Shen Dan’s knowledge base was fairly well-rounded. Given the shortage of manpower, Cheng Feng assigned her to operate in a two-person team.
Cheng Feng herself was also quite confident, so she brought along only one senior student.
UMU had even wanted to borrow some people, but Cheng Feng politely declined them – and, while she was at it, talked a student from Mobile University into joining her side instead.
After regrouping, the thirty students from UFU actually expanded into eleven separate squads.
Following the map, everyone approached the base from different directions.
Because the virtual helmets altered the real-world environment, the originally smooth roads had been overlaid with all sorts of bizarre giant rocks and abandoned billboards. The result was a landscape filled with twisting blind spots that severely slowed everyone’s pace.
If they failed to follow the valid routes designated by the virtual environment, the system would issue warnings. So even when they could clearly see a perfectly straight roadway ahead, everyone still had to obey the system’s demands and forcibly wind their way through a maze of twists and turns.
The timed nature of the test also placed tremendous pressure on them.
The scope of the questions was far too broad, covering everything from mecha knowledge to model construction. On top of that, the instructors’ habit of randomly quizzing obscure bits of knowledge during class made everyone uneasy. Even the top students didn’t dare claim they could answer everything perfectly.
But before long, everyone realized that this worry was actually unnecessary – because there were simply too few supply crates.
Seventy of them searched for nearly an hour and, altogether, found only nine supply crates.
In terms of efficiency, this was definitely not a wise strategic choice, and the teams had consequently become scattered to pieces.
Of the nine supply crates, aside from the one that had unexpectedly exploded, the contents of the others were all pretty good.
There were common items such as [Short-Term Signal Jammer], [Directional Demolition Charge], and [High-Speed Hemostatic Injection], as well as a small slip of paper covered in what looked like some kind of password or code.
Cheng Feng felt that the key to victory did not lie in the supply crates. The Red Team started the match with ten fewer people than the White Team – a massive disadvantage. If they failed to take the initiative, that in itself would become a form of passivity.
Although she was technically a student in the manual operation department, Cheng Feng was in fact the only true solo combatant in her camp. After considering the situation, she discussed it with the senior student traveling with her and decided to pick up the pace and head ahead to gather intelligence on the White Team.
Cheng Feng’s position was already very close to the dividing line between the two bases.
Holding her rifle, she moved nimbly between the roadside cover, weaving through obstacles, and soon encountered her first enemy soldier from the White camp that day.
The other side was hiding behind a tree, aiming down the road and patiently waiting in ambush like a hunter waiting for prey.
Because her angle was unfavorable, Cheng Feng only caught sight of that fleeting shadow from the corner of her eye while changing position.
With her sharp eyesight and extensive experience, she was certain that the opponent’s reaction speed was too slow to hit her. Yet the words [Under Attack] still appeared on her interface.
Cheng Feng rolled on the spot and ducked back behind a large rock. She glanced upward, only to find that the status display on the system still hadn’t changed, leaving her momentarily bewildered.
At that moment, a question popped up on the opposing student’s interface.
The prompt alone was over fifty words long, and the dense pile of technical terminology made the question look extremely complicated.
It was multiple choice, with only seven seconds allowed to answer.
The flashing red countdown timer threw the young man into confusion. Even after skimming the question twice, he still couldn’t understand what it meant, so he gritted his teeth and blindly guessed:
“B!”
Cheng Feng noticed that the status on her panel had changed to [Evade Successful], and she roughly understood part of the rules. Before the other side could recover, she burst forward at top speed and, without bothering to aim carefully, fired a rough shot toward the general direction of the enemy.
Cheng Feng fired extremely quickly – far faster than students from the command department could manage – and her accuracy was decent enough. Among actual single-soldier specialists she might not rank very high, but within the command department she was definitely above average. Combined with the system’s more lenient hit standards, just as expected, a question also popped up on her own interface.
Cheng Feng: “…”
Even though she had already guessed the mechanism, she still found it utterly absurd at that moment.
Was this really reasonable?
She missed real guns and live ammunition.
The instant the question appeared, countless distracting thoughts flashed through Cheng Feng’s mind, but she quickly forced them down.
Then, after reading the incomprehensibly convoluted question prompt, all sorts of curse words she had never even consciously learned sprang naturally into her head again, completely overwhelming her ability to think and analyze.
Cheng Feng felt that her rationality had never before suffered such malicious provocation. Only when the countdown reached two seconds remaining did her brain finally resume functioning.
She answered hurriedly. “A!”
Her voice faded into the air together with the countdown digits that were about to hit zero.
[Ye Guicheng has killed one enemy!]
The red notification floating in the air finally made Cheng Feng let out a breath of relief.
Her head was still buzzing.
Cheng Feng announced the unfortunate news over the team channel. “Guys, shooting also depends on answering questions. You still need to aim, but the system allows a certain margin of error. The questions seem to be random. If you answer correctly, the shot hits; if you answer wrong, the target evades. There’s no additional penalty. The questions themselves aren’t too hard, but the wording is disgusting – you need an extremely high level of concentration.”
The group, which had only just calmed down, instantly exploded again. Everyone could not help but howl in outrage:
“Isn’t this way too excessive?! I fire one shot at the enemy’s chest and suddenly I have to face a soul-searching interrogation?”
“What I’m firing are bullets, not Cupid’s arrows! Why do I need to examine my conscience?!”
“Damn it, this is the first time in my life I’ve wanted to become infantry!”
“I absolutely hate this kind of exam. Please spare me!”
“If I speak honestly right now, will I be forcibly removed from the match?”
“We should stick together! Fire more shots – eventually somebody’s bound to answer correctly. Let’s share the pressure a bit, because I seriously can’t take this alone.”
