Chapter 8: Summer

After military training ended, the calendar showed it was exactly the weekend, and the Ladies' Academy would be closed for two days. So early that morning, right after the academy's network came back online, Song Xuan rushed to call her aunt, but the contact-lens virtual screen built into her Ladies' Academy suit showed that He Ziying was currently out of service range. She then called her mother, Song Mozhu, and learned that Ziying had boarded a spaceship for Mars only a week earlier. Although Norton Aerospace's photon engine could accelerate a ship to one-thousandth the speed of light within eight hours, and even though Norton's new-generation spacecraft no longer needed to rely on the crude shortcut of a gravitational slingshot thanks to their fusion engines, Mars was currently at its farthest point from Earth, so a straight-line trip alone would still take half a month, not to mention having to account for going around the sun.

For at least the next year, Aunt Ziying would not be back on Earth, which also meant that for a year no one would come to take Song Xuan away from the Ladies' Academy. In other words, she might be forced to face, for the first time in her life, the major challenge of having to live in the Ladies' Academy for an entire year.

Ten minutes after hanging up with her mother, Song Xuan's Ladies' Academy suit received two 3D video messages, one from Aunt Ziying and one from Uncle Beihai, both pre-recorded.

In the 3D video, Ziying wore a white blouse and a gray skirt suit, standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. Outside, the blue Earth slowly turned while the ship from Solar System Transport Services was conducting its final systems test in low Earth orbit before escape acceleration.

Ziying first looked into the 3D camera apologetically and told Song Xuan that her uncle's work on Mars had made major progress and that she had to go there in person. She then promised that once the matter was finished, she would come back as quickly as possible - maybe it wouldn't take a year, maybe only eight months.

She ended by reminding Song Xuan once again to study hard at the Ladies' Academy, and said that once her work was done, her uncle would come back with her and bring her some Mars specialty gifts.

Uncle Ai Beihai's video had been shot in an office surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside was a bustling Martian city, where tier upon tier of skyscrapers nearly pierced the colony's arch-shaped energy dome almost a kilometer high. Beyond the dome stretched a vast red plain that reached all the way to the blue-gray horizon.

In the video, Ai Beihai said he was almost done with a job that had lasted more than two years and told her not to get worked up, just to wait for him calmly.

Ai Beihai really had every right to say that, because he was the person Song Xuan had been closest to since childhood. His intimacy index had always been far higher than He Ziying's or Song Mozhu's. The mere fact that he often secretly took Song Xuan to do things she loved but that Song Mozhu had explicitly forbidden already boosted his standing in Song Xuan's heart to the level of worship. What's more, his wild, dissolute handsome-uncle image was a fatal weapon when it came to winning the feelings of an innocent girl.

As for being picked up by her mother personally, Song Xuan had never held out any hope at all. Although no one had ever said it out loud, she knew in her heart that her mother must have her own unspeakable difficulties.

Just looking at the appearance of the punishment-mode latex bodysuit on her mother's body, Song Xuan faintly felt that perhaps her mother's daily life was no easier than hers had been when she first started enduring the academy's punishment mode.

Her mother had never once left the manor at Tianxin Manor. Her farthest range of movement was limited to the garden in front of the estate and the private woods behind it, and there were always two synthetic female guards holding the chain locked to the collar around her neck.

Song Xuan had also never seen her mother wear any clothes over all that time. Spring, summer, autumn, or winter, Song Mozhu was always dressed in a black mask, black bra, black panties, black gloves, black high-heeled boots, and a transparent latex bodysuit.

Still, the House of Ladies' latex bodysuits all had the basic function of automatic temperature regulation, so physically speaking it didn't matter.

Song Xuan always wore clothes when she was home on vacation, and she knew that Aunt Ziying also wore a chastity-suit latex bodysuit from the House of Ladies. Whether at home or outside, Ziying always wore clothes just like a normal person. For modesty's sake or as a matter of etiquette, putting on an outer layer was always necessary. After all, home was not the Ladies' Academy, and there were visitors almost every day - sometimes even crowds of them, men and women, old and young...

