The host held back mid-sentence, managing not to lose composure and cry out; her clasped hands, placed under the table, gave a tight squeeze. But judging by the enthusiastic cheers pouring in from the comment section, no one was likely to care whether her performance was appropriate or not.
She said with a beaming smile, “How is it that I feel Cheng Feng knows Tao Rui quite well?”
Mr. Luo said, “They trained together in a camp before.”
The host had originally wanted to ask how the two – Cheng Feng and Tao Rui – would rank in terms of skill. But just before the words left her mouth, she stole a glance at Mr. Luo’s expression and didn’t dare ask such a sensitive question in front of him. In the end, she timidly ventured, “How do you think Cheng Feng performed this time?”
Mr. Luo chuckled softly, the contours of his face softening as he stared at the image on the screen and declared in a clear voice, “Even at a disadvantage, she was still able to calmly analyze the battlefield, remain unflustered by praise or criticism, and strike straight at the opponent’s weak points. If I say she did very well, no one would object, would they?”
The host laughed heartily along and said, “You’re being too modest!”
Listening to her own laughter, she reflected on whether she was being a little too biased. She quickly added, “Of course, Tao Rui also has the poise of one who strategizes from afar and secures victory miles away – which shows his timing is equally precise. Only when two commanders are both excellent enough can they pick up on each other’s signals like this!”
She propped both hands on the table, turned sideways, and asked, “Mr. Luo, from Tao Rui’s perspective – if he could also guess Cheng Feng’s formation – what good strategy would he have to turn the tide?”
Mr. Luo shook his head. “There’s no real counter-strategy. Even if you guess it, it’s useless. This kind of head-on clash is unavoidable – it comes down to individual combat strength. A commander can maximize the team’s effectiveness, but he’s not omnipotent.”
“Alright.” The host straightened her back and said, “Why am I feeling a little nervous too?”
Some of the viewers’ attention had already been drawn away by the two of them.
“Mr. Luo’s wrinkles have all smoothed out – he looks twenty years younger. Earlier, there was practically a knife in his eyes.”
“I almost thought Mr. Luo was about to storm off. Good thing Cheng Feng turned the tables and held it together for him.”
“Isn’t Mr. Luo celebrating a bit too early? So what if he guessed it? Based on my years of observation, 90% of optimistic predictions get completely shot down on the big battlefield.”
“Anyway, from Mr. Luo’s perspective, the theory is sound. If something does go wrong in the end, it’s on the infantries – Cheng Feng is still in the clear.”
“[Beautiful]”
The text flickered with a dim glow, flashing through the chat box like fleeting shadows. The examinees in white uniforms had finally assembled and appeared on the main road in the center.
They had already put some distance between themselves and the pursuers behind them, and under Tao Rui’s urging, they ran faster and faster.
The soldiers in the front rows hastily raised ballistic shields to clear the path, while the long, narrow formation sprinted along the wall.
Who gave the first order could no longer be verified.
In that instant – whether near or far, whether in range or not, whether long-barreled or short-barreled – all the weapons, like startled birds bursting from the jungle, flapped their wings violently and tore through the last inch of peace.
Gunfire erupted in unison, shattering the sky.
The gunpowder in the air and the ringing in the ears both carried a nearly unhinged frenzy – like blood boiling and burning, sweeping across the entire battlefield in an instant.
The young men, who had been stifled for over two hours, showed little patience toward this belated enemy force. The assault began a fraction earlier than planned, causing the first wave of results to fall short of expectations.
“Too impatient.” Yan Shen cautiously inched forward a bit, adjusting his posture, and said, “Careful not to scare the ‘leeks.'”
Cheng Feng said, “They’ve all fallen back. Pause.”
It all happened too fast. The few students running at the very front of the team had barely taken a step before they were eliminated from the exam arena.
Those ballistic shields were practically useless – countless bullets struck in rapid succession, and the impact force directly knocked them to the ground.
Those farther back retreated by instinct, spinning around to take cover while simultaneously halting the team’s advance.
The deafening gunfire left everyone’s head spinning.
The silence that followed brought with it an eerie, unreal emptiness.
The White Team, still shaken, looked around in confusion, guns raised.
“The people up front… have they lost their minds?”
“What heinous crime did we commit to deserve such extreme punishment?”
“Is the entire UFU here? No wonder I didn’t see them earlier.”
“My ears are about to go deaf! Hundreds of rounds just to take out a few people – that’s seriously overkill!”
