Chapter 51

"Alright, alright, it's past nine o'clock. You guys focus on recovering."

After a group of people laughed and joked for a while in the luxurious hospital room, seeing that it was getting late outside, Yuan Hanshuang waved her hand. "It's the weekend these days; if you push yourselves, you can still catch up with the start of classes next week. By the way, have all of you filled out your schedules?"

Silver Star's schedule was relatively relaxed. Students from different departments had their own compulsory courses, but aside from those, they only needed to choose elective courses that interested them. In any case, graduation did not require a mandatory number of years of study; as long as the students accumulated enough credits and passed the graduation examinations, they could obtain their graduation certificates.

"Not yet. Although our departmental courses vary, we can still manage to attend the public lectures together."

Wu Haoxuan stretched lazily. "Sigh, the one-month military training and confrontation match are finally over! My long-awaited university life is about to begin! Yay!"

"Right, will the Chief Selection Tournament be held during the first week of the official semester?" he turned his head and asked curiously.

"Indeed," replied Xuanyuan Sheng, who had been paying close attention to this matter for a long time. "The Academy Ranking Tournament will kick off next year, and the first round requires departmental chiefs and academy presidents to personally lead their teams. This year's chief selection is basically equivalent to a preliminary selection for the academy's official team."

At this point, Xuanyuan Sheng tilted his head and asked Yuan Hanshuang, "Will you be participating in the Chief Selection Tournament?"

Ever since entering Silver Star, the goal he set for himself had always been the academy presidency. Originally, he was full of confidence, believing that the position was rightfully his, only to cross paths midway with an assassin like Yuan Hanshuang who specialized in crushing the pride and state of mind of celestial prodigies.

Having gone through the confrontation matches, Xuanyuan Sheng no longer struggled.

He genuinely felt that Yuan Hanshuang was more qualified than he was to sit in the position of the Melee Department Chief, or even the Academy President.

Whether it was cultivation level, charisma, command capability, or a macroscopic perspective, she excelled in every aspect.

If he had to name something she was slightly lacking in, it would only be her mimicry grade.

Regarding this, Xuanyuan Sheng was also quite optimistic. Although mimicry grades were constant, there were extremely rare instances of fluctuation during the cultivation process. He figured that Yuan Hanshuang's "koi fish," which was taller than a person, did not look ordinary at all; perhaps the mimicry itself harbored undiscovered potential.

"The Chief Selection Tournament? Not really interested, probably won't go."

Yuan Hanshuang showed very little interest in this topic. She placed the kraft-paper-wrapped wild flowers on the bedside tables of the two patients. "I'm leaving now, bye-bye."

The elderly butler personally escorted the three of them out of the detached villa, wiping his tears as they walked. "Ever since the confrontation match, His Highness has been feeling down and hasn't eaten more than a few bites of dinner."

Having watched Xuanyuan Sheng grow up and knowing his personality and situation, the butler felt even more emotional.

"For His Highness to speak of his mimicry with his own lips means he truly regards you all as his friends. It has been a long time since I last saw His Highness this happy. Thank you all for making the special trip to visit, and you are welcome to come often in the future."

Even after they had walked a long way out, the butler could still be seen standing by the streetlamp, waving goodbye.

The three of them walked out of the villa complex; one was headed back to the Chief White Tower while the other two were returning to the dormitories, and thus they parted ways.

However, on the way back to the girls' dormitory, Yuan Hanshuang abruptly turned her feet and headed toward the Imperial Academy.

As everyone knew, military academies strictly enforced a curfew at night. Fortunately, the central teaching area shared by the two schools was still accessible. Yuan Hanshuang registered at the guard station, claiming she had left something behind there during the confrontation match earlier that day, and successfully obtained permission to pass.

There were no evening self-study sessions on the weekend, and coupled with the fact that the central campus had yet to undergo repairs following the confrontation match, it was quiet and deserted. Only the night lights in the corridors and at the corners of the teaching buildings remained illuminated to provide light.

"Tap, tap, tap." Crisp footsteps echoed through the silent corridor.

Yuan Hanshuang walked into the teaching building and returned to the rooftop where she had spent her time during the day.

