When Zheng Yi passed the group owner’s verification, the total number of people in the group was only 36.
The admin didn’t speak up right away – just left a personal contact method in the chat box.
The main reason the group was so small was that Cheng Feng had entered the scene too late. Besides, she only played nine matches a day, which, among all the participating students, could only be considered an unambitious level of performance.
Thus, despite her sharp and impressive skills, her chances of making it to the preliminaries were still far too slim.
Most netizens only liked Cheng Feng’s thunderous driving style, or were just watching with the casual curiosity of waiting for her eventual crash – not truly seeing her as a rival in the league. Even if anyone did, it would be in the next season.
Zheng Yi was also surprised that there were 36 other comrades whose minds were as “unhinged” as his.
He suspected that among them, some were Cheng Feng’s plants.
11:00 PM.
No one had spoken in the group all evening. Though it was a newly created group, it was as quiet as death.
Zheng Yi couldn’t even be bothered to turn on message notifications. He just set an alarm, spread out his blanket, and went to sleep.
Every day of the qualifiers was a repetition of high-intensity training.
Zheng Yi was used to waking up at 6:30 AM. Exercise, class, matches. Now there was a new addition to his routine – browsing forums. And this task was taking up an increasingly large portion of his free time.
After stepping out of the sensory device and walking toward the cafeteria, Zheng Yi opened the message alerts on his optical computer and saw that the “Snipe the Wind” group, which had been silent all night, had finally stirred.
Admin: Good afternoon. I’m the group owner. A new day has begun. Now there are 42 members in the group. I believe we all share the same goal.
Zheng Yi was just about to respond with a resounding: Down with Cheng Feng!
But the admin continued with an awkwardly placed pause.
Admin: …and that goal is to become stronger!
Admin: We must train to acquire enough strength to handle all types of players! Therefore, Cheng Feng’s emergence is an excellent learning resource for us!
Admin: Those willing to join this analysis group, I believe, are all far-sighted individuals. Focus on your own strength, not on the outcome of any single match. So if people outside mock or sneer at us, what should we do? Clap back at them with all our might!
Zheng Yi: “…”
He pressed down hard on the delete key, his expression twisted, the bones of his fingers protruding fiercely.
Admin: First, let me report today’s battle results. In the three matches this morning, Cheng Feng remains undefeated. However, the last match lasted 19 minutes and 52 seconds – her longest match so far. It’s possible she’s trying to change her style, so we should be mentally prepared.
Admin: No new videos have been released yet. Everyone, keep an eye out. Once we have some analysis material, we can discuss it further.
The appearance of all manually piloted mechs is completely uniform, and San Yao’s matchmaking system is entirely random. To identify Cheng Feng among the vast sea of anonymous players, the only method is to rely on match duration.
However, video recordings by players don’t necessarily start at the beginning of a match. Add to that the fact that very few students bother to record their qualifier matches in the first place. Even after some enthusiastic netizens on the forum filtered through the video section, they still couldn’t find any new resources.
Cheng Feng is simply too new of a newcomer as far as the league is concerned. Unlike Xiang Yunjian – whose daily training, internal test replays, and participation videos from two league seasons can all be used as material for analysis.
I’ve heard that Xiang Yunjian also has a long-standing analysis group with a thousand members across major military universities, not to mention the countless informal discussion groups started by netizens.
As for Cheng Feng – what can you even do? Chat about her modeling skills?
After the admin finished speaking, the group fell silent once again. There wasn’t even a single reply.
Given this trend, Zheng Yi strongly felt that this group was going to die out.
…Or perhaps, Cheng Feng had actually managed to create 41 alternate accounts. Not bad for someone from the Command Department – she’s got some skills.
…
1:30 PM.
Everyone was getting ready for the upcoming round of qualifiers, when Cheng Feng suddenly came online and posted a video on her personal account. It was the very match she played that morning, the one that lasted 19 minutes.
The title of the video was a bit strange – so long that it stood out uniquely in the category list, and it didn’t read smoothly no matter how you tried.
[Ye Guicheng: Zone A2D, weapon trajectory correctable. Is that you, the next-gen human-body outline artist? Click for detailed guide! No time to explain, get in!]
The video didn’t capture the full match process; it was only three minutes long.
The cover image featured a meme of a white owl spreading its wings and pointing to the sky, with one large black characters written in the blank space on the left: “CHARGE!”
Eye-catching, bold, and hilariously quirky.
Netizens casually clicked to open it. The moment the download finished, the words [WARNING AHEAD!] flashed right across the middle of the screen, startling everyone, then quickly disappeared.
Of course, the video recorded by Cheng Feng was from the first-person perspective of Cheng Feng’s mech.
But as the corners of the screen filled with red flames and flying chunks of dirt, everyone was too stunned to react. All their attention was drawn to the rows of buildings on both sides of the street, which had blurred into gray-white lines as they raced backward.
At the same time, due to the mech’s transformation, the field of view kept shifting up and down, as if riding a low-flying, about-to-crash illegal aircraft.
