Chapter 43

Since it had come right to him, it would have been a shame not to make full use of the most lethal weapon and defensive equipment in this practical exercise.

Huh?

The kill record was still playing automatically before their eyes when the four suddenly heard Qin Su utter that single word in a low, cold voice. Before they could react, the warship sped away from its position.

They hadn't even caught a glimpse of Z-X307.

The four hadn't even had time to be confused. When they could finally make out their surroundings, they stared in stunned silence.

The blood that had run hot after their own initial victory gradually cooled.

Their captain had taken them deeper into the Kisslip Tree Armadillos' habitat. Below them, on the surface of the murky, foul-smelling deep water shimmering with a riot of colors, the broad-leaf lotuses were more than twice as large as those they'd just seen.

That meant the Kisslip Tree Armadillos supplying the nutrients they needed to grow would be even larger and more densely packed than the ones before.

At the previous battlefield, a Kisslip Tree Armadillo could open its mouth, chomp down on half their head, and cling on tight. Wouldn't the ones here swallow their whole heads in one gulp?

How long would a Kisslip Tree Armadillo of this size need to bite through their helmet's defenses?

Wait, why were they actually thinking about it?

The four realized that, just as Qin Su had ordered in the previous battle, they were observing the distribution of the Broadleaf Lotuses while considering how to respond if a Kisslip Tree Armadillo bit down on them. They were visibly taken aback.

Their first thought had actually been to handle it themselves rather than rely on help from others. Their mindset had undergone a complete transformation since they first entered the battlefield.

Even though their captain was the powerful Qin Su, they hadn't taken it for granted that they could call for help!

Realizing how their thinking had changed, the four had mixed feelings, but overall, they were happy.

The change in their mindset prompted all four to replenish their ammunition of their own accord, even without an order from Qin Su...

Meanwhile, Anthony, piloting Z-X307, had just spotted Qin Su's warship. His eyes lit up, his breath caught, and he excitedly accelerated.

But before he could let that breath out, he watched Qin Su and his warship vanish from sight in a flash.

"?"

Anthony's breath caught in his throat, and his speeding Mecha froze in midair for a moment.

Inside the Mecha, Anthony was speechless for a long moment before forcing out a curse. "Fuck!"

He did that on purpose, didn't he?

No, that wasn't right. Anthony looked down at the water, where so much duckweed had clumped together that the corpses of Kisslip Tree Armadillos blasted apart by various weapons had piled up like a mountain. His expression grew even uglier.

It wasn't deliberate. Given the distance between them, Qin Su most likely hadn't noticed him.

He had left so quickly because most of the Kisslip Tree Armadillos nearby had been killed, so naturally he had to move elsewhere.

Not understanding why Anthony had cursed out of nowhere on the public channel, the deputy captain, Qiao Yue, prompted him. "Captain, where exactly are we going?"

In the class group's live kill count, Qin Su was still so far ahead that no one else came close. Even the Omega with the poorest physical fitness in their class usually had three kills already.

Every student on their "Anthony" team had zero kills, putting them at the very bottom.

They had thought that since Anthony had obtained the most lethal Mecha in the exercise, they could follow him, get a share of the spoils, and make their kill counts look better. Who knew what had gotten into him? He had led them around in circles without doing anything useful.

"Why so much nonsense? Keep up." Anthony piloted the Mecha toward Qin Su at the fastest speed he could manage.

All the Kisslip Tree Armadillos in Qin Su's "projected kill pool" belonged to him. Qin Su could only watch as he claimed every one of those prey under his overwhelming firepower.

"Fine." Qiao Yue piloted the warship after Anthony, that lunatic who acted on every whim.

Honestly, she somewhat regretted following Anthony because of Z-X307. She just hoped they wouldn't fail to get even a taste of the soup while Anthony gobbled up both the meat and the soup himself.

Among the towering, unnaturally green trees, Qin Su quickly surveyed his surroundings. Without hesitation, he moved the warship, leaving the most suitable position for the Z-X307 Mecha based on the terrain.

