On how PhDs become human evil

"Stop, stop, stop! What nonsense are you spouting? You're just trying to sabotage me! We've known each other for decades, can you please stop trying to smear me?"

"If we don't criticize you, who will we criticize? The destroyer of the world, the leader of Dai-Shocker."

"...I feel like I shouldn't have come to you. Zi-O would definitely have been more reliable." Tsukasa Kadoya gritted his teeth. "But this time I really have to come to you because what I'm going through is related to you."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"I've met your wife."

Upon hearing this, Bai Jie paused for a moment before asking, "Which wife are you referring to?"

"...Even though I know it's true, why do I feel like hitting you?"

"No, you can't beat me."

"........."

The sound of Tsukasa Kadoya violently punching something could be heard from the other end of the phone, but Bai Jie didn't care. What he cared about was his wife: "So, which of my wives did you run into?"

“Cecilia, and Kiana, the Herrscher.”

"I know Kiana; she told me before that she was going to another world to train. But what about Cecilia? Shouldn't she be with Kamen Rider?"

"That's why I came to ask you. Don't you have a good eye on your own wife?"

"How dare you say that to me? We're both out there having all sorts of wild adventures and neglecting our families, okay? — No, I'm more family-oriented than you. I come home every few days. How long has it been since you last came home?"

"...It seems like it's been five years."

"Scumbag."

"Didn't you not go home for over twenty years back then? What right do you have to criticize me?"

"...So why are we digging up each other's dirty laundry?"

"Didn't you start it?"

Tsukasa Kadoya's probing question left Bai Jie speechless. After a long silence, he finally said, "Getting back to the point, what exactly is going on with Cecilia?"

"That's why I asked you. But I've noticed something: Cecilia in this world looks much younger than you do."

Does she look much younger?

Bai Jie frowned.

"Specifically?"

"She looks a bit like a woman who has just won over her crush not long ago."

"........."

Bai Jie felt he understood.

Send me your world coordinates and I'll send them to you.

"Any leads?"

"Yes, that's Cecilia from another timeline."

Section 578, Chapter 1: Learning to Fight the Urban Hexagram

This is a world in the near future.

In this world, during the 20th century, an unprecedented catastrophe struck the Earth.

That was a disaster called the "Falling Star Rain".

A meteor shower that lasted for three days and three nights swept across the world, destroying many cities and significantly weakening the power of existing nations, which were ultimately replaced by a new economic entity called the "Integrated Enterprise Consortium".

The so-called integrated corporate conglomerate refers to a new economic entity formed by the combination of numerous companies in order to overcome the extremely chaotic world economic system.

They possessed power far exceeding that of greatly weakened nations. There were once eight of them, but only six remained, competing with each other while simultaneously holding real power in the world.

Each of the six major conglomerates owns an academy: the Seventh Academy of the World Dragon, the Star Guide Hall Academy, the St. Galedowan Academy, the Alcant Research Institute, the Queenville Children's Academy, and the Rewolf Black Academy.

These six academies are situated in an artificial city floating on a giant impact crater lake created during the Starfall period.

This artificial city is the academic and combat city of Asterisk.

Because it is formed by a regular hexagonal city block and six academies with ridges protruding like fortresses, its appearance is like a snow crystal. The city's official name is "Rokka". Its shape is also very similar to a six-pointed star, so it is also called "Asterisk (Six-Pointed Star)".

Given the competitive relationship between the six major conglomerates, the six academies are also in a competitive state within the Academy City. Every year, the Academy City holds a large-scale event called the "Star Martial Arts Festival," where students selected from the six academies compete on the same stage, thus replacing the business competition among the conglomerates.

Besides the competition, the Star Martial Arts Festival is also a way for the Unified Enterprises Consortium to make a fortune. With live broadcasts and tickets for on-site viewing all over the world, as well as various merchandise, the Unified Enterprises Consortium can make huge profits every time the Star Martial Arts Festival is held.

Now, the time is almost here for the Star Martial Festival. In just two or three months, the new Star Martial Festival will be held. At this critical juncture, Star Guide Academy, one of the six major academies, has welcomed two new transfer students.

————————————————————

Three people were sitting in the student council president's office at Seidoukan Academy.

One was a girl with wavy blonde hair, who looked to be only eighteen years old, but her figure was far beyond that of a young girl, even surpassing that of professional models. Her face was also beautiful; calling her a pretty girl would be no problem at all.

She is Claudia Enfield, the student council president of Seidoukan Academy.

Claudia put down the two transfer applications in her hand and looked at the two people sitting in front of her with a smile: "I have received Cecilia's recommendation application, and there are no problems with the procedures. Welcome to the Star Guide Hall Academy, Kaslana and Pendragon."

Kaslana, Pendragon.

These two surnames already indicate the identities of the two people in front of Claudia.

Kiana Kaslana, Artoria Pendragon. Who else could it be but them?

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you by transferring here so suddenly, Miss Enfield,” Artoria apologized.

“How could that be? It’s a good thing to have strong students enroll, especially since you were personally recommended by Teacher Cecilia. Of course, we welcome you,” Claudia laughed. “It’s just that I never expected Kiana to be Teacher Cecilia’s daughter. She doesn’t look married at all.”

Cecilia Shaniat.

