July 30.
Li Fei, who had just finished practicing his saber technique, walked out of the Practice Building and saw Lu Changwu waiting ahead.
Ever since the attack, Lu Changwu had grown even friendlier toward him. He had learned from Li Lei that the other man's father had contributed during the attack, so he treated Lu Changwu well too.
However, Li Fei was busy training every day and had little time to spend with Lu Changwu. Thus, the two only occasionally greeted each other and exchanged a few words when they happened to meet.
Lu Changwu had deliberately waited here today, so he clearly had something to discuss.
"Xiao Fei."
"Brother Lu."
"The monthly exam is tomorrow. I came to discuss a strategy with you."
Lu Changwu spoke.
Li Fei cupped his fists. "Please enlighten me, Brother Lu."
Lu Changwu smiled and waved his hand. "Xiao Fei, you're just too polite. There's no need to call it enlightenment. We're simply joining forces to get through this ordeal."
"There are currently eighty-three Rank A Students at Xing City Military Academy, including you. Every monthly exam, these dozens of Rank A Students are divided into ten groups, with the top ten from the previous monthly exam each entering a different group. After that, there are round-robin matches within each group. The person ranked first advances and becomes one of the new top ten in the monthly exam. Only then do the ten qualifiers fight among themselves to determine their rankings."
Lu Changwu briefly introduced the rules of the monthly exam to Li Fei.
"Most of these eighty-three Rank A Students have been subdued by the Tiger Sabre Gang through threats and inducements. So people like us who want to place in the monthly exam will run into obstacles no matter which group we're assigned to. When these obstacles encounter us, they'll fight with all their might and wear us down as much as possible. But when they face people from the Tiger Sabre Gang, they'll deliberately hold back and let them win easily. As a result, it's extremely difficult for our people to qualify from their groups, and the top ten in the monthly exam are almost always members of the Tiger Sabre Gang."
Li Fei nodded. "Then what do you want me to do, Brother Lu?"
Lu Changwu looked at him. "You're Mr. Hao Yi's student, and everyone knows what you're capable of. So tomorrow, if you're assigned to the same group as the children of our Cessation of Hostilities Bureau, they'll do everything they can to help you qualify!"
"Hm?"
Li Fei was stunned. He had never expected this outcome. "If everyone helps me qualify, what will they do themselves?"
Lu Changwu smiled. "I'll be frank. Among us, there really aren't many who have a chance of entering the top ten in the monthly exam. So instead of spreading our strength thin, we might as well concentrate it on helping the few with the best chances secure a ranking. Of course, once it's done, we'll naturally show our appreciation to the brothers who helped. We can't let them toil for nothing."
Li Fei understood now.
Although he had not asked, he knew that the few Cessation of Hostilities Bureau offspring Lu Changwu mentioned as having a chance to enter the top ten were definitely the children of squadron leaders.
Judging by their methods, Lu Changwu and the others were actually no different in essence from the Tiger Sabre Gang. The only difference was that they stood on opposite sides.
Li Fei guessed that if he did not have a Special Grade Instructor as his teacher and had not displayed extraordinary strength during the Graduation Grand Exam and the previous attack, his priority as the son of a Cessation of Hostilities Bureau squadron leader might have ranked below the others. He would not have received the treatment he was getting now, where everyone would do their utmost to help him qualify as long as he was not in the same group as Lu Changwu.
"All right. Thank you for arranging this, Brother Lu."
Li Fei thanked Lu Changwu.
Although he felt he had a chance of entering the top ten even without anyone's help, there was no need to refuse Lu Changwu's goodwill. After all, he had to take Li Lei into consideration.
That evening, when Li Fei returned home, Hao Yi entered a large conference room.
At that moment, everyone seated in the conference room was a high-ranking figure from Xing City Military Academy:
Two vice hall masters, five Special Grade Instructors, the director of the Academic Affairs Office, the director of the Materials Office, and the director of the Implant Administration Office.
"Everyone's here. We can begin."
After waiting for Hao Yi to sit down, one of the vice hall masters seated in the center spoke.
He handed a document to the person beside him and motioned for it to be passed around. "The Cessation of Hostilities Bureau issued this document to us today. Everyone, take a look."
The Great Blue Dynasty's court was mainly composed of the cabinet and the Military Affairs Department. The cabinet consisted of the Internal Affairs Pavilion, Judicial Pavilion, Overseeing Pavilion, Supervisory Pavilion, Cessation of Hostilities Pavilion, and Rectification Law Pavilion—the six pavilions—while the Military Affairs Department was responsible for all military affairs and military operations.
Once these institutions were spread across the various regions, the cabinet became the Six Bureaus. The Military Affairs Department existed only in the border regions. In a city like Xingcheng, the political structure was made up of the Six Bureaus.
Xing City Military Academy was managed by the local Cessation of Hostilities Bureau, and the academy had to carry out any orders issued by the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau.
"Take a look while I explain."
The vice hall master in the center continued, "Most of the students who graduate from our Military Academy eventually join the army. Some cabinet ministers believe that the Military Academy should focus more on developing students' real-combat abilities and increasing their practical experience. That way, they'll adapt more quickly after entering the army.
"This proposal ultimately passed the cabinet's resolution, and an official order was issued. The Cessation of Hostilities Bureaus in each region are to relay the order to the Military Academies there, requiring us to change our current assessment methods."
"Vice Hall Master Wang, how exactly are we supposed to change them?"
A Special Grade Instructor asked.
Vice Hall Master Wang looked at him. "Specifically, our students will participate in the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau's and Overseeing Bureau's external operations in the future. Their assessments will be based on their performance during those operations, completing their evaluations that way."
The Overseeing Bureau was responsible for public security in a region, while the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau specifically handled incidents related to martial artists. If martial artists were involved in serious crimes, or if martial-world figures caused trouble, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau would handle it.
Having Military Academy students participate in the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau's and Overseeing Bureau's external operations meant truly taking part in real combat.
"But the monthly exam is tomorrow. Isn't it too late to make changes now?"
Someone else asked.
Vice Hall Master Wang glanced at the director of the Academic Affairs Office beside him. The director nodded and passed around another document. "This is a classified document from the Xingcheng Cessation of Hostilities Bureau. The location of the Tranquil God Sect's headquarters, which had been lurking in Xingcheng for more than a year, has been uncovered. Tomorrow, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau will take the lead, with the Overseeing Bureau providing assistance, in a joint operation to wipe out the Tranquil God Sect in one fell swoop!
"To comply with the order issued by the Military Affairs Department, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau requires us to have all Rank A Students participate in this encirclement operation. This operation will replace the Rank A Students' monthly exam."
"This..."
"An operation like this will certainly be dangerous. What if the students don't want to participate?"
"Of course, it must be voluntary. We won't force the students to do anything."
Vice Hall Master Wang's eyes were deep as he said calmly, "Of course, if they refuse to participate, they naturally won't receive a score for this monthly exam."
Everyone present fell silent.
If future monthly exams followed rules like these, then students who refused to participate in similar operations would never receive monthly exam scores again.
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