Chapter 455 Winning the Competition, Losing Hearts 2 Qin Ye's gaze remained fixed on Su Tang, his voice as cold as ice: "Assessment rules: injuries are the sole responsibility of the individual, and no repercussions will be pursued afterward. It was her own choice, and it was also Chen Xiaocao's own choice. Soldiers must be responsible for their choices. Continue."
Lei Kuan was taken aback; he sensed the chill in Qin Ye's words. This wasn't an attempt to exonerate Bai Wei; it was more like saying... everyone who came after them had to take responsibility for their choices.
He took a deep breath and blew the whistle.
"Second round! Ready!"
...
Liu Landi was pulled back into the line by Su Tang, and she was still trembling.
That wasn't fear, it was anger, extreme anger.
“Sister Su An… Xiao Cao… she…” Liu Landi’s teeth were grinding together. “That vicious woman Bai Wei! How dare she! How dare she hit her so hard! Xiao Cao had already fainted, and she still wanted to hit her!”
Su Tang didn't speak, but simply reached out and gently patted Liu Landi's trembling back.
Her hands were steady, with a strange, comforting power.
“I saw it.” Su Tang’s voice was soft, but exceptionally clear. “We all saw it.”
Liu Landi suddenly looked up at Su Tang.
She saw that Su Tang's face was still pale, but her eyes, which were usually calm and still, now seemed to be covered with a thick layer of ice, beneath which was a bottomless, chilling darkness.
"Sister Su An, I..." Liu Landi wanted to say, "Let's go tell the instructor about her! Let's report her!"
But she swallowed the words back down her throat.
The rule is: you are responsible for any injuries you sustain, and no further action may be taken against you.
This was said by Instructor Qin himself.
In the military, the instructors' words are law.
A tremendous sense of powerlessness and grief welled up in her heart. The usually resilient Liu Landi finally couldn't hold back her tears, which slid down her cheeks.
“It’s no use…that’s just how the rules are…there’s nothing we can do…” she choked up, “Little Grass…she took all that beating for nothing…”
Su Tang remained silent. She took a clean handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to Liu Landi.
The handkerchief was her own; it had no markings on it, but it was very clean and had a faint soapy smell.
"Wipe it off." Her voice remained calm. "Tears are the most useless thing in the world. They can neither heal the wounds of the little grass nor punish those who harmed her."
Liu Landi took the handkerchief and wiped her face haphazardly: "What can we do? Just watch?"
Su Tang turned her head, her gaze passing over the crowd and landing once again on Bai Wei, who was not far away.
Bai Wei had returned to her class's ranks, and the female soldiers around her instinctively kept half a step away from her as if avoiding a plague, creating a small vacuum zone.
She seemed to sense Su Tang's gaze, defiantly raising her chin, a cruel sneer even playing on her lips. The meaning was clear: I've crippled your lackey, what can you do about it?
Deep within Su Tang's heart, the flame of "killing intent" silently licked at the edge of her reason.
She thought of Wang Xiaoya, the silly girl who folded a bed full of origami cranes out of candy wrappers.
She thought of Chen Xiaocao, who had just been carried away, the stubborn girl who had desperately protected herself in the mud and displayed amazing courage in the face of adversity.
They were among the few people who were genuinely kind to her after she came into this world.
One of them has already passed away.
The other one's fate is currently unknown.
The one who started all this, the woman whose hands were stained with blood and sin, was still standing there unharmed, mocking their weakness and powerlessness with the air of a victor.
Su Tang's fingertips trembled slightly, but she quickly restrained herself.
She slowly withdrew her gaze, turned her head, and said, word by word, in a voice only she and Liu Landi could hear, "Don't be afraid."
"Fairness doesn't always come to you; you have to go and get it yourself."
Su Tang's voice was very soft and gentle, as if she were talking about everyday things.
But as Liu Landi listened, she felt a chill run from her tailbone to the top of her head. In those calm words, she heard a determination more terrifying than any desperate roar.
Looking at Su Tang's slender profile, she suddenly felt that Su An, the woman in front of her, was so unfamiliar, yet so... reassuring.
She nodded vigorously, wiped away her tears, and stood up straight again.
"Sister Su An, I'll listen to you."
On the other side, in the ranks of male soldiers.
Gao Kai's fists were clenched tightly, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.
"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath, "That Bai Wei is a lunatic! I really want to go up there right now and punch her face until it's a bloody mess!"
"Calm down, Kai-ge." Li Si pulled him aside. "This is an assessment. If you go up now, aren't you just walking into the line of fire? Being eliminated outright would be the least of your worries!"
"I just can't stand it!" Gao Kai's chest heaved violently. "That little girl is so stubborn, she didn't fall even after being beaten like that, and Bai Wei still went all out! Does she even deserve to be a soldier?"
Li Si sighed: "There's nothing we can do, that's how the rules are. Instructor Qin is clearly going to push us to the limit, regardless of casualties. We can only watch."
Gao Kai's gaze was fixed on Bai Wei, his eyes practically spitting fire. Then, his gaze shifted to Su An in the ranks of female soldiers.
He saw her holding Liu Landi's hand, whispering something. Her figure looked so frail in the wind, as if she might be blown over at any moment.
Gao Kai's heart clenched suddenly.
Xiaocao was Su An's soldier, the person she valued most. Now that Xiaocao had been beaten like this, how heartbroken must she be?
He really wanted to rush over and tell her, "Don't be afraid, I'm here. Anyone who dares to touch your people, I'll be the first to kill them."
But he can't.
He knew Su An's temperament; she didn't need anyone's sympathy or protection. She had her own pride.
The only thing he can do now is to fight harder and more decisively when it's his turn, and show everyone, including her, that the people in Class Four are not to be trifled with.
The atmosphere changed noticeably in the following matches.
Perhaps inspired by Chen Xiaocao's tenacity and Bai Wei's ferocity, some of the weaker students who had initially planned to give up after a brief exchange now gritted their teeth and fought with fierce determination.
...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com