Chapter 50
Chapter 50: Who Else Has a Dad As Bad As This Little Brat’s? He Is Not Going After the Little Brat’s Mom, He Is Going After Everyone
The thirty Army Corps commanders obeyed any order from their own Commander in Chief without question and carried it out without conditions: “Roger, Commander in Chief!”
Chong Ming cut off the conversation with them. His fingers tapped soundlessly on the armrest of the command chair. His golden eyes stared at the giant screen in front of him. On it, Jiang Tea Tea and her group were using a signal shielding device, thinking they had blocked the real-time surveillance system.
The eight of them stood on ground hover sleds, slipping through the forest. They sharply avoided other military academy students and the drill instructor teams. Every face was full of bright, victorious smiles.
Chong Ming watched them for a moment. His golden eyes flashed. He called in a deep voice: “Minister Cai.”
Cai Xi Chao answered at once: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
Chong Ming tapped the screen in front of him twice. On the screen, thirty Army Corps commanders appeared, excited as they picked people and equipment.
He spoke with a cold voice as he gave his order: “Cut off the tracking signals that let the thirty Army Corps commanders chase the members of the ‘Kill the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ squad. Block their authority to locate any military academy students by signal. Only keep the shared frequency link for their own 330 people.”
Cai Xi Chao’s hands flew as she operated the light-brain wrist terminal, cutting off signals while she asked: “Commander in Chief, if we cut their tracking signals, on such a huge planet, finding eight people will be like looking for a needle in the ocean. Can they still find Jiang Tea Tea and the others?”
The corner of Chong Ming’s mouth lifted. His golden eyes were ice-cold: “Letting thirty Army Corps commanders lead 300 elite troopers to go blow up eight first-year military academy students is already strong bullying weak, big bullying small, many bullying few.”
“On top of that, if we hand them a signal locator and let them chase with a clear target, one, there is no challenge. Two, it is too cheap for them. Three, it bullies the children too much.”
“So, who said cats are allowed to catch mice, but mice are not allowed to bite cats? Cut off their chase signals, and send them a message while you are at it.”
“Tell them: their only target is to chase and blow up the eight members of the ‘Kill the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ squad. As for other military academy students and drill instructor teams, they can only dodge. They cannot attack first, and they cannot fight back.”
“If they attack any other military academy students or drill instructor teams, whether they start it or are forced into it, they will be docked 50 points. It will count as a failed chase. They will be treated as eliminated from the first round of the Supremacy Tournament.”
“And tell them they are not allowed to farm points off military academy students and drill instructor teams. But their 330 people can fight and farm points off each other.”
This move from the Commander in Chief was ruthless.
This move was cool.
“Yes, Commander in Chief!” Cai Xi Chao’s fingers flew over the keyboard. In a blink, she cut off the chase signals of the Army Corps commanders, linking only the shared frequency link for their 330 people. She also sent out the Commander in Chief’s message, word for word.
“And one more thing.” The corner of Chong Ming’s eye saw Cai Xi Chao pause, so he went on giving orders: “Send a message to the members of the ‘Kill the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ squad. Tell them that the thirty Army Corps commanders are bringing 300 elite troopers to surround and block them. If they use a forfeit grenade and give up, all the points they have earned so far will be cleared, but they will keep a base of 100 points.”
“But as long as the eight of them take out more than ten Army Corps commanders and more than fifty elite troopers, it will count as their win. They can end this month-long field training early and rest until the second round of the Supremacy Tournament.”
“At the same time, send them the signal locations of the thirty Army Corps commanders and the 300 elite troopers. Tell them they can hunt the Army Corps commanders on purpose, or they can use the signal locations to avoid them and run away, lying low until this round of field training ends.”
Cai Xi Chao answered: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
He really was worthy of being the Commander in Chief. On the surface, it looked like he was letting thirty Army Corps commanders bring 300 men to surround, block, and blow up Jiang Tea Tea’s group. In truth, he was making those 330 people fight each other for points, while handing the initiative and the right to choose back to Jiang Tea Tea and her friends.
The curve at the corner of Chong Ming’s mouth deepened: “Final order. Send a message to the drill instructor teams and to all military academy students who have not been eliminated. Tell them that among them, 330 big bosses are mixed in.”
“The traits of a big boss: they do not attack others first, and they do not fight back when attacked. If you kill a big boss, you gain 50 personal points, and your squad gains 50 squad points.”
“Refresh the locations of the 330 big bosses every hour to make it easy for them to surround and block them.”
Cai Xi Chao answered: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
When it came to being cunning, scheming, and black-hearted, one Commander in Chief was enough to work like a whole donkey hauling a millstone. When it came to making a chaotic battle, you still had to look at the Commander in Chief.
The thirty Army Corps commanders, with their 300 elite troopers, were happily thinking that if they blew up Jiang Tea Tea and the other eight little rookies, they could finally hold their heads high and puff out their chests in front of the Commander in Chief.
They never thought that they were the only ones who did not know that they themselves had become the dish on the table, the targets for more than a million military academy students and drill instructor teams to farm points off.
Each commander had finished picking their people and taking their gear. They were about to leave the command ship when they received a message from the Commander in Chief’s flagship.
After they read it, they checked the light-brain wrist terminal network. They saw the signal locations of all 330 of them, plus detailed data like their weapons, gear, supernatural abilities, and ability levels.
The thirty Army Corps commanders were always united when there was work to do, and always at odds when there was not. When they had nothing to do, they kept finding each other an eyesore, wanting to beat the other to the ground and make him kneel and call them Dad.
