But fate is unpredictable, what you think is the end is often just the beginning…
Night deepened, the moon shone clear and bright. When everyone was fast asleep—
A sharp whistle and a blaring siren suddenly pierced through the silence.
“Emergency assembly! Put your clothes on and grab your backpacks!”
“Everyone downstairs! Move it!”
At the first sound of the alarm, Jiang Fuyue and Liu Sisi instantly sat upright. The two exchanged a glance, then started dressing while shaking Huo Fanjin and Cen Qiaoqiao awake.
“Don’t just stand there! Get dressed, quick, unless you want to get punished!”
The two, still half-asleep, jolted awake, their drowsiness gone in an instant.
One minute to dress, one minute to wash up, three minutes to run downstairs to the training field, just enough.
“Qiaoqiao, your belt isn’t fastened!”
“And your backpack! Don’t forget your backpack! They kept shouting it over the loudspeaker!”
“Sister Yue, have you seen my hat? I swear I left it on the cabinet—”
“Here!”
It was pure chaos, people stumbling, bumping, shouting.
Fortunately, they weren’t late.
Just as they lined up, Instructor Hao Dazhi pressed his stopwatch and announced grimly:
“Time’s up!”
Huo Fanjin gasped for breath, patting her chest. “Good… good thing we made it…”
Cen Qiaoqiao’s cheeks were flushed pink from running, glowing like peach blossoms. “That was so intense, my heart almost jumped out of my chest…”
They had been racing against time and barely won.
Nearly half the group was late and barred from joining formation.
Some had been just a few steps away, victory within reach… yet Hao Dazhi stopped them cold. Late was late , not even a single second of leeway!
“Attention! Eyes right! Eyes front!”
The instructor began checking the formation.
“You. You. And you, step out!”
He pointed to several students in a row. Their nerves, barely settled, tensed up again.
“Reporting!”
After calling over ten more, Hao Dazhi finally spoke.
“You want to know why?”
“Instructor, we weren’t late!”
Hao Dazhi marched up to them, his voice stern.
“Feel wronged, do you? Hmph! The announcement repeatedly said to bring your backpacks. You came empty-handed. In wartime, that means no weapons, no supplies, straight to your deaths! Failure to follow orders is still failure!”
No one could argue.
Cen Qiaoqiao exhaled quietly. “Good thing Sister Yue reminded me, or I’d have been one of the ‘dead’ ones…”
That group was sentenced to run ten laps.
Just when everyone thought it was over and they could go back to sleep—
Hao Dazhi dropped another bombshell:
“Starting now, five-kilometer night cross-country with full packs, same route as this afternoon!”
Everyone was dumbstruck.
“At night? Five kilometers? Cross-country?”
“Instructor, you’ve got to be kidding!”
“What the h*ll—middle of the night and we’re not allowed to sleep?”
“My legs are still jelly! Cross-country my *ss…”
“I’m done with this!”
“Screw the whole joint training thing! Let’s just come in last, who cares?”
“This year’s military training is insane. If I’d known, I’d have had the hospital write me a note and taken leave.”
“If possible, I’d like to drop dead right here.”
They were all young masters and misses, not used to this kind of suffering.
The instructor, unfazed by the outburst, said coolly: “Anyone who refuses can skip the run, fifty laps instead. Once you’re done, you can go back to your dorm.”
Only a fool would choose that.
So, under the dark sky, everyone set off.
….
Liang Jingzhou was about to start running when Gu Huaiyu suddenly grabbed him.
“What?”
Gu Huaiyu jerked his chin toward another direction. “Over there.”
Liang Jingzhou looked, Li Chen and Cheng Lian were both there, their figures half-merged with the night. Hard to spot unless you looked closely.
“What are we doing? Everyone else is leaving…”
Gu Huaiyu clicked his tongue. “Relax.”
Liang Jingzhou remembered the last time he got punished with ten laps. “I really don’t want to repeat that…”
“You’ve got no guts.”
Still, Liang Jingzhou followed, grumbling, “What are we doing sneaking around like this?”
“Less talk, you’ll see.”
When they got closer, Liang Jingzhou saw a huge fishing net spread at Cheng Lian’s feet. “Where’d you get that?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just use it.”
“Oh.” Liang Jingzhou nodded, but then blinked. “Use it for what?”
Cheng Lian exchanged a glance with Gu Huaiyu, the two moved at once, each grabbing one side of the net and throwing it straight over Liang Jingzhou.
In a flash, they yanked it tight, tied off the rope, and sealed the opening.
In the blink of an eye, Liang Jingzhou became a fish in the net!
Just like that scene in Journey to the West, when Zhu Bajie got caught in the celestial fishing net by the goddesses.
