Chapter 51
But all military schools belong to the Federation, so it's all the same everywhere. Where can they really find the perfect school they've always dreamed of?
Moreover...
He was unwilling to attend an ordinary school.
He's standing so low now, so low that he doesn't even deserve to be seen, that it seems he has no other way to change things except to accept it.
To change all of this, what he needs to do is not to ignore it and leave, but... to stand in a higher position.
--
On June 7th, 9205, Qin Su, whose body had recovered enough to walk normally but not to engage in strenuous exercise, returned to the Comic World the day before the settlement and commendation meeting that was routinely held after each practical battle, as indicated in the enrollment handbook.
After observing the different reactions of the schools, citizens, and Federation officials in the Comic World to his 'death,' Qin Su spent a few minutes of his Life Points to exchange for 24 one-time power-off items from the system.
Tomorrow he will be 'resurrected' at the settlement and commendation ceremony where all the freshmen of the Class of 26 gather.
On the day before the 'resurrection,' in order to ensure that the people of the Fourth Military Academy would never forget him, it was time to give them a little more trouble, to make them 'itch but can't scratch,' and to drive them to a mental breakdown.
The item exchange was successful. Based on the map he had obtained from the system long ago, Qin Su precisely selected the Fourth Military Academy and important Federation office locations, and initiated the first hour of targeted 'power-off'.
Hacking into StarNet... that's too much trouble.
The most sophisticated business battles are often simple, straightforward, and require little thought.
Qin Su knew, of course, that they could use the backup power, but it didn't matter; his goal wasn't to completely cut off their power.
Instead, they planned to "pull the switch" every hour, at any time, 24 hours before his appearance. This seemingly harmless tactic would create the impression that the "Qin Family" was in the shadows while they were in the open, deliberately fooling them with this little trick, so that they wouldn't find the "Qin Family's" arrogance and domineering nature.
This has caused anxiety in the Federation.
In plain terms: it's sarcasm.
Even though he's the only one in the 'Qin Family' in the Comic World.
He couldn't go too far and cause irreparable damage. He still needed the compensation gifts from the Federation, and he needed to stay at the Fourth Military School, where the Protagonist Group were, to continue riding on their popularity and getting screen time without having to exchange Life Points for it.
That province should save money and spend it wisely.
After arbitrarily setting the remaining 23 hours of the 'shutdown' time, Qin Su returned to the Real World.
Given the public opinion on StarNet, the attitude of the freshmen at the Fourth Military Academy towards him, and the procedures of the settlement meeting, it is highly likely that everyone will spontaneously attend dressed in black.
He also needs to prepare a black outfit.
This is out of respect for the lives lost.
Following the high-standard funeral rites of the Comic World, he had to prepare pure black soil for each deceased person and place it beside them, as a beautiful wish for the deceased to 'rest in peace'.
The dead cannot be brought back to life. He was not powerful enough to stop everyone from dying; this was the only thing he could do for them.
Having created a minor disturbance, Qin Su quietly departed.
At that moment, the power outage instantly covered all the areas that Qin Su had 'blacked out'.
The Federation headquarters, shaped like a crescent moon and arranged in neat rows, was holding an interplanetary conference when suddenly, the entire conference hall went completely dark, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
Although the darkness lasted less than three seconds before the backup power automatically activated and the lights returned, this once-in-a-century scene still left the personnel stationed on other planets attending the meeting momentarily stunned.
Because they discovered that the same thing had just happened in their location, just like at Federation headquarters.
The StarNet reconnected, and the participants on various planets saw the obvious surprise on their colleagues' faces. After recovering, they began to discuss the situation.
What just happened?
"This indicates a power outage?!"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Exactly, how could they possibly cut off power to so many of our planets all at once?"
Before long, everyone saw the notification received on their Optical Brain, and the expressions on their faces were quite varied.
"It is indeed a power outage."
"It's only our office that's experiencing a power outage; the rest of the area is completely unaffected."
"..."
Upon learning the truth, the attendees, whose identities were scattered across various planets, fell into a deathly silence in the conference room.
After a long pause, someone spoke up again, "There's a traitor."
This statement was echoed by the majority of people, who immediately expressed their righteous indignation. "Investigate! We must investigate! Find this traitor!"
"What kind of mole would only do something as trivial as a power outage? That's really strange."
In short, the meeting room fell silent once again.
They were completely baffled, but the investigation did not stop there.
The power outage was just a minor incident and wouldn't affect anything; the meeting continued.
However, an hour later, another power outage struck, affecting everyone's Optical Brain. The outage was limited to Federation offices on various planets and the Fourth Military Academy.
Attendees: "?"
Provocation, blatant provocation!
The third power outage, everyone. "??"
That's outrageous! Do they even respect the Federation?
The fourth power outage left everyone speechless.
