Chapter 112
No, thank you.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Blumer refused the request.
Turning his gaze away from the direction Qin Su had left, Blumer turned to face the group standing behind him, his expression calm:
"Qin Su could have done everything himself from the beginning, but in every real battle, he made his men experience everything they were supposed to experience, allowing them to gain their own experience from the necessary training. This is also something we should experience ourselves."
He initially shared the same thought as everyone else, but after thinking about it, he ultimately remained silent.
As Commander himself, he didn't know if the 1st Brigade suffered any casualties in this battle, or how many insects Qin Su killed... Judging from the situation just now, it was estimated that, like the previous two battles, there was a clear gap in the top 1.
He was well aware of his shortcomings in many areas, and judging from what he had just seen, the 1st Brigade had finished nearly three days ahead of schedule, and the students did not appear disheveled.
From Qin Su to the weakest member of the 1st Brigade, everyone appeared relaxed. There was no doubt that the 1st Brigade, under Qin Su's leadership, was stronger than the Unit 2 as a whole.
It's one thing that the people in the 1st Brigade are weaker, but they've also developed a dependency on Qin Su, which is not a good thing.
He didn't know how Qin Su treated the 1st Brigade, he only knew that from his own perspective, if he asked Qin Su's team for help this time, and later, when members of the Unit 2 were about to die, they would subconsciously wait for Qin Su, he would be harming people.
No one in the Unit 2 spoke, and many members wore unhappy expressions.
In the somber atmosphere, Blumer said, "Now that we've finished watching, it's time to go back to our own business. Everyone, go home."
As Blumer finished speaking, a series of "Received" responses, each carrying a different emotion, rang out. The Unit 2 had no choice but to return to the place below, a place they still found repulsive even after so many days.
After the students left, Blumer thought for a moment and used the authority that only the two Commanders had to scan the area cleaned by the 1st Brigade.
Soon, Blumer saw that apart from the area where they had just witnessed the bodies of those who had exploded due to Qin Su's Pheromones, where not a single live insect could be detected, the remaining areas belonging to 1st Brigade's cleanup area still had some residual tiny insects.
It must have been during the Purge campaign that those insects hid in Deep Pool pools or underground, which allowed them to escape unscathed—this is normal... wait, does this mean he misunderstood from the start?
Comparing the cleanliness of the areas cleaned by 1st Brigade, Qin Su...
It's highly likely that he hadn't used Pheromones at all until just now, and only then did he personally use his overwhelmingly powerful Pheromones to instantly kill the remaining Triangular Area?!
Blumer: "..."
That should be correct.
In other words, the first four days were specifically reserved by Qin Su for the 1st Brigade to train.
Watching the Triangular Area collapse and shatter, unlike any other place, it was completely smashed into a fragment, as if a place where towering trees had never grown before. Blumer took a deep breath, turned around, and quickly maneuvered the Warship to descend, once again feeling grateful that he had made the right decision.
Even though the overall strength of the 1st Brigade was higher than that of the Unit 2, Qin Su still gave them more than four days of training. The Unit 2, being weaker, needed even more practice to accumulate experience.
--
Back at the Jump Point Platform, Qin Su felt as if countless different forces were flowing through his body, making him feel both depressed and irritable, his emotions conflicted.
Dissatisfied with everything he saw, he didn't want to endure it for another second. Controlling his emotions, he calmly announced the dismissal and the time for tomorrow's regrouping. Without lingering in everyone's sight, he strode back to his own Rest Pod.
The hatch closed, cutting off all prying eyes. Qin Su shed his feigned calm, feeling utterly hopeless and numb with pain, like a walking corpse. He forced himself to wash himself clean, changed into clean clothes, and then lay down in the Hibernation Pod.
After setting the sleep time, Qin Su placed the metal plate inside the brain-controlled Hibernation Pod onto the side of his forehead.
It doesn't matter if it hurts, just let the Hibernation Pod 'stun' him with an electric shock, and he'll be done with it in a blink of an eye.
