Chapter 24
The closed-door training at the military academy is divided into three rounds. The first phase is a period of adaptation, testing individual combat skills and basic crisis response capabilities, so team formation is generally not considered. However, it is legal for close cadets to privately agree to cooperate and share hunting points equally.
The second stage is usually an elimination-based free-for-all. Depending on the difficulty level each year, cadets are usually allowed to form teams of 2-3 people, but passing the second round alone will result in higher points.
This year, teams were limited to a maximum of two people. Loren attributed this to the terrain. The interior of the snowy mountain was extensive and winding. While a scrimmage area was still provided, the instructors' primary goal was to test the freshmen's strategies and tactics. A three-person limit was meaningless for such an assessment.
The third stage is a traditional project in the military academy that is only open to freshmen. The closed training has been like this every year. Loren guessed that this year would probably be no exception - in the next five days, the key words of the assessment would be "team" and "limit".
This group of young Alphas can form a team of ten people at most, and what they have to face is an endless tide of beasts that are all over the mountains and plains, mimicked by the interstellar mastermind and are frantically attacking this group of freshmen indiscriminately.
…
——"Team formation for the third stage, do you agree?
Simon's dark and gloomy golden eyes stared directly at the female Alpha in front of him. After a moment of silence, he hummed a slightly sarcastic chuckle from under the strange mask, and his gray eyelashes drooped.
"So..." Simon said with a hoarse voice and a vague smile, "Wayne is the captain?"
"Yes, do you need me to explain anything else?"
There was still no expression on Xia Feng's face. More than a day of rest was enough for this injured Alpha. There was no trace of yesterday's fatigue and exhaustion in her eyes. Her beautiful almond-shaped eyes were clear and sharp. At this moment, she was able to speak calmly and calmly and carry out the evil act of threatening her peers.
The rules of the third round of training have not changed since the military academy established this tradition. In the beast tide battle, everything is based on the team captain. As long as the captain is not forcibly teleported out due to serious injuries, then even if only the captain is left in the end, the personal performance of other team members will be recorded at the end of the third round.
For this group of Alphas who had just entered the military academy, the scores in the third round could even become part of the foundation for their bright future. Simon certainly knew its importance. It was, rather, an opportunity he had been waiting for.
...If this closed training was the same as in previous years and there were no abnormalities, Simon might have been more than happy to welcome such a "threat".
The annoying Beta never existed from the beginning, and no Alpha became abnormal because of her. Perhaps Simon has now abandoned his face and dignity and is trying every means to integrate into the team with Wayne as the main fighting force.
but……
The pale, slender five fingers suddenly clenched into fists, and the obvious joints seemed to be about to pierce the skin. The gray-haired boy couldn't even maintain his sarcastic smile, and his expression became a little gloomy.
If this were a normal training camp, as a loser, he wouldn't have gotten anything like this. What could Simon not understand? Calling this a threat wouldn't be an exaggeration. If the captain was eliminated, the third round scores of all the Alphas in the team would be forfeit.
They had no choice but to fight harder to save Wayne from the beast tide, and the young master of the Clement family rarely left the ranks of lone wolves and organized his own people, just to protect his ridiculous and weak pet more thoroughly and with more energy.
"Do you need me to remind you?" Simon's gloomy golden eyes pierced Xia Feng, his hoarse and low voice full of malice, "Now there is no difference between you and me. In Wayne's eyes, you are just tools. His goal is to go to that place -"
"What are you talking about?" Xia Feng frowned and interrupted him. "What the boss's purpose is has nothing to do with us subordinates. I am only responsible for following and executing his orders."
"After all, I wasn't really asking for your opinion."
The Alpha girl's slender, pale fingertips brushed across the hilt. Xia Feng met the gazes of her two peers across from her without changing her expression. Her quiet, dark eyes were like a bottomless whirlpool. She added softly, "If you want to get out, it's not impossible. I can satisfy you now."
"But Wayne's abilities are here, so it's better not to waste the opportunity. After all, after being treated like that by the family, do you really have the option of wasting the opportunity?"
Xia Feng was not at all shy about exposing people's scars. Her eyes were straight and still fixed on Simon without any fluctuation.
