Chapter 213
He Muzhi immediately understood why they were being kept inside. He had heard from his family that before the Zerg Fourth Military Academy was merged into the Fourth Military District, the group of people selected by the Fourth Military Academy who were suitable for or had already been modified had been sent away from the Fourth Military Academy. The Modified Humans who could enter the school and even have the school clear out were not people they could see whenever they wanted.
Looking at the few words on the Optical Brain screen, He Muzhi subconsciously considered trivial questions such as "how many are there?" and "which Military District do they come from?" He edited and revised the messages in his chat with Qin Su, pondering and agonizing over them. In the end, fearing that Qin Su would think they were "freeloaders," he only sent a short sentence:
[Thank you, Class Monitor, I understand.]
After sending out the message, He Muzhi didn't rest; he conducted the same investigation as his classmates in his own way.
Qin Su glanced at it but didn't reply. He closed the chat page and continued with his unfinished business. He needed to hurry up and come up with a universal combat method for different types of Modified Humans based on the newly entered characteristics of the Modified Humans in the database.
As Qin Su passed by them, he clearly remembered the looks they gave him: inquiry, curiosity, observation, caution... and naturally, hostility.
Whether it stemmed from their own self-loathing or from a private order issued to them by the Military District, they were to remain at the Fourth Military Academy. They needed to prepare early, since the military region wasn't targeting them, but Class 6) was likely to become their primary target.
--
An hour passed in the blink of an eye for Class 6). When the agreed time arrived, the students who had dispersed in batches from Class 6) regrouped and stood behind their respective group leaders, waiting for them to summarize the information they had gathered.
"Let me go first," Sophia said. "Based on our team's on-site Inspection, we can now confirm that a military force from an unknown planet is temporarily residing at the Fourth Military Academy. They've been living there for several years without ever leaving the Military Academy, in the Zone Z, the most remote area in the north of the school's center. However, our people were stopped, so we don't know the specifics inside. These are photos and videos taken by our team; we've shared them in the group chat for everyone to see."
"It was my turn. Our group members found out through different channels that when we were stopped inside, the entire Fourth Military Academy was being cleared out. Teachers, students, and leaders were treated the same. With such a large-scale operation, it must be an important military force that was coming, and it must be somewhat dangerous. That's why the school, out of concern for the students' safety, ordered them to stay in their dormitories and not go out."
"Judging from their Hyperspace Jump trajectories, the people in this army come from different planets."
"Training is said to continue tomorrow, and this mysterious army is forbidden from operating during the day."
"Tsk, so secretive. I can tell something's fishy just by looking at it from my bed. How about we organize something under the cover of night and sneak in to take a look?"
"It's best not to act rashly. If it's something extremely dangerous, what's the difference between that and rushing to your death? You'd not only lose yourself, but you'd also embarrass the Class Monitor."
"Thank you, I calmed down immediately."
(Class 6 chatted for nearly half an hour, revealing their secrets and exchanging basic information. Their eyes then turned to He Muzhi, who was silently taking notes.
Without hesitation, Raymond blurted out, "We're done talking, He Muzhi, it's your turn. Did the Class Monitor even acknowledge you?"
"They responded." As He Muzhi finished speaking, he clearly saw his classmates' eyes light up with anticipation, and he quickly and meticulously continued, "The Class Monitor replied with the four words 'human weapon' followed by a period."
Upon hearing the word "humanoid weapon," the students in Class 6) looked at each other in bewilderment, and their previous doubts were answered at that moment.
No wonder they told us to leave; we definitely should.
"Dangerous weapons that can travel from various planets have been sent here. No wonder the school arranged for them to stay so far away, and we had to hold our noses and let them move in. There was absolutely no room for resistance."
"No, what do they mean? Don't they have their own homes? Why are they coming to our Fourth Military Academy's territory? Clearing out the area to let them see their Class Monitor, they're obviously after the Class Monitor. What are we then?"
Are you trying to say that the Fourth Military Academy prohibits settling down anywhere?
"They're blatantly trying to steal the Class Monitor, can you really tolerate this?" Raymond said indignantly, only to find the chatter had stopped and everyone was staring at him blankly.
"No way, you guys are really putting up with this?"
"Raymond, this isn't about whether you can tolerate it or not. Have you ever seen Modified Humans? Do you know what a humanoid weapon is? We need to wear Combat Suits for defense, but many Modified Humans don't need them because their bodies are walking weapons, with built-in defense. Some can even deflect projectiles. If we really get into this... I choose not to."
"I've heard that some Modified Humans can change their body color to blend into their environment. Is that true?"