As the cool touch came, Qin Su completely emptied his mind, allowing the Hibernation Pod to take effect and force himself into a state of sleep, escaping the agonizing pain that would rip his body and mind out of waking.
Even if the sky falls, we'll have to wait until he wakes up tomorrow to see what his condition is before making any decisions.
On the Jump Point Platform, the members of 1st Brigade stared intently at the Prisoners below, their eyes filled with anticipation.
Qin Su used Pheromones to forcefully complete the mission in less than three minutes, achieving a full kill and allowing them to return very early today.
Compared to the previous four days, today was like a mere warm-up for them; the mission ended before they had accomplished anything. They are now bursting with boundless energy.
Unfortunately, it wasn't even noon yet, and the Prisoners hadn't come up yet, so they had no chance to play.
1st Brigade of people sat idly on the Transparent Floor, chins propped up with their hands.
The Prisoners below felt extremely uncomfortable under their gaze, secretly relieved that they only had to send ten people up each time.
"He Muzhi, what do you think we should do for the rest of the day after we play with them until 2 AM?" Jeffrey asked He Muzhi while looking down.
Everyone else's eyes were also focused on He Muzhi.
Although He Muzhi told them privately that he might have disappointed Qin Su wasn't around, so the others still thought He Muzhi was overthinking things and still regarded He Muzhi as the one Qin Su valued the most among them.
They hadn't forgotten that Qin Su had specifically arranged for Halton to train He Muzhi.
No matter what they do, if something goes wrong because He Muzhi is the one leading the way, Qin Su won't be too angry with them for He Muzhi's sake.
Before He Muzhi could answer, Raymond muttered, "Why isn't Brother Su playing with us?"
Samuel looked at Raymond upon hearing this, and as he guessed, said, "Maybe it's because we're too naive?"
"... Perhaps," Lin Yin disagreed, "It's because the Commander knows very well that we'll feel tense if he's there? So he deliberately left to give us space and make us feel more at ease?"
"Yinyin, I think you're right." Lailisi gave a thumbs up in agreement.
Most of the others who heard this nodded in agreement, silently acknowledging that Lin Yin was right.
"Brother Su, I really want to follow him forever!"
"Go to the back of the line. There are so many people following you, who do you think you are? I'm the only one who comes after the Commander."
It was clearly me!
"Heh, draw your sword. I've been wanting to get rid of you for a while now."
"Come on, who's afraid of you?"
As the students argued, He Muzhi silently moved away. When his classmates asked him what he should do, he felt pressured and dared not answer rashly. Qin Su had treated him no differently from the other students these past few days, which made them uneasy. How could they dare to lead the students in making a fool of themselves?
If Qin Su goes into the Rest Pod... then he should go in too.
He Muzhi's red hair was so eye-catching that he was caught after only taking a few steps.
"He Muzhi, where are you going?"
"Hey? Why are you running... He Muzhi, stop right there!"
Only a fool would stop!
He Muzhi quickened his pace.
He Muzhi slipped away, and even if the others wanted to wander around, they didn't dare to act on their own without someone taking the lead. After all, if something happened, no one would be there to withstand Qin Su's death stare. So, they either stayed obediently on the Jump Point Platform or went back to their Rest Pods to lie down.
The footage taken when the previous mission was completed is still being filmed, and the actual combat is not yet over, so the 1st Brigade dares not release it for the time being.
Feeling stifled and with nothing else to do, they could only watch the videos over and over again. Because each platform had a different audience, they would look at the pictures and videos while simultaneously editing short essays to be posted on different social media platforms on StarNet.
--
At two in the morning, in the stillness of the night, Qin Su woke up at the time he had set.
Just in case, I had to drag my still aching body out of the house, force myself to stay alert, and silently turn my back to everyone to carry out the final cleanup work.