After Cheng Feng suddenly made an emergency turn, causing all the screen to blur for an instant, that feeling became even more intense.
Through the screen, netizens who usually suffered from motion sickness were already beginning to feel nauseous.
Just then, the video suddenly switched to slow motion, and red arrows appeared at various key points on the screen. Next to the arrows, thoughtful notes were added.
“The enemy mech is at this position. On the minimap, it’s at this point. On the main map, you can vaguely see it in the bottom-left rearview mirror. But everyone’s moving too fast, so you can only catch a blurry shadow – nothing very clear.”
“Judging by the attack range, his combination of weapons includes these items [see the middle of page 12 of the UFU Code Library]. This means he’s currently using his left-wing weapon bay, so his mech form should be Type 3 or Type 6. This type of mech isn’t good at retreating and requires a two-stage transformation code.”
“Here’s what the road ahead of him looks like. To force me to keep up high-intensity finger movements, he should turn here next. See?”
Red lines marked the enemy’s precise route on the minimap, and everyone understood. The entire explanation was practically a tutorial for beginners.
Then, the slow-motion function was turned off.
The sudden acceleration made viewers instinctively lean back in their seats. Right after that, at the exact spot Cheng Feng had marked, a black mech burst out as predicted.
As it passed the intersection, the enemy had already raised its rear-mounted weapons and opened fire with full force, showing no restraint.
This fighting style was exactly the same as Cheng Feng’s previous tactics – just as ferocious and brutal.
For a moment, everyone felt as if they were watching two Cheng Fengs tearing each other apart.
So was it about who could be crazier?
If so, it seemed the opponent was winning.
Presumably considering that the average viewer couldn’t process too much information at once, Cheng Feng slowed the video down again – this time even slower than before. It was almost playing frame by frame.
“He probably figured out who I am. So, to suppress me, he started with a relentless barrage. Even if his aim is off, it still adds pressure on my fingers.”
Most people actually thought the same way. Follow Cheng Feng’s path, and leave Cheng Feng with no path to walk on.
“But he’s also a manual mech pilot. And under normal circumstances, manual mechs have an auto-calibration function for shooting. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It depends on whether the opponent is prepared.”
“Clearly, I was.”
“[Owl Grinning]”
Then, Cheng Feng’s mech began to sway slightly left and right, and as it transformed, it dodged behind a wall on the side.
The viewers had no idea how many intricate maneuvers were involved. All they could see, in the slow-motion replay, was the mech raising its defensive shield, as if it had precisely predicted where the enemy’s attacks would land, narrowly brushing past the most dangerous shots.
In less than two seconds, the entire sequence of transformation, swaying, and evasion was completed.
The screen froze.
“See? Like this. Make good use of the boost function, and use the grappling hook if necessary. Disrupt the enemy mech’s system targeting, and you can turn your opponent into the next-gen human-body outline master!”
“See how he can’t hit me~”
Cheng Feng’s mech did sustain some damage. Several red warnings appeared on the system data monitor, indicating that a certain weapon bay could not be activated. However, no critical parts were harmed.
The video came to an abrupt stop there. The screen went dark, leaving only a line of white text on a black background: “Half of it for now. The tutorial isn’t finished yet. I’ll tell you all tonight how to properly ‘kill’ me. I’ll share some real practical tips.”
It had to be said – Cheng Feng, being someone who really knew analysis, clearly understood what struck a chord with passionate young people. With just one sentence, she completely stirred up the entire manual mech piloting community.
As soon as this video was released, the number of members in that analysis group -which had been on the verge of dying out – surged that very afternoon.
Zheng Yi switched out of the interface and saw that the previously empty group chat now showed 99+ unread messages, and the member count had successfully surpassed the 200 mark.
Everyone in the group was discussing the malicious intent behind Cheng Feng posting this video – seeing it as nothing short of contempt and provocation toward those of them who were senior students.
At that moment, inside the examination room for manual mech piloting.
Shen Dan was frantically typing on her keyboard, completely absorbed. Seeing that there were only five minutes left before the start time, she couldn’t help but grab her optical computer and rush over to Cheng Feng’s desk. “Did you know that San Yao recently started a joint group specifically targeting you?”
Cheng Feng was staring intently at her light computer and only nodded after a moment.
Shen Dan said, “I borrowed someone else’s account and blended in.”
Cheng Feng suddenly turned her head and fixed her gaze on her.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Dan said. “No need to thank me. I just wanted to see if those solo combat students have any brains and what kind of strategies they can come up with. Besides, if they bring in a Class B commander as outside help, we should keep the information flow open on our side too, just to be fair.”
Cheng Feng was silent for a moment, then turned her screen around and said, “I borrowed an account from Mr. Kong. I’ve already infiltrated it.”
Shen Dan: “…”
Shen Dan bent down to take a look.
Cheng Feng’s account name was “Very Much Our Uni’s Style.”
…That really was very much their uni’s style.
