Beware of Interstellar Telecom Fraud

The desert's day-night temperature swing was brutal. After an afternoon of chaos, night fell and the three military academies called a ceasefire.

Jinfang Taibai sat in an armored vehicle, half-asleep. Ever since Xu Lingqu had abandoned channel command and let Moye fight blind that afternoon, Moye's cadets had been scrambling everywhere.

Due and Shaji chased them relentlessly, occasionally stopping to catch their breath only for Moye to stir up trouble again. The whole afternoon, the armored vehicles of the three academies hadn't stopped moving—their tracks were practically smoking.

The silver lining, though, was that Moye was fighting blind and outnumbered. Remaining headcounts on the field: Shaji 64, Due 55, Moye 47. As long as the gap held until the match ended tomorrow, Shaji would take first, Due second, and Moye third—all three academies would comfortably advance to the top eight.

In his dreams, Jinfang Taibai was basking in the glory of Due's advancement. The media swarmed him, and he proudly boasted about how he'd left Xu Lingqu helpless.

Then a voice shattered his sweet dream:

[Side A—Moye Cadet No. 001, Commander Xu Lingqu, has connected to this channel.]

Jinfang Taibai hadn't actually left Moye's channel. He wasn't careless enough to stop eavesdropping just because Xu Lingqu had said she didn't need it. He'd planned to listen until the match ended.

And sure enough, Xu Lingqu had returned to the channel—exactly why her return was so valuable. Jinfang Taibai shot upright, startling Li Muyi, who'd been dozing beside him.

"Report positions first," Xu Lingqu said as she re-entered the command channel. The first thing she did was have Moye's scattered students give their locations.

None of Moye's students had left the channel either. They'd all been waiting for Xu Lingqu to speak again, knowing she'd reconnect to find them.

By now, she'd probably acquired the Energy Core but hadn't seized it yet—likely to avoid drawing attention.

At this moment, Shaji and Due were still foolishly chasing Moye. Nobody knew where the Energy Core was. If Xu Lingqu seized it an hour before the match ended tomorrow, no one would have time to contest it.

Even if Shaji and Due killed all of Moye's students, it wouldn't matter. Given the rules and the current situation, Xu Lingqu had already secured an unassailable victory.

But Xu Lingqu didn't want to win so easily.

Moye's students began reporting their positions one by one. According to the pre-match plan, they reported a point one kilometer southeast of their actual location, sparing their true coordinates. Xu Lingqu would mentally reconstruct their real positions.

Once everyone had spoken, and oblivious Jinfang Taibai was about to wake Li Muyi to lead Due's forces to raid those reported points, Xu Lingqu suddenly spoke.

"Jinfang Taibai, why don't you report your position?"

She deliberately called him out on Moye's channel again!

"You've been listening more carefully than some of Moye's students—why stay silent?" Xu Lingqu continued. "Care to chat?"

What did she mean?

Jinfang Taibai scratched his head in confusion, then finally used his technical skills to speak on Moye's channel.

"What?" His tone was casually dismissive.

"Aren't you curious where I am? Didn't you spend this afternoon trying to corner Moye's command vehicle?" Xu Lingqu asked, tone calm as if discussing the weather.

"Why would we care where you are?" Jinfang Taibai retorted stubbornly, though in truth they'd been actively searching for her all afternoon without finding a trace.

Guan Chuanjun had been anxious the whole time, muttering about locating Xu Lingqu's exact position.

Jinfang Taibai, Li Muyi, and even Shaji's S-class soldier Peng Yue all thought his worry was overblown. If he'd gotten rattled by Xu Lingqu's decapitation strike last match, this time there was no such win condition—what was there to fear?

Besides, in the second match, Xu Lingqu had barely appeared or acted, staying hidden in an armored vehicle. Unless they captured her vehicle, they wouldn't see her. Not finding her was perfectly normal.

That was their reasoning, but Guan Chuanjun's anxiety did rub off on them somewhat. They all secretly wondered where Xu Lingqu was, though they didn't show it.

"We've already pushed Moye's squads to the edge of the map," Jinfang Taibai told Xu Lingqu. "This time, you won't break out so easily. When the time comes, we'll know exactly which vehicle you're in."

"That sounds reasonable," Xu Lingqu acknowledged first, then stated a fact. "But I'm not in a vehicle."

Jinfang Taibai's heart skipped a beat. "What did you say?"

"I'm not in a vehicle," Xu Lingqu repeated.

"Impossible! Are you lying to me again? It's the middle of the night in the desert—it's freezing out there. How could you not be in a vehicle?" Jinfang Taibai tried to poke holes in her story.

"That's exactly what I told you—I'm indoors," Xu Lingqu said, her tone tinged with exasperation. "I haven't lied to you at all today."

Since he'd been eavesdropping, she'd given clear, truthful commands all day. She'd told Moye to head west, and they had. And now she was honestly admitting she was indoors.

In Xu Lingqu's mind, today had been a day of utmost integrity.

Indoors? Indoors!

What indoor place could there be in a desert other than the Energy Core's location?!

Jinfang Taibai shot to his feet, but quickly calmed himself down.

If Xu Lingqu had truly found the Energy Core, why wouldn't she seize it and instead volunteer information? She must be bluffing.

Any moment now, she'd probably "reveal" the Energy Core's location—which would be a false one, sending him and Due on a wild goose chase.

"I'll tell you where the Energy Core is—will you come?" Xu Lingqu said calmly.

There it was! She'd said it!

This woman was terrifying—so scheming, so brazenly committing interstellar telecom fraud.

"Why would you be so generous? If you really knew where the Energy Core was, you'd never tell me—you'd seize it yourself!" Jinfang Taibai accused her of fraud.

Good thing he was savvy about scams.

Xu Lingqu didn't respond. She removed her comm earpiece again, inspected the NPC guards, adjusted their positions, then confirmed with the Pharaoh that once she seized the Energy Core, they wouldn't disappear—they'd continue their posts.

Newcomers would either die or go through seven forced save-loads to gain freedom, following the same process.

Xu Lingqu was satisfied. At 6 a.m. the next day, with seven hours left in the match, she chose to seize the Energy Core.