Who in the World Doesn't Know You?
【The missus also tuned into a session of Lingqu Radio with Jinfang Taibai.】
【I'm a little sad. Even though I like Moye, I don't hate the Dulanston hotheads at all—they're actually pretty adorable.】
【Same here. Maybe it's because they're all from Empire military academies? I almost cried watching Dulanston's desperate resistance. In the end, Commander Xu ended it quickly with a decapitation strike on the missus instead of dragging it out to a full wipe. That was really kind of her.】
【Liu Zheng is so cool, but she's hilarious when she talks—especially her deadpan delivery of those cold jokes. What's with all you Moye people being so quirky?】
【Wait, did this match just set a record? The kills in the Bliwell Huabin Avenue explosion should all be credited to Moye's sharpshooter. She just broke the record for most kills in a single match! The previous holder was a senior from Dulanston a few years back.】
【Beating Dulanston AND breaking Dulanston's record? Dulanston fans are crying. I don't care—I'm making my Moye-fan friend treat me to a meal to mend my shattered heart!】
After the Bliwell Huabin Avenue explosion, Lieutenant Quan and Teacher Chang settled into their commentary comfort zone, repeating "Xu Lingqu is awesome" like a broken record.
They couldn't be bothered to maintain impartiality, and only returned to business after the match ended, seeing the director's completely black face across from them.
"To be honest, I have mixed feelings about Dulanston's students. First, they're really strong, and most of them end up in the Military Department after graduation, and they're all standouts there," Lieutenant Quan said seriously. "But in the league, they always seem to fall just short somehow. Every time, they feel one step away from the championship, but that step feels like a chasm they can never cross."
"I agree, but I have a different take. I think Dulanston's step is coming soon," Teacher Chang picked up. "People's impression of Jia Xiangying was ruined by that qualifier match where she got provoked, but I think anyone who watched today's match in full could see that she's a changed person."
"Oh, how so?" Lieutenant Quan agreed.
"Her emotional state today was actually very stable. Except for that moment when she decided to take down Xu Lingqu on Bliwell Huabin Avenue and failed to rein in all of Dulanston, she was rational the whole time," Teacher Chang praised. "She's only a first-year. Give her room to grow, and in the future, she'll definitely lead Dulanston to touch that championship spot!"
Before the match, the win probability predictions for Dulanston and Moye were actually quite close. Moye's momentum was undeniable—anyone with eyes could see how fierce they were.
So the result was somewhat expected. Jinfang Taibai, at least, had predicted early that Moye would win.
But the process against Dulanston was still thrilling. Seeing Moye finally clinch the victory, Jinfang Taibai let out a sigh of relief.
Guan Chuanjun teased him: "You'd think you were the one out there fighting."
Jinfang Taibai shot him a glare. "What do you know? Moye is Du'e's sister school now. Do you even know what a sister school means?"
"When did you become sister schools?" Gu Tingzhi asked curiously, looking at Li Muyi.
Li Muyi waved his hands frantically, and Jinfang Taibai said fiercely, "I unilaterally declared it!"
Just like when he had unilaterally tried to add Xu Lingqu as a friend on her neural interface.
Inside the venue, both Moye and Dulanston had exited their cocoon pods, and the atmosphere was a bit tense.
After all, the old grievances between Moye and Dulanston hadn't faded. Now Moye had beaten the Dulanston that looked down on them—wasn't that piling old grudges on new ones? Everyone was a bit worried about a conflict.
Hei Yingzhi stormed over to Xu Lingqu, who had just stepped out of her pod and immediately saw him standing there like a pillar.
"Xu Lingqu, you're so cool," Hei Yingzhi said, his voice carrying both anger and resentment. He had perished in the flames on Bliwell Huabin Avenue, after all! It was Liu Zheng who fired, but he knew exactly who to blame.
Yet, watching Xu Lingqu from the audience afterward, his resentment and anger just drifted away.
He had rewatched Moye's matches before, especially that desert map where Xu Lingqu soloed the Pyramid seven times—he'd watched that clip over and over.
But since Dulanston and Moye were rivals, Hei Yingzhi had been brainwashing himself: Xu Lingqu was just okay, Xu Lingqu was mediocre.
Now that Dulanston had lost, freed from the rival perspective, Hei Yingzhi could finally say to Xu Lingqu what he'd been holding back for a long time.
"You're so cool."
Other Dulanston students also came over to Moye's area, but their faces held no resentment—almost all were smiling.
They were Dulanston's firecrackers, not sore losers, and they wouldn't take those old, dusty grudges seriously or hold a real grudge against Moye.
Students from the Empire's two military academies shook hands and hugged after the match. Rivals on the field, friends off it—future soldiers defending the nation, no need for complicated entanglements.
Jia Xiangying also came up to Xu Lingqu voluntarily.
"Thank you," she said without anger. In the moment she was struck by the bullet, there was more relief than anything—a clarity about certain things. "Not dragging it out to a full wipe counts as doing me a favor."
Xu Lingqu extended her hand for a handshake.
"But after the league ends, you have to see us off personally," Jia Xiangying said, gripping Xu Lingqu's hand and not letting go.
Xu Lingqu: "...Fine."
A flood of interstellar media rushed at Xu Lingqu again like a frenzy, but this time she didn't run.
Xu Lingqu pointed at Liu Zheng nearby: "The record-breaker is over there."
The interstellar media swiveled and immediately surrounded Liu Zheng, who had been about to leave.
"What are your thoughts on breaking the single-match kill record this time?"
"How are you such a good shot? Did you train before?"
"Damn, are you an idiot? She was the champion of the Interstellar Empire Shooting Competition. You can't even do that much homework before interviewing? Get lost! Let me ask. Liu Zheng, is there anything you'd like to say to the friends who've always supported you?"
Liu Zheng raised her head with complicated feelings, looking at Xu Lingqu not far away. Xu Lingqu seemed to sense it and looked back, making a shooting gesture at Liu Zheng.
On the clock tower of Sin City, they'd had a conversation.
"Actually, you could do this kind of sniping too," Liu Zheng had said, wiping her sniper rifle. "But you gave all the chances to me."
The night wind howled as Xu Lingqu leaned against the clock tower wall. "But what I need to do, you can't do for me."
She smiled down at Liu Zheng. "And you said yourself you'd be my finest gun. Why wouldn't I use it?"
Back to the present, Liu Zheng faced the empire's biggest platform, with billions of eyes on her.
"Hello everyone, my name is Liu Zheng, from Star System No. 4."
Bullet comments flew by.
【Whoa, Star System No. 4?】
【Really? She's from Star System No. 4?】
【Sis is so cool, I love it!】
【Didn't you all know? I've been following Liu Zheng since the shooting competition, but it didn't get much attention, so she wasn't that famous.】
【I can't stop staring. Time to binge-watch the shooting competition!】
In Star System No. 4, at the planet center of Liu Zheng's hometown, the system governor had organized a public watch event.
This year, they'd watched every Moye match without fail, but today was the first time Liu Zheng appeared in a big-screen interview.
Everyone held their breath, afraid that making a sound would stop them from hearing Liu Zheng speak.
It wasn't until the interview ended that Liu Zheng's mother finally spoke, trembling: "The one who broke the record... it's Little Zheng."
Cheers erupted, not just on that planet, but across the entire Star System No. 4.
Because the whole Interstellar Empire now knew that the empire's Star System No. 4—a poor, forgotten land—had produced a god of marksmanship.
Tonight, gunslinger Liu Zheng: who in the world doesn't know you?