"That's nothing. Look at us, we only have two hands. We can hold two weapons at a time. I've heard that some Modified Humans are like octopuses; one person can form a whole squad."
"To be honest, I'm... a little tempted."
"Hehe, it's good that you're tempted. Don't make any rash moves next time. Do you know how much pain it takes to become Modified Humans? Those who are seen and sent out on missions have all endured it. Countless others haven't made it."
"Hiss... Thinking about it that way, they're so pitiful."
Anthony felt increasingly uneasy as he listened, and asked in confusion, "Then who will have pity on us, who are about to have our Class Monitor taken away by them?"
These words were a wake-up call. The reaction was strongest among the Class 6), especially the new students of Class 6) who had recently decided to be honest with the students of the old Class 6) and fill out their information forms.
"That's right, let's pity ourselves first!"
(Class 6 yet, and really didn't want to be replaced by other new members, especially those who were stronger than them in every way.
As fate would have it, they finally understood the bittersweet feelings the original Class 6 members had when they decided to join Class 6.
"Let's be realistic. We can't beat them in a fight, so how can we stop them from getting close to the Class Monitor?"
Lailisi snapped her fingers and declared, "That's easy! If we can't beat them, we'll just join them. They'll say one thing, we'll say ten. We'll make sure the Class Monitor won't have time to listen to them. They won't even hit us in front of the Class Monitor."
"What if they got hit?" someone in the crowd immediately asked worriedly.
"What are you afraid of? This is the territory of the Fourth Military Academy. We are the Class 6 personally led by our Class Monitor leader. The school also stipulates that students can spar with each other but cannot cause serious injury to each other. Apart from being inferior in strength and feeling uncomfortable, we still have a slight advantage."
"Actually, I think..." Blumer smiled amidst the gazes of his classmates, "It would be better if we hit it."
"?"
"You were so easily provoked that you lost your mind? Have you taken any medication?"
Blumer rudely brushed away the hand touching his forehead. "What I mean is, we can just lie down and play the victim. Anyway, with our unmodified bodies, we can't beat them in a fight. We might as well use that to gain sympathy from the Class Monitor or any students who might be watching. Of course, all of this is on the premise that the Class Monitor is there. If the Class Monitor isn't there, and we're at a disadvantage, it's best to avoid the Modified Humans if possible. If we can't avoid them, we should find a teacher or a school staff member on duty. The fact that they can accept being assigned to some corner of our school without objecting shows that the school still has some control over them."
"No way," Raymond refused. "How could we, the students of Class 6, be so spineless as to stage such a shameless accident..."
Blumer interrupted quietly, "The Class Monitor might feel sorry for you."
The words were on the tip of his tongue when Raymond smoothly changed his tune. "What do you mean by 'faking an accident'? That's a really harsh way of putting it; it's clearly a tactic!"
Blumer looked at the other students. "What do you think of my suggestion? Raise your hand if you agree."
Immediately, many people raised their hands.
He Muzhi also raised his hand. Although Blumer's suggestion had a somewhat desperate feel to it, what else could they do? To stubbornly resist would be too disruptive to their daily training.
"Then it's decided!"
"I need to search for a lying position that will show off my handsome face."
"If you broaden your perspective, you don't actually need to take a beating. When they show signs of making a move, you can lie down and pretend to be injured, then act as if you are fighting back bravely and unyieldingly."
"Hehe, I get it. Let them know that, based on our combat strength, we (Class 6) can not only be easy to mess with in front of them, but we can also briefly cosplay as cowards. That way, even if we get beaten to a pulp, we'll still look a little more dignified. Just thinking about that situation makes me feel kind of cool."
"By the way, the next few days are rest days, but let's not be idle. We still need to come out and practice together. It's best if no one is alone during training, I'm afraid someone might not get the Class Monitor's attention and try to trap us in a sack."
"That's really exaggerated?"
"They only have one life, and they're not from Class 6. We can't be too careful."
In a short period of time, the students in Class 6) went from being panicked when they first learned the truth to now being eager to come up with solutions.
[As for shamelessness... no, Raymond is one thing, he's always been shameless, He Muzhi used to be such an upright person, how did he end up with them and become a scoundrel?]
[Danger! Modified Humans of all planets and Military District]
[Humanoid Weapons:? How can people's hearts be so filthy! Is it a distortion of humanity or moral decay?]
[ (Class 6: Sorry, dear, we have them all here (grinning)]
[The eldest brother is not to mention the second brother, they are all equally wicked. After many Modified Humans ruled out Qin Su, they also enumerated people who could take action based on the list of members of Class 6) ]
--
Fourth Military Academy, Zone Z.
