Top Warzone Analyst Chapter 18

Cheng Feng found herself utterly bewildered, needing to look up some terms to grasp their meaning.

She skimmed through the comment section but still didn’t know much about the major military universities. In the end, she decided to go straight to watching the match replays.

Although the freshman league was relatively small-scale, with matches limited to four to five hours, the replays were rather fragmented due to the large number of participating universities.

After browsing through various options, she finally settled on a match recap tagged with “professional data analysis” and “behind the scenes of the Freshman Competition.” Only then did she understand what “picking up scraps” meant.

It was the same old messy situation every year.

First Military University and Second Military University had been locked in a long-standing grudge, obsessed with internal conflicts – one scratching the other, the other stabbing back.

If a student from the rival university so much as passed by, the way they walked or even their breathing rate could spark a conflict.

One year, Second Military’s slogan was even: ” First Military dies a heroic death, but the Freshman Competition loses with glory!”

As for the United Military University, it was the perpetual troublemaker, always eager to stir the pot and add fuel to the already fierce rivalry.

In contrast, UFU appeared honest and steady, always skirting the edge of mediocrity and steering clear of worldly conflicts. Their scores consistently remained in the mid-range, never enough to raise alarm, yet somehow, at the very end of each competition, they would inexplicably snatch the championship.

Three times now – it had left the other military universities questioning their very existence.

This was precisely why UFU was teased as the “scrap-picking champion.” Apart from their first championship win, which was somewhat spirited – when Xiang Yunjian’s squad had been aggressively engaging at the heart of the conflict – their other two victories had earned them the title of “peace and love” advocacy ambassadors.

They were all too shallow.

In response, the commentators gave UFU high praise.

Once was a coincidence, twice was fate, but three times – that was undoubtedly a strategy.

If the other military universities still failed to recognize this, then a fourth consecutive championship would be firmly within UFU’s grasp.

Although he didn’t fully understand it, and although UFU was indeed quite cunning, that didn’t change the fact that they were impressive.

Cheng Feng suddenly understood.

So UFU’s true strength lay in its command department.

The strategic principle passed down from ancient ancestors – “Build high walls, stockpile ample grain, and delay proclaiming kingship” – was incredibly practical and effective.

Feeling that she had grasped the essence, Cheng Feng turned off her optical computer and finally began tidying up her room.

The next morning, the instructor brought her to class, helping her get accustomed to the command B-type operation panel and the various functions within the simulation system.

Major changes to the code were unlikely. Cheng Feng roughly verified the commonly used data and confirmed that everything was in order.

With the competition approaching, the instructor worried that too many reminders might increase her stress, so he said nothing more – just told her to familiarize herself with the campus, take a look around, and wait for further updates.

Day by day, Cheng Feng wandered between the different canteens, occasionally flipping through the command department tutorials the instructor had given her. Her routine ran smoothly and contentedly.

Before long, the campus began to buzz with activity. Promotional banners for the league were hung in every corner, and the large outdoor screens played highlight reels from past competitions on repeat. While walking to get a meal, Cheng Feng even ran into several other freshmen who, like her, were preparing to compete.

Yet her dormitory remained empty.

The exact date for the competition was finally set for two days before the official start of the semester.

That morning, well before 7 a.m., Cheng Feng’s optical computer kept ringing incessantly, annoying her to no end.

Opening it, she found it was, once again, all trivial matters.

Instructor: Don’t be late! Time to get up, you lazy bunch!

Instructor: UFU is the strongest! Are you ready, everyone?!

Instructor: A fourth consecutive championship is within reach!

Xiang Yunjian: Do you know the way? I’m heading to the computer lab to proctor the exam too. Want me to pick you up on the way?

My Family’s Got a Mine: [Red Packet] Go buy yourself some little cakes.

What’s Good About Summer: When you get in, make sure to talk tough, got it? Otherwise, they’ll think you’re young and easy to push around. Show them the power of a machine!

A Little More Reckless: Freshmen are generally pretty weak. Since you could take us down, you can definitely take them too. Just play normally.

Cheng Feng felt that the energy levels of UFU’s faculty and students were a bit excessive.

