Chapter 00054: Junior Lieutenant Commander
# Junior Lieutenant Commander
Chapter 54
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 54: Junior Lieutenant Commander
After Ke’er left with Gu Dao, Lan Xiaobu immediately took out the wooden box. This wooden box had originally been obtained from Cheng Jianjie and had always been impossible to open. Now that he had divine sense, he wanted to try once more to see if this wooden box could be opened with his divine sense.
Lan Xiaobu's divine sense penetrated into the wooden box, and he immediately sensed something different. Previously, when his divine sense penetrated into a storage ring, it was blocked by a layer of grayish substance. After refining that layer of gray substance, the ring completely became his, truly a spatial ring.
At this moment, as his divine sense penetrated into the wooden box, he felt as if his divine sense had sunk into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
Lan Xiaobu was extremely excited; he knew that this wooden box was definitely a treasure. If it were an ordinary item, he could see what was inside just by penetrating with his divine sense. Even a stone would reveal its internal structure clearly to him.
However, with this wooden box, he sensed nothing at all, which was the biggest surprise.
Lan Xiaobu tried repeatedly, also attempting to refine it by tearing with his divine sense, but it was all in vain. He only knew that this wooden box was a treasure, but he could not claim it for himself.
After trying for a whole day, Lan Xiaobu decided to put the wooden box down for now and focus on cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique to the second stage before trying again.
...
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Lan Xiaobu was frantically cultivating the Spirit Refining Technique, but he was still just a little bit away from reaching the second stage. Meanwhile, Gu Dao was getting along famously with Ke’er. Although the Vital Core Element Elixir was good, for a wolf cub, meat was the real treasure.
In just over ten days, Gu Dao had noticeably grown taller.
With no progress in the Spirit Refining Technique, the reporting time had arrived. Lan Xiaobu took Gu Dao and drove their flying saucer to report to the Star Expedition Army.
Lan Xiaobu had no idea how many people were in the Star Expedition Army, but the number of flying saucers and spaceships around the base of the Star Expedition Army far exceeded that of other places. From a distance, it was a dense cluster of various battle discs and spaceships...
After parking the flying saucer, Gu Dao was still left behind by Lan Xiaobu in Kunlun.
From a long distance away, the two saw the large characters of the Star Expedition Army's reporting area. Compared to the recruitment office on True Promise Star, the reporting hall of the Star Expedition Army appeared even more grand and luxurious.
"Why are there so many people?" Lan Xiaobu was somewhat surprised as he entered the hall, noticing at least over two thousand people inside. Fortunately, this hall was indeed spacious; the two thousand people not only did not seem crowded but instead made the hall feel even more expansive.
Ke’er casually said, "What’s so many people? I heard that at its peak, there were tens of thousands entering this hall at once. Sometimes, when a planet collapses, even over a hundred thousand would flood in here."
"How strong is the Star Expedition Army? If they recruit tens of thousands every so often, then..." Lan Xiaobu thought to himself, even if they recruited every few months, that would mean several hundred thousand a year.
Ke’er sighed, "The regular forces of the Star Expedition Army are generally around five million. Don't be fooled by the large numbers recruited each year; in reality, less than one-tenth of them can stay."
"Why?" Lan Xiaobu was even more confused.
A voice came from the side, "Because there is a preparatory period for recruits entering the Star Expedition Army. During this time, many of the recruits will be sent out to fight or undertake various missions, and only half of them will survive. Of those who survive, a significant portion will choose to retire. Because once you join the Star Expedition Army, you gain permanent residency status on True Promise Star after retirement. Many people join not because they want to serve but for that permanent residency status. Other armies don’t offer such benefits..."
It was A Xu who had just walked over speaking.
"A Xu, Qin Yue, hello." Lan Xiaobu recognized that it was A Xu and Qin Yue coming over, as they had agreed to meet here.
"Hello, we’ve been waiting for you for a while. Why did you take so long? We should discuss how to stay in the same squad," A Xu said bluntly.
But Lan Xiaobu asked, "I heard Ke’er say that as long as you hand over a battle disc, you can become a citizen of True Promise Star. Why are there still people choosing to join the Star Expedition Army? And since we are new recruits, do we have to fight or undertake missions?"
"Naive. Citizens of True Promise Star are also divided into ranks. Those who come from other planets without a background are basically low-ranking citizens, and low-ranking citizens have no rights. If a True Promise Star citizen kills you, you deserve it, regardless of right or wrong. Moreover, low-ranking citizens have to pay a high landing tax and can only apply for low-level servitude positions. They can’t participate in any upper-level gatherings or purchase independent properties..." A Xu said disdainfully, "You are applying to join the Star Expedition Army. If you don’t get in, just try leaving the recruitment office of True Promise Star and you’ll know what it means to be stuck. At that point, aside from servitude, your only option is to leave True Promise Star. We are all new recruits now; new recruits must fight or undertake missions. No one can be an exception."
