“Brother, it’s time to get up.”
Li Andy opened his eyes to see Youxi’s pretty face, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
“This… doesn’t look like you’re trying to get me up.”
Li Andy raised an eyebrow.
“Do you still need stabilization so early in the morning?”
“Hmm, just… just a moment… hmm…”
Li Andy couldn’t help but gasp.
But it was fine; his mental energy had already recovered to full capacity that morning.
Sophia, nearby, stretched, then rested her head on her arm, blinking her large eyes as she observed the stabilization ritual.
“Do you need it too?” Li Andy turned his head to look at her.
“No… no!”
The girl instinctively shrank her neck and curled her body.
With her hypersensory physique, the neural impulses she received far exceeded those of ordinary people.
She was going to the academy later, and she didn’t want to be unable to move.
Returning to a normal routine, after breakfast, Li Andy changed into a khaki trench coat suit and, accompanied by the Jasmine family’s carriage, went to the academy with his sisters.
Compared to the luxury and hypocrisy of the previous aristocratic academy, this place was clearly more pure and practical.
From Li Andy’s perspective as a person from another world, the overall first impression was a clash of both retro and futuristic elements.
A warm yellow theme covered the entire academy, with a strong engineering atmosphere and mechanical elements everywhere. Every building seemed to be filled with a metallic texture.
You could even see copper gear icons of various sizes on the walls, as well as simple or complex mathematical formulas.
Such a stacking made Li Andy recall a sentence he had once seen:
The fantasy of steampunk is actually a kind of religious worship.
It’s just that they don’t worship gods, but truth and gears.
“Brother~”
After getting out of the carriage, Youxi intimately linked her arm with his.
Surrounded by three beautiful girls, Li Andy felt various envious and jealous gazes even before he entered the academy.
Was it enjoyable?
Perhaps a little.
But for Li Andy, a quieter environment was more comfortable.
This had nothing to do with elegance or vulgarity; he simply didn’t need to rely on others’ approval to prove his existence and worth.
This was a kind of calm confidence, and also a good mindset that avoided internal friction.
Li Andy slowly reined in his wandering thoughts and looked at the students around him.
Aside from the glaring males, there were also many girls of various skin tones in this academy. As summer approached, their skirts were light and cool, and youthful hormones drifted in the wind.
The scenery was pleasant, but the great sage Li Andy felt no ripples in his heart.
Wait… why am I a sage?
“Hiss…”
Thinking of this, Li Andy gasped.
He suddenly realized that the girl’s diligent efforts that morning might have been for this very reason?!
His gaze shifted to Youxi, whose face was rosy. She smiled sweetly at him, looking utterly harmless.
‘It… it must just be a coincidence, right?’
After entering the academy, Li Andy dismissed his sisters, letting them go to their respective classes.
He, in turn, handed his inspector’s letter of proof to a mechanical advisor.
“Harveys Apparel Inspector…”
The person was a brown-skinned woman, and her left hand, which held the letter, wore a full-metal glove.
Judging by its joint movement and use, there was no delay whatsoever; it seemed even more form-fitting than a rubber glove.
She glanced at it a few times, then handed the letter back, her chin slightly raised, and said with a somewhat arrogant tone:
“I think when you design uniforms next time, you could consider my suggestions.”
“For example, summer dresses could be shortened. Also, skirts shouldn’t be labeled as women’s items; men should also be able to try them.”
“After all… our academy emphasizes inclusivity and openness, and should abandon these traditional prejudices to embrace true freedom of thought, shouldn’t it?”
Li Andy was momentarily stunned, then paused before replying:
“Our apparel purchases do not have gender restrictions. If customers with special needs come, our staff will not treat them differently.”
“But if you want to force everyone to agree with your views, that is not freedom of thought.”
The female mechanical advisor frowned, snorted in dissatisfaction, and after muttering “old-fashioned and ignorant,” she left without looking back.
She had no intention of fulfilling her advisor duties.
Li Andy shrugged, happy to be free.
After so many years of surfing the internet, what kind of people hadn’t he seen?
Where there are opinions, there will be opposition; where there is opposition, there will be conflict.
What is called free speech and the pursuit of uniqueness often contains the opposite of what appears on the surface.
“Heh, thoughts and cognition can also spread and multiply…”
Li Andy chuckled, holding a few questionnaires, and began to wander around the academy.
While he was gathering the information he needed, he also collected feedback on the clothing market.
From his outward behavior, he seemed to be an utterly normal apparel inspector.
As Li Andy was investigating, he suddenly noticed something amiss.
His three sisters seemed to be quite famous??
After listening in and asking around for a few rounds, he discovered that the reason was Sophia promoting their detective agency everywhere. And within just a few days of starting school, she and Youxi had freely helped people solve several “youth emotional blackmail and entanglement cases,” breaking up numerous couples.
As for Jasmine, she was a genius girl taken in as a closed-door disciple by Old Professor Youge and, as a freshman, was exceptionally allowed to join a certain cutting-edge research tower for internships and studies.
“A research tower, huh…”
Li Andy slowly looked up at the building ahead.
This was the tallest building in the academy, with a hexagonal dome and a steampunk-style exterior structure. Under the sunlight, it gleamed with the metallic luster of this era, like a special monument.
“Why am I here?!”
“I… wasn’t I in the lab??”
Not far in front of Li Andy, a young man in a research uniform suddenly became confused and panicked.
He seemed to have been standing there quietly for a long time.
Suddenly, he looked up sharply.
Li Andy instinctively followed his gaze upwards.
But he saw a rapidly falling, constantly enlarging figure!
“Thud—!”
A pool of blood splattered not far ahead, like a pile of mud.
That… was a person, a person who had jumped to their death.
Observing his blood-stained hair and skin, it seemed to be an old man.
Li Andy looked up again and saw Jasmine’s face at a high-rise window.
She stood with several panicked students, her calm expression appearing exceptionally unusual.
“I… I’m dead?!?”
“Plop—”
The young man in the research uniform next to Li Andy suddenly knelt, clutching his head and pulling his hair, his eyes wide, his words incoherent, his tone incredulous:
“I… I’m dead?!”
“Why did I jump?”
“Wait… who am I?”
He stiffly turned his head, his eyes filled with fear and confusion, as if asking Li Andy, and yet also asking himself.
Li Andy was stunned, his brows gradually furrowing.