She changed into her clothes – still the set that Dr. Lin had bought for her – put on her cap, and headed to the university’s computer lab on time.

She arrived almost exactly on time, but by the time she got there, the other students had already swiped in and logged on.

A few security personnel stood outside the lab. Seeing her strolling in at a leisurely pace, they grew anxious, grabbed her arm, and hurried her through the security checkpoint.

Inside the computer lab, a row of students sat against the wall in front of their optical computers, serving as proctors. An instructor had a freshman cornered nearby, delivering an impromptu lecture – while registering him into the system, he furiously scolded him for arriving so late.

When Cheng Feng stopped in front of them, the storm brewing on the instructor’s face momentarily subsided, revealing a brief flicker of sunshine. He smiled lightly at her. “You’re here. Right on time, huh?”

The freshman immediately protested, aggrieved. “Instructor, she got here even later than me!”

The instructor gave him a hard shove. “Get in there, now!”

A robot – how could you judge one by the same standards as an ordinary student?

For a robot, every second counted!

After checking in, Cheng Feng took her student ID and headed to the designated simulator to put on the equipment.

After logging in, Cheng Feng was dismayed to find that in the simulation system, she still had no long hair.

Fortunately, the unified military uniform of UFU came with a cap.

Cheng Feng tugged the brim down slightly and looked around, observing her surroundings.

The scene was incredibly realistic – both the visuals and the five senses had been rendered with meticulous detail.

No matter how many times she experienced it, Cheng Feng couldn’t help but marvel at the pinnacle of this sensory technology.

Right in front of her, a group of boys were huddled together, whispering.

“Team Three is missing one person, aren’t we? They’re not actually going to bail, are they?”

“And it’s a data tech. Honestly, I feel like it might not make much difference whether they come or not – newbies are all pretty mediocre anyway.”

“Shut up! Don’t cause division here by putting down your teammates. Do you want to get scolded again?”

Cheng Feng made a slight sound to alert them.

The group turned around in unison and were startled to see a short person suddenly standing behind them.

One of the boys blurted out, “Damn, how… how is there someone so…”

Cheng Feng’s eyebrow twitched slightly. She never expected that Jiang Linxia’s typically unreliable advice would actually come true for once.

This kind of opening line usually meant someone was looking down on her.

Feeling guilty under her clear, sharp gaze, the young man asked again, “Are you a little brother or a little sister?”

Cheng Feng, following their example of trash talk, replied, “I’m your dad.”

Knowing he was in the wrong and sensing no real malice in Cheng Feng’s tone – plus having encountered countless Schrödinger’s fathers in his sixteen years of life – he decided to let it slide and chuckled awkwardly. “Hey, you got here pretty late. We thought you might have dropped out. Hurry up and check the scene data; the head commander’s been asking for you.”

This was a town built on a low mountain. There were five factions in total: United Federation University, United Military University, First Military University, Second Military University, and a rotating coalition of military universities.

Each faction occupied an identical area with the same town layout. Initial conditions were equal for all.

UFU was positioned in the bottom-left section of the map. To its left bordered First Military University, and to its right lay the rotating coalition of military universities.

Each faction had 150 people. From west to east along their border lines, they were evenly divided into five defense teams, with individual soldiers randomly assigned based on their unit type.

Cheng Feng was assigned to the central Team Three, while the head commander’s marker fell on Team Two.

Given her unique academic record and seemingly introverted nature, the school wasn’t comfortable letting her serve as the lead data strategist right from the start.

Thus, she was merely one of the deputy commanders accompanying the five squads.

In addition to the five defense teams, there were two light infantry units, composed of the top-performing students, equipped with their own transport and tasked with launching attacks across the battlefield.

Each team had a standard size of twenty people, accompanied by one data analyst.

The town contained military supplies, civilian NPCs, and building integrity levels – all of which would be used as criteria for calculating points at the end.

Additionally, the number of deaths and kills among participants would also contribute to the score.

The faction with the highest total points would claim victory.

In other words, this was a multi-allied defensive battle.

