Cheng Feng mainly did it because there was really no other choice.
UFU got off to a bad start, with heavy casualties. The frontline soldiers all felt very insecure, so the only option was for the commanders to take full charge and make them understand that although they weren’t blessed by the aura of good luck, they could still be cherished by their commanders.
Yu Sihe finished firing the bullets in his gun, carefully scanned the area with his detection scope, and sent feedback to the commander.
The surrounding area was pretty much cleared out, with only their own people coming and going. The White Team had been scattered and were fleeing toward the upper route, with his comrades pursuing them, leaving this area rather deserted.
He reached into his bag to feel for the ammunition box, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a corpse not far away and decided to go retrieve it.
The White Team candidates’ packs were quite bulging, after all, they had gathered supplies from three military universities. These people also fired their guns with extraordinary ferocity, having no idea what it meant to conserve resources for the long haul.
Just as Yu Sihe was stripping the equipment off the other person, the roaring sound of an engine grew louder and louder, turning into his view from the opposite street.
Since they were all candidates from the same faction, Yu Sihe gave it a cursory glance and didn’t pay much attention. He stepped back a few paces away from the road and lowered his head to count the loot.
The sound approached from far to near, and then unnaturally closer and closer.
Yu Sihe had just undone the buckle when he sensed something was off – the vehicle seemed to be heading straight for him.
He turned his head in surprise, a cool breeze whizzing past the tip of his nose. In the blink of an eye, the items in his hands were gone.
Yu Sihe was stunned. Since when were there motorcycle gangsters in the exam hall?
Coming back to his senses, he furiously reported to Tong Xun, “Commander, they snatched my supply pack!”
There was actually someone even more despicable than him in this exam hall? What an insult!
“Ah?” Tong Xun’s mind was full of major strategic matters, so he didn’t react at first. Then three sentences popped into his head in succession.
What’s the point of snatching supply packs?
If they don’t snatch our supply packs, they’ll be coming for our kills.
Which is more important – kills or supply packs?
The third question took Tong Xun a few seconds to think over.
His reasoning was that supplies in the main battlefield generally wouldn’t be too scarce – they could be reissued again in three hours. But then he recalled the shadow cast by Cheng Feng during the team competition, and immediately ordered, “We’re going to snatch supply packs too. Attention everyone! Anyone nearby with supply packs, cooperate and bring them back!”
Usually, everyone would loot the packs that were close by – looting corpses was inherently a joyful activity. But if an ally needed them, people generally wouldn’t fight over them. Plus, both sides had previously betrayed UFU, and although the young men wouldn’t concede verbally, they did feel a tiny bit guilty deep down. Seeing that UFU weren’t competing with them for kills but were instead scrambling for ammunition, they simply indulged them, and even secretly covered for them.
Relying on this, UFU managed to hide behind their allies and scoop up quite a few packs in a short time.
Now that the supreme commander had given the order, the UMU troops had no choice but to slow down their offensive and shift to searching for overlooked “corpses” in the vicinity.
Soon, Xin Kuang’s ironclad armored vehicle made its entrance. With no regard for fair play, it parked right in the middle of the road, blocking the key line of sight, while a military motorcycle followed up from the rear.
The group had sharp eyes, precise targeting, swift movements, and seamless coordination. Just as everyone was still hesitating, trying to figure out what they were up to, Watermelon leaped off the back seat.
He unstrapped the pack, hurled it forcefully through the armored vehicle’s window, slammed the window shut, hopped back on, and sped off.
The entire process was fluid from start to finish, without a single unnecessary pause.
Seconds later, the two vehicles vanished in a cloud of exhaust.
In less than five minutes, Tong Xun’s communicator was flooded with noisy complaints, with people from every channel voicing their grievances.
“They’re too fast! How did they even know there were supplies to loot here?”
“I’m reporting this – UFU must have minored in street-hustling!”
“I can’t hold out, Commander. You know how recklessly Xin Kuang drives – he nearly ran me over when he took that turn!”
“Commander, we need backup! Did UFU have some kind of clairvoyance? I didn’t even realize there was a corpse there until after they’d already looted it!”
“UFU are completely off-track! I don’t think we should follow their lead. Cheng Feng is full of tricks – I suspect she’s deliberately misleading us and blurring the real focus!”