With real-world images from daytime scanning marked on the map, even at night, Qin Su could conduct a thorough inspection under the completely concealed lighting of the surrounding giant trees, without turning on the Warship's lights on a large scale to make the surroundings as bright as day.
After confirming that neither the Mecha nor the flammable and explosive energy containers used, nor the sharp meshes used, had been blasted into charred remains along with the surrounding vegetation, and were covered by layers of finely shredded Insect Meat and blood, leaving no evidence, Qin Su returned to the Spaceship under the cover of night.
Before leaving, Qin Su glanced at the area cleared by the Unit 2 and performed a simple real-world scan of both War Zones.
The next day, at 8:50 a. m.
Qin Su opened his eyes again under the forced stimulation of the wakefulness time set in the Hibernation Pod.
Having just regained consciousness, Qin Su was reluctant to get up. He lay in the open Hibernation Pod, waiting for him to emerge, and moved his pupils.
Noticing the lingering pain in his brain and body, which was far less intense than before and had subsided considerably, Qin Su sincerely remarked, "It seems the 'electrocution' didn't last long enough."
He'll have plenty of experience to rely on next time something like this happens.
Being at the center of Pheromone storm doesn't matter. As long as he's stunned by the Hibernation Pod long enough, he'll wake up to find the storm has passed and he'll be back to Qin Su.
Unfortunately, he couldn't stay in bed this time; he still had tasks to complete besides the Purge.
Qin Su sighed inwardly and forced himself out of the Hibernation Pod, then went into the bathroom to shower and change clothes.
He had to take advantage of the large group of classmates and not waste such a good opportunity to fill in any gaps in his knowledge of 'Zerg cuisine' in the remaining two days.
At 9:00 sharp, Qin Su appeared before the students of 1st Brigade.
Standing in front, looking at his classmates who were clearly full of energy and looking at him with great enthusiasm, Qin Su concealed the envy in his eyes. Not wanting to lose to them, he put on a calm and composed demeanor, revealing no trace of his discomfort, and asked them in a nonchalant manner.
"Have you seen the map clearly?"
Thirty seconds before Qin Su spoke, he had already posted a map in the large group chat.
It was the one the school gave him and Blumer.
The difference is that when the school gave them the two areas, the two designated areas were teeming with insects. Now, the map shows that the other end of the diagonal is empty of insects, while the other end has a large area belonging to Blumer's Unit 2, which he divided into different sections according to the ten groups of the 1st Brigade.
They had already checked the message when Qin Su sent it to their Optical Brain, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Hearing a chorus of "Look carefully!", Qin Su then sent the list of insects that each group was responsible for searching for that morning to each group leader's Optical Brain terminal.
As the Ten Team Leaders checked the list, they heard Qin Su's chilling voice ring out again.
Qin Su: "Each group will operate within the designated area. Each group leader will assign tasks to their members. Return here before noon and continue the toxicity screening in groups."
As soon as Qin Su uttered the word "they," the entire 1st Brigade couldn't help but look down at the Prisoners below.
In the first few days, there were too few Prisoners, and each time they died before they could finish eating the pieces of insect meat they brought back.
The Prisoners below were praying that those unlucky fellows above would leave soon when, suddenly, Dad met a pair of pairs of eyes gleaming with an eerie light looking up at him. In his mind, he began to frantically and skillfully curse the students' ancestors for eighteen generations.
Qin Su: "Remember, only eliminate the Target Bug; do not touch any other insects. Begin the operation."
Their 1st Brigade was only Target Bug, not killing them all indiscriminately. So... the students in the Unit 2 shouldn't have any thoughts like, "The 1st Brigade is pitying or looking down on them, that's why they're Purge Zone," right?
Yesterday, the people from the Unit 2 watched as they finished their mission ahead of schedule without asking for help, which made Qin Su wonder.
Qin Su was the first to board the Warship and disappeared from his classmates' sight in the blink of an eye.
