Chapter 498: Modern Era (If-Things) (26)
In the afternoon, under the blazing sun, some of the remaining contestants were already feeling the heat.
Anno wove some grass into a simple straw hat, put it on his head, and began searching for the remaining enemies.
She thought Huo Xuan was a good shot and guessed that he had taken down quite a few people.
She looked around but couldn't see him; he was quite good at hiding.
Another surviving boy from their class and Lin Xu followed beside her, both holding guns cautiously.
"It's so sunny! I think we have enough points already. Why don't we find somewhere to hide and wait until time is up before we win?" the boy said, wiping the sweat from his brow.
Anuo didn't even glance at him. "If you want to back out, then back out. Lin Xu and I will take care of the rest."
As she spoke, she turned to Lin Xu and asked, "Are you alright?"
Lin Xu nodded, "You're fine with it, I'm okay with it."
She always felt that Anno was young and needed to be taken care of, rather than the other way around.
Seeing how persistent the two girls were, the boy felt it would be too embarrassing to give up, so he decided to continue searching for the enemy with them.
Right there, gunshots rang out beside them. Anno reacted quickly and hid behind a tree, while the boy who had said he needed to rest cried out, "Who is it?!"
However, after groaning, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and now he could finally rest.
"Sweetie, why are all the people around you so useless?!"
Judging from that voice, it's Huo Xuan.
Anuo ignored him and made a gesture to Lin Xu, who was lying down.
Lin Xu quickly understood and crawled forward, constantly firing his gun to attract Huo Xuan's attention.
"Anno, I know your tactics. Don't bother. There aren't many left. How about we settle this once and for all?"
Upon hearing this, Anuo felt a surge of competitive spirit. Just then, a gunshot rang out, and Lin Xu, who was lying on the grass, stood up and shrugged helplessly at Anuo.
She was covered in orange paint; she had been shot.
Anuo peeked out and shouted at Huo Xuan, "Alright, how do you want to settle this?"
"There's less than an hour left. Let's start running from here and see who makes it back to safety first. Whoever gets back alive first wins, okay?"
"Let's make the bet 20 points."
Running back to safety alive means facing fire from other students and the enemy during the journey.
“Okay!” Anno readily agreed.
No sooner had she finished speaking than Huo Xuan fired a shot in her direction, hitting her right in the heart of the tree.
Haha, this is a way of putting her in a tough spot.
Anno heard gunshots coming from not far away, which meant that there were other classmates still alive.
She was on a small hill, while Huo Xuan was on another small hill, separated by a ditch. His position was slightly higher and offered a better view, but the woods were denser on her side.
She glanced at the map. From their current position, it would normally take them about twenty minutes to run back, but they couldn't encounter any other obstacles along the way. If the race time ended, their bet would be nullified, and the race wouldn't be very meaningful. Therefore, they had to be brave enough to run back before the time was up.
Huo Xuan wanted to compete with her in moving shooting; standing still wasn't fun. Now Huo Xuan had already opened fire and was chasing after her.
She quickly scanned the woods and began running towards safety.
She ran while dodging Huo Xuan's gun, occasionally firing in his direction.
Huo Xuan was very good at hiding and observed very carefully. Every time she fired a shot, he would quickly hide behind a tree.
Anno tried to hit his target several times but failed, so he simply ran towards a safer spot, managing to pick off a few more enemies along the way.
She ran wildly ahead, and Huo Xuan chased after her relentlessly, firing shots every now and then.
Finding an opponent is much more interesting than just standing still and racking up kills. Anuo started to pay full attention and deal with the situation. Although her stamina was better than Huo Xuan's, she was too affected by the sunlight. Sweat kept running down her forehead and dripping into her eyes.
By this time, most of the students had returned to the safe zone, waiting for the time to run out and to see who would be the last survivor.
After a long day of fighting, the students chatted amongst themselves to find out who had gotten the most kills.
The two people with the most kills right now are Anuo and Huo Xuan.
They're already betting on who will be number one.
"That must be Anno! She'll wipe out our team in no time."
"I think it's Huo Xuan. When he gets ruthless, he'll even turn on his own people."
Upon hearing that someone had killed their own classmate, the other classes laughed, saying, "Killing someone from your own class doesn't count as a point!"
Baroque said, "Nono will definitely win. Huo Xuan is no match for my sister."
Upon hearing Baroque's words, a classmate said, "Baroque, you're such a siscon! You're in the same class as Huo Xuan!"
Baroque curled his lip and said, "It's just a temporary class. We'll be reassigned after military training."
As the time drew nearer, the students grew increasingly eager to see who would emerge victorious. Several instructors had already begun taking attendance. The instructors knew which students in each class had the best performance, and now they were waiting to see whether Anuo or Huo Xuan would take the top spot.
Huo Xuan usually performs well in training, but Anuo's performance is not outstanding, only considered good among the girls.
