Chapter 50
Chapter 50: Who Has a Dad as Cruel as the Cub’s? He Wasn’t Trying to Hit the Cub’s Mom—He Wanted to Hit Everyone
The thirty Legion Commanders never questioned an order from their Commander-in-Chief. They carried it out—no excuses, no hesitation.
“Order received, Commander-in-Chief!”
Chong Ming cut the channel. He leaned back in his command chair, tapping the armrest in a slow, silent rhythm, golden eyes fixed on the massive screen.
On the projection, Jiang Tea Tea and her squad threaded through the forest under the cover of a signal jammer, certain they’d cut off real-time surveillance.
All eight rode land skimmers between the trees, slipping past other cadets and instructor teams with sharp, predatory precision. Victory sat bright on their faces.
Chong Ming watched for a moment. A cold glint passed through his gaze.
“Minister Cai.”
Cai Xi Chao appeared at once. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”
Chong Ming tapped the screen twice. The display switched to footage of thirty Legion Commanders cheerfully picking recruits and equipment.
His voice stayed flat and icy. “Cut off the pursuit signal the thirty Legion Commanders are using to chase the Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies Squad. Block their authority to locate any cadet signals. Leave only their shared frequency active—the one linking all 330 of them.”
Cai Xi Chao worked her lightbrain tablet as she asked, “Commander-in-Chief, if we cut off their pursuit signal… on a planet this big, finding eight people is like finding a needle in the ocean. Can they still find Jiang Tea Tea and the others?”
Chong Ming’s mouth curved, barely. His golden eyes were pure frost.
“Sending thirty Legion Commanders with three hundred elites to blast eight first-year cadets is already bullying the weak and outnumbered.”
“If I also hand them signal tracking so they can chase with a clear target… one, it’s too easy. Two, it’s too generous. Three, it’s bullying a child too hard.”
He leaned back, voice calm and cruel. “Who decided cats can hunt mice, but mice aren’t allowed to bite back?”
“Cut their pursuit signal. And while you’re at it, send them a message.”
“Their only target is the eight members of the Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies Squad. If other cadets or instructor teams attack them, they may only evade. They may not attack first, and they may not counterattack.”
“If they attack anyone else—whether proactively or in retaliation—deduct fifty points. Treat it as a failed pursuit-and-blast mission and remove them from Round One.”
“And tell them this: they are not allowed to farm points off cadets or instructor teams. But the 330 of them may kill each other to farm points. Vicious—and, in its own way, terrifyingly clean.”
“And one more thing.” Cai Xi Chao paused, waiting.
Chong Ming didn’t look away from the screen. “Send a message to the Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies Squad. Inform them the thirty Legion Commanders are bringing three hundred elites to surround and intercept them.”
“If they throw their flares and forfeit, their points will be wiped clean, leaving only the base hundred.”
“But if the eight of them kill more than ten Legion Commanders and more than fifty elites, they’re declared the winners. This month-long field training ends early, and they rest up for Round Two.”
“Also send them the signal locations of the thirty Legion Commanders and the three hundred elites. Tell them they can choose to actively hunt Legion Commanders—or use the tracking to dodge, hide, and lie low until the round ends.”
Cai Xi Chao answered crisply, “Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”
As expected of the Commander-in-Chief.
On the surface, it looked like he was sending thirty Legion Commanders and three hundred elites to surround and blast Jiang Tea Tea’s eight-person squad. In reality, he was forcing those 330 people into a mutual slaughter for points—while handing Jiang Tea Tea and her team the initiative and the choice.
Chong Ming’s smile deepened by a fraction.
“Final order. Send it to the instructor teams and any cadets who haven’t been eliminated. Tell them there are 330 big bosses mixed among them.”
“A big boss will not attack anyone, and will not counterattack. Kill one big boss and you earn fifty personal points; your team also gains fifty.”
“Refresh the locations of the 330 big bosses every hour, to make it convenient for them to surround and intercept.”
Cai Xi Chao didn’t hesitate. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”
If anyone excelled at ruthless, elegant scheming—turning people into bait and whipping an entire battlefield into a frenzy—it was Chong Ming.
The thirty Legion Commanders and their three hundred elites were practically glowing with smug delight. They truly believed that blasting Jiang Tea Tea’s eight little rookies would let them hold their heads high again in front of the Commander-in-Chief.
They had no idea they were the only ones who didn’t know the truth.
They had become prey, and a million-plus cadets and instructors had just been given permission to farm them.
Each Legion Commander selected their people, grabbed their gear, and prepared to disembark. Then a message arrived—from the Commander-in-Chief’s command flagship.
After reading it, they connected their lightbrains and saw it all: the signal locations of all 330 of them, their weapons and equipment, their ability ranks—every detail laid bare.