Even technical specialists couldn’t withstand this kind of nerve-wracking exam torture.
Cheng Feng adjusted the team assignments once again, deciding to form a squad made up of top academic students, while the remaining people would focus on gathering supplies. Everyone would divide the work and cooperate.
This question-and-answer mechanic actually had one advantage: it greatly compensated for the command department students’ embarrassing lack of shooting accuracy.
People like Shen Dan and Chen Huayue were practically destined to become the next generation of legendary snipers.
…And of course, Tao Rui too.
If they encountered people like that, they needed to stay far more alert and keep a greater distance.
UMU also made adjustments, and both camps began planning new routes according to their own styles.
Cradling her rifle, Cheng Feng was about to set out when she casually said over the public channel, “I’m collecting Tao Rui’s coordinates. If anyone spots him, let me know.”
“What are you trying to do?” one student from UMU asked curiously. “Is this really allowed? Are private fights permitted during a camp battle?”
“No rule says it isn’t. It’s a camp battle, after all – the important thing is communication.”
“What do you mean ‘fight’? This is called capturing the leader first. It’s strategy!”
“Why do I feel like all of you are just waiting to watch the drama?”
“Now you’re talking nonsense again. We’re all comrades, all on the same boat together. This is clearly mutual assistance – how did you make it sound so ugly?”
“The setup of this match is filled with the radiance of peace. At most, there’ll only be academic exchanges.”
The mention of Tao Rui lightened the tense atmosphere slightly, but once everyone thought about the consequences waiting ahead, the mood quickly sank again.
“If you can only confirm kills by answering questions, I really wouldn’t dare to casually wander in front of Tao Rui.”
“This kind of system obviously gives First Military a bigger advantage.”
“Cheng Feng, if you can manage to ‘academically exchange’ Tao Rui into elimination, I’ll give you the title of Alliance’s number one!”
“We definitely need to find a breakthrough point. We can’t be behind in every aspect -what’s the point of even fighting then?”
The score statistics showed that First Military’s average scores were indeed slightly higher. Not to mention they also had more people.
In this match, having more people really meant you could do almost anything you wanted.
Current battlefield numbers:
Red Team: 68 people – White Team: 78 people.
…
Several instructors were sitting leisurely at the entrance of the base, basking in the sun. Snacks and drinks were placed beside them, while directly in front of them a projected screen displayed surveillance footage transmitted from the simulation system.
The two students who had been eliminated right at the start were squatting behind them, humbly reflecting on their mistakes.
The professional course instructor laughed and said, “A group of infantries and a group of commanders aren’t so different – they all lack organization.”
Mr. Zhou didn’t care in the slightest. “You only learn the importance of organization after suffering a setback. Let’s see which side learns its lesson first.”
“The gap in advantage is a bit obvious,” Mr. Xue asked. “What time is it? Should we deploy the large supply crates yet?”
Mr. Zhou rested his hands behind his head and said, “Almost. Just a little longer – let them fumble around a bit more. Don’t worry. Red vs White battles are never short of reversals. The side that starts with the advantage usually ends up losing.”
The other two instructors immediately protested, “Hey, what are you doing? Talking nonsense with your eyes open? I’m telling you, don’t rely on that kind of mystical thinking – it doesn’t work. Among this batch of students, First Military’s overall quality is slightly higher.”
Mr. Zhou sneered. “Heh.”
After the students, even the instructors had begun to develop a faintly heated, competitive tension among themselves.
…
The White Team discovered this hidden mechanic slightly later. This was because the young man who had been lying in ambush, in his nervousness, forgot to report the situation back to his team. After being eliminated, he was immediately ejected from the exam scenario.
It wasn’t until Shen Dan led her squad in a flanking maneuver and successfully sniped two opposing “grunts” that the White Team finally began making adjustments.
Cheng Feng ran over to link up with Shen Dan’s team, and Shen Dan looked extremely excited.
A dream that had never been realized in either real life or in games had unexpectedly taken physical form in this Red vs White camp battle. She felt like she could take on ten opponents at once now, and even hoped that San Yao would turn this combat mode into a downloadable dungeon for wider release.
“This is such an excellent game – it deserves to be passed on,” Shen Dan said. “I can promote it for free. The next top student of the Alliance starts here!”
A senior student beside her ruthlessly crushed her enthusiasm. “You’re dreaming. A game destined to be single-player has no future!”
The squad continued moving around the central line, searching for suitable targets. They didn’t dare advance rashly, after all the other side might also be a group of so-called “sharpshooters.”
5 p.m.
The environment inside the simulation device did not change much. The lighting did not darken as it usually would at this time, but everyone could clearly feel that they were getting hungry.
Cheng Feng was just about to ask the instructors whether food was provided in the camp battle when, suddenly, two brightly colored parachutes appeared in the sky. Suspended beneath them was a massive wooden crate, falling straight down at an abnormal speed.
As if afraid the students might miss it, a red arrow also lit up on the ground immediately afterward, pointing toward the supply drop’s landing location – clearly encouraging everyone to go and retrieve it.
The drop point for the Red Team was not far from where Cheng Feng and the others were located.
Cheng Feng briefly checked the White Team’s drop location as well, then moved with her squad to investigate the situation first.
As they approached the crate, a new prompt appeared on everyone’s interface:
[Large Supply Crate: Successfully unlocked. Rewards include 50 food rations, 50 units of water, and 30 small supply crates.]
“Generous rewards,” Shen Dan said, stepping forward and without hesitation pressing the unlock switch.
Instead of a question appearing, several system prompts popped up:
[Unlock condition: Clear 10 questions]
[Question type: Multiple choice (timed)]
[Difficulty: Hard]
[Note: You may choose to end before starting the next question.]
