Chapter 20: Once you finish learning, I will let you out

On the other side, Lin Zhen and Yun Ruoxi’s experiences were strikingly similar.

Growing up on a garbage planet, Lin Zhen was encountering the Virtual Network for the first time.

Curious, he poked around here and there, but once he heard that his study progress was already behind, he hurriedly fumbled to click into the course list.

“Laughing my ass off, the first day of training and people are already competing.”

“You have to, or you’ll get zapped for falling behind! What would you do if it were you?”

[[Virtual space! I really want to play a holographic game! Current VR is still too disappointing…….. When will I finally get to play a fully immersive virtual game like Sword Art Online?]]

“Next life, brother, or just turn right when you go out and find Master Dayun.”

The first-year curriculum in the War Camp was downright insane.

From basic sciences to stellar energy theory, from spaceship operation to assassination skills, it was clear they wanted to train them into all-round talents.

Putting aside the War Camp’s sinister motives, the teaching resources here were indeed top-notch.

They were on par with most Cosmic Academies.

After all, in the original story, Lin Zhen was able to transform from a scavenger kid on a garbage planet into a powerful and knowledgeable all-around star energy user in just three years.

The War Camp’s training system was largely responsible for that.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Yun Ruoxi opened the course list arranged by her Personal AI and nearly fainted at the sight.

【From 0 to 1, from Enlightenment Mathematics to Cosmic Mathematics】

【Forty-eight Spaceship Operation Manuals】

【Principles and Maintenance Methods of Common Cosmic Airships】

【Introduction to Faster-than-Light Engine Principles】

【Fundamentals of Star Energy Users】

【One Hundred Close Combat Assassination Techniques】

【Common Thermal Weapons Usage and Maintenance】

【Analysis of Common Alien Species’ Physiological Structures】

Good, very good.

Was this really content that could be learned in a month?

Granted, thanks to rapid advances in biotechnology, humans in the interstellar era generally had 40% higher intelligence than those in Earth’s era.

Yun Ruoxi had already finished university-level advanced math back in elementary school.

But the War Camp’s course load was just absurd!

Even so, compressing the knowledge equivalent to “high school” or “university” into a month’s time?

“No, no, the War Camp isn’t crazy. With such high requirements, these randomly kidnapped kids definitely won’t be able to finish.”

Yun Ruoxi calmed down and began recalling the plot outline.

She quickly found a brief sentence among the few thousand words:

【Under the War Camp’s unique learning technology, all trainees quickly adapt to the high-difficulty courses.】

“Wait, what does this War Camp’s unique learning technology mean?”

As if by tacit understanding, Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen simultaneously clicked on the first course.

The camera precisely captured this moment of synchronicity, splitting the screen in two.

The moment they clicked, a black light rushed in from afar, blotting out the starry background.

The scene then switched to a white classroom.

A pig-headed teacher in a suit and tie stood at the podium.

Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen sat in the classroom’s only chairs—metal seats that looked more like torture devices than desks.

The pig-headed teacher pushed up his glasses and picked up a piece of chalk.

“Hello, students. I am a Porcine Starfolk, ranked third in average IQ among cosmic species, and your math teacher. I will now guide you to appreciate the charm of mathematics.”

“First, I need to assess your math level to help design an accelerated learning plan.”

“Rest assured, this virtual space is equipped with a Subconscious Amplifier that hypnotizes your brain, allowing you to enter a deep subconscious state where you can learn at hundreds of times the normal time speed.”

“What the heck is a Porcine Starfolk! Pigs are actually this smart?”

“Pig-headed teacher… I can’t help but suspect this is the production team’s sick joke.”

[“About How My Math Teacher Really Is a Pig-Head”]

“This chair looks like a torture device…”

“Wait, hundreds of times the time speed?” Yun Ruoxi couldn’t help blurting out.

In commercial virtual games, time speed was generally doubled at most, rarely tripled.

But the War Camp actually had this absurd black technology that could amplify internal and external time flow by hundreds of times?

As a noble child of the Empire, she had never even heard of this technology.

Could it be some top-secret experimental technology that accidentally leaked and was seized by the War Camp?

So this unique War Camp learning technology was really just that?

It was terrifying.

She already had a bad feeling.

“Don’t worry. The difficulty of this course is extremely low, and it guarantees mastery. The current pass rate is as high as 99%.”

The Porcine Starfolk teacher smiled professionally, “If you don’t reach the learning goal, I won’t let you leave.”

Yun Ruoxi was so shocked by this that she almost lost control of her expression. She also realized there was a camera on her again.

Looks like all her hard acting last episode wasn’t for nothing. Her screen time really had increased.

“Really can’t leave if you don’t finish?” She timidly shrugged, and even the tuft of hair sticking up on her head drooped in fright.

“What about that unfinished 1%?”

“As long as you complete the phase objectives, of course you’ll be allowed out. The 1% is those who still haven’t learned by the end of the allotted time.”

The Porcine Starfolk teacher waved his right hand, and a thick mountain of test papers appeared on the desks in front of the shocked Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen.

“My god, a super ultra time cage!”

“This reminds me of a novel where the protagonist got a system, thought they could level up, but instead got locked in a tiny black room forced to study to the death.”

“Only after learning everything would the related memories be erased and they’d be released. It’s remarkably similar to ‘Starlight’!”

“Hey upstairs, what’s the name of that novel? Curious.JPG”

“Bookmarking”

“Scared, this failing student is already trembling”

[Did you see Xiao Xi and Lin Zhen’s expressions? So funny. One’s hair tuft was shaking in fear, the other’s teeth were chattering.]

“After all, they’re still kids. No matter how mature the protagonist looks, they’re still scared of studying.”

But the comments were wrong this time. Lin Zhen was a bit scared at first, but that fear was quickly replaced by a faint excitement.

Growing up on a garbage planet, he always dreamed of standing out and giving his grandparents a better life.

On the garbage planet, besides joining a gang or gambling on becoming a star energy user, the only way to stand out was through study—achieving excellent grades and getting into a Cosmic Academy somewhere.

But as a scavenger, the knowledge Lin Zhen could access was almost entirely outdated and basic.

Anything slightly advanced was completely inaccessible to him.

Yet even so, he had taught himself basic artificial intelligence.

Now, so many advanced and profound lessons lay before him—it was like throwing a starving rat into a granary.

The outcome was obvious.