"Professor, Brother Al, why do I think you are all so sad, Snow is not feeling well. Snow's eyes were a little moist, and he could clearly capture the ups and downs of their emotions because of his ability "Spiritual Thoughts".

"Snow, you are still young, and when you grow up, you will understand that there is more suffering than joy in life, and pain is the norm. Standing at the fork in the hillside path, Professor Russell said earnestly, "But man must always have hope and faith, otherwise he will be like a seashell on the beach, leaving only an empty skin, hovering between land and sea with the ebb and flow of the tide." Alive, but also dead. ”

Al felt as if he had suddenly grown up.

He probably didn't remember, Uncle Paul had said something similar before, and Al had often been unimpressed by the blazing fire on that sparse summer night. There are some things that can only be truly understood when you have experienced them yourself, and those words contain the deep love of the elders for the young people.

"Professor, I..."

"Al, don't rush to give me an answer. Professor Russell interrupted Al, "I respect your choice, whether you choose to stay at the academy or return to the small town of Nack. The road is your own, and no one else can control you, whether it is me or the person you are talking about. I just want to tell you one thing, the world needs justice. No matter what you become in the future, you will always be a student of the Imperial Military Academy, don't disgrace me!"

"Snow, send him back. After Professor Russell finished speaking, he walked towards the dark path without street lights without looking back, and the miserable light could not shine there, and Professor Russell's back was quickly swallowed up by the darkness, leaving only a series of distant footsteps, "da-da-da" on Al's heart.

Al froze in place.

What are you running away from? Is it responsibility or cowardice?

People have to grow up after all, you can't be a carefree child forever, when you grow up you will find that more and more troubles will come to you one after another, forcing you to make a choice.

"Brother El. Snow called to Al softly, and he could feel that Al was full of complex emotions such as guilt, self-blame, anxiety and distress at this time.

Al lost his eyes and didn't answer. He stared at the two paths that branched out in the woods, not knowing what to choose.

The road down the mountain is flat and wide, warm and bright, and the road up the mountain is mysterious and unknown, cold and dark.

At the foot of the mountain behind Arthur's Seat, the sound of the waves in the shallow sea was raging, shaking the ground under the feet of the two young men.

In the distance, the administrative building of the Imperial Military Academy is brightly lit, and as the tallest building in the academy, although it is not as vigorous and imposing as the Imperial Palace and the Holy Church, it is also the hand of the master designer William Morris, so it has a unique majestic temperament.

The shield-shaped building is no different from the emblem of the Imperial Military Academy, and the modern hanging windows, sloping roofs, and classical reliefs and statues collide to form this famous landmark.

The conference room in the middle of the fifth floor of the administration building looks pitch black from the outside, and outsiders may think that it is just an ordinary room where no one stays, but inside it is different.

Vice Chancellor Douglas pushed open the special tempered glass floor-to-ceiling windows, and a bright beam of light shot out, which was specially designed and developed by the Armed Forces Department of the college for the conference room, which can not only withstand the strong shock wave, but also prevent the light in the conference room from spreading, which is both private and safe, and you can clearly see the outside from the inside.

Douglas lit a cigarette, and the smoke was immediately carried into the night by the evening breeze. Today he was not dressed as formally as he had been a few days ago, but was dressed in a black patent leather trench coat.

The meeting has been going on for more than half an hour, and on the long table is Elizabeth, head of department A, Savo, head of department B, Portis, acting director of department C, and representatives of the management, armed forces, and information departments are studying the relevant matters related to the admission list of new students.

"Did that Russell guy go to the Armed Forces Department to drink again?" Douglas looked over the jagged school buildings nearby, to the bright crescent moon in the night sky.

Portis was presenting the freshman rankings planned by the Department C Academic Affairs Office to a representative of the Management Department when she heard Douglas's inquiry, and she stopped the pen in her hand that kept changing records.

"No, he seems to have something important to do. He came to see me this morning, and he hurriedly went to the school hospital to pick up Al, saying that he was going to take him to the D department to check some information, so he couldn't come to the meeting. Portis rolled up the sleeves of his white coat, always looking smart.

"Adept? Looks like Russell took him to look up the ability sequence. "Douglas's cigarette butt is lit up," first made a big fuss in the Imperial Arena, was sent to the school hospital by Achilles' daughter, and then was suspected by Russell's guy of being a stranger and stayed in the academy. What's the origin of this young man?"

Portis shook her head, indicating that she wasn't very clear, and then turned to the teacher in the information department next to her, asking for his answer.

"O, Vice Principal Douglas, according to the results of the investigation by the Ministry of Information, it is only known that this Al is from the small town of Nack in the Green Valley Defense Line, and is an orphan who follows his uncle to make a living by striking iron. "The people from the Ministry of Information truthfully reported the news from the Ministry of Information.

