Chapter 11

Song Tianqi had probably played a considerable part in ending the fight so quickly this time.

Thinking of it that way, it made sense.

Huang Binhan nodded. "Not bad. Since you finished your mission early, you're dismissed. Go get some rest."

The pleasant surprise came so suddenly.

Song Duoduo immediately clenched her fists in excitement, a trace of pride crossing her face.

Xu Jintang was pleased too. "Perfect. We can head to the cafeteria early."

Song Tianqi clearly hadn't had his fill of fighting. Having finally awakened such a badass ability, he naturally wanted to fight a little longer.

"Aw, that ended way too fast."

Song Duoduo glanced at him. "There'll be plenty of chances to fight later. Don't worry."

As the three climbed out of their simulation pods one after another, another team woke up too.

"Holy shit! That scared me to death. I thought I'd actually died." A male classmate sat up in the neighboring simulation pod, patting his chest in lingering fear.

Xu Jintang turned to look.

Judging by his words, a demonic beast had probably just killed him, ending his time on the simulated battlefield.

Huang Binhan looked over as well. "Take a break, then go back into the arena and continue your mission."

The boy sighed softly. "Okay."

Not long afterward, the boy's two teammates were ejected one after another as well. It looked as though they had all "died" fighting demonic beasts.

"Class monitor, Song Tianqi, you died too?" The three finally noticed Xu Jintang's group beside them.

There were two ways to leave the simulated battlefield early: "die," or complete the assigned mission.

Xu Jintang smiled faintly. "We didn't die to get out."

Song Tianqi and Song Duoduo quickly nodded too, adding proudly, "Right. We didn't die to get out."

Huang Binhan cleared his throat and explained, "Song Tianqi's team has already completed its mission to hunt down a demonic beast, so they're dismissed early. You three still need to keep working."

The other three: "?!"

Hadn't it been less than five minutes??

Under their three classmates' shocked, disbelieving stares, Xu Jintang ostentatiously straightened her clothes, then waved goodbye. "Good luck. We're heading out."

Song Duoduo and Song Tianqi followed her example, waving. "Good luck. We're off."

Huang Binhan turned his gaze toward the other three. "If you've rested enough, get back into the simulation pods and continue your mission."

The three exchanged embarrassed looks and silently lay back down in their simulation pods.

A quarter of an hour later, the lights on another simulation pod in the combat room began flashing. Then Xu Bohan, Yao Wenna, and their teammate woke up one after another.

Huang Binhan glanced at the console's

system

notification. Seeing that the three had been ejected from the arena because they had completed their mission, he looked somewhat pleased. "Not bad. You finished the fight in under ten minutes. You're dismissed early. Go get some rest."

Xu Bohan jumped out of his simulation pod with a seemingly modest smile. "Actually, our coordination wasn't quite good enough this time. Otherwise, we could've cut the fighting time in half."

His team had encountered their first tier-one demonic beast eight minutes after entering the simulated battlefield.

Then they had spent less than ten minutes successfully completing their mission to hunt it down, allowing them to leave the simulated battlefield early.

Yao Wenna jumped out of her simulation pod, her expression proud.

Having hunted down a tier-one demonic beast so quickly, there was no way any other team could surpass their result.

"Teacher, we'll be going now." Xu Bohan said goodbye to Huang Binhan, preparing to lead his team away.

Huang Binhan acknowledged him.

Just as Xu Bohan's group was about to leave, the lights on the simulation pods beside theirs began flashing.

"Our luck was awful. We stumbled straight into a demonic beast lair. More than a dozen demonic beasts attacked us together, and our whole team got wiped out."

Another team had accidentally "died" their way out of the simulated battlefield.

After waking up, the three soon noticed Xu Bohan and Yao Wenna and began exclaiming.

"Xu Bohan, you guys died too?"

Yao Wenna turned and gave them an aloof glance. "We came out because we finished the fight early."

Xu Bohan also smiled faintly and nodded in agreement.

Their teammate scratched his head good-naturedly. "Good luck."

Then the three turned and headed for the door.

"Damn, is Xu Bohan's team that strong? They got out early in less than twenty minutes."

Huang Binhan reminded them expressionlessly, "You haven't finished your mission yet. You need to return to the simulated battlefield and continue."

Only then did the three settle down and hurriedly lie back down.

Inside Dawn Academy's cafeteria.

Carrying her food, Xu Jintang walked through the empty dining hall and picked a seat in the best spot.

There was still half an hour before the second class ended.

There was no one else in the cafeteria at the moment. Xu Jintang's group had the whole place to themselves.

"This is amazing. It's the first time in my life I've gotten out of class early to eat." Unable to hide his excitement at all, Song Tianqi rubbed his hands as he paced around the empty cafeteria.

Song Duoduo sat down across from Xu Jintang with her tray, her posture fairly proper. "All right, sit down and eat."

