Morning 8:00.
Tactical Command Basics Class 1.
Jiang Wangzhi sat in the corner of the last row of the classroom, wishing she could bury her head into her desk compartment.
The whole classroom was so quiet that even a needle dropping on the ground could be heard.
A woman stood on the podium.
In her thirties.
Wearing a crisp black military academy instructor uniform.
Her hair was cut very short.
There was a faint scar at the corner of her eye, extending all the way to her temples.
Although she didn't speak, the murderous aura rolling off her from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood made this group of eighteen or nineteen-year-old freshmen unable to breathe.
Teacher Qin Wan.
Former chief of staff of the federal frontline main legion.
After retiring, she came to First Military Academy.
Gu Zhaozhao's warning last night was still echoing in Jiang Wangzhi's ears: 'If you fall into her hands, even if you don't die, you'll lose a layer of skin.'
Teacher Qin Wan placed her hands on the podium.
Her gaze swept across the class like a knife.
No self-introduction.
No roll call.
No lengthy opening remarks.
The first sentence she spoke made Jiang Wangzhi's heart sink halfway.
"Who is Jiang Wangzhi?"
Deathly silence in the classroom.
The next second.
The heads of dozens of people in the class turned synchronously with a swish.
All gazes focused on that corner in the last row.
Jiang Wangzhi was holding an upside-down textbook, pretending to be deaf.
She couldn't hide anymore.
She had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand up.
"Present."
Teacher Qin Wan narrowed her eyes and looked her up and down.
"You are the one who got the highest tactical contribution score in the entire grade during the Desolate Star assessment?"
Jiang Wangzhi hurriedly shook her head.
"Report, instructor!"
"That was a system bug!"
"I actually didn't do anything!"
All the classmates were holding back their laughter.
These past few days, the forum had been spreading like wildfire; who didn't know about Jiang Wangzhi's miraculous micro-control at the bottom of the pit.
Now acting cowardly was too late.
Teacher Qin Wan didn't smile.
She pointed at the holographic sand table in front of the blackboard.
"Come up."
Jiang Wangzhi timidly inched out of her seat and walked to the front of the podium.
Teacher Qin Wan pressed the start button of the sand table.
Blue light flickered.
A complex terrain map appeared in mid-air.
"This is a most basic tactical deduction question."
Teacher Qin Wan's voice was cold and hard.
"Blue team five-person squad."
"Red team fifteen people, equipment superior to yours."
"Your task is to defend this canyon stronghold to the death and hold out for thirty minutes waiting for rescue."
Teacher Qin Wan tossed a tactical deduction pen to Jiang Wangzhi.
"If it were you, how would you fight?"
All the classmates stretched their necks.
Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes just how many tricks this legendary tactical genius actually had.
Jiang Wangzhi took the pen.
Looking at the holographic sand table in front of her.
Originally she wanted to casually draw a few lines and spout nonsense.
But when she saw that familiar red-and-blue terrain map.
Her occupational disease as a top-tier e-sports tactical analyst from her past life instantly flared up.
Terrain.
Cover.
Fire intersection.
Probability calculation.
These things emerged uncontrollably as if engraved in her bones.
Jiang Wangzhi stared at the sand table for two seconds.
She moved.
Holding the deduction pen, she quickly drew a few blue light lines in mid-air.
Speaking at an extremely fast pace.
"The canyon entrance is too wide; five people simply cannot defend it."
"Abandon the perimeter."
"Arrange two heavy-assault warriors at the narrow section in the middle of the canyon; this is the fire convergence point."
"The sniper takes the left commanding height to control the enemy's fire network."
"The remaining two people flank around from the path on the right cliff."
Jiang Wangzhi drew a cross behind the red team.
"A frontal head-on defense cannot withstand a strong attack from fifteen people."
"But as long as the flanking personnel can cut off the red team's logistics supply line or create chaos."
"The pressure of the frontal defense will plummet drastically."
"Hold out for thirty minutes, mission complete."
She drew the last stroke.
Put down the pen.
The whole process took less than a minute.
A muffled exclamation sounded in the classroom.
"Damn, so fast!"
"This logic is so clear; abandoning the perimeter to directly utilize the terrain for blocking points, and even splitting forces to flank!"
"As expected of number one, this reaction speed is peerless!"
The classmates' eyes were filled with admiration.
Hearing these praises, Jiang Wangzhi's heart skipped a beat.
It's over.
Getting excited just now triggered her old habit.
Now she was standing out again.
She secretly glanced at Teacher Qin Wan, hoping the instructor could pick out some flaws.
