When Wei Zitong woke up again, he was already back in the real world. A circle of people surrounded him—his companions from Xiong Bing Lian, along with Jace, Ryze the Wanderer, and Miss.
The first thing he said when he woke was, "Did everyone pass?"
Du Qiangwei's eyes were red-rimmed, Lena's face was dark, Rui Mengmeng was sobbing uncontrollably, and everyone else sighed heavily.
The moment he saw this, Wei Zitong's heart sank halfway.
Sure enough, after Ryze the Wanderer sighed and left with Miss, Jace said with a stern face, "Because of Wei Zitong's death, all areas have been reset. We continue tomorrow!"
"Damn it, Nima, that's not fair!" Zhao Xin jumped to his feet and shouted. "I worked so hard to defeat Zhao Zilong!"
"Yeah, exactly!" Liu Chuang also stood up and protested loudly. "We weren't even on the same team as Zi Tong!"
"You want fairness?" Jace's expression immediately turned ugly as he roared, "Do you still remember what a soldier's mission is?"
"To obey orders!" Du Qiangwei answered loudly, her eyes red. She was the only one who answered.
"Correct!" Jace did not care how many people had answered and continued roaring, "My order is that nobody passes! Nobody! Look at yourselves—what do you all look like? If you hadn't been so obsessed with individual duels and had pushed through together as a team, which map could have stopped you?"
He swept his gaze across the crowd, all of whom had lowered their heads, and continued shouting, "None! You have no sense of the collective, no sense of unity! This is the military, not an arena! What matters here is achieving the objective with maximum efficiency, not letting you play around or settle things in duels!"
Then he looked at Du Qiangwei. "And you, Du Qiangwei! You think you're something special because you come from a military family? You think you can look down on your comrades because your genetic development is higher than theirs? Look at yourself now! Everyone else cleared it except you. Do you understand?"
"I understand!" Du Qiangwei shouted in a trembling voice, tears silently streaming down her face without end.
"So..." Jace stared fiercely at their ashamed faces and cursed loudly, "So you want fairness? Let me tell you, what I say is an order! That is fairness! Do you understand?"
"We understand..." everyone answered dejectedly.
"Louder!" Jace grew furious at their lifeless tone and bellowed, "Do you understand?"
"We understand!" everyone roared in unison.
"Very good!" Jace nodded, his tone easing as he waved a hand. "Everyone's tired today. Go back and get some rest."
After Jace left, everyone gradually dispersed. As they walked out of the Virtual Reality Arena, Du Qiangwei stopped Wei Zitong.
"Take a walk with me," Du Qiangwei said softly.
Wei Zitong hesitated, because Ge Xiaolun was staring at him pitifully from the side. That look was clearly saying, Reject her! Reject her!
Ge Xiaolun had already felt miserable because he had not been the one to shield Du Qiangwei from the damage. Now, seeing her ask Wei Zitong to take a walk alone with her, he felt as though his soul had left his body, his heart hollow and empty.
Lena was much more direct. She hooked her arm around Wei Zitong's and loudly announced, "He is this Goddess's Little White Horse. Did you get this Goddess's permission before asking to walk alone with him?" Her eyes locked directly onto Du Qiangwei, brimming with provocation.
"Um, Qiangwei, how about... I take a walk with you..." Ge Xiaolun finally gathered the courage to speak, but halfway through, Du Qiangwei's icy gaze forced the words back down his throat.
"Come on, Xiaolun..." Zhao Xin wrapped an arm around Ge Xiaolun's shoulders, gave him a pat, and tried to drag him away. But Ge Xiaolun's feet seemed nailed to the ground, utterly unmoving.
"Come on, Xiaolun!" Zhao Xin's tone grew heavier when he found that he could not drag Ge Xiaolun away.
"I'm not leaving!" Ge Xiaolun growled hoarsely.
