Do Good People Always Lose?

"Do good people always lose? Is a commander who values his own soldiers wrong?"

In the VIP viewing seats, the students who had come to watch fell silent. Everyone could see how this was playing out—even if Gu Tingzhi went out to command personally, he couldn't close the gap of more than twenty kills.

Decapitation of Jia Xianglan was still on the table, but the man had slipped back into the infected zone after the device was shut down. To kill him, Gu Tingzhi would have to go in himself. And Gu Tingzhi wasn't a strong solo fighter—if he went, he might well end up being the one killed by Jia Xianglan instead.

Longyuan had fallen into a slow-death stalemate.

And yet, no one from Longyuan had done anything wrong. The first student infected had already been eliminated and logged out of the competition pod, but he was completely broken down.

He kept obsessing over the same thought: if he hadn't fallen for Jia Xianglan's trap and followed him into the infected zone, maybe Gu Tingzhi's rhythm wouldn't have been disrupted.

"But even if you hadn't gone, the infected zone would still be there, spreading—it would have found us sooner or later," said the person beside him, tears welling in their eyes. "No matter when, no matter the situation, Gu Tingzhi could never watch us suffer. He values every one of our lives and feelings, just as we value his."

"He didn't lose to Jia Xianglan. He lost to his own conscience, his own moral bottom line." Jiang You shook his head. "This damn map mechanic—good people die young, and bastards live a thousand years."

"So, in this map, is there no one who can beat Jia Xianglan?" Xu Xiqin's eyes were filled with disgust. "I think even Tansen Meilin wouldn't be as disgusting as him."

Tansen Meilin probably didn't care much about the lives of the people under him either, but he couldn't fake it—he wouldn't pull the kind of sickening performance Jia Xianglan put on everywhere. One was a true scoundrel, the other a hypocrite, and Xu Xiqin hated the latter more.

"Sister, if we get this map and our opponent is Jia Xianglan, what do we do?" Xu Xiqin looked at Xu Lingqu beside her.

The moment the question left her mouth, everyone around turned their gaze to Xu Lingqu, all seemingly wanting to hear her answer.

"I'd punch several holes in the infection device right away, making sure the infected zone covers the entire map within two hours," Xu Lingqu replied.

"Huh?" The answer was completely unexpected, leaving Xu Xiqin baffled.

"Then I'd start a city-wide purge. Whether it's Moye or Qingjun, once infected, they lose the ability to act—very convenient to kill. I'm confident I can clear out every living human in this city besides myself within six hours. And this map has a decapitation mechanic, right? If Jia Xianglan doesn't hide well enough, we can end things early. Two days is still way too much time." Xu Lingqu answered matter-of-factly.

"..." Jin, sitting in the same row, swallowed hard. "Commander, wouldn't you feel guilty about killing us?"

"No." Xu Lingqu answered without hesitation, then countered, "Why would I feel guilty?"

So, if it were Qingjun and Moye entering this map, the one rushing to shut down the infection device would be Jia Xianglan.

There was nothing more terrifying in the world than being hunted by Xu Lingqu in an empty city.

Guan Chuanjun laughed at the most inappropriate moment—just imagining the scene had him beside himself with glee.

"Doing that would definitely get you branded a heartless killing-machine commander," Hei Yingzhi said, unable to suppress his own grin. "But I like it. That approach is way too satisfying."

"Anyone with half a brain knows that doing this is purely about saving people—saving everyone, including those Qingjun students," Jia Xiangying blinked. "Unfortunately, not everyone in this world has a brain."

She stared at Xu Lingqu meaningfully for a while before looking away.

Gu Tingzhi was the kind of person who, faced with a trolley problem, would pull the lever to sacrifice the few and then calmly accept judgment. But Xu Lingqu...

She would just forcibly shut down the trolley, or kick everyone tied to the tracks—one by one—clear out of the way.

Jia Xiangying thought: this was what happened when a good person was strong enough.

After two days, Longyuan's slow death finally reached its end.

The kill gap was still there, with no way to break it. Among them, Hu Yan, thinking of Liu Zheng's map-turning shot, charged into the infected zone to snipe Jia Xianglan—but the infection spread faster than he could find his target.

In the end, Gu Tingzhi sent him off with his own hands. In this match, Gu Tingzhi had personally killed eleven Longyuan students.

That was past his limit.

The moment the system announced the end of the match, what Gu Tingzhi felt most wasn't the disappointment of defeat, but the relief of release.

As the Longyuan students came out, the entire venue was silent. Gu Tingzhi's eyes were bloodshot. He turned to face the audience and forced a smile, then bowed deeply to everyone.

"I'm very sorry for disappointing you all."

"But if this match started over, I believe I would still do the same—even if I lost again."

"If the infected zone really existed, my choice wouldn't change."

"Thank you for your support. I'm sorry, but I don't regret it."

...

Outside the Moye Chief Commander's lounge:

"Did Jinfang Taibai recommend you?"

Xu Lingqu opened the door and said to Gu Tingzhi on the ground, "Go inside and sit."

Gu Tingzhi stood up. His eyes were bloodshot, but sleep wouldn't come.

"Actually, I just came to ask one question. If it were you, what would you do?"

Xu Lingqu repeated the plan she'd shared with the others.

Gu Tingzhi laughed—he laughed happily, but tears kept streaming from his eyes. "As I thought, I could never do what you'd do."

"But good people don't have to lose. As long as they're strong enough... that's wonderful." Gu Tingzhi leaned against the doorframe of the Moye Chief Commander's lounge. His dark blue hair stuck to his face like trails of tears. "But I still can't accept it. Losing to someone like him."

"Anyway, you're already eliminated, so I'm not worried about you stealing intel." Xu Lingqu shoved a pack of tissues into his hand and walked out of the lounge. She'd only come to open the door anyway.

"Leave it to me. The finals."