Teacher Qin Wan looked at the light lines on the sand table.
Silent for a long time.
Then, she turned her head and looked at Jiang Wangzhi.
No appreciation on her face.
"The plan is very pretty."
"The logic is very rigorous."
Teacher Qin Wan's voice wasn't loud, yet it struck heavily upon everyone's heart.
"But Jiang Wangzhi, three of your men died."
The classroom fell silent instantly.
Jiang Wangzhi froze in place.
"What?"
Teacher Qin Wan pointed at those two blue lines in the middle of the sand table.
"At the narrow frontal section, fifteen people concentrated their fire. Your two heavy-assault warriors can last ten minutes at most before being beaten into a sieve."
She pointed again at the cross behind the red team.
"The two people flanking, going deep into the enemy camp, once exposed, won't even leave a whole corpse."
Teacher Qin Wan stared into Jiang Wangzhi's eyes.
Her gaze was so sharp it seemed capable of piercing through her soul.
"You won."
"You defended the stronghold."
"But your five-person squad only had one sniper return alive."
Jiang Wangzhi opened her mouth.
Refuting words stuck in her throat, unable to utter a single one.
In her past life reviewing matches, this was the kind of tactic she saw every day.
Trading kills for vision.
Trading supports for output.
As long as they could win the team fight, what did losing a few people matter?
Anyway, game characters could respawn in the fountain ten seconds later.
In her subconscious, teammates were just data, variables on a tactical panel.
Teacher Qin Wan stepped forward and picked up the deduction pen.
"Jiang Wangzhi."
"This is reality."
"People in reality, once they die, they are dead."
"They won't revive, they won't start over."
"A truly excellent commander must not only win, but also figure out how to bring your teammates back alive."
"Treating them as cold chips means you are not worthy of being this commander."
Every word pierced the heart.
No deliberate suppression.
Just mercilessly tearing open Jiang Wangzhi's mask of a 'gamer'.
Jiang Wangzhi lowered her head.
Looking at her own toes.
Her heart was squeezed fiercely by something.
These past few days, she had always felt this world was absurd.
She wanted to drop out, she wanted to slack off, she felt this was all a game she could walk away from at any time.
But Teacher Qin Wan's words slapped her soundly in the face.
Right.
Zhou Ye, Tang Li, and the others were living, breathing people.
On the Desolate Star, Zhou Ye vomiting blood from being slammed by a Star Beast—that hurt for real.
Jiang Wangzhi fell silent.
For the first time.
She didn't think about how to exploit loopholes in her mind, but seriously listened to those words.
"Pei Linchuan."
Teacher Qin Wan suddenly called out a name.
Pei Linchuan, sitting in the front row, stood up.
"Present."
"Come up, give your plan."
Pei Linchuan walked up to the podium.
He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
Picking up the deduction pen, he directly erased all the lines Jiang Wangzhi had drawn.
He drew anew.
"Everyone abandons the perimeter and the middle section."
"Fallback to the natural karst cave deep in the canyon."
"The karst cave has only one entrance."
"Heavy-assault units stay at the very front, others establish a fire network behind."
"No need to flank, no need to split forces."
"Although the red team has more people, the karst cave terrain cannot deploy forces, they can only use a piecemeal tactical approach."
Pei Linchuan drew the last line.
"We will fight very ugly."
"We will be suppressed so hard we won't be able to lift our heads."
"But relying on ammo reserves, it's enough to hold out for thirty minutes."
"Mission complete, zero casualties."
Teacher Qin Wan looked at the sand table and nodded.
She picked up the score recorder.
"Pei Linchuan, clear train of thought, focuses on survival rate."
"Grade, A."
She turned her head and looked at Jiang Wangzhi.
"Jiang Wangzhi, ruthless tactics, but lacks awe for life."
"Grade, C."
The classmates all broke out in a cold sweat for Jiang Wangzhi.
Being publicly criticized by the instructor on the very first class and getting a C.
For a genius carrying the halo of 'Tactical Number One', this was simply utter humiliation.
Everyone thought Jiang Wangzhi would cry or unhappily refute.
Pei Linchuan also turned his head to look at her.
Preparing to welcome her frustrated expression.
As a result.
Jiang Wangzhi's eyes lit up bit by bit.
Bright to a scary degree.
She stared dead at that big 'C' letter.
The corners of her mouth curled up wildly, almost reaching her earlobes.
C!
She finally got a C!
Finally, someone crushed her hard in grades!
Jiang Wangzhi turned her head and looked at Pei Linchuan.
That gaze.
