Chapter 103: Studying for the Rise of Planet Volk
I took a look at a video being shown in a classroom at the School of Architecture. It was a video that recently went viral: "Is this the speed that the architecture world can achieve?"
Lawrence silently memorized the name of the video and then glanced at the group of government-sponsored students from Volker Planet who also turned to look at him out of confusion.
He was a little surprised. These students... didn't seem to be students from the School of Architecture.
Just as he finished thinking this, the professor of architecture who was lecturing at the podium stopped his lecture and looked at him with some doubt as he was peeking at the back door.
Professor Lawrence immediately waved his hand awkwardly and walked away. The professor of architecture thought he was just passing by and happened to be interested, so he listened for a while.
But he didn't expect that after just a short while, he came back, interrupted his class, called out the names of the students sent abroad from the planet Volker, and asked them to go to his office after the class.
"Um, Professor Lawrence, they are all authorized to sit here and attend the class." The professor of architecture misunderstood the reason why Lawrence said this, and specifically spoke up for the international students.
"Oh, of course, that's natural. Um, I came to see them for something else, it's not urgent. So, attend class, study hard, and keep going."
After saying this, Professor Lawrence felt like he had slipped away like a mouse, not even daring to look at the architecture professor's expression.
After returning to his office and calming down, Lawrence opened his computer and searched for information related to the infrastructure of Planet Volker.
Surprisingly, the top result on the search list is actually a live broadcast room, the official live broadcast room of Planet Volker, but the difference is that the gift acceptance mode is turned off this time.
"Hmph, all day long, every little thing is broadcast live." Lawrence complained as he clicked into the live broadcast room. He then saw six different windows, all broadcasting the construction of the new starship port.
That's right, the live broadcast content of Volker Planet this time was so plain and simple, without even a host, no no no, not even a background music. It just directly broadcast the infrastructure construction situation at the construction site without any interest, without even adding a filter.
Lawrence was just wondering how many people could watch such a live broadcast, but when he looked up, he saw the number of simultaneous online viewers: 2.8 billion, ranking first on the list of leisure and entertainment live broadcasts.
Lawrence: ...
? !
No, how many people?!
These people have nothing to do so they come to watch the starship port being repaired, right? And why is this live broadcast type classified as leisure and entertainment?
Lawrence took another look at the live broadcast room's length. Wow, it had been live for 133 hours straight... That should really be classified as leisure and entertainment. After all, the current affairs section had never had such a long live broadcast.
No, what on earth is there to see at this construction site? Lawrence jumped back to the live broadcast screen and watched the real-time scrolling barrage. It’s really quite interesting.
[Hey, hey, hey, those two groups of workers over there, stop arguing. Either reinforcing the outer layer first or laying the piping system first is feasible. Ouch, I'm so anxious.]
[We're on a tight deadline, aren't we? What are you still arguing about? Hey, hey, hey, the robot over there is on strike. Go check it out.]
The workers on Planet Volker are incredibly hardworking. They've been working three shifts for almost a month straight, yet they're still so energetic.
The new machine's name has been decided. It's called Xiao Hei.
[Will this little black excavator be sold later? ]
[Hilarious! Isn't this made out of scraps from an Icebreaker police car? Could it be that Planet Volker is actually planning to mass-produce this?]
Honestly, I've been watching the livestream for so long that I've developed a fondness for these shabby machines. It's okay to sell peripherals instead of the actual items. They're so ugly and cute.
[Yeah, toy models, plush toys, or other peripherals. Hello, is the planet commander of Planet Volk here?]
[Leave a message here. This is a message board specifically for those who want to immigrate there recently. The planet commander of Volk will check and reply from time to time.]
…
"Professor Lawrence?"
When the students arrived at Lawrence's office, he was still immersed in scrolling through the comments and looking at these bizarre, haphazardly assembled infrastructure machines. Suddenly, he looked up and saw that the students had all arrived in his room. He was actually shocked.
"You...your classes are over?"
"I have another class at 7 o'clock."
Seven o'clock? Lawrence glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of his office: "Have you had dinner yet?"
The international students shook their heads a little embarrassedly, saying that they were just using their dinner time to come to Lawrence's office, but it didn't matter, they would just have some bread and then go into class.
"How can that be possible? Come on, let me treat you to dinner. By the way, what are your classes tonight? Let me talk to your teacher."
When Lawrence heard that the international students had also taken additional courses in completely different areas, such as economics, biology, and structural engineering mechanics, he couldn't help but frown. "With so much to learn, can you really digest it all? Why don't you just focus on one subject?"
The international students smiled innocently. "This opportunity to study hard is hard-earned. Our planetary commander also said that learning more never hurts. Even if we can't figure out some problems now, we might suddenly understand them with practical application in the future."
