Although Chen Huayue and the others had run through countless tactical simulations before the match, the situation unfolding before them still far exceeded anything they had anticipated.
They had never expected the allied armies to lend them a helping hand, of course. At most, they had assumed the others would stand by and watch from the sidelines, perhaps swoop in to steal a few military achievements or scavenge whatever spoils they could. What they hadn’t imagined was something this ruthless – an operation seemingly designed to wipe them out to the last man.
After all, every military university that entered the tournament came with the same fundamental objective: victory.
It seemed that once a large enough crowd got together, people became far more daring in the schemes they were willing to dream up.
Jiang Linxia hadn’t managed to withdraw in time. Trapped on the front line alongside several of his teammates, he felt as though enemies surrounded him on every side. His head, pressed against the wall for cover, buzzed violently from the concussive shockwaves of gunfire and grenade blasts striking the barricade.
The instant he dared peek out, bullets would erupt from every direction, practically greeting his skull with:
“Hello. Open up.”
One by one, the names in the team channel turned gray.
The squad suffering the heaviest casualties was the one led by him and Xiang Yunjian.
Jiang Linxia couldn’t even bring himself to count the dead. Helplessness and fury churned together inside him like water brought to a rolling boil, the scalding steam battering relentlessly against the last of his self-control.
He pulled every grenade from his pockets and, seizing the slightest opportunity, hurled them in all directions. The deafening explosions tore through the sky and rang in his ears, yet the nameless blaze of anger inside him refused to die down.
After warning his comrades to stay on high alert, Jiang Linxia snapped.
He opened the faction channel and unleashed a torrent of furious curses.
The rest of the cadets were already reeling under attacks from three directions. Confused, overwhelmed, and infected by his outrage, they could no longer keep their own tempers in check.
The fury that had been simmering beneath the surface finally erupted.
“How is it that a brain educated in propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame can never fathom just how low you people are willing to sink?”
“Are we even playing the same tournament anymore? Since when were you all so obsessed with kissing Tao Rui’s ass? What did he give you? Did you join his pyramid scheme over the winter break?”
“Kang Zhenxue, is your brain made of snail antennae? Can’t you think further ahead? Think things through for once? Did hanging around Tao Rui for one winter vacation make your brain devolve all the way back to the Stone Age?”
“Repeat after me: Red Team! You’re betraying your own allies here! How is this any different from stripping naked and throwing yourself at Tao Rui’s feet? You’ve single-handedly trashed Second Military’s reputation after all these years!”
The previously quiet faction channel instantly descended into complete chaos.
Kang Zhenxue gritted his teeth. He had originally planned to imitate Tong Xun and stay aloof, letting everyone regret doubting him once the match was over.
Unfortunately, the voices of well over a hundred people cursing him came crashing down like a flood. The torrent of overlapping insults was so overwhelming he could barely make out the individual words. Dizzy from the verbal barrage, he finally asked, sounding both aggrieved and furious, “Why are you all only yelling at me?”
That only made Jiang Linxia and the others even angrier. They shouted back at the top of their lungs, their voices nearly giving out as they raised the volume another notch.
“Shouldn’t we be yelling at you? Listen to yourself! Does anything you just said sound remotely human?”
“What kind of stupid question is that? You think we’re spineless like you?”
“Tao Rui might be your daddy, but to us, he’s just another opponent we’ve already beaten!”
The only reason they stopped short of using truly obscene profanity was because the match was being livestreamed. Otherwise, a crowd of military university students – whose unofficial side profession was being expert trash-talkers, armed with years of experience and an astonishing vocabulary of insults – could have cursed so eloquently that even the internet’s most seasoned flamers would have been left hanging their heads in shame.
Chen Huayue’s face had turned ashen, while the color drained from Shen Dan’s already pale complexion, leaving him looking grim.
The two of them had expected Cheng Feng to explode in fury.
