Three members of Class A have been eliminated.
Wang Tianwei looked around from her hammock. There was no movement nearby; the trouble probably wasn't on her side.
From the Spine-Fear Mountain, the moon looked excessively large.
Wang Tianwei gave herself a couple more sprays of mosquito repellent, adjusted her sleeping bag, and went back to sleep.
Dawn was still far off; she needed to conserve her energy for tomorrow.
Occasional sounds of birds and animals rustling through the forest, accompanied by gusts of a gentle breeze, eventually lulled the person in the hammock into a deep sleep.
The other students in Class S weren't nearly as carefree.
In the round-faced young man's squad, several students assigned to the latter half of the night watch sighed as they lifted the tent flap and emerged. The squad leader looked puzzled.
"It's not time to change shifts yet. Why are you all coming out instead of sleeping?"
Lu Bai, looking listless, poured himself some hot water.
"...Couldn't sleep. Did someone from Class A get eliminated?"
"Yes, but it has nothing to do with us."
"Sigh... I didn't sleep well last night either, and today we don't even have the bunk beds. The sleeping bag doesn't have the negative pressure of a sleep pod, and it doesn't block sound. I kept hearing rustling noises outside... I tried my best."
Another team member chimed in,
"I was constantly worried about a mutant or a starbeast attacking. The more I thought about it, the more awake I got..."
The round-faced squad leader, named Lu Xiao, fell silent as he listened to his team's explanations.
The day had been undeniably exhausting, with both marching and fighting... He had thought that, as the leader, staying up a bit later was fine, so he let the others sleep first. Who knew everyone would suffer from insomnia?
Another team member named Sun Ye gave a bitter laugh.
"Only now do I realize how spoiled we usually are... The conditions for Federation soldiers on missions must be much harsher than this, right?"
No one spoke further, only the crackling and popping of the burning campfire breaking the silence occasionally.
Lu Bai looked up at the moon in the sky.
"It's fine. Didn't we come to Qilin precisely to learn how to become qualified soldiers? If we already knew everything, what would there be to learn? We identify the problems and fix them, that's all."
"...Lu Bai is right."
Lu Xiao agreed.
"Didn't all Federation soldiers go through this same stage? Don't put too much psychological pressure on yourselves. It's only the first day, and our progress is actually pretty good. Alright, if you really can't sleep, take the first half of the night watch. I'll relieve you later. Everyone will get used to it once we adapt."
"Alright, you go get some rest."
Inside the rescue aircraft,
Chao Hao was still sitting on that stool, his legs propped on the desk, an enlarged holographic projection from his light-brain in front of him.
The night-shift observers and rescue team were diligently monitoring the wall full of live-feed screens in the observation room.
The operations room was empty except for him; the other instructors had all returned to their sleep pods to rest.
Hearing the conversation from Lu Xiao's squad, a smile tugged at the corner of Chao Hao's mouth.
"These brats. They can't even sleep without their sleep pods. To become Federation soldiers, you still have a long way to go!"
Actually, the living conditions for active-duty soldiers were much better now.
He'd heard that even mission ships could be equipped with communal sleep pods nowadays. Though cramped, they still helped with physical recovery.
Not like back in his day... Now that was sleeping anywhere and everywhere.
Once, during a starbeast clean-up operation, the team was so exhausted they just slept piled on the corpses for four hours. One member even ended up hugging a mutated snake corpse in his sleep and woke up reeking...
But what No. 17 said wasn't wrong. Everyone had been their age once.
To protect the Federation, each person had undergone rigorous training, shedding countless drops of sweat and tears, and paying heavy prices...
The lights in the operations room snapped on with a click. The blinding glare forced Chao Hao to shut his eyes.
"Argh! I'm blinded! Blinded!"
"Instructor Chao, what are you still doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
Fu Manli had come out on patrol. Seeing Chao Hao lounging like a lord in the dark operations room from outside, she turned on the lights.
Chao Hao rubbed his eyes.
"Just thinking about how I'll have to face those old fogies' lectures when we get back... and write reports... couldn't sleep.
Instructor Fu, could you at least dim the lights a bit?"
Fu Manli sighed and adjusted the light dial.
"If you know it's troublesome, then don't go looking for trouble..."
Chao Hao finally lowered his hands, his eyes completely bloodshot.
"Instructor Chao, with your eyes like that, you should really get some rest...
We'll be here for seven days. Don't forget, the likelihood of incidents increases the longer this goes on. There's no need to skip sleep from the very first night."
"Sigh..."
Chao Hao swung his legs off the desk, stood up straight. The chair behind him let out a long screech.
"Got it. Instructor Fu, after you finish... your business, you should head back to sleep too."
"..."
Back in his sleep pod, Chao Hao tried for a long time but still couldn't feel sleepy. After some thought, he opened his light-brain again.
In Live Feed No. 11, Wang Tianwei was hanging from a tree, fast asleep.
Chao Hao raised an eyebrow inwardly.
Nerves of steel, sleeping in a situation like that?
Considering her overall performance today, she really didn't seem like a pampered young lady who couldn't handle hardship.
Over at No. 32, Jian Jingyu had been chased by Class S all day and finally managed to shake them off by going into the water. He was now back at his own camp, drying his clothes by a fire.
Reckless fool!
Chao Hao offered a sharp critique.
Knowing someone's chasing you, and you still pick such an open area to camp? Safe, maybe, but also glaringly obvious!
A whole day and he still hasn't learned his lesson. Definitely a product of the old-fashioned Jian family upbringing.
But then, it was only the first day. Everyone wasn't that desperate for credits or time yet, and they hadn't fully found their nerve.
Wait until they encounter a few waves of mutants and starbeasts... at most three days, he won't even be able to eat a proper meal in peace.
Compared to these two, Huang Yan seemed rather middling.
He wasn't as overly cautious as Wang Tianwei, who didn't even dare light a fire, nor as brash and planless as Jian Jingyu.
After encountering the mutant mad rabbit, his luck seemed to turn around. He actually managed to find a hidden, wind-sheltered cave to set up camp.
He set a few traps around the perimeter and made some alarm devices. He was also settled in for the night now, though whether he was actually asleep was unclear...
Chao Hao pulled up a memo and wrote comments next to each of the three students' names.
Judging by combat skills, Jian Jingyu was the strongest. Both his long-range attacks and close-quarters combat were worthy of his S-grade mental power.
Unexpectedly, Huang Yan's skills with cold weapons and close combat weren't weak either, especially considering he was a commander.
The one that truly surprised him, though, was that Yin-yang Head. If his speculation was correct, that kid's physical fitness wasn't just B-grade.
From the initial accurate judgment and decision to circle back to the starting point, to the posture when handling the gun and the accuracy of his shots against the mutant vines later on—all could be called quite standard.
It's just that some of his moves were a bit outdated, and he was overly cautious overall... Wonder where he learned it? Would need proper correction later.
After finishing the comments, Chao Hao finally shut down his light-brain, turned over, and closed his eyes.
Who knows what unimaginable things these students will do tomorrow? Something to look forward to, indeed!
