NOVEL NEXT Chapter 74 - The Club
It takes about 20 minutes to reach the Special Talent Training Center from the Xi family’s entrance by flying car.
At first, Mai Dongzi sat with an awkward, countryside demeanor, pressing against the car window and looking outside. However, she soon turned back and started using her optical brain.
The flying car moved quickly, and once it left the Xi family’s Second Ring Road, the streets were lined with grayish-white buildings, offering no scenic value. Without engaging with her optical brain, she would have had to sit there in idle contemplation.
The Xi family’s location is relatively close to the palace, on the Second Ring Road.
The central palace is self-explanatory. The Second Ring Road is divided among the ten major families, making it inaccessible to others, and the scenery here is quite beautiful.
The emerging second-tier families and high-ranking officials occupy the Third Ring Road. Due to the high population and limited space, the buildings are all high-rises.
The Fourth Ring Road is home to wealthy businessmen, high-ranking officials, and third-tier families. From the Fifth Ring Road onward, it’s where the general populace resides.
While the Seventh Ring Road isn’t exactly a slum, it’s populated by lower-income individuals. Although these people receive social welfare benefits and aren’t lacking in basic necessities, their living conditions are merely adequate.
The Special Talent Training Center is located in the outermost Eighth Ring Road. Despite being a newly developed area on the city’s edge, it is guarded by the military, making the environment safer compared to the somewhat dirty and chaotic Seventh Ring Road.
The Eighth Ring Road is vast and does not have ordinary residents. Instead, it is filled with numerous large clubs, most of which are various training and cultivation centers. Among them, the most prominent is the Mecha Training Center.
The Mecha Training Center is clearly official; it covers an area of over ten thousand square meters. As the flying car passed by, Mai Dongzi saw many mechas flying in the air, some undergoing basic training and others engaged in combat.
Seeing mecha combat for the first time, Mai Dongzi almost pressed her face against the transparent window of the flying car.
At this moment, there were only two of them in the car, so Bodyguard Su said with a smile, “Miss Xi, since you are now over 18, mecha training will become one of your compulsory courses.”
“But I don’t have a mecha,” Mai Dongzi thought about her custom mecha.
Due to her advancement in cultivation, all the data for her mecha needs to be reconfigured, so it will take another ten days for her to receive it.
“Beginners like you will train using standardized mechas during practice. Private mechas can only be used after you complete the corresponding assessments,” Bodyguard Su said.
Generally, the state does not support individuals under 18 driving mechas, so most mecha pilots start their training only after entering university.
The Special Talent Training Center is right next to the Mecha Training Center. From the outside, the architectural styles of the two training centers are quite similar, clearly indicating that their management comes from the same source.
The Special Talent Training Center is also quite large, covering around 5,000 square meters. The two mechanical guards at the entrance are obviously military-grade robots.
As usual, they first scanned and confirmed their identities. Bodyguard Su’s credentials had been pre-registered, but Maidongzi still needed to sign a guarantee form before the gate to the Special Talent Training Center finally opened for them.
As soon as Mai Dongzi walked through the gate, a middle-aged man who was clearly a staff member greeted her. With a friendly smile, he said, “Miss Xi, I’m the logistics staff here. You can call me C07. In this center, we refer to each other by numbers; your number is S111.”
C07 briefly introduced Mai Dongzi to the center’s current situation. The training center only accepts young prodigies aged 15 to 22 with a cultivation potential of 2S or higher. Currently, there are seven trainees in the center.
“The center provides natural food for lunch and dinner each day. You can go to the cafeteria at mealtimes, but bodyguards need to bring their own food,” C07 said.
“S111, your instructor is Instructor Fang Wenli. She is currently busy with official duties and will arrive at the training center in about half an hour. In the meantime, you and your bodyguard should get settled into your quarters. I’ll inform you as soon as Instructor Fang arrives,” C07 said.
The trainees’ quarters are not far from the entrance; it only takes about two minutes on foot.
The accommodations are a row of small villas, which are more spacious than Mai Dongzi’s residence at the Xi family home. Each villa is two stories: bedrooms are on the upper floor and training rooms are on the lower floor.
After C07 left, Bodyguard Su inspected the villa thoroughly to ensure there were no security risks before stopping.
“Sister Su, do you know what kind of person Instructor Fang Wenli is?” Mai Dongzi asked.
When Mai Dongzi heard that the instructor’s surname was Su from C07, she instinctively looked at Bodyguard Su and noticed her slightly distorted expression.
“She’s my cousin,” Bodyguard Su said without hiding it. “Prince Arthur must have put in a lot of effort to get her to be your instructor.”
Hearing this, Mai Dongzi became intrigued.
“My cousin is not only a Level 9 Psychic Ability user but also a Level 7 Warrior. She is the Commander of the Third Army Group of the Central Star Region and holds the rank of General.”
Bodyguard Su’s tone was calm, which made her words seem even more impressive.
Although Mai Dongzi had expected her instructor to be formidable, she hadn’t anticipated someone of such a high rank.
“With my cousin’s temperament, even if she agreed to be your instructor, if you don’t earn her recognition, she might just walk away. However, if you do gain her approval, the benefits will be immense.”
“It sounds like gaining her recognition isn’t easy.”
“She is the only female general in the Blue Black Empire who has been promoted to General through merit. All her subordinates obey her, and one reason is that she’s beaten them into submission,” Bodyguard Su said in a tone that was almost numb, highlighting her cousin’s achievements.
Mai Dongzi felt that Bodyguard Su had likely grown up overshadowed by her cousin, which might explain her current numb and affected demeanor.
Mai Dongzi would soon understand why Bodyguard Su seemed so emotionally impacted when talking about her cousin.
The training center usually has a training building where instructors conduct training sessions.
However, when General Su arrived, she did not call for Mai Dongzi but went directly into the villa where Mai Dongzi was staying.
When Mai Dongzi heard C07 calling out that General Su had arrived, she quickly jumped up from the sofa, intending to greet the high-ranking official. However, she was immediately immobilized by powerful pressure.
The living room door then opened by itself. Facing the door, Mai Dongzi saw a middle-aged female general in a black military uniform, who was petite and slim but exuded a commanding presence.
At the gate, C07, guiding the way, was holding onto the door frame, appearing as though he had been severely battered and could hardly stand.