"Nacktown, orphan?" Douglas extinguished his half-lit cigarette and returned to his seat, "If I'm not mistaken, the young freshman who was admitted to the D-Department two months ago seems to be an orphan too, right?"

"Yes, Vladimir Ivanov Snow, a tribe of ethnic minorities from the foot of the glaciers in the Mangyuan Mountains at the southernmost tip of the empire, has the ability 'Psychic Mind' number 77 in the ability sequence. The people from the Ministry of Information skillfully recited Snow's profile.

Douglas bowed slightly, and threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray, where five or six extinguished cigarette butts were already lying in the fist-shaped iron ashtray.

"Tell me, what are the results of your discussions?" Douglas's short black and white hair was crisp and sharp, "Let's start with the better freshmen in each department, I care more about those who are outstanding than the long list of names." ”

Douglas's deep voice stopped the teachers sitting around the table from continuing the discussion.

"Vice President, I don't need to say more about the freshmen in Department A, you should know better than me. Elizabeth didn't deliberately dress up today, she wore a pearl white knitted pullover to resist the cool evening breeze, and her long hair was slightly curly, allowing her to maintain the charm of a mature woman.

"Well, in addition to the places occupied by those nobles, are there any more prominent candidates among the ordinary candidates?"

"Yes, too. Elizabeth replied affirmatively, "As usual, most of the candidates are just empty sets of theories in books, and have no opinions and opinions of their own, so there is nothing new." But there is a candidate named Eve who is eye-catching, and she gives insightful answers and is able to draw inferences, and some questions are not necessarily as profound as those who have actually experienced war. Principal Nolan was the only one who gave the most perfect answer to the last question he left before leaving. ”

"I asked from the Ministry of Information, and they only found out that the candidate named Eve was a girl, a Xinlan person, and there was no more information. As if knowing what Douglas was going to ask, Elizabeth told her what she had learned.

"It's really rare, Xinlan, a gentle township with a drunken gold fan, can still have such an outstanding person, and she is still a girl. Douglas had a smile on his face, "I have long said that commoners are not necessarily worse than those young aristocrats who have been pampered since childhood, and that the academy cultivates elites, not waste. ”

Elizabeth coughed lightly twice, and motioned to Douglas to pay attention to the way he spoke, after all, many of the people sitting here were inextricably linked to the royal family.

"What's the matter? Even if the old fellow of the regent stands in front of me, I dare to say, what's wrong with the nobles? Even if they have a royal education, there is a lot of waste in them, and they can't meet my requirements, so Lao Tzu will still be expelled and make way for the descendants of the commoners. The headmaster is not easy to do here!" Douglas's violent temper came up, only the headmaster could calm him down, and now that the headmaster was gone, he had long been unaccustomed to the anger of those arrogant nobles, and he was suddenly arched.

The teachers at the conference table were bored, knowing that the name of "tyrant" Douglas was not called in vain, and no one dared to speak out, for fear of a hot spit star flying in front of them.

Realizing that he might have lost his temper, Douglas straightened the collar of his trench coat, got up from his seat, and walked over to the huge school badge hanging on one wall.

"What about the B-line? Savoy, any valuable news?"

"Vice President, the pass rate of candidates in Department B this year is basically the same as in previous years..."Director Sava was still wearing a martial arts uniform, and the muscles on his chest were clearly contoured.

"Getting to the point. Douglas waved his hand, interrupting Savoy's debriefing.

"I did find a relatively good candidate, named Newcastle. This candidate defeated the second-year elite student in charge of the assessment in the initial examination, and broke through the 'lion prison' of the Lion Legion on his own in the re-examination. What we have about him is... Not. ”

Director Sava knew that when he said "the information is none", it would definitely cause Douglas to be dissatisfied, but he couldn't help it, because it was indeed the result of the investigation he had received from the Ministry of Information.

"None?" Douglas narrowed his eyes, "Out of thin air?"

"We looked into this man and really couldn't find any information about him. The person from the information department next to him relieved Director Sava from the siege, "He arrived in Xinlan only the day before the entrance examination, and entered the imperial capital from the port of Truf on the 'Ocean Voyage' cargo ship. We also sent investigators to interview the captain and first mate of the Ocean, and they all said that the man was found on the course of the blue sea. He was sitting on a drifting raft, holding a parasol and eating a barbecue. The captain was also curious, so he took him on board, but the man named Newcastle said nothing, and they thought the fellow was deaf and dumb, so they took him back to the harbor. But this person is not deaf and mute, since he arrived in the imperial capital, he has found a bar, and he did not come out until the day of the assessment. ”

"Interesting. ”

Douglas slowly walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, this time he didn't get a cigarette out of his coat pocket, but just stood in front of the window and closed the opaque tempered glass that he had just opened.

His thoughtful face was reflected in the clean window.