most people, the academy is the only way to integrate into the empire.
Shen Hex included, that's why he must excel. If it weren't for Tianbei First Middle School's high threshold requiring a recommendation letter for admission, he wouldn't have chosen Tianbei Second Middle School.
...
Silent throughout the drive, Zhong Qin concentrated on driving, not sparking much conversation, while Shen Hex was contemplating other matters.
Half an hour later, in front of Tianbei Second Middle School.
Zhong Qin stopped the hover car and pointed in a direction: "That's the orientation area, go ahead and report first; I'll park and come find you."
"Mm!"
Shen Hex nodded, carrying his luggage and walking towards the orientation area.
Although the empire has advanced technology, and many things can be handled online, high school enrollment is not one of them. Because it involves career assessment, both real-world and online records are required to prevent any possibility of fraud.
There were quite a few people enrolling, and after waiting for a while, it was finally Shen Hex's turn to register for assessment.
Inside the assessment room, besides machines, there was only one staff member, who didn't say much upon seeing him: "Show your profession panel."
Shen Hex nodded, directly displaying the Martial Artist profession panel.
That's right, the profession panel can be separately displayed and is undetectable by any means.
Which means, if you have multiple professions, you can conceal your professional status. As long as you're adamant, no one can dig out your career secrets.
Although there are some underhanded tricks, like finding someone with lie-detecting abilities or even psychical probing professions to stand by your side for assessment, then you can't hide anymore.
But such behavior is expressly forbidden by empire law because it involves professional privacy and significant interests, having sparked several uprisings in the past. Therefore, after careful deliberation, the empire's high echelons devised relevant laws strictly prohibiting any organization from forcing citizens to disclose professional privacy, whether in academies or the military, they can only assess without coercion.
So this hurdle was easy for Shen Hex to overcome.
"Martial Artist?"
"Static Posture?"
Looking at Shen Hex's displayed profession panel, the staff member nodded and recorded it, then asked further: "You may choose one main course and one elective course for study. To learn additional subjects, you'll need to pay extra course fees!"
Shen Hex was already aware of this and promptly reported his course choices: "Main course Martial Dao, elective Mechanics, additionally taking Cultivation."
"Cultivation?"
The staff member glanced at him, appearing a bit surprised but didn't comment further, asking instead: "Are you boarding or commuting? For boarding, we offer collective and private dormitories, and the private dorms come in low, medium, and high grades."
Shen Hex was decisive: "Top-grade private dormitory."
Since professionals value privacy and have various erratic professional skills and practice needs, the school doesn't mandate collective living for students.
As long as you can afford the fees, you can live in a private dormitory, or even choose a space akin to a villa, spacious and fully equipped top-grade private dormitory.
Forget the dorm, even classes aren't mandatory. If you don't care yourself, you could register, pay, then take a six-year leave, never attend a single class, and there won't be any complaints or consequences.
Freedom, quite a lot of freedom!
"Tuition fees, accommodation fees..."
The staff recorded a list, then looked up at Shen Hex: "A total of 5,243,150 Yuan!"
"Swipe!"
Shen Hex didn't feel the slightest heartache and directly opened his personal terminal, paying the tuition gladly.
Over five million for just one year, at this rate, to complete six years of high school, he would need to prepare at least forty million in funds.
There's no choice, he insists on living in the highest-grade single dormitory, it's just the Academy's way of fleecing the sheep.
After completing the enrollment procedures, Shen Hex didn't linger and turned to leave the reporting office.
Unexpectedly...
"Little Hex!"
Shen Hex had just stepped out the main gate, only to see a figure intercept him, forcing him to stop.
It was a woman, around twenty-five or twenty-six, with long black hair tied in a single ponytail at the back, complementing her snow-white delicate skin. The tightly fitted Martial Dao attire, though obscuring the view, also showcased her impressive figure, coupled with an exquisite face, a cool demeanor, and a tear mole at the corner of her eye, making her absolutely stunning.
Shen Hex stopped, his gaze shifting momentarily, then returning to calm: "Why are you here?"
"How could I not come?"
Shen Qingyue retorted to him, seemingly with countless words to say, but seeing the curious eyes around them, the crowd eager to watch, she restrained herself, took Shen Hex's hand, and led him to a nearby grove.
"Over six months, such a long time, where did you go, why didn't you contact me?"
"..."
Shen Hex paused for a moment before responding: "I had some matters to attend to, not convenient to involve others."
"Some matters?"
Shen Qingyue furrowed her brows, originally wanting to inquire further, but seeing Shen Hex's expression, she abandoned the thought, turning to say: "No matter what, you should've sent a message to let us know you're safe, everyone was very worried."
"Everyone?"
Shen Hex smiled: "How many 'everyone'?"
"..."
This remark left Shen Qingyue silent, unable to respond, so she had to change the topic again: "Anyway, as long as you're fine, have you finished enrolling, come back with me?"
Shen Hex shook his head: "I'm planning to stay on campus."
"Stay on campus?"
Shen Qingyue was startled, then exclaimed: "Accommodation costs a lot of money, where would you get..."
She paused halfway, evidently reminded of the Martial Arts Hall being sold.
Shen Hex shook his head and said with a light smile: "The Martial Arts Hall has already been sold, where are you living now?"
Shen Qingyue, a few years older than him, had already completed high school but didn't go to university or serve in the military because Shen Hex's parents paid a substantial sum to offset her military obligation and allowed her to stay at the Martial Arts Hall, responsible for teaching female students, as the second disciple of Shen Martial Arts Hall.
But now that Shen Martial Arts Hall no longer exists, where does she stay?
"Also at Second Middle School!"
Shen Qingyue gave an unexpected answer: "After leaving the Martial Arts Hall, I ran into a senior sister who graduated from college and chose to return to Tianbei Second Middle School for work. After hearing about the Martial Arts Hall situation, she arranged a teaching assistant job for me at Second Middle School, where I now live in the faculty area."
"I see!"
Shen Hex felt much more at ease upon hearing this: "That's great, do well, your Samurai profession is about to reach full level, after advancing, you'll be a Tier Four Martial Artist, and can be officially appointed."
"Yes!"
Shen Qingyue nodded, agreeing with his viewpoint.
Tianbei Second Middle School, as a high-level Academy in Tianbei City, isn't somewhere any random person can come to teach; at the very least, you must be a Tier Four Martial Artist to become a formal teacher, otherwise, you can only be a teaching assistant.
As the second disciple and betrothed of Shen Martial Arts Hall, her status was extremely high, and with support from Shen Hex's parents, she had already become a nearly full-level Tier Three Professional, otherwise wouldn't qualify as a teaching assistant.
However, the gap between Tier Three and Tier Four, seemingly one realm apart, is as wide as heaven and earth, failure to advance is common. Generally, if a Professional doesn't have some special talent or fortune, it's nearly impossible to step into Tier Four before middle age.
Although Shen Qingyue's aptitude is decent, she cannot guarantee success in advancement and smooth official appointment.
But it doesn't matter, as she's already a teaching assistant at Tianbei Second Middle School; there's no danger within the Academy district, and the income is enough to maintain her lifestyle, advancing quickly or not doesn't matter in the short term.
Shen Hex also intends to provide her some support when the timing is right.
After all, aside from his parents, she is the closest person to Shen Hex, disregarding the betrothed identity, the two share years of familial bond growing up together.
Therefore...
"Why did you run here?"
Someone intruded into the grove, breaking the current atmosphere.