Top Warzone Analyst Chapter 177

Cheng Feng forced herself to keep scrolling through San Yao for a while, but in less than five minutes, drowsiness hit her like a wave, pressing down so heavily that she could barely keep her eyes open.

She splashed water on her face in a hurry, then quickly lay down on the bed. Exhausted as she was, even though her mind was still racing with excitement, she soon fell asleep. It wasn’t until around six in the evening that she was jolted awake – by the little owl bot plopping its bottom right onto her face.

This smart robot had no sense of decency. It squatted on her face and blared an alarm, calling her to get up and have dinner.

Cheng Feng’s head was buzzing from the noise, and she could barely breathe. She struggled to sit up and stumbled out of the room, only to find that her roommate had brought back a takeout box for her, sitting on the coffee table in the living room.

She forced down a few bites, when a urgent, anxious message from Mr. Kong buzzed through her optical computer. She quickly went to knock on Shen Dan’s door.

Shen Dan was lying there like a dead dog, sprawled on the bed with no response whatsoever.

Her roommate waved a hand, signaling for her to step aside, then walked straight up and unlocked the door with her fingerprint.

Several people rushed in, dragged Shen Dan into the bathroom together, wiped a wet towel across her face, and forcibly yanked her out of sleep mode.

“Heh heh.” The roommate raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Came prepared.”

Shen Dan let out a long sigh, grabbed a bottle of water on the way, and headed out the door with Cheng Feng.

The two walked downstairs in silence and stood in front of the glass doors – nearly blinded by the burst of colorful lights outside.

Once their eyes adjusted and they could make out the scene before them, both of their pupils widened in utter disbelief.

…Where on earth is this?

Mr. Kong had told Cheng Feng to be there at seven, but in fact, the ceremony had already started its warm-up around six.

This annual gala is traditionally held at the school of the Golden Cup winner. All the equipment and staff are arranged by San Yao, and the award-presenting guests are also shuttled in by San Yao.

Within an hour after the match ended, over a thousand workers flooded into the school with their equipment. With the help of volunteer students from UFU, it took less than half a day to give the entire campus a complete makeover – basically a new “skin.”

And this skin was probably right up the UFU president’s alley.

Crimson red banners, dazzling lights, fully projected seas of flowers, and the massive, eye-catching UFU emblem.

Shen Dan suddenly snapped fully awake. Trembling, she reached out and pushed open the door.

Streamers drifted slowly down from the sky – full-projection images laid out along the route by San Yao. At three or four meters above the ground, golden text – the kind that only appears inside games – shimmered and flowed with iridescent light, spelling out: “Congratulations to the Triple MVP Golden Cup Winner, Ye Guicheng!”

There was hardly anyone moving around in the residential area, but the cheers from the arena drifted across the sky from hundreds of meters away.

To be honest, San Yao’s gala livestream only shows footage of the stage, so even Shen Dan was seeing this spectacular scene for the first time.

Cheng Feng stood rooted to the spot, her optical computer vibrating nonstop with incoming messages.

She looked around carefully, then slowly raised her right hand and lit up the screen.

Mr. Kong was genuinely panicking now – he was sending a reminder every minute.

Mr. Kong: Are you here yet? Hurry up! Yan Shen is already here – how are you guys still not here?

Mr. Kong: If you’re not there when they give out the awards later, that’s going to be a huge problem!

Mr. Kong: I’ve sent some classmates to pick you up. Hurry!

Mr. Kong: You’re finally out? For heaven’s sake, run! Your seats are in the first row, third column, by the right-hand aisle – so it’ll be easy for you to go up and accept the award.

Just as Mr. Kong was about to send a fifth message, Cheng Feng finally made it to the audience seating and sat down.

Mr. Kong, seated right next to her, let out a heavy sigh of relief. He sent her the schedule and told her which awards she’d be going up to receive later.

