Chapter 327

Sunlight just climbed the red‑brick wall of the teaching building; He Yushui placed the last VR headset into the podium drawer. Cameras still stood at the back of the classroom, wires trailing across the floor, several technicians in white coats crouched in the corner debugging signals, muttering, "Latency's up to 300 milliseconds." He Yushui ignored them, merely lowering his head to glance at his watch—9:17, the same time Zhao Jianguo left the hospital yesterday. He shook his hand, dispelling the thought.

The front‑row students sat neat and tidy, each with bright eyes, like chicks waiting to be fed. Someone whispered to their desk mate, "Can we really go to Egypt?" The desk mate replied, "You're silly, it's just putting on glasses to watch cartoons." Before the words finished, the girl next to him poked his head, saying, "Last time you said the metaverse was a scam for kids, yet you rushed to sign up."

He Yushui cleared his throat and tapped the blackboard twice. "Quiet down, today's lesson isn't from the textbook." He opened the drawer and lifted a headset. "Put this on, and you'll be able to stand by the Nile River and watch how the pyramids were built stone by stone."

A buzzing sound erupted from below. A bespectacled boy raised his hand: "Teacher, will it hurt our eyes?" Another stood up directly: "My parents said this kind of high‑tech gadget is addictive!" Someone else muttered, "What if you can't take it off once you put it on?"

He Yushui smiled, slipped the headset onto his head, and fastened it with a click. "Come, watch me." He stood on the podium, turned in place, and asked, "Where am I now?"

Students stared wide-eyed—He Yushui on the podium suddenly vanished. In his place appeared a semi-transparent illusion, standing on a riverbank under a sky of yellow sand; behind him lay an array of boulders in the slanting sun, while in the distance slaves shouted work songs as they dragged stone blocks, hot wind whipping sand into their faces.

"Ouch!" a girl in the front row jerked back, "He… he's really gone!"

Three seconds later, He Yushui took off the equipment and stood again at the podium, still holding a piece of chalk. "See? It's visual simulation, not an out-of-body experience." He handed the headset to the first-row students, "Take turns, five minutes each. Who wants to go first?"

No one moved.

After two seconds, the bespectacled boy gritted his teeth: "I'll go!"

As soon as he put on the equipment, he froze. His mouth slowly opened, his hand reached forward as if to touch something. Five seconds later he suddenly shouted, "Cow! That cow glared at me!" The whole class burst into laughter. When he took it off, his face was pale but his eyes shone: "Teacher, can I try again?"

The second round began, and even the boy who had been shouting "fraud" earlier scrambled to put on the headset. The technician at the back of the classroom shook his head: "I didn't expect these kids to be easier to handle than us."

As the commotion continued, footsteps sounded at the door. The hallway fell silent, then the homeroom teacher poked his head in: "The department head is coming! Everyone sit up straight!"

The department head wore a dark gray Mao suit, his hair combed to perfection, followed by two staff members carrying briefcases. He stood in the doorway, glanced around, and his eyes fell on the pile of headsets on the podium, his brows slightly knitting.

He Yushui stepped forward to shake hands: "Comrade Department Head, today we'll try a new teaching method in this class."

The department head nodded, his tone flat: "I heard you're making the students 'time-travel'?"

"More precisely, it's immersive learning." He Yushui offered a disinfected headset: "Would you like to try it?"

The department head didn't take it, instead asking: "Is there any teaching material to back this up? It's not in the curriculum outline."

"It's currently a pilot course." He Yushui remained calm: "But the knowledge the students retain is firmer than if they'd recited the textbook ten times."

The department head snorted, then finally reached out and took the equipment. The staff member immediately tensed: "Department Head, shouldn't we have a doctor check your physiological response first?"

"I'm not a test subject." The department head glared at him, then, in front of the whole class, snapped the headset onto his head.

One second later, his body jerked violently, and he grabbed the edge of the podium for support.

