Chapter 10 Desert Crisis; Camp Rescue: Xu Lingzhao outwits the camp...
After lying in the treatment pod for two hours, Xu Lingzhao's injuries had almost healed. When she returned to her seat, she found Chu Jingzhe with his head down, his golden bangs obscuring his eyes and making him look particularly melancholy. Xu Lingzhao reached out and tapped his tense shoulder.
He suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with worry for her.
Chu Jing pursed his lips, stood up to make way, and when the two of them were seated, he slowly opened his mouth, looking at Xu Lingzhao with a serious expression: "Why do you always save me?" He paused, "Why are you... so good to me..." After saying that, he waited for Xu Lingzhao's answer, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of the seat.
"Hmm? You didn't know?" Xu Lingzhao raised an eyebrow, suddenly becoming interested as she met his gaze, a smile playing on her lips. "I thought... all this time, you knew how I felt." She then pretended to close her eyes, secretly watching Chu Jingze's reaction.
She could clearly feel the person next to her catch their breath; he lowered his head, his ears turning bright red.
After two hours of travel, the starship finally arrived at the desert star. All the new students disembarked and, according to the factions assigned before boarding, one person from each colored matrix drew lots to determine the order in which they would enter the desert star training arena.
Fortunately, Xu Lingzhao was the first in the matrix to enter the desert, and she was also the first person to enter the desert. She walked into the arena in full view of everyone and quickly disappeared into the sweltering desert.
Xu Lingzhao looked up at the blinding sunlight, sweat dripping from her forehead. She took off her combat jacket and tied it around her waist, leaving her in only a vest. Her well-defined, toned muscles were exposed to the sunlight. She used her mental energy to search for the supply pack and finally dug it out from under a sand dune. She eagerly opened it. The supplies inside were decent: a bottle of water, some compressed biscuits and chocolate, a dagger... Xu Lingzhao picked up the last item and examined it closely: a compressed blanket.
The quantum computer on her wrist had long been replaced with a wristwatch that combined location tracking and scoring. She picked up the locator and looked at it. There was a small red button on the side, which was the exit button. Xu Lingzhao thought as she walked. There were not only people in this desert, but also Zerg. However, most of them were C-level Zerg. Killing a Zerg earned 2 points. She twisted her neck. It had indeed been a long time since she had fought Zerg.
"Sigh," she sighed. It was already unbearably hot after only a short time in, let alone having to stay here for seven days. Gazing at the endless desert, Xu Lingzhao searched for the desert insects based on their living habits.
But by the next day, Xu Lingzhao had not seen any Zerg or even any people. She had picked up several supply bags, though. At this moment, she was covered in supplies on her back, hands, and waist, looking like a homeless person. She looked towards the starship in the sky, but it was too far away to see more than a black dot. Xu Lingzhao stopped.
Feeling something was very wrong, she realized that although she was the first to enter the arena, everyone entered from different positions, and the arena area would continue to shrink, so it was impossible for her to not see anyone. She turned back and stopped moving towards the center, gripping her dagger tightly. After walking for two hours, she encountered someone.
The person was half-buried in the yellow sand, barely visible unless you looked closely. Xu Lingzhao quickly stepped forward and pulled the person out of the sand. It was actually Ling Qianzhu! She checked her breath with her finger; she was still breathing! She took off the jacket of her combat uniform, forcibly pried open her mouth to feed her water, and moved her to a shady spot to fan her and cool her down.
Finally, Ling Qianzhu opened her eyes with difficulty and sat up. Xu Lingzhao continued to feed her water and food. After seeing that she had finally regained some color, Xu Lingzhao asked in a low voice, "What happened?"
"I...I don't know. All I know is that when I was looking for supplies, two masked people suddenly appeared in front of me. They chased me with guns, and a bullet hit my head, but it missed and hit my hair clip instead. After being hit, I rolled down the sand dune. They probably thought I was dead, so they stopped chasing me." Ling Qianzhu wailed and complained to Xu Lingzhao, "Luckily I'm alive! Waaaaaah!"
Xu Lingzhao comforted her as she pondered. Her expression turned grave as she recalled the high-speed nuclear bomb on the starship and what Ling Qianzhu had said. This training match had been interfered with by a third party, most likely the rebels. Ling Qianzhu then added, "I pressed the exit button on my wristwatch, but no one came to pick me up. The starship is very likely..." She didn't finish her sentence, and the two exchanged glances, both understanding what had happened.
She pulled Ling Qianzhu up and handed her an extra knife and a tranquilizer gun: "Get up and follow me."
The further back they went, the worse the situation became. Xu Lingzhao had already encountered several corpses, all of whom were Sandhurst students. She clenched her fists and said, "These beasts."
As night fell, Xu Lingzhao released her mental energy to assist in the search and finally sensed the presence of living people ahead. She gave all her belongings to Ling Qianzhu and told her to wait where she was. She then approached the camp where the campfire was lit, lightly equipped. Her excellent night vision allowed her to spot a special mark on the group of fully armed people - the tattoos on the necks of the rebels.
She glanced to the left and saw that the Sandhurst students were being tied up one by one with ropes. There were about fifty or sixty of them. She suppressed her anger. The situation wasn't too bad. The people were still alive. There were 200 people in her batch, so the others must have gone into hiding.
She counted the number of rebels; there were 32 of them, all armed. Their mental strength was not high, generally at level A. Xu Lingzhao was confident that she could kill them instantly with her physical mental strength, but when she looked at the people who were tied up, their waists were all flashing red light.
