Edelweiss, Edelweiss,

Greet me early in the morning and open it.

Small and white,

Clean and bright,

Shake happily at me.

Snowy flowers, may you be fragrant,

Bloom and grow forever.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss,

Forever bless my homeland.

The gentle and euphemistic "Edeleiß" is sung along with the light rail tram, and outside the light rail street, there are many advertisements one after another, including tourism advertisements, pharmaceutical advertisements, marriage advertisements, and political propaganda, but for children, the main attraction is the colorful giant sign of the orange soda "Fanta", which has recently been launched, as well as various assembled models and toy tin soldiers. The children waiting in line for the school bus will always look obsessed with the majestic chariots and heroic soldiers on the huge billboards, until the yellow school bus enters the station, "squeaks", the doors open, and the nurseries in dark green skirts and uniforms whistle, the children retract their eyes and walk onto the school bus in neat and immature steps.

Any city is the busiest during the morning and evening rush hours, and all kinds of accidents are concentrated during this time period, if there is no sophisticated system to ensure traffic, the whole city will be a mess.

The city has such a system in operation, with police officers in green uniforms standing in the center of the intersections, each accompanied by two stormtroopers in brown uniforms, black breeches and barrel hats. Cameras have been installed at every intersection, from an eight-lane road to an alley where only two people can walk side by side, and crowds in uniforms are constantly being watched by machinery and police. Black, gray-green, navy blue, air white, click-yellow...... The queue of uniforms of various colors is neat and orderly, and from a distance, it looks like a picture that triggers extreme comfort for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Pierre Marseille is also part of the uniformed army, a 14-year-old blonde boy who wears a boat-shaped hat, black trousers and brown shirt, a black tie at the neckline, and a black, red and white armband pinned to the sleeve of his left arm – the standard dress for the youth league.

Marseille is a new group this year, as an organization that stipulates that all young people must participate when they reach a certain age, and the Youth League has a set of almost strict selection criteria: sports, such as grenade throwing, sprinting, long-distance running, long jump, etc., must meet the standard, can sing the national anthem, the children's group anthem, and the youth league anthem, can recite the regulations on civic and student obligations, and school teachers, children's group leaders and higher organizations, and neighborhood communities provide proof of good character and law-abiding...... Being able to overcome these obstacles at the age of 14 and become a member of the Youth League can be called an outstanding student.

If nothing else, his life trajectory would be the same as that of most people: joining the Children's League, the Youth League, serving for two years after high school, or participating in other national service activities, going to university, joining an organization, graduating, getting a career somewhere, getting married, joining the Labor Front...... Everyone reads the same books, listens to the same speeches, shouts the same slogans, and eats the same "national soup" during the winter relief activities. They are small parts of the state apparatus, as reliable as the "national car" and as ordinary as the "national car".

Marseille has a different plan for his life. Marseille comes from a family that has been running a bakery for four generations, and the bakery is located in the city, a 30-minute walk from the school. The family members include one grandfather, one parent, one sibling each, and a total of eight people, including him, in other words, an ordinary family. However, Marseille, who came from an ordinary family, wanted to apply for a military school.

Don't mistake Marseille for how loyal and patriotic he is, or how much he longs for military camp life, he has no intention of making a soldier a lifelong career.

According to the Military Service Act, veterans with more than 15 years of service experience will be given priority to be transferred to local civil servants after retirement. However, if you follow the normal route, it is difficult to enter the government with a background like Marseille, and even if you graduate from university with excellent grades, it is difficult to take the civil service exam. If you want to break through this invisible ceiling, you can't rely on good performance and good popularity, which is completely a test of your reincarnation skills.

Marseille's reincarnation skills were obviously not very good, so the only way out left for him was to graduate from high school with excellent grades, get the certification and recommendation of all teachers and organizations, and then apply for a military school, serve in the military academy for three years, and then go to the logistics department or a remote area to serve twelve years before retiring. At the age of 30, Marseille will be able to change jobs, such as working as a clerk in a post office in a certain town.

This is the most realistic and achievable goal for a child like Marseille. You must know that the vast majority of peers can only go to vocational or technical schools after graduating from secondary school, and become waiters, waiters, and workers after graduation. The rest of the population has good grades enough to attend a top-tier university, but the high tuition fees are prohibitive. In contrast, as long as you have excellent grades and can pass the examination, you can enter a military school for free. The difference between the two life paths is vastly different.

So the key to everything is in middle school, middle school is a watershed in everyone's life, and performance in middle school will determine who is the "tool" and who is the "manager".

Marseille, the fourth-in-line, could not inherit the bakery from his father, and he was not interested in becoming a baker and working under his brother, and wanted to become a respected civil servant, and wanted everyone, including his family, to impress him, and to spend the rest of his ......life with the woman he liked in the envious eyes of everyone

If you want to realize this life plan, you must first achieve excellent grades and the approval of your teacher, otherwise a paper plan will only stop at the fantasy stage and will never have a chance to become a reality.

Just as Marseille was in a reverie about his future, the bus horn sounded twice and all the students picked up their school bags.

The campus radio is playing a brisk song, the students are stepping off the school bus one after another, the uniforms of the children's group, the youth team, and the girls' team converge into a beautiful landscape, the students walk to their respective wardrobes, a girl wearing a red beret, combing two braids, and wearing an Alpine velvet vest pass by Marseille, the girl smiled and winked at him, Marseille paused, smiled shyly, and then maintained the rhythm and distance, and walked into the classroom together.

"Pierre. ”

Marseille had just put down his schoolbag and was about to take his seat, when he stepped on the bell and walked past the head teacher, Mr. Columon, without looking back, said:

"Today you are here to lead everyone in taking the oath. ”

"Yes, sir. ”

Nodding obediently, hiding the joy and pride of being favored by the teacher in his heart, Marseille walked between the podium and the main entrance of the classroom with a dignified step, stood still, turned around, and faced all the equally serious students with a serious and almost cold face.

The second time the bell rang, and as the teacher shouted the command "all stand up", all the students stood up and stood solemnly, and the whole school, the whole community, the whole city, and the whole country rang out with the sound of heel strikes.

"I swear to obey the law. ”

Marseille pressed his heart with a solemn and holy expression, as did the others.

"Consciously fulfill the responsibilities of being at home and at school. ”

The whole world is left with the sound of the oath, and all noise gives way to the sacred oath.

"Loyalty, obedience, allegiance unto death—"

Men, women, the elderly, and children all recited the same vows.

"God bless the Holy Emperor of the Gilmanian Empire, long live His Majesty Siegfried Otto Lelin!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

After the usual three long live calls, the national anthem began to be played throughout the Empire, and the entire crew stood upright. In the dockyards and factories, on the trains and cars, in the offices, schools and shops, everyone stood in solemnity, singing "Empire above All", and the song resounded throughout the land.

Accompanied by loud singing, the portrait of the emperor hanging on the high place looked down coldly on all beings, and the already ubiquitous imperial atmosphere became stronger at this moment.