“The h*ll—” Liang Jingzhou struggled, cursing. “You psychos! Messing with me now?! I’ll—”
“Shut up!” Cheng Lian hissed. “You want Instructor Hao to find us or what?”
At that name, Liang Jingzhou instinctively went quiet.
Then he lowered his voice:
“What the h*ll are you doing? Let me out already!”
Cheng Lian gave a small nod.
He and Gu Huaiyu loosened the ropes and freed him.
“Wait, you did all that just to trap me?”
Li Chen stood leisurely with his hands in his pockets.
“First, it’s not ‘some cr*ppy net.’ Reinforced and double-layered, even a knife can barely cut it. Second, it’s not for you. It’s for Jiang Fuyue.”
“What?”
Li Chen shrugged. “Didn’t you all tell me to handle it? I’ve waited long enough, can’t let you down, can I?”
Previously, Liang Jingzhou had tried to prank Jiang Fuyue but ended up terrified by a fake snake she used, ever since, he’d avoided her like the plague.
So, the other three decided to let Li Chen take over.
He’d been stalling for days.
“I thought you guys had given up…” Liang Jingzhou muttered, only to realize they’d been plotting something big.
“You really think this will work?” he asked doubtfully.
Li Chen smiled faintly. “Judging by our little test run, I’d say the results are promising.”
A few seconds later, realization dawned on Liang Jingzhou. “Wait, you used me as a guinea pig?!”
Cheng Lian: “Pretty obvious.”
Gu Huaiyu: “And you only just figured it out… impressive.”
Liang Jingzhou: “???”
Li Chen unlocked his phone and brought up a photo. “This is where I scouted earlier. Best spot for the ambush…”
After a round of discussion, they finally decided: “…Let’s do it this way!”
During that time, Liang Jingzhou’s thoughts were elsewhere, he wasn’t focused at all.
Gu Huaiyu bumped his shoulder. “What’s up with you?”
Liang Jingzhou’s gaze drifted. “Maybe we should just forget it? I can’t shake the feeling that Jiang Fuyue’s got something… weird about her.”
Li Chen lifted his eyelids and looked over. “What, you scared?”
“It’s not that… just feels risky. And besides, there’s still the five-kilometer cross-country mission, we don’t even have enough time!”
“Relax, Old Li’s already got it planned. See here—” Gu Huaiyu pointed at a spot on the map. “There’s a small path here. Once we take care of Jiang Fuyue, we cut through from here. Cuts the time in half.”
“So… you guys already planned all this?”
The three of them exchanged knowing glances and smiled in tacit understanding.
Liang Jingzhou: “…”
When they set out, it was a big group. But as they ran, the formation began to scatter.
Before long, they were stretched out, sparse and scattered, no one in sight ahead, no one close behind.
So it was common for a few people to band together, moving forward in small groups.
Naturally, Jiang Fuyue’s side was four people.
They weren’t competing for rank like during the day, so there was no need to rush. This way, they could also take care of Cen Qiaoqiao, who didn’t have much stamina.
In Xiyong, the temperature difference between day and night was huge.
Scorching sun during the day; bone-chilling wind at night.
Huo Fanjin looked ahead, no one in sight. The people behind hadn’t caught up either. For this stretch, it was just the four of them.
“Why is it so dark?”
Cen Qiaoqiao pointed up. “The streetlights are broken.”
“Oh, come on—”
Just then, another gust of cold wind swept past, carrying with it a low wailing sound.
Huo Fanjin immediately tensed, scalp prickling. “Tell me this doesn’t feel like one of those horror-movie moments, you know, when the ghost shows up after a sudden gust of wind?”
“Ah, don’t scare me!” Cen Qiaoqiao screamed and hid behind Jiang Fuyue.
Huo Fanjin’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “Little Qiaoqiao, think about it, don’t your hands and feet feel cold now? Doesn’t your back feel like ice?”
Cen Qiaoqiao was about to cry, clutching Jiang Fuyue’s waist tightly. “Sister Yue, look at her! She’s doing it again, trying to scare me!”
Liu Sisi, who had been walking ahead, turned her head at that moment. Her gaze dropped to where Cen Qiaoqiao’s arms were wrapped around Jiang Fuyue’s waist.
Her lips tightened. “We’d better hurry. Otherwise, we won’t make it.”
Then her cold eyes swept over Huo Fanjin, and she said nothing more, walking ahead.
Huo Fanjin: “?” She felt like she’d just been warned.
The farther they went, the more broken the lights became, and the darker it got.
Suddenly, Jiang Fuyue stopped. “We took a wrong turn.”
“Huh? W-wrong turn?”