Surveillance cameras were everywhere inside both schools, and the Imperial Academy even had a specialized Sky Eye system for reconnaissance. Because of the perceptual bonuses granted by her mythological mimicry, whenever she walked around the campus, Yuan Hanshuang always had a faint illusion of being watched.

Still, she had indeed been here during the day, and even if someone pulled up the access logs, it would prove nothing.

The rooftop offered an exceptional view. A cold wind blew by, with a bright, clear moon hanging overhead.

The central teaching building was considered a relatively tall structure within the two academies, allowing anyone standing atop it to easily gaze into the distance and overlook the surroundings. To be cautious, Yuan Hanshuang pretended to search around the area once, then leaned against the corridor railing while resting, squinting her eyes as she looked toward the interior of the military academy not far away.

Although a curfew was in effect, students inside the military academy were not strictly confined to staying in their dorms all night; rather, barring special or emergency circumstances, they were simply told not to wander aimlessly around the campus.

The dormitories at the Imperial Academy were vastly more luxurious than those at Silver Star, standing six or seven stories high with an entire basement level dedicated to sports and fitness equipment, simulated holographic cultivation rooms, and study rooms. Even without leaving the dormitory building, there was plenty to keep one occupied.

From Yuan Hanshuang's vantage point, she could precisely spot the military personnel patrolling inside the academy. They wore the unified silver-black military uniforms issued by the Empire, moving in disciplined squads of three with stern and solemn expressions.

Occasionally, a few students who grew hungry in the middle of the night would emerge, wanting to buy some food at the cafeterias that stayed open late, and they would be accompanied by patrolling soldiers—a testament to how strict the defense deployment was.

"I heard the Imperial Academy used to select patrol squads from each grade, but ever since the Third Legion arrived, they suspended the night patrols and replaced them with rotating shifts of soldiers from the Third Legion."

With an entire military legion stationed here, only a fool would believe they were simply teaching and conducting routine military training.

Yuan Hanshuang could not help falling into deep contemplation. "Right, during the opening ceremony, Professor Zuo Zitao mentioned that the First Imperial Military Academy designated a military-controlled zone this year, and anyone who breaks in without authorization will face expulsion from the school roll at the most severe."

Sure enough, recalling this and observing more closely, Yuan Hanshuang noticed that the soldiers patrolling within the military academy followed a certain regularity. Their patrol routes formed a circle; while they appeared scattered and disorganized at first glance, they were actually orbiting a clock tower in the center.

She had seen that clock tower when she was running laps during military training. Built alongside the library, it differed from other narrow clock towers and had reportedly been remodeled into a spiral staircase combined with a long corridor.

"Setting up a military-controlled zone for no apparent reason... Could the Third Legion be guarding something?"

After pondering for a moment without finding an answer, Yuan Hanshuang decided to temporarily drop the subject, since her goal wasn't this anyway.

She began to observe the location of the library within the military academy and the shift-change schedule of the rotating soldiers.

The Imperial Academy library was the central hub of the entire military academy. Not only was it rich in book collections containing ancient paper texts, but it also housed the Sky Eye system database and the central command room.

Of course, besides all that, the most important thing was that the public optical brains inside the military academy library could access the military archives database. As long as one was an enrolled student at the Imperial Academy, they could consult various records through the archives.

Yuan Hanshuang had worked hard doing shady odd jobs in the Black Street for so many years, and she had once spent a hefty sum to acquire an archive decryption card from a top-tier black-market merchant. As long as she inserted the decryption card into a public optical brain connected to the military archives database, she could temporarily access certain classified documents with higher clearance levels.

The military archives contained multiple files established regarding the Gyrfalcon, several times more than the materials Yuan Hanshuang had painstakingly gathered over five years.

Her father's tracks, her mother's whereabouts, and the decisions made by the military department—she had to take the risk and make a trip to learn these pieces of information that had been monopolized and sealed off by the imperial machinery.

Originally, Yuan Hanshuang had planned to take her time plotting this matter.

Never did she expect that after fighting with Bian Yu, the guy would deliver his own student ID right to her doorstep.

With an opportunity presented right before her eyes, not taking advantage of it would go against her style.

"Not tonight. I need to find a time to come back later."

