Chapter 89: : The Return Journey

Xiao Lin retracted his gaze and shook his head grimly. “I’m not interested in eating this loach. I think it’s disgusting.”

Department Head Song widened his eyes as he walked over, torn between laughter and tears. “Loach? Please. This little guy in front of you is a genuine dragon!”

“Dragon?” Xiao Lin looked at the slender loach again. His expression seemed to say ‘Don’t lie to me just because I don’t know much.’

“It’s been injected with golden dragon blood.”

“Golden dragon?” Xiao Lin thought of something and suddenly realized, “You attacked the dean’s golden dragon? Don’t worry, I’ll definitely keep it a secret for you after you accompany me to Judge Academy.”

Department Head Song was noncommittal and snorted twice. “Keep it secret my foot! I have an agreement with the dean! Forget it, let’s not talk about this. Speaking of which, it’s time we talk about Judge Academy. What is going on?”

“I have no idea either. When the student union president came to me, I thought it might be some translation job, but his tone makes me feel like it probably isn’t. And that Hank guy from Judge Academy. He asked me to do a cloze test. Feels really weird.” Xiao Lin spread his palms and asked innocently, “That’s why I came here. I wanted to ask you. Don’t you have someone high-up taking care of you? Do you have any inside information?”

Song Junlang looked at Xiao Lin with a scrutinizing gaze and sucked his teeth. “I don’t know for sure. Do you really know Ancient Normese? Did you learn it in the monthly exam?”

“You could say that, but my level isn’t that high. I’m only at level one.”

Department Head Song shook his head. “This is quite the coincidence. In fact, it’s been about half a month since Judge Academy started recruiting people who understand Ancient Normese. They didn’t intend to come to Dawn Academy, but few people in other academies understand this language. In the end, they decided to try everything in desperation and sent someone to ask Dawn Academy. In the end, they really did find what they were looking for.”

Xiao Lin smiled bitterly. “That someone happens to be me… I’m curious though, there’s so many other colonist academies throughout the world aside from Dawn Academy. Couldn’t they find anyone who understands Ancient Normese within the span of a hundred years?”

Song Junlang sat down, fiddled with the golden loach in the pitcher, and explained casually, “First of all, do you understand what Ancient Normese is? Do you know the difference between Ancient Normese and Norma’s common language?”

Xiao Lin recalled every character in Ancient Normese and compared it to Standard Normese; Ancient Normese was obviously more cumbersome, with each character being much more complicated and difficult to understand. He thought about it and replied, “Is it equivalent to the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese?”

Song Junlang nodded approvingly, but shook his head again. “You’ve got it, but the analogy is not entirely correct. The difference between Standard Normese and Ancient Normese is equivalent to simplified Chinese and oracle bone script.”

Xiao Lin was speechless. “Simplified Chinese and oracle bone script is considered Chinese, but there are few who understand simplified Chinese and oracle bone script … I understand what you mean. That means there are few people who understand Ancient Normese?”

Song Junlang pondered for a moment and said, “The history of Ancient Normese’s use on Planet Norma dates back tens of thousands of years. As the years passed, the language has proven to be extremely difficult to use and not at all ubiquitous. Many countries in Planet Norma had gradually abandoned Ancient Normese and adopted a simpler language, now known as Standard Normese. Even so, there are very few countries who still insist on using Ancient Normese.”

“Was the Thunder Kingdom one of them?” Xiao Lin asked.

“Yes. There are fewer and fewer countries using Ancient Normese, and by forty-five N.C., the Thunder Kingdom was the only country in Planet Norma that still used that language. Even so, few Thunder Kingdom people could fluently converse with it. Those who could were only royals or noblemen. After the Thunder Kingdom was destroyed, Judge Academy killed all royalty and noblemen in the kingdom to prevent a possible rebellion, thereby exterminating the fate of Ancient Normese.”

Song Junlang had a bitter expression on his face when he mentioned that. “Who would’ve known that, more than a century later, Judge Academy would have to face such an awkward situation needing Ancient Normese. They’re probably regretting it now and wondering why they didn’t spare a few royals or noblemen in the past.”

As for what Judge Academy wanted, Department Head Song’s hands were tied because Judge Academy would surely classify it as confidential. Song Junlang did not believe that the other party would actually reveal the entire truth to outsiders like them once they arrived at Judge Academy.

If Department Head Song—who knew someone high-up—had no idea what everything was about, it would not be helpful for Xiao Lin to rack his brains over it. Xiao Lin therefore decided to set everything aside. From his personal point of view, his visit to Judge Academy was regarded as an expatriate mission. Other than getting a remuneration, the most important point was that he could finally go to Planet Norma ahead of time to see the New World that they would colonize in the future!

As Xiao Lin thought of that, he was overjoyed and could not help but ask, “Then when can we set off? Are we going straight to the New World?”

Song Junlang shot him a weird smile. “Looks like you still don’t know much about the procedure. We’re going to Judge Academy’s colony in the New World. This is a very complicated process. First thing’s first: we need to return to the Earth and go to America. Then, we must enter Judge Academy’s self-contained space through a certain spatial point on American soil. Only then can we traverse through Judge Academy’s portal and enter their colony.”

Xiao Lin was a little dumbfounded. “That troublesome, huh? Can’t we just go there directly?”

“Each academy has a portal to the New World, but the portal operates by way of fixed-point teleportation. The starting point and the destination cannot be changed.” Department Head Song waved his hand, “America’s colony in the New World doesn’t border ours at all. Of course, we can also enter our own colony first through Dawn Academy’s portal, but then you’d have to take a boat northward for at least a two-to-three-month journey before reaching Judge Academy’s colony. By comparison, returning to Earth first is the quickest way.”

“We’re returning to Earth first?” Xiao Lin suddenly realized that the time ratio between the academy and Earth was 1:2. A month in the academy equaled two months on Earth.

Dawn Academy implemented a strictly sealed-off administration system. Under usual circumstances, no one was allowed to return as and when they pleased. In other words, unless they failed the admissions test and were sent back to Earth, other formal students would not have any opportunity to return for at least one year. It was all clearly written in the freshman code. Although most found it difficult to accept the fact that they were unable to go home for two years, the rules set by the academy would not be changed simply because of their protests.

After leaving the Logistics Department, Xiao Lin’s excitement of going to the New World was somewhat diminished. The thought of his parents, as well as the fact that he was going back to Earth, left Xiao Lin with a gamut of emotions. He felt that he should take the opportunity to go home and have a look at the situation because he did not know when he could return to Earth again if he missed that opportunity.