While his classmates hadn't reached their destination, Qin Su, whose body and mind were still aching, wanted to create the illusion of 'watching over everyone from above' while secretly slacking off and waiting for the pain to subside. He found a suitable area above the Unit 2 and stopped to quickly adjust to the varying degrees of pain.
Although there are many people in each group, there aren't many bugs they need to deal with together.
However, these were all insects he specifically selected based on a combination of the insects he saw during the 1st Brigade's Purge process and a list of Zerg that posed a high threat to humans.
There is some danger involved; he has to keep a close eye on his classmates to prevent them from being careless and getting into trouble.
When the 1st Brigade arrived at the remaining Purge Zone by the Unit 2, they saw Qin Su sitting on the Warship with his eyelids slightly lowered and his gaze downcast, looking cold and bewildered.
"Is the Commander not joining us this time?"
"Of course, you saw what happened yesterday. The moment the Commander made his move, the Pheromones exploded, and the insects in the entire area were torn to pieces. What do you think the people in the Unit 2 are going to think? They might think that the Commander is underestimating their strength and that's why he took action."
"Then why do we insist on staying in their Team 2's territory? Won't that make them think twice?"
"Perhaps... the Commander thinks we're on par with the people in the Unit 2, not at a level that would make the Unit 2 think too much. In short, we're all equally incompetent."
"... Shut up, you little mouth!"
"The Commander cares about even the men in Team 2, tsk, I feel pretty uneasy about it."
"The most important thing in life is not to be too greedy. They only get preferential treatment, while we are soldiers personally trained by the Commander!" Raymond said, head held high. "Our Team 1 is made up of the legitimate elite, while they are all illegitimate!"
"Master, I've understood!"
"Thanks, that felt good."
[Even in the Comic World, you can't escape the cult of the legitimate and illegitimate gods (laughing and crying)]
[I've developed a condition where I click on anything that mentions "legitimate" or "illegitimate" children.]
[We are both fellow sufferers, forced into a corner by the control of legitimate and illegitimate children.]
[Better than me, my life was controlled by someone as indifferent as a chrysanthemum]
"..." Listening to the explosive remarks in the Full-Band Communication, Qin Su doubted his ears.
Is that correct?
Whether it was right or wrong, Qin Su was glad he hadn't drunk the nutrient solution, and secretly decided that he would forbid himself from consuming any food or liquids until Raymond showed any signs of speaking.
To avoid coughing, choking, and embarrassing yourself.
He Muzhi remained silent as he listened to the endless discussions around him.
Whatever the reason, all he knew was that on his way here, he had exchanged information with the other team leaders about the insect hunting list they had received from Qin Su.
Each type of insect is either a large, highly dangerous insect, a fast-moving insect, or a dangerous insect that sprays venom.
With a large group of them dealing with only a few types of insects, the safety level of the Unit 2 steadily increased.
Not only did they consider the Unit 2's dignity, but they also paid attention to their safety.
'Qin Su is truly irresistible.'
Etc!
' Qin Su even considered the Second Battalion, with whom he rarely interacted, so thoroughly; how can it be said that he wasn't actually anything special in Qin Su's eyes?'
He Muzhi became withdrawn.
Despite his inner turmoil, He Muzhi didn't forget that Qin Su was looking down on them. Not wanting to perform poorly in front of Qin Su, he feigned a calm expression to hide his disappointment and methodically instructed the members of Group 1 to follow him as he maneuvered the Warship into their assigned area.
Seeing that He Muzhi, who was favored by Qin Su, had made a move, the other groups stopped talking and began heading towards their assigned sections.
The members of the Unit 2, who arrived at 6:00 AM to carry out the Purge operation, fell silent as they looked at the vast, dark sky filled with students from the 1st Brigade entering different areas in batches.
After a long pause, someone finally spoke hesitantly in the Unit 2's Full-Band Communication.
"Commander, you... you're all talk and no action, you turned your back on us and asked Commander 1 for help?"
Blumer: "... I didn't, I didn't."
