CH 43.1

The administrator, however, ultimately didn’t go all out to forcefully prevent Si Di from participating in the live combat simulation, mainly because he thought this guy wouldn’t even bother with these greenhorns who haven’t even left school yet.

In the novel, Si Chu developed a psychological shadow due to Si Di’s death, refusing to form his own combat team. All through his student days, his aim was to become the vice-captain of the Storm Squad and fight side by side with his brother. Now having to build his own team, he was heavily avoiding it psychologically.

But later, after many experiences with Ye Feiran and encouragement from various sources, Si Chu gradually matured. With that and the encouragement, Si Chu finally made up his mind to inherit Si Di’s legacy and established his own Blaze Squad.

There was a two year gap; the students who hadn’t yet graduated already did, and a few had gained experience in the guild for a year. Everything fell into place perfectly; with the right people at the right time, many talents eagerly joined the team.

The world administrator, considering that Si Di and Si Chu’s situations were entirely different, thought Si Di wouldn’t wait for these students to graduate. New Storm Squad members would likely be chosen from the guild and society.

As for Xiao Zhenyun, he couldn’t care less about all this. His biggest goal right now was to take advantage of his position in the publicity team, snap some photos of Si Chu, and enrich the fourth wall of the basement.

Abusing his position, using union resources for his own personal gain, secretly filming his crush under the noses of his colleagues, fits Xiao Zhenyun’s perverted character in the original text; the original story should definitely give him extra points for that.

This joint combat simulation involved not just special individuals but also elite students from various military schools. There are tens of thousands of ordinary people, while the special individuals were merely a hundred. This ratio reflects the real battlefield scenario well. There were only a minority of special individuals in each team, but their significance can’t be underestimated.

Previous military exercises were typically divided into two camps, red versus blue, determining the winner. But this time, after the leaders of the guild unions sat down for a chat, they had a sudden brainwave. They split into four camps—north, south, east, and west. Adding the examiners, a group of ‘outlaw gangsters’ mingling among them, involving all five major powers, made this exercise even more complex and unpredictable.

This year’s exercise is a point-based match. Ways to earn points include defeating opponents from rival camps, collecting scattered items worth points, and completing tasks in the test areas. There are also numerous cooperative tasks between different camps that yield substantial points, requiring alliances in addition to combat.

The special individual examiners can’t actively eliminate candidates, but they can seize point-earning items and disrupt task progress. They act as a third force, also known as the troublemakers, being formidable. Whichever side encounters them is in for trouble.

Xiao Zhenyun had a perfect plan; he got hold of a monitoring terminal that tracks all examiner movements and a separate office area in the camp. He even downloaded the pseudonyms of all examiners from the internal group files, found Si Chu’s number, locked the camera on him, and took as many shots as he pleased. He even suspected whether ‘Xiao Zhenyun’ from the original story actually did these things.

Soon enough, the diligent monitoring drone displayed a locked-on target. The image transitioned from afar to close-up, becoming clearer. Xiao Zhenyun, laying in his wheelchair, holding a cup of supposedly traditional medicine-labeled hot chocolate, took a sip, looked up, and saw a jungle. He scrutinized for a while before finding Si Chu camouflaged in the fallen leaves, crawling on the ground, hidden, waiting to ambush innocent candidates passing nearby.

Because of the deep cover, Xiao Zhenyun couldn’t get a decent angle even after searching for a long time. Eventually, he could only take several overhead shots of Si Chu on the ground. When he sent these to Xiao Nian, Xiao Zhenyun knew they were a bit lousy. So, he circled Si Chu with a red pen in the photos, indicating the person here.

Xiao Nian: …

Xiao Nian: Do you hate him a lot?

Xiao Zhenyun: …

Xiao Zhenyun: I’ve been waiting for him for a long time. God knows how this little dog has so much patience, just to lie in wait for a few lucky candidates. He’s been here for over an hour without moving at all.

Xiao Nian: Oh, in this section, it says in the original that he lay there for over three hours, you can do something else…

“…” 

Xiao Zhenyun silently summoned another floating screen, scrolled through the examiners’ roster, entered Si Di’s number, and once again, it was a waiting game for the search. Xiao Zhenyun wheeled away to wash his cup and get some hot water. Shortly after, he returned to his spot and, looking up, saw a familiar jungle. He strained his eyes to find, in the middle, a dark muzzle of a gun.

