Hunting the Instructors 1

Hunting the instructors!

The four syllables rolled off Xu Lingqu's tongue like a casual afterthought, yet they hit Guan Zhongli like a thunderclap.

"You..." His brain short-circuited, and he stammered, "Are you serious?!"

Those were the instructors, after all! Though they were called new recruits of the Military Department, they were outstanding graduates of military academies. Their combat experience had to be far richer than a bunch of trainees still on probation.

She's insane. Xu Lingqu had truly lost her mind!

"I'm serious, and I need your help," Xu Lingqu continued. "During the final purge window, I need you to gather everyone and lure them to the ambush point the five of us have set up. We'll take them all down."

She spoke of such a monumental matter as if she were just mentioning she needed to bring in the laundry before it rained.

Guan Zhongli stood frozen. "Lure them...? Then we'd all be dead men."

"Even if you don't cooperate, they'll purge you in the end—you'd die anyway. So work with us. After we kill them, we'll settle the faction points to the rest of you." Xu Lingqu's tone remained light, but her words were like a demon's whisper, tempting him. "Throughout this entire probation period, haven't you ever wanted to fight back against them? You've been tormented so badly. It's a pity that Instructor Kai Ang and Instructor Chen won't be part of the purge. Otherwise, I'd really love to..."

A wider smile spread across Xu Lingqu's face. "Capture them alive."

A madman. An absolute madman.

For a moment, Guan Zhongli felt that the being before him wasn't human at all, but an out-and-out tyrant.

Within her territory and under her rules, everything was decided by her. Whoever she wanted dead would die; whoever she wanted alive would live—no matter how humiliating.

Trading with her was practically offering up his soul.

Guan Zhongli thought: Good thing I'm not exactly normal either.

He looked at Xu Lingqu and finally bowed slightly. "At your service."

Only after he left the grove did Guan Zhongli realize he was drenched in cold sweat. He turned to Wang Qihu, who looked completely at ease beside him. "How did you know she'd be there to meet me?"

Wang Qihu scratched his head. "I was originally planning to defect to their side."

Why do you have to talk about defecting like it's the most normal thing in the world?! Guan Zhongli's mouth twitched, feeling an urge to punch his own brother in the gut for the first time in ages.

"But I got rejected. Commander Xu said I could defect at the assessment site, but it depended on whether Tang Muwen defected. If he did, I'd be off the hook—she just needed one smart brain to communicate with you."

She'd already thought that far ahead? Guan Zhongli's feelings were complicated. As a fellow commander, why was the gap between people so vast?

"What do you think would have happened if I'd refused?" Xu Lingqu had clearly been certain from the very start that he'd cooperate with her. A small rebellious spark flared in Guan Zhongli's mind—if he hadn't agreed, what kind of deployment would Commander Xu have made?

Wang Qihu shot him a glance. "I don't think you could have refused. Even if you had, you'd be the first one eliminated at the assessment site."

Wouldn't it be easy for Xu Lingqu and her crew to hunt him down?

Guan Zhongli pondered this and finally nodded. "You're right."

Wang Qihu's words were absolutely correct. The timeline snapped back to its proper course.

At this moment, Guan Zhongli, hidden by the trees, was leading a crowd to the western ambush point, waiting for Sun Liao to bring his group over.

He'd proven himself somewhat capable in rallying people. While Sun Liao was off running around with his little clique, Guan Zhongli had laid out the cooperation plan to everyone else.

Of course, that was only after Wang Qihu and the others had confiscated everyone's smart brains, on the pretext that Tang Muwen had defected and they needed to root out possible accomplices. In truth, it was to prevent any stragglers from tipping off Sun Liao.

To his surprise, most of the remaining students responded enthusiastically to the cooperation plan. First, everyone had some brains—this concerned their own interests, since the final assessment points directly factored into the overall leaderboard. Xu Lingqu had laid it out clearly for them, just like the underground labyrinth last time. Second, many genuinely admired Xu Lingqu from the bottom of their hearts. The initial faction bounty had gotten their blood hot, but now that it cooled down, most people didn't actually want to go against her.

Now that the cooperation details were shared with everyone, they grew even more excited. Commander Xu was thinking of them so considerately even from the enemy camp! It only made them admire her more!

However, Guan Zhongli held back the part about hunting the instructors, only sharing the faction points tidbit to move people further.

After being eliminated and leaving the field, fearing someone might run their mouth and leak the info, he planned to gather everyone to explain the whole thing only after today's final assessment concluded.

Now, it was time to deliver the first part of the cooperation. He had to admit—Xu Lingqu and her people really knew how to hide. Not a single trace had surfaced yet.

If they were to clash head-on with her without any plan, even if she didn't make a move, just staying hidden would throw the ordinary camp into chaos and eventually split them apart.

Vaguely hearing a crowd approaching from the distance, Guan Zhongli thought about how a fool like Sun Liao could even claim to be Xu Lingqu's rival. He wasn't fit to shine her shoes.

Today, I'll teach him a lesson on how to be a man.

At the hideout, Xu Lingqu had roughly finished explaining the entire cooperation process, leaving Jin and Xu Xiqin wide-eyed and speechless.

"I told you those idiots in the Federation had no chance in this year's military academy league. The team championship and final best commander awards can be handed out right now." Jin remembered the question Xu Lingqu had him ask in front of everyone earlier, about killing the instructors.

It had completely legitimized the matter in public, but because it came from him—always whimsical—it lowered everyone's guard.

Including Instructor Kai Ang and Instructor Chen.

This time, Kai Ang had intended to scheme against the five of them, but under Xu Lingqu's manipulation, they'd risen back to the highest ground instead. She'd transferred all the conflict and pressure Kai Ang had set for them, and most importantly...

"We're really going to hunt the instructors." Excitement blazed in Jin's eyes. He knew it—Xu Lingqu never let him down.

Shen Shouli stood frozen in place. He'd conceived his own hypotheticals for the final assessment, believing that for combat balance, Kai Ang wouldn't group them together. But Kai Ang had clearly thought one step further, going against convention, using the faction and bounty system to create a relatively balanced 1v55 scenario of elite individual combat against a human sea.

Instructor Kai Ang had indeed guided several military academy leagues before. It was just a pity that there was someone here who thought far deeper and more comprehensively than he ever could.