44 4.6 (1/2)

After the headmaster of the academy virtually delivered his traditional speech encouraging students to perform their best, the quarterly assessment trials officially commenced.

Students, separated by their grade, were sent to various arenas around the campus, where they were then randomly paired for duels. Those in the senior section were issued academy-standardized mecha, whereas those in the junior section fought bare-handed.

Across the board, this was a single-elimination style competition: the winners would advance, while the losers would be dropped and ranked according to the number of rounds they'd passed and how long they lasted.

Due to the academy's strict requirement that the instructors complete the assessment within one day, all the students had to fight simultaneously, thus preventing them from watching their peers' competitions. Only those who managed to finish their match early could observe others spar. As compensation, the faculty carefully recorded every bout, collated the clips, and distributed them to help their pupils study each other's techniques.

In this way, despite the lack of eyewitnesses, gossip about peer performances usually spread promptly after the trials.

Chen Yu gazed at the crowd of excited children milling around, anticipating what news would be circulating later today. He only returned from his daydreams when Hou Yi slipped over to naturally fix the collar at the back of his neck, his fingers lingering on the smooth skin. ”Ah Guang, remember to take care of yourself, don't get so caught up that you forget that we have to last for a long time.”

”En, thanks, Ah Yi!” Smiling brightly at the other boy, Chen Yu idly wondered whether he would comply with the military's orders. His eyes glittered, his lips curled wickedly. If he did, this boy would learn how blue his balls could get.

Following Ah Guang as he strode into the line for receiving a mecha, Hou Yi's eyebrows imperceptibly knitted together.

In the past month, he'd casually drawn closer to Ah Guang in and out of the training space, but just then, he had clearly escaped his hold. Was it that he still didn't trust him to touch any vulnerable spots? Or...he didn't like it?

Brooding on this possibility, he was further irritated by the sight of Murong Wen's petite figure approaching Ah Guang. Face cold, he scrutinized the pest wishing Ah Guang good luck, a sinister light flitting across his face.

At least this event would serve some purpose.

Within a quarter of an hour, the instructors had finished handing out the mecha and allocating pairs to transparently partitioned spaces. Signaling for the first round to start, they leisurely chatted about unimportant matters, prepared to endure a few hours of tedious monitoring until the last few contests between their top pupils.

But merely an hour later, their second and third best students were unexpectedly thrown together—naturally this was because Chen Yu, who had gotten bored playing with these kids, had manipulated the academy's randomization system through his communicator to hurry things along.

Nevertheless, the two friends hadn't confronted each other so early on in previous trials thanks to the protagonist halo, so he maintained a look of shock. Losing here would mean a huge fall in rank for either of them...please allow him to make a sad expression.

Murong Wen recovered first. Extending his mecha's hand, he laughed, ”Yongguang, I've improved a bit now, don't go easy on me.”

At this, Jin Yongguang nodded and grasped the outstretched hand with his mecha's. ”All right, Ah Wen, let's both do our best!”

Inside the cockpit, Murong Wen's mouth twisted.

Our best? How could they be compared? Jin Yongguang's best was supported by money, influence, physical gifts, whereas he could only depend on his own hard work. Besides, recently everyone had been talking about how Hou Yi and Jin Yongguang were always training together, there was clearly no room for him.

No, Murong Wen recalled, it seemed that Jin Yongguang's parents weren't as great as everyone thought, even scheming to destroy their son's future. Although he hadn't been pleased by this discovery and definitely wouldn't throw a match for money, whenever he considered exposing the truth to Yongguang, he instinctively resisted doing so. He himself couldn't say whether this was because he was afraid of being doubted or because he hoped that eventually, Jin Yongguang would be ruined.

In any case, Murong Wen decided, this wasn't his business, he shook his head to erase the envy from his heart.

Once the starting tone rang out, Murong Wen leaned forward, fully intending to defend himself from Jin Yongguang's habitual fierce assault. But looking at that confident boy moving forward without hesitation, sitting high in the cockpit as if he was on top of the world, his mind froze. Always so bright, always so bold, what gave him the right? By the time he refocused, he was too late. The other mecha was already almost on top of his.

Chen Yu had, of course, noticed the protagonist's lapse. Despite only wavering for a second, in this span of time, the original Jin Yongguang would have inevitably landed a flurry of hits on a 'defenseless' peer and fallen into his parents' trap. Then the son of heaven would mope about feeling guilty but soon convince himself that he was blameless since, in the end, he hadn't meant to do so.

Chen Yu chuckled. Well, having confirmed yet again how susceptible humans were to emotion, there was no longer a need to spare the protagonist. This body could now execute the finest level of mecha control, how could he lose to such a cheap plot trick?

The teachers, many of whom had been focused on this arena, were hurriedly running to stop Jin Yongguang from crushing Murong Wen when suddenly, the advancing mecha ignited its right thruster and twisted, looping around the other mecha. In an instant, its momentum had been perfectly redirected to flying.

As a good little student, Chen Yu promptly used his mecha's intercom to report that his friend was unresponsive and requested aid, but before the instructors could react, Murong Wen's mecha abruptly jerked around, launching a fierce barrage against Jin Yongguang.

Chen Yu startled, glancing down at the finger he'd been holding on his communicator. Ah? He hadn't clicked to initiate the self-destruct sequence in the protagonist's mecha yet, what was this boy up to?