Following the sniper rifle concealed with leaves, he successfully located a face, also camouflaged. Si Di and Si Chu, true to being brothers, lay in ambush in the pile of fallen leaves, aiming with their guns, patiently waiting for their ‘prey’ to approach for what seemed like hours, unmoving.

One might say that Si Chu’s ambush techniques were very likely taught by Si Di. Moreover, Si Di’s distinct silver hair made him an obvious target. Wearing a cap and to avoid triggering sentinels during combat, he took precautionary measures, once again donning the dark alloy mouthguard, fully sealed except for breathing holes, and adorned with colorful patterns. Were it not for his distinctive turquoise eyes, Xiao Zhenyun wouldn’t have recognized him.

Xiao Zhenyun couldn’t help but find the scene a bit comical. There were two floating screens on the left and right in front of him, both displaying the same content: a landscape filled entirely with greenery.

But Si Di’s timing was shrewd. Just as he was thinking whether this ‘wolf brother’ might also be keeping watch here for three hours, a unique suppressed gunshot suddenly echoed. Xiao Zhenyun dismissed the thought that ‘watching floating tea leaves in a cup was better than staring at these two old sneaky canines’ when he saw Si Di swiftly remove his camouflage, slide down the slope with a sniper rifle strapped on his back, skillfully rolling to the side, landing silently and swiftly beside the person he had hit.

The target was hit by a tranquilizer dart, forced to watch as Si Di frisked him, fuming but unable to stop him, resembling an enraged, puffed-up frog. Throughout, Si Di performed no unnecessary movements, systematically searching, relying on rich experience to find hiding places for possible items. Indeed, within moments, he retrieved a coin from a crevice.

The gold coin twirled between his fingers. Si Di, with a cold look, pocketed it, leaving a sentence: ‘The tranquilizer effect wears off in five minutes.’ Swiftly, he departed the scene.

The points are divided into gold coins, silver coins, and bronze coins, with gold being the rarest and most valuable, worth a solid 50 points. The candidate on the ground was likely seething. The only comfort would be that at least it was an examiner who confiscated it, not an opposing faction. At least he didn’t give extra points to the enemy…

Still, it’s infuriating!

Xiao Zhenyun took a malicious delight in watching the candidate’s changing expressions, then directed the monitor to follow Si Di.

The next moment, he witnessed the silver-haired sentinel wandering through the woods, seemingly sensing something, lifting his head, meeting Xiao Zhenyun’s gaze behind the camera. Even the most skilled Si Di couldn’t possibly discern who was behind the monitor, just turning to confirm that whatever made the noise was harmless. Xiao Zhenyun even felt a moment when the other party contemplated an indiscriminate attack, even considering ‘shooting down’ the surveillance drone.

Honestly, Xiao Zhenyun was rather looking forward to Si Di shooting the monitor. But contrary to that expectation, the silver-haired sentinel, after a few seconds of contemplation, slowly halted, pulling out a flash bomb from behind his waist, its pull ring decorated with a small animal charm.

— It was the hidden figurine Xiao Zhenyun had drawn.

Though he had intended to give it to Si Di, amidst the chaos, he forgot, meaning Si Di took it away secretly when he wasn’t paying attention. Taking without asking is considered stealing!

Xiao Zhenyun held his chin with one hand, chuckling as he watched Si Di raise the flash bomb at the monitoring drone, then, with a swift move, vanished into the depths of the woods.

…Subsequently, due to suspected cheating behaviors, Xiao Zhenyun’s monitoring screen was temporarily blocked by the inspection team. The dignified vice chairman had to accept their strict and impartial half-hour inspection, finally regaining the right to view the monitoring.

During lunch, struck by a whimsical thought, Xiao Zhenyun asked the union director if Si Di, when he was a student inside the Tower, had ever destroyed monitors during joint military exercises.

“Yes,” the director recalled the past with a nostalgic look. “Although Si Di usually appears gentle and polite in dealing with others…”

Xiao Zhenyun: “?” Who are you talking about?

“But as soon as he arrives on the battlefield, it’s as if he transforms into a different person. Instructors of his batch used to say, ‘A wolf is indeed a wolf.’ No matter how mild he might appear in everyday life, once he smells blood, he’s still a ferocious wolf.”

Xiao Zhenyun: “…”

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