Commander Xu Links into the Channel

Shen Shouli had already regrouped with Liu Zheng and Xu Xiqin. The three of them were wreaking havoc deep in enemy territory, drawing attention to themselves. Even though they'd noticed the encirclement tightening around them, they chose not to break out and escape.

That was exactly the effect they wanted to feed back to Guan Chuanjun.

Meanwhile, Xu Lingqu was keeping a steady distance behind Tang Muwen's right rear, following him.

She'd just had Tang Muwen take her place, then deliberately left a gap for Peng Yue to notice, so she could gauge Peng Yue's reaction.

She thought it over. If she never appeared in Guan Chuanjun's field of view, he'd grow suspicious and start guessing the intent behind her earlier deployment.

Tang Muwen was capable enough and had remarkably low presence; he shouldn't be within Guan Chuanjun's line of sight. Having him do this now would easily lead Guan Chuanjun to assume the person trailing Peng Yue was "Xu Lingqu."

He controlled the distance perfectly. Even if Peng Yue pulled a sudden about-face, she couldn't catch him. The safest way for Guan Chuanjun to grab the "Xu Lingqu" he thought he saw was to send two more people to circle around from behind.

Based on the reconnaissance just now, Guan Chuanjun had deployed everyone from Shaji in that area to follow Peng Yue for the ambush. The people he kept in the rear were limited. If Guan Chuanjun wanted to pull manpower, he'd either have to take them from Shen Shouli's group or dispatch two from his own command point.

Pulling people from Shen Shouli's position meant not only a much longer detour, but also the risk of giving them a chance to break out.

Xu Lingqu stopped, watching coldly from the shadows as two men caught up to Tang Muwen from not far off.

Given their direction and speed, they could only have been sent from Guan Chuanjun's command point, tasked with cutting off the retreat of the "Xu Lingqu" he believed he was tracking.

All she had to do was follow the trail they'd left on their way here to find Guan Chuanjun's command point.

Xu Lingqu put on the comms earpiece she'd removed at the start and reconnected to the channel.

Out on the frontal battlefield, Moye's position had already deteriorated to a miserable state.

The third defense line had fallen under the ferocious artillery barrage, just like the first two—and just like them, not a single person had retreated a step.

The sub-commander of the third line had his leg blown off at the very start of the battle. The system prompted him that if the pain was too much, he could choose to be judged as killed in action and withdraw. But he gritted his teeth and emptied every round he had, until the third line was breached and a Shaji soldier put a bullet through his heart.

Shaji's frontal forces were surging forward, bearing straight down on Moye's command post, where barely a dozen people remained.

Wang Qihu listened to the reports coming back from the front lines over the channel, his head hanging limply. Guan Zhongli tried to comfort him beside him.

"This isn't something we can control."

The culprit, Feng Bu, showed not a shred of shame. The battle had turned this brutal entirely because his command decisions had been abysmal every single time!

All he did was keep complaining that Moye's students were inferior to Shaji's in combat capability—that's why he'd failed so badly.

Lin Xiao grabbed for her pistol. Guan Zhongli hurriedly held her back.

"Let me go. I'll finish him myself, I can't take it anymore!" The ones who'd been lost on the first three defense lines were their classmates, their friends! Even if this was Sky Network's virtual battlefield, there was seventy percent sensory synchronization here. The wounds and blood were felt as real pain!

Not a single Moye student this year had thought of surrendering, fleeing, or stepping back. Yet their commander for this match was lurking behind them so despicably, spitting on everything they'd given. How could Lin Xiao endure that any longer?

In the entire history of the military academy league, no one had ever seen a unit take out its own commander.

Guan Zhongli pressed down on Lin Xiao's hand. This wasn't something she should do. Killing your own commander would leave a permanent stain on your military record. And even if everyone knew perfectly well how far Feng Bu had gone, there would still be countless hypocrites ready to condemn Lin Xiao: no matter what, you shouldn't lay a hand on your own commander!

"Let me take this one. Please." He took the pistol from Lin Xiao's hand.

He chambered a round. When Shaji's people fought their way here, he would personally pull the trigger on Feng Bu. He didn't care about bearing the infamy.

At the command point, everyone saw what they were doing, but no one stopped them—because everyone wanted to do it themselves.

Shaji's forces closed in step by step. The scythe of death was about to swing mercilessly at Moye's students, sending them into yet another bitter defeat in the league, drowned in fury and despair.

But right at that hopeless moment, two voices suddenly sounded in the comms channel.

One was the system notification exclusive to the Chief Commander.

【Moye Military Academy contestant #001, Xu Lingqu, has linked into this channel】

The other voice was—

"Wang Qihu, Lin Xiao, Guan Zhongli—are you all still holding on?"

A calm tone. A cold, crisp voice. It was Xu Lingqu!

Feng Bu's face went pale with shock. He lunged to cut off her access, but Wang Qihu slammed a fist into his gut and planted a foot on him, pinning him down and robbing him of any ability to move.