This is utterly disgraceful to the entire Federation!
The fifth power outage, everyone. "!!"
When will we finally get the results?! They can't take it anymore!
The sixth time, everyone. "..."
They certainly have the right to be arrogant.
For the seventh time, thinking of the recent uproar surrounding the 'Qin Su' incident, everyone thought, "..."
Is it the Qin Family?
The eighth time.
"..."
What does the Qin Family mean by this?
The ninth time.
"..."
It's not the Qin Family; they're all retiring on the spot!
The tenth time.
"..."
As expected of the Qin Family.
The 24th power outage. Everyone: "..."
I'm tired of this. Maybe we should just destroy it.
For a full 24 hours, it would suddenly go out and light up intermittently once an hour.
Such incidents occurred continuously within the Federation jurisdiction, tormenting their mental well-being.
Those who made the decision against Qin Su are being dragged out and 'whipped' again.
Those who were 'whipped off' also wanted to die. From the day they were threatened with suspension, they had already discussed various compensation plans for the Qin Family, just waiting for the Qin Family to contact them.
But as time went by, the Qin Family completely disregarded the Federation's reputation and continued to spread the 'Qin Su Incident' to the public, repeatedly subjecting them to criticism.
Now, a new round of provocations has begun, this time directly targeting the enemy at point-blank range.
Who knows what they might do next? They can only increase the compensation on top of what was originally offered.
And they leaked the news, hoping the Qin Family would be satisfied.
On the StarNet, there are countless reports of widespread power outages targeting Federation offices located on various planets.
[To put it simply, looking from my house, I saw the entire magnificent, dreamlike, crescent-shaped Federation Building, suspended at the very top, suddenly go completely black out. It wasn't a power outage, I'd bark like a dog.]
[It's 2025 already, and there's still a power outage? And at Federation office? Are you kidding me? Are you okay?]
Power outages are something that only happen on other underdeveloped planets, such as the Viterlta Planet, which has recently become popular because of Qin Su.
While Icrius's technological level isn't far ahead, it's still among the more advanced planets; otherwise, a military school wouldn't have been established there.
[Just kidding, see for yourself (image. jpg)(GIF. gif)]
[Everyone, think back to the recent uproar about the Qin Su incident at the Viterra Tower 5285 Jump Point that just won't be deleted. Given the Federation's past practices, they would have tried their best to cover up this kind of 'family scandal,' but this time they couldn't hide it anymore, and now it's even directly targeting the Federation. It must be the Qin Family.]
[We've encountered something that happens only once every few centuries. Without a backup power source, that giant sphere will plummet to the ground (image. jpg)]
[Isn't the Qin Family and Qin Su right to target the Federation so openly?]
[You'd be more obedient if you let your family sit on the giant Buddha statue, and then you'd be waiting to die. Besides, it wasn't targeting ordinary citizens, only the Federation; they were very restrained.]
Imagine this: a family meticulously cultivates its most promising talents, sending them to the Federation to broaden their life experience. Who knows, because they are too responsible and selfless, they lose their lives due to targeting by certain people in the Federation? Wouldn't any family go crazy in that situation?
[I clicked it hard. I've watched the entire video so many times. Whether the Qin Family was wrong or not, whether Qin Su was wrong or not, how could I not know?]
[Damn it, the moment I think of Qin Su, I know he can't be the one in the wrong, so it's pretty obvious who's at fault, right?]
[Support, Federation is bad, Qin Su is good]
I get so touched every time I think about it.
--
On June 8th, just as the few remaining high-ranking officers of the Fourth Military Academy, who had confirmed they were indeed being targeted, were starting to go bald, the annual settlement and commendation meeting was about to begin.
This is the time for the senior students to put their skills to the test; basically, only the freshmen from the Class of 26 remain on campus.
What should have been an awards ceremony to recognize the 'MVP' was instead turned somber and depressing due to the Qin Su incident.
The new students could not imagine that while they were selflessly sacrificing their lives for the safety of the citizens and fighting against the Zerg on the front lines, they might also have to endure scheming from behind.
With half an hour to go before the settlement and commendation meeting starts at 2 PM, Lailisi and the other two should go to the Train carriage where He Muzhi's dormitory is located and wait for him.
He Muzhi entered the carriage and saw that Samuel and the other two were dressed in black, exactly like him. His Adam's apple bobbed. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything for a moment. He could only walk over to the three of them and whisper, "Let's go."
"Um."
The three responded in unison.
They also saw the video, but the shock and emotions they felt were far less than those of the Class 6 people who were present at the scene. They could completely understand He Muzhi's current emotional state.
Upon arriving at the settlement and commendation ceremony venue, the Class of 26 graduating class swiped their Identity ID on a device to receive specially preserved old-style guns before entering.
