The Reversal!

"What a pity. Jia Xiangying still fell for that provocation." Lieutenant Quan shook his head. "Still too young."

Teacher Chang added, "If she had skin as thick as Tansen Meilin's, she wouldn't have been provoked so easily."

"Their main problem is still the lack of someone who can step up and command all three schools directly," Lieutenant Quan said. "For example, in the last match, ahem."

"Mmm..." Teacher Chang agreed deeply. "That's why the Chief Commander for the eight-school league matches later is so important."

Ever since the two of them had screamed "Xu Lingqu is awesome!" in the last broadcast, the director had given them a stern talking-to and told them that if they shouted Xu Lingqu's name one more time, they'd be fined.

Teacher Chang and Lieutenant Quan protested: wasn't it inhumane and utterly outrageous for commentators to cover a Moye match without being allowed to say Xu Lingqu's name?

The director sneered. "I know exactly how you two operate. You'll go spouting her name left and right during other schools' matches too! To keep you from getting cursed out, just keep your mouths shut a little more."

So they could only be this vague about it. But a few viewers in the livestream had truly eagle eyes.

[I feel like after that last broadcast, these two have fully become Lingqu superfans]

[Never once saying her name, yet every single sentence is about her]

[Tansen Meilin, that clown, still refuses to admit he lost to Xu Lingqu. If you want a second beating, just say so. And he says next time he'll satisfy the Federation people—so good at putting on airs even in defeat]

[Suspicious shading of Tansen Meilin: even though Moye placed first and Lianda third, he hasn't lost to Xu Lingqu—keep talking, we love to hear it]

Gu Tingzhi's line of thinking still leaned toward the Empire's three schools needing to integrate and cooperate. Seeing Dolanston charge off so directly, he frowned anxiously and said to Li Muyi, "We prepare to jump as well."

At this point, the situation was much like when Moye had been surrounded on three sides. Although Dolanston had gone looking for a beating on its own initiative, in Gu Tingzhi's eyes, sitting back and doing nothing now would shrink their chances of winning later.

So he made his decision on the spot, pulling Du'e along to jump with Dolanston, at least ensuring that when the fighting started, it would be 3v3.

Xu Lingqu, watching from off-field, shook her head. "Gu Tingzhi is taking our match too seriously."

He had clearly done a precise review of that match, which was why he made this choice now, thinking this decision was the same as when Cimei had come to Moye's rescue.

But in reality, the map and mechanics were different, and the current Federation three schools were far more united than the Federation three schools back then. They didn't need to split up to hold points, and their command communications were timely, so there was no way to pick them off one by one.

"He also wants to have a brilliant three-school combined command performance. He's anxious." Shen Shouli nodded.

Last year's Empire Academy Chief Commander had been Gu Tingzhi, and the final result hadn't been satisfactory, but everyone knew that against Qike Meilin, performing to that level was already decent. This year, Gu Tingzhi had been confident of securing the Chief Commander position, but Xu Lingqu had come out of nowhere.

Gu Tingzhi actually had quite a good mentality among his peers, but he still couldn't completely ignore public opinion or stop caring about others' evaluations. He, too, wanted to prove his ability once in the group stage.

Du'e and Longyuan also arrived at Qingjun's star domain. By then, Dolanston and the Federation's three-school integrated fleet had already engaged in battle.

Jia Xianglan revealed a satisfied smile in his own command room.

As Jia Xiangying had said, he originally had no intention of jumping to save either Kezhen or Youfeng from losing points. But during the Empire three schools' hesitation, he'd thought of a great idea.

After the provocation worked and Gu Tingzhi brought Longyuan and Du'e rushing over, suddenly, Qingjun's wormhole fluctuated again—someone was jumping in. This time, it was the ambush forces he had pre-arranged to go to Youfeng's star domain.

They emerged from the wormhole right then, appearing behind the three Empire military academy teams and launching an attack, catching all three completely off guard.

"Hiss—" Lieutenant Quan inhaled sharply. These two squads each had two S-class individual combat leaders with superb starship combat skills. Even as just small teams, they were enough to give Dolanston, Longyuan, and Du'e a hard time. "Our Empire's academies absolutely need to stabilize and adjust right now."

"At this point, all they can do is fight and squeeze out of this pincer position as fast as possible." Teacher Chang nodded.

Jia Xiangying had regretted it the moment she led Dolanston into the wormhole. She realized she'd fallen for her shameless younger brother's ploy once again, but regret was useless now.

She wanted to tell Longyuan and Du'e not to come, that she'd find a chance to launch a surprise attack and retreat through the wormhole again with as many of Dolanston's people as possible—but Gu Tingzhi had already brought his forces in.

They'd all thought things through fairly comprehensively, but they just couldn't coordinate with each other; there was no clear, decisive plan.

Dolanston, Longyuan, and Du'e could only grit their teeth and fight this battle.

Luckily, they were still strong schools, so they adjusted very quickly and weren't being beaten flat; they had the ability to fight back.

"The one having the worst time right now should be Sky Network," Jin said, shaking his head. "This map was probably designed for them to play hide-and-seek, scheming and playing mind games. But Jia Xianglan pulls off an open conspiracy, and with this kind of playstyle, the match will be over tonight."

Sky Network's attempt to maintain a long, high-traffic livestream would probably be all for nothing.

Xu Xiqin snorted coldly. "Isn't that their own young master's doing?"

"So Jia Xianglan isn't going to keep fighting it out with all three of them," Xu Lingqu said, watching the current battlefield situation. Dolanston was fighting the fiercest, practically vowing to fight Qingjun to the death. Longyuan and Du'e had already recovered and settled into their own combat rhythm—from the initial pincer, it was now at a stalemate phase.

Qingjun still had 80 people on the field, while Kezhen and Youfeng's numbers were depleting incredibly fast, dropping to just 40 combined in the blink of an eye.

Dolanston currently had 51, Longyuan 60, and Du'e 57—their total numbers were higher now, and the balance of advantage was visibly tipping toward them.

But at this moment, Jia Xianglan kept adjusting his formation, the main force accelerating toward the wormhole without a care, using Youfeng and Kezhen's cannon fodder to squeeze out the last drop of value—almost suicidal charges that tore open a path for them—and then Qingjun's main force jumped away right in front of everyone.

To a Kezhen wormhole coordinate that none of the Empire academies knew.

"Now it's Jia Xianglan's turn to play hide-and-seek with them," Xu Lingqu said. "After completely using up Kezhen and Youfeng, and after the score settlement gives Qingjun an absolute advantage."

At this moment, Jia Xianglan looked at the furious communication request from Jia Xiangying and let out a delighted smile in his command room.

Kezhen's coordinates had been passed along by gestures or written notes when he'd first assembled the teams, never transmitted through the channels. Now, even if Jinfang Taibai, that top-tier hacker, turned Qingjun's channels inside out, he'd only find Youfeng's wormhole coordinates.