The simulation training room.
It was steeped in a cold, metallic high-tech atmosphere.
Rows of silver-white holographic simulation pods stood in neat formation, their faint blue indicator lights flickering rhythmically.
Teacher Qin Wan stood at the very front, holding an electronic roster.
On the large screen, a pairing roster grouping them in pairs lit up.
"Group Seven."
Teacher Qin Wan's voice was devoid of emotion.
"Jiang Wangzhi, Pei Linchuan."
As soon as she spoke, the previously quiet classroom instantly erupted into an irrepressible stir.
Several freshmen who had participated in the Desolate Star assessment immediately lit up, exchanging knowing winks and glances.
"Holy crap, what a god-tier combo!"
"The command hub from the Desolate Star that ground a General-class Star Beast into the dirt!"
"Why even compete? With those two teamed up, first place is a lock."
A bold student turned directly toward the back row and bantered:
"Classmate Jiang, God Pei! Look at you two, the golden duo rekindling your fate!"
Jiang Wangzhi's face instantly darkened.
She snapped to her feet and shouted in correction:
"Cut the nonsense!"
"Who's his golden duo?"
"We've only known each other for three days!"
"The team on the Desolate Star was just temporary—we were lumped together by sheer coincidence!"
Sitting in front, Pei Linchuan also pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.
Standing up, he added expressionlessly:
"A random match by the system, devoid of subjective intent."
"Please refrain from overinterpreting."
The two were never on the same wavelength in anything they usually did.
Yet now, when distancing themselves, they were surprisingly in sync, their tones brimming with utter rejection of such 'bundled packaging.'
Teacher Qin Wan rapped hard on the podium.
"Quiet."
The entire class instantly fell silent.
"This class is a two-person tactical simulation."
Teacher Qin Wan pressed several keys on the console.
"Simulating a real battlefield environment."
"One takes overall control, responsible for macro-level battalion movements; the other handles frontline micro-management to respond to sudden contingencies."
"Maximum score: one hundred."
Teacher Qin Wan's cold gaze swept over everyone.
"The bottom ten pairs will run fifty laps around the training grounds tonight."
Fifty laps!
Jiang Wangzhi's calves went weak, and she almost buckled.
With her E-plus physical condition, running five laps would send her straight to the infirmary for emergency resuscitation. Fifty laps? That was practically holding her funeral!
She had intended to just slack off.
But she didn't want to die on the running track.
Jiang Wangzhi glanced at Pei Linchuan beside her and let out a deep sigh.
Fine, then.
Just scraping by with a mid-tier passing score would do.
The two each found a simulation pod and lay inside.
Neural interface initiated.
The view before their eyes flashed, followed by a slight sensation of weightlessness.
They entered the virtual battlefield.
Their mission this time was to command a mixed squad of fifty virtual soldiers, navigating through an enemy-controlled ruined city to reach a designated evacuation point.
Preparation time: ten minutes.
Pei Linchuan immediately brought up the virtual tactical board, his fingers swiping swiftly across it.
He was a straight-A student.
He was accustomed to calculating every variable down to the letter, locking them under his control.
"I'll take charge of the overall route planning and logistical coordination,"
Pei Linchuan said calmly.
"You're responsible for keeping an eye on the frontline maneuvers of those ten vanguard assault troops."
"I've already set the route."
Pei Linchuan traced a precise blue line across the map, perfectly bypassing every enemy firepoint displayed on the radar.
"Complete radio silence throughout."
"Advance at a steady pace along Corridor C3."
"Heavy armor covers the rear; we clear the danger zone within five minutes."
The plan was airtight, virtually without flaw.
Jiang Wangzhi took a look and nodded.
"Got it."
No problem. This overachiever's calculations were solid; all she had to do was watch the vanguard so nothing went awry.
The simulation officially began.
The virtual squad entered the ruins.
Just as the vanguard squad prepared to cross the middle section of Corridor C3,
Jiang Wangzhi's gaze suddenly froze.
She locked her eyes onto a half-collapsed building to the right.
Along the edge of the rubble, the trajectory of several tumbling stones was off.
Wind direction and gravity alone couldn't have caused the rocks to roll like that.
Someone had stepped on them!
"Halt!"
Jiang Wangzhi yanked back on the control lever.
The ten assault troops in the frontline instantly received the command, dropping behind cover in unison and stopping their advance.
In the command hub, Pei Linchuan's brows instantly knitted together.
"Why did you stop?"
"Stick to the original route and keep moving at a steady pace!"
Staring at her screen, Jiang Wangzhi didn't even turn her head. "Not right now!"
"Why?"
"The enemy changed their setup."
Jiang Wangzhi's fingers rapidly marked several virtual red dots on the screen.
"There's an ambush in the ruins on the right."
"Their formation is collapsing inward—they're getting ready to box us in!"
Pei Linchuan immediately glanced at the radar.
The radar screen was completely clear, showing no red dots whatsoever.
"The system hasn't issued any warnings; there's insufficient intel to support your deduction."
Pei Linchuan's voice sank.
"Jiang Wangzhi, this is a large-formation operation of fifty soldiers."
"If the entire formation halts over a mere suspicion, the rear supply lines and heavy armor units will become disconnected."
"You can't keep changing plans on the fly every single time!"
Jiang Wangzhi flared up as well.
She despised rigid people the most.
"Just because the radar doesn't show it doesn't mean there's no danger!"
"Are you just going to pretend the enemy doesn't move?"
"If we keep going along your route, those ten vanguard troops will be sitting ducks walking right into a slaughter!"
