Chapter One: The Transfer Student

In the year 2137, twenty years after the end of the Terminator War, in the capital of the newly emerged nation—the “East Asian United People’s Republic Alliance” (abbreviated as the East Alliance), at First High School, Class A.

“…After the war ended, Europe, in order to consolidate political and economic development, merged the European Union into the Europa Capitalist Federal Republic, mainly composed of Western Europe…” In history class, the teacher was enthusiastically recounting the development of various countries since the Terminator War. Mingchuan appeared quite interested, though in truth, he didn’t care much for studying. Yet, he was an unrivaled top student in the class—one of the best in his grade, perhaps even the very best. For some reason, however, his scores always hovered at the same level, almost as if they had been calculated in advance.

At that moment, the bell rang for the end of class. Mingchuan finished his notes. What irked the teacher was that, with the exception of history and geography, Mingchuan was never serious in other subjects—whether it was language, math, foreign languages, or politics. Yet with his grades, the teacher didn’t really have grounds to complain. What could he say? “Look at your hardworking classmates—at your level, you could only get into places like Harvard, Cambridge, or Newton…” “Alright, everyone, class dismissed.” The history and geography teachers were the least bothered by Mingchuan—who could be upset with a student who excelled in their classes and had such good grades? “Thank you, teacher. Goodbye.” Because he was a top student, Mingchuan was forced to be the class representative, though he seemed to have no complaints about it.

Just as the students were about to leave the classroom, the homeroom teacher walked in. Mingchuan frowned—there wasn’t supposed to be a politics class this morning, so why did he show up suddenly? “Quiet down, everyone. I have an announcement to make.” At this, some students started to grumble. “Is he going to drag out the class?” The class buzzed with discussion, but Mingchuan had already noticed a girl standing outside the door. “Today, we have a new student joining our class. Let’s give her a warm welcome.” At first, the applause was tepid, but as soon as the transfer student entered, the boys erupted in applause.

A girl walked onto the podium. She was indescribably beautiful—her hair long enough to reach her waist, her skin fair and delicate, her dark eyes shimmering as if reflecting starlight. “Hello, everyone. My name is Wen Wenxin. Please take care of me.” At that moment, Mingchuan was tidying up his notes. He looked up at the podium and saw a crowd gathered around. He wasn’t particularly fazed; he knew this was perfectly normal. Leaving the classroom, Mingchuan headed to the restroom. His good friend hurried over, excitement in his voice. “Mingchuan, did you see that beauty? I think I’m in love with her!”

Mingchuan responded calmly, “Not really. There were too many people. Is she really that beautiful? Even you, the playboy, are smitten?” “Oh, come on! You must be joking. I’m warning you, she’s sitting next to you now. If you dare to flirt with her, I’ll never forgive you!” With a sudden change in mood, Tianlong stormed off angrily. Mingchuan found this behavior odd. “Does it really matter that much?” he muttered. Tianlong was acting as if he’d been bewitched. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen beautiful girls before—they were all sons of the ‘nobility’ in the East Alliance, after all.

Not long after, as Mingchuan was about to return to class, his childhood friend blocked his way, imitating Tianlong’s earlier tone: “Mingchuan, I’m warning you, you’re not allowed to fall for her!” “Wait a minute—you're doing this too?” Mingchuan quickly grabbed Sihui, still confused, and said, “Tianlong just said the same thing. Sihui, is this really necessary?” “I don’t care. Just remember what I said!” Liu Sihui shook off Mingchuan’s hand and, in a huff, went off to vent her frustrations. Watching Sihui’s odd expression, Mingchuan couldn’t quite keep up with the situation. “Why is everyone acting like this?” he muttered, returning to his seat and absentmindedly going back to his notes.

At that moment, a voice sounded, “Hello, I’m Wen Wenxin. Pleased to meet you!” Mingchuan didn’t react immediately, but replied, “Hello, I’m Lei Mingchuan.” Just as he was about to shake her hand, he was stunned—Tianlong was right; the girl before him was extraordinary. As he tried to withdraw his hand, Wenxin grasped it, her smile unusual. “Mingchuan, was it? I’ll remember that.” He didn’t think much of it—being a member of the Lei family, considered nobility in the East Alliance, he was no stranger to beautiful women. Even if she surpassed the others, Mingchuan was long since used to it. Yet, he couldn’t shake an odd feeling as the second period passed by.

The third period was gym. During the break, he took out his phone, planning to relax with a game. As he was playing the wildly popular “Mech Battle Dynasty,” Wenxin interrupted him, saying, “Are you a fan of this game too?” Mingchuan didn’t want to reply but had to admit, “Yeah, too bad it’s not a VR game.” “But if it were real, Satan would be really hard to beat.” “What’s there to fear? I’ve mastered ‘Knight’ to perfection!”

At that moment, his phone suddenly emitted a blinding flash, enveloping both of them along with the phone itself. Tianlong, who was in the hallway, saw the light, but when he rushed into the classroom, the light had vanished…

------Author’s note------

Edit date: 2019/6/10. I’ve come back to update the story. Yes, I’m alive! The college entrance exam is nothing—I’m not one of those fragile people!