Like other Military Academies, it had competed with the Fourth Military Academy for Qin Su's Qin Su. Many people at the First Military Academy, from top to bottom, were resentful that Qin Su would choose the Fourth Military Academy. Taking advantage of this opportunity, they treated the Modified Humans Military Academy students from their own school as Modified Humans from a Military District on their own planet and sent them to the Fourth Military Academy.
In the dormitory for Modified Humans arranged by the Fourth Military Academy, four Modified Humans from the First Military Academy, each with different physical conditions, sat in their respective positions, all looking at the suspended light screen, reading the orders displayed on it, their faces mostly expressionless.
"This is our first night at the Fourth Military Academy. Who goes first tonight?" The central screen turned off, and Bu Qiu, sitting in the main seat, whose skin writhed like suction cups as he spoke, looked at the other three people in the room.
I'm not going.
"I'm not going either."
"Same here, not going."
The three people in the room refused outright. Being far from the emperor's reach, they figured refusing would prolong their lives; if they actually obeyed the order to investigate Qin Su's dormitory, who knew when they would die?
They were all pushed into this situation. Whether they live or die is none of their concern except themselves. Their bodies are already so deformed; how could they possibly have any sincerity or loyalty?
During the day, they could see clearly that no matter how bizarrely the Modified Humans's body was altered, Qin Su didn't even glance at it. This indifference reassured them; only someone who had taken the wrong medicine would obey orders to break the tranquility under Qin Su's indifference.
"Alright then." Bu Qiu stood up. "I'll go."
Thanks to Aldrich, who was supposedly betrayed and died in the Living Dead War Aldrich, Qin Su 'Qin Su dormitory location, which was not originally widely known, became a well-known fact after his bizarre attempt to fix the problem.
If no one goes to 'check in,' the four of them won't be able to explain themselves when they get back.
Although they were never allowed to meet each other during their rehabilitation, in order to prevent Modified Humans from developing emotional connections with each Modified Humans and teaming up to do something, they were still under rehabilitation.
They were brought here by the First Military Academy, and this was their first meeting.
Even so... the various physical abnormalities caused them to spontaneously develop a kind of secret affection for each other in an environment different from that of normal humans.
The other three frowned and looked at Bu Qiu, hesitating to speak, but ultimately said nothing.
--
As is customary, after an emergency support mission is completed, the classes that participated in the mission will have a certain period of rest. This time, the Fourth Military Academy has set a five-day rest period, during which the participants can voluntarily refrain from participating in any training.
During his break, Qin Su not only had to work on Modified Humans, but as the team leader, he also had to score the performance of each class member participating in the mission.
The results achieved through participation in off-campus practical exercises account for 50% of the final individual score. Classes selected to undertake such sudden missions are not required to participate in the end-of-semester assessment like other classes.
Therefore, this assessment is equivalent to letting the students in all four classes know in advance the percentage of their final grade that 50% represents in the total score.
If a student's practical combat score is too low and they don't want to be expelled at the end of the semester due to failing grades, they can make up for it by improving their daily training performance based on the scores they know in advance. This is also a kind of implicit compensation from military Military Academies for students who are randomly selected for class selection in case of emergencies.
Classes that are not selected to participate in the practical training in advance will have no chance to make up for their poor overall performance at the end of the semester and will be expelled.
Although four classes may not seem like many people, there is only one team leader, who cannot monitor the performance of thousands of people in actual combat at all times.
In the past, when suddenly supporting a task, team leaders would give most people scores above the passing grade, except for a very few individuals or groups who had offended them, and give high scores to those they were on good terms with or who were so outstanding that they could not be ignored.
Basically, no one really thinks about each person's performance during the battle and scores them based on their actual performance.
On the first day of the five-day holiday, Qin Su stared at the massive amount of documents copied from his Electronic Eye onto his Optical Brain screen early in the morning. Having just returned from classes in the Real World, Qin Su's mind was buzzing.
He divided the four classes into several groups. The videos of each group exposed to the Electronic Eyes were superimposed and opened, so densely packed that they filled the entire room. Even if he had ten or eight eyes and watched them day and night, he still wouldn't be able to finish watching them when the five-day rest period ended and the evaluation forms needed to be submitted. He simply couldn't finish watching them all.
Judging by feelings or personal preferences, Qin Su's obsessive-compulsive disorder kicked in; given the opportunity, he simply couldn't get past his own mental hurdle.
After weighing the options, Qin Su could only use groups as units, randomly selecting several videos from each group in different situations as samples for mutual corroboration and reference, to evaluate the overall performance of the group members.
While Qin Su was staring blankly at the world, Bu Qiu sat in his familiar spot and reported the information he had gathered about Qin Su's dormitory the previous night from the closest possible location.
