Encircled on Three Sides

By the time the scouts reported the movements of Zhicheng, Dongwen, and Lianda back to Xu Lingqu, it was already too late.

First of all, Moye's spawn point was in an awkward corner, far too close to Dongwen—basically, they'd been pinpointed the moment they entered.

Yetai Yangquan immediately established a special comm channel with Zhicheng's Jie Luo and Lianda's Tansen Meilin. With favorable timing, terrain, and unity—plus prior coordination outside the arena—they swiftly launched a three-pronged encirclement against Moye.

Moye's position was dreadful, essentially the same spot where Guan Chuanjun had cornered Feng Bu's main force in the first match—landing in the capture point, surrounded on three sides.

Recalling the previous match, everyone from Moye wore grim expressions.

Xu Xiqin led the reconnaissance squad back, her voice tinged with self-reproach over the channel: "I found out too late... I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Xu Lingqu replied over the channel, then asked Jin, "You said Situke was also in Zhicheng's direction—what are they up to now?"

Situke was fairly close to Moye's position. Xu Lingqu's mention sparked a flicker of hope in the downcast Moye members. Jin hesitated: "You're thinking of trying to get them to reinforce? But they..."

Jin frowned as he watched Situke heading in the opposite direction: "They seem to be leaving already."

His words plunged the Moye team back into silence. Meanwhile, the Sky Network livestream was buzzing with activity.

Senior Colonel Ren, the commentator for the first day, rubbed her brow. The moment she'd seen the three Federation academies forming this formation, her first thought had been that Situke, being closest to Moye, could quickly reinforce them—Cimei's position was quite far away.

Though the military academy league's purpose was to select the strongest academy—making everyone enemies at heart—every academy carried the prefix of its own nation.

"Moye has fallen into a very dangerous situation now; it all depends on how Xu Lingqu directs her team," Professor Zhuang said with a sigh. As an official commentator, he couldn't directly call out Situke's decision. In this situation, self-preservation was understandable, but when the Federation was clearly ganging up on an Empire academy, what viewers wanted to see wasn't them running off alone, but Empire academies uniting to help each other.

Senior Colonel Ren, being a soldier, went dark-faced and said nothing.

Meanwhile, the chat was in an uproar:

[Honestly, I really can't understand Situke's choice right now]

[Situke didn't do anything wrong though—self-preservation is fine. Why do you all assume they have to help Moye?]

[Yeah, yeah, the world doesn't revolve around Moye Military Academy. Helping is a favor, not helping is their right]

[Anyone trying to muddy the waters here is either stupid or malicious. Are we demanding Situke help Moye? We'd want to see mutual aid among any other academies too]

[People who claim the league is borderless should be arrested. The league is borderless, but the cadets playing it have nations! Soldiers have nations!]

[Anyway, I can't imagine a completely self-interested soldier protecting me in a moment of danger]

...

Situke's Chief Commander, Lei Nuo, was in a frantic state. Situke had quickly noticed the danger Moye was in, but after deliberation, he'd decided it was best to leave first.

Situke's cadets were a notch below the six major academies, and even compared to the Federation academies, their strength lagged. He truly couldn't risk leading so many people into danger.

Lei Nuo sat in his command armored vehicle, glancing at the rearview mirror several times. He sighed, telling himself that once a choice was made, there was no room for regret.

He opened the map of the capture point and decided to take a fortress first, then wait and see.

For Moye, the three-sided encirclement was a done deal. Everyone was now gripped by anxiety, but under Xu Lingqu's command, they reorganized their positioning.

She had no intention of playing stupid and engaging in a battle of attrition against three enemy routes. Xu Lingqu placed two armored vehicles with heavy artillery at the front, and the students on both flanks armed themselves with high-damage weapons.

Guan Zhongli could tell at a glance that Xu Lingqu planned to break out at all costs, but this was a one-versus-three!

With a worried tone, he asked Xu Lingqu, "Commander, I'm not trying to cause trouble, but I really have to ask—can't you go find Situke's Lei Nuo and try to get them to help? Your persuasion skills are pretty strong, after all."

During the final assessment, he'd been successfully talked into defecting by a few words from Xu Lingqu, bringing most of the regular students to help her.

Xu Lingqu sat in the command vehicle and glanced sideways at Guan Zhongli: "Situke made their choice the moment they left the danger zone. I can't turn them around with a few words now, and even if we could negotiate, there's no time."

The three-sided encirclement was about to arrive; Moye's only option now was to break out.

"Abandon illusions, prepare for battle," Xu Lingqu told every Moye student over the all-hands channel. "This breakout must be executed at all costs. Push toward Lianda's direction. The flanking units should focus on guarding both sides, but the main firepower must be directed at Lianda. If we can break through, we still have hope."

The Federation academies weren't a monolith, and there could only be one first place in the end. Clearly, though Yetai Yangquan from Dongwen had initiated the encirclement, the one with real say among them was likely Tansen Meilin from Lianda.

Their actions were like a pack of jackals hunting. Xu Lingqu's choice was to strike hard at the leader of the pack; the underlings came to bask in the leader's might. If they saw their leader beaten half to death, they'd probably lose the will to fight. Conversely, if Moye were to throw themselves into a bloody brawl, Lianda would be the first to reinforce, and for their own survival, they'd fight to the death with Moye.

Lianda, Zhicheng, and Dongwen's artillery soon came screaming in from afar. Xu Lingqu's command vehicle advanced through the hail of shells.

Tansen Meilin watched as Moye, showing no fear, fired back at Lianda. He could roughly guess what Xu Lingqu was thinking, and he gave his own order: "Don't show so much as a hint of retreat! Fight Moye to the death!"

Artillery thundered, smoke filled the air. As a few students fell, Moye's breakout stalled.

Just then, from behind Lianda, two particle cannon blasts slammed into their rear units!

Tansen Meilin was startled. Word came from the rear quickly.

It was Cimei's Ye Yu, driving a heavy combat vehicle, charging straight into the fray!