*** Murong's point of view. ***

It had been a long tire day. My shirt was uncomfortably dirty and wet. The jeans were bloody and tattered. The man who sat in the seat opposite to mine in the pod kept staring at me from time to time with a questioning peek. So, I had just to gaze back at him and pretended to be nothing wrong with me. I sighed…. I really want to be at home, to undress, to get into the shower, and to be where no one can look at me.

After three hours trip, I finally arrived home. I undressed, took my warm shower, and had a late lunch with my little brother, Huilong. Then, I stored my clothes and a couple of extra pencils for my exam tomorrow in my newly obtained space ring and prepared to go back to Zerento city.

One might ask why I would like to go back to Zerento city? The apocalypse seems to be inevitable, and it seems pointless to attend school. Does this make any sense?

Those were good questions, and they actually offered valid arguments. In fact, I wanted to come back to school but not for "school." I would like to meet and talk to my close friends. For some, I knew from my past life that I would not be able to meet them again after graduation.

After disembarking at the Zerento teleportation station, I took a bus and went directly to my dormitory. I unpacked my stuff, had a quiet dinner, and went to bed, expecting to meet all of my friends tomorrow.

Monday morning, 15th Jan 2024. On this day, there was no major incident on the Blue planet. It was just one of many ordinary days. However, for some people, this particular day was a joyful day, the end of semester day. For some people, it was a nightmare, the beginning of final examination days. On this day, the students in my year would take a comprehensive written exam in several fields. Although the exam score would not be used to judge whether that student would pass or fail, it would determine the chance of being selected into high-ranking universities.

I woke up around 6 O'clock in the morning, washed my face, and got dressed. I stumbled down the stairs to the main floor in the dormitory building. After making my way through a few corridors and taking a few turns, I saw a neat, minimal, organized, and silver-chrome cafeteria. It was 7 O'clock, breakfast time, so most people had already come to eat and drink in the cafeteria hall. I was looking around to find my friends and, on one table, I found five of my close friends were having breakfast and watching an election campaign-news brief on "Daily voices," a popular news channel on television.

I bought my breakfast, walked straight to that table, and sat there next to one of my best friends, Liu Wu.

As I sat, they were discussing what they had been watching on television. It was three days before the presential election of Thilon kingdom, located on the continent's west side. Hal Freeman, the reporter, who was clearly sided with the more recent populist party, continued to attack the opposing side.

"Of the two runnings, I am hoping that the old man will defeat this self-centered businessman, Josh Luther." One of my friends, Will Chuke, who was a supporter of Bell Kennegy's party, said.

Continuing watching Josh Luther and Bell Kennegy rallied on television, Will was hit by how large and enthusiastic Luthor's crowds appeared.

"I just don't believe this channel," Will said. Will thought that the mainstream news organizations were biased, and he believed in the theory that I knew some people would find them implausible. He told us before that there were deliberate moves by Luther corporation to bribe all the media and cheat the election results.

I plucked a can of orange juice soda from my breakfast tray, tapping my lips as I contemplated Will's theory. In my previous life, at this very table, I was very skeptical about his theory because money could not buy everything. However, in the future that I knew, Josh Luther won the election. As a newly elected president, he declared the union of Thilon kingdom and Laputa kingdom, adopting the Temple of light as the main religion. I, now, was kind of wonder whether there were any secret assistances from either Laputa kingdom or the Temple of light side?

"Politics aside, Josh Luther was not a bad choice," I observantly thought.

This man carried his kingdom through the apocalypse period magnificently, even his domain was not famous for its military strength. In fact, it ranked the least of all five kingdoms in the continent. Thinking of that, I was glancing at another table located just a few tables away from our table. I saw Elon Luther, the future famous figure and the son of Josh Luther, was talking to Draco Smith, the imminent prime cardinal of Temple of light, nickname "The son of light."  I did not take notice of their interactions before in my previous life, but they seem to be in a good relationship with each other. He, then, gazed around that table and surprisingly found that all other people at that table were the future prominent figures in the continent.

Beginning with that beautiful and sexy-looking lady, sitting next to Draco, Veronica Rambell, she would be the upcoming light healing high priest for Temple of light. Sitting next to her was Alexander Kolovsky, a son of Blackstone city governor. He would be practically the calling shorts in the western part army of Arcadia kingdom, located on the north side of the continent

On another side of the table, Elon was sitting next to two young men. One is Takuya Kimura, the future notorious slave imprint master. After high school graduation, he went back to take care of his dead father's underworld business. When the apocalypse came, not only did he not suffer, but his influence grew at an exponential rate due to his enormous supply and terrifying skill, slave contract.

As for the last one, it was the second young master of Ye's family of Xia kingdom, Ye Shaokui. The Ye family was responsible for annihilating my family in my previous life. I did not feel good toward any of their descendants. I vowed in my heart that, in this life, I would make Ye family suffered.

After a short pondering on the people at Draco's table, I concentrated back on my own table. Even if they were future renowned people, they were not related to me nor my friend. One particular was even a blood enemy.

In my daily life in school, I often hung out with my usual mates, Liu Wu, John Flanigan, Vasily Razalev, Will Chuke, and Aika Miura. Among these five friends, in my past life, I was able to meet two of them again after graduation from school. One of the guys was definitely, of course, Liu Wu. Liu Wu's family was a prominent grain merchant in the Xia kingdom. After the apocalypse, food had become the most valuable asset, and Liu's family influence was expanding at a staggering rate. However, as of now, their family was still small.

Another one was, surprisingly, Vasily Razalev, whose hometown was very far from my hometown. Geographically, we had less chance to meet each other again. I met this young woman again when I fled from the Xia kingdom capital. Her family business was related to hot and cold weapons. Her family sheltered both me and my uncle, Chen Fang, when we were in Arcadia kingdom.

As for the others, I had never heard a piece of news about Aika, and it was as if she mysteriously disappeared. And by the time I heard the news about Will and John, unfortunately, they had long been dead.

In Blue planet's education system, after the children finishing their high school courses, they had to take the final comprehensive examination. After that, they would have to obtain the working experience, usually with the student's family, and write a report. Then, they would have to prepare their statement of purpose, working report, family's profile, three letters of recommendation, together with the final comprehensive examination score as the university admission package and submit it in August. The university would make a decision and announce the admission result in December. All students would begin their next university classes in January next year

In this life, I planned to invite them to visit my family during the transition break in September. I could try to improve their skills at that time. Then, in this life, all of them would have a higher chance to be alive and well.

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Author's note

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Single Hamster