She Says Total Annihilation, and Total Annihilation It Is
"Hey, why are you still glued to the detection system in the simulation room? That dangerous space driving route you've been obsessed with just showed up on the league's map!"
At Imperial Military headquarters, the staffer still hunting for starship geniuses remained oblivious to the outside world. Even hearing this news, he stayed put. The Merlin family's record-breaking run meant nothing compared to what he was after. If he could catch this genius, their emergence would be earth-shattering, and the record-keeping legacy the Merlin family had boasted about for so long would turn into a pathetic pile of mud.
"I think you've really lost your mind," his colleague shook his head, leaving him to it and going off to watch the match himself.
[I really think Tansen Meilin has lost his composure. Xu Lingqu gave him a simple attack, and he used up all his ultimates, heals, and flashes cleanly...]
[I can't stand it, let me imitate him: 'Xu Lingqu, I'm a man, my surname is Merlin. Hey, did you hear me? I'm a Merlin! Do you know who you're ignoring? You're ignoring me! The noble Tansen Meilin!']
[I really can't stand how the Federation prides itself on democracy and freedom while criticizing the Empire for feudalism, yet blatantly venerates the Merlin family. The entire Federation might as well be their foot-washers. Who's more feudal after all?]
[In comparison, Jia Xianglan seems more tolerable...]
[Jia Xianglan is even worse. The way he effortlessly provoked his own sister the other day shows what their family education is like... There's no point comparing which one is worse.]
[Although this Tansen Meilin is pretentious, it seems like he's not wrong. The advantage isn't really with Moye on this map. He's holding onto some messy racing record, which is scary...]
[You're right, but for some reason I just feel Xu Lingqu will win, and anyone who acts cocky in front of her will not end well...]
---
In the conference room of the Moye rest area, everyone had gathered to discuss the configuration of their starships for this battle.
Starships could be divided into three main categories: command ships, combat ships, and reconnaissance ships.
A command ship was mandatory for both sides, and there were three options to choose from. Their main difference lay in crew capacity: 30, 40, or 50.
Combat ships included small and medium vessels. Small single-pilot combat ships, as the name suggested, were operated by one person. Medium ships carried ten crew members, and several medium ships were equipped with large-scale lethal weapons.
In this match, the minimum number of single-pilot combat ships was 1, with a maximum of 40; medium ships minimum 1, maximum 2. Reconnaissance ships were all single-pilot, equipped with no weapons, but their advantages were speed and stealth. The maximum number was 30.
The map was divided into two parts: the first half was combat, the second half was racing. How each commander weighted combat ships versus reconnaissance ships would also reflect their emphasis on combat versus racing.
First, Moye had a clear disadvantage here: 60% of the students were first-years who hadn't undergone systematic starship training. That meant Moye could only consider the 40- or 50-person command ships.
Second, when asked if anyone felt confident about the racing segment in the latter half, the conference room fell into silence. No one spoke up.
The second- and third-year students at Moye suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Throughout this year's matches until now, most of them had undergone a transformative change. The old mindset of coasting through and graduating straight into the military had been washed away by one thrilling battle after another. No one wanted to be a slacker now; they wanted to win!
But now, when it was their turn as upperclassmen to contribute, because they'd slacked off before, they didn't have the courage to raise their hands and say they were confident about passing the most dangerous space driving route map. They felt terrible.
Xu Lingqu glanced around and said, "It's fine. Since that's the case, we'll just equip our scouts with reconnaissance ships. For this match, we won't assign anyone specifically as a reconnaissance ship racer."
"Right, right! We can maximize combat ships! In the first half, we'll beat the hell out of Lianda and grind Tansen Meilin into the dirt! Better yet, we'll annihilate them all! Let them bully the sisters of Cimei!" Xu Xiqin jumped up, throwing a series of shadow punches at the air as she spoke, as if she wanted to tear Tansen Meilin apart with her bare hands right then and there.
Jin immediately chimed in, "They think they're so tough, always insisting on total annihilation! Today, we'll turn the tables and annihilate them. See if they dare pull that again!"
Yesterday, Lianda's insistence on a total annihilation against Cimei had stirred up a heated discussion on the Sky Network. The Federation side generally felt that Cimei's fans, including its students, were too thin-skinned. Total annihilation was just a tactic—why act like victims? In a real battlefield, would they cry? Hadn't the Empire's own Shaji done the same to Moye?
Imperial netizens couldn't tolerate that line of reasoning. First, the league couldn't be compared to a real battlefield. Second, in the Shaji vs. Moye match, Guan Chuanjun's tactics had already drawn criticism halfway through, and when Xu Lingqu ultimately beheaded him, the match's popularity soared precisely because of that satisfying ending. If Guan Chuanjun, an Imperial insider and grandson of General Wan, could be dragged through the mud and berated, why couldn't Tansen Meilin?
Eventually, a Federation military professor came out and said that even on a real battlefield, though brutal, there were certain humanitarian conventions, like the treatment of prisoners of war. Dragging out an enemy's defeat and slowly killing them for sport, just for military glory and the prestige of a total annihilation, was not acceptable.
Of course, that professor soon received threats from the Merlin family, deleted his post overnight, and was eventually fired from the university...
After Jin and Xu Xiqin spoke, the Moye conference room was once again filled with fervor. They were upset watching Lianda bully Cimei, first because it reminded them of how a weak Moye had been treated, and second because Cimei was the first military academy to show them kindness!
Moye's students still remembered fighting alongside Cimei's cadets, driving Lianda to cower in their stronghold like turtles!
Seeing their righteous indignation, Xu Lingqu twirled her pen and said, "Alright, then this time, we'll go for total annihilation."
With her saying that, even though their combat ships were nothing special, the Moye students inexplicably felt a surge of confidence.
If their commander had said they could win, then they could win. Now that she said they could achieve total annihilation, then total annihilation it would be!