That night, there wasn’t just one Golden Cup to be awarded – there were also various Best Team awards, Best Tactics awards, Most Popular awards, and so on. Basically, every military academy got to take home at least some prizes, so that the overall outcome wouldn’t look too lopsided.

The warm-up phase consisted mostly of artistic performances. Cheng Feng had arrived not long before the program ended, and soon enough, they moved on to the award ceremony itself.

Cheng Feng went up on stage twice to accept trophies.

The first was the Most Surprising Award. The presentation speech was very official – Cheng Feng didn’t really listen.

The second was the Best Coordination Award, which she received together with Xiang Yunjian, for their two-person mecha battle in the large battlefield that turned the tide and laid the foundation for the comeback.

Cheng Feng walked back down with her trophies and noticed that the group chat had started buzzing.

Their five-person group chat name had already been changed to “The Purple Star Shines Bright.”

My Family’s Got a Mine: I am deeply traumatized.

Back then, the three of them had charged out together – yet not only did both teammates and opponents forget he existed, now even the organizers had completely ignored him.

My Family’s Got a Mine: Why even pilot heavy armor? Heavy class doesn’t deserve anything. [Despair]

Xiang Yunjian sent a few red packets to console him.

Cheng Feng couldn’t afford to seem stingy, so she reluctantly sent one too.

She was in the middle of joking around with the others when Mr. Kong leaned over, nudged her arm, and said quietly, “It’s about to start.”

San Yao had deliberately chosen an auspicious time to present the Golden Cup – 8:08 PM.

Right at that moment, the number in the top-right corner of her optical computer jumped to 8:00.

Cheng Feng looked up and noticed that people’s gazes were all converging in her direction.

Mr. Kong was fidgeting in his seat, constantly turning to check Cheng Feng’s outfit and straighten the corners of her clothes, whispering to her, “Don’t be nervous. When you go up there, if you don’t know where to put your hands, just stick them in your pockets. If the host tries to chat with you and you don’t know what to say, just smile.” Cheng Feng didn’t feel all that nervous – it was Mr. Kong whose eyes were darting around and whose forehead was beading with sweat, which was honestly more worrisome.

As a teacher of manual-operated mechs, he probably never even dreamed of seeing a Golden Cup in his lifetime.

Cheng Feng decided that after she got the trophy, she’d let Mr. Kong hold it for the whole night, to fulfill his lifelong wish. Then she’d donate it to UFU, so that the honor of manual-operated mechs and data analysis would remain forever at this school.

She was just about to tell Mr. Kong this good news to cheer him up, when the university president slipped over from the center seat and squeezed into the already tight space between her and Mr. Kong to chat with her.

The president crooked his finger, signaling for Cheng Feng to lean in closer. But he wasn’t exactly slim – wedged between Mr. Kong and her, he was already plenty close enough.

“The guest presenting the award tonight is quite distinguished – he’s an alumnus of our school, and also your senior.”

“What kind of senior?” Cheng Feng had quite a few different identities, so she asked curiously, “Is he from the manual-operated department too?”

That would be Ji Ban, right?

The president said enigmatically, “You could say that.”

“Hmm?” Cheng Feng’s eyes darted as she thought, then she asked again, “Don’t tell me he’s also from the command department?”

The president still wore a mysterious look. “You could say that.”

Cheng Feng was startled. “Is he also from the post-war planet?”

“Not that.” The president said, “She’s also a woman.”

A guess flashed through Cheng Feng’s mind, but before it could take shape, a crisp bell toll rang out.

At the same time, countless beams of golden light burst forth, illuminating half the night sky in a dazzling, radiant display.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience – what comes next is the most prestigious award of tonight!”

“Let us welcome with applause the top of this season’s individual points leaderboard, the Golden Cup winner, the Triple MVP winner – from United Federation University’s Infantry Department and Command Department – Ye Guicheng, Cheng Feng!”