After saying that, Blumer said in a low voice, "Interstellar People don't lie to Interstellar People, and I don't know what's going on either."
"Are they here to help us?"
"That's it."
"Then why is Qin Su sitting up there without coming down?"
"You seem a little greedy."
"What are you thinking about?" Su Zhanghua scratched his head, interrupting his companions' chatter and speculations. He looked at He Muzhi, who was standing not far ahead. "The 1st Brigade is right there. Why don't we just ask them directly? We don't dare to ask Qin Su, but surely we can He Muzhi?"
In short, everyone's eyes immediately fell on He Muzhi had just landed.
'He Muzhi is such a kind person.'
"What are you doing?" As the Commander the Unit 2, Blumer naturally had to speak for the students and dialed He Muzhi's number.
"Do what our Commander orders us to do." He Muzhi replied seriously, realizing that he was becoming increasingly fluent in writing nonsense.
Blumer: "..."
It was all for nothing.
Even a good person He Muzhi is so cautious... Blumer looked up at Qin Su, it must be that Qin Su explicitly forbade the people of the 1st Brigade from talking too much.
He Muzhi ended his call with Blumer without wasting a second, immediately ignoring the pairs of eyes belonging to different insect species all around him, and went straight to his target.
Once the target was located, he methodically directed Group 1 to encircle and annihilate them, completely ignoring the members of Unit 2 in the distance. Almost everyone was immersed in the atmosphere of 'making a good impression under Qin Su's watchful eye'.
"Don't they... find it creepy?"
"More importantly, how did they manage to move so freely through such a dense swarm of insects? What exactly did Qin Su do to them?"
"The insects they killed were either the largest or the most dangerous. I think... I understand something."
"I also..."
Hearing the almost identical exclamations of amazement from students in different areas at the actions of the members of the 1st Brigade, Blumer understood. He looked up at Qin Su high in the sky, his eyes filled with admiration.
He prided himself on being shrewd and charming, while Qin Su always maintained a cold and indifferent expression towards everyone, exuding an aura of ruthlessness that made him unapproachable and difficult to deal with.
The facts before him told him that Qin Su was incredibly shrewd and resourceful, leaving him with no chance.
Instead of having the members of the 1st Brigade kill ordinary insects, they only picked out the dangerous and large insects to kill, so as not to disrupt their original Purge rhythm. Moreover, Qin Su knew his overwhelming strength, and his decision not to participate was entirely for the sake of the self-esteem and safety of the members of the Unit 2.
Blumer took a deep breath and continued the Purge operation at the pace of the Unit 2.
Seeing that the people in the Unit 2 below did not express any dissatisfaction, and that the students in the 1st Brigade were becoming more and more adept through long-term practice, Qin Su's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, quietly settled down. While adapting to the pain that was getting weaker and weaker over time, he kept an eye on the situation below.
Since he was going to look at anyone anyway, Qin Su decided to pay attention to the Unit 2 as well.
--
At 10:00, the 1st Brigade withdrew under Qin Su's orders.
The people of the Unit 2 watched as the countless insects were taken away by the students of the 1st Brigade. After they left, they looked around.
"Commander, they all took some back to eat. Should we take some back and try it too?"
"... Aren't you afraid of being poisoned?"
"Wait a minute... why aren't the people from the 1st Brigade afraid? They..."
At this point, the members of the Unit 2 exchanged glances.
After a long silence, someone whispered in disbelief, "It's common knowledge that Qin Su wouldn't harm his own people, nor is he a careless person. So, if Qin Su allowed them to eat it and confirmed it wasn't poisonous, the person who tested it must be..."
"Prisoner."
Blumer chimed in, recalling what Qin Su had said when he had asked him the Qin Su. He had simply thought Qin Su was being humorous and joking with him.
Only now do I realize that Qin Su was simply telling the truth.
"Then we..."
The men of the Unit 2 stared at the corpses of insects all around them, their eyes filled with eager anticipation.
"Would you like to learn it too?"