But What If?
The twenty cadets who had obeyed orders and formed the single-file line, only to be left behind, were dragged out of their cocoon pods, overwhelmed. Thirteen of them were freshmen from Moye this year, and every face that emerged was etched with pain and confusion. All they'd heard on the comms was Feng Bu's command to fend for themselves while Shaji's forces hammered them from two sides.
The remaining seven, veterans, wore expressions of numb resignation.
They'd already lived this script in last year's league—sent into the desert to scout, only to be inexplicably cast aside. The result had been a crushing defeat, discrimination from cadets at other academies, and mockery from Sky Network analysts.
Kai Ang, Instructor Chen, and Su Li watched the students' despondent faces, a mix of emotions churning within them. No one spoke.
Young people, especially young cadets, should be full of vitality and high spirits. Seeing them so dejected was truly disheartening.
"There's basically no way to turn this around now," Su Li said, her voice strained. "After the match, I'll arrange for someone to provide them with proper psychological counseling. Next match, Xu Lingqu takes command. We'll do a thorough debrief and aim to score points then."
Only she knew that victory in this match had been traded away before it even began—Xu Lingqu and Feng Hui had a bet involving the overall command.
"Xu Lingqu, Liu Zheng, and Shen Shouli still haven't shown up," Instructor Chen noted, looking at the live broadcast feed. "They must be moving to circle around the rear."
"But Shaji has tightened their net around the command post," Kai Ang sighed. "Guan Chuanjun may seem reckless, but he's actually very cautious. He's even set up an ambush in the relatively easier left rear. Even if they manage to flank, they'll likely be walking into Guan Chuanjun's trap."
"But what if?" Instructor Chen turned to him. "What if they really can avoid all that and decapitate Guan Chuanjun?"
Kai Ang felt a stir in his heart. The rebuttal that rose to his lips died in his throat.
Su Li remained silent, not wanting to shatter his last shred of hope.
---
The six of them were moving stealthily through the forest directly behind Shaji's position.
Unlike standard flanking tactics, they couldn't begin offensive actions once deep in enemy territory. With the main force crumbling and their numbers few, their primary objective was concealment, then a decapitation strike. So even if they spotted Shaji personnel, they must not engage—they had to hide.
Be a patient hunter, waiting for that single, perfect opportunity for a fatal strike.
Tang Muwen walked close to Xu Lingqu, quietly reporting the situation on the main front.
"Feng Bu chose to engage Shaji in a positional battle, which is exactly what Shaji wanted. Their artillery is now laying fire on our first and second defensive lines. He's... swearing in the comms, yelling at our own artillery for being too slow, but we don't have Shaji's firing positions to give them precise coordinates."
Tang Muwen frowned as he spoke—rare for him. Just listening to Feng Bu was already unbearable.
It was fortunate that Xu Lingqu had earlier ordered Jin and Xu Xiqin to turn off their earpieces; otherwise, they would have turned their guns on Feng Bu and killed him.
Xu Lingqu nodded. They reached a spot with denser trees, and she called for a halt. The target they presented as six moving together was still too large. First, she sent Xu Xiqin to scout the left and Jin to the right.
Even if they couldn't detect enemy movements, the information they gathered would let Tang Muwen quickly map out the terrain.
She donned Tang Muwen's earpiece to hear the current situation herself.
As soon as she put it on, Feng Bu's roar filled her ears: "The first line isn't allowed to fall back! If you retreat, what about me? I've already reached the boundary—there's nowhere left to go!"
The sub-commander in charge of the first line replied helplessly, "It's not that we want to retreat; we have no way to fight back. You need to send reinforcements for us to hold!"
"No reinforcements," Feng Bu refused flatly. "The people around me are my final protection. I can't spare anyone. I don't care what you do, but the first line doesn't take a single step back."
The situation on the main front was grim. Xu Lingqu removed the earpiece. She was now in a race against death; every minute of resistance on the main front bought her time.
She lowered her gaze, thinking through the next steps.
"Positioning troops but refusing to reinforce—this is a glaring flaw from Moye. It's a perfect mirror for students who love their textbooks but never practice," Professor Zhuang said, now fully resigned and even cheerful as he chatted with Senior Colonel Ren and the audience. "They love their formulaic tactics. Utterly rigid. Tell them to deploy X number on line one, and they give exactly X, not a man more. Then they come crying, asking why they lost when they copied a famous general's strategy."
Senior Colonel Ren shook his head. "On the battlefield, someone without real-time command ability could never be an excellent commander... But Moye's new generation still has backbone."
Indeed, watching the live feed, not a single person on Moye's first line retreated or fled.
Thanks to Guan Chuanjun's preference for a beautiful kill ratio, Shaji didn't push straight through. The firstline fought a desperate, futile struggle under hail of gunfire until the last man—the sub-commander who had begged for reinforcements—fell, and only then did Shaji take the position.
Feng Bu was still berating him over the comms, but the only answer was the complete silence as every channel from the first line went dead.
"Last year, I remember they had an internal falling-out on the desert map. This year, they're remarkably united. I believe there are still people in Moye worth trusting," Senior Colonel Ren remarked.
[This massacre is infuriating. That Moye commander is a real piece of trash.]
[Hold on, isn't Moye's overall commander this year Xu Lingqu, the one everyone's been discussing on the forum? Who is this Feng Bu?]
[I'm a Moye student, let me answer directly: the current commander is Feng Bu, son of our principal Feng Hui and last year's Moye commander. He thought he'd have this year's commander spot locked in, but then Xu Lingqu came out of nowhere.]
[Oh~ the principal's son, got it, got it.]
[Hey, where are all those people who were on the forum earlier calling Xu Lingqu a privileged brat for stealing Shen Shouli's spot? Can someone explain how Xu Lingqu has such reach that she still got the commander spot taken from her by the principal's son?]
[Can the Moye folks stop bickering? Zero people care about your internal campus drama. I just know Shaji is already riding high with a dragon on their face. How can they lose?]
[Heh, don't set up that flag too early. But what if?]