Chapter 81 - Spreading Shadows
Mai Dongzi saw that the portrayal of General Mai Dongzi in various adaptations, whether in writing or film, as either a strict instructor or as having romantic entanglements with teammates, made her mouth twitch uncontrollably.
Her instructors were all incredibly fierce and intimidating, and they were seriously frightening. Their daily training motto was to push you to your limits as long as you didn’t die. Every trainee was exhausted to the point of feeling like a dog, and their biggest dream was simply to get a good night’s sleep.
The instructors, who were even scarier than the head instructor, had been Mai Dongzi’s nightmare since she started military school. Unless she was a masochist, she wouldn’t have any romantic notions about nightmares.
Moreover, and most importantly, the instructors were all veterans in their forties or fifties. Those younger and handsome figures were their comrades, not the instructors.
And comrades, they are people who transcend gender completely and can be compared to one’s own siblings. Gender distinctions don’t even apply; there is no such thing as a romantic relationships between them.
Every time Mai Dongzi returned from a secret mission, she would not want to see her comrades for several days, especially when some of them never returned.
After reading these things, the storm in Mai Dongzi’s mind gradually calmed down.
This General Mai Dongzi from the end of the century had many similarities to her past life, but she was not the same person.
Because her younger brother had sacrificed himself a month earlier, the only ones who ended up on the spaceship were Mai Dongzi’s father and her eleven-year-old cousin.
Although it has nothing to do with her past life, after turning off the light brain, Mai Dongzi, who originally wanted to rest, found herself unable to sleep at all. She ended up getting up to practice until she was exhausted and fell asleep.
Since General Su decided to take Mai Dongzi as a student, Su’s bodyguards have paid even more attention to her. Seeing how hard this child was working, they privately praised General Su.
When Mai Dongzi met General Su again, it was in the number one transmission training room of the Special Talent Training Center.
Aside from her residence and the cafeteria, Mai Dongzi had never entered the building of the training center, but she had “observed” it with her mental power and knew the general layout.
Apart from the five trainees and five support staff, the entire training center was empty, far less grandiose than Mai Dongzi had imagined.
In summary, Mai Dongzi felt that this training center was a place where the Empire provided various materials and training facilities for top genius youths free of charge.
Although Mai Dongzi has not spent a single credit since moving in here, the costs of using the training rooms, the daily supply of energy potions for training, and the natural food for two meals a day alone require at least 10,000 to 20,000 credits daily.
This is without considering the cost of mecha training. If she, like the other four trainees, spends most of her time practicing with mecha, the daily expenses would increase by another 10,000 credits.
Such a large expense is not something an ordinary family could bear, let alone the Xie family sustaining such costs for an elite disciple over an extended period.
However, the most important aspect is that trainees entering this training center have access to the top instructors.
For example, for Mai Dongzi, if she hadn’t been specially recruited into the Special Talent Training Center, even with Prince Arthur’s influence, it would have been impossible to have General Su as her exclusive instructor.
As for taking on disciples, that is a matter between the instructor and the trainee. As long as the trainee voluntarily wishes to become the instructor’s disciple, the training center’s supervisors do not interfere.
Of course, if it’s not voluntary, that’s a different matter. In any case, the highest authority in the training center is His Majesty the King. Mai Dongzi feels that the various regulations in the training center are all geared towards protecting the interests of the trainees.
Therefore, even though she had only been living there for a few days, she felt very comfortable in this place and decided that, unless she had to go to school, she would continue living and training there in the future.
Since the Imperial University was about to start, General Su did not arrange any additional training for Mai Dongzi. In their daily calls, he only provided guidance on her mental meditation techniques and basic physical training.
Two days after Mai Dongzi reported to General Su that she would be registering at the Imperial University, she was summoned to the transmission room on the third floor of the training building.
It seemed that the C07 staff member had also received the message from General Su. After Mai Dongzi left her residence, she saw C07.
When she saw the words “Transmission Room” hanging at the entrance of the training room, Mai Dongzi was momentarily confused, as her instinct led her to think of a movie room. However, this world didn’t have movie rooms like those from her previous life.
This transmission room required scanning C07’s face before the door would open. After C07 entered and checked the room, Mai Dongzi followed C07 inside.
C07 then scanned his face on the terminal in the training room, which activated all the equipment in the room.
After completing these tasks, C07 said to Mai Dongzi, “I’ve activated remote transmission. Once General Su’s side is synchronized, you’ll see him suddenly appear next to you, but it’s not the real person; it’s a transmission.”
The original occupant only knew about projection but not transmission, and Mai Dongzi knew even less. As she was about to ask for clarification, she saw General Su suddenly appear in front of her.
If it weren’t for C07’s prior explanation and her own keen observation, Mai Dongzi would have thought General Su was actually present. She could feel the presence and aura of General Su, something that projection alone could not achieve.
Projection is merely a three-dimensional simulated video, which clearly shows light combined into images.
However, transmission is different. General Su appeared as if he were a real person, and Mai Dongzi could even feel the aura and pressure from him.
General Su might have been very busy, as he said little and immediately had Mai Dongzi practice the combat techniques she had been training in for the past few days.
During the practice, Mai Dongzi could feel General Su’s gaze on her and his satisfaction with her performance after she finished.
Then, General Su sparred with Mai Dongzi. She experienced the same pain from the punches landing on her as she had during their previous battle.
This time, General Su seemed to be sparring without holding back, using absolute strength to keep Mai Dongzi under constant pressure, attacking her more and more fiercely.
General Su continued this relentless assault until Mai Dongzi’s right forearm and left thigh were fractured. Even then, she stubbornly held on and did not fall. Only then did General Su stop, saying, “Not bad, keep up the hard work.”
Then, like when he arrived, General Su disappeared into thin air, and the protective shield that had been activated during their sparring vanished as well.
Almost simultaneously, Mai Dongzi noticed that the pain from being beaten by General Su had suddenly disappeared. She tentatively moved her fractured right forearm and discovered that it was no longer broken.
Although the pain wasn’t real, the physical exhaustion that Mai Dongzi felt was very much real.
What kind of advanced technology is this? Mai Dongzi looked at C07 with astonishment.
“This is the latest holographic projection technology developed by the Research Institute. There are only a few of these projection rooms in the entire Blue-Black Empire,” C07 said proudly.