Then Should I Leave?

The students arrived at the afternoon training session with the resolve of those marching to their deaths.

This was Instructor Kai Ang's first day back, and he had already cooked up an unprecedented shooting drill that morning. Who knew what he had in store to torment them this afternoon?

Xu Lingqu had just finished her treatment in the medical bay when it was just about time for afternoon training. She helped Xu Xiqin to the training grounds, and as soon as the numbness from the treatment wore off, Xu Xiqin was back to her lively, energetic self.

"You think he'll just send us out to the field for shooting chases? Knowing how twisted he is, he might make us carry extra weight," Xu Xiqin mused, trying to read Kai Ang's mind and anticipate the thrilling training that awaited them.

But when the students had all assembled, the one who walked out was not the demon from that morning.

Instructor Chen looked even more exhausted than before, as if the holiday had done him more harm than good.

"Why the long faces at the sight of me? Then should I leave? Want me to swap in Kai Ang?" Instructor Chen chuckled at the students' dumbfounded expressions.

Most of them had spent the lunch break bracing themselves for an afternoon of Kai Ang's torment, only to be met with Instructor Chen instead. Though their mental preparations went to waste, they were overjoyed. A brief moment of stunned silence gave way to smiles all around.

"Enough with the grinning," Instructor Chen announced the afternoon's plan: basic physical training, albeit with slightly increased intensity compared to previous days. Most students breathed a sigh of relief, though those from non-combat tracks grumbled quietly.

"Does anyone care if the analysts and commanders survive?"

"Moye Military Academy's probably going to churn out analysts and commanders who can rival the combat track."

"Tch, not everyone's Xu Lingqu. I just feel like my life expectancy's taking a hit."

Being from non-combat tracks, they could keep up with the basic drills at first, but as the intensity ramped up, they started to struggle, and complaints grew louder.

Instructor Chen just smiled at the grumbling. "Don't worry, you'll get your chance to shine soon enough."

He tossed the words over his shoulder and strode off, leaving the students exchanging glances before a wave of excitement washed over them.

For commanders and analysts to truly be "useful" meant they'd soon be done with mindless physical training and moving on to real team combat.

Most of the students present, whether from combat or non-combat tracks, had watched the team battles in the military academy league. In those battles, commanders displayed their decisive cunning and strategic brilliance, analysts showcased their database-like mental capacity, and individual fighters demonstrated their raw power—it was a stage for everyone to shine.

With that shot of adrenaline, the students threw themselves into training with renewed vigor. By the end, they were all collapsed on the ground, exhausted, but every single one of them had a smile on their face.

"Let me count," Jin said, ticking off his fingers as he looked at Xu Lingqu. "Our commander's obviously you. The analyst—uh, Tang Muwen, right? He's the analyst if I've got it correctly. For the three soldier slots: me, Shen Shouli, and Xu Xiqin. That's a perfect setup."

He was back to chatting with Xu Lingqu as if the morning's snooping had never happened—just another day.

It was a basic five-person squad configuration. In the military academy league, though battles involved a hundred combatants per school, squads were organized for easier management.

A commander wasn't mandatory for every squad; there was usually a Chief Commander with six to eight deputy commanders overseeing the various squads.

Xu Xiqin had been thinking about the team battles too. "Hold on, we're still missing a sniper. I think I could do it."

"You, a sniper? If we could get Liu Zheng as our sniper, that'd be great, but unfortunately..." Jin made a face. "If she were our sniper, her first shot would probably take out our commander."

"The instructors aren't going to let us form a squad," Shen Shouli said, glancing at Xu Lingqu, dashing Jin's hopes.

Tang Muwen murmured his agreement beside them. "You guys... are too strong."

Given the current circumstances, if the top students grouped together, they'd basically be unbeatable, which would defeat the purpose of the instructors' trial period to test all the students.

Xu Lingqu spoke up then, though not about squad composition. "You should sleep with one eye open tonight."

"Huh?" Her words came out of nowhere and startled Jin. Without thinking, he followed her instruction, squinting one eye as he pointed at himself. "Like this?"

The sight was so ridiculous that Xu Xiqin burst out laughing.

"I mean stay alert when you sleep—something's off," Xu Lingqu said, a bit exasperated, realizing she'd used an old Earth saying on a bunch of interstellar people. She added, "It's strange that Kai Ang didn't show up this afternoon, along with what Instructor Chen said and the training he planned."

Everyone had happily trained, eaten, and gone to bed in anticipation of a possible team battle drill the next day. The atmosphere was too reminiscent of the campfire by the river after their hand-to-hand combat training.

First, toss out a smoke screen to confuse and lull them, then strike when they're most off guard. Xu Lingqu figured this was Kai Ang's usual trick.

Once she pointed it out, the others started to sense something was off too. Jin stared at Xu Lingqu with exaggerated intensity for a few seconds. "What exactly is going on in that head of yours?"

Xu Lingqu seemed to live in a state of permanent vigilance—nothing could dull her senses, and her mind was always spinning at full speed.

With a brain like that, it almost made sense that she'd spent all those years at Zhuyun Frontier shut in her room studying the Galaxy Admiral's footage.

Shen Shouli grabbed Jin's chin and turned his head away, forcing him to break eye contact with Xu Lingqu.

"What's your problem?! I'm just paying respects to our commander, basking in the glow of her brilliance—is that not allowed?" Jin snarled, and when he saw Shen Shouli wipe his hand with a handkerchief in disgust, he got even angrier.

"If I hadn't stopped you, you'd be in the medical bay by now," Shen Shouli said, not sparing his friend's feelings in the slightest.

It was only then that Jin noticed Xu Xiqin had already balled up her fist, poised and ready. If he'd stared one second longer, he'd have taken a punch right to the face.

Close call.

Xu Xiqin, ever alert, reached over and yanked Jin aside.

"Are you..." Xu Xiqin squinted, "are you trying to steal my sister's brains?!"

Jin, who had been about to defend himself against any accusation of impropriety, was rendered speechless, his mouth hanging open.

"...I'll steal yours instead. Yours are way more original."

The two of them started bickering and scuffling like elementary schoolers again. Xu Lingqu was completely used to it by now and turned to head off first when Tang Muwen suddenly spoke up.

"Xu Lingqu, can we talk?"

He glanced at Shen Shouli, who had also turned around, and added, "Alone."