Song Tianqi cleared his throat and sat in another empty seat. "I'll let Sister Shiyi know and ask her to join us."

Xu Jintang immediately paused her chopsticks and looked up curiously. "Jiang Shiyi?"

"Yeah." At the mention of that name, Song Tianqi, who had been running wild just moments ago, immediately settled down, becoming so well-behaved that he seemed like a different person.

A few seconds later, Song Tianqi's call connected.

"What is it?" Jiang Shiyi's cool voice came from the communicator.

Song Tianqi tried hard to muster a smile. "Sister Shiyi, we got out of class early. Would you like to come eat with us at the cafeteria?"

Although Jiang Shiyi was ostensibly studying here temporarily, given how strong she already was and how little use the academy's instruction was to her, the administration wasn't actually going to regulate whether she attended classes.

Jiang Shiyi didn't want to waste all her time either, so she had simply skipped the afternoon practical combat class.

"Okay. I'll be there in five minutes." After answering, Jiang Shiyi ended the call.

Before long, Jiang Shiyi and Xu Bohan's team of three met at the cafeteria entrance.

All four stopped at the same time.

Yao Wenna reined in her usual arrogance and cautiously sized Jiang Shiyi up.

Everyone knew Jiang Shiyi came from the First Military Academy, and they all felt somewhat wary of her.

Xu Bohan put on a broad smile and took the initiative to greet Jiang Shiyi. "Hello, we're in the same class. I'm Xu Bohan. These two are my teammates, Yao Wenna and Gao Boshan."

Jiang Shiyi remained as cool as ever and acknowledged him. "Mm."

Seeing this, Xu Bohan continued the conversation. "Why didn't you come to practical combat class this afternoon? Teacher Huang took us into the simulated battlefield to practice. It was pretty interesting."

Jiang Shiyi turned and walked into the cafeteria, answering succinctly, "I didn't want to waste time."

To her, none of Dawn Academy's current instruction was of much use. She was better off cultivating on her own.

Xu Bohan didn't know how to respond to that.

Noticing that Jiang Shiyi didn't seem particularly willing to talk, Yao Wenna tugged at Xu Bohan's clothes, signaling him to stop asking.

Xu Bohan swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue, his expression a little awkward.

At Dawn Academy, when he took the initiative to greet someone, no one would ever act so coldly that they wouldn't even say a few words.

This military academy student from Leikedasi really was arrogant.

Chapter 11

Seeing the atmosphere turn stiff, Gao Boshan smiled and smoothed things over. "Shiyi, we won't disturb you any longer, then. We'll go get our food over there. Let's talk another time."

Jiang Shiyi turned to glance at him and nodded. "Mm."

After entering the cafeteria, Jiang Shiyi looked around and soon spotted where Xu Jintang's group was sitting.

She turned and walked toward them.

At that moment, Xu Bohan's group also noticed Xu Jintang and the others.

"Why are they in the cafeteria?" Yao Wenna frowned.

She had thought their team was the only one to finish the combat mission early.

Xu Bohan didn't look too pleased either. Staring at the three, he said, "They probably got lucky and encountered a demonic beast as soon as they entered the simulated battlefield. Besides, they have Song Tianqi. It's normal for them to be a little faster than us."

Yao Wenna gave a defiant sneer. "We didn't encounter a demonic beast until the eighth minute. That delayed us. If we'd encountered one as soon as we entered, we definitely would've been faster than them."

"Forget it. Beating them in the assessment test will be our chance to prove our strength." Xu Bohan patted Yao Wenna's shoulder and comforted her.

"Sister Shiyi, sit here." Song Tianqi spotted Jiang Shiyi from afar and hurriedly waved, patting the empty seat beside him.

Jiang Shiyi walked over and sat in the empty seat.

Xu Jintang greeted her. "We meet again."

Jiang Shiyi nodded in acknowledgment. "Mm. I heard you went to the simulated battlefield for practical combat class this afternoon?"

At the mention of this, pride began surfacing on Song Tianqi's face again. "Yeah. We took down a tier-one Grass Vine Snake in under two minutes."

Jiang Shiyi's gaze swept toward Song Tianqi. "And you're already proud of that? The demonic beasts on the simulated battlefield are all simulated virtual entities. They're rigid in temperament and don't fight back. With the strength of your ability and two teammates supporting you, it's normal to finish it off in two minutes."

Song Duoduo quietly shoveled rice into her mouth beside them, barely speaking.

Xu Jintang picked up a meatball, put it in her mouth, and chewed slowly.

Song Tianqi, who had been hoping for praise, hurriedly shut his mouth too. "You're right, Sister Shiyi."

After eating silently for a while, Xu Jintang looked up and offered a suggestion. "How about we try a tier-two demonic beast next time we enter the simulated battlefield?"

The corners of Song Tianqi's mouth twitched. "A tier-two... demonic beast? Isn't that a little too strong?"

Demonic beasts were inherently stronger than humans of the same tier.