Formal Training

There wasn't much to tidy up in the dorm. After greeting her two roommates, Xu Lingqu left the dormitory building.

Xu Xiqin was practically locked in a rivalry with Jin. On the vast training ground, when Xu Lingqu finally found them, the two were in the middle of a pull-up contest.

"Aren't you two tired? Training starts soon," Xu Lingqu said, genuinely baffled. The one gold and one red head of hair gleamed conspicuously. Did special hair colors come with a stamina boost or something?

"No problem! I'm going to settle this today and show him what true strength looks like!" Xu Xiqin declared between reps.

"You? You think you can beat me?" Jin shot back without missing a beat.

They kept at it, bickering while they exercised.

Xu Lingqu sat down on the spot and watched the two of them quarrel like it was a comedy act.

A breeze swept across the grass, making the blades sway gently. Xu Lingqu felt a sudden flash of déjà vu, as if she were back in her university days before the apocalypse had hit Earth.

"Miss Xu." A soft call broke through her wandering thoughts. She looked up to see Tang Muwen standing beside her, holding a box in his hands.

She had checked the real-time leaderboard earlier; this rescue operation had earned Tang Muwen some points too. He now had 10 points, placing him fairly high, especially among analysts, who generally weren't in a favorable position.

He opened the box, revealing a meal packed from the cafeteria, with a layer of military-grade nutrient supplements underneath.

"You probably haven't eaten yet," Tang Muwen said, avoiding her gaze as he handed her the box. "I went to get it as soon as I heard you were out of the infirmary."

Xu Lingqu accepted it. "People are already talking about whether I'm out of the infirmary?"

Indeed, many had their eyes on Xu Lingqu now. Some admired her, particularly the command-track students, who had already begun touting her as the shining star of Moye Military Academy's command department.

Others resented her, eyeing her top-ranked score with envy and hostility. Among them, Sun Liao was the loudest. The others liked to use him as a shield, since he was the one who had been swept away while asleep and had a pitiful score. Most figured he'd be eliminated eventually anyway, so why not use him as a weapon against Xu Lingqu?

She had to admit, the steamed buns at Moye were pretty good. Taking a bite, she found they tasted almost as good as the ones made by the hired chef at the Xu residence, nothing like the typical purely machine-processed pre-made food common in interstellar cuisine.

Seeing her eat, Tang Muwen let out a small sigh of relief. He sat down next to her. "I thought you might refuse."

Xu Lingqu chewed her bun. "Why?"

"Earlier... I got the feeling you might have taken some of my actions the wrong way," Tang Muwen explained. "Maybe there's a misunderstanding between us."

She finished the bun and stood up, brushing off her hands. "There still is."

Accepting food from someone is often an unspoken signal of reconciliation between people, but Xu Lingqu didn't see it that way. She was simply hungry, and someone had offered food right to her mouth. Under completely safe circumstances, why not eat it? Even if Tang Muwen had poisoned it, the infirmary was just a minute away.

"What?" Tang Muwen stood up too, his eyes full of confusion.

"I'm not as strong as you imagine. I can't guarantee I'll be able to carry you through the trial without getting eliminated," Xu Lingqu said bluntly. "Sucking up to me is a waste of time. It won't do you any good."

Just then, a notification from her smart device popped up: formal training was about to begin. Everyone was to gather at the assembly point.

Xu Xiqin and Jin still hadn't settled their match, but Xu Lingqu grabbed them to go, like a master pulling her dogs back home.

Instructor Kai Ang wasn't there. Instructor Chen was running the show. The river raid training had technically been done without prior approval, and Kai Ang had been called back to the school headquarters for a meeting about it.

Instructor Chen was still smiling as usual, but no one felt the warmth of a spring breeze from it anymore. They all thought his smile was sinister, wondering what kind of trouble lurked behind it, just like the day he had smiled and told everyone to sleep well.

"Looks like everyone's rested and in good spirits," Instructor Chen said as he observed the assembled cadets. After the first roll call had picked people out, everyone had learned their lesson. This time, they had gathered quickly, with no one dawdling. He nodded in satisfaction and had the other instructors bring out the day's training equipment.

Hundreds of standard weighted packs were brought out. The cadets hoisted them onto their shoulders; each weighed around twenty kilograms. "Five-kilometer weighted run. Begin now," Instructor Chen announced.

The combat-track cadets were all too familiar with this. They immediately hoisted the packs and took off running, while the non-combat tracks groaned in protest but reluctantly followed suit, packs on their backs.

This was exactly what Xu Lingqu feared.

Just carrying her own body weight was tough enough, and now she had to do a weighted run on top of it. And this was only the first training task of the day. She had a feeling she'd be paying another visit to the infirmary before this was over.

Each pack had a sensor that recorded the distance covered, syncing in real time to their smart devices. In first and second place, Jin and Xu Xiqin were still locked in their duel. Determined to settle their rivalry, they ran far ahead, leaving the main group in the dust.

Leading the main pack was Liu Zheng.

Her long black hair was tied up in a high ponytail that swung back and forth as she ran, setting the pace for everyone else. She looked sharp and commanding.

Xu Lingqu hung back at the rear of the group, basically trailing at the back. She tried to regulate her breathing, conserving energy wherever possible, and picked someone in front with a slower pace as her reference point. She considered herself lucky just to finish.

But as she ran, a familiar figure appeared beside her. Shen Shouli was keeping pace with her, running at roughly the same level. Xu Lingqu turned to look at him, and he silently looked back.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Did I get lapped already?" Xu Lingqu analyzed the situation calmly.

"No," Shen Shouli frowned. "Running too fast makes me sweat too much. I've already taken three showers today. I don't want another one."

At this rate, his skin would probably wear through. Xu Lingqu found it a bit amusing that his cleanliness obsession could be this severe.

Xu Lingqu's steps grew heavier and heavier, and she gradually fell further behind those in front. Correspondingly, she noticed that Shen Shouli's pace also slowed down with hers.

"You..." Xu Lingqu turned to look at him again.

Shen Shouli pursed his lips nervously.

"Are you really that afraid of sweating?" Xu Lingqu couldn't believe someone would go to such lengths just to avoid perspiration. The last time she'd seen something this exaggerated was the princess in that fairy tale about a pea.

"..." Shen Shouli didn't respond, but Xu Lingqu could sense a small surge of anger bubbling up from him.

"Afraid of sweat, huh? Is that just an excuse you made up? Could it be that you're actually just as physically weak as I am?" Xu Lingqu deliberately stoked the fire of that tiny bit of anger.

If emotions could be visualized, Shen Shouli's anger at that moment would have shot up from the size of a lit match to fireworks exploding across the sky.