Lawrence: ... "Oh, so you want to be a jack of all trades."
"That's not the case."
Lawrence curled his lips. Sometimes he really couldn't stand the lack of confidence of the international students when facing the professor. They were obviously better than anyone else, and might even be better than him in the future, but now they looked like they were easy to bully.
"I'm telling you, from now on, no matter what anyone says, hold your heads high, okay? Besides, your planet Volker has changed a lot. Look at the infrastructure work, it's going through the roof. 2.8 billion people are watching you build a new starship port live online."
"Hey, this is a huge achievement. You should be proud of yourself, okay?"
The international students finally smiled, and Lawrence took the opportunity to take them out for dinner while chatting with them about the recent infrastructure work on Volk Planet.
"I also read an interesting piece of news. It said that if this starship port is completed within three months, all trade routes within your surrounding star regions will be connected to it for free. That would save several times the annual GDP of the former Volk planet."
After Lawrence said this, he found that the international students were suddenly in a heavy mood, as if they were thinking of something, but what he said was clearly a good thing.
Finally, a foreign student looked up and explained to him:
"Professor... Actually, we all know that the gambling agreement was deliberately instigated by our planetary commander to incite the people of the surrounding star regions to sign it. They laugh at us for not understanding infrastructure, the scale of the project, and how long it will take. But we also laugh at them for not understanding the history of Planet Volk, and the price our people paid to stand up with dignity."
She had barely finished her words when her companion, fiercely forking his food, asserted, "The construction of the Starship Port will only accelerate, not slow down. We're not just building a Starship Port; we're also building a future that's split in two from the past."
"From us on, the history of Planet Volk will be written in two halves."
"We are the future of Planet Volk."
"So, no matter what, we must bring back the spark of hope to Planet Volker. Every discipline must have a solid foundation of knowledge as a foundation."
"Well, even though we started late, we can always catch up with the average here as long as we don't give up."
Lawrence: ...
To put it simply, he suddenly had the feeling that he had been friends with these international students for several months, but only now did he truly get to know them.
In the end, it was Lawrence who called them to his office first, but apart from treating these international students to dinner, he didn't ask or mention anything else.
When he returned to the office, his colleague, as expected, sent him a message, asking him when he was going to call him dad.
Lawrence: ...
After thinking for a while, Lawrence started a video call with his colleague: "How are you feeling on Planet Volk?"
"Are you so eager to call me dad?" My colleague was still joking.
"Honestly, I'm extremely curious about Planet Walker." Lawrence lowered his eyes. "I've heard it's like a perfect utopia."
"Perfect? Not necessarily. Life here is nothing compared to when we were in the Federation, but spiritually I've become much more fulfilled. Honestly, if I weren't already a citizen of the Federation, I'd almost apply for citizenship in the Volker District and just stay here and buy a house for investment."
Before Lawrence could say anything, his colleague suddenly mentioned, "Hey, did you know that recently on Planet Volk, besides the Starship Port that billions of people are watching, they've also started construction at the University of Science and Technology."
"Technology University?" Lawrence became interested.
"Yes, I heard that the Federation has directly invested in this area and plans to build a large experimental ecological park next to the New University of Science and Technology. You know how valuable this is, right? Plus, the number of professors and scholars coming to Volk is increasing day by day. I've noticed that there are more flights from Arka directly to Volk's old starship port than before. Well, I have to say, the planetary commander of Volk is really amazing. He can arrange the infrastructure and reception work in an orderly manner with so many people coming. And the military here is also very interesting. They actually joined the construction team without hesitation and competed with the original illegal workers to see who is more powerful. What do you think?"
That night, the colleague talked a lot about his life and feelings on Planet Volker, which only aroused Lawrence's eagerness.
After thinking about it all night, Lawrence finally made a decision the next day: he also wanted to go to Planet Walker.
Including his current annual leave and the vacation he saved due to the busy experimental period, if he is lucky, he can even witness the completion of the new starship port on Planet Volk. As for the subsequent course arrangements, the network on Planet Volk is very stable now, so he can teach remotely.
After everything was planned, Lawrence wanted to check in for a flight to Volk Planet that same day, but was told that the tickets were sold out and would be sold out for six months. Not only that, Volk Planet also issued a travel advisory, which roughly meant:
We are full and really cannot accommodate you. Please remain calm and come back next year.
Lawrence: ... He spent the whole night agonizing over it, but in the end he didn't even get a ticket. Humph, this planet Volker is pretty arrogant.
After some further thought, Lawrence gritted his teeth and asked his assistant to book tickets for next year's trip. "Next year, then next year. I have to go and see it all. Not just me, but the entire research team."
"I want to see what this Volk planet becomes next year."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