Now the Commander in Chief had given them a fair and open chance to beat each other to death. When they left the command ship and entered the primeval forest, the first thing they did was not to look for Jiang Tea Tea and the others. It was to look for other Army Corps commanders to fight.
They all thought the same way: first beat each other to death, take each other’s points, make those points their own, and then go blow up Jiang Tea Tea and her group.
The military academy students and drill instructor teams also received messages from the flagship, along with the real-time locations of the 330 big bosses.
For military academy students, beating a drill instructor was worth only ten points. Beating a big boss was worth fifty. Of course they wanted to go big and farm points off big bosses.
For the drill instructor teams, the flagship sending down 330 big bosses was not only a good chance to farm points, but also a good chance to show their strength. Of course they would first farm the big bosses, then farm the students!
Jiang Tea Tea and the others all felt the vibration from their light-brain wrist terminals and stopped their ground hover sleds. Each of them opened the light-brain wrist terminal to look.
Huang Da Zhuang spoke first, excited: “Sister Tea, I just got a message from the heartthrob idol on the flagship. He hopes I will beat the thirty Army Corps commanders.”
“Ahhh, I am just a little dog with no supernatural abilities. How do I deserve to be valued so much by my idol, by my heartthrob idol? How can he look up to me like this?”
“Mother, Dad, Beast God, our family’s ancestral grave must be smoking. I am so excited and happy that my heartthrob idol, my idol, thinks so highly of me!”
Cheng Xiao Ting smacked him on the head: “You stupid dog, it is bad enough you do not have supernatural abilities. You are blind on top of that. Read the message all the way through. It is not asking you alone to beat the thirty Army Corps commanders. It is asking our whole squad to do it.”
Orange Sparrow followed up, looking down on Cheng Xiao Ting: “You dumb wolf, rub your dog eyes clean. The message means Sister Tea will be the main force leading us to attack the thirty Army Corps commanders. We will use them to farm points and farm our records. When we are done, we get to rest early and wait for the next round.”
Yan Yu’s mouth twitched at the side: “Brothers, can we stop flattering ourselves? With our strength, being able to blow up all thirty Army Corps commanders and their 300 elite troopers, I do not believe it.”
“I think the heartthrob idol, our idol, is telling us not to struggle, not to run, and to just wait here for the Army Corps commanders to farm us.”
Zhang Ting Zhou and Cheng Lin Yue read the message and did not say anything. They both looked at Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu and asked: “Sister Tea, Captain, what do you think our idol, our heartthrob idol, means?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyelids: “What do I think? I think your idol, your heartthrob idol, is telling us to run in the opposite direction from the 330 signal locations, find a safe place, and lie low until the first round of the Supremacy Tournament ends after one month.”
Sui Xuan Chu stuck his thumb up: “Roommate, sharp insight. I give you a like. Awesome.”
Cheng Lin Yue let out a soft “ah” and said in a weak voice: “Sister Tea, Brother Xuan Chu, from what I know about the Commander in Chief, he is domineering, confident, calm, and strong. He always likes to attack first. If he has no chance, he makes a chance. The words ‘lie flat’ and ‘hide’ do not exist in his life. Are you sure you are not misunderstanding him?”
Jiang Tea Tea insisted: “I am not misunderstanding him. Look at the message he sent. Does it not say right there that if we cannot beat them, we can lie flat? As long as we can hide until the end, it still counts as a win.”
“I am thinking about our points. All together, if we do not have two hundred thousand, we at least have one hundred thousand. With that many points, it is more than enough for us to hide until the end and win the first round of field training.”
For a moment, Cheng Lin Yue and the others were speechless. They even felt she made some sense. If you already had points, why risk your life? If you could lie down, why stand up?
“Wait.” Sui Xuan Chu suddenly spoke. He opened the spoils of war they had gained, then called up a holo projection screen from a drill instructor’s light-brain wrist terminal: “Look, the messages the drill instructor teams and the other military academy students got are not the same as ours.”
Jiang Tea Tea and the others looked at the holo projection screen. Their eyes moved fast over the text: “Oh wow, it is different. Our message has the real-time locations of the thirty Army Corps commanders and 300 elite troopers. As long as we blow up more than ten Army Corps commanders and more than fifty elite troopers, we win.”
“The drill instructor teams and the military academy students got a message about farming 330 big bosses. These 330 big bosses cannot attack them, and they cannot fight back. The locations of the big bosses refresh every hour.”
“In other words…”
“In other words,” Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes lit up as she picked up the thought, “we only need to disguise ourselves as other military academy students or as drill instructor teams, paint our faces all over with war paint, and we can go farm points off the thirty Army Corps commanders and their 300 elite troopers.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded hard: “Right. We are not like the other military academy students and drill instructor teams. Their locations only refresh every hour. We get real-time updates of their locations.”
“The drill instructor teams’ light-brain wrist terminals, the drill instructor uniforms, all these spoils of war, we already have them. As long as we disguise ourselves well, we will be the only ones who can hit them. They cannot attack us first or fight back against us.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others listened with their eyes shining. They each started giving ideas: “To be safe, we should go grab a few uniforms from other military academy students and change into those too.”
“Right, grab a few military academy uniforms. Our eight personal points split into two teams. One team wears drill instructor uniforms. One team wears military academy uniforms. We mix into the other military academy students or drill instructor teams. We organize more military academy students and drill instructor teams and push them to be the vanguard. We follow behind and pick up all the spoils!”