Instead, her expression changed only slightly before settling back into its usual calm. Apart from the faint downturn of her lips, there was nothing to suggest anything was amiss.
According to reports from the scouts on the front line, soldiers from the White faction were rapidly pouring into the city. With visibility limited, it was still impossible to estimate their exact numbers.
If Tao Rui intended to encircle Alliance University’s forces from the upper, middle, and lower routes before annihilating them, then, to play it safe, he would have committed at least a thousand troops.
In terms of overall strategy, Tao Rui was beginning to show the makings of a true field commander. His plans were bold, yet never reckless. Cheng Feng guessed he had probably deployed around half of his infantry. That way, even after crushing UFU, he would still have enough strength left to regroup with his allies and fight his way back out.
Cheng Feng made no attempt to stop the torrent of angry shouting in the faction channel.
After a brief pause, she quickly sketched a rough tactical diagram and spoke over the squad channel in a tone that brooked no argument.
“All units, regroup immediately! Assemble according to the formation I’ve marked and converge at maximum speed! Anyone with nearby teammates, adapt to the situation and move to cover and guide them in!”
The formation Cheng Feng laid out placed each squad leader and the elite soldiers at the center, while the remaining members formed two protective columns around them.
It was a formation that could easily fan out into pursuit or tighten into a spearhead for a breakout.
The elite troops in the center, protected by their teammates, could provide sniper fire or launch counterattacks, while the forces on both flanks retained the freedom to spread out and recover isolated allies.
It offered both greater mobility and better protection.
Originally, Cheng Feng had positioned her infantry along both sides of the central route according to the terrain, intending to wear down the enemy through a series of ambushes while stretching the front line to minimize casualties.
But the White faction had committed far more troops than expected, and their battle line extended much wider than UFU’s.
Under those circumstances, her original deployment had become dangerously unsound. It would allow the enemy to isolate each position, destroy them one by one, and then sweep up the survivors in a single stroke.
Now, the key to UFU’s counteroffensive was simple:
They had to concentrate their fighting strength as quickly as possible.
Shen Dan and Chen Huayue reacted quickly. Without needing Cheng Feng to say a word, they were already filling in the details of her plan, directing the infantry toward the safest routes for regrouping.
Meanwhile, in the faction channel, students from UMU and Second Military had finally had enough of listening in silence and joined the verbal free-for-all.
Kang Zhenxue promptly muted a portion of the participants.
Having shouted themselves hoarse, Jiang Linxia and the others finally took a break from the cursing and turned their attention to following Cheng Feng’s instructions, gathering up their scattered teammates.
Worried that her own side might get too carried away with the flame war, Cheng Feng muted a group of people as well.
She then set her sidearm on the ground, bent down to sit on the warehouse steps, lowered her head, and silently monitored the battle data streaming across the backend interface, waiting for her forces to finish regrouping.
The NPC assigned to receive them kept glancing at Cheng Feng, only to look away again with an odd expression each time.
The subtlety of his reactions was so convincing that even Shen Dan found herself stealing repeated looks at him, beginning to suspect these NPCs weren’t artificial intelligence at all, but San Yao staff members role-playing behind the scenes.
The same NPC who had mocked Cheng Feng earlier asked, “You’re not going to curse anybody?”
Cheng Feng’s fingers clenched briefly before relaxing again.
Dryly, she replied, “I’ll do it after we win.”
The NPC looked surprised. “You’ve got impressive self-control. Looks like this year’s recruits have finally learned some restraint.”
Cheng Feng glanced up at him, her expression unreadable. Then she looked over at Shen Dan, who was drenched in sweat as he worked with complete concentration, before lowering her head again.
The NPC frowned. “What’s that look supposed to mean?”
Cheng Feng couldn’t be bothered to explain. Taking a deep breath, she stamped her foot in frustration. “You wouldn’t understand. Just stop talking!”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to swear.
She simply hadn’t had the chance.
