Chapter 325 - 301: Why Do I Still Encounter This Kind of Thing After Transmigrating?

Chapter 325: Chapter 301: Why Do I Still Encounter This Kind of Thing After Transmigrating?

A few minutes later, while strolling aimlessly, Lloyd felt an intense fluctuation of Spiritual Charm in the air. If he wasn’t mistaken, it must be the two professors settling their academic dispute.

Sigh... ’This Mizkatoke place is great and all, but the academic culture is a bit... excessively rustic...’

’The Dean doesn’t even care?’

Lloyd couldn’t help but complain inwardly.

’I wonder which of the two professors will win?’

’Theoretically, the combat power of [Twist] should be quite strong. Professor Lawrence probably won’t come out on top, will he?’

Sigh... ’He’s actually a pretty nice guy.’

As Lloyd was pondering the professors’ academic dispute, he suddenly felt the shrunken freshman handbook—or rather, student handbook—in his pocket vibrate slightly, just like a phone receiving a text message.

He quickly took it out and glanced at it.

Sure enough, there was a message from Professor Hazled:

"Didn’t lose!"

’Eh?’

Before Lloyd could figure out how to reply, a second message arrived:

"We will further negotiate your department placement. Just wait a bit. Hmm... use this time to familiarize yourself with the environment here, but remember not to wander into dangerous areas! You should also read the student handbook more; it has a lot of useful information...

Oh, right, remember to read the [Book of Truth] more often! It’ll be a great benefit to you!

And also, if you’re not married and haven’t had children yet, hurry up! Don’t go looking for those random women outside; they aren’t suitable for you. And don’t pin your hopes on Hildina; she will only bring you misfortune."

The second message contained so much information that Lloyd was left completely bewildered and confused...

He also detected a hint of insanity in it...

’Is the Mizikatok Asylum truly living up to its name?’

’As a normal person, it seems I don’t fit in with them at all, do I?’

Lloyd found it all rather amusing. Feeling a bit tired from wandering, he found a bench by the roadside and sat down. He then followed Professor Hazled’s advice and began leafing through the student handbook again.

He even deliberately struck a pose—slightly elegant and melancholic, like a young literary man—perhaps hoping to attract a beautiful senior passing by.

...

Meanwhile, in the Space Laboratory, Professor Lawrence was stepping out of a Teleportation Gate. He looked disheveled and rather pathetic.

His Mage’s Robe was dirty and tattered. His large, pointed domed hat was riddled with holes, revealing a few strands of scorched hair that were still faintly smoldering.

Even his once-neat goatee was missing a few strands, as if someone had plucked them out.

In any case, he didn’t look like he had just settled an academic dispute, but more like he had taken part in a street brawl with ruffians and gangsters.

The moment Professor Lawrence landed, he started cursing in frustration:

"Damn it! I fell into that old bastard Dean’s ambush!"

Then, he coughed lightly twice and added defensively:

"Ahem~ But luckily, I knew it would try to pull some tricks on me, so I was prepared. In the end, I didn’t lose!"

"Uh... so what exactly was the dispute between you two about?"

Dandy, a researcher standing nearby, asked out of curiosity.

"The Dean wants Lloyd to join the [Twist] discipline over in the Extraordinary System."

As soon as he said this, it caused a huge uproar in the laboratory. The researchers present immediately started chattering like they’d just heard some major news:

"Huh? Twist? Isn’t that the discipline with zero students?"

"That’s right, it’s the one that was explicitly not advised or recommended in the fourteen [Survival Tips], right? It seems like no one chooses it. I heard it’s not even a system humans can dabble in."

"It’s not that no one chooses it. I heard some brave souls who refused to believe the warnings tried it. In the end, they either checked into a mental hospital or went off to ’build Mizkatoke’..."

"I remember the tower where that discipline is located is in the most remote corner, right?"

"Huh? Are you talking about the ’Tower in the Corner’ over in the Extraordinary District? Damn it! That’s not just a matter of being on the edge or in a corner, that place is a full-blown danger zone! And it’s at the level of a ’campus legend’!"

"Whaaa???"

"What are you so surprised about? The student handbook has ghost stories about that place. Haven’t you read them?"

"Well... I usually only read the sweet romance stories..."

"Aren’t you guys missing the point? Does no one care why the [Twist] discipline even exists? It’s so dangerous, has no students, and surely no teachers or professors. Its teaching area has even become a ’campus legend,’ so why hasn’t it been shut down?"

