Chapter 216: S Zone (First Update)

The next morning.

Su Ming walked out of the school gate wearing a loose T-shirt, grey jeans, and white sneakers.

He walked towards the street on his front right and soon arrived at the street’s waiting area, where clean, neat hovercars were parked.

Su Ming pulled open a hovercar door and sat down in the passenger seat.

“Where would you like to go, sir?”

A middle-aged male driver, quite old and seemingly talkative, asked with a smile.

“To the S Zone.”

Su Ming simply told the driver.

Upon hearing Su Ming’s words, the driver froze, then replied with some uncertainty.

“The S Zone?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“No, I’m not going there.”

“Why not?”

Su Ming looked at the driver in surprise; he never expected to be refused a ride one day.

“The S Zone is a confidential control zone. As long as you get close, you’ll be interrogated. And it’s easy to get in, but hard to get out! I won’t earn much from you, but if I go there and get interrogated, and something goes wrong, I’ll be in deep trouble.”

“Is the S Zone that strict?”

“Shhh, don’t just blurt out’S Zone.’ Mentioning that name too much will get you noticed! You’ll be directly pulled into a black room for questioning. Last time, there was an idiot in our car who complained about the S Zone without thinking, and the next day, they came looking for him. He was taken and locked in a small black room for a few days; we even thought he had been kidnapped.”

The driver explained with great fear.

“Then how do I get there?”

“You either drive yourself, or you go to the rail station. There’s a special train to the S Zone from there. You can take it to the outside of the S Zone and then walk the rest of the way. Anyway, I’m not taking this business.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Su Ming helplessly opened the car door and got out.

At this point, the driver didn’t even pick up another fare; he stepped on the gas and drove away.

Su Ming watched the hovercar’s departing back, sighed helplessly, and then walked towards the nearby rail station.

A moment later, Su Ming arrived at the rail station’s ticket hall.

The hall was very lively, filled with young men and women everywhere.

Su Ming walked up to a self-service ticketing machine, tapped the screen, and began operating it, preparing to purchase a ticket to the S Zone.

However, after searching for a long time on the screen, he couldn’t find any train services to the S Zone; it was impossible to buy a ticket.

He looked up and scanned the ticket hall, then walked towards human ticket counter No. 3.

Soon, he arrived at the counter, where a sweet-looking woman in a red and blue uniform smiled and asked.

“Sir, where would you like to purchase a ticket to?”

“The S Zone, it’s not sold at the ticket machines.”

Su Ming directly told the woman in front of him.

Upon hearing Su Ming’s words, the woman’s face showed a hint of unnaturalness, then she said.

“Okay, please wait a moment!”

Immediately after, the woman turned and left.

Within a few minutes, a greasy-looking male supervisor with a beer belly, wearing a white shirt and suit, walked over. He scrutinized Su Ming up and down, then asked very warily.

“Sir, you want to buy a ticket to the S Zone?”

“Yes.”

Su Ming replied with certainty.

“May I ask your identity, sir?”

The male supervisor’s gaze towards Su Ming grew increasingly unfriendly, and his hand was already under the counter, feeling for the hidden alarm button.

“I am a student of Royal Court Academy, and this is my student ID.”

Su Ming pulled out his student ID and handed it over.

The male supervisor took the student ID, looked at it, then carefully examined Su Ming’s appearance. His expression immediately softened considerably. He then handed the student ID back to Su Ming and said.

“I see you’re a first-year freshman. What are you going to the S Zone for? That’s not a place you can just go to casually.”

“I need to go to the S Zone to handle some matters.”

Su Ming replied tactfully.

“Alright.”

The male supervisor hesitated for a moment, then operated the ticketing machine, and soon a red ticket popped out.

He handed the ticket to Su Ming and said.

“Take this ticket and go through the manual channel; someone will guide you to Platform 0!”

“Thank you.”

Su Ming took the ticket and left.

Several minutes later, Su Ming successfully arrived at Platform 0. The entire platform was empty; not a single figure could be seen, only he stood there alone.

Just then, a rail train approached from a distance and stopped steadily in front of Su Ming.

Once the train door opened, Su Ming walked straight inside.

He turned his head and scanned the carriage; all the seats were empty, and he couldn’t see anyone else besides himself.

Su Ming found a random seat and sat down, taking a deep breath. He hadn’t even reached Xiguang Laboratory yet, just starting his journey, and he already felt an invisible pressure.

Beep beep ~

At this moment, the train doors slowly closed, and then the train began to move into the distance.

Starlight City, S Zone entrance.

Su Ming walked out of the rail station exit. The moment he emerged, an eye-shaped floating mechanical sphere drifted over, its electronic eye scanning Su Ming.

On its internal electronic screen, lines of prompts appeared.

“Identity verification successful.”

“Su Ming, first-year student of Royal Court Academy.”

The mechanical sphere then flew away.

Su Ming looked at the flying mechanical sphere, also a bit surprised. Although Starlight City was prosperous, intelligent devices were still very rare. He didn’t expect them to be widely used here. If it wasn’t for great courage, then it was absolute confidence.

However, Su Ming didn’t dwell on it too much. Instead, he looked up and ahead, then saw the entrance to the S Zone.

He lifted his foot and walked forward, quickly arriving at the entrance.

A middle-aged man, dressed in Second Generation Exoskeleton Armor Rock Steel and with a face full of weathered wrinkles, stopped Su Ming and said in a deep voice.

“Sir, the S Zone is a special control area. Entry is not permitted without specific authorization and a pass.”

“Will this work?”

Su Ming took out the invitation letter and handed it over.

The man’s eyelids twitched when he saw the invitation letter. He immediately took it, opened it, and verified it.

He then handed the invitation letter back to Su Ming with both hands.

“Please!”

“Thank you.”

Su Ming took the invitation letter and walked inside.

Soon after, Su Ming successfully passed through layer after layer of checkpoints and entered the S Zone.

As he entered the S Zone, white, circular buildings came into view. These disk-shaped buildings were irregularly situated within the S Zone, interconnected with each other. The building materials used were very special, with honeycomb-like pores densely covering their surfaces.

Clang! Clang!

Loud noises came from far to near.

Su Ming heard the sound and turned to look, only to see a Third Generation Mecha Cyan Wing approaching with five Second Generation Mecha Iron Guard. They glanced at Su Ming, then walked straight past him.

Su Ming was secretly surprised. Royal Court Academy was already considered very wealthy, yet even there, Third Generation Mecha were treasured items, usually kept hidden.