The host rattled off all the titles in one breath, then cracked a small joke. “Every time I have to present the Triple MVP award, I worry about whether the host has enough lung capacity. Luckily, the last Triple MVP Golden Cup was already 16 years ago.”

Cheng Feng hastily stood up and jogged along the red carpet.

The distance from her seat to the stage was quite far – a red carpet stretching over a hundred meters. The cameras locked onto Cheng Feng, projecting her image onto the massive screens surrounding the venue.

The main square, which held over ten thousand people, suddenly erupted into waves of cheers, each louder than the last.

At the same time, netizens on San Yao were furiously typing away, sharing in the collective frenzy.

“The very first time I saw this kid, I knew she’d go far!”

“Right? The first time Cheng Feng appeared, she used Xiang Yunjian’s account to break San Yao’s manual-operated training record that had stood for years. Anyone with half a brain could see she had a bright future!”

“How many people sign up for the manual-operated major every year!”

“You should be asking – how many manual-operated students will be taking data analysis as a secondary major next year!”

“Witness the era of Cheng Feng! Witness the era of manual operation! Believe that the talents of the Alliance will be passed down from generation to generation, never ending!”

Cheng Feng stood in the center of the raised platform, tugged at her uniform collar, and felt a bit of heat rise to her face.

Maybe she was a little nervous, after all – so many people were expressing their affection for her.

Several black cameras were aimed at her. Cheng Feng kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, not looking sideways. It should have been a moment of intense focus, but for some reason, her mind started to wander.

Under the bright lights, the figures in the audience became blurry. Amidst the mottled patches of color, Cheng Feng found herself unconsciously thinking back to her drifting life in the post-war sector.

It had only been two years, yet it already felt so far away.

“Cheng Feng is also the first manual-operated mech pilot in league history to win the Golden Cup…”

Cheng Feng listened absently to the host’s introduction, her thoughts drifting away from the venue, roaming freely. Suddenly, the cheers that had momentarily died down erupted again, and the host stopped speaking.

Cheng Feng turned her head and saw a figure approaching step by step, stopping about half a meter away from her.

The other person was also wearing a uniform, with only two First-Class Merit medals simply pinned on the shoulder. Her bearing was upright, her gaze gentle – she wasn’t exerting any pressure at all – yet her posture and movements all carried a sharp, imposing presence.

While Cheng Feng was quietly sizing her up, the other woman had already handed over the Golden Cup.

Because she wasn’t wearing gloves, the mechanical structure of her left hand was clearly visible.

Cheng Feng was stunned. As she took the trophy, she secretly touched the woman’s hand.

When it came time to shake hands, Cheng Feng cleverly extended her own left hand first.

The other woman’s right hand had just been raised halfway – she lowered it and went along with Cheng Feng’s preference, shaking hands with her using her left mechanical arm.

The touch was cold – her skin could feel those hard, cold, perfectly crafted lines.

Cheng Feng’s scalp tingled. Her eyes widened, shining with an unprecedented brightness.

So cool!

It was the dream of every little robot – and it looked expensive too!

She didn’t know if she’d said that out loud, but she heard the other woman laugh.

Cheng Feng asked hopefully, “Can I have one too?”

The other woman paused for a moment, then replied quietly, “That might not be possible. This thing is pretty expensive.”

The UFU president, standing behind her, twitched the corner of his mouth and said, “Is expensive even the issue here?!”

Cheng Feng thought he was going to say – UFU is filthy rich, they can give away houses, so an arm is nothing. But the president shamefully fell silent.

After the award was presented, several of them stood in a row for a group photo.

The president kept signaling Cheng Feng with his eyes, asking if she knew who this person was.

Of course Cheng Feng knew – she’d seen her when she was looking up information.

“I’m also sort of a manual-operated mech pilot. Originally, Ji Ban was supposed to present the award to you, but he had something come up at the last minute, and besides, he thought I’d be more suitable.”

Lian Sheng turned sideways and smiled, nodding at her.

“A worthy junior to be proud of.”