After waiting for a while, everyone watched as a figure swiftly ran out of the woods, followed by several gunshots.
Anno rolled forward, quickly knelt down and got up, raised her gun and fired backward. After a shot rang out, she put down her gun and stood up.
Anno's stylish roll followed by a shot drew gasps from the other students.
Huo Xuan ran out of the woods, panting, and gave her a thumbs up.
Upon seeing the red dye on his clothes, cheers erupted from Anno's class: "Anno won!"
Anno was also feeling a bit tired; the blazing sun was almost making her dizzy. She found an open space to sit down, and Baroque and Lin Xu ran over to her with water.
"Nono, drink some water!"
After handing her the water, Baroque took out a towel from his backpack and wiped her sweat.
Huo Xuan sat down next to Anuo and saw Baroque bringing her water and wiping her sweat. He leaned over and said, "Give me a bottle of water too, I've finished mine."
Baroque pushed him away, "Go away, don't you have hands?"
Huo Xuan clicked his tongue. "I almost ran myself to death chasing after your sister, Anuo. How can you run so fast? I suggest you join the school track and field team."
Anno didn't say anything. Actually, compared to humans, she was cheating to some extent.
"Count the points! Count the points!"
As soon as the competition ended, it was time for the scoring, which the students were most looking forward to.
The students huddled together, watching the instructor tally the scores.
When the final scores were tallied, Anuo's class alone scored 237 points, not even counting the 20 points Huo Xuan lost to Anuo.
Finally, there's the individual scoring, which doesn't count towards the base. Anno got 95 kills out of two classes.
Instructor Zhang Cheng looked at her, his eyes almost shining.
The other instructors also laughed and patted him on the shoulder, saying that he had struck gold and that with this result, there was almost no suspense.
The next day, Anuo and his class received their reward as they wished: a half-day off and a barbecue in the evening. The instructors and teachers even prepared barbecue equipment and various materials.
Anno slept all afternoon. She took the opportunity to rest, as sleeping was the best way to replenish energy, except for eating.
After a few more days of military training, the last day was filled with various military training assessments. After the assessments, the students and their instructors took photos together and had a meal before heading back home.
The students who initially complained about the hardship and exhaustion were all reluctant to leave when it was time to actually go.
Anno sat in the car, this time choosing a window seat. Through the window, she watched the students reluctantly say goodbye to their instructors, some even shedding tears, but she didn't feel much in her heart.
She turned her head and saw that Baroque was already dozing off beside her.
She asked, "Baroque, aren't you reluctant to part with it?"
Baroque turned to look at her. "Reluctant to leave? I'm alright. I've been doing military training here for half a month, and I've gotten so tanned. I just want to go back as soon as possible."
He patted Anuo's head and said, "Perhaps I'm not a very emotional person. Apart from my family, I don't care too much about anyone or anything. I only care about you, your parents, your brother, and your sister."
Anno smiled and leaned on his shoulder. "Brother, me too."
Although she said that, she still felt there was something deep down that she cared about.
She had never quite understood what it was; it had been troubling her ever since she could remember.
Baroque then asked her, "Didn't the instructors invite you to visit their military region? Aren't you going?"
Anno said, "I don't want to go for now. I'm not really interested in that. I'd rather learn how to build a spaceship."
"Building spaceships?" Baroque laughed. "While our world is still thinking about how to build faster rockets, you're already thinking about how to build spaceships."
Anno nodded and said very seriously, "That's right, it's about building spaceships."
“Then you’ll be studying aerospace engineering,” Baroque said.
"Brother, what about you?"
“Me?” Baroque thought for a moment and said, “Being a pianist would be good.”
Actually, he used to want to be a botanist, but after Xiaoqi became allergic to pollen, he gradually stopped growing flowers. However, he still grows some other plants as a hobby.
They returned to school, and after a day of rest and recuperation, the school released the results and assigned classes.
Anuo's dormitory had three girls assigned to Class 1, while her grades unsurprisingly placed her in Class 7.
The following days were filled with studying. On weekends, Anuo would still return to the Sanda gym to train, but more often she would visit the city's aerospace museum.
She carried a small backpack and wore a hat, listening patiently as the staff at the space museum explained the universe and shared their insights on future technologies.
She knew that building a spaceship was just a fantasy with current technology, but her idea remained firm.
"Sweetie, the space museum is closed by now, right? Do you want Mommy to pick you up?"
Anno was riding her skateboard across the plaza in front of the space museum when she said to her mother on the phone, "No need, Mom. I want to go to the model shop. They have a new model. I'll be home soon."
After listening, Luo Jin could only give her a few instructions before hanging up the phone.
It was already evening, and by the time Anuo came out of the model shop, it was already dark.
As winter approaches, it gets dark quickly, and since her home isn't far, she decided to take the subway home.
She rode her skateboard toward the subway station, and as she passed through an alley, she suddenly saw a dark shadow flash by, carrying an unfamiliar, inhuman aura.
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