However, Song Mozhu never wore a single extra piece of clothing over the punishment-mode latex bodysuit, not even when facing visitors Song Xuan didn't know. The chain locked around her neck, held by the synthetic female guards behind her, swung conspicuously against the chest covered by her black bra.

Perhaps there had been an attempt to conceal it at first. In the end, though, she had simply yielded to time and reality.

Song Xuan had once wondered whether, when her mother spoke with strangers while wearing the Ladies' Academy suit in punishment mode, she wouldn't be at a psychological disadvantage.

At least at the Ladies' Academy, when female students were in punishment mode and talked to classmates or teachers, most of them would unconsciously place themselves in a lower position.

Although her mother had never formally told her, Song Xuan roughly knew that her family was not just wealthy.

Song Mozhu actually controlled a gigantic pan-solar-system corporation, mainly engaged in the research and production of military weapons, with extensive holdings in Oceania, the United States, on the Moon, and even on Mars.

Her uncle and aunt had been forced to leave Earth for long stretches precisely to handle those business matters.

The endless stream of visitors at home were all there to see her mother. It was obvious everyone had long since grown used to Song Mozhu never setting foot outside.

What was she supposed to do?

She had originally thought that once military training ended she could go home and immediately meet Ye Wuyou. Now she had suddenly been told she might have to spend an entire year at the Ladies' Academy. Even though she could post an update to let him know what had happened, would he still be in the same place a year from now?

A whole year without hearing from him, with no idea whether he was still secretly following her AA18 account - was her first, timid little crush in life going to end before it had even really begun?

Song Xuan was unwilling to accept it. Though she felt terribly sad, in the end she still didn't cry. Her proud nature would not allow her to cry, and in that respect she was exactly like her mother, who through Song Mozhu's simple and difficult first half of life had never once shed a tear.

Looking out from the dormitory window at the towering, elegant walls of the Ladies' Academy, she remembered once walking around the academy's perimeter with a group of equally curious girls. No matter where they went, they always found smooth white marble walls five or six meters high.

That was the first time Song Xuan had the bizarre thought that the Ladies' Academy was like an isolated prison, and that she herself was truly a female prisoner locked inside a prison that was like a canary cage.

Compared with Song Xuan, Xia Yan was in a much better mood at the moment. Although her Ladies' Academy suit was in punishment mode and she couldn't go home for the weekend after military training, her mother and brother were coming to see her today.

Early that morning, after enduring the routine punishment from 6:00 to 6:30 a.m. in the punishment mode of the Ladies' Academy suit, she had taken a fragrant bath, then rushed to the common makeup room on the first floor of the dormitory building and tied her big wavy hair into a well-behaved ponytail - the hairstyle recommended by the Ladies' Academy, though not mandatory. With all her hair gathered behind her head, her entire face, forehead included, was cleanly and fully on display - and then she put on a light wash of eyeshadow. Although the Ladies' Academy suit wrapped the girl's entire face 100 percent, the transparent sections could, through mimicry, change to something extremely close to skin in both texture and color, so there was no problem with wearing makeup under the suit.

The Ladies' Academy had a dedicated makeup class and also encouraged students to wear light makeup, even counting it as a bonus toward their daily performance score.

However, because dormitory apartments were not allowed to contain any portable items, every dormitory building at the Ladies' Academy had a public makeup room on the first floor for the girls to use. It was stocked with all kinds of disposable makeup products from all kinds of brands and formats, from ordinary to luxury, for the girls to help themselves to. After all, makeup was also part of ladylike etiquette and was considered a sign of respect for others. Heavy makeup, however, was strictly forbidden at the Ladies' Academy and counted as a violation of school rules. The Ladies' Academy suit would release a faint electric current to warn the student until she wiped the heavy makeup off her face.

The Ladies' Academy rules stipulated that parents were not allowed onto campus, and students in their punishment period could not leave the Ladies' Academy either. But that didn't stop Xia Yan from meeting her mother and brother, because the Ladies' Academy had a dedicated visitation area set up inside the security facility.