Tong Xun opened his mouth, then thought to himself, What the hell?
That speed, that coordination, that execution – there was no doubt about it. The UFU’s deputy commander was definitely coaching their teammates on looting supplies right now. And it wasn’t just one person; the whole damn team was probably in on it.
Not going for kills, but going for supplies? Had the scoring rules for the main battlefield changed without him knowing?
Finding it utterly absurd, Tong Xun asked, “What are you guys doing?”
No one answered. Tong Xun called out again, “UFU?”
“So concerned about us?” Cheng Feng chuckled twice. “How about we switch places?”
Those two low “heh heh” laughs had a strange, icy tone that reminded Tong Xun of the mechanical voice Cheng Feng had used when she first joined the alliance, coming from that voice synthesizer.
Tong Xun shut his mouth. Picking a fight with UFU when they were down was an extremely unwise move – especially when Cheng Feng was among them.
Based on past experience, one could reasonably conclude that a cornered dog would bite, but Cheng Feng would bite even when she wasn’t cornered. She was a dangerous wild card who never played by the rules.
Actually, after UFU had suffered heavy losses in combat power, Cheng Feng didn’t choose to immediately go after kills to make up for the losses. Instead, she poured the analysts’ limited energy entirely into gathering supplies – something even UFU’s own members couldn’t fully understand. But no one spoke up to interfere.
Anyway, Chen Huayue was there, and at the very least, Shen Dan was a theory expert who had studied the league rules for a long time.
Chen Huayue was busy with a face full of grim determination and didn’t want to offer any opinions. He probably figured Cheng Feng was saving the main focus for later.
Shen Dan, on the other hand, had a lot to say but wasn’t in the mood to speak.
She kept pushing her field of view forward along the street she was responsible for, when suddenly she heard a mature, raspy male voice from behind say, “Behind you.” The person raised a hand and pointed briefly – too fast to catch clearly – then quickly withdrew it.
Shen Dan and Cheng Feng both glanced back at the same time. The NPC, who had been secretly sneaking peeks at Shen Dan’s control panel, touched his earlobe and turned his head away, letting his gaze drift aimlessly all over the place, pretending he knew nothing.
Shen Dan frowned and rewound the footage, but didn’t find any overlooked supplies in the rear. She squinted and leaned closer to the screen, then ran through the replay once more before finally spotting the silhouette of an enemy sniper hidden in a concealed corner.
Shen Dan let out a soft “Huh,” immediately removed all the supply markers in the vicinity, and replaced them with a warning red circle, signaling nearby teammates to circle around from behind and eliminate the threat.
After doing that, Shen Dan turned back to look again, her gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny. The NPC was still bouncing his leg, looking utterly idle.
“Stop staring,” Cheng Feng said, patting her on the left shoulder from behind. “These people are useless.”
The NPC let out a huff of laughter. “Missy, you’re not that impressive yourself, but you sure have a big mouth. And quite the talent for flipping your attitude too.”
Cheng Feng ignored him and carried on with her own business.
With multiple routes advancing simultaneously, they quickly completed a full sweep, and the logistics team’s task was temporarily put on hold.
Practically all the lootable gear had been collected. Given that their lives were now more valuable, they didn’t force anything that was too risky to grab.
Cheng Feng didn’t bother with a detailed tally; she had Xin Kuang’s squad roughly distribute the supplies and send them over to Xiang Yunjian’s side.
In the channel, a bunch of young men caught wind that someone was about to get a share of the spoils and immediately became restless, shouting:
“Cheng Feng, at this point I have to tell you the truth – I was one of the very first members of your analysis group! I’m your old-school fan!”
“Fengfeng, anyone who talked trash about you, I talked back at them twice as hard! My heart is absolutely loyal!”
“Cheng Feng, I’ve always treated you well – it’s just that time is limited and I can’t list all the examples.”
“I’m a professional anti-troll warrior! Renewal fee is just one box of ammo – give it to me!”
Cheng Feng muted everyone’s voice frequency in the channel and switched all information to text, refreshing in the background. She responded a couple of times, saying, “Alright, alright, I got it. I’ll make sure everyone gets their fair share.”
Then she gave another order in the command group: “All squad leaders, gather your teams and report in. If any squad is short on supplies, please apply in advance.”