The four waiting for orders didn't understand why their captain had suddenly moved the warship, but he must have had his reasons.

As they thought this, Qin Su's indifferent voice reached their ears through the shared communications channel.

With the position reserved for Z-X307 ready, Qin Su gave his teammates their orders. "All Team 1 members, listen up. Adjust your helmets' N103 achromatic values to..."

More than ten seconds later, Qin Su finished his instructions. At the same time, he finished adjusting his own helmet's visual settings.

These parameters were all calculated to let them see the outlines of Kisslip Tree Armadillos in the light of the particle pulses when Z-X307's Particle Pulse Cannon fired.

If they adjusted their settings according to his parameters, their protective helmets would let them clearly see the "outlined" shapes of the Kisslip Tree Armadillos, no matter how blinding the particle pulse light was.

In effect, he had manually marked the prey for them. How many they could kill depended entirely on their own abilities.

The four were puzzled, but their hands never stopped moving. By the time they finished, they had adjusted all the values according to Qin Su's uncompromising orders, and, in an unspoken understanding, promptly reported in the order of their Identity IDs on the team roster.

"Number one, Sophia, adjustments complete."

"Number two, Sheng Shuang..."

"Number three, Jeffrey..."

"Number four, Zhong Lin..."

Qin Su said, "...Mm."

When had these four secretly agreed to assign themselves numbers based on their Identity IDs?

After adjusting the parameters, the four reported in one by one, but received no further orders from Qin Su. They found it a little strange.

After waiting a few seconds, Sheng Shuang asked, "Captain, what should we do next?"

"Wait."

Qin Su's answer was concise. He gazed calmly in the direction he had come from.

"?"

All four were baffled. Wait for what?

Qin Su knew his teammates were puzzled, but still had no intention of explaining. After all, "big shots" were always taciturn.

Following Anthony's line of thinking, having obtained the Mecha with the strongest defenses and greatest firepower on this expedition, he naturally assumed that a few casual attacks with it would let him kill far more bugs than Qin Su.

He was sticking to Qin Su like a tail because he wanted to put on a show before their classmates, one in which a single attack of his outdid several of Qin Su's, and drag the "god" in everyone's eyes down from the "pedestal" they had placed him on.

Anthony hadn't stopped to consider why the school had equipped their five-hundred-person force with only six Mechas, with Z-X307 the only large one and all the others small, or why ninety-nine percent of their weapons were simple, fast-firing ones.

It was because Kisslip Tree Armadillos moved very quickly, and those in the freshmen's clearing zone were much smaller than those in the inner zone, naturally presenting smaller targets.

A large Mecha's weapon needed roughly three to five seconds to charge between activation and firing and couldn't fire continuously. In that time, any Kisslip Tree Armadillo with a functioning brain, once stirred up from the depths, would have swiftly dodged by the time the Mecha's attack fired.

Kisslip Tree Armadillos caught in the blast of the Mecha's Particle Pulse Cannon would be slowed by intense pain, making them easier to kill with handheld weapons.

By contrast, as long as a person switched weapons fast enough, it took less than a second to spot a target and fire.

The small number of Mechas provided were merely a precaution against unexpected situations, such as an extra-large Kisslip Tree Armadillo silently wandering from the inner reaches of the habitat to the outskirts. A Mecha would be needed to deal with that.

In other words, although such incidents were rare, they weren't unheard of.

At that thought, Qin Su glanced at the water, which looked eerie any way he looked at it, and didn't dare pray at all.

He had learned his lesson. He was afraid that the more he prayed against something, the more likely it was to happen.

[Huh?]

[Does Baby One mean... he's waiting online for a f-fated person?]

[To tell you the truth, that fated person is right here!]

[Wait for me, Baby Su! I'll catch a flight over right now!]