Just as Cheng Feng finished reviewing the map parameters, the system notification from San Yao popped up, hovering in the most eye-catching spot in her field of vision.

[The Alliance Military University Freshman Competition is about to begin! Log-in will close in ten minutes. All freshmen, please prepare!]

[The live broadcast channel is now officially open!]

[Now announcing the competition rules!]

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” said the young man who had previously misspoken, taking the initiative to strike up a conversation with Cheng Feng. “You didn’t come to class last time, did you?”

In their push for a fourth consecutive championship, the university had called in all eligible participants for temporary training sessions on campus.

However, for ordinary students who had just finished their college entrance exams, the effectiveness of short-term training was unpredictable. Teaching too much or making things too complicated could actually negatively impact their judgment.

So, aside from some basic military knowledge, the curriculum mainly consisted of pumping up their morale, teaching them some trash talk, and having them watch match replays.

Cheng Feng asked, “What did they teach? Was it important?”

The young man tilted his head, thinking for a moment, only to find that he could only recall one thing. “The United Military University’s historical combat style?”

Cheng Geng asked, “What is it?”

The young man said seriously, “The sneaky, underhanded style!”

“Bullshit!” A dark-skinned young man beside him lifted his eyelids, glanced at the imaginary camera, and corrected, “When others do it, it’s sneaky; when we do it, it’s tactical maneuvering, alright?”

Remembering that the live broadcast was ongoing, the young man quickly nodded. “Oh, right, right.”

Cheng Feng said, “Well… you guys learned pretty well then.”

San Yao was still reading out the competition rules.

The instructors had already explained the important regulations to them beforehand.

So, the group of about twenty people crouched near a street corner nearby, continuing their chat on the team frequency.

“I heard that this time, UFU recruited a manual mech genius from a remote star. Never would have thought.”

“Stop with the ‘heard,’ it was already officially announced ages ago, okay? Never would have thought we’d be able to snatch one up like that. Is ‘scrap picking’ our innate talent or something? The admissions offices at the other military universities are probably losing their minds. Haha! Just thinking about it makes me happy!”

“I wonder what that big shot looks like. So mysterious, it’s practically legendary. Being able to master manual mech controls even in a remote star – is there anything they can’t do?”

“I think it’s precisely because they were in a remote star that they had the patience to learn manual mech code. After all, it’s the biggest opportunity to change their fate. ‘When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man,’ you know?”

“So, the big shot must be someone exceptionally steady, someone with great forbearance.”

“It’s hard to guess what a manual mech pilot looks like. Look at Ji Ban and Lian Sheng -neither of them has an especially robust build. Maybe the big shot is like that too.”

Cheng Feng’s ears twitched. Their praise made her a bit embarrassed. She pointed at herself and said, “It’s me.”

The group stared at her for a few seconds upon hearing this, then turned away as if nothing had happened and continued their discussion in a small circle.

“I wonder if he’s familiar with the battlefield. Too bad the freshman league doesn’t have mech battles; otherwise, if he led us in an assault, we might be able to dominate the whole field.”

“But there are already very few manual mechs in the military now. Even if he enlists after graduation, he might not get one, right? Manual mechs feel like they’ve been continuously invested in, but the output cycle is just too long.”

“Being good at coding and being good at attacking are actually two different things, aren’t they? If you’ve only been focused on burying your head in learning code, you might not have developed sufficient combat awareness.”

“It’s me!” Cheng Feng tugged at the sleeve of the person nearest to her and emphasized, “It really is me!”

The young man waved his hand and said, “Stop messing around.”

The others chimed in jokingly:

“Have you finished transmitting your map data? The head commander has been urging you since a while ago. Speaking of which, how exactly are we supposed to line up?”

“I confess, that person is actually me. It’s just that I’m afraid you’d worship me too much, so I’ve been keeping a low profile and not saying anything.”

“Who doesn’t know your capabilities, you little rascal? Be careful, the audience might take it seriously and that’d be slander.”

“Deputy commander, get it together. Stop joking. There are only five minutes left. Quickly get to know us. Our names and numbers are all on your control panel.”

Cheng Feng: “…”

How, exactly, is a person supposed to prove that they are a human?