She couldn’t spare the mental bandwidth, and besides, her vocabulary wasn’t up to the task. If she cursed too creatively, San Yao’s moderation system would censor her; if she used ordinary insults, they were nowhere near sufficient to express the outrage boiling inside her.
She was feeling absolutely miserable too.
The broadcast director kept most of the camera time on Cheng Feng and Tao Rui. Every so often the feed would cut to a close-up of another cadet gritting their teeth in frustration, but more often than not it lingered on Cheng Feng’s reactions – even zooming in on the way her fingers had tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Perhaps because she was a woman herself, and because the teachers from UFU were sitting right beside her, the host found herself instinctively watching the match from Cheng Feng’s perspective. Witnessing the scene, she was furious as well.
She blinked hard, forcing her emotions back under control, and did her best to keep her tone even. “Mr. Luo, what do you think UFU should do now?”
Mr. Luo was still studying the tactical map. After a long pause, he answered vaguely, “It’s not that simple. We wait.”
The host pressed on, unable to hide her urgency. “Do you think what Second Military and UMU are doing is… justified? Helping their opponent unite against their own ally… isn’t that a little overconfident?”
It was also the loudest criticism flooding the livestream comments.
Mr. Luo turned his head and cast her a casual glance. “There’s no such thing as ‘justified’ or ‘unjustified.’ Looking purely at it from the perspective of interests, and standing in their shoes, I wouldn’t say they’ve made a mistake.”
“What matters is what comes afterward – how they adapt, how they adjust, how they limit their losses, and how much benefit they ultimately gain. That’s what determines whether this decision was right or wrong.”
The host only half understood what he meant. Her attention had already drifted back to the scrolling comments, so she simply nodded as though everything had made perfect sense.
The barrage of viewer comments flew by:
“Putting myself in UFU’s shoes… my fists are clenched.”
“Tao Rui must be in tears. He never imagined students from so many other uni would throw themselves into the fight just to help him win.”
“History is written by the winners. Let’s wait and see. If Second Military or UMU end up taking MVP, it’ll all have been worth it.”
“The fact that every university is scored separately shows San Yao actually encourages competition within each faction. UFU has the biggest advantage right now, so what’s wrong with everyone focusing them down?”
“Nothing wrong with it – as long as they can actually pull it off.”
“This faction has already fractured from within. You’d think a three-way alliance would be stable, but it didn’t even last half an hour.”
While the group was still talking, several of UFU’s squads had already finished forming their battle formation.
In just over ten minutes, they had lost more than a hundred soldiers.
The casualties were undeniably devastating.
Even though no one said a word, an invisible cloud of negativity still hung over them. At this point, their morale was being held together purely by anger.
Seeing that the timing was right, Cheng Feng issued the command ahead of schedule: “Guys, push downward! Break straight into the UMU’s formation! No matter the cost, force the enemies in front of us back!”
Jiang Linxia roared, “Kill!”
The others pulled out their bulletproof equipment from their packs, assembled the pieces into makeshift shields, and charged forward toward the lower battlefield.
Although the teams on both the upper and lower routes had never resisted or attempted to stop them, they were still advancing deep into enemy territory. The members of the White faction understood that this alliance of convenience was more fragile than paper, so they moved cautiously the entire way, remaining on constant alert for a Red faction counterattack.
Now, seeing UFU suddenly ignore the attacks coming from behind and launch a counteroffensive directly at them, the White faction soldiers lost their confidence and began retreating.
After all, Tao Rui was not inside the city. Remote command over three separate armies lacked the flexibility of direct control. The carefully planned three-pronged encirclement had not yet managed to break Cheng Feng’s blade – yet one of the routes had already begun to collapse into chaos.
On the tactical map, the frontline began visibly shifting downward, moving closer and closer to UMU’s defensive zone.
Tong Xun finally couldn’t hold back any longer. He ordered his infantry forward to block the advance and asked incredulously, “Why are they charging at us?”