[Wait, Big Shot One! The spaceship for a spatial jump is being built, it's being built! (sweating buckets)]

Qin Su, who was striking a pose with a cold expression and couldn't speak, communicated with the system through his Optical Brain:

[Use my "cold and heartless" voice to let everyone aboard the warship Qiao Yue is piloting, except Anthony, hear what I just told Sophia and the other three about adjusting their parameters.]

The food had already been brought to their mouths. Whether they ate it was up to them.

[O98K!]

Qin Su said, "..."

What had the system been watching? How had it suddenly become so trendy?

A large Mecha wasn't much different from the warship's underwater shells used to stir them up when facing agile Kisslip Tree Armadillos with small target areas.

The bigger the commotion Anthony made with the Mecha, the more Kisslip Tree Armadillos would be stirred up.

Once they adjusted their settings according to his parameters, the more people competed for kills, the fewer Anthony would get.

Qiao Yue, piloting the warship behind Anthony's Mecha, suddenly heard Qin Su's familiar, icy voice giving orders over the team channel.

The Anthony Team members: "!"

W-were they hearing things?

In an instant, the Anthony Team members looked at one another.

One person hearing it could have been an auditory hallucination, but an entire group had heard it together, and they could see the disbelief in one another's eyes. That made it real.

They hadn't been hearing things.

But...

Why hadn't Anthony, their captain, reacted at all? Given how relentlessly he had pursued Qin Su, he definitely wouldn't have been able to sit still if he'd heard Qin Su's voice just now.

Everyone turned to their deputy captain, Qiao Yue.

Qiao Yue tentatively asked Anthony over the channel, "Captain, may I ask... did you hear anything just now?"

Piloting a large Mecha like this placed certain demands on one's mental strength, and Anthony couldn't spare his attention. He asked in confusion, "What sound?"

Qiao Yue said, "...Nothing."

The Anthony Team members: "..."

Good. That confirmed it. They had all heard Qin Su's voice, but their captain alone hadn't.

They didn't know how Qin Su could speak on their team channel while excluding Anthony alone, but that wasn't important.

What mattered was that they firmly believed Qin Su never did anything pointless.

With Anthony as captain and holding absolute control over the communications channel, everyone tacitly kept quiet and adjusted their helmets' visual parameters according to Qin Su's earlier instructions.

They had seen with their own eyes how Qin Su looked after Sophia and the other three in the first battle. Who wouldn't envy them?

They could judge for themselves who the real captain should be.

The wait was a little long. Just as Zhong Lin and the other three grew more and more impatient, they saw the familiar Mecha drawing closer to their position.

The four said, "?"

Wait, they'd claimed this spot. Was Anthony blind?

He's here.

Seeing Z-X307 come into view, Qin Su narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was a full fifteen seconds slower than Qin Su had estimated. Clearly, Anthony was... even worse than he had expected.

As Anthony stopped where their warship had first hovered, Jeffrey frowned. "What's he playing at? Is he trying to compete with us?"

Sheng Shuang rubbed their hands together. "Captain, are we fighting him for it?"

They were no longer who they had been at the start, and were confident they could drive Anthony away.

Qin Su said mildly, "No need."

Sheng Shuang dropped their hands at once. "Yes, Captain! Understood, Captain!"

The corners of Qin Su's lips curved up slightly inside his protective helmet. "He's the one we've been waiting for."

Huh?

The four began to question everything. They instinctively wondered what they had done inadequately to let Anthony "come from behind and overtake them."

[So that means... Anthony is the one Qin Su was waiting for.]

[Did I miss something? When did Anthony catch our Baby One's eye?]

Just as the four were utterly baffled, Anthony's voice came through. "Sorry, Qin Su, looks like we picked the same spot."

The Anthony Team members: "..."

Seeing Qin Su, they couldn't help recalling how he had told them to adjust their helmets' visual parameters not long ago. They gazed at him eagerly, paying no attention to whatever Anthony was barking about.

"..."

How high-sounding of him. Qin Su mocked Anthony inwardly but said nothing, maintaining his cold facade.

