A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 1537 - 1036: Plan

Standing on the second-floor spectator seats, watching the Wind Band Club members below crying in despair, Duanmu Huai said nothing.

The wind band competition is unlike soccer or basketball, where there are group stages, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. The selected schools gather together, perform within a day, and then the national competition is over.

After all, this is a music competition, and each county only has three representative schools, with one school performing two pieces. It all ends within a day.

Honestly, it doesn’t really feel tense. If it were like soccer or basketball, there might be some real sense of competing in the nationals. But for wind band competitions, getting qualified for the nationals and then directly going to the finals, Duanmu Huai found it a bit hard to adapt.

Of course, the final result of the Wind Band Club was — the silver award.

Well, it was not beyond Duanmu Huai’s expectations.

According to the judges’ comments, the piece chosen by Mary and Kousaka Rina for their ensemble was outstanding and received high praise. However, the problem lay in the assigned piece — after all, the chosen piece can showcase the trump card of the Wind Band Club, but the assigned piece requires considering the overall strength of the entire wind band.

In this regard, the Wind Band Club lacked experience and the weakness of inadequate strength was exposed.

This is like a competition between two soccer teams; our Wind Band Club is like a team where the two frontrunners are international superstar level, but all the other players are of domestic standard. Facing a brilliant team where everyone from the striker to the goalkeeper is a star, the Milky Way Warship, of course, football is round, you can’t say until the last moment. But music relies on talent and strength, the upper limit of the Wind Band Club is set here, competing with those stronger school bands is obviously impossible.

After all, performers from those schools are stronger and more talented — the more famous the school, the more likely it attracts talented students. Given that our school’s Wind Band Club was not well-known before, how could we expect to win the national championship?

Even Shonan, once in the national competition for the first time, was quickly eliminated.

However, sports have at least clear standards. But music, this ambiguous thing, Duanmu Huai had no way.

Even on websites where certain famous music rankings exist, people are quarreling endlessly, because there is no universally convincing standard, right?

Whether it’s based on reviews or sales, there are always people who are discontented.

Achieving a silver award was already an outstanding performance in Duanmu Huai’s view, perhaps the members of the Wind Band Club realized this, but it didn’t prevent them from crying in despair.

At this moment, Duanmu Huai’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He took out his phone for a glance, then withdrew his eyes and walked out of the music hall.

"Hello."

"Ah, is this Mr. Duanmu?"

"Yes, it’s me, Professor Takayama. What can I do for you?"

Since he already planned on going to the Antarctic, of course, Duanmu Huai was going. Naturally, with his previous experience in the World of Mary, this process was much simpler now. He paved the way with money, went to universities to find scholars or research teams studying the Antarctic, and promised to sponsor them to take him and his team to the Antarctic... Duanmu Huai couldn’t use this strategy more.

After all, money can make anything happen.

Professor Takayama was one of the connections Duanmu Huai made, and he was very interested in Duanmu Huai’s sponsorship plan. Unfortunately, he was currently aged and didn’t have any research projects related to the Antarctic. But Duanmu Huai still asked him to help inquire about it.

"I was thinking... about the sponsorship, I want to ask Mr. Duanmu, you haven’t changed your mind, have you?"

"No, I haven’t."

"That’s great."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s answer, Professor Takayama breathed a sigh of relief.

"Actually, there’s a plan that has encountered difficulties..."

According to Professor Takayama, there was a plan where an Antarctic research base and its icebreaker were to be transferred to a private exploratory team. Initially, both parties had agreed, but faced difficulties in raising funds for maintenance and activities, and the sponsors who promised to invest started withdrawing. This plan seemed to be on the verge of failing, and coincidentally, Professor Takayama had a student in the observation team who asked for help from his mentor. The latter thought of Duanmu Huai, as in Professor Takayama’s view, since the other party was willing to sponsor Antarctic exploration, he surely had funds for this. Hence, he specifically called to inquire.

"Is there a research station available for transfer?"

There was no denying that Duanmu Huai’s eyes brightened at this point. After all, these research bases are generally state-owned and wouldn’t be sold to ordinary people. The last time Duanmu Huai was in the World of Mary, he used another country’s research base. If he could buy this base now, it would be entirely his!

Then wouldn’t he be able to do whatever he wanted?

"I’ll buy it! How much?"

For Duanmu Huai, problems solvable with money were never real problems.

"Ha......"

Leaning on the desk, Naruse Mio couldn’t help but sigh.

She really didn’t expect to go to the Antarctic...

Recalling the notification Duanmu Huai proudly gave them a few days ago, Naruse Mio was stunned. She initially thought even for the Antarctic, it wouldn’t be so soon before they could go. To a certain extent, Naruse Mio felt a bit unreal. You could understand going abroad for a vacation, but the Antarctic? Honestly, in Naruse Mio’s mind, it seemed no different from the Moon or Mars.