Lan Xiaobu fell silent. Even the remnants of a fallen nation had nowhere to go, let alone the remnants of a fallen star. He looked at Ke’er, who clearly hadn’t thought that far. He probably had already been accepted into the Star Expedition Army, and it seemed A Xu's words didn't weigh heavily on him.
Seeing Lan Xiaobu and Ke’er silent, A Xu continued, "Since the four of us have decided to stick together, we need to choose a leader. I choose Qin Yue; she is the princess of the Luota Empire on Blue Asia Star. Although she has fallen, her status and identity still remain."
"Qin Yue is a princess of the Luota Empire?" Ke’er widened his eyes in shock, staring at Qin Yue. Although Blue Asia Star was a Level-1 Technological Civilization Planet, the position of the Luota Empire on Blue Asia Star was essentially equivalent to that of the Hanlan Empire on True Promise Star.
Lan Xiaobu said lightly, "We’re not comparing statuses; joining the army means risking our lives."
He didn’t bother to elaborate further; everyone understood. Qin Yue could be a good friend, but she absolutely could not be the leader. If Lan Xiaobu had not known how deadly the Star Expedition Army could be, he wouldn’t have cared. A Xu had already mentioned that once you joined the Star Expedition Army, you could die at any time. Not to mention, new recruits had to fight and undertake missions. In such dangerous circumstances, he naturally wouldn’t agree to have someone like Qin Yue, who clearly lacked leadership abilities, as the leader.
"What do you mean?" A Xu jumped up, ready to explode.
Ke’er snapped back to his senses from the mention of the Luota Empire princess and quickly said, "I think it’s better for Xiaobu to lead us. Xiaobu has strength, and..."
Ke’er hurriedly stopped himself, almost revealing that Lan Xiaobu could cheat in the recruitment assessment of the Star Expedition Army.
"A Xu, my personality really isn’t suited for leading everyone. I think Brother Xiaobu can be our leader," Qin Yue quickly interjected, worried that A Xu would say something more.
A Xu scoffed, "True Promise Star is a Level-2 Technological Civilization Planet, and here, technology knowledge is highly valued. Qin Yue scored seventy in the first round of assessments; do you two even have fifty? I heard that a score of forty is enough to pass the first round."
She herself had scored sixty, which was the minimum passing score for the cosmic information collection and analysis recruitment. She believed that neither Lan Xiaobu nor Ke’er could score more than fifty at most. A score of seventy was definitely a rare achievement, and neither Lan Xiaobu nor Ke’er came from royal backgrounds, so they wouldn’t have been exposed to many top-tier subjects. If they hadn’t even been exposed to top-tier knowledge, how could they score high?
Ke’er chuckled, proudly saying, "Sorry, I scored sixty. Xiaobu scored eighty; isn’t that surprising?"
Eighty? Not only was A Xu stunned, but even Qin Yue looked at Lan Xiaobu in shock. Many of the questions exceeded the knowledge range of Blue Asia Star, and if she weren’t from the royal family, she definitely wouldn’t have scored seventy. Scoring eighty was more than just outstanding!
Before Qin Yue and the others could say anything further, the broadcast sounded, "All soldiers who have been recruited by the Star Expedition Army, please line up within fifteen minutes. No whispering or wandering around is allowed."
The people standing in the hall clearly knew the rules. After the announcement, the chaotic crowd quickly formed lines on their own.
Despite not having trained, the two thousand people quickly lined up into dozens of rows.
A man dressed in black military uniform walked to the front of the line and loudly said, "I am Zhan Tao from the Star Expedition Army's Preparatory Military Department. I am responsible for this new batch of recruits. Now, soldiers holding orange recruitment badges, please step forward."
From the thousands in the crowd, some people gradually stepped out and walked to the front.
"If only I had an orange recruitment badge too, then I could freely choose my subordinates," Ke’er said enviously as he watched those who stepped forward. His recruitment badge was white, one level lower than orange, which was the lowest rank.
Lan Xiaobu took out an orange recruitment badge and said, "I have this too. I’ll go out first and come back later."
"Ah... Xiaobu, you really are hiding your talents deep," Ke’er exclaimed in surprise as he looked at Lan Xiaobu. He hadn’t expected Lan Xiaobu to have an orange recruitment badge; anyone who had one was a Junior Lieutenant Commander.
Lan Xiaobu patted Ke’er on the shoulder and walked out.
A Xu was also left with her mouth half-open, and once Lan Xiaobu was far away, she scoffed, "Now that you have an orange recruitment badge, why were you talking so much before?"
A Xu suspected that Lan Xiaobu had done it on purpose. At that time, she said they needed a leader; as long as Lan Xiaobu took out the orange recruitment badge, wouldn’t that suffice? Yet he chose to say all that nonsense, making her argue for half the time.
(Today’s update ends here, good night, friends!)
(End of this chapter)