“Don’t stop!” Tao Rui’s command came just in time, carrying an undeniable sternness that somewhat dispelled the team’s hesitation. “Stay together – charge through!”
The Second Military and UMU were right behind them. If the White Team hesitated, their situation would become even more perilous.
At a time like this, any decision was better than standing still.
The soldiers didn’t need to think too much – they just followed the front ranks and launched the sprint.
Tao Rui couldn’t see much of the front-line intelligence, and even if he could, there was no time to process it. He could only stick to the original plan and said in a low voice, “Focus on defense – break through the fireline! Tighten the flanks, seize the moment!”
The White Team pressed forward with their heads down.
All around, the sound of bullets piercing through military uniforms rang out continuously. The group huddled together, pressing as close to the wall as possible, unable to see clearly what lay in the distance.
Yet amid the constant running, everyone noticed that the bodies on the ground were piling up – more and more of them – all outer-ring soldiers who had fallen in the charge.
The first hour had been spirited and triumphant.
The second hour had been about maneuvering and holding back.
Not long ago, they had held the upper hand. But now, after the tide had turned, the air around them was thick with the smell of blood, and cries of agony echoed across the field. They had to step over their own comrades’ bodies to charge out of the city gates, and the road leading to the exit stretched out before them, seemingly endless.
Humiliation, anger, confusion – a tangled mix of emotions gradually spread through the team. Shouts erupted, only to be drowned out by gunfire.
In stark contrast, the morale of the Allied Academy forces was soaring higher and higher.
The noise from the explosions was overwhelmingly loud – the communicators filtered some of it, but communication was still difficult. The only way anyone could talk was by yelling at the top of their lungs.
“Hahaha guys, I got two kills!”
“Friend, your eyes must be playing tricks on you – that was clearly my kill!”
“You’re talking nonsense! In all this flying gunfire, you can pick out which bullet was yours? In your dreams!”
“What’s all the arguing? We’re all family – what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.”
“While you guys were jabbering, I fired off another dozen shots – maybe I snagged a few more kills! That whole stretch of bodies on the ground – did you all see that?!”
“Awesome!”
Xiang Yunjian’s team was responsible for guarding the city gate, keeping a certain distance from the White Team’s position – essentially missing out on this round of revelry altogether.
The hot-blooded young men, listening to their comrades’ boastful kill counts over the channel, could barely contain themselves just from imagining the action. After waiting in vain for Xiang Yunjian to make a move, they grew anxious and pleaded in the team channel:
“Xiang Yunjian! Xiang Yunjian, go now! Any later and we’ll miss our chance!”
“Captain! Don’t you want to win glory for UFU? Don’t you want to avenge last year’s bitter defeat?”
“Cheng Feng! Rotate the team positions! Xiang Yunjian, go talk to the commander-in-chief! Don’t forget about our team! Is this fair?”
“I want in too! Give me a chance!”
Xiang Yunjian listened, his ears itching from the noise, but he remained steadfastly at his post, unmoving as a mountain. Only after his teammates’ voices had nearly gone hoarse did he calmly and unhurriedly admonish them. “No can do. Don’t listen. Don’t look. Don’t think.”
One of his teammates blurted out, “Then you might as well be dead! You’ve changed!”
Cheng Feng soothed them. “Don’t rush.”
…
The White Team was starting to buckle.
Earlier, they had mocked Cheng Feng for collecting supplies – calling it a sign of not understanding the rules and giving reckless orders. Now they finally understood exactly what it felt like when someone could “crush you with supplies alone.”
The only catch was – they were the ones getting crushed.
When the volume of bullets was high enough, even the sheer recoil force was terrifying. On top of that, the UFU forces had prepared early and held the geographic advantage. Their combined assault crashed down on the White Team like a tidal wave.
In just a few hundred meters, the White Team had suffered heavy casualties, and their morale was crumbling. If they didn’t turn things around soon, they’d be handing free points to UFU – and all the advantages they’d built up in the early stage would be completely wasted.
The young man shouted into the comms, reporting, “Tao Rui, no good! We’ve lost too many people – UFU’s fireline is too intense! They’re just throwing supplies at us, completely throwing the rulebook out the window!”
Tao Rui parted his lips, surprise giving way to gravity on his face, and muttered to himself, “How could this be? How could the losses be that heavy?”
Were UFU’s infantries really that strong?
“Their positioning is great! And it’s not easy for us to fight back. The key thing is – the bullets are coming down like rain. Who the hell can withstand that?” The young man paused, his latter words somewhat muffled, then added urgently, “UMU and the Second Military are coming up behind us! We’re caught in a pincer – what do we do now?”
