Chapter 1953 - 1952: The 18th Official Copy World (Extended - Requesting Monthly Ticket)

[0 years old: You were born, your parents named you Bod, it didn’t have any particular meaning, just because it was easy to pronounce.]

[1 year old: You live in a midwestern city in the Federation called Keskein, your mother is a pharmacist, and your father is her third husband.]

[2 years old: Your father and mother had a fierce argument, and eventually, they chose to divorce. Your mother took you away from home. She met a new boyfriend and started a relationship, living together.]

[3 years old: Your mother broke up with her boyfriend, took you away from there, and soon after, she met a new man and brought you into his home.]

[4 years old: After a fierce argument, you were sent to your grandmother’s house by your mother. Your grandfather is a retired worker from a machine factory, with a drinking problem. You saw him go crazy smashing things at home when drunk, and your grandmother always protected you during those times. Sometimes your uncle would come home to live with your grandparents, he is your mother’s only brother, already married with a daughter.]

[5 years old: Mother broke up with her boyfriend and came to take you away. You found that mother always drank excessively; you tried to stop her, and you got hit. At the end of the year, she found a new boyfriend, and your life became slightly more stable.]

[6 years old: Grandfather passed away, and your mother sent you to stay with your grandmother for a while. Sometimes grandmother also gets agitated and hits you when frustrated, but life here is far more stable than with mother.

Grandmother sent you to a nearby public primary school, and you started schooling.]

[7 years old: You heard your grandmother say that when she was young, Keskein was full of factories everywhere, and jobs were abundant. As long as you worked hard, you could live a good life, but then Musicnote Intelligence came, bringing cheap products and high salaries.

Grandmother said that those were the best times. If you switched jobs, your salary could double. Unfortunately, those days didn’t last long. Musicnote Intelligence gradually became Keskein’s largest employer, driving out all small factories and other companies.

So everyone could only work for Musicnote Intelligence or its subsidiaries, and incomes kept dropping. Grandfather also began drinking during those times.

Grandmother said that Keskein is a small place, and you must study hard. Go to Vitland, Ains, and Dawn City someday. There, you can really achieve something.

You didn’t quite understand what she was saying, so you just responded.]

[8 years old: Mother broke up again, moved in with grandmother for a while. She seems to have picked up some bad habits from this boyfriend, had a fierce argument with grandmother, and moved you out, renting a house nearby.]

[9 years old: Mother indeed underwent some intense changes, drinking more regularly, sometimes secretly doing things behind your back, becoming somewhat erratic. Often, when you spoke to her, she seemed to have a wandering spirit. She dated a new boyfriend and took you there, but you didn’t want to go, so she brought you back to grandmother’s.]

[10 years old: You enjoyed living with grandmother. Even though life wasn’t particularly good, grandmother always had a stomach illness and required long-term medication. You talked to grandmother about mother’s odd behaviors, but she only advised you not to learn about those. Afterward, mother returned for a meal, and you heard grandmother and mother having a big argument; mother slapped you.

Later, you found out from classmates that mother was using illegal drugs.]

[11 years old: Mother remarried, and you attended her wedding. This time her husband was actually a decent person. You interacted with him; he helped mother quit drinking and drugs and was nice to you. Mother requested to change your surname to the new husband’s surname, and although you had some resistance to this stepfather, you didn’t fight back.]

[12 years old: You lived a stable life for a while, graduated from elementary school, and stepfather worked for a month to get you into the best public junior high in the nearby neighborhood.]

[13 years old: Mother got divorced. It was said she had a fierce argument with stepfather and even hit him. You weren’t there at the time; you were at grandmother’s place with grandmother, and you never saw that stepfather again. Mother came to live with grandmother for a while.

Keskein is a small town; residents in grandmother’s old neighborhood know each other well. When they saw your mother, they always gossiped behind your back. Mother moved you again to another side of the city, and you had to spend considerable time commuting to school.]

[14 years old: Mother started drinking and using illegal drugs again. You tried to stop her, but failed. You had a fierce argument with her, and she started hitting you. Neighbors called the police, and to preserve mother’s custody rights, you lied to the city police, defending her. After that, you moved back near grandmother’s place once more.]

[15 years old: You were about to graduate from junior high. Many of your classmates chose to drop out; some worked odd jobs at home, and others directly joined gangs. You also considered quitting, but grandmother fiercely scolded you, insisting you must study, saying only studying could help you leave Keskein. Ultimately, you entered a public high school within grandmother’s district.]

[16 years old: You met mother again, found she had a new boyfriend worse than the previous stepfather. She was drinking again and using illegal drugs. You had a fierce argument with her; she wanted to hit you but discovered she couldn’t anymore. You decided to leave and returned to live with grandmother.

Public high school education wasn’t great. Some students even brought illegal drugs to sell on campus, and many of your classmates were hooked on them.

But every time you saw those things, you remembered your violent mother and refused to touch them.

A former middle school classmate involved in gangs approached you, saying you were smart, and offered to introduce you to their leader.

You increasingly felt that learning was useless. Grandmother’s income wasn’t high and continually needed to buy medicine. You knew she couldn’t afford to support a student.

Mother sent a little money sporadically every month or two, but it wasn’t much.

You wanted to drop out; you spent a long time mentally preparing and mustered the courage to tell grandmother, getting scolded instead. She was angry enough to almost end up in the hospital.

You wondered about the point of studying. The next day, grandmother talked with you all day; even she didn’t know the meaning of studying, but she knew you must study and go to college to leave this small city, leave streets filled with illegal drugs and gangs, not repeat mother’s lifestyle.