"This is the optimal solution according to probability."
Pei Linchuan stood firm in his judgment, tolerating no dispute.
"Even if there's an ambush, the survival rate of pushing through by force is as high as seventy percent."
"As long as the main force gets through, the mission will be accomplished."
"I want one hundred percent!"
Refusing to yield an inch, Jiang Wangzhi directly locked down the vanguard squad's advance authorization.
"There's no way I'm letting people under my watch march to their deaths!"
Neither of them would back down.
Commands clashed violently within the command hub.
At the front, the virtual squad received orders to advance one second, and orders to retreat the next.
They were thrown into utter chaos right where they stood.
While the vanguard stalled, the heavy armor units in the rear continued their steady advance under Pei Linchuan's orders.
The formation ended up completely jammed together.
Boom—!
Enemy artillery barrage blanketed the area.
Unable to evade in time due to the severely disrupted formation, the virtual squad suffered catastrophic casualties.
In the end, it was only by Pei Linchuan forcibly hammering out a bloody path with a web of concentrated firepower that they barely managed to complete the mission.
However, the casualty rate reached a staggering forty percent.
Ding—
Simulation concluded.
The pod hatches popped open.
The two sat up, and the main screen in the hall began scrolling through the scores of each group.
【Group Seven: Jiang Wangzhi, Pei Linchuan.】
【Overall Rating: Pass.】
【Rank: 32nd.】
The entire class was stunned.
Lower-middle tier!
They had almost tumbled right into the bottom-ten penalty zone!
This was Pei Linchuan and Jiang Wangzhi!
The legendary duo that had ground a General-class Star Beast into the dirt on the Desolate Star had nearly failed?
Everyone was astounded.
Everyone except Han Zheng.
Han Zheng had just emerged from his simulation pod; he had performed exceptionally well this round, securing fifth place.
Seeing the scores on the screen, Han Zheng couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
Striding over to them with a face full of mockery, he felt the pent-up venom inside him finally released.
"And here I thought you two were something special."
Han Zheng stared at her, his tone dripping with malice.
"Turns out that without meat shields like Tang Li and Zhou Ye charging through fire and brimstone for you,"
"and without real cannon fodder absorbing your trial and error,"
"this is all you amount to?"
"Barely scraping past the passing line—what a total joke."
Anyone else publicly mocked like that by their nemesis would have been fuming with rage.
But Jiang Wangzhi stood up.
Far from being angry, she merely stretched her arms and let out a long sigh of relief.
She looked at the ranking.
Thirty-second place.
No fifty laps to run, and no unwanted spotlight.
This rank was simply perfection!
Utterly comfortable!
"What are you smiling at?" Han Zheng looked at her as if looking at a monster, his brow tightly furrowed.
"I passed. Am I not allowed to smile?" Jiang Wangzhi asked back with utter sincerity.
Choked for words, Han Zheng gave a cold huff; feeling like he'd punched a mound of cotton, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Nearby,
Pei Linchuan's face looked grim.
He hadn't paid any attention to Han Zheng's sneers, nor had he even bothered to glance at the ranking on the scorecard.
He kept his head lowered, staring at his hands.
He was deeply dissatisfied.
Not because of Han Zheng's words, nor because of the low ranking.
Rather, it was because he had just reviewed the final omniscient replay in the debrief system.
Jiang Wangzhi had been right.
There really was an ambush in the ruins to the right.
If they had forced their way through back then, even if seventy percent had survived, they would have walked straight into an inescapable pocket trap.
For the first time, he deeply realized that his tactical plans were too much like delicate works of art.
Too rigid.
Indeed, they failed to leave enough leeway for unforeseen developments.
The moment battlefield variables slightly exceeded his expectations, the entire plan risked collapsing.
Meanwhile, on the other side,
Jiang Wangzhi was beaming on the surface, but inwardly, she was feeling uneasy too.
She was an analyst with professional discipline.
She had read the situation correctly and saved those ten vanguard troops.
But, because she had forced a sudden halt, the rear heavy armor units failed to keep up and half of them were blown away by artillery fire.
She was used to putting out fires in esports matches—with three to five people, one could kite and maneuver however one liked.
But in large-scale troop operations, supply line distances, march speeds of heavy units, and the depth of artillery coverage— she was completely ignorant of these basic military fundamentals.
She had put out the fire, but burned down the entire mountain in the process.
The two stood before their simulation pods.
Neither shifted blame, nor did they argue.
Each reflected internally, discovering their own most fatal shortcoming.
Right at that moment,
Teacher Qin Wan clapped her hands sharply from the podium.
"Round one of the assessment is concluded."
"I've reviewed the scores, and they are an absolute mess."
Teacher Qin Wan's sharp gaze swept across the class, lingering for an extra second on the pods of Group Seven.
"Especially certain partners rumored to be godlike."
"Constraining each other and throwing around contradictory orders."
"On a real battlefield, that command conflict between you two would be enough to haul you before a military court ten times over!"
Teacher Qin Wan sneered.
"Now, round two begins."
"Everyone, re-enter your simulation pods."
She paused, then suddenly rapped on the console.
"This time, we change the rules."
"No preparation time."
"No ten-second route planning."
"You drop directly onto the frontline battlefield!"
Jiang Wangzhi snapped her head up.
No prep time?
Then how was Pei Linchuan supposed to map out routes? How could he maintain total control?
Pei Linchuan also turned his head, looking toward Jiang Wangzhi through his thin lenses.
Their gazes met.