It was already too late.
Tao Rui’s face darkened. He dug his fingers hard into his thigh, then made a snap decision, completely overturning the previous plan. “Upper route! Have everyone break out via the upper route!”
The young man gritted his teeth and nodded, asking the people around him to help organize the team, then asked one more question, “So we’re not heading out of the city anymore?”
Tao Rui said, “Not for now. Launch a full counterattack – preserve our advantages!”
The Second Military and UMU were a beat too slow in reacting. By the time they caught up, the middle route was already engulfed in chaotic, bloody combat.
Kang Zhenxue immediately directed his soldiers to move in and secure kills. Watching the fallen bodies and the swarms of enemy troops, he said cheerfully, “Cheng Feng, why didn’t you call us in for this good stuff? We’re all on the same side – cooperation is what gets us far.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than he noticed the White Team’s movements change. The entire group turned around in unison – no longer charging the city gate, but weaving through various side paths, shifting toward the Second Military’s position.
Kang Zhenxue’s smile froze. After confirming that the White Team’s next move was indeed to take aim at the Second Military, he erupted in fury. “Damn it! Hold position! Stop them!”
He had only just arrived – hadn’t even gotten a single kill yet – and now he’d dragged a whole load of trouble back with him?
Seeing that the opposing side was about to leave, Cheng Feng spoke unhurriedly, “Help me pass a message to Tao Rui.”
The UFU students immediately turned on their loudspeakers to help relay the message, and shamelessly added their own embellishments.
“Cheng Feng says to tell Tao Rui he’s a total noob!”
“Cheng Feng says if Tao Rui has the guts, he should come face her himself!”
“Our commander says to send back a humiliating greeting for her!”
“Cheng Feng just flipped off Tao Rui’s direction!”
“Don’t listen to their nonsense! Cheng Feng said it’s not Tao Rui’s fault – the key is that the White Team’s infantries are just too weak! Don’t cry, Tao Rui – our allies are even worse than you!”
Interrupted by these troublemakers, Cheng Feng suddenly forgot what she was going to say. She opened her mouth, racking her brain for a while – it seemed she had been planning to say “Consider this our return gift for the three-pronged assault,” but now it didn’t feel imposing enough, so she grumpily decided to let it go.
“They’re still taking a jab at us?” Kang Zhenxue’s tone this time was noticeably less confident.
Tong Xun’s lower route was secure; he had hung back and snatched a few kills, still remembering the lesson he’d learned from Cheng Feng earlier, and kept a low profile without saying a word.
No one responded, so Kang Zhenxue had no choice but to call out himself, “Cheng Feng, give us a hand!”
It was also at this moment that everyone realized a serious problem – ammunition was running low.
The battlefield supplies weren’t exactly scarce, but they weren’t abundant either in the early stages. Supplies could only be drawn once every three hours, and subsequent allocations would be adjusted based on headcount and performance.
The pace at the start of the match had been too fast, and throughout that time, everyone had been locked in urban stalemates – and stalemates meant heavy consumption. At this point, all sides had fairly limited stockpiles. At the very least, no one could afford to splurge like UFU.
To stop the White Team soldiers, Kang Zhenxue had no choice but to order everyone to go all-out.
The White Team, fighting for survival, also mustered an intensity they hadn’t shown before.
By the time the battle line slowly shifted to the upper route, both sides checked their supplies.
Damn. Their pockets were just about empty.
The White Team at least had deeper reserves to begin with, but the Second Military’s supply packs were practically cleaner than their own faces. How were they supposed to fight from here? Bare-handed?
Kang Zhenxue was jittery with anxiety, calling out Cheng Feng’s name like a spirit summoner.
Cheng Feng asked, “How exactly do you want me to help?”
Kang Zhenxue shamelessly said, “Lend me some supplies. I’ll pay you back after the next draw… no, double it!”
Cheng Feng let out a cold “Heh.”
Kang Zhenxue knew this flimsy “alliance” had no hope of holding up, and in a fit of humiliated anger, he snapped. “You’re selling us out!”
He scolded. “Is UFU going to betray its own allies? Weren’t you the ones slinging all that nasty trash talk earlier? Don’t you feel any shame?”
Cheng Feng paced to the top of the steps, clenched her fist against her lips, coughed dryly twice, and cleared her throat. “People don’t traffic me, I don’t traffic people.”
She’d been a good person, after all.