The security facility was a very large building, huge both above and below ground, and designed everywhere with both elegance and scientific precision. There were naturally plenty of visitation areas - more than a hundred of them, in fact - so parents or guardians did not need any appointment, and there was no congestion.

That made it easy for parents or guardians to meet the students without taking them away, so even on ordinary class days rather than holidays, parents could still come to the Ladies' Academy to visit their daughters.

Xia Yan had long since been inseparable from Song Xuan. Like many girls her age, they went to class together, went back to the dorm together, went to the cafeteria together, and even went to the bathroom hand in hand... Xia Yan's family visit naturally included Song Xuan.

Song Xuan and Xia Yan stepped into the security facility at the academy gate together, both wearing five-centimeter heels.

Neither of them spoke. They walked in silence. The security facility was a special zone between the outside of the Ladies' Academy and the inside of the Ladies' Academy, and it was also the farthest point students could reach without a guardian coming to take them away. It was one of the most tightly controlled areas in the entire academy.

Once they entered the security facility, the contact lenses worn by Song Xuan and Xia Yan activated their AR functions, projecting a virtual path with yellow arrows onto the white floor. The girls had to advance strictly according to the markings on that path.

Any attempt to step off the virtual path was immediately treated as a violation of school rules, and the high-heeled shoes of the Ladies' Academy suit would deliver electric shocks of varying intensity depending on how far they had drifted.

In addition, whether teacher or student, most areas inside the security facility were sound-prohibited, so the whole building was extremely quiet, except for the occasional lovely rhythm of high heels striking marble.

The two of them carefully watched their steps, making sure the heels under them landed exactly within the yellow lines, and arrived at a room off one side of the corridor - 4068 or 4098?

Song Xuan and Xia Yan were too nervous to see clearly. Inside were already a beautiful woman in a dark green long robe and a bright, sunny-looking young man, along with several synthetic female maids providing all-around service.

"Mom~ bro~ I missed you so much..." Seeing the older and younger pair, Xia Yan could no longer restrain herself. She ran forward and threw herself into her brother's arms. Because she was running too fast, and because of the heels, the thigh rings, and the fetters locking her legs, she practically fell into his embrace. Her wrists, restrained by cords and locked to the waistband of the black bikini panties of her confinement suit, couldn't reach very far, so she could only wrap her arms around his waist as best she could and rub her face against his shoulder over and over.

The suit's location detection was extremely precise. This reception room was one of the very few areas in the entire security facility where sound was allowed, and it had a very high priority, so even the punishment mode of the Ladies' Academy suit could speak freely here. As soon as Xia Yan and Song Xuan stepped inside, the suppression on the suit speakers by the security facility vanished.

In fact, as long as a visitor signaled, even the mask and mouth gag would mimic away, turning into a thin membrane over the lining of the mouth, restoring the student's ability to eat and to speak with her tongue.

"Yan Yan, are you used to school yet? That damned father of yours insisted on sending his daughter to this ghost place. Yan Yan, you've gotten thin..." Her mother was crying with joy on the side as well. It was obvious that not seeing her daughter for a whole month had been torture for her too. As for whether Xia Yan had gotten thinner, honestly, Xia Yan had actually gotten a little sturdier than before, but if Xia Yan's mother thought she was thin, then thin it was.

"Little sis... sis... you..." Perhaps because it was the first time he'd seen his younger sister appear before him dressed like this, the young man didn't know what to say for a moment.

Although he had long known that the Ladies' Academy's special school rules required his younger sister to wear a special uniform from the academy 24/7, when Xia Yan really hugged him while wearing a semi-transparent latex bodysuit and black bikini set, black thigh-high boots, and black latex long gloves, he still froze, only feeling that her chest was so hard against him it was uncomfortable.

Especially when she acted spoiled and rubbed her head against his neck, the thing below him couldn't help but rise into an embarrassing little tent...