The classroom disappeared. The scorching sun baked the muddy banks of the Nile, the air thick with sweat and livestock odor. Under his feet lay scorching sand and gravel; in the distance, hundreds of bare-chested laborers hauled a stone as tall as two people on wooden sledges, the ropes creaking. A foreman-like figure waved his whip and shouted a few unintelligible words, whereupon a line of hieroglyphs appeared on the stele and a steady male voice announced: "In 2580 BC, during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, Pharaoh Khufu ordered the construction of the Great Pyramid, mobilizing a workforce of one hundred thousand for over twenty years…"

The department head froze. He instinctively reached to remove the headset, then halted mid‑motion.

"Comrade Department Head," He Yushui's voice came from reality, "please look at your feet first."

The department head lowered his gaze.

His "foot" was stepping on a shallow water trace left by the Nile's flood; beside the water stood a measuring rod marked with various heights.

"Is this… an irrigation system?" he murmured.

"Exactly," He Yushui said. "They use it to determine planting times. Look to the left—those people are digging diversion canals."

The department head slowly turned his head. Sure enough, a group of workers were digging canals in the sand, their movements uniform. The virtual instructor continued: "After the floodwaters recede each year, the land becomes fertile, and farmers re‑measure their plots according to the boundaries set by the government…"

The department head said nothing. Sweat trickled down his forehead; he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his neck, forgetting he was still in the real world.

Five minutes later, the system exited automatically. The image faded and the classroom lights returned. The department head removed the headset, his fingers trembling slightly.

"This…" he gasped, "it's far clearer than the texts I memorized as a child."

Students in the back couldn't hold back their laughter. Someone whispered, "Even the department head is stunned."

The department head glared back once, then turned to He Yushui: "This technology… are there any obstacles to rolling it out nationwide?"

"Equipment costs have already been driven down," He Yushui said, pulling up backend data. "A basic set is enough for a class for three years. We've also standardized teacher training—it takes just three days to get up to speed."

The department head nodded, then suddenly asked: "Was that foreman speaking ancient Egyptian?"

"The AI reconstructed the pronunciation from archaeological data and provided real‑time subtitles."

"Interesting." The department head turned the headset over in his hands several times. "I used to think such things were only for movies. Now I see… they're far more vivid than textbooks!"

His remark was loud enough for the whole class to hear, and they burst into cheers. The bespectacled boy was so excited he nearly jumped out of his chair.

As he left, the department head deliberately paused to shake He Yushui's hand: "Hurry up and draft a nationwide promotion plan." With that, he departed, escorted by staff.

After the door closed, the classroom erupted.

"The department head already said yes!"

"Can we go to the Tang dynasty next class?"

"I want to see how the terracotta warriors were fired!"

He Yushui laughed and waved a hand: "One at a time. Let's wrap up this lesson—who can tell us how ancient Egyptian labor was organized?"

The students shot up their hands.

The boy who first shouted "fraud" was the first to Standing Up: "Labor is conscripted by village, on rotating shifts, the state provides Meal Ticket, and good performance can earn tax exemptions."

He Yushui gave a thumbs‑up: "Perfect score."

At that moment, the large screen in the corner of the Classroom flickered, displaying a world map. Dozens of light points began to light up in succession, each marking a school's name: London Secondary School, Tokyo First Affiliated High School, Moscow Experimental School…

The technician leaned in, grinning: "Engineer He, your open‑source agreement went out only half a day ago, and over 130 foreign schools have already signed on."

"The UNESCO just issued an announcement," another person pointed at the phone, "They've listed our project in the 'Future Education Demonstration Project'."

He Yushui didn't speak, walked to the Control Console, staring at the world map that kept lighting up. The light points grew more and more, like fireflies on a summer night, taking off in swaths.

In the Classroom, students were still chattering about which dynasty they wanted to visit next. Someone suggested the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, someone said they wanted to watch da Vinci paint, and someone shouted they wanted to experience primitive people drilling wood to make fire.

He Yushui turned around, looking at this group of children with shining eyes, and softly said: "This has just begun."

Outside the window, sunlight was shining on the top of the playground flagpole, the red flag slowly rising.