Chapter 595: Translation Issues and Solutions
“Yes, of course!” Wumali said eagerly.
After all, the communication technology in Ninglan New City is relatively underdeveloped, as the old Ninglan New City was small and didn’t have complex demands, resulting in slow technological advancements due to a “good enough” attitude.
The academy network technology brought by the Witch Academy has spread quickly without considering cost, as such resource consumption is insignificant for the Witch Academy. Every new student enrolled receives a phone that connects to the academy network for free.
Here, you can see many outdated Earth Vein Operating Systems that were once eliminated by the Witch Academy, which can be considered as equipment repurposing.
The Extraordinary Research Association also has a large number of such informational devices to assist with the storage and teaching of extraordinary skills.
Wumali mentioned that he managed to acquire these through connections, which naturally refers to his relationship with Ninglan Qiuyue.
I must say that the academy network and Earth Vein Operating System are indeed very convenient. Otherwise… I still have a portable Earth Vein Operating System gifted by Teacher Ji in my storage equipment that has been gathering dust for a long time.
But now, with the availability of these devices, I can rely on the Great Knowledge Tree to connect and transfer information via the academy network.
I must admit that the proposal to connect the academy network with the Great Knowledge Tree is truly useful, at least for convenience in the Main World, and this convenience now extends to the Expanding Realm.
However, while waiting for them to start and debug these devices, something happened outside the association.
At this moment, I was explaining some of my plans and proposals to Shentu Le and the president. After all, I didn’t come here just to be a translation teacher; I have many other tasks to attend to, but right now, there’s no hurry.
“Is something happening?”
“Sorry, let me go check what’s going on,” Wumali, as the president, was naturally aware of the situation’s importance. He couldn’t contribute much in conversation, so he took the initiative to resolve any issues.
Before long, Wumali returned with a few people dressed in standard City Guard armor.
After that incident, the City Guard and City Defense Forces were unified, hence the distinction between internal and external names was only verbal.
“Oh? Familiar faces again.” Seeing the newcomers, I paused my current topic and looked at them.
“Excuse me, are you Scholar Xiao Han?” Mo Le immediately recognized me after hearing my words.
After all, he had some understanding of the important personnel from the Witch Academy who were coming, including the teaching assistants, and he had a simplified list.
“It seems I don’t need to introduce myself. I simply asked the City Guard who received me to greet you; I didn’t expect you to come all the way to see me.” I chuckled lightly and spoke.
“Sorry, Scholar Xiao Han, I came to meet you on my own accord,” Mo Le explained directly.
He had originally headed straight to the arranged hotel but ended up empty-handed, then asked around until he learned that the other party had come to the Extraordinary Skill Research Association.
However, seeing that they didn’t immediately rush outside the city, Mo Le felt hopeful about facilitating more communication.
As the highest officer of the City Defense Forces, his title sounded nice, but he had to face a very serious issue every day.
Every moment, more “refugees” were arriving outside the city, and they could not accept all of them.
He could only rely on extraordinary weapons to clear out the surrounding mutated beasts, creating some safe zones outside the city for those people to gather.
Moreover, he had to be prepared to handle unexpected situations where those guys might suddenly riot and attack Ninglan New City.
The Witch Academy claimed that these people were from another world “crossing” over, establishing the foundation of civilization beyond Ninglan New City.
Although the Witch Academy did not explicitly say they couldn’t harm these people, out of empathy for fellow humans, they found it hard to carry out inhumane massacres.
But if a riot truly occurred, they would not hesitate to use large-scale extraordinary weapons for deterrence.
“Since the highest officer of the City Defense Forces personally came, may I ask what the matter is?”
“Naturally, it’s to establish a good communication channel with you. We learned that the Witch Academy will send personnel to help us solve the problems we are currently facing, so I came here immediately. If there’s anything we can assist with, we will do our utmost to help.”
“Oh…” I nodded slightly, grasping the meaning.
Although what Mo Le said sounded nice, his intention was very clear.
