Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

I hope I can do well on the exam. After all, I've been studying and writing a lot lately, and I feel like I've been quite diligent. My goal is a 211 university, and my ideal is a 985 university. Go for it!

I saw a book review today that discussed issues with Saria's character design, and that's my fault.

After nearly fifty chapters of serious and earnest Northern Rebellion storyline, I wanted to add something light and fun, and I also wanted to choose a target for (not malicious) persecution. Since the plot outline I was working on included Saria's storyline, I improvised a little something to lighten everyone's mood and hopefully welcome the new Columbia volume. However, it seems that some readers didn't have a very good experience, and I apologize for that. I promise to pay attention to this issue in the future.

Columbia is a volume I meticulously conceived, unfolding along two parallel storylines. The main storyline, Rhine Lab, begins with the "shareholders" who are guests at the science expo, while the secondary storyline, Loken Water Tank, begins with the pseudonym of journalist Pulitzer. The two storylines converge at the end, leading to what I personally felt was a very epic conclusion.

Some readers may feel dissatisfied or uncomfortable with the original characters, but as I said in my launch message, original characters are the soul of a book. Terra isn't just about Rhodes Island operators—there's also Frostnova, Patriot, and many other unreleased characters. I will do my best to write a compelling life and ending for each original character. So, I ask readers who are curious about the new original character—Fiona—to be patient and read on; this character will not disappoint you. She will be the catalyst that ends the tragedy of Loken's tank and a key to Himeru's growth.

Regarding the handling of the rosemary issue, here's a unified response: it's a good outcome, even better than expected.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the readers for their support. I'm off to take the college entrance exam now, see you in three days!

P.S.: Also, there seems to be a surprise when I came back after the college entrance exam. The artist told me that the manuscript is almost finished.

In addition to a character design and an illustration of Theresa in a wedding dress, there will also be an illustration of Vina and Reed (Athrun and Drak), and an illustration of Vina and Wayne as the Emperor and Shadow Emperor. Stay tuned.

Chapter One: Pulitzer Must Not Be Victoria's Man

Columbia, Silicon Valley, the technology capital, 7:00 pm. RheinLife headquarters building.

The newly built Rhine Life headquarters building, matching their company logo, is a Möbius strip-shaped silver building divided into four main towers in the east, west, south, and north, connected by a glass corridor. The east tower houses the offices of Rhine Life's management, such as the general manager and department heads. The top floor of the east tower contains the shareholders' offices, where several resident directors work and receive foreign guests. Board meetings and shareholder meetings are also held here, making it the most secure location within Rhine Life.

The West Building houses the Alpha Laboratory, primarily conducting research on Originium, Oripathy, and Oripathy patients and related disciplines—the core business of Rhine Life Sciences. The North Building, on the other hand, is dedicated to other disciplines, including but not limited to materials science, physics, and new energy—fields not considered part of the company's core business.

As for the South Building at the very back, it is a staff dormitory. Employees who need it can apply, and the company will rent the dormitory to them at half the market price.

Some observant readers might wonder at this point: Rhine Life operates as a company, so why doesn't it even have a separate building specifically for business negotiations and meeting guests? Instead, it seems to be like a research institution, investing a large amount of resources in research and development. Don't they make money?

In fact, those who raise this question have overlooked the status of Silicon Valley, the technology capital, on Terra. Not only RheinLife, but most Silicon Valley research companies follow the same approach. For these large research companies, there is never a situation where new products are developed but no one cares about them due to a lack of marketing. On the contrary, the problem that research companies face most of the time is that their products are in short supply.

As a pioneer in science on Terra, Colombia, this emerging nation, may lack military strength, but it is adept at making money. Every day, countless people turn their attention to this mobile city, and countless others eagerly anticipate the new technologies developed by these companies. With just a little publicity and guidance, large amounts of gold and silver will pour into this "treasure trove" like a waterfall.

Therefore, the companies don't need to advertise themselves at all; the sensible Colombian government will naturally endorse the capitalists behind these companies.