Anthony had carefully prepared his words on the way here, but Qin Su was unmoved and showed no intention of even acknowledging him. It was like punching cotton, and Anthony cursed up a storm inwardly.

Nevertheless, he had to keep up the polite talk. "But it looks like you haven't started yet either, so I suppose this spot doesn't count as yours, does it? And look, I accidentally took the best attack position again. It's not easy to move, Captain Qin, so could you do me a favor?"

With Qin Su's self-important personality, how could he possibly do him a favor? That would make for a proper contrast.

When the time came, their classmates could open their eyes wide and see for themselves that a few blasts from his Mecha were much more powerful than several bursts from Qin Su, and naturally made a grander spectacle.

If he made Qin Su lose face, A-Yuan would surely be happy to hear about it.

The more Anthony thought about it, the less he could suppress the smugness in his voice. "Of course, our whole team has no intention of..."

The Anthony Team: "..."

Sorry, but there was no one behind Captain Anthony at that moment.

Qin Su had heard enough nonsense, and there had been no surprises. He coldly cut off Anthony's endless chatter. "Suit yourself."

"...Our team..." Anthony hadn't even finished the carefully prepared speech he'd rehearsed when Qin Su suddenly interrupted him in a cold voice—and told him to suit himself. Anthony said, "?"

Why was this different from what he'd imagined? It wasn't just different; it was the exact opposite.

Qin Su's unexpected words completely disrupted Anthony's plan, leaving him momentarily at a loss.

The Team 1 members: "?"

Qin Su... they'd forgotten the rest, but in any case, he must have had his reasons!

[When things are this abnormal, something's definitely up!]

[Oh my god, he told Anthony's teammates to use the same parameters as his own team, waited for Anthony, and now he's even yielding the spot he claimed first. Isn't he spoiling him a little too much?]

[Who wouldn't say Anthony is blessed?]

[Could it be that Anthony just likes Anthony's unruly attitude?]

Qin Su, however, wouldn't give Anthony much time to think. He went straight to taunting him.

"Still got a problem?"

As he spoke coldly, Qin Su raised his tone slightly, making his words sound disdainful and mocking, deliberately provoking Anthony.

Sure enough, the next second, he heard the answer he wanted.

"Qiao Yue! Get ready, fire them all!" Anthony ordered.

Who cared why Qin Su had yielded? He'd yielded but still hadn't left. If he liked watching so much, Anthony would let him watch.

The warship Anthony had chosen was second in size only to He Muzhi's. The Broadleaf Lotuses here were not only large but densely packed, and Qiao Yue couldn't imagine how many Kisslip Tree Armadillos would be stirred up if she fired all the warship's underwater shells at once, as Qin Su had.

Qiao Yue said, "Captain, this..."

Qin Su's indifferent gaze was like a thorn, making Anthony inexplicably irritable. Unable to vent his anger on Qin Su, he took it out on his own teammate. "Shut up! Have you forgotten what I said at the start? Are you the captain, or am I? Do as I say!"

Qiao Yue: "...Okay."

Anthony, the copycat, repeated almost word for word what Qin Su had said to Sophia and the other three.

"Once you've fired, leave the area immediately. Don't get in the way," Anthony added, not forgetting to give an order.

He couldn't afford the consequences of accidentally injuring a classmate. These people could die at the bugs' hands, but not at his.

Qiao Yue piloted the warship overhead. As all the gun barrels on its underside activated, she aimed for her escape route—

The location of Qin Su's warship.

Although she didn't know why Qin Su had told them to adjust their helmet display settings, being near him was sure to be safer than being near Anthony.

Even if Qin Su didn't want them as teammates.

Qin Su wasn't surprised when Qiao Yue looked in his direction. From the moment he had asked the system to "broadcast" his words, he had anticipated that the members of the "Anthony Team" would lean toward him.

Sure enough, offering help at the right moment earns more gratitude than choosing everyone from the start.

Having planned her route, Qiao Yue took a deep breath and gave the command to fire.

Boom, boom, boom...