This is a traditional form of mourning, involving firing a gun in remembrance of the students who died in the previous combat exercise, before each combat settlement.
Each class had a designated area, and the four students separated in unison after entering.
Raymond arrived early and sat in the second row. When the other students from Class 6 arrived at the Class 6 area, they all tacitly gave up their seats in the first row, just like Raymond.
That was Qin Su's usual spot.
He Muzhi sat down next to Raymond, and they were only an aisle away from Class 7 next door.
He Wenyuan at He Muzhi's seat, then whispered a combination of threats and inducements to get his classmates to switch seats so they could be closer to He Muzhi.
The silence of the entire Class 6) made the chatter of the Class 7) all the more noticeable.
"It's such a pity..."
"Who can argue with that? It's a pity our voices have no effect on those above. If only someone powerful could speak out."
"I wouldn't dare. If I were to repeat Qin Su's mistake, I'd be in real trouble. This world is disgusting."
Even in the most disgusting world, there are always hopeful leaders like Qin Su.
Amidst these discussions, Anthony walked to the (Class 6 area. When he passed by (Class 7, he saw He Wenyuan sitting on the edge, closest to He Muzhi. Instead of sticking to him as before, Anthony frowned and found a place as far away from He Wenyuan as possible.
Seeing Anthony's obvious disgust, He Wenyuan didn't even bother to give him a glance. He just listened to everyone's 'mourning' for Qin Su, and couldn't help but smile with schadenfreude.
He didn't care about Anthony's attitude towards him at all. Qin Su was already gone, so why should he care about Anthony?
"I heard that the Federation has further increased and upgraded the compensation offered to the Qin Family. The Qin Family has only been controlling public opinion and hasn't contacted the Federation. What does this mean? Are they dissatisfied?"
"Perhaps, but... is it possible that Qin Su didn't die? So the Qin Family is just using these things to annoy the Federation, to send a warning? Waiting for Qin Su, the person directly involved, to personally receive the Federation's compensation, a blatant act of sarcasm?"
Oh.
Hearing these words, He Wenyuan sneered inwardly.
These idiots with completely underdeveloped cerebellums, how could they possibly survive an explosion of that magnitude? It's utterly delusional.
Though harboring resentment, He Wenyuan didn't show it on his face. He even wore the same black outfit as his classmates, as he didn't want to become the target of everyone's criticism at this critical juncture.
However, his clothes were covered with flame-like flowers in a subtle pattern, to express his joyful mood at the moment.
At 2:00 PM sharp, the conference officially commenced.
The students who died in this battle have all been cremated and their ashes placed in black urns, arranged one by one at the front.
"Before the first practical settlement of the Class of 26 begins, let us, with heavy hearts, offer our sincerest condolences to all the students who sacrificed their lives."
The sound ended, and a simulated light, damp rain began to fall.
Inside the open-air venue, everyone, from teachers to students, was dressed in black. They all stood up and focused their gaze on the urn containing ashes, creating a solemn and somber atmosphere.
After the ceremony, the school will hand over the ashes to the families of each student who sacrificed their lives. The final form in which the ashes are preserved will depend on the wishes of the students' families.
Because of their long lifespan, most families of students who have died in the line of duty choose to have their ashes made into necklaces, rings, or amulets and give them to the deceased's closest family members to carry with them. Very few people simply preserve them as ashes.
Families with good financial means will spend money to buy unpolluted soil, and mix a little bit of ashes into it, as a way of expressing their hope that their family members will rest in peace.
Of the 118 classes in the Class of 26, even if the insects assigned to them in their first real-world battle weren't strong, there were still 276 urns ahead of them.
Among them, Class 6) had the fewest casualties, with only one person sacrificing their life.
Unfortunately, this one was Qin Su. Only Qin Su's remains were lost, his urn was empty, and he didn't even have the chance to be laid to rest.
[The strongest person, in the end, didn't even have ashes left, sob sob sob, it's so heartbreaking]
[No, no, no, I refuse to believe this must all be a dream]
[I swear I won't believe the Boss 1 is really gone until the Qin Family holds a funeral]
After three seconds of silence, the somber voice rang out again:
"Raise your gun."
Everyone simultaneously raised their hands, their slightly damp black pistols pointing skyward.
"Shooting."
Bang bang bang...
Gunshots rang out one after another within five seconds.
"Put your guns away." As the last shot rang out, everyone followed the order and put their weapons away.
"Knot..."
As the simple funeral held by the school for the fallen students came to an end, before the Principal's voice had even faded, a cold voice rang out from behind everyone in the silence.
"Etc."
Qin Su exchanged his information at the designated landing location, his dark eyes calmly fixed on the spot where the urn was placed.
The sudden sound startled everyone present, especially the students of Class (Class 6), who were relatively more familiar with Qin Su the students of other classes.