After memorizing the Third Legion's patrol routes, guard post locations, and shift-change times, Yuan Hanshuang pretended to pick up a button from the ground, secured the rooftop door, and walked downstairs.

She considered her series of actions to be quite covert, yet she never imagined that someone could be so bored as to keep tabs on an ordinary-looking female college student!

Late at night, in the central command room.

Feng Bai brewed a cup of red date and goji berry tea, sitting upright in the empty command room.

Before him, a massive three-hundred-and-sixty-degree light screen was live-streaming the current scenes inside the academy.

And these screens, without exception, were all locked onto a single person.

As early as the military training, Feng Bai had sensed that this freshman possessed extraordinary perceptivity, so he had deliberately zoomed out the live-stream feed precisely to prevent Yuan Hanshuang from noticing.

During the day, Feng Bai had accidentally seen Yuan Hanshuang pick up Bian Yu's Imperial Academy student ID when the broadcast was cut. Although he felt somewhat discouraged because of the previous incident, remembering that she remained a subject of close observation, he kept a mental note of it.

The moment Yuan Hanshuang appeared on the screen, Feng Bai abruptly straightened his body.

"She actually came..." He stood up from his seat, his expression struggling to hide his excitement. "Choosing the rooftop deliberately—is she scouting the location? What is she planning? Did the Third Princess instruct her to break into the clock tower and destroy that silver apple?"

Once the thought was planted, Feng Bai's train of thought accelerated rapidly. Clever people simply tended to overthink things.

"Could the divine gift artifact that the Empire has been searching for for so long still be with them?"

As former subordinates of the Third Legion who had suffered injustice due to their Legion Commander, the Gyrfalcon, and after nearly twenty years of bitter waiting, if they could find the young master and the Third Princess, it would not only provide closure to their former commander but also shed light on what truly happened back then. This was what the old subordinates wished for the most.

"If she chooses to sneak in tonight... No, tonight's patrols are basically under Wei Wenwei's men. I need to figure out a way to stop her before she recklessly charges into the military academy."

Just as Feng Bai grew anxious and prepared to open his optical brain to mobilize his old subordinates, Yuan Hanshuang turned around.

She did nothing at all, picked up a button from the ground, shoved her hands into her pockets, and without sparing a single glance at the Imperial Academy, walked straight back to the Silver Star girls' dormitory.

Feng Bai: ?

Yuan Hanshuang had no idea that her actions just then had caused such a massive misunderstanding for an adjutant not far away, leaving him in a state of stunned silence.

Because she returned too late and wanted to avoid being nagged by the young miss for disturbing her beauty sleep, Yuan Hanshuang pushed the door open silently, preparing to tip-toe and tidy up for a wash, when she suddenly heard a low sob coming from the dormitory bed.

"?"

Perhaps because it was muffled by the quilt, the sound was very faint and barely audible.

At first, Yuan Hanshuang thought it was her imagination, but after standing still and listening for a moment, she realized she hadn't heard wrong.

Why would the young miss secretly hide under the covers and cry all by herself?

Yuan Hanshuang pressed her lips together. She knew Xia Mengrou's proud and stubborn temperament, and she knew the other girl definitely wouldn't want anyone to know about this. Thus, making no sound at all, she carefully retreated from the room once again.

After closing the dormitory door soundlessly, she squatted down right outside the door.

Sure enough, after squatting for about half an hour, the female butler hurried over anxiously accompanied by a group of maids.

"Wait, don't go in just yet." Yuan Hanshuang stopped them. "Mengrou is in a bad mood. Do you guys know what actually happened?"

Seeing that the concern on Yuan Hanshuang's face did not seem fake, and recalling the instructions the young miss had given them in private recently, the female butler hesitated for a moment before whispering, "Well, it's like this. Some unpleasant remarks about the young miss were posted on the Silver Star forum tonight."

Unpleasant remarks?

Yuan Hanshuang furrowed her brows, opened her optical brain, and scanned through it extremely quickly.

After reading it, she calmly sent messages to Meng Mingcheng and Xiao Hua, cracked her wrists, and popped her knuckles with a crisp click.

"Alright, I know about this. Leave it to me to handle."