Furthermore, there's a major promotional event held every four years—the Colombian Technology Expo, hosted by the Colombian federal government and organized by the "Company of the Year" from Silicon Valley, the city of technology. It aims to showcase the latest products created by this city of miracles, dreams, and capital over the past four years, sign large contracts, attract huge investments, and promote the vigorous development of science, technology, and productivity throughout Terra...

Incidentally, this is also a way to give back to the Colombian federal government and the monopolistic oligarchic groups behind it.

This is what Saria and the others are busy with right now.

In the office of the East Building's administration building, less than three hours after disembarking from the aircraft, Saria was already being relentlessly forced into hard labor by the Commander-in-Chief. After demanding a large sum of overtime pay according to the rules, Saria completely ignored the Commander-in-Chief's pained death stare and asked:

"Is there anything I need to do?"

The manager rubbed her dark circles and replied, "Yes, and many, such as checking the security work of the entire exhibition."

Seria frowned. She clearly remembered that the work had been completed and passed inspection before she last left Colombia for Victoria.

Noticing Saria's puzzled look, the Commander waved her hand and pointed to the ceiling as usual—a gesture she had almost made reflex in the past few days—she didn't mean the ceiling needed to be checked, but rather that "above" it was.

Above them are the real management team of Rhine Life, the "big shots" on the board of directors.

"Mr. Hunter Albert, the executive director of the expo, is a perfectionist. He felt it was necessary to inspect the expo site and the Rhine Life Building again, with a particular focus on things like listening devices, pinhole cameras, and spell marks."

After thinking about it, the commander decided not to tell Saria about the crystal ball, something the executive director might have mentioned out of his mind.

The so-called pursuit of perfection is actually just nitpicking and making things up—a beautified version of that. Those who know, know. The Commander originally wanted to voice her opinion directly, but remembering Saria's outspoken nature, she was afraid something like this would happen:

The executive director inspected the site, summoned the head of the defense department, Seria, and praised her, saying, "Well done."

Seria: "It's all because the board members are nitpicking."

Executive Director: "Nitpicking? Who said that?"

Saria: "The commander told me."

If this happens, the Miss Chief will have no way to escape being socially ruined except by making a huge fuss to cover it up, and she might even lose the job she cherishes so much. So Saria's emotional intelligence isn't high; she needs to be higher. Being a perfectionist is being a perfectionist, and if she's misunderstood as a sycophant to the director, she'll accept it. It's all for the sake of life, for everyone, and for Saria.

However, the commander-in-chief even puffed out his chest and put his hands on his hips with a bit of pride for coming up with a suitable synonym so quickly.

Unfortunately, Saria wasn't paying attention to the Grand Master's careful and appropriate choice of words; she was focused on something else entirely:

"A camera? A bugging device? Why would there be such a thing?"

Why do you think so?

The commander-in-chief asked in return,

"Think about what I've been busy with these past few days, Saria?"

"Uh... busy receiving shareholders?"

Seria paused for a moment. When the topic of shareholders came up, she couldn't help but recall the polite young man from Victoria. He looked so young, yet he was already a shareholder of a large company like Rhine Life, and even the largest shareholder. So young and promising!

If only the other shareholders were as easygoing as him, but unfortunately, Celia knew that was impossible. For example, the executive director, Mr. Henry, was the kind of person who was quite petty.

"Bullshit... cough cough, I mean, wrong one! It's a reporter, that reporter!"

The head maid rolled her eyes and replied:

“If it’s a shareholder, why would we need to worry so much? Shareholders are family. Besides, the only shareholder who hasn’t arrived in Colombia yet is the one you went to meet. He’s our number one boss, one of our own. Why would we need to be on guard?”

"Nobody would turn down their own company and their money," the commander-in-chief thought to himself.