Sometimes when you wandered around the community, you knew several of your former middle school classmates had died, some due to overdosing on illegal drugs, some in workplace accidents, and others in gang battles on the streets.

This is life in Keskein, life in the old neighborhood, life between dawn and dusk, where people never know when they might die.

You thought long and hard, deciding to study earnestly, with grandmother supporting your decision. Grandmother contacted mother, who agreed to transfer some monthly living expenses.]

[17 years old: Trying to catch up on missed classes wasn’t easy, and as a result, you often studied hard until midnight. If it weren’t for grandmother insisting you have full sleep, you might even have studied all night.

No one in your family has attended college; you don’t know what the concept of college is, but the effort is paying off. Your grades have skyrocketed this year, earning teachers’ amazement, and you even participated in the student council, engaging in activities you never imagined before.

Your intelligence and agility showed through, and you began joining better groups at school, discovering that even in community high schools, many people genuinely want to study.]

They shared with you a lot of knowledge about universities, things you had never encountered before, and no one had talked to you about.

For instance, university tuition fees are expensive, far beyond what you understand, an astronomical figure for your grandmother.

Mother broke up again, and when you saw her, she was exceedingly thin. She handed you a urine cup, asking you to help her pass a drugstore urine test.

You struggled internally for a long time but eventually helped her, although you told her it would be the last time.

She stayed at grandmother’s place for a few days, then moved out again. This time, she didn’t mention taking you with her or bringing up the matter.

It’s said that she found a new boyfriend.]

[18 years old: You achieved excellent exam results and even earned a position on the student council, becoming the most famous person at your high school. The teachers said if you applied, you could enter Keskein Engineering and Technology College, Keskein’s best university, one of only two universities there.

The tuition at Keskein Engineering and Technology College is quite cheap, only 8000 federal coin per year.

You are not satisfied with this outcome; you want to apply to a better university, to Vitland, to Dawn City, to Ains.

You submitted applications to public and private universities in these three cities, waiting for their replies.

During the wait, you received news of your mother being arrested.

She stole addictive drugs from the drugstore, got caught, and was found using illegal drugs; she was fired from the drugstore and had her pharmacist license revoked, facing claims from the drugstore.

You brought her back to grandmother’s house, trying to help her detox together with grandmother. During this period of waiting at home, she ran away, you tried contacting her to come back home but received no reply.

Most universities you applied to rejected you; in the end, you received offers from only three: Keskein Engineering and Technology College, Wint City University of Technology, and Vitran Grammar School.

Among them, Wint City University of Technology is the best, but it is also the only private school, with tuition up to 15,000 federal coin per year.

Vitran Grammar School is next, the school you are most satisfied with, but though it’s a public school, tuition is still 12,000 federal coins.

You and grandmother calculated that if you wanted to study in Vitland, including tuition, living expenses, and accommodation, the money is enough to buy a new, nice house in Keskein.

Most importantly, you don’t have money to buy a house, only grandmother’s meager pension that barely supports your living.

You tried contacting your mother; she was working part-time at a supermarket and started another new relationship; she wanted to help you but lived herself in her boyfriend’s rented house.

Some loan companies contacted you, willing to provide you a student loan, the lowest interest being as high as 36%.

You realized that attending university had nothing to do with your intelligence and ability.

Grandmother asked many people for help, eventually, a distant cousin who had attended university suggested you enlist.

Most public schools have certain aid policies for veterans, and under the Federation Veteran Aid Act, the Federation Central Army would provide tuition assistance for those who performed excellently during service.

If you were willing to join the Central Army and become a member of the Wilderness Cleanup Unit, you would certainly get this subsidy.

The obvious drawback of this job is that you might die in the mouth of an exotic beast.

Grandmother firmly opposed you enlisting, she even gave up the idea of sending you to university, but you knew that this moment you had no other choice.

You walked into the Central Army’s recruitment office and explained your thoughts to the recruitment officers. They told you the death rate in the Wilderness Cleanup Unit had always been high, and income not much, urging you to think seriously.

After two weeks of consideration, you still chose to enlist.

Mother came back deliberately to see you, held you for a long time, and told you she was marrying her new boyfriend, this would be her fifth husband. You were somewhat numb, could only wish her happiness.

You boarded the Central Army’s airship and received training at a wilderness military camp in the midwestern Federation. Only after graduating successfully from this training camp could you join the Wilderness Cleanup Unit, the elite of the Central Army.

Life in the rookie training camp was not pleasant; the first day, because you were too eager entering the cafeteria, the instructor knocked over your tray, humiliating you, forcing you to awkwardly gather everything up and return to your seat.

Here is different from home, at home you are smart, grandmother loves you, but here, you are just a powerless person, can be humiliated arbitrarily, not even having a name, referred to only as ’that recruit’.

Some comrades told you that instructors would continuously humiliate recruits until breaking all of your self-esteem, building sufficient obedience. These instructors were humiliated like this back in the day.

Even if you couldn’t understand the meaning of this, you knew you had to get this job.

Eventually, you smoothly graduated from the rookie training camp, the graduation rate for your batch was about 60%. Some couldn’t bear the humiliation and gave up, some suffered physical injuries from corporal punishment, had to quit.

You successfully entered the Federation Central Army Wilderness Cleanup Unit, the army provided meals and accommodation, along with an extra 1000 federal coins subsidy. This income isn’t high, but it is sufficient for you.]