Wonder how uncle managed it...

"Classmate Naruse, do you have any plans for the holiday?"

As Naruse Mio sighed while lying on the desk, a classmate in front of her started a conversation. Raising her head, she saw Huang’zen Kumiko curiously looking at her. Beside her were two of her friends, all three were from the Wind Band Club. Initially, Naruse Mio only knew them, but since Duanmu Huai became a consultant for the Wind Band Club, she became somewhat familiar with them.

"For the holiday... I might not be able to wait until the holiday."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Because I’m taking a break from school."

"What? You’re taking a break?"

Hearing Naruse Mio’s response, Huang’zen Kumiko and the others were taken aback.

"What’s wrong, Naruse? Did something happen?"

"If you put it that way, it can’t be said that nothing happened..."

The schedule for the trip to Antarctica is set, as it depends on the climate and season at that time, so there’s no way to align it with the holiday schedule. Therefore, we had to take leave from school early. Originally, I thought something like this wouldn’t get approved by the school, but because this school is Liliath’s domain, it was surprisingly approved promptly.

Of course, the prerequisite is to earn enough credits.

"We’re going to Antarctica."

After thinking about it, Naruse Mio decided to speak the truth, after all, taking a leave of absence would certainly raise suspicions.

"What? Antarctica?"

Upon hearing this, Huang’zen Kumiko screamed.

"Is Naruse going to Antarctica?"

"Of course, not just me. Mainly it’s Teacher Duanmu leading, and Classmate Mary, as well as President Liliath, they’re all coming..."

"Does the school organize such activities?"

"Uh...it’s more of a private activity..."

In this regard, Naruse Mio couldn’t elaborate much, as going to Antarctica to investigate monsters sounded too unrealistic.

"Because Teacher Duanmu’s family seems to sponsor private Antarctic expeditions, so they invited us to join."

That’s the official story.

"Ah, Xiao’Lu also saw the news about private expeditions to Antarctica, didn’t expect Teacher Duanmu’s family had such capabilities."

"That’s so nice, I also want to go to Antarctica..."

"Then next time if we win the gold award in the national competition, let’s see if we can ask Teacher Duanmu to take us to Antarctica?"

"Hahaha, is the Wind Band Club going to play in Antarctica? It might be too cold to use instruments..."

"But no wind band has performed in Antarctica before, maybe we could set a record?"

"Does anyone really want that kind of record?"

"Yes, yes, if we play at the Antarctic pole, wouldn’t it be romantic?"

"I just think we’d all freeze like ice blocks..."

Seeing the girls in front of her excitedly discussing these far-fetched topics again, Naruse Mio also smiled. She had heard about the national competition, and although Naruse Mio thought it was impressive for the Wind Band Club, which wasn’t very noticeable, to make it to the nationals and win a silver award, the members seemed a bit dejected about it.

At least for a few days after the competition, they were quite downcast, but now it seems they’ve regained their energy.

However, Naruse Mio thought they were already amazing, and many outside people had been saying the same. In the past, Naruse Mio didn’t think the Wind Band Club had much presence, but they unexpectedly rose to shine so brightly.

Such things couldn’t be kept secret from others, considering Naruse Mio, Banriya, Mary, and Liliath were all students at this school, all taking a leave to prepare for the trip. Soon enough, the entire school knew about their Antarctic trip and while everyone was envious, they didn’t say much.

Because it was claimed to be a sponsored trip by the Duanmu family, it was normal for them to take a few relatives along. Naruse Mio, Banriya, and Mary’s public identities were all as Duanmu’s relatives, and Liliath joined under the guise of the Mystical Science Research Society. Everyone knew Duanmu and Liliath had a good relationship, so choosing who to take on a family event was naturally Duanmu’s decision.

But there was still some envy.

"Teacher Duanmu, you guys are going to Antarctica!"

Sure enough, when Duanmu Huai walked into the music classroom, everyone in the Wind Band Club, uncharacteristically, started heckling him.

"That’s so great, we want to go too!"

"Hahaha, you want to go to Antarctica? Then work hard."

Faced with the Wind Band Club’s teasing, Duanmu Huai laughed heartily.

"As long as you can win the national competition’s gold award, I can take you there anytime!"

"Are you serious? Teacher?"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s reply, many people’s eyes lit up.

"Of course, maybe you can even have a concert in Antarctica, but first, you have to win the gold award. I’ll cover all the expenses then!"

Now that Duanmu Huai had an Antarctic base, he spoke with more confidence.

"No wonder Teacher Duanmu, so generous!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s confirmation, everyone in the Wind Band Club cheered — though at this moment, they were just joking around.

But soon, they would realize that Duanmu Huai was serious.