"The key point is the journalist. The higher-ups held a special meeting to analyze why the Pulitzer journalist was able to find so much dirt on the Duke of Victoria and the Lateran religious group, to the point of completely outmaneuvering them. After much analysis, the biggest suspicion lies in how he obtained the intelligence—those scandalous details would be top secret in any country. Their high-ranking government officials wouldn't have leaked the information themselves, would they? If legal channels didn't work, it can only mean that the source of the intelligence was illegal. And how was this illegal intelligence obtained?"

"Through eavesdropping, filming, or even magical means?" Saria added, somewhat taken aback. That was indeed a possible idea.

It's highly unlikely that high-ranking government officials would sell their own scandals; that would be as ridiculous as an emperor rebelling against himself. After all, scandals are unpredictable, and who knows what kind of damage it would do to their image if a journalist who isn't one of their own published it?

However, it's hard to believe that the Pulitzer journalist was an insider for that country. After all, he rose to fame by exposing the Lateran's secrets for Victoria. If you were to ask who benefited the most from the Reformation movement, it would undoubtedly be Victoria, who achieved religious independence and significantly weakened the Lateran's influence. If the Pulitzer journalist were an intelligence agent for that country, it could only be Victoria—unless that country had lost its mind and made its own people work for someone else, making Victoria, who was already basically sitting on her hegemony, even more secure.

But that doesn't make sense. If Pulitzer was Victoria's man, what did he do later? He turned around and reported on the Duke of Victoria's corruption case, exposing Victoria's true colors. If he was Victoria's man, wouldn't the government have sent people to purge him overnight?

The Terrans clearly don't know that there's something called opinion control, and something called opinion guidance. The combination of these two also produces a distorted product called "internet trolls."

But Wayne clearly understood this strategy. On the surface, exposing the Duke's corruption case did more harm than good, but with a little manipulation, this "Victoria Duke's corruption case" could be transformed into "Victoria's royal family's successful anti-corruption campaign." A heinous crime that damaged the reputation and honor of the royal family would be transformed into a typical case that enhanced the authority of the royal family and demonstrated the rule of law in Victoria and the equality of everyone before the law.

The methods were clever, the actions were secretive, and Pulitzer's identity was cleared in the process. It seems to have worked very well.

Rhine Life and even Columbia's top brass believed that Pulitzer could not possibly be a Victorian agent, making his motives difficult to guess. Regardless of whether he was truly a champion of justice as rumored online, Rhine Life's top brass had to remain vigilant against him to prevent him from obtaining information that Rhine Life and Columbia did not want the world to see through unofficial or illegal means.

"In short, don't ask any more questions. Just finish your work, Saria. Overtime pay will be paid as usual. Go to the finance department to collect it."

The commander patted the woman's firm shoulder earnestly, then walked past her and out of the hall.

Saria nodded to herself.

Actually, she still had another question in her mind.

Why is Rhine Life so tense?

What exactly is the company hiding?

She wanted to ask the commander-in-chief this question, feeling that he should know something. But for some reason, her meager woman's sixth sense kicked in at this moment, and she felt that it was better for her not to try to find out about these things.

"Let's get to work."

Chapter Two: Places Where the Sun Doesn't Reach

July 2nd, Terra calendar, sunny, over the no-man's-land.

Flying in an aircraft is not a comfortable experience. The aircraft on Terra are far less comfortable than the planes in Wayne's previous life. There are no free snacks to eat, and no pretty flight attendants. Wayne can only stare at the old lynx's profile, lost in thought.

He really wanted to ask the old lynx about the nine-year compulsory education again, since what she said that night was so cryptic that Wayne felt she was a sinecur for the nine-year compulsory education system.

She also said that she had told these things to Theresa, and Theresa was very surprised.

Why was she surprised?

Wayne couldn't understand it at first, but after thinking it over, it seemed there was only one possibility.

The people of this world seem to still believe that Terra is a flat earth with a round sky? Even someone like Theresa is no exception.