"……Shut up!!"
Simon gasped hoarsely and rapidly from his throat, his thin shoulders trembling slightly, and he looked like some kind of angry beast.
Xia Feng turned her eyes away indifferently and ignored him. In her opinion, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Simon would agree.
She turned and began to think seriously about how to persuade Youlai. The silver-haired Alpha was tied there with a depressed look on his face, his eyes slightly blank, and it seemed that he only had a vague understanding of their conversation. Xia Feng was about to repeat it again with an expressionless face, but suddenly saw the secret signal that Loren conveyed with gestures.
...While Xia Feng was thinking, Simon pulled the corners of his mouth, and his gloomy eyes crawled up the girl's fair face like a snake. The boy's pale and straight eyebrows showed a slightly gloomy smile again.
"I agree." Simon said in a strange tone, "But I can't guarantee what will happen in the third round."
Xia Feng: “…It’s up to you.”
She didn't expect much from Simon anyway.
As soon as the female Alpha finished speaking, Sturga's puppy seemed to have ended the storm of thoughts in his head. He lowered his eyes in disappointment and said weakly, "You guys should eliminate me. Apart from the last incident, I can't join another team."
Apart from that, he kept his mouth shut and didn't say another word.
Xia Feng looked at Loren silently. The boy, whose hair was stained with a light green, quietly pushed the monocle stuck in his deep eye sockets, and did not seem surprised.
…
After finishing the painting, Xiao and himself were finally among the large collection of small figures on the rock wall. Shi Yu held his face and looked at them twice with satisfaction.
She's in great shape now, her mind clearer than ever! If her ankle wasn't still hurting, she'd even want to run around the cave a few times after finishing her painting...
Suddenly, she seemed to hear some noise coming from Xia Feng again.
Shi Yu turned her head and saw the backs of Loren and Youlai. She was a little confused. She knew that they were discussing something in a distance just now, but what was going on in this posture?
Shi Yu wanted to ask Xia Feng, but just as he opened his mouth, Xia Feng's ethereal and gentle voice floated over: "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?"
The young Alpha leaned back against the rock wall, her saber sheathed in leather. Her clean, tight black inner wear made her waistline look thin and neat. Xia Fengqing glanced at her coldly. Shi Yu, who was about to speak when her words were interrupted, thought for a moment, and recalled the taste of the canned food that Loren brought back. She shook her head with a bitter face.
"I'm not hungry, I don't want to eat anymore..."
Shigure replied quietly, rubbing his stomach.
Loren returned to the cave quickly, but the silver-haired man did not come back with him. Although Shi Yu was puzzled, he did not ask much when he found that the other person was not there - after all, they were not very familiar with each other, and he was not in the same team with Xia Feng!
Shigure had completely forgotten that Simon was still here and that he had discovered her with the "silver-haired man".
Wayne didn't show up until the afternoon. Luckily, Shi Yu felt that she had become familiar with Xia Feng and Loren, so she wasn't too worried. But it was strange. They weren't close enough yet, yet she kept wanting to talk to Xia Feng and Loren excitedly. Shi Yu felt that she was inexplicably excited today. This was obviously very abrupt.
…Alas, although Simon was still the same, Shigure was smart enough to just ignore him.
On the third night, Wayne did not return to the cave.
Before going to bed at night, Shi Yu hugged his knees and asked where Loren Wayne was out of concern.
She hadn't taken care of herself for several days. Sitting alone in the corner, she looked like a stray cat curled up in the dark. After the abnormal energy of the day was finally used up, the girl's eyes became confused and clear, and her face seemed tired and flushed.
Hearing Beta's cautious voice, Loren, who had come to her side to place the necessary water and food, stopped and looked sideways at her expression.
The fluorescent green light on the lens flickered slightly. The boy, who looked cold and rational, paused for a moment before speaking, "He won't be back until the middle of the night. I suggest you go to bed first."
"Oh... okay."
Shi Yu touched the back of his neck, sighed, and agreed listlessly.
Before, when Wayne was the only one taking care of her, he would be very busy during the day, and only spent a little time with her at night and yesterday... But Shi Yu knew that she had nothing to complain about. As a friend, Wayne had already taken care of her a lot.