Now that the Small World is merging with the Expanding Realm, it has brought considerable trouble to Ninglan New City, and it seems the Witch Academy promised to help resolve it, which is why they sought me out.
As for why they didn’t approach the earlier arrivals… I suspect it’s because the others ignored them.
From their rushed demeanor, it seems Ninglan New City is facing a rather grim situation.
While their words were polite, the message was already conveyed.
Establishing communication channels and offering assistance really meant they wanted me to take charge.
“May I ask out of curiosity, what were those who arrived before me doing?”
“Sorry, among the six teaching assistants who have arrived, two are meeting with City Lord Qiuyue, and I do not know what happened afterward. The other four have currently lost contact with Ninglan New City; we only know they left for the outside world.”
“That aligns with my understanding of them.” I nodded.
The meeting yesterday lasted a long time with many attendees; it had been a day, and now only six had arrived, which indeed wasn’t many.
But those who rushed over surely had their agendas, and regarding the two who met Ninglan Qiuyue… I suspect it may be related to the Witch Secret Realm Association, as meeting with her right away likely involves an associate with ties to her.
“However, as you can see, I have things to attend to.”
“Busy… this, matters regarding the Extraordinary Association can be slightly postponed. There are already over…”
“I know, refugees, I’m somewhat aware of that. Isn’t there a language barrier? I’m currently helping you address this issue.” I interrupted Mo Le’s dialogue.
I knew he was quite anxious, but being anxious wouldn’t help; what could I, by myself, possibly do?
I couldn’t just go out and chop up those refugees, right?
Or should I lead the City Defense Forces to explain things to them?
Please, I have no experience leading troops, which is a reckless way to approach this problem.
Things must be dealt with step by step.
“Wait… Scholar Xiao Han, do you understand the language of those people?” Mo Le suddenly reacted.
“Yes, this Scholar Xiao Han understands some mainstream languages of those people, which is the basis for us to communicate with them.” At that moment, Shentu Le answered for me, “What use is it to call Scholar Xiao Han away now? Do you want her to face the refugees directly?”
“Apologies, Mr. Shentu, that’s not my intention. I merely wanted to express my urgent feelings.” Mo Le naturally recognized this elder, Mr. Shentu.
The book he authored, “Light of the Ruins,” is well known in Ninglan New City, exploring the meaning of survival and human morality and responsibility through the inner monologues of characters, conveying how humanity should maintain its moral baseline in increasingly extreme survival conditions.
This book serves as a culmination of philosophy and morality in the literary scene of Ninglan New City, and even he occasionally opens it to take a look, as it has had a profound impact on him.
“Alright, I understand your feelings. To be honest, I prefer a more straightforward way of speaking. If you are simply waiting for the Witch Academy to send teaching assistants to help you unconditionally, you might be deluding yourselves.” I interrupted their conversation at that moment.
“In the eyes of most, your value is not even as high as the resources outside the city, such as the extraordinary energy mines you have mapped out. Perhaps when their greed is satisfied, they might benevolently come to assist you symbolically.”
“But… greed cannot be satisfied.” Mo Le spoke in a somewhat subdued tone.
“Exactly, so I said stop deluding yourselves.” I responded with a smile.
“Then we…”
“You need to ensure your own safety in the next wave of impacts; that is your victory.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Witch Academy never undertakes meaningless tasks. Last time, the Dream Demon invaded Ninglan New City, forcing us to intervene, and this time, the situation extends beyond Ninglan New City, marking the beginning of the second trial… Oh~ I seem to have said something significant, forget everything I said.”
“Do you… does the Witch Academy not have…”
“So, would you in Ninglan New City be willing to become a branch of the Witch Academy? With everyone in the city relocating to the Main World, there would be no Ninglan New City left, and the Witch Academy would immediately fully support and resolve all troubles in the Expanding Realm.” I directly proposed a hypothesis to shut Mo Le up. I knew soldiers are more straightforward and wouldn’t care about the intricacies, but as the highest officer, he cannot be overly passionate.
The Witch Academy is that ruthless; I was merely tearing apart their beautiful illusions for them to see.
