The Starship arrived at Milixing three days later.
During these three days, all the guests had been ostracizing Jiang Liulan, both openly and covertly, with the exception of Xie Ti. Xie Ti was the quintessential "good guy"; out of sympathy, he would insist on dragging Jiang Liulan along whenever he did anything.
While being ostracized was certainly not a pleasant experience, it did give Jiang Liulan a bit of time to prepare himself.
Before joining "Land of the Strong," Jiang Liulan had little understanding of the outside world, and he knew even less about the military, which had rarely appeared in public in recent years. He realized that if he didn't learn more about the military before landing, he would likely be in a very difficult position during the show.
While Jiang Liulan had no way of knowing the internal situation of the base, the publicly available information could never escape the sharp eyes of the military enthusiasts on the Interstellar Network.
Before he could even do much searching, he opened his V-Blog, and a video posted a week ago appeared at the top of his screen. The title read: "The Youngest Federal Major General Since the Great War Holds Commissioning Ceremony Today."
The title immediately caught Jiang Liulan's attention for one simple reason: it was a rarity.
Since the Zerg had suffered a severe setback after the last great war, the Federation had rarely seen any large-scale military conflicts. Consequently, there had been no new general-rank officers in the Federal Military for a hundred years; this Major General was the first.
This once-in-a-century commissioning ceremony had captured the attention of the majority of the Federal public, and the view count was more than ten times higher than any of Jiang Liulan's previous videos.
As soon as the grand, stirring music began, the screen was flooded with comments. Unlike the videos where Jiang Liulan had scolded Chen Yan, the comments this time were filled with blessings and admiration. No one dared to spout nonsense about a heroic Federal soldier.
The young officer about to be commissioned was dressed in a crisp, clean military uniform, stepping onto the high platform under the watchful eyes of all. Perhaps it was intentional, but the cameras were positioned at a distance, and Jiang Liulan could not see the officer's face clearly.
Just as he was wondering if he could zoom in on the person's face, thunderous applause erupted in the video.
The young officer formally donned the epaulets that symbolized his new rank. Accepting the gaze of the entire Federation, anyone could see his high-spirited demeanor.
Even in such a grand ceremony unlike any before, the young officer showed no sign of nervousness, keeping his back straight and his posture impeccable throughout.
At the end of the ceremony, the officer turned toward the sun and, facing the camera that broadcast to the entire Federation, delivered a textbook-perfect salute.
Although he still couldn't see the man's features clearly, in such an atmosphere, Jiang Liulan couldn't help but sigh, "He's actually quite handsome..."
"Who's handsome?" Xie Ti popped up to ask.
Jiang Liulan shook his head.
The video hadn't finished playing yet, as the next part was the officer's speech. Unfortunately, Jiang Liulan didn't have time to keep watching, as Xie Ti reminded him, "We've reached our destination."
Only then did Jiang Liulan realize that while he was distracted, the Starship had already landed smoothly. Everyone else had packed their things and was walking out, leaving him the only one still sitting in his seat.
Jiang Liulan thanked Xie Ti for the reminder, quickly closed his screen, shouldered his bag, and followed the group.
In the final moment before closing the video, he caught a quick glimpse of the subtitle on the young officer's chest. It displayed his name: Xu Jiangxing.
The military personnel sent to receive them were already waiting outside the landing site, with several rows of stern, orderly soldiers flanking the Starship's entrance. In such a solemn atmosphere, even someone as calm as Director Zhang dropped his usual relaxed demeanor and walked straight as a ramrod in front of the group.
Although the atmosphere was tense, it was their first time stepping onto Milixing, and everyone in the group felt more excitement than anything else.
Besides the participating guests, the audience watching the show was also looking forward to this military camp experience with great anticipation and excitement.
On the very first day of their departure, the production team had officially launched the news for "Land of the Strong." In just two days, the online discussion about "Land of the Strong" had already surpassed all other topics, occupying the top three spots on the V-Blog trending list.
The audience's greatest curiosity lay in the guests themselves. Ever since Director Zhang publicly stated on his social media platform that he would be rebooting "Land of the Strong," netizens had begun speculating about who the guests for this season would be. They tried to deduce the candidates from every scrap of information they could glean from Director Zhang and the production team. Unfortunately, the experienced Director Zhang was extremely cautious. He had gone to great lengths to maintain mystery before the show aired, not leaking a single detail, which meant that by the time the show officially launched, the number of curious viewers was so great it nearly crashed the streaming platform.
The show utilized a combination of live streaming and recorded episodes. When the guests participated in training, the production team would open the live broadcast rooms for the audience to watch and participate in discussions directly. Of course, to ensure revenue, Director Zhang would time things carefully, holding back a portion of the content to be revealed only when the first recorded episode aired.
As soon as the live stream for "Land of the Strong" appeared on the platform's homepage, a massive number of viewers flooded in. Even before the live stream officially began, the number of concurrent viewers had already reached ten million. Achieving this effect was not just due to the production team's early promotion, but also because the Federal Military’s V-Blog had broken all precedents by personally forwarding the show’s official poster.
A silvery-black light blade sliced across the screens of everyone in the live room; the opening special effects that the production team had worked tirelessly on dazzled everyone's eyes. Immediately afterward, the title "Land of the Strong" burst out from the crack, with the words "Produced by the Federal Military" prominently displayed directly above the show's name, shocking various factions and the audience alike.
"What does this mean? Produced by the Federal Military? Is this the first time in history?"
"Good lord! No wonder Director Zhang dared to reboot this show; it turns out he has a massive backer!"
"Is this for real? Hasn't the military always been very low-key?"
"They were low-key in the past, but haven't there been a lot of big moves this year? It seems they've had this planned for a long time."
The live discussion area refreshed incessantly. The title of being produced by the military pushed the fervor of the chat to an unprecedented high. A hashtag titled #ProducedByFederalMilitary suddenly appeared on the trending list. Many onlookers who hadn't known about the show clicked on the hashtag, then clicked on the live stream link, and subsequently joined the discussion with a mix of surprise and anticipation, attracting even more viewers.
No matter how shocked the outside world was, it could not affect Jiang Liulan in the slightest. Under the guidance of the military personnel, they were entering the passage leading to the outer perimeter of the base.
In the modern era where airships were widely used, one could barely see any airships in the sky above the base.
On Milixing, all transportation that could access the Interstellar Network required approval to be used. Small machines like transport vehicles, which had no communication functions and could only operate within a fixed range, had become the most commonly used means of transport here.
The military reception staff had arranged for several of these transport vehicles to take them into the base.
Passing through vast stretches of towering trees and mountain ranges, the base's architecture finally appeared before them.
Unlike the livable Yalan Star, Milixing was filled with iron walls built from special metals. Hidden beneath the seemingly clean walls were various cameras and weapons meant to protect the safety of the base, creating an intangible sense of oppression.
This feeling of pressure came not only from the surrounding environment but also from the gaze of the soldiers and robots guarding the route. Jiang Liulan had a premonition that the next month would not be an easy one for them.