This is where the fun begins. A world that has developed to the Industrial Age and is halfway into the Information Age, possessing technology that is more advanced than Earth in some areas, a veritable source of inexhaustible energy, and powerful productivity, yet it is trapped by a backward feudal system and even slavery. Aristocrats and emperors hold sway, making even capitalist development extremely difficult, let alone GCZY. Such a world is bizarre enough already, but now someone is implying to Wayne that the people of this world don't even know the concept that "the Earth is round," and even adhere to the traditional belief that the heavens are flat and the earth is round, questioning this?

It's so strange, it's like "the natives shared nuclear fusion technology with you," it's full of a sense of cultural disconnect.

Hasn't anyone tried circumnavigating the globe? With Terra's technological level and Originium, an energy source that's easy to store and has high energy storage, such an experiment should be a piece of cake, right? Terra isn't without seas, is it?

Wayne hadn't forgotten the sea monsters mentioned in the Skadi files, but he was puzzled. Regardless of the source of the information, demons were supposed to be rare; otherwise, civilizations would have perished long ago. Could these rare demons really have prevented the Terrans from discovering such a simple natural law for so long?

Or is it that what's in the sea isn't a demon, but something else entirely?

These are all questions that Wayne wants to ask Kal'tsit, after all, she prides herself on being "omniscient".

Unfortunately, the lynx spirit is currently going through menopause and has an incredibly bad temper. She's been giving her savior a cold shoulder, either with a stern face or completely ignoring Wayne. Even now, with Wayne staring at her with inquisitive eyes for a long time, she shows no intention of looking up from that fashion magazine she's holding upside down.

A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. My Theresa is the best; we understand each other perfectly.

Wayne abandoned his plan to continue staring blankly at Kal'tsit, and as he looked away, he offered a friendly reminder:

"Kal'tsit, you're holding the book upside down."

Then, after admiring Kal'tsit's sudden stiffness, followed by a slight blush as she stood up and walked towards the toilet on the aircraft, her embarrassed expression was tinged with satisfaction.

Yeah, that feels good.

Then, he glanced at the fashion magazine Kal'tsit had placed on her seat. The headlines on the pages amused him.

[Joseph Pulitzer] Journalist's Secrets Exposed: This Journalist Actually Did These Things...

The Terrans are quick learners, aren't they? Ever since Wayne used this kind of headline to generate traffic by releasing the video of Patriarch Broca's Ninety-Five Theses, they've clearly tasted the benefits of this kind of headline. Now, they're even learning it from Wayne.

These magazine reporters have figured this out too.

Wayne thought to himself. But in truth, although he had anticipated this situation, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

These journalists learned how Wayne used eye-catching headlines to generate traffic, but they failed to grasp the essence that Wayne, as a pseudonym of "Joseph Pulitzer," wanted to convey.

At least, Wayne has yet to see a second "Pulitzer journalist" appear online.

Wayne didn't actually want Joseph Pulitzer to be elevated to a pedestal. On the contrary, he hoped that there would be many more Pulitzer journalists on Terra, because one hero is enough, and Wayne didn't want to be a hero; he wanted to set an example.

The tragedies of this land are countless. Besides the tragedies experienced by the Ark operators and characters in the story that Wayne knows about, there are countless Terrans struggling to survive on this land. This land is indiscriminate in its cannibalism; vultures stand everywhere, waiting to devour the carrion of starving children. Yet, there is a lack of anyone daring enough to use their camera to record this tragic scene, send it out, and provoke deep thought.

Wayne alone cannot save everyone, but ever since he saw the list of poor children and infected people marked "for sale" by the Duke of Normandy in the North, he has been thinking that if it is within his power, could he save more?

Not only the characters in the story that I like, but also many strangers that I don't know, have never met, or have never even heard of. Do I have a chance to help them?

He surveyed his many aliases. Although Prince Victoria held the most power, it was limited to the country. Rhine Life's shareholders were incredibly wealthy, but they were merely capitalists. Only the alias "Joseph Pulitzer" had the ability to gain enough influence to affect the entire Terra.

He hopes that one day, the tragedy of black-label mining in the Ursus snowfields will be exposed by a second Pulitzer journalist.