The instant the water-entry bombs left the barrels, Qiao Yue piloted the warship away as fast as she could.

Hearing the shells fire, Anthony stared fixedly at the spot where they would hit the water, his blood flowing faster.

The exciting moment of his life was about to arrive!

After the explosions, the sound of water rang out, accompanied by the shrill, wild screeches of the provoked Kisslip Tree Armadillos.

Amid the foul water splashing high into the air, Kisslip Tree Armadillos half the size of a person and as large as a person shot upward.

He caught sight of the weapon ports on either side of the Mecha's shoulders, as well as those on its hands, head, and legs, activating and charging up.

One second before they fired, Qin Su sharply ordered over the team's communication channel, "Keep your eyes on them. If possible, don't let a single one get away."

As Qin Su's words fell, the Particle Pulse Cannon, wreathed in blinding light, fired at the Kisslip Tree Armadillos leaping out of the water...

The Kisslip Tree Armadillos scattered in the dazzling light.

"!"

Keep their eyes on what?

The four, who had been waiting to watch Anthony in action, were startled by the sudden order. After a brief moment of surprise and confusion, they replied in unison, "Roger!"

Their voices were completely drowned out by the sound of the Particle Pulse Cannon firing.

Qin Su had already begun killing.

To demonstrate his exceptional strength, whenever he came across guns that could easily and elegantly be raised and fired in each hand, he quietly switched to "dual guns" mode from time to time.

With the dazzling light as a "backdrop," the Kisslip Tree Armadillos, their shapes outlined and their hideous faces no longer visible to the naked human eye, were much easier to kill.

Thanks to nature... and Anthony's gift.

In an instant, the four could clearly see the Kisslip Tree Armadillos within their field of vision, outlined by the light of the Particle Pulse Cannon's attack, and their captain, who had already begun killing.

"!!!"

At that moment, everything made sense!

Whether it was his sudden choice of this area with its excessively dense Kisslip Tree Armadillo population, his instruction to adjust their helmet display settings, or his sudden decision to give the spot to Anthony...

Qin Su really never did anything without a reason!

The four understood in an instant. Keeping Qin Su's order firmly in mind, they followed him and switched to combat mode as fast as they could.

Although they didn't know how their captain had worked the miracle of predicting Anthony would "pick a fight," he had practically fed them the food himself. How could they do right by him if they didn't stuff themselves?

Qiao Yue was leading a warship full of people, rushing at full speed toward Qin Su's position.

When the light from the Z-X307 Particle Pulse Cannon firing flashed behind her, she saw Jeffrey and the other three, led by Qin Su, quickly enter combat mode.

Qiao Yue: "?"

How could handheld weapons possibly snatch kills from Anthony's Mecha bombardment? Were they finishing the bugs off to "steal kills"? No, that rapid shooting without a second's pause couldn't possibly be just finishing them off to steal kills...

Before she could finish the thought, Qiao Yue turned the warship around.

Turning around, Qiao Yue saw countless Kisslip Tree Armadillos within her field of vision, leaping and pouncing toward them in the white light. Their outlined forms looked unusually conspicuous and comical, their terrifying, hideous faces no longer visible at all...

"!!!"

Qiao Yue's eyes widened.

They—they could do that?!

The other members of the Anthony Team, who had also adjusted their helmet display settings according to Qin Su's instructions, witnessed it all as well.

As if struck by a sudden revelation, they all understood at that moment exactly what Qin Su had planned for them. They also finally understood why the team led by Qin Su could shoot so rapidly without batting an eye.

Under the Particle Pulse Cannon's fierce impact, even the fastest Kisslip Tree Armadillos were burned as they fled, making them slower than when they were healthy. Weren't they naturally easier to kill?

From this moment on, they wouldn't allow anyone to defy Qin Su again!

With excited hearts and trembling hands, the members of the Anthony Team resisted the urge to kowtow to Qin Su, quickly got themselves ready, and joined this exhilarating "feast," being fed by a big shot.