"Huh? Wait! I just looked it up. A new professor suddenly appeared for that discipline, named Hazled..."

"Isn’t that the Dean himself?"

"Exactly, so what’s going on? Why would the Dean suddenly step in personally? And will it really teach students?"

"I doubt it. It’s probably because the Dean is jealous that our Space System just got a super genius, so it’s trying to sabotage us. If it throws that Lloyd kid into the [Twist] discipline, he’ll probably die a quiet death in there before long..."

"So, Professor Lawrence, how will this be handled in the end?"

After their discussion, the researchers all focused their gazes on the old professor.

But the old professor had a dazed look on his face, and there was even a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. It was only when he noticed everyone staring that he quickly composed himself and replied:

"Let me think about it first. In any case, we will not give up on Lloyd. We might just have to make some compromises and concessions. After all, I can feel that the Dean’s attitude this time is also very serious..."

"Whoa? A serious Dean? It can actually be serious? I thought it just spent all day tormenting students..."

"A serious Dean... I feel like this could already be recorded as a new campus legend."

"You guys should show the Dean a little respect. If it gets unhappy one day, it’ll start putting up those ugly statues and buildings everywhere again..."

Seeing them about to start chattering again, the old professor quickly waved his hand to maintain Order:

"Alright, alright, this isn’t something you should be worrying about. Continue with your research projects."

With that, he put down his own project, swiped open another Teleportation Gate, and stepped through, returning to the somewhat spartan office from before.

While changing his clothes, he couldn’t help but reveal that same gratified smile from earlier.

’It’s been so long since I’ve seen such a vibrant atmosphere. The last time I saw students chattering like this was when I was still young...’

’Research requires rigor and seriousness, but I always feel they’re wound too tight sometimes, to the dangerous point where they can’t withstand the slightest psychological shock. But thankfully, Lloyd’s sudden appearance has brought about some positive changes.’

’[Twist]... Could it really be a new direction for the Space System, just as that old bastard said?’

’But with what little Rationality and logical judgment it has left, can it really reach a credible conclusion? Even with the support of its star pupil, Hildina, I still find it hard to believe.’

’But Space has now hit a bottleneck and stagnated. We urgently need a new path to break through. This humanoid youth named Lloyd... in him, I can vaguely see that new direction we need...’

’But will that be [Twist]?

’Should I trust Hazled?’

Professor Lawrence rambled on and on like a mental patient.

Eventually, he fell silent, having reached no specific conclusion.

Although to the students outside, it might have seemed like a simple matter of choosing a discipline, not something worth such distress.

But only he, the Dean, and even the Saint who supported the Dean, could realize that this choice might determine the future course of human civilization...

And so, Professor Lawrence sat blankly in his office for a very, very long time, as if he had turned into a statue.

...

Meanwhile, Lloyd was having the time of his life, completely engrossed and forgetting everything else.

He never would have imagined that this student handbook could be so much fun, like it had opened up a whole new world.

The main thing was the rather inconspicuous ’message board’ section, which turned out to be structured like the various internet forums from Earth. It was filled with all kinds of posts, chats, and many fascinating stories.

For example—

*Ten Years in Mizkatoke, and It’s Finally My Turn*

Lloyd had assumed it was some kind of inspirational story, but upon clicking it, he discovered it was about a scholar who, after ten years, found out that his two children were not biologically his...

The heartache and pain were perfectly captured in his writing, making readers want to laugh and sympathize at the same time.

Another example—

*I Think I’ve Fallen for a Senior from the Medical System. What Should I Do?*

The protagonist was a female student from the Biology System who, through frequent joint research projects with the Medical System, developed a connection with a Senior. However, she herself was the subject of a secret crush from a Senior in the Mechanics System.

But soon after, she received a pure-hearted confession from another adorable junior...

Thus began a four-way tragic love story, complete with scenes of ’why are you so good at this?!’, all sorts of love, hate, passion, and betrayal, a tangled web of human relationships and desires that was both heartbreaking and impossible to put down.

But the most frustrating part was that the story took place several years ago, and all the main characters had since graduated, leaving the story without an ending...

’Why, even after I’ve transmigrated, do I still have to run into authors who drop their stories?!’

Lloyd couldn’t help but curse in his heart.