It was explosives. The rebels were extremely cruel. If they used their mental power to forcibly destroy the weapons and explosives, it would likely detonate them indirectly. Xu Lingzhao had to come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides. She chose mental control, and her mental power flew towards the target group like an arrow on a bowstring. Golden light flashed in her eyes.
Chu Jing lowered his head, just like everyone else, bound here like a lamb to the slaughter, with a time bomb strapped to his waist. He hadn't expected the rebels to have infiltrated so deeply, but by the time he realized something was wrong and sent a message, the first group had already entered the arena. Fortunately, even though the others retreated, Xu Lingzhao was the first person in the first group to enter.
Her fate is now unknown, and he is imprisoned. The rebels have put collars on everyone to suppress their mental power, and when he tried to send a message out, he was discovered and knocked unconscious. And... he looked at his thigh... the wound had scabbed over. Now, this place is completely cut off from the outside world, and even satellite signals have been blocked.
Perhaps he would die in this desert. He licked his dry, bleeding lips and glanced at the students of Sandhurst. Every face was ashen. The rebels continued to capture students until one person appeared and broke the deadlock.
After Xu Lingzhao used her mental power to control the rebels, almost simultaneously, they collapsed to the ground, their bodies convulsing and emitting painful cries. Xu Lingzhao emerged from the shadows, the golden light in her eyes fading, leaving only golden pupils. With a slight flick of her fingers, she inflicted unbearable pain on them, leaving them no chance to resist. She lifted one of the rebels with one hand, her sharp eyes staring directly at her.
Her mental power directly impacted the other person's mental sea, and two streams of bloody tears flowed from the eyes of the person being held. Xu Lingzhao's lips moved slightly: "How do we deactivate the explosives?"
"Five passwords are required..."
Who knows the password?
He pointed at two people, blood dripping from his mouth: "There are still three people who haven't returned."
When will you be back?
About half an hour later.
Xu Lingzhao put him down and controlled the rebel army's normal operations. Her gaze swept over the bound military academy students, and she made a "shh" gesture. Her gaze passed through the crowd and met Chu Jingze's. She paused for a few seconds before looking away and disappearing back into the darkness.
Half an hour later.
"Boss, what's the point of us kidnapping these students?" The man called "boss" glanced at him, continued puffing on his cigar, and said casually, "They're all high-class people, of course we'll extort some money from them and then blow them up."
Upon hearing this, inhuman laughter echoed through the desert from the ranks: "I think some of the Omegas are really young, how about we..." Before he could finish speaking, the newly arrived rebel soldier collapsed to the ground in agony, foaming at the mouth and convulsing.
Xu Lingzhao directly used his mental power to break through their mental seas of consciousness, and picked up the person called the leader from the ground: "Password."
She controlled them mentally, forcing them to tell the truth. Only after all five codes were solved did Xu Lingzhao approach the bound military academy students. She counted them; including those who had just been bound, there were a total of 87 people.
Seeing this, Ling Qianzhu ran to Xu Lingzhao with bags and packages. Xu Lingzhao saw that she was lively and energetic, so she told her the five codes and they started to decrypt the explosive pack together.
Xu Lingzhao's appearance was like a savior to these military academy students. They broke free of their shackles and shattered the collars that bound their mental power. Everyone's face showed gratitude to Xu Lingzhao. At this moment, she had become their pillar of support.
She knelt down in front of Chu Jingze, untied the explosives binding him, and cut the ropes and collar binding him. The whole process was extremely gentle, and neither of them spoke until Xu Lingzhao looked up and met Chu Jingze's reddened eyes. Warm tears dripped onto the back of her hand. She wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes, but the more she wiped, the more tears appeared.
Xu Lingzhao paused for a moment, then stopped suppressing her emotions. She opened her arms and hugged him, gently patting his back with her well-defined knuckles, and softly coaxed, "Don't cry, I'm fine." Her chin brushed against the top of his fluffy hair, and a bloody smell lingered in her nose. His gaze lingered on his thigh: "You're injured."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Lingzhao bent down, put one hand under his knees and the other around his back, and easily lifted him up in her arms. She saw Chu Jingze's ears, which were so red they were almost bleeding, but he did not resist. He subconsciously wrapped his arms around her neck, and Chu Jingze could hear her strong heartbeat, which pounded in his heart like a drumbeat.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, she carried Chu Jingze into an empty tent and gently put her down, saying, "Wait for me, I'll go find some medicine."
She stepped out of the tent, and many military academy students surrounded her. She quickly arranged for people to take stock of the supplies. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the signal flares. Xu Lingzhao called Lu Qianxue over and asked her and several military academy students to fire all the signal flares so that the hidden military academy students could meet up with her as soon as possible.
The rebel camp had been occupied by military cadets, and soon food, water, and tents were all neatly sorted and placed.
Xu Lingzhao used her mental power to control the rebels. As she picked up the medicine and food and walked towards the tent, she heard many of the rebels' cries of pain. Now the situation had turned around, and they had become prisoners. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ling Qianzhu kicking the rebels violently... She did not stop her. Instead, she released her mental power to keep watch around the camp.
This was her first direct confrontation with the rebels, but their methods went far beyond that.
A note from the author:
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Hehe, still four hours! My other book was also published today. Typing is so tiring, I'm going to get some sleep like a baby right away! [rainbow fart]
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