Chapter 10: The Miserable Journey Home

"Aoki, I received a letter from your father asking you to return home, and only then did I realize my nephew is actually studying at our school. I just checked the entrance scores for your 17th class of infantry cadets—you ranked third. Excellent, excellent! Keep working hard, and strive to join the Saber Group upon graduation!"

"Thank you for your encouragement, Uncle! My father sent a letter asking me to return home? What is the reason?"

"Oh, here, let me show you the letter. Your teacher is coming back soon to visit family and honor ancestors, and perhaps wants to see you younger ones while he's here."

Chen Jiehua took the letter with both hands, searching through Aoki Seigen's memories for any details about his father and grandfather. There was nothing particularly noteworthy, only that his father had always been strict with him since childhood.

Fortunately, the department head didn't seem inclined to continue chatting, so Chen Jiehua seized the opportunity to excuse himself. "Uncle, if you have no further instructions, I’ll go take care of the paperwork now and head home first thing tomorrow morning."

"Hmm, you’re still the same as when you were a child—not much of a talker. Aoki has always been too strict with you, nothing to worry about. If you need anything at school, come find me!"

"Thank you!"

For Chen Jiehua, this news brought both relief and worry. The relief: he now had another powerful supporter at school—the head of Academic Affairs, soon to be promoted to principal within two years. Combined with the head of the Military Law Department, as long as he didn't give himself away or act recklessly, he could pretty much do as he pleased here for the next few years.

The worry: returning home this time would not be easy, especially considering the teacher Masaki Shinsaburo had just mentioned—Aoki Seigen’s grandfather, who was surely a formidable figure. In fact, there was not a single memory of his grandfather in Aoki Seigen’s recollections, which was deeply unsettling.

On the way to the security office to process his leave, Chen Jiehua called out to the system.

"Great System, do you have any information about Aoki Seigen’s grandfather?"

"Sorry, none."

"Then what about his family?"

"Sorry, none."

"Okay, let’s make a deal—if someone is surveilling me, or if there’s a bug listening in, can you alert me?"

"Surveillance technology like bugs isn't widely used in this era, so you needn’t worry. Other warnings will be given as determined by the environment."

"What do you mean, as determined by the environment?"

"The system is training you to develop your own judgment and discernment, so you don’t rely too much on external help and can grow quickly."

After finishing the formalities, Chen Jiehua realized it was winter and the train station would close early. Even if he left now, he’d miss the last train, so he had to wait until the next morning to leave for the noon train to Kyushu.

On December 12th, before dawn, he got up, ate some dry rations, and set off. The school provided a car for the 50-kilometer journey to Kyoto Station. From there, he would take a sixteen-hour train ride to Miyazaki City in Kyushu (founded in 1924, capital of Miyazaki Prefecture), then travel by carriage or horseback to Aoki Seigen’s seaside hometown.

Sitting on the school bus, Chen Jiehua couldn’t help but regret not having spent more time during his studies in Japan learning about Japanese history and personalities from the World War II era. Now that he had transmigrated here, his starting situation was already terrible, and except for Aoki Seigen’s memories, he knew nothing else.

In his previous life, from elementary school through college, none of this was taught. He had to self-study, but he was always caught up in math, science, and English—where was the time to learn history? The subjects most emphasized in school were math, science, and chemistry.

Before entering the academy, Aoki Seigen had been a solitary child, with not even a memory of his grandfather. So how could he remember anyone else? Flipping through the memories, about sixty percent of them were devoted to sword practice in the courtyard or on the beach. If he wasn’t being beaten, he was on his way to being beaten.

Lost in thought, Chen Jiehua boarded the train and found his seat. It wasn’t until the train started moving that he snapped back to reality. Sixteen hours on a train was bound to be tedious, so he called out to the system again.

"Great System, if you can’t provide Aoki Seigen’s family information, what can you provide? Sixteen hours on a train—let’s talk!"

"The system only provides essential survival support during the host’s initial protection period after transmigration. Other resources or information that would obviously upset the balance are not within the scope of support."

"What? A protection period? There’s a protection period? Why didn’t you say so at the beginning? How long does it last? Are you saying that when I leave the newbie village, you’ll disappear or go dormant?"

"The system cannot provide clear answers to these questions."

This response was actually a hint.

"So, what you mean is I’m on my own in the newbie village, and if I meet the conditions to leave it, or if I accidentally step out, I’m no longer a newbie?"

"In short, you should rely on yourself as much as possible."

"Your comprehension has improved greatly."

"If there’s a newbie village, why isn’t there a starter gift?"

"......"

After communicating with the system, Chen Jiehua, half-dozing on the slow train of this era, stood up to use the restroom between two carriages. As he walked down the aisle, suddenly a marker appeared in the upper left of his vision, revealing the information of the old man sitting in the first row’s corner seat:

Aoki Nobumasa: Lieutenant General of the Imperial Japanese Army, founding father of Japanese espionage, Aoki Seigen’s grandfather.

"Damn!" Chen Jiehua nearly blurted out in Chinese, barely managing to mask his panic as he hurried past and ducked into the restroom, slamming the door behind him. Leaning against the door, he struggled to compose himself—this unexpected development completely threw him off balance!

"Great System! Why is Aoki Seigen’s grandfather here?"

A lieutenant general, and more importantly, the ‘founding father of Japanese espionage’—that’s one hell of a buff!

"If he’s the founder, then what about Toihara?"

"Host, deducing from Aoki Nobumasa’s network, the Toihara you refer to is the disciple of Aoki Nobumasa’s chief protégé, Sakai Toshihachiro."

"Good God! So even the formidable Toihara is just Aoki Nobumasa’s ‘grand-disciple’?"

"This is hell-level difficulty for a beginner!"

Curse you, author—come out here and let me beat you! You drop a clueless rookie right into a face-off with the king of spies!

This was a life-or-death situation—one misstep and he’d be exposed. Chen Jiehua’s mind went blank.

Someone was already knocking on the door outside—he’d been in the restroom too long, and he couldn’t hide forever.

Forcing himself to calm down, he finished up, opened the door, took a deep breath, and prepared to walk back to his seat as if nothing had happened.

But just as he reached the aisle, a soft voice in Japanese called out, "Seigen."

Though the voice was gentle, to Chen Jiehua it sounded like a thunderclap. It came from the corner, from the sly-looking old man.

He had only 0.13 seconds to react, in theory.

But Chen Jiehua hesitated for 0.23 seconds—too long.

He turned to the old man with a puzzled look and replied in standard Japanese tinged with a Miyazaki accent, "Were you calling me?"