"What the hell are you staying here for?" For some reason, Zhao Xin felt indignant at Ge Xiaolun's personality and predicament. He snapped, "To be a third wheel or watch them flirt? What good does acting like this do? You're a coward, you know that? If you've got the guts, then fucking confess to her!"
Everyone watched the scene with complicated expressions, but no one said a word.
"Fine!" Ge Xiaolun growled hoarsely again, then turned to Du Qiangwei. But the instant his eyes met hers, the courage he had barely gathered vanished completely. Rubbing his hands together, he stammered, "Th-then, Qiangwei, can I fight side by side with you?"
The moment Zhao Xin saw Ge Xiaolun like that, he could not help covering his forehead. In a flash, he ran far away, deciding to keep some distance from this idiot for the time being so he would not catch any of that stupidity himself.
"When there's a need to fight side by side, you can," Du Qiangwei said flatly.
Ge Xiaolun was overjoyed, feeling that he had taken a crucial step forward. He continued, "Then when we're not fighting, can we..."
"You want to sleep with me?" Du Qiangwei cut him off without the slightest mercy.
"No, no, no, that's not what I meant..." Ge Xiaolun was startled and waved his hands repeatedly.
"If you don't even want to sleep with me, then what the hell are you bothering me for?" Du Qiangwei cut him off again.
"I do, I do..." Ge Xiaolun hurriedly added, regretting it immensely.
"Enough! Go back and rest!" Du Qiangwei said. "What a pointless fuss!" Ignoring the flustered Ge Xiaolun, she headed alone toward the Dormitory Area.
"Qiangwei, I-I, you... wait for me..." Ge Xiaolun stammered as he stepped forward, wanting to follow Du Qiangwei, only to be frozen in place by her sharp shout.
"Don't follow me!" Du Qiangwei turned back coldly, and killing intent unconsciously showed in her eyes.
Everyone was frightened by how abruptly Du Qiangwei could turn hostile. Even Lena, who feared neither heaven nor earth, was shaken by the invisible, biting chill spreading through the air.
"Qiangwei!" Wei Zitong stepped forward, wanting to call out to that graceful figure slowly moving farther away.
"You should go keep your Goddess company. Why are you calling me?" The figure did not turn around, answering without emotion.
Wei Zitong closed his eyes in pain. Ignoring Lena's expectant face, he also left alone, though his direction was slightly different from Du Qiangwei's. He was heading back to the boys' dormitory.
"Let's go, let's go!" After witnessing this scene, everyone felt somewhat downcast. Their usual laughter and joking had disappeared. Even Liu Chuang merely called out twice before jogging after Wei Zitong.
"Hey, you guys... Little White Horse..." Lena stomped her feet anxiously. She completely failed to understand how things had developed like this and had no idea why everything had turned out this way.
Qilin and Rui Mengmeng were equally confused. After watching everyone's reactions for a while, they dragged Lena—who kept cursing, "Stupid horse, dead horse"—toward the girls' Dormitory Area.
Du Qiangwei did not return to her dormitory. Instead, she went to the rooftop where she often trained, leaned against the edge of the terrace, hugged her knees, and sobbed softly.
She would not curse "stupid horse" or "dead horse" like Lena. She only wanted to silently endure this pain, to savor this pain...
But...
It was truly too bitter. She could barely swallow it anymore...
Soldier. Warrior. Lonely. She repeated those three words over and over.
Lover. Beloved. Man. She turned those three words over and over in her mind.
The night wind blew in, scattering her long brown hair. The slightly damp tips brushed over her cheeks, and only then did she realize that her arms, knees, and cheeks felt cold. She must have shed quite a few tears, she thought mockingly. What a weakling!
Gazing at the night sky ablaze with starlight, she softly began to sing. Her voice was mournful and lonely, yet especially moving...
"The dark, dark sky hangs low, the bright, bright stars follow. Little bugs fly, little bugs fly, who are you missing..."
"The stars in the sky shed tears, the roses on the ground wither. The cold wind blows, the cold wind blows, as long as you are by my side..."
"..."
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