Someone came out from the opened electronic door and walked behind him, but Bu Qiu made no attempt to block the Optical Brain screen.
The only thing displayed was the line "[No life signs detected]", nothing to hide.
Thinking about his nighttime exploration last night, Bu Qiu looked at the reflection of his companions' faces on the Optical Brain screen and hesitated whether to tell them what he had seen last night.
He knew that many Modified Humans, like them, were sent in as cannon fodder, but he never expected there to be so many; it made his scalp tingle.
[Luckily, my dorm wasn't a sphere, otherwise the outside would have been packed with people.]
[Unfortunately, they searched all night, from initial trepidation to later craning their necks, but Qin Su never appeared. Qin Su was far too merciful to them; knowing the visitor was hostile, he showed no intention of making a move.]
[Let alone Baby 1, I would refuse to come out even if there were so many people in front of my house. Besides, they... they look like they've gone through countless hardships to get to where they are today. Baby 1 has always been kind-hearted, so let's just pretend we didn't see them.]
[Hehe, it wasn't like this when it was with our A Yuan.]
Qin Su, who was taking a break to read the comments, "..."
'It wasn't that he didn't leave the dorm; it's that he was in the Real World at the time and wasn't actually in the dorm.'
Based on the comments, Qin Su realized that there were likely many more Modified Humans among them trying to probe him. A chill ran down his spine, and he became even more determined to use his vacation to delay as long as possible, and not to appear before them prematurely until he had made arrangements to protect himself.
--
Three days passed in a flash, and Qin Su submitted the evaluation sheets for all four classes.
He didn't know if his classmates would be convinced, but he watched it at double speed and was convinced by his own eyes.
Regardless of which planet or Military District the Modified Humans came from, none of them saw Qin Su appear at the Fourth Military Academy in these three days. The three days were relatively peaceful. The Military Academy students who trained during the day and the Modified Humans went out at night staggered their times and lived in peace. Some oblivious students had not even noticed that a group of outsiders who looked very different from them had appeared at the Fourth Military Academy.
Many of the Modified Humans and their followers had not seen Qin Su for several days in a row, and gradually lost patience, turning their attention to Class 6).
Thinking that "there are so many people in Class 6), they can't find Qin Su, and they can't find any isolated members of Class 6)," many Modified Humans look no different from normal people by disguising themselves with clothing or Combat Suit focused their attention on Class 6) and secretly looked for an opportunity to "stand alone."
But... two more days passed. During the daytime training of Class 6), the 999 people were almost inseparable. Often, before they could do anything, they would see Class 6) whispering to each other with their backs to them. Then, they would be taken away by the Fourth Military Academy staff who suddenly rushed into the training ground.
(Class 6) The reasons given by the students included, but were not limited to, ridiculous reasons such as, "Teacher, look at them, they're acting suspiciously and they don't look like good people," "This is a classroom and no unauthorized people are allowed in," and "Teacher, I suspect he used something to shock me from a distance. I'm feeling really anxious and I feel like I'm about to meet my wife and grandparents."
The staff of the Fourth Military Academy seemed to have received some kind of order: as long as one of Class 6) dared to speak, the staff of the Fourth Military Academy would pretend not to know their true identities Modified Humans, and they would all actually believe it.
Unfortunately, they couldn't take action against the Military Academy students. Otherwise, before they could even observe Qin Su and obtain any useful combat data, they would be considered to have violated the rules and expelled from the Fourth Military Academy.
That would mean the mission failed, and they would be dead if they went back.
My anger has reached its peak in the last two days.
Late at night, the Modified Humans, who had been trying to spy on Qin Su but failed, decided to do something to Class 6) instead, but instead became familiar with each other and gathered together.
"I suspect that Class 6) knew all along that our intentions were impure, or even that Qin Su told them, which is why they were so wary of us."
"Isn't it obvious? But damn it, I'm still so angry."
"... Honestly, I have never seen such a united group of people. If the Fourth Military Academy dared to arrange for them to live in the same dormitory, I believe that Class 6 would really be happy to live together. They are all strangers, but they are as close as can be."
Even if it weren't them, anyone who saw this would feel envious.
"Fortunately, according to our private communication over the past few days, as long as we show the same determination as Class 6, all of this will be over tomorrow. We will no longer have to endure this itchy feeling all over our bodies. Who could have imagined that the time we saw Qin Su five days ago would be the only time we saw each other in these five days? Now I regret it. I really regret that a group of us waited for each other that day, which led to no one daring to make a move."
Everyone was tacitly annoyed. Before dispersing, someone, fearing something might go wrong, emphasized heavily. "If you don't want to go back and be unable to explain yourself, you'd better not mess things up."