Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 581: Chapter 488 Old Friends_1

It seemed he had just arrived in time for the new student orientation, which was even more bustling than Huai Shi had anticipated.

Logically, he should have arrived earlier, but since his classes weren’t starting until four days after the school term began, he had plenty of time and wasn’t in a rush.

Now, as the opening day approached, the school’s classical entrance plaza was thronged with people.

Long queues had formed for new student registration.

Young Sublimators from all over had converged here, naturally accompanied by their parents. Prominent families brought large amounts of luggage and servants, while more low-key students arrived alone.

Amidst the bustle, quite a few clubs had already started recruiting on-site. The sheer variety of their names and activities left Huai Shi dazzled, fully revealing his country-bumpkin naiveté as he clicked his tongue in amazement.

”Hmph, excuse me, please make way,”

Behind him, Martin, who carried only a single book, alighted from a car with an arrogant expression. He walked away without so much as a greeting, making it hard for Huai Shi to tear his gaze from the back of Martin’s neck.

An unchopped type, huh.

My hands are itching.

But then, a gust of wind rushed towards him.

Amidst loud bangs, roars erupted from afar. Cannonballs the size of human heads, glowing red from air friction, flew out from the crowd, brushed past Huai Shi, and slammed into the truck beside him.

It then dropped to the ground with a CLANG, yet not a single crack appeared on the truck’s windows.

Huai Shi stared blankly. Looking down at the cannonball at his feet, he almost thought he had misspoken and was about to be executed by cannon fire by the Ivory Tower right upon arrival.

He looked up again towards the center of the crowd.

Two chaotic groups of people were locked in conflict. Gunfire roared relentlessly, and amidst continuous explosions, fortresses sprang up from the ground while siege cannons thundered furiously.

It seemed to have transformed into a battlefield in an instant.

Stunned, Huai Shi turned, grabbed a bystander who was watching the spectacle, and asked in disbelief, ”Is this... like that thing in novels, a ’Purge Day’ or something? Where everyone can just shoot and set fires freely? So advanced!”

Ye Su was also shocked. ”What kind of school operates this wildly? Their principal must be incredible...”

”Well, their school can even slay dragons, so of course, they’re incredible! But what’s happening here with you all?”

Huai Shi pointed to an artillery position at the other end of the plaza.

”What’s that?”

”Let me take a look.”

Ye Su put on his glasses and glanced over, then said nonchalantly, ”The Multi-Turret Association and the Armor Society are going at it, I presume? Probably some dispute related to welcoming new students. It happens every year.”

”And you guys don’t do anything about this?” Huai Shi was dumbfounded.

”What’s there to manage? With so many Sublimators around, no one’s going to die. Besides, the Campus Police aren’t just for show. Especially since those unlucky kids just damaged Raymond’s precious car. Look—the driver’s furious.”

Before Ye Su even finished speaking, Raymond, who was still gathering his things, jumped out of the car shouldering a large iron case. He glared furiously at the crowd. ”Who was it? Who wants to be locked up in confinement? Show yourselves to this old man!”

A heart-stopping Source Fluctuation erupted.

He casually pulled a wrench from his toolbox, wielding it like some divine weapon, and charged toward the crowd.

But someone was even faster than him... It was Martin.

Amidst the din, the arrogant boy raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, a Law of the Scholars was imposed upon the chaos. In a moment, fortresses, steel, and even cannons all softened, disintegrated, and splattered like mud.

Everything liquified.

A Scholar’s registered name often stems from the Laws and Domains they are most adept at, and is inseparable from the Frameworks they establish.

Martin’s Law, however, bypassed the school’s Framework suppression in an instant, taking direct effect on the scene and leaving the two brawling groups stunned.

”Why is it you lot every year at the new student orientation?”

The Little Brag glanced out of the corner of his eye at the group of students, all much older than him, then flicked his sleeves. ”Go report to the School Affairs Office yourselves.”

Tossing out the dismissive remark, he turned and left.

Meanwhile, Raymond, snickering and cracking his knuckles, kicked the unlucky students’ butts, hurrying them off to the School Affairs Office for detention.

The other upperclassmen were unfazed, sitting calmly as mountains; some even gloated and taunted from the sidelines.

The new students had mixed reactions. Some were dumbfounded, while the eyes of those who loved stirring up trouble lit up at how exciting the school was.

”Hello, Senior! I think I just heard someone from the Armor Society, as they were leaving, say that everyone in our Two-Dimensional Hobby Club is a creepy degenerate! Yes, that’s right, it was that tall guy!”

A certain young man surnamed Lin, already in his element, began to stir things up...

”All Source Fluctuations, Stigmas, and Law manipulations, even the use of Border Relics, are recorded by the Ivory Tower’s Framework. A Creator watches over the school around the clock. Rest assured, no major incidents can occur.”

Outside the crowd, Ye Su said to Huai Shi, ”Let’s go, let’s go. I’m free now, so I’ll take you to complete your onboarding process first. I’m also in charge of your physical examination later.”

”Alright, alright.”

Huai Shi hoisted his luggage and was about to follow when he heard a somewhat hesitant voice from behind him, ”Huai... Mr. Huai Shi?”

A teenage girl he hadn’t seen in ages stared at Huai Shi’s back in surprise. She was still dressed in a greyish long dress, her expression, as always, serious and dignified, though her face was slightly flushed as if she had been queuing for a long time.

”Yuan Yuan?”

It took Huai Shi a moment before he could be sure. ”What are you doing here?”

”I... I’m here to attend classes.”