Shi Yu didn't sleep well. In the second half of the night, half asleep and half awake, she still didn't smell the familiar and slightly pungent, but very comforting smell of chili peppers...
On the fourth day after arriving here, it was already her usual time to get up, but Shi Yu was still squatting in the same place with half-closed eyes, looking sleepy and dozing off.
She had some insomnia last night, which directly caused her blurred vision, chest tightness and shortness of breath, and her mind felt dizzy and almost turned into a paste.
Xia Feng and Loren... and Simon, it seemed that two of them went out early in the morning. Shi Yu vaguely knew that the remaining person was with her. The smell coming from the other person was warm and pleasant, and he said something, but Shi Yu could not hear it clearly.
Shi Yu felt that she was starting to have a fever again, her cheeks became hot, and her lips began to dry... The condition was a bit like the symptoms she had when she met Simon on the plain before - that person seemed to think so too. After Shi Yu really couldn't respond to the other party's questions one after another, her chin was suddenly pinched by her ice-cold fingers, and some water was forcefully poured into Shi Yu's throat. Shi Yu choked and coughed softly, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“…Uncomfortable.”
Shi Yu wiped her tears sadly and sobbed as she complained about the other party's rude behavior. Her voice was delicate and trembling slightly because of crying, as if she was acting coquettishly.
“…” The other party fell silent.
Shi Yu didn't have the energy to pay attention to unnecessary things. The girl's eyes were vacant, her fluffy head was nodding, her brain was dizzy and she wanted to sleep again.
Xia Feng, who was squatting in front of her, was silent for a while. Her dark eyes quietly looked at Shi Yu's flushed and confused face, and then she seemed to have discovered something. She frowned and lightly wiped away the water droplets on her chin with her slender and cold fingertips.
Shi Yu was almost asleep, but she still tried hard to squeeze out a vague sentence from her lips and teeth, which were never obedient to her: "Thank you..."
It was not until the night that Shi Yu gradually regained some energy.
Wayne still didn't come back... She lowered her head obediently, half-opened her sleepy eyes, and drank canned food in a daze under the care of Xia Feng and Loren.
Shi Yu actually wanted to sleep, but Xia Feng and Loren wouldn't let her, saying that she had to eat something today. Shi Yu had never seen Loren so stern, and she was shocked when he said that.
Beta held the can and ate the food slowly like a small animal. Loren adjusted the reflective monocle frame, and Xia Feng seemed to know what he was going to ask. He stood up, rubbing his shoulders with a calm expression, and his slender fingers took out the paper bag from the leather tied around his thigh.
"I'm useless." She pursed her lips and explained briefly.
"It would be safer to observe it a little longer." Loren nodded his chin, his expression noncommittal, "But we don't have time."
Tomorrow evening is the time for the third stage of transmission. Although the young master seems to be preparing something for Beta, she herself has fallen into an abnormal state where she cannot make out the specific situation.
Fluorescent green data danced in the boy's somewhat mechanical black eyes. Loren pushed his glasses up as usual, and some possible arguments that went against common sense were all pushed to the bottom of the database.
…
"Goodbye~"
Somewhere in the snowy mountain tunnel, Xiao smiled and sent away some "rats" that were following him. He stretched out his fingertips and pointed at the void, and the silky blue and majestic spiritual power gradually gathered back to his side.
The crack-like lines in his eyes gradually dissipated, and the slightly long and messy black hair no longer floated slightly without the effect of mental power, and fell back on his shoulders delicately and elegantly. The young man from the East Country did not look at the people who fainted on the ground. He rubbed his neck and sighed, feeling deeply tired from fighting alone in the past few days.
After kindly helping a few people move to avoid being stepped on by passing peers, Xiao then stood up, patted the corners of his clothes, put his hands in his pockets, and slowly took two steps forward. However, suddenly, as if sensing something, the boy's slender eyes froze slightly, and the sound of his military boots stopped.
The nerves near the solar plexus throbbed with a dull pain. Xiao frowned and hesitantly pressed his fingers between his eyebrows.
The mental power was warning him... and during the military training, he only left his mental power on Shi Yu.
What happened to her?
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