Chapter 344 - 314: This Batch of Teammates Isn’t Very Good, Huh?

Chapter 344: Chapter 314: This Batch of Teammates Isn’t Very Good, Huh?

"This... is the History department?"

Lloyd stared at the district before him, a little surprised.

In fact, the aesthetic here seemed to be the most normal of them all. It had neither the fantastical Floating Islands of the Space System District nor the towering spires of the Extraordinary System District, but rather the style of the most traditional, proper academic buildings.

And yet, Lloyd couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more like a massive psychiatric hospital.

This wasn’t just some random association; it was because of the system prompts he kept hearing:

[DING! Madness Value +1]

[DING! Madness Value +1]

[DING! Madness Value +1]

’The air here is actually filled with Spiritual Contamination?’

Although the Spiritual Contamination was faint and Lloyd quickly adapted to it after only a few seconds, it was a situation he had never encountered in any other district. Even the tower of his own Twisted System wasn’t this bad.

’Maybe this is what a truly high-risk discipline looks like,’ Lloyd sighed to himself.

It had to be said that a supposedly high-risk discipline like the Twisted System had an extremely high entry barrier that scared people away. Its ’academic building’ was so dilapidated it had become a ’campus legend,’ and with only two people in the entire department, the air was clean and fresh...

Meanwhile, a truly high-risk discipline like the History department had an incredibly low entry barrier that even newcomers could cross. Its academic buildings looked perfectly respectable, and the department was bustling with people, yet the air was thick with Spiritual Contamination...

In the center of those proper academic buildings was a plaza with a fountain, upon which stood a large relief sculpture—

It depicted a group of scholars. One part of the group wielded blades, spears, and clubs, poised for battle as if fighting some unseen enemy. The other part held tools like manuscripts, shovels, magnifying glasses, and notebooks, conducting an archaeological excavation under the protection of their teammates.

The figures were all vivid and lifelike, showing great artistic skill. Although the scene depicted was a bit strange, it seemed to fit the current state of the History department perfectly, didn’t it?

Behind the relief stood a tall monument, inscribed with large, gold letters—

"We excavate humanity’s future from the past."

Those words immediately made Lloyd feel the profound weight of ’history,’ and he was unconsciously drawn to the front of the relief sculpture.

Just then, he heard someone nearby call his name:

"You’re Lloyd from the Space System?"

"Yes, that’s me."

Lloyd replied, then turned his head to look. His heart skipped a beat.

’This should, in theory, be the Teaching Assistant who was supposed to meet me in front of the sculpture...’

But whether it was his sharp demeanor, his piercing eyes, or the cold gaze that swept over vital spots like Lloyd’s neck and heart, nothing about him felt like a scholar or a teacher. He was more like a Bounty Hunter who lived on the edge.

Lloyd even wondered if the guy killed people on a regular basis.

In any case, he was definitely not the easy-going type.

"You can call me William. Come with me. I’ll brief you on the operation."

The man showed no intention of making small talk. He simply beckoned for Lloyd to follow him, heading toward a nearby academic building and then down to a conference room on the B1 level.

It wasn’t an ordinary conference room. It was a war room, with a topographical sand table in the center, various contour maps pinned to the walls, and a blackboard covered in tactical jargon.

It looked like a meeting had just ended. The air was thick with the smell of cigarette smoke, and several coffee cups sat on the table, waiting to be cleared.

The Teaching Assistant motioned for Lloyd to sit anywhere he liked, then pulled out a tactics board and began to explain the plan in detail.

He spoke with extreme seriousness, going over every last detail. He even produced a clear and precise schedule, demanding that Lloyd memorize it.

Lloyd listened just as attentively, but the more he heard, the more nervous he became.

His assigned task wasn’t actually that complicated, just as Professor Lawrence had said. He was responsible for opening a portal to get there and another to get back. In between, he also had to detect dangerous traps like spatial faults, spatial rifts, and spatial turbulence.

He wouldn’t have to get involved in any of the troublesome stuff like archaeological excavation or combat. All he had to do was stick with the main group.

But Teaching Assistant William was so incredibly stern and serious, acting as if this were some kind of special Infiltration operation, that he was making Lloyd nervous.

He droned on like this for nearly an hour, going over every single item on the agenda. It felt like the only thing he didn’t dictate was the rhythm of Lloyd’s breathing and heartbeat.

Then, seeing the grave expression on Lloyd’s face, he finally said:

"You don’t have to be so tense. We’ve already performed a Divination for this operation. The initial results were a bit unclear, but after confirming your participation, we received an ’optimistic’ forecast."

’If you hadn’t been messing with my head, I really would be optimistic,’ Lloyd grumbled to himself.

"Alright. You have three hours to rest, adjust, and eat. Report back to this conference room at 12 PM sharp."

With that, Teaching Assistant William gestured for Lloyd to go and rest.

Lloyd didn’t dare to waste a moment. He ran outside, found a quiet bench, and pulled out his student handbook. He did a search using ’archaeological excavation’ as the keyword, wanting to see what other students thought about these kinds of projects and if there were any shared experiences from past participants.