Chapter 42 - Drool?

The people in the monitoring room were shocked when they heard his statement. Charlotte was looking forward to the meeting now. She said, "Have them report here."

...

Yuu was still holding her head in pain when she heard his words. She was overwhelmed by the pain and surprise she sensed at this moment. This teenager not only did he defeat her, he even figured out that they were inside a simulation.

She wanted to cut open his head and check what his brain was like. However, at the moment she was feeling strong pain in her head and neck, this guy beheaded her. After a few minutes she calmed down, and with that, the simulation ended. Unlike Shi Lang, who takes half an hour to overcome the pain, she did it within a few minutes. This was the advantage of her higher star level.

...

Shi Lang opened his eyes and found himself under the sky. This was the place where he had come yesterday to train. He sat up in his chair and looked to the side, the instructor was covered with sweat, her breathing was still not calm. He stood up and came to her side. He wanted to ask her if she was fine when Yuu said, "We need to report to the camp master, let's go."

Shi Lang nodded and said, "Yes, Ma'am."

Then he saw Yuu standing up and walking out to report to Charlotte Knight. He followed her half a step behind her. The two people did not talk at all as they were walking back to the camp master's office.

Shi Lang did not have any certain sympathy with the instructor as she had decisively done the same thing to him a day before. It took them ten minutes to reach the camp master's office. This was the second the boy had come here. He did not know why he was called in here but he had his guard up and prepared a lot of strategies in his mind to catch whatever they throw at him.

Yuu stood in front of the door and knocked twice. A soft voice sounded, "Come in."

Yuu pushed open the door and took a step inside. She saluted the lady behind the table and asked, "What are your orders, Madam?"

Charlotte shook her head and said, "Call in Student Shi Lang. I want to ask him some things."

Yuu nodded and said, "Student Shi Lang, March In."

The door was pushed open and Shi Lang walked inside the office calmly with his back straight and shoulder taut. He saluted the lady in front of him with his right hand placed on his heart. He said, "Student Shi Lang reporting, Madam Camp master."

Charlotte nodded and said, "At ease."

Unlike the last time, she had her eyes set on the boy who stood in front of her. She said, "You have done good in the test today, congratulations."

Shi Lang retired with a courteous thank you and said nothing more. Charlotte asked, "I would like to ask you, how did you find out that you were inside a simulation?"

Shi Lang was surprised but since it was a senior asking him. He still came clear. He said, "I drool."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow and said, "Elaborate."

"I deliberately drool an amount of saliva on my pillow's corner. The dampness and the stain are always there. But when I woke up today it was not there. Secondly, when I climbed the stairs, by mistake I took a step slightly to the right. That spot was the pressure plate until you can remove and change the trap triggers daily, which has a very low possibility, it should have triggered. The final hint was when I beheaded the instructor, she did not bleed."

Charlotte stood up from her chair and clapped. She said, "Marvellous. You are very smart. I will give you that. However, did you behead your instructor just to check that?"

Shi Lang shook his head and calmly said, "Until the enemy is dead, the battle is still on. If it was a match where a referee was present I would not have killed her simulation but since there was no one and the day before she had stated that if, I did not try my best she will kill me. I did not hesitate."

He did not have a shred of remorse in his heart. Charlotte nodded and said, "Tell me how you defeated Yuu? The performance was really strong."

Shi Lang said, "I have studied all sorts of weapons available back in the academy. The spear was one of them. I have a slightly higher control on it too. Since yesterday she was training me inside the simulation I decided to study her movements and behavior to understand the enemy better too.

In a book you wrote, you mentioned, Knowing yourself makes you strong but knowing the enemy keeps you alive because strength is not invincible but the correct application of strength is."

Charlotte could not help but not when she heard this sentence. She sighed and said, "You did well. You can go out to explore the base. Tomorrow you will start with Carlos and learn what he has in store for you."

Shi Lang nodded and then after saluting the two people he walked out of the room. He did what he was commanded to, he was exploring, but he did not leave the camp facility. The camp facility was base for him and he began to carefully explore this whole place. The maze of pathways they used to take was all loaded with traps. So the boy used his ability to sense where were the triggers hidden.

...

The evening passed like that and he came to sleep on his bed in the night. The night was calm as well. When he woke up in the morning, he touched the corner of his pillow and smiled.

Then he got dressed and walked out of the room. He used the general passage to head to the mess and came to eat his breakfast. He had just served his food and was about to take a bite when he heard a voice, "Student Shi Lang, follow the blinking lights and report to Instructor Carlos."

The voice was mechanical and unfeeling. The boy stood up with a wry smile on his face and said, "So, hungry morning again." with that said, he began to follow the glowing lights inside the facility and came to where he found Carlos waiting for him.

The man smiled and said, "Are you ready for training with me?"

Shi Lang saluted him and said, "Yes, Sir. I am looking forward to this simulation as well."

Carlos chuckled and said, "Good kid, how did you know..."

His chuckle and words froze even before he could finish them.

...

Inside the monitoring room, Yuu asked, "How did he know?"

Charlotte said, "I cannot believe this kid outsmarted us."

John asked, "What you mean to say is that he deliberately led us in? This kid is capable of that?"

Charlotte said, "It will be possible only when he is interrogated about it. John, do not hold back"

John nodded and stood up, after a salute she left the room.

...

Carlos undid the simulation and got off the chair, Shi Lang was also gradually waking up but the next moment the instructor chopped at his neck, making him fall unconscious again. The assassin came over to the place after a few minutes and he held the boy from the back of his neck and dragged him to the interrogation room.

...

Shi Lang woke up and found himself sitting in a small dim-lit room. The boy tried to struggle and found that his legs and forearms were locked to the armrest and the legs of the chair. He had no room to move at all. The next thing that his brain registered was that he had no clothes. Yes, he was sitting naked in the chair.

He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. He heard a voice that seemed to be echoing in the room, "Do you think you outsmarted us, so we shall reward you or something?"

Shi Lang did not answer. He could not make out if the voice was a male or a female. This thing confused him a lot. A vague figure appeared in front of him, but due to dim light, Shi Lang could not make out who it was. The figure in front of him threw a good punch at his face.

The chair almost flipped, and this blow left Shi Lang with a deep cut on the inside of his lower lip, making him spit out some blood. The person asked him, "Tell me what did you do and I will let you go?"

However, Shi Lang did not say anything. The figure said, "Very Well." Then he started to punch him repeatedly. The boy was in pain, but it was still lower than being beheaded. So he only grunted and did not say anything at all.

The person beating him stopped and said, "Do you know that in face of raw strength, a good plan is as good as a window paper. Now, would you tell me what you did, or Should I continue?"

Shi Lang had a battered face. His nose was broken and his face was cut. His eyelids were swollen and his face was covered in his blood. The man had purposefully avoided hitting his jaw, if it broke then there was no chance for them to get anything out of him.

It seemed more like a prison than a training camp. The instructors brutalized him when he did something good. He said in a feeble voice, "I tell you..."

The person said, "Good, tell me what you did."

Shi Lang said, "I do not drool, I...."