NOVEL NEXT Chapter 248 - Trench
“Alright, we’ve rested enough. Time to get to work.”
The warm and harmonious atmosphere instantly evaporated, as if it had transformed into a surge of power.
Jiang Hui voiced an idea that had been lingering in her mind, and surprisingly, it was met with strong approval from the others.
Everyone was on board with the plan and was eager to get started without any hesitation.
It had only been seven star minutes since they entered L11. They would need at least 45 star minutes to fully charge their energy, and there was still an hour and five minutes left before the current round of supply and charging would end…
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“Finally, something somewhat decent,” Min Hao said, a hint of satisfaction appearing on his face.
He had originally thought that by the end of the competition, he might not find a single commanding student who met his expectations.
Although Huan Xian performed well, this frustrating guy, as a student from the Command Department, actually handed over the command to a Combat Specialist student, which was enough to make anyone frustrated.
What was even more frustrating was how such a promising candidate ended up in the Combat Specialist Department instead of the Command Department—truly infuriating.
Fortunately, there was still a decent candidate in Lin Maowu, who, with his relatively quick-thinking mind, managed to turn things around and rise to fourth place, redeeming the shame of not having any commanders in the top ten. If he continues to perform exceptionally in the next rounds, the top three might not be out of reach.
“Xiao Min, don’t get too excited just yet. Lin Maowu’s team is so close to that little troublemaker in your class, they might end up facing off. If that happens, you’re definitely going to lose one of your top ten spots.”
“…He has a name, could you please stop joking about him like that?” Min Hao said.
“Huan Xian’s mind is clearly not on the competition,” he sighed.
The command authority would have been fine, but in such a simple competition, the room for command to make a real impact is limited. The person who took over the command was competent and, compared to Huan Xian, had much more cohesion.
However, Min Hao could also tell that Huan Xian wasn’t really focused on the competition. In the early stages, he had been slacking off, and it wasn’t until he met Jiang Hui that things started to improve, and he seemed to take things a bit more seriously. But with his abilities, it was impossible for him to only be in eighth place…
That troublemaker was more interested in his teammates than in the competition itself. He was being utterly reckless. Unfortunately, Min Hao had no effective way to teach him a lesson and couldn’t afford to make waves with the people behind him. It made dealing with him all the more frustrating.
Thinking about this, Min Hao’s mood, which had lifted with Lin Maowu’s performance, suddenly sank again.
“So, what do you think… if Lin Maowu and Huan Xian face off, who do you think is stronger?” Captain Nordby asked, somewhat curious.
“Well…” Lieutenant Min Hao sighed as he looked at the R186 team, which was rotating on the screen. “I don’t think Lin Maowu would choose this time to attack the R186 team.” Or rather… as long as Lin Maowu’s mind is clear, it’s unlikely that he would choose to clash with Huan Xian.
At Beska Intermediate Academy, few people knew better than the members of Class 2 just how exceptional that person’s abilities were. It was a strength that surpassed the limits of ordinary humans, a power that humans should not possess—an existence considered to be “anomalous.”
And this was exactly why the rest of Class 2 couldn’t accept him.
Having such a person as a student was truly a love-hate situation.
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“They’re all focused on how to surround and eliminate them, or planning for their own future developments. But when it comes to them, it’s different… they’re even talking about feelings,” Instructor Tan couldn’t help but laugh at the situation.
According to Jiang Hui, this was merely a small internal competition. And this competition, not only were the rules and conditions quite rough, but the players’ results weren’t even linked together. Therefore, if one were to talk about collective honor, it really would feel too abstract.
In the training field, many teams, in order to secure the advantage of three stays, even lowered their standards for selecting members, or directly skipped the crucial phase of team coordination. Of course, there were also many teams that chose members they were familiar with from the start, which led to teams with uneven skill levels and a lack of cohesion.
As a result, there were quite a few jokes, all of which would be recorded in the case files of each class and would become reference materials for these kids’ training for a long time after the competition ends.
However, even in such a tense and rushed environment, there are still some exceptions, such as the R186 team.
These kids truly deserve to be called sincere.
In a competition that lasted only thirty-six star hours, their approach to team formation was more serious than anyone else’s. In a short period of time, they observed, tested, adapted, and developed mutual understanding… The level of teamwork they displayed was comparable to that of comrades who had fought side by side in actual combat.
The cohesion of their team was incredibly strong.
“What are these kids… preparing for?” Captain Lin Qi, who had moved his attention away from his own group of students, which were a bit too worry-free, looked curiously at the screen showing the R186 team.
At this point, many of the remaining teams in the competition had been eliminated. The densely packed small broadcast screens from earlier had been enlarged, and the intervals between the shots had grown longer.
Of course, the most frequently shown scenes on the central large screen were still the exciting moments from each team. After all, people were more interested in seeing the abilities or intellectual battles of the strong teams, rather than watching a team quietly “enjoying peace.” Therefore, the teams that performed well naturally received more airtime, as that was what the audience in the arena wanted to see.
The large screen in the center displayed the current movements of the R186 team. After chatting for a bit, the team members, almost as if they had agreed on it, began to move methodically within the energy point, and it wasn’t just some small movements.
Watching the stronger team members, Huan Xian and Xierman, focus on digging with tools, while Jiang Hui, Zhou Xiuwen, and Clarens were busy with what seemed to be some sort of rubber-like material, the instructors present were all somewhat puzzled.
What are they doing? Could they be trying to dig traps for later teams at the energy point?
“Shari, do you know what that kid meant by ‘trench’?” Zap asked, confused, turning to an old acquaintance beside him.
The instructor of Class Seven, Shari Fang, shook her head. “Didn’t the kid just say she wanted to make an earth-digging tool as a cover?”
“I heard that…” Zap replied, somewhat helpless. “What I mean is, what exactly is this thing? It doesn’t seem like something an ordinary girl who’s never been through combat could come up with.”
No matter their military rank, most of them had participated in formal battles, so they could usually understand the purpose of such things easily. Once Jiang Hui mentioned it, they already had a general idea of what she was digging for and its function.
But a teenager, even if she might have some understanding of war due to her family background, it was unlikely for her to come up with something so practical and closely related to real battlefield scenarios out of thin air.
“Trench,” Stark replied in a deep voice from a distance, “was a type of auxiliary combat tool popular during the Old Human Era on the home planet. It involved digging trenches to avoid and protect against bullet and shrapnel attacks. However, with the advancement of technology and the drastic changes in the way interstellar wars are fought, this tactic has been obsolete for a long time.”
He looked at the group in the field, who were clumsily yet somewhat competently setting things up, and his gaze brightened slightly.