Chapter 503: Chapter 304: Setting Out

「The next day.」

Dawn had not yet broken, but Huai City had already begun its busy day.

Su Mao got up bright and early to make breakfast for Su Zhi. After eating, Su Zhi and Shao Ya took the subway together to Huai City North Railway Station.

He still remembered the route quite clearly. He recalled taking this very line on his first trip to the Alliance Branch, only to go in the wrong direction and run into Sister Ai... On the subway, Su Zhi reminisced about the past.

When they arrived at the station, the rest of the team had already been waiting in the hall for a while.

Fang Yuan was reading quietly, a rich expression on his face and in his eyes. Katie and Liu Yuhang were arguing about something, their faces red, yet they were clearly joking around. From a distance, Cao Mingyu spotted the familiar face, stood up, and waved, his eyes shining brightly:

"My friend, Su Zhi! I knew you would come! It must be fate that brought us together!"

"Well, it’s mainly because I couldn’t afford to pay my own way..." Su Zhi gave a helpless smile and waved back. "Morning, everyone!"

Just then, Zhou Shengfa walked over from nearby, carrying a large bag full of eggs, sausage, and chocolate.

"Has anyone not eaten breakfast yet? If you haven’t, make sure to grab something. This is going to be a long train ride."

Zhou Shengfa handed out the food, bustling about not like a coach, but more like a doting father who had raised them all since they were children.

Even though Fang Yuan was from another school, he didn’t look out of place in this scene at all.

Su Zhi had already eaten, but the clever Wise One, Yu Bao, accepted the eggs, sausage, and chocolate anyway, just to put Teacher Zhou at ease.

After all, he’s a mutt. He can eat anything.

Yu Bao smacked his lips with relish. With every bite, he made a point of looking at Wu Bao, which made Wu Bao’s antennae tremble with rage. But aside from Yu Dian Dogs, other Pet Beasts couldn’t really handle human food that well...

Su Zhi looked at the departure schedule and sighed. "The trip from Huai City to Beiqu takes almost as long as the trip from Beiqu to Hundred Rivers. We’re still within Shanyou Province, but the transportation is just so terrible."

Huai City never had a proper train station of its own. The so-called Huai City North Railway Station only had a single "green-skin" train line to the provincial capital, Beiqu.

If people from Huai City wanted to travel, they had to first take a train to Beiqu and then transfer to other lines.

In name, Huai City also had an airport, but it was actually very far away, almost in the next city over. When Su Zhi and Shao Ya went to the Alliance Headquarters for summer camp, they had to take a two-hour bus ride just to get to Huai City’s Cui Feng Mountain Airport.

In a modern era of unprecedented material development, the existence of such a city was a spectacle in itself.

"Nothing to be done about it. The whole administration in Shanyou... if you know, you know."

Zhou Shengfa clapped Su Zhi on the shoulder, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Actually, back in the last century, Huai City did have a train station, even a high-speed rail line that went directly to the Alliance Headquarters."

Su Zhi asked in surprise, "My dad mentioned that too. What happened to it?"

"Because Huai City’s pillar industry was coal mining, which itself causes significant pollution. Later, the Boya Alliance submitted a report to the Central Imperial Alliance on the current and projected pollution in Huai City, and the Common Defense Alliance then shut down Huai City’s coal industry.

"Huai City’s economic status declined, and its transportation was affected as a consequence. Many routes that originally led to Huai City were redirected to other cities. It’s really a matter of having a voice. When you grow weak, other cities will naturally come and take what’s yours. If you were in their shoes, you’d most likely do the same thing."

Zhou Shengfa sighed with emotion. "It’s even in things we say all the time, like how Huai City’s education system is behind, how our top students can’t even compete with the average ones from Shanda University Affiliated School... In reality, it all comes down to the economic foundation. If the economy can’t rise, what can?"

Su Zhi nodded, feeling a sense of shared experience.

’Isn’t it the same when you look at the whole country? The entire Shanyou Province seems desolate and insignificant compared to other powerful provinces.’

’And as ’big-city students’ from the provincial capital, it’s no wonder the students from Shanda University Affiliated School act the way they do.’

"So, go out there and do your best! Make Huai City proud!"

Zhou Shengfa patted Su Zhi’s shoulder with a smile.

The train arrived, and the expeditionary team from Huai City boarded in an orderly fashion...

The green-skin train chugged along, stopping and starting, and finally arrived at Beiqu Railway Station in the afternoon.

As the team members got off the train dragging their suitcases, they all felt the thrill of being reborn.

"It doesn’t even have AC! I was suffocating... Is it that hard to hire an Ice Element Pet Beast?"

"The AC is one thing, but I couldn’t stand the smell in there! The auntie across from me just took her shoes off!"

"Okay, okay, stop talking about it..."

The group complained as they walked toward the station exit.

Zhou Shengfa’s gaze shifted, and he immediately spotted a student in a Shanda University Affiliated School uniform not far away.

"You must be Teacher Zhou, correct? Hello, I’m Wang Haokun, the vice-captain of the Shanda University Affiliated School’s tournament team. I’m also the volunteer in charge of greeting the Huai City Team."

Wang Haokun shook hands with Zhou Shengfa while also greeting Su Zhi’s group with a nod. "Your accommodations have been arranged. Please follow me."

"Alright, thank you for your trouble," Zhou Shengfa replied with a smile.

’This student is quite polite,’ he thought, ’unlike that bald donkey, Old Lei.’

Led by Wang Haokun, the group arrived at the hotel next to the Shanda University Affiliated School.

The hotel was tall, but still not as high as the main building of the Shanda University Affiliated School. The view from here was wide and open, offering a direct line of sight to the school’s field and its Battle Hall—the place where students usually trained their Pet Beasts.

As the number one top-tier high school in all of Shanyou Province, Shanda University Affiliated School was a major pillar of industry, even in a city like Beiqu.

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