Just two words, and that familiar, unique, and unmistakably cold tone...
'Is that Qin Su?!'
These two words flashed through the minds of the students in Class 6).
Were they... hallucinating?
If the students with their backs to Qin Su were still wondering if they had misheard, the Principal, facing the students, was visibly shocked and wondered if he had misheard.
Otherwise...
Qin Su, who should have been reduced to dust in that massive explosion, why is he standing before us?!
Is this some kind of ghost?!
On the Comic Update page, a tall, imposing young man in a solemn black suit stands behind the crowd, carrying a black box of unknown contents in one hand and a black pistol in the other. His expression is cold and stern, and his dark eyes are fixed on the black urns of ashes suspended in front of them.
After witnessing this unbelievable scene, the live chat exploded with comments, densely packed and obscuring the view itself.
[I knew it! (choking up)]
[(Completely insane, oblivious to the world, only seeing the Boss 1 in my eyes) Ahhh, crying uncontrollably while going completely mad, this scene deserves to be hailed as divine!]
[Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit (infinite loop)]
Is it because I miss you so much?!
[I dare not blink, hoping it's not all an illusion, sob sob, 1 really works]
[Welcome back, our King!]
[Please don't let this be just a dream of the main character, or I'll really go crazy.]
[It's obvious that the manga author resurrected him because the new character was so popular.]
[Who said this comic is trash? This comic is so good, I'll love it forever just for that resurrection!]
[So what? It's your fault for not being a good cook~]
[How did Qin Su manage to survive a seemingly hopeless situation?!]
[No wonder the Qin Family remained unmoved; the guess on the Forum was correct— Qin Su really wasn't dead. That's why the Qin Family didn't break off relations but only issued a warning.]
[What did they bring? It's not like they're going to bomb the school, is it?]
[Regardless of what was mentioned, the Principal was already trembling with fear upon seeing Qin Su resurrected and walking towards him.]
Before everyone present could recover from their stunned silence, Qin Su took a step forward and secretly used a Cold Blast Bomb.
As Qin Su strode forward, his tall figure gradually came into view, and an invisible, icy aura swept over them.
"!!!"
This aura, this presence... it really is Qin Su the real person, or not just his soul?!
Just when they all thought Qin Su was dead, Qin Su appeared alive and well before their eyes.
At this scene, some people rubbed their eyes, some stared wide-eyed, and some secretly pinched their arms to try and determine if they were dreaming...
Those who were doing all this, each with their own thoughts, unconsciously softened their breathing, afraid of waking up from this illusion.
He Wenyuan habitually puts his fingers in his mouth and chews on them due to excessive anxiety, suffered cerebellar atrophy and only felt phantom pain in his face.
How... is that possible?
Qin Su is simply... a persistent ghost!
Despite the incredulous gazes of the crowd, Qin Su walked straight to the staff member next to the urn without changing his expression.
The staff member swallowed hard, looking at Qin Su, who was neither human nor ghost, but terrifying regardless, and felt a chill run down his spine.
Qin Su seemed oblivious to the fear in the staff member's eyes. He handed the black suitcase he was carrying to the school staff member with one hand and coldly said, "Thank you for your hard work."
Everyone: "!"
They spoke, and standing in front of them, the possibility of them being 'real people' increased again! Although touching them to check their temperature and physical presence would be the simplest way to confirm, none of them dared to do so.
So... what is Qin Su carrying in his hand?
Suppressing their excitement, the crowd, their noses tingling with emotion, couldn't help but wonder what Qin Su was carrying.
The Fourth Military Academy Principal, who was decisively ignored by Qin Su, said, "..."
Although Qin Su ignored him, why did he feel a sense of relief, as if he had survived a disaster?
"... Okay, okay."
The staff member, feeling both surprised and uncertain, accepted the invitation.
The box was taken from him, and Qin Su turned his gaze away from the staff and onto the 275 urns containing ashes besides his own.
A silent moment of mourning.
The box wasn't locked in any way, as if it contained some dangerous items. Seeing that Qin Su wasn't looking at them, the staff member opened it tremblingly, intimidated by the cold, imposing aura emanating from Qin Su.
Inside, neatly arranged, were rows of small black boxes.
Those who caught a glimpse of this scene. "?"
Amidst the curious gazes of countless onlookers, the staff member swallowed hard and mustered the courage to open one of the boxes, whose quality was exceptionally high, both visually and physically.
Inside is fertile black soil of superior color and extremely high quality, commanding an exorbitant price.
There were 275 such black boxes inside the box.
This corresponds to the 275 students, excluding Qin Su himself, who unfortunately sacrificed their lives in this combat exercise.
Thinking back to how she had suspected Qin Su of trying to kill their staff just seconds earlier, "..."
He judged a gentleman by the standards of a petty person; he truly deserves to die!