Full of gratitude.
Full of eagerness.
Just like seeing a savior relieving suffering!
Pei Linchuan felt his scalp go numb from being looked at like that.
He originally thought that since he got an A and surpassed her, she would be angry or feel embarrassed.
Yet.
She was actually smiling?
What on earth is wrong with this woman?
Was she berated into stupidity?
Pei Linchuan's expression showed a trace of a crack for the first time.
His hand pushing his glasses froze.
"Everyone back to your seats," Teacher Qin Wan said coldly.
Jiang Wangzhi happily walked back to the last row.
Her steps were as brisk as if she were dancing.
For the whole class, she was immersed in the joy of 'I finally bombed the exam'.
She didn't even hear what Teacher Qin Wan talked about afterward.
The class-ending bell rang.
Teacher Qin Wan tucked her lesson plans under her arm and left.
The freshmen packed up their things and prepared to go to the cafeteria.
Jiang Wangzhi hummed a tune, stuffing her book into her bag.
Just as she walked out of the classroom door.
A slender figure blocked her way.
Pei Linchuan.
He had his signature sniper rifle case on his back and stood in the corridor.
The eyes behind the lenses carried deep inquiry.
"Jiang Wangzhi."
"Ah? Classmate Pei, is something wrong?"
Jiang Wangzhi now looked at Pei Linchuan and thought he was simply the cutest person in the world.
As long as he was around, she could definitely steadily secure the last place!
Pei Linchuan stared at her face.
"You were smiling on the podium just now, why?"
He was a person who spoke of logic in everything he did.
Jiang Wangzhi's reaction completely defied normal human psychological logic.
This made him extremely puzzled.
Jiang Wangzhi blinked her eyes, her tone extremely sincere:
"Because you got an A."
"You surpassed me, you are number one."
"So I'm happy for you."
Pei Linchuan's frown tightened even further.
"You were publicly criticized by the instructor and got a C."
"I got an A."
"You're happy for me?"
Jiang Wangzhi nodded vigorously.
"Yeah!"
"You're strong, you deserve it!"
"I'm just trash, getting a C is well-deserved."
"It's pretty good, really quite good."
After finishing, Jiang Wangzhi patted Pei Linchuan's arm.
"Keep it up in the future too, strive to crush me every time!"
"Come on!"
Making an encouraging gesture.
Jiang Wangzhi slung her bag over her shoulder and happily ran toward the cafeteria.
Pei Linchuan stood in the corridor.
Watching her cheerful retreating figure.
A cold wind blew past.
His proud logical analysis ability completely collapsed at this moment.
Nutcase.
This is definitely a nutcase.
In the afternoon.
Jiang Wangzhi ate her fill and returned to the dormitory to take a nap.
As soon as she woke up, she saw a latest notification from the Academic Affairs Office pop up on her terminal.
【Tactical Command Basics Class, arrangement for next week's actual combat simulation class.】
【Course requirements: Two-person group, double-person tactical confrontation.】
【Grouping method: System random matching.】
Jiang Wangzhi yawned.
Double-person confrontation?
Doesn't matter.
Anyway, she had already made up her mind; no matter who she was matched with, she would directly lie flat.
Surrender upon entering the arena.
Strive to bring back a zero score.
She casually clicked open the grouping list in the attachment.
Among the long list of names, she searched for her own name.
Found it.
【Group Seven】
【Trainee 1: Jiang Wangzhi】
Jiang Wangzhi's gaze shifted to the side, looking at the partner's name.
The next second.
The smile on her face froze.
Her eyes widened further and further.
Half a mouthful of water in her mouth almost sprayed out.
【Trainee 2: Pei Linchuan】
Jiang Wangzhi sat blankly on the bed.
Staring fixedly at those three characters on the screen.
Pei Linchuan.
That involution king who fought for number one in everything and did everything to the extreme!
That monster ranking in the top three of the school's comprehensive grades?
The system actually assigned her together with this involution king?!
She wanted to lie flat?
Lying flat in front of Pei Linchuan, he would definitely point a gun and force her to stand up and fight the whole match!
Right at this moment.
Jiang Wangzhi's terminal vibrated once.
A text message was received.
Sender: Pei Linchuan.
The content was only a short sentence:
【Tomorrow morning at six, see you at Training Ground Number Three. Don't be late.】
Jiang Wangzhi looked at this message.
Everything went black before her eyes.
She collapsed directly back onto the bed.
While in another boys' dormitory building.
Pei Linchuan looked at the grouping list.
He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
Deeply, he let out a sigh.
He also fell silent.