“Oh my,” the NPC, probably bored out of his mind, chimed in from behind in a sarcastic tone, “The gap in strength is pretty wide, huh. You guys can’t take your supplies to the grave with you. What are you gonna do about that?”
Cheng Feng continued methodically, “After all squads are reassembled, move toward the red dot area where the armored vehicles are. Shift the battle line to near the exit.”
Ignored again, the NPC rambled on, “No kills, no unity among your troops – what good are a few bullets? Your team’s score is already dead last. I’d say you’re at least two or three times behind your allies. How do you expect to turn this around?”
Cheng Feng rolled her eyes at him. “Would you shut up? You’re so boring.”
The NPC’s face turned cold. “That’s the third time you’ve snapped at me. And I did give you a tip just now, you know.”
Cheng Feng said, “…How was I snapping at you?” Why was this guy so fragile?
Cheng Feng stood up, her line of sight now higher than the seated NPC’s. She tucked her optical computer under her arm and said, “We want to claim our mechs. Is that allowed now?”
Each military university could claim one protective mech. That meant three mechs per faction.
However, the mechs in the main battlefield had limited energy and armaments – they could only operate for three hours in non-standby mode, with no option for recharging.
The NPC’s expression turned a bit more serious. “Mechs have no time limit. Which ones do you want to claim?”
Cheng Feng said, “Heavy Armor.”
Among all mech types, the number of weapons carried in their arsenals was fixed. Both sides needed to counterbalance each other and intercept each other’s heavy firepower.
The mechs in the main battlefield were like a final trump card – their most important role was to be held in reserve, not deployed.
Generally speaking, the choices for the only three mechs were fairly standard.
Breaking Army was usually included, since it was widely recognized as an offensive mech and hailed as the most dominant model among contemporary sensor mechs. There was always a chance to snatch it up.
Heavy Armor was also a common pick.
Back in the day, some students had exploited the Heavy Armor’s durability to withstand several shellings, drain the opponent’s arsenal, and then sweep across the field for a comeback – discovering this bug-like strategy.
The White Team had chosen a Heavy Armor this time, using it to break through the gates at the start. So the Red Team necessarily had to pick one too.
UFU got to choose first.
Heavy Armor was Xin Kuang’s specialty – he let out an excited whistle.
Shen Dan was startled and asked in a low voice, “Not going for Xiang Yunjian’s Breaking Army or your manual-operated mech?”
She had thought those were UFU’s most important trump cards.
Jiang Linxia also sighed mournfully. “Ah, I can understand not picking Yan Shen – he’s got that bad luck anyway. But Xiang Yunjian and I put so much heart into this. Cheng Feng, don’t you feel the slightest bit of pity for us?”
“Sorry, folks,” Xin Kuang said smugly. “Looks like I’m the chosen one for this round.”
Jiang Linxia gritted his teeth. “So this is the power of money, huh?”
Xin Kuang’s arrogant laughter echoed in everyone’s ears. “Could also be my irresistible charm.”
Cheng Feng shook her head. “The only one that can take a beating is Heavy Armor. Plus, he’s the most free.”
Xin Kuang laughed even louder, drowning out her last remark.
“Are you sure?” The NPC pulled out his ID card. Seeing Cheng Feng nod, he raised his hand and gestured. “Then follow me.”
Xin Kuang rushed over and dashed into the mech bay at the rear. Before long, a massive mech in black and red rolled out from behind the open iron doors.
When the system notification flashed across the screen – United Federation University has claimed [Heavy Armor] – Tong Xun panicked and quickly said, “Cheng Feng, don’t do anything rash!”
“Let’s talk this out!” Kang Zhenxue said. “We’re all fighting the same enemy – there’s still a chance for a comeback!”
Cheng Feng replied lazily, “Just fight your own battles. Stop worrying about me.”
She pressed the back of her neck and rotated it side to side, then cracked each of her knuckles one by one with a series of “cracks.” Feeling her rusty joints regain their flexibility, she sat back down steadily.
Shen Dan and Chen Huayue unconsciously straightened their shoulders too, their slightly hunched backs lifting.
Then they heard Cheng Feng say with calm confidence, “Xin Kuang, go block the gate. Everyone else, get ready to reap the harvest.”
