Munitions Empire

In a luxurious private room of the Silver Fox Tavern, several students from the military academy found their seats and ordered their preferred drinks from the attractive waitstaff.

They were so young, some of them even preferred a mix of milk and fruit juice to alcohol.

These youngsters of the era hadn't realized they were already significant figures, giggling and discussing the various scenes they had just encountered on the streets.

Although they were still young, or had yet to truly enter society, they understood that all they had just experienced was the glory their predecessors had left for them.

And their task was to continue this glory, to leave behind something equally worth boasting and cherishing for their successors.

A burly student propped his arms on the table and, as soon as the waiter had closed the door to the private room, turned to the handsome guy next to him with a chuckle and teased, "Haha! The romantic encounters come one after another, unstoppable."

On their way here, they had encountered several girls who flirted with them, some from well-off families sending their housekeepers or maids to convey their intentions, while others from modest backgrounds approached them directly.

Some of the young ladies were middle-class city dwellers, most of whom worked in textile factories or governmental departments, with their own jobs and decent incomes.

Life in Brunas City had completely changed their lifestyles, endowing them with the bold ideology of pursuing their own happiness.

And so, these students from the Great Tang Military Academy actually faced women approaching them for contact information as they passed by the streets just a while ago.

In those times, without the convenient communication tools like smartphones or WeChat, what they asked for were mailing addresses for letters, or direct addresses to find them.

The gates of the Great Tang Military Academy were usually inaccessible to ordinary people, just as the gates to the Great Tang Group's factory complexes were out of reach.

However, this did not deter the girls' enthusiasm; they would loiter at the entrance of certain communication rooms or wait at a previously arranged place for their beloved.

Alas, for the straight men of the Tang Army's military or technical colleges, most of the girls were destined to be disappointed.

The young people studying there had set their sights high. They knew how vast the world was and how brilliant their futures could be.

They understood the trajectories of grenades, the future directions of new weapon technologies, novel tactical layouts, and how to arrange logistics and dispatches for corps-level troops.

These youths were loyal and brave, unwilling to revert to their former selves, so they strove to change, to become better beings.

At the academy, the knowledge they gained made them look down upon the world like deities. In their eyes, all the different people, even kings, were nothing but more powerful ants.

How could one truly fancy an ant? Or rather, how could they demean themselves by marrying a woman who was simply no match for them?

Those predecessors who went on missions and casually married a wife to conceal their identity or facilitate operations—that was a sacrifice! A temporary compromise for eternal truth! Well, some were just fond of their pleasures...

So, if one is to choose, aren't there plenty of options from the neighboring Tang Women's Academy, Tang Vocational and Technical College, Tang Military Academy, Tang Medical College, Tang Industrial Technology College... Aren't there enough girls to pick from?

The young ladies from these institutions are truly a match in terms of family background, aren't they? They are knowledgeable, well-educated, agile, and strong—they could shatter stones with their fists (well, not really), or kill their husbands with just a toothpick (absolutely not)...

The tall and handsome student with an innocent face turned to his burly classmate and complained, "You damn guy! You still have the mood to mock me at a time like this."

The burly student spread his hands with an even more uninhibited smile, "Why not? You are the class heartthrob, after all."

"That's exactly what bothers me," the handsome student leaned back and casually ran a hand through his hair, striking a pose, and declared, "Can't help it, I'm just too good-looking."

"Are you mocking me?" Elsewhere, a less attractive male student sighed with a hint of resentment, seemingly battered in spirit.

"On the contrary, I'm mocking myself... those truly capable young ladies always like me at first sight, but soon after, once they get to know you, they come to me just to inquire about you," the handsome student lamented with even more apparent sorrow.

Helpless to change it, among this group of students, he had the worst academic performance but attracted butterflies and bees because of his good looks.

But everyone knew that within the academy, what mattered wasn't how you looked. Most of the time, academic ranking meant better resources and higher social status.

Just look at those who ranked first in their class; they were practically all serving as Prime Ministers in various countries.

Those who finished second or third were also likely leading troops as generals or had become important chess pieces infiltrated within enemy ranks.

Only those students at the bottom of the class, or the mediocre ones, would be assigned to serve in the Great Tang Group's security troops to gain experience, starting as junior officers.

