Chapter 3 Prisoners

Xiao Wen strode forward, with Liu Shan behind him carrying the unconscious Lin Xiu and the conscious Sun You.

"Students, do you want to remain unconscious like her, or do you want to be like this student and see the situation as a wise choice?"

Sun You walked up to Zhou Jiu, his eyes showing no fear, and said, "Sir, inciting the cadets to turn against each other is not the behavior of an excellent officer."

Xiao Wen glanced at Sun You, another troublemaker, but it didn't matter. With a single command from Xiao Wen, the situation inside the starship instantly reversed.

"Come on, let's send these prisoners off on their impending fate of being bound." Xiao Wen clapped first, then watched the figures leave and clicked his tongue, "Rookies, see you next time."

The hatch gradually opened, and as everyone else walked down and obediently got tied up, Zhou Jiu and Lin Xiu were the last to be tied up and carried down by the senior students from the Comprehensive University. Looking at the flight monitor, they couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Meanwhile, on the military academy's intranet, the synchronized video also showed Zhou Jiu and Lin Xiu being carried off the field, and the number of comments gradually increased.

#Looks like there are still some new students who won't regret it.

#Enjoy the new ways the younger students are tied up.

…

When Zhou Jiu regained consciousness, the group was chatting in a closed space.

Zhou Jiu moved his sore body, took the copper coin he had dropped earlier from Sun You's hand, and got into position.

"Let me think about what I should consult the oracle for."

Sun You continued, "Let's test the location of this exercise. Based on the information I have, the simulated battlefield should be based on the Hengping Campaign on Planet C or the Fengxin Campaign on Planet B. Let's test whether it leans towards desert warfare or forest warfare."

Lin Xiu had also woken up early. "It's been seven hours since we came in from the virtual reality pod to the central avenue of Planet B. We were even blindfolded when we went to the bathroom. Based on the temperature and climate, plus the location we entered, it must be the Fengxin Battle of Planet B."

"Excuse me, but are you sure you came in through the virtual pod?" Zhou Jiu extended his handcuffed hands. "If this joint exercise is still a virtual battlefield, why bother tying us up multiple times? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to modify the data and directly enter the encirclement of the General Staff?"

"Well…"

"How long have you been speculating about this, Youyou?" Zhou Jiu asked.

"I'm sorry, I misled everyone. I trusted my past experience too much," Sun You said apologetically.

“Let’s analyze it from the beginning then. I find it quite interesting to analyze it with you all,” said Zhang Ji, who had previously been told by Zhou Jiu that he had a younger sister.

"Me too." Another freshman said in a low voice. He seemed to be a bit shy. This was the same student who had just introduced himself as Wang Xue.

In the darkness, his hearing became even more acute. Zhou Jiu sensed something was slightly off and said directly, "Excuse me, classmate, let's get acquainted. I'm Zhou Jiu, a mechanical engineering major."

"My name is Wang Xue, and I major in mecha." Wang Xue's voice was very soft, but as soon as she said this, Zhou Jiu frowned and moved slightly closer to Wang Xue.

"Weren't we searched?" Zhou Jiu touched his body and felt that his bamboo tube was still there.

"No, at first they blindfolded us and put us in another space. Then they pulled the five of us into this car and got inside. The door was then closed, and that's when we took off our blindfolds."

When Zhou Jiu heard Sun You's words, he realized that the door wasn't locked from the outside and that they had stopped midway. Could it be that this group of experts wanted to let this fake "Wang Xue" infiltrate the premises?

"Alright, let's do a divination first. Let me find out where our destination is," Zhou Jiu said with a smile.

"It's so dark, how can you read the divination symbols?"

“You can tell by touch; the two sides of the coin are different,” Zhou Jiu replied to Zhang Ji.

Lin Xiu lay sprawled out, muttering, "Forget it, I think we should just wait to be rescued by our seniors."

Zhou Jiu looked at the divination result, somewhat puzzled, and couldn't help but cast another divination. "The beginning and end are connected, the place we came from is the place we're going to. What does that mean? Are we still at the point of connection?"

After a long while, Lin Xiu spoke up: "Do you still need to guess? You idiot, their car is driving us around in circles. We five are probably bait."

Zhou Jiu cast another divination: "Zhen above Kun below. This divination indicates whether our trip will be successful. We should seize the opportunity."

Just as he finished speaking, a knock came from outside the cabin: "Junior students of Military Academy, don't seize the opportunity. You're discussing things without any privacy. Don't you know the common sense that prisoner detention areas have surveillance equipment? I really feel sorry for you junior students of Military Academy, my future junior students."

Zhou Jiu accepted the items, his face turned serious, and he threw two copper coins at the monitoring equipment, saying, "Thank you for the reminder, senior."

He immediately pounced on Wang Xue, tore open his sleeve, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into Wang Xue's mouth, whispering, "Sorry, senior."

Although she was not fully conscious before, it was more suspicious that someone she had never seen before on the starship had infiltrated. Sun You had been waiting for Lin Xiu and her to fully recover, and they still had that much understanding.

At the same time, Lin Xiu's handcuffs were unlocked, which also unlocked Sun You's handcuffs. Zhou Jiu also unlocked his own handcuffs immediately after taking action.

"I've already fastened the harness inside the cabin. There are only two people in front of the vehicle leading us around in a circle. They're waiting for our people to successfully rescue us."

"One for you, one for me." Zhou Jiu smiled, twisted open the bamboo tube, took out a very thin piece of iron, searched Wang Xue's clothes, and put the key and handcuffs into his pocket.

The door rattled as the metal plate was used to unlock it. Sun You pulled Wang Xue up and made her lean against the transparent glass window in front of her, blocking her view.

What happened next?

The car gradually came to a stop. Zhou Jiu and Lin Xiu were lying on the roof of the car. After exchanging a glance, they opened the car door the instant the car stopped, pulled their opponent out, and Zhou Jiu quickly closed the door and stepped on the gas.

The car sped forward, leaving the two senior students rolling on the ground, gazing at each other from afar.

Sun You pulled Wang Xue away, took out a light gun from his waist, and shattered the glass after having Zhang Ji take Wang Xue a little further away.

"Holy crap, where did you get that light gun?"

"Zhou Jiu took the gun from the instructor, and after being hit by the needle, he transferred it to my hand."

"But wouldn't using real weapons in a training exercise be considered invalid?" Zhang asked hesitantly.

"We didn't get any points for this exercise. Using freshmen as prisoners was just to let us see the battlefield."

"It's alright, besides, we didn't point any weapons at anyone. Anyway, we have new weapons that we can use for the exercise now." After the glass was opened, Zhou Jiu's voice came through immediately, and he said with a grin.

"You really should change your petty thieving habits," Lin Xiu rolled his eyes.

Zhou Jiu patted Lin Xiu's head with his right hand and laughed, "Brother Xiu, I think we should keep the good habit of petting dogs."

"I reckon Zongda has already received the news. What are your plans next?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Don't be afraid, with Senior Sister here, we'll get there safely." Zhou Jiu pointed to Wang Xue, who had been handcuffed again by Sun You.