For years, the thirty Legion Commanders had been united against outsiders. But without an external enemy, they couldn’t stand each other. Half of them had dreamed of stomping the others flat and making them kneel and call them dad.
Now the Commander-in-Chief had handed them a legal, glorious excuse to do exactly that.
When they left the command ship and entered the Primeval Forest, the first thing they did wasn’t search for Jiang Tea Tea.
They went hunting each other.
The unspoken consensus was the same: kill the other Legion Commanders, take their points, then go blast Jiang Tea Tea afterward.
Meanwhile, the cadets and instructor teams received their own message from the command flagship—along with the hourly locations of the 330 big bosses.
For a cadet, farming an instructor was worth ten points.
Farming a big boss was worth fifty.
Of course they’d go for the bigger prize.
For the instructor teams, those 330 big bosses were a chance to rack up points and prove their strength. They’d farm the big bosses first, then farm students.
Jiang Tea Tea’s squad received their message at the same time. Their lightbrains buzzed in unison.
They stopped their land skimmers and opened the updates.
Huang Da Zhuang spoke first, practically vibrating. “Sister Tea! I got a message from the command flagship—my idol wants me to take down the thirty Legion Commanders!”
“Ahhh! I’m just a little puppy with no ability. How am I worthy of my idol valuing me like this? Believing in me like this?”
“Mom, Dad, Beast God—my ancestors must be on fire! My idol thinks so highly of me. I’m so excited, so happy!”
Cheng Xiao Ting smacked him on the head. “You’re a powerless dog already. Now you’re blind too? Read the whole message. It’s not telling you to take down thirty or forty Legion Commanders—it’s telling the entire squad to do it.”
Ju Que piled on with a disgusted snort. “And you, wolf—wipe those dog eyes clean. The message means Sister Tea is the main force leading us. We farm them for points and a record, then rest early and wait for the next round.”
Yan Yu’s mouth twitched. “Brothers, can we not get ahead of ourselves?”
“With our strength, you think we can wipe out 330 elites, including Legion Commanders? I don’t buy it.”
“I think our idol is telling us: stop struggling, stop running, and wait for the Legion Commanders to farm us.”
Zhang Ting Zhou and Cheng Lin Yue read the message without commenting. When they finally lifted their heads, they looked to Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu.
“Sister Tea. Captain,” Zhang Ting Zhou asked. “What do you think our idol means?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyelids lazily. “What does it mean? It means your idol wants us to run in the opposite direction of the 330 signal locations, find somewhere safe, and lie low until Round One ends in a month.”
Sui Xuan Chu gave her a thumbs-up. “Roommate, sharp take. Ten out of ten. I like it.”
Cheng Lin Yue hesitated. “Sister Tea, Brother Xuan Chu… based on what I know about the Commander-in-Chief, he’s domineering, confident, calm, and powerful. He likes to attack first. If he doesn’t have a chance, he creates one. His dictionary doesn’t contain the words ‘lie flat’ or ‘hide.’ Are you sure you’re not misunderstanding him?”
“I’m not,” Jiang Tea Tea said firmly. “Look at the message. It literally says: if you can’t win, you can lie flat. As long as you survive to the end, that’s a win.”
“And our points… add them up. We’ve got at least a hundred thousand, maybe two hundred thousand. That’s more than enough to lie low and take the Round One championship.”
For a moment, no one knew what to say.
It even sounded… reasonable.
If you had points, why risk your life? If you could lie down, why stand?
“Wait,” Sui Xuan Chu cut in. He opened their spoils and projected the instructor team’s lightbrain message onto a floating display. “Look. The instructors and other cadets got a different message than we did.”
Everyone leaned in. Jiang Tea Tea scanned it fast and whistled under her breath.
“It is different.”
“Our message includes real-time tracking for thirty Legion Commanders and three hundred elites. If we farm more than ten Legion Commanders and more than fifty elites, we win.”
“The instructors and cadets got: farm 330 big bosses. Those big bosses can’t attack them either way, and the big boss locations only refresh once per hour.”
She looked up, excitement snapping bright in her eyes. “Which means…”
“Which means,” Sui Xuan Chu finished, nodding hard, “we just disguise ourselves as other cadets or as an instructor team. Paint our faces, switch uniforms, and we can farm the thirty Legion Commanders and their three hundred elites.”
“We’re different from everyone else. They only get the big boss locations once an hour. We get real-time updates.”
“And we already have instructor lightbrains and instructor uniforms. If we do it right, it’ll be us hitting them—and they won’t be allowed to hit back. Not even in self-defense.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others’ eyes lit up like lanterns. Ideas started flying.
“To be safe, we should grab a few extra cadet uniforms from other schools and swap outfits.”
“Right. We split into two teams—one wearing instructor uniforms, one wearing cadet uniforms. We blend into other cadet groups or instructor groups.”
“We hype them up, send them charging first—and we follow behind and pick up the leftovers!”