Therefore, when the female students who truly understood these inner workings began to look for partners, the most popular were definitely those top-performing students who might become great men in the future.

What? Looks? This world is full of trash that's only skin-deep. If you want handsome guys, there are plenty in the entertainment industry. Whoever wants them can have them.

Those girls who fancy celebrities only do so because they can't marry into a wealthy family or snag a real talent – they're just the rejects.

The handsome guy then looked at a male classmate with very ordinary, or rather, slightly ugly looks, and said enviously, "Not everyone can get a Great Tang scholarship, let alone twice."

He was truly envious. A big shot who could win the scholarship twice was an absolutely formidable figure wherever he went.

So with an almost jealous tone, he lamented, "Even if you washed your face with sulfuric acid, you'd still be the best among us in our year."

"Pfft... Hahaha…" Several classmates burst into laughter.

The sturdy classmate went even further with the joke, saying overbearingly, "He's already washed his face with sulfuric acid! Hahaha!"

"Get lost!" The student who had won the scholarship twice stood up pretending to be angry, and before he sat back down, the waiter who came to serve drinks pushed open the door.

Everyone quieted down and then politely thanked the waiter. The students from the Great Tang Military Academy didn't have to pay for their consumption at the Silver Fox Tavern; in fact, they hardly needed to spend money throughout Brunas City.

However, all expenses here were recorded, and everyone cared about their conduct scores, so they didn't act recklessly.

For example, if you ordered a set of well-fitting military dress uniform here, there would be absolutely no problem. Once you placed the order, skilled tailors would custom-make it with the finest materials to fit you perfectly.

This suit, if bought with money, would probably cost hundreds of Gold Coins, as the tailors who handcrafted it were famous in the clothing industry and charged exorbitant prices to tailor for the nobility.

However, if a student were to recklessly spend tens of thousands of Gold Coins at Brunas's luxurious casinos, although it was technically allowed, everyone would try to avoid doing so as much as possible.

Of course, Brunas had various entertainments, like firework alleys and other such places, where students would be received if they visited.

It was just a pity that so far, no student had chosen to spend their time in such places; everyone subconsciously opted for more sensible places to spend their money.

For instance, everyone would typically go to the finest restaurants in Brunas for a feast, and nobody would spare Tang Mo's money on this account.

In such restaurants, where a meal cost at least 100 Gold Coins and they never offered discounts, the students from the school didn't have to pay an extra fee when they dined.

Moreover, after these students arrived, they often packed up and took away a large amount of food, some for their senior or junior classmates as takeout, some prepared for a girl they admired... Anyway, there was no problem with that.

This was a welfare for all students at Great Tang Group's schools and another reason they loved the city of Brunas.

"Forget about everything else, just confess! How many girls from the school are chasing after you? Tell me, isn't it a hundred, no, a thousand times better than those vulgarities we mentioned just now!" As soon as the flirtatious waiter left, the handsome guy resumed teasing.

"Are you talking about the girl who breaks bricks?" The sturdy guy said with envy, "That girl is really something – thick legs, big butt... you can tell she'll give birth to a son."

"No! I'm talking about the chemistry major, the one who the other day was seen cleaning up her experiment's poisoned mice, a whole iron box of them!" The handsome guy maliciously corrected his sturdy classmate.

"You guys... all get lost!" The scholarship-winning class genius slammed the table, expressing his dissatisfaction, "Keep talking nonsense, and you'll have to cover your own meal!"

"Don't, don't! I still need your help with math, big brother!" The sturdy classmate was the first to back down, and the handsome guy quickly waved his hands, "You have to explain those physics problems to me properly, or I'm done for."

"Sigh…" The class genius who was used to his troublesome friends rubbed his temples and exhaled, feeling he should stay away from these idiots.

"Have you heard? Her Majesty the Queen has finally become a teacher," the class genius said somewhat melancholically as everyone fell silent.

Out of ten students, it seemed eight secretly adored Her Majesty the Queen. As soon as the class genius asked, the handsome guy and the others immediately knew there was another admirer of Her Majesty sitting among them.

Unfortunately, these guys could only secretly pine for her; not one dared to present a love letter... Of course, there were daredevils among the senior students – I heard they got beaten up pretty badly...