After a slight stammer, Yuan Yuan regained her calm tone, her demeanor serious and earnest. ”Is Mr. Huai Shi here for the same reason?”

”Mm, more or less.”

Huai Shi nodded, then glanced at the ’appendage’ behind Yuan Yuan. ”Is that fellow here for classes too?”

”What do you mean ’that fellow’!”

Yuan Zhao was furious, his eyes wide as he glared at Huai Shi. ”It’s all your fault!”

Spending hundreds of thousands, and not even one Flash Gold Card drops! And the ones that do are all Huai Shi cards! My cousin even snatched them all! I couldn’t even sell them to recoup my losses!

What’s worse, my family found out I was squandering my allowance on frivolous things and neglecting my ambitions, so they forcibly sent me to the Ivory Tower to study.

They even found me a notoriously strict teacher.

He felt bitter just thinking about it.

Working at the Social Security Office was so much better! I could slack off every day, and the occasional mission was a chance to be in the limelight. Such a happy life! Why has nothing good happened since I ran into Huai Shi?!

”Ah Zhao, mind your manners,” Yuan Yuan reminded him emotionlessly. Yuan Zhao immediately cowered like a mouse that had seen a cat.

However, after a few comforting words from Huai Shi, his spirits lifted again.

”So you’re in college now too! Not easy, huh? Don’t worry, your big bro will look out for you.”

The young prodigy casually stood on tiptoe to pat Huai Shi’s shoulder, lowering his voice to share a little secret he had just discovered. ”Don’t worry, I’ve already nosed around. The management here is very lax.

”Aside from compulsory courses, the rest are electives; you just need enough credits. Why don’t you sign up for Classical Music Appreciation with me? We can skip class to game together, and you can give me the answers for the exam. How great is that!”

”Sure, sure.”

Huai Shi nodded readily, patting the unlucky fellow’s shoulder with profound meaning.

Poor guy. His semester hasn’t even begun, and he’s already doomed to fail.

You dare skip *my* class?

In a few days, when classes start, I’ll show you exactly what a Disastrous Musician is!

.

.

The onboarding process went very smoothly.

Signing the contract, collecting the uniform, then a medical check-up; he could go straight to the office the next day.

And just as he was leaving the Academic Affairs Office, Huai Shi unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance—Andrea, the Fourth Stage Red Dragon and female Scholar with whom he had cooperated on the Group Star.

”I heard you were reporting in today, so I’ve been waiting here for you for quite a while,” Andrea, who had a mature, big-sisterly warmth, said as she patted his shoulder gently. ”I’ve specially invited a few colleagues for you to meet. How about we all have dinner together tonight?”

”Sure.”

Huai Shi nodded readily.

When a veteran offers to help you integrate into the group, only a fool would refuse, right?

”Any particular food preferences?” Andrea asked, getting into the driver’s seat of her car. ”There’s quite a variety of food available on campus, all sorts of cuisines... And if those don’t suit your palate, there are even Dongxia Genealogy restaurants.”

Huai Shi thought for a moment, then asked, ”Since it’s a group dinner, why don’t we have it at my place?”

”You’re cooking yourself?” Andrea was taken aback for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. ”I seem to recall you’re the Abyss Kitchen Devil, aren’t you? You’re not planning on serving your big sister here anything... questionable, are you?”

”Ahahaha, don’t worry about that. It’s actually not me who’ll be cooking,” Huai Shi said, waving his hand. He looked down at the address he was holding and passed it to her. ”Could you give me a lift? To be honest, I don’t actually know where my assigned accommodation is.”

”Seeker’s Park?” Andrea remarked, clicking her tongue in surprise. ”That’s the villa district, isn’t it? Are you that wealthy? I thought you’d be staying in a dormitory like me.”

”Actually, I just applied for a vacant plot of land. It’s only because the Ivory Tower grounds are so vast that it was even possible; otherwise, it would have been difficult to arrange,” Huai Shi said with a smile, not elaborating further.

At the park entrance, a manager was already waiting. He handed Huai Shi a thick stack of documents, saying, ”These are the approval documents from the School Affairs Office. Please keep them safe.

”However, according to Ivory Tower regulations, this property actually exceeds the scope of what your current teaching position is eligible to apply for. For the additional five hundred square meters, you will need to pay the Ivory Tower’s standard annual land rental fee. If there are no issues, please sign here.”

Huai Shi nodded. After signing the documents, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache. Eight hundred thousand US Dollars a year just to rent an empty plot of land... it’s truly too extravagant...

”Hmm? Are you planning a picnic?”

Andrea cautioned, ”I don’t mind, but some of the other teachers have very exacting tastes. Don’t leave a bad impression, young man.”

”Please rest assured. According to the agreed schedule, it should be ready very soon.”

In front of the astonishingly large grassy field, Huai Shi set down his luggage. He looked around but saw almost no one, aside from detached villas in the distance on either side.

Just then, his phone rang from his pocket.

”Hello, this is Yesterday Express Delivery.”

The courier’s voice on the phone reported formally, ”Your package is about to be dispatched. Please be ready to receive it. Additionally, ensure you have prepared sufficient clear space; otherwise, our company will not be liable for any damage to the goods.”

After the details were confirmed once more, a small package materialized out of thin air in the center of the grassy field.

Immediately afterward, a hand hurriedly reached out from thin air and tugged off the ropes on the shipping carton—

Then, with a sudden, deafening roar, a hurricane erupted, sweeping out in all directions.

Having traversed tens of thousands of miles and the long blockade between the Current Circumstances and the Border, the Border Spirit Land—Stone Marrow Pavilion—descended from the sky!