“Don’t get so excited; excitement won’t solve any problems. Don’t let emotions cloud your thinking.” At this point, I softened my tone. I certainly did not wish to worsen relations at this crucial moment, “Any problem can be resolved through communication. Don’t you think resolving the language issue is a great breakthrough?”
“Sorry… I might have underestimated this matter.” Mo Le calmed down at this moment, recalling the composure expected of the City Defense Forces, but the pressure on him was enormous. After all, he is still just a person, an ordinary one.
“You indeed underestimated it; things must be approached step by step. Even without me, you should act accordingly. You fend off the trouble outside the city while Mr. Shentu and the others assist in the background.”
“Yes.”
“But since I’m here, you actually don’t have to take it step by step.” I suddenly shifted my tone.
“Scholar Xiao Han, you indeed have a way, right?” Upon hearing my words, Mo Le’s face lit up with undisguised joy.
With the tone I used, it was clear that I had the means to cope!
“The key is still in communication.” After I finished speaking, I snapped my fingers, and a spell was released unnoticed by everyone.
“I naturally understand communication, but Scholar Xiao Han, if you don’t cooperate with us, it’s still going to take a long time for others to learn a brand new language at this moment…”
“I know, so what I meant is not what you think. I have mastered a spell; I won’t delve into the principles, but its name is Knowledge Shadow, which is the figure you see before you.” After I spoke, another version of me appeared in Mo Le’s sight.
“This… is this clone technique?” Mo Le’s eyes widened when he saw it.
“You can think of it that way, but she is only visible to you and has no physical form. However, she knows a lot of information, and you can converse with her. She can assist you with temporary translation tasks and will teach you how to communicate with the other party.”
“Is there really such a spell?!”
“Yes, however, this method is only temporary. The main thing is for the people of Ninglan New City to learn these languages to communicate with those individuals. I cannot stay in Ninglan New City forever, you should understand this, right?”
“I naturally know that.”
“I will organize people to learn these languages.” Shentu Le also chimed in.
Although he couldn’t see the Knowledge Shadow I mentioned, he didn’t doubt that Mo Le and I would deceive him; perhaps in his mind, he assumed the means of a witch are indeed boundless.
“Since that’s the case, could you refrain from troubling me? You go do your tasks; if there’s anything, wait until I finish what I’m currently working on before you talk to me again.”
“Understood!” Mo Le, having witnessed such a straightforward solution, had no complaints now.
With such a temporary translator available, he could accomplish more tasks, at least he felt that with his abilities combined with this newfound capability, he could alleviate some of the pressure currently faced by Ninglan New City.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
“Is there anything else Scholar Xiao Han wants to instruct?”
“I just wanted to explain the usage of the Knowledge Shadow.” I pointed to the Knowledge Shadow beside him and began to explain, “When I don’t control her, her actions are guided by your subconscious. Any behavior she displays is based on what your subconscious believes should be done. If the Knowledge Shadow acts in a way that seems uncooperative, reflect on whether you have any biases against me, rather than doubting my methods. Do you understand?”
“I see, I understand.” Mo Le nodded heavily, surprised that just a spell could involve so much detail.
“By the way, is just one enough? If not, let me cast the spell on these others beside you. Or would you rather go back and pick some capable individuals to find me again? I should still be here at the Extraordinary Association for a while.”
“Uh… I apologize, but I trust these few people beside me very much.” Mo Le realized at that moment.
He seemed to have gotten a little overly excited, and now that he thought about it, it was indeed the case.
Having just one translator at his side would definitely not be sufficient, and he needed to be involved in everything; just thinking about the crowd of refugees outside made him feel overwhelmed.
“May I ask, after these individuals are under the spell, can I bring another batch of people back later?”
“Oh~ trying to take advantage of me? That’s fine, it’s not a hassle anyway.” I waved my hand, indicating it was alright and to not linger here.
Seeing he was finally about to leave, even without stepping fully outside the association door, I shifted my attention back.
“Mr. Shentu, let’s go; I think we should get busy now.”