Jiang Fuyue glanced around. “The cornfield we passed this morning wasn’t like this.”
Huo Fanjin looked again. “Isn’t it? Looks about the same to me.”
“This one’s denser. And there’s an extra haystack over there.”
Cen Qiaoqiao: “Then what do we do now?”
The other three turned to Jiang Fuyue, waiting for her to decide.
“Go back.”
Liu Sisi was silent. “…I don’t know which way.”
Huo Fanjin: “I don’t remember either.”
Cen Qiaoqiao: Don’t look at me, I have no idea.
Jiang Fuyue: “I remember. Stay close.”
They retraced their steps. Ten minutes later, they finally found the right path again.
It was still dark, but much brighter than before.
Because of the detour, they were now far behind the main group.
Jiang Fuyue led the others forward at a quicker pace.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes.
Cen Qiaoqiao noticed first. She jumped, eyes filling with tears. “Could it be a snake?”
This time of year…
Liu Sisi said, “Possible, but not certain.”
Cen Qiaoqiao: “!”
Liu Sisi turned her face away.
The rustling grew louder.
Huo Fanjin started toward it, but Jiang Fuyue stopped her with a low voice. “Don’t. Our mission is to complete the five-kilometer run.”
Everything else wasn’t worth attention.
After all, curiosity kills the cat.
And people, too.
“Oh!” Huo Fanjin obediently turned back and didn’t go near.
In the shadows—
Li Chen raised an eyebrow. “She’s pretty cautious.”
Liang Jingzhou: “Told you, Jiang Fuyue’s no ordinary person. See? She’s not taking the bait.”
Gu Huaiyu: “Then what now? The fish won’t bite.”
“Then we force-feed it!”
Liang Jingzhou’s eyelid twitched.
Right eye twitching… bad omen.
Li Chen started the countdown. “Three, two, one!”
The moment he spoke, Gu Huaiyu and Cheng Lian leapt out, throwing a fishing net straight over Jiang Fuyue and Liu Sisi.
“What are you standing there for?!” Li Chen barked.
Liang Jingzhou: “Huh? Oh!”
He rushed forward too.
Li Chen quickly subdued Huo Fanjin, while Liang Jingzhou instinctively went for Cen Qiaoqiao.
In mere moments, the four of them were trapped with no way to resist.
Huo Fanjin was pinned by Li Chen, but her mouth was still free. Once she realized what happened, she started shouting curses: “Wow! It’s you four! Didn’t learn your lesson last time, huh? You dare mess with us again?!”
Li Chen sneered. “Who’s the one who should’ve learned their lesson?”
“All you can do is ambush from behind? Four young masters acting like street thugs, you’re worse than gangsters! Are you even men?!”
Li Chen’s temple pulsed. “Shut up!”
“I won’t! You did it, why shouldn’t I call you out? What’s the difference between you and hypocrites pretending to be saints?”
That mouth of Huo Fanjin’s could really kill. Li Chen’s composure evaporated instantly.
“Old Liang! Stuff her mouth!”
Liang Jingzhou: “Huh? With what? Air?”
Li Chen: “…”
Failed intimidation attempt.
Huo Fanjin just cursed louder.
Meanwhile, Jiang Fuyue and Liu Sisi, trapped under the net, remained surprisingly calm.
Gu Huaiyu felt something was off.
Even Cheng Lian frowned.
“Whose idea was this?” Jiang Fuyue spoke.
Even though she was clearly caught, her demeanor hadn’t changed at all. Her expression, posture, and tone all carried an inexplicable composure.
The two men exchanged a quick glance, neither daring to answer, a flicker of wariness appearing in their eyes.
Jiang Fuyue smiled faintly, her gaze falling on Li Chen not far away. “So it was you.”
Gu Huaiyu felt a chill run down his neck.
Cheng Lian turned sharply, meeting Jiang Fuyue’s calm, smiling eyes and his heart skipped a beat.
“You caught me. So what now? What are you planning to do?”
Silence answered her.
“Beat me up? Yell at me? Or…” Her eyes swept over them, lips curved in a half-smile. “Leave my body here in the wild?”
“No, that’s right, I almost forgot. There are four of us. You wouldn’t dare go that far.”
Gu Huaiyu: “…”
Cheng Lian: “…”
Wait, weren’t they the ones in control? Why did it feel like she was the boss here?
D*mn it!
Huo Fanjin finally ran out of insults, exhaling a long breath.
With her voice gone, the surroundings fell into utter silence, an eerie tension slowly creeping in.
The wailing wind brushing past their ears only made the atmosphere more sinister like something straight out of a horror film.
And then, Jiang Fuyue suddenly spoke:
“Liang Jingzhou—”
