Inevitable Defeat

"Quick, check what's wrong! Why haven't the infected students died? Why can't they exit the competition pods?" Ms. Yin of the League Center was frantic. Wasn't this map supposed to declare infected players dead within an hour or two?

The main Sky Network company stammered in response, "This... this mechanism was a last-minute change by President Jia, saying it would better showcase the toxins' inhumanity for an anti-war message."

"Showcasing the toxins' inhumanity by torturing the participants?!" Ms. Yin was too furious to even laugh.

What on earth had the board been fed to let Jia Tu take the CEO position?

"There's nothing we can do. We can't change the mechanism now; it's already in use," the main company replied helplessly. "We'll have to wait until the match ends..."

Ms. Yin wished she could charge at Jia Tu and beat him senseless, but she was the Empire's league director here; if she left, things would be even worse.

She could only take a deep breath to calm herself and pray for time to pass faster.

Gu Tingzhi did not agree to Jia Xianglan's request for a private meeting in the infected zone.

"He did the right thing," Jia Xiangying nodded. "Knowing Jia Xianglan's personality, if they met alone, he'd find some way to provoke Gu Tingzhi into firing, damaging the device and accelerating the infection. Even if Gu Tingzhi didn't get angry, Jia Xianglan would stage his own little drama—a 'panicked' accidental shot hitting the device to speed things up."

She knew Jia Xianglan's tactics all too well.

"But Gu Tingzhi can't just leave the infection to spread, can he," Jiang You sighed. He was a second-year at Dolanston and had faced Gu Tingzhi all last year; he knew Gu Tingzhi's character.

Sure enough, Gu Tingzhi ultimately chose to take nine Longyuan students to shut down the device himself.

When Jia Xianglan heard the news, the corner of his mouth twitched upward almost imperceptibly, though he said, "Ah, I said we could discuss it. Qingjun could send people to shut it down too, we could cooperate. Why did Gu Tingzhi have to go with his own team?"

See, that was Gu Tingzhi's biggest character flaw. At first, he could still act like a commander, ignoring the infected zone and launching a series of attacks on Qingjun. But once he saw the misery of the infected, he could no longer ignore it. Even though the commander wasn't affected negatively, he still wanted to shut the device. What an idiot.

Five hours had passed in the match. Gu Tingzhi's plan to take out Qingjun's S-class operatives had been showing results—the kill counts were 76 to 80, only a four-point gap. The number of S-class operatives on both sides had evened out.

Gu Tingzhi was taking nine people to shut down the device. Jia Xianglan expressed his respect for the choice on camera, then immediately ordered Qingjun to launch a counterattack on Longyuan while Gu Tingzhi was away.

If not for concerns about public opinion, Jia Xianglan would have gone to the infected zone to ambush and snipe Gu Tingzhi himself. He was a bit regretful that his earlier offer for a private meeting had been rejected.

He had planned a script where, due to his own "extreme vigilance," he accidentally fired and broke the device, accelerating the infection. Then the infection would spread rapidly, and everyone except the two commanders would be doomed. Gu Tingzhi couldn't bear to watch his comrades suffer; Jia Xianglan didn't care, though he would surely shed a few crocodile tears in public.

The script had gone unused; instead, it put Gu Tingzhi on the moral high ground. Jia Xianglan was sorry about that.

But that was the only regret. Gu Tingzhi's actions had basically doomed Longyuan's chances of beating Qingjun and advancing to the finals.

Watching Gu Tingzhi lead his people into the infected zone without hesitation to find the device, Guan Chuanjun let out a helpless sigh.

"The moment this map's mechanism appeared, Longyuan was destined to lose."

To most people, the mechanism seemed perfectly fair—both Qingjun and Longyuan players would suffer infection, both commanders would face inner torment and moral struggle.

But Jia Xianglan had no morality or conscience. Or rather, his performative personality made him act tormented in front of everyone, when in truth he cared nothing for anyone but himself.

That was a refined egoist for you.

"Gu Tingzhi is an excellent man. He did nothing wrong. Before the match, he prepared tactics carefully. Against a strong enemy, he fulfilled his duties as commander and encouraged his teammates. When his own teammate was infected, he chose to end the teammate's suffering with his own hands, taking the guilt upon himself. Realizing the horror of the toxins, he voluntarily led people to shut down the device. He didn't trust Jia Xianglan and avoided what could have been a trap. His only mistake was still treating Jia Xianglan like a human being..." Li Muyi murmured, staring at the big screen. "But that very thing makes his defeat inevitable."

History is a mirror. Chernobyl and Fukushima played out in different forms across the stars.

Some were willing to risk their own lives and their companions' to stop the spread of infection; others wept crocodile tears while shamelessly making everyone share the consequences—as long as they survived, all was well.

Gu Tingzhi knew exactly what he was doing. The moment the ten of them stepped into the infected zone, he knew he probably wouldn't meet Moye in the finals.

He couldn't help but mock himself internally—this was what happened when you set a flag before the match.

Gu Tingzhi had not seen Jia Xianglan as human; he knew exactly how despicable Jia Xianglan was. He had calmly and thoroughly considered the course of the match from here.

If he left the infection device alone, Jia Xianglan would spare no effort to break it and accelerate the spread.

If he agreed to meet Jia Xianglan alone, Jia Xianglan, having familiarized himself with the infected zone, would inevitably sabotage it and might even pin the blame on Gu Tingzhi.

It wasn't that Gu Tingzhi couldn't accept Jia Xianglan's vileness; it was the consequences of that vileness. This map ran for two days. If the device were broken and the infection accelerated, it would cover the entire map within a day.

Then, everyone except Jia Xianglan and Gu Tingzhi would be infected. Gu Tingzhi would have to watch his companions writhe in inescapable agony for an entire day...

In the end, he might be driven by sheer mental pressure to swallow a bullet.

The ten Longyuan students shut down the infection device, halting the spread.

Gu Tingzhi loaded his gun and pulled the trigger on his nine companions.

Outside, with Gu Tingzhi gone and outnumbered, Jia Xianglan led Qingjun in a fierce assault on Longyuan.

Nine gunshots rang out. In them, Gu Tingzhi heard the sound of his own inevitable defeat.