Longyuan Qingjun Infection Zone 3

"You want to accelerate the infection device?" The deputy commander stared at him in disbelief.

Jia Xianglan met his gaze and suddenly laughed. "How could I? Such an inhumane weapon—why would I ever touch it?"

He would never put himself in a morally low position to be reviled by thousands...

"And telling you to bring people was a joke too. How could I send you? I'm the commander, and commanders are immune to the negative effects of infection. So I'll go myself." Jia Xianglan patted the deputy commander's shoulder.

The deputy commander breathed a sigh of relief. Jia Xianglan was always making unpredictable jokes, sometimes genuinely terrifying ones.

"If you go, what if Longyuan's people follow you in for a decapitation strike?" he asked worriedly.

"Gu Tingzhi is cautious. Before I reach out to him, his main force will definitely stay clear of the infection zone. If two or three people tail me, I can handle it—don't worry about that." Jia Xianglan winked, donned his combat suit, and truly headed for the infection zone.

The Qingjun and Longyuan students were locked in fierce combat elsewhere, leaving the infection zone essentially a no-man's-land. Even if someone was there, they'd be sparse and harmless. Moreover, he wished someone would follow him in... Under the deputy commander's worried gaze, Jia Xianglan stepped in alone.

A strange, unidentifiable odor hung in the air. Jia Xianglan advanced deep into the center of the infection zone, where the device was running, releasing infectious toxins into the air. He could clearly see a massive tank continuously generating new toxins inside; if that tank were to break, the infection would presumably accelerate.

And to stop the device from running, it required about ten people working together to shut the huge switch. The intelligence brought back by the infected student had been accurate.

Jia Xianglan carefully surveyed the terrain. As he looked, he paused, then swiftly dodged to the right just as a Longyuan student emerged.

That student had witnessed Jia Xianglan entering the infection zone and gritted his teeth to follow him in on a risky gamble—if he could kill Jia Xianglan, this match would end immediately. Even at the cost of being infected, he had to try!

After entering, Jia Xianglan seemed to have spotted him, moving so fast that the student could barely find a chance to fire. He had also underestimated the infection rate within the zone, and by the time he located Jia Xianglan, he was fully infected.

Jia Xianglan watched as the Longyuan student nearly crawled into view. After firing a crooked shot, the student could no longer even hold his gun.

Like the infected Qingjun soldiers, he was plunged into immense agony yet unable to quit the match.

"When did you start following me? Dangerous place like this, and you're quite persistent." This man's appearance was perfectly timed. Jia Xianglan acted as if he'd only just noticed him. "You're in pain, aren't you? But I won't kill you at a moment like this—that would be taking advantage of your weakness. I'll let you go find your commander. I'll find a way to reach a consensus with him and shut the device down."

As he spoke, he helped the Longyuan student up and carried him out of the infection zone. Under the deputy commander's puzzled gaze, he instructed, "Take him somewhere people will see. Make sure Gu Tingzhi sees him like this."

Gu Tingzhi studied Qingjun's S-class soldiers, and Jia Xianglan naturally studied Gu Tingzhi in return.

Admittedly, after researching him thoroughly, Jia Xianglan felt that Gu Tingzhi was practically flawless in tactical deployment. But in his eyes, Gu Tingzhi had a glaring character flaw.

If he could exploit that flaw perfectly, this match's victory would be his for the taking.

Gu Tingzhi saw the infected Longyuan student. The student trembled and collapsed into his arms, gazing at Gu Tingzhi with eyes full of despair. He reached out with both hands to grasp Gu Tingzhi's, seemingly hoping his commander could save him, free him from the torment.

But now, aside from killing him, there was no way to end his suffering.

Gu Tingzhi raised his pistol, yet the student shook his head with effort, rasping, "Don't kill me... keep me alive, I still count as one point..."

He wanted Longyuan to win. He'd rather endure unimaginable pain to see Longyuan defeat Qingjun and re-enter the finals.

The other Longyuan students in the command center had already turned their faces away, unable to bear looking. The toxin tormented him to the point he couldn't even control his facial muscles, drooling from the corners of his mouth without realizing it as he spoke. All of it was undignifiedly captured on camera for everyone to see his pain and humiliation.

Gu Tingzhi still pulled the trigger.

He had ended his teammate's suffering with his own hands—and handed Longyuan another point deduction in a numbers game already disadvantaged by their strategic deployment.

Gu Tingzhi's hand was still trembling. He had thought he could ignore the infection device issue, but clearly, the device couldn't be ignored.

It inflicted unbearable, inescapable pain, and the infection zone was still spreading. At this rate, within a day and a half, it could cover ninety percent of the map. Did every subsequent infected Longyuan student have to be put down by a comrade to find release?

To the Longyuan contestants, each other were classmates, friends, comrades—their closest allies. The guilt of killing one another was too heavy for anyone to bear.

A thought took root in Gu Tingzhi's mind: this infection device had to be shut down...

But if Longyuan did it themselves, it meant nine more people getting infected—bad for the score, and bad for the students.

Just then, a message came back from the Longyuan students still engaging the Qingjun forces. In one-on-one map battles, commanders couldn't initiate communication requests with each other, so relayed messages were the only way.

Jia Xianglan's meaning was clear: he too wanted to shut down the infection device. He asked Gu Tingzhi to come alone into the infection zone, just the two of them to talk. It would be safe enough for both.

Gu Tingzhi was considering it.

"Would Jia Xianglan really be that benevolent?" Jiang You asked quietly, watching the screen.

"Of course not. Gu Tingzhi shouldn't go—Jia Xianglan definitely has a trap waiting for him," Jia Xiangying shook her head. "But if it were me in there facing this situation, I'd probably go too. I can't stand watching you all suffer from infection."

Hei Yingzhi turned his head toward her. "Wow, miss, you really care about us."

Jia Xiangying ignored him and continued, "Jia Xianglan may act deeply distressed over the infected, but truthfully, he doesn't care at all. No amount of pretty words beats Gu Tingzhi's painstaking choice to send off his teammate. Too bad most people still prefer the smooth talkers."

On the big screen, Qingjun's infected student still writhed in agony at their command center, with Jia Xianglan looking frantic beside him.

"The match isn't over; I doubt he wants to see Qingjun lose either. And as a commander, I could never bring myself to hurt my own people," Jia Xianglan 'painfully' covered his face, telling his deputy commander, "I really hope Gu Tingzhi will hurry and talk to me about shutting down the device."

The deputy commander had apparently forgotten Jia Xianglan's earlier suggestion to accelerate the infection, and said with a hint of emotion, "You voluntarily walked into the infection zone—already far better than Gu Tingzhi."

"Did your brother ever dream of being an actor, with how often he gets into character?" Xu Lingqu suddenly asked.

Jia Xiangying realized Xu Lingqu was asking her and froze for a moment. "You think he'd be good at acting?"

Xu Lingqu shook her head. "Well, it's a dream, isn't it?"