Shen Dan and Chen Huayue also turned toward Cheng Feng in confusion.
All along, the one being cursed at had been Kang Zhenxue and Second Military.
Yet the first ones to get attacked were Tong Xun’s UMU.
They had all assumed Cheng Feng would vent her anger on Kang Zhenxue and the others first.
Cheng Feng answered with complete seriousness, “Because you didn’t say anything. That makes you look more scheming. You look like you deserve a beating.”
Tong Xun: “??”
Kang Zhenxue secretly laughed twice, but quickly held himself back. He didn’t dare push his luck and draw Cheng Feng’s attention.
Tong Xun hurriedly switched channels and gave orders: “Yu Sihe, take your squad and drive them away.”
Yu Sihe replied, “Got it.”
Yu Sihe’s squad was stationed near the boundary between the two forces. They fired sporadically toward the front, one shot here and there, but whenever enemy soldiers approached, they deliberately aimed only at empty ground.
It was a subtle warning to the White faction troops: retreat quickly. They had no intention of supporting the central route for now. Don’t force them to get involved.
Unfortunately, UFU’s students had already thrown caution to the wind after Cheng Feng’s command of “no matter the cost.” They immediately spread out along both wings, ignoring attacks from behind and forcibly pushing the enemy troops on the lower route further downward.
Yu Sihe held his rifle and aimed at the approaching enemies. Just as he was about to fire, several bullets suddenly tore through UFU’s formation and struck the ground beside his ear.
Fragments of stone scattered through the air. A faint sting spread across the side of his face, and then a sharp piece of gravel sliced his skin, leaving behind a thin line of blood.
“What the hell?!” Yu Sihe wiped his face. He had every reason to suspect that the people on the other side had deliberately aimed at his position.
He cursed, “People from the same faction aren’t allowed to kill each other! Are you guys crazy? So now you’re just shooting randomly?”
None of UFU’s students responded.
Yu Sihe’s furious shouting sank into silence like a stone thrown into the sea.
After a moment, Cheng Feng finally spoke in a slow, lazy tone, “What internal fighting? We’ve always advocated unity, friendship, and mutual assistance. Don’t misunderstand.”
“Everyone, be careful when firing. Don’t accidentally hurt our dear allies.”
Yan Shen replied cheerfully, “Got it. Brothers, steady your hands. Don’t let anyone look down on us snipers.”
There was a chill hidden beneath his laughter.
All of UFU’s remaining combat power had gathered on the lower route.
Some of them focused on fighting the White faction.
The others were snipers whose sole task was harassing UMU.
They weren’t even aiming directly at them – they simply forced them to keep their heads down and prevented them from exposing themselves.
Before long, the two armies drew closer and closer, and the forces from multiple sides were about to merge into one chaotic battlefield.
Yu Sihe realized something was wrong. He desperately wanted to pull the frontline apart and create distance, but Yan Shen and the other snipers’ surprise attacks left him struggling to respond.
Even though they belonged to different military academies, the Red faction forces all wore the same uniform. The White faction soldiers couldn’t tell who was who at all. Once the two armies became mixed together, the Allied Forces could no longer simply stand aside and watch.
Yu Sihe was just about to request reinforcements from Tong Xun when he heard Cheng Feng’s voice echo through the channel.
It was cold and flat, without any obvious emotion, yet filled with unmistakable sarcasm. “But in a chaotic battle like this, we’re outnumbered, and our allies have turned against us. It’s perfectly normal for soldiers to panic. Stray bullets and accidental injuries are unavoidable.”
“Even if someone is accidentally killed, that shouldn’t count as internal fighting, right?”
Yu Sihe asked, “How much ammunition do you have left? How many soldiers?”
“Not much,” Cheng Feng replied.
Then she added, “But we’re very generous. We have enough to see our allies off to their graves.”