"Bro~ you have to tell Dad, tell him I know I was wrong and that he absolutely has to transfer me out of the Ladies' Academy. I really don't want to stay here for even one more second. From now on I'll study hard, make progress every day, and never mix with those shady friends from outside society again..." Xia Yan's words were full of feeling. Anyone could hear the sincerity in them. There was no doubt these were her true feelings, with not a trace of falsehood - at least while she was in the Ladies' Academy, there was not a trace of falsehood.

"Good little sister, don't get excited yet. Steady yourself a little longer. I've been working on Dad's mindset this whole month, and when I go back today I'll lay it all out for him. Uh, little sister, do you really live every day in this bikini-style outfit? Why is it so hard?" Fortunately, the special design of the Ladies' Academy suit had gradually hardening shell structures over the breasts and groin, forming a chastity bra and a chastity belt respectively.

The brother's awkward tent was pressing right against the protective mound of his sister's chastity belt. The sturdy chastity belt blocked Xia Yan's lower body's ability to sense anything from the outside, mercifully avoiding a truly awkward family disaster.

At the same time, he felt as if two thin cords were tied around both sides of his waist. When he reached down to feel them, he actually caught his sister's pair of slender hands, both wrapped in black latex long gloves. "What are these things connected to on your hands?"

"Don't even get me started. This damned, ghostly Ladies' Academy uniform is really infuriating! The bikini you mentioned is actually just a chastity bra and a chastity belt! Both of my hands are locked to the waist of the chastity belt now, so I can't stretch them out very far. The same goes for down below, and my ankles are locked together by a cord that's less than thirty centimeters long, so I can't walk fast. Under my armpits and between my thighs too, so that's why I just fell into your arms. You have to know I absolutely never planned to fall into your arms before. And my dear little sister doesn't have a single free place left on her body now. I can't even talk normally most of the time... wuwu... I'm living such a miserable life right now... wuwu... Oh, and you absolutely have to argue for me in the strongest possible tone in front of Dad..." Xia Yan's tone was thick with resentment.

"Sigh... your dad is dead set on having you finish your studies here, and he even wants to see how you do after graduation. If you don't meet his expectations, he'll have you go on to the Ladies' Academy university too... Good girl, your mother really can't bear to part with you, not even a little..." Hearing her daughter's complaints, her mother spoke with equal sincerity. She didn't really have any way to deal with her husband's decision either. Every time Xia Yunjie blamed her, saying she had spoiled their daughter into this.

"That old bastard is crazy! Hmph! Utterly disgusting!" Xia Yan cursed bitterly. As if she had already known the answer, she didn't look all that disappointed. "Mom, when you go back, tell him this: if he's really determined to make me study here for three years, then after I graduate, I will definitely sever the father-daughter relationship! The day I graduate from the Ladies' Academy will be the day Xia Yunjie and I cut each other off forever!!!" Xia Yan's resentment over being sent to the Ladies' Academy by her own father ran so deep that it left even her mother not knowing what to say.

"Xuan Xuan, don't talk like that about Dad either. This time, it was your boyfriend who killed someone, and Dad spent a huge amount of effort helping you smooth it over. Do you know that Dad personally ran to the Judicial Court to ask the Feng family for help before he finally got it settled for you?" Xia Tian pulled his sister close.

"Back then I was just horribly unlucky, going to find that scumbag right when he went crazy. I've said it countless times already! Sigh... fine, fine, I won't talk about him anymore - too unlucky, too unlucky~~~ Let me introduce you all - this is my number one best roommate in the world, Song Xuan~~~ Xuan Xuan~ this is my number one best mother in the world, Zhou Mengwen~ and this is my number one best big brother in the universe, Xia Tian~~~" At that point Xia Yan fully displayed the lightning speed of her mood swings. After hearing her brother's words, she suddenly became energetic again as if the matter of a "failed plea for help" had never happened. With Xia Yan's introductions, Zhou Mengwen and Xia Tian finally noticed the black-haired girl who had been standing quietly to the side the whole time, Song Xuan.

"Hello, Auntie..."

"Hello..."

"Hello, Xuan Xuan..."

...