The dozen or so people who had been sunk in defeat were suddenly injected with energy by that single voice. One after another, they straightened up.

Wang Qihu's voice trembled: "Commander Xu, we're all here."

Xu Lingqu breathed a slight sigh of relief, because in her worst-case scenario, all three of them would have already been eliminated. Finding them all alive was a pleasant surprise—they had the basic capability to control the situation.

She said directly, "But I need you to hold on for five more minutes. If you can last, we'll win."

The dozen or so people blinked and exchanged glances. Did they hear that right?

Win?

They were already at the end of their rope, and Xu Lingqu said she could lead them to victory?!

Feng Bu, crushed under Wang Qihu's foot, had gone completely unhinged. At those words, he screamed, "Win? If we win this match, the Chief Commander position is mine! There's no way you'd actually lead them to victory! You're just a selfish, scheming—"

"My actions aren't under your command. Whether we win or lose has nothing to do with you. The bet I made with your father was to win the match under your command—and everyone can see exactly how you've commanded."

She could easily have watched this match coldly from the sidelines because of her wager with Feng Hui, watching Shaji roll over Moye in a crushing victory without lifting a finger—because Feng Bu deserved it.

But those ordinary Moye students who'd held out with hope, who'd fought tooth and nail—they shouldn't be stripped of their chance to win because of him.

Xu Lingqu paused, then continued, addressing everyone but Feng Bu, "I had a winning plan from the very start, but it wasn't any kind of sure thing. If the front line hadn't held, the plan would've been wasted effort. So it's not me leading you to victory—it's that you chose to win too."

With that, she pulled off her comms earpiece and melted into the wilderness. She could already make out the faint outline of Guan Chuanjun's command point.

Wang Qihu felt a surge of indescribable power well up inside him. He glanced down at Feng Bu under his foot, then looked at the others.

Shaji's forces were closing in. Holding for five more minutes under their fierce assault—if Feng Bu had said that, Wang Qihu would've killed him on the spot. But this was Xu Lingqu saying it.

"Five minutes. Commander Xu said five minutes." Guan Zhongli wasn't actually all that surprised; he'd long suspected Xu Lingqu would appear like a savior.

With trembling hands, he set up the last machine gun, carrying a certain resolve of one who walks toward death, "She said she'd bring us victory, so she absolutely has a way to make us win!"

"She trusts that we can hold the line, so we can't betray that trust. Even if we burn through every last bullet today! Even if we have to use our own bodies as shields, we'll keep this useless piece of trash Feng Bu alive for those final five minutes!"

The deathly-quiet Moye command post was now ablaze with fervor and adrenaline. Everyone was braced for a desperate, all-or-nothing stand.

They had no idea how Xu Lingqu would single-handedly turn the tide of battle—this was a situation beyond even a god's saving.

But no matter the outcome—a loyal soldier dies for one who understands him, and that is a worthy death.

—

Guan Chuanjun sat in his chair, legs propped up on the table, listening to the battle reports coming in from the front.

Moye's remaining command post was still putting up resistance. Guan Chuanjun let out a light chuckle: "Take it easy out there. We're going for a total annihilation. Don't accidentally kill that useless commander Feng Bu and have it counted as a decapitation on us—that'd be a waste."

Shaji still had 81 people alive. By conservative estimate, they'd have at least 70 survivors after the full wipe. What a beautiful number. What a beautiful casualty ratio. They were practically steamrolling Moye to victory. The only nuisance was a few people stirring up trouble in his rear.

But nothing to worry about. Guan Chuanjun was confident he'd completely seen through Moye's plan. He'd just pick them off one by one.

On the channel, the man in charge of hunting down Shen Shouli, Liu Zheng, and Xu Xiqin reported: "They're fully surrounded."

Guan Chuanjun said with a smile, "Don't bother trading shots with them. Just hit them with artillery. That'll make our casualty ratio look even better in the end."

He didn't even care much about capturing Shen Shouli alive anymore. The person he most wanted to capture now was, of course, Xu Lingqu.

With that, he contacted Peng Yue: "How's it going? I sent two people to close in with you from both sides. Did you catch Xu Lingqu?"

There was probably a firefight going on at Peng Yue's end—the line was a bit noisy. After a moment, her voice came back, tinged with a hint of alarm: "This isn't Xu Lingqu. It's a man..."

"What? Not Xu Lingqu? Then where is she?!"

Suddenly, several gunshots rang out from outside.

Guan Chuanjun shot to his feet.

The door to his command room was kicked open.

Light flooded in from outside, and Xu Lingqu stood silhouetted in the doorway against the glare, her expression unreadable—but those dark, piercing eyes sent chills crawling all over Guan Chuanjun's skin.

But he had no time to think about any of that.

Because the instant the door burst open, her gun muzzle—black and hollow—was trained on him. Without a moment's hesitation, a bullet flew, striking him dead center between the eyes.

Two lines of text appeared before everyone's eyes.

【Moye Military Academy has triggered the victory condition—Decapitation】

【Moye Military Academy, Victory!】