The teacher who came to work at Seidoukan Academy five years ago is famous in the Academy City for her fairy-like beauty, kind and gentle personality and powerful strength. Countless people have proposed to her, and even two years ago, a scandal involving Cecilia caused great chaos throughout the Academy City.

Aside from the world's number one songstress, Cecilia is the only woman who can make the entire Academy City tremble. In recent years, 80% of the new students at Seidoukan Academy have come for Cecilia, which shows how popular she is.

Despite her popularity, Cecilia has only had one rumored relationship, which was even photoshopped. No one has ever seen Cecilia in a close relationship with a man, so everyone believes that Cecilia is still a single woman who has never been married.

However, now a Kiana Kaslana has suddenly appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be her daughter. The key point is that Cecilia has even admitted to it. If this gets out, the entire Academy City will probably be in an uproar, and the Unified Enterprise Group will definitely not sit idly by.

Therefore, it's no wonder that Claudia would say that.

Kiana was unfazed by Claudia's shock: "After all, she's my mother. She's always been pursued, even here. But if Dad saw this, he'd probably be furious and cause a huge disturbance in the Academy City."

“I really wonder which man has won over Professor Cecilia’s heart. I’d love to get to know him if I had the chance,” Claudia said. “Alright, that’s enough of that. The enrollment procedures are now complete. You two have just arrived at the Star Guide Hall Academy; would you like me to show you around the academy?”

"No need, Mom will take us. Thank you, Student Council President." After saying that, Kiana stood up with Artoria. "We'll take our leave now, Student Council President. Mom should still be waiting for us."

"Is that so? Then I won't see you off. Have a safe journey."

————————————————————————

Cecilia Shaniat waited by the door at the entrance of the Star Guide Academy's teaching building.

Da da da da!

Footsteps sounded behind me.

"mom!"

"Miss Cecilia."

Kiana and Artoria approached Cecilia.

Upon seeing the two, Cecilia smiled and asked, "Have you finished the enrollment procedures?"

"Yes, it's all over successfully."

“That’s good.” Cecilia nodded. “Come with me. I’ll take you to where I live. We’ll live there from now on. Then I’ll tell you about the situation in this world, and you can tell me about your world. Tell me what happened in your world during the seven years I was gone.”

P.S.: There are two Cecilias in this book. One is the Cecilia who is the protagonist's adoptive mother, which is the one in the second volume. The other is the Cecilia who appears after the protagonist travels back in time.

Section 579, Part 2: The Reason Cecilia Came to This World

Cecilia's dormitory is the teachers' dormitory of Seidoukan Academy. Actually, Seidoukan Academy originally planned to arrange a private dormitory for Cecilia. After all, given Cecilia's popularity in the Academy City, it would be normal to give her a dormitory to curry favor.

Cecilia refused, saying she didn't like living alone, and moved into the teachers' dormitory to live with the other teachers.

After leading Kiana and Artoria to her dormitory, Cecilia poured them a cup of tea: "The place is a bit small for one person, and I don't usually have any guests, so tea is all I have."

"You live alone, doesn't your dad know you're here?"

“How could he possibly know? He probably doesn’t even know I’ve disappeared.” Cecilia laughed self-deprecatingly. “It’s been seven years. If he really was looking for me, he should have found me long ago.”

"Seven years... Speaking of which, Mom, how did you come into this world?" Kiana asked. "Mom, you don't have the ability to travel between worlds, so how did you come to this world?"

"The reason I came into this world... I'm not really sure myself, I just have a rough guess."

Cecilia took a sip of tea.

"Perfect timing. Before you tell me how you got here, let me tell you about myself."

.......

Cecilia came into this world seven years ago.

Before coming to this world, Cecilia lived in the Kamen Rider world as a Kamen Rider of the Ministry of Health and CR.

At that time, Cecilia and Bai Jie had overcome the barrier between adoptive mother and adopted son and were determined to be together. However, after Bai Jie met Cecilia for the first time and went to the past to change history, Cecilia began to act strangely.

Not long after Bai Jie traveled back in time, Cecilia felt her body gradually weakening. Although she wasn't weak enough to be unable to move, Cecilia definitely felt something was wrong. Sometimes she would feel dizzy even while doing housework, which was something that shouldn't happen to a Valkyrie with her physical condition.

Initially, Cecilia thought that the hidden injuries she sustained while working as a Kamen Rider were affecting her. Therefore, after realizing that her body was getting weaker day by day, Cecilia returned the Kamen Rider belt, retired from CR, and focused on recuperating at home. She would also use the Black Abyss White Flower to treat herself regularly.

But instead of getting a reply, Cecilia's health deteriorated during her recovery, eventually reaching a point where she would be out of breath after walking just a few steps. Cecilia did consider asking Bai Jie to come back and help, but she didn't have Bai Jie's contact information, and a phone call across the world was impossible.

Philip, Shotaro, and the others tried everything they could to help Cecilia, including a healing memory, Gentaro Kisaragi's healing switch, Haruto Soma's healing magic, and so on. But nothing worked.

Just when everyone was at a loss, Tsukasa Kadoya brought news that Bai Jie was in trouble in the Honkai world. The group planned to go to the Honkai world to tell Bai Jie that Cecilia was seriously ill. However, once they arrived in that world, they were distracted by the battle with the Honkai Beasts and the Herrschers. It wasn't until the Honkai War ended that they remembered Cecilia, and by then they had to leave.

As a result, Cecilia's serious illness was never told to Bai Jie.