Yama Chao sensed the movement behind him. He turned off the light screen and slowly turned around.
"You guys still have the nerve to smile?"
The six of them immediately shrank back into obedient little quails.
"You wanted to take a shortcut to earn credits, yet the six of you got wiped out by just three people? Go back and watch the live broadcast replay, and you'll see just how stupid you were!"
No one dared to retort. Don't ask; asking only brings regret!
"If you had even a bit of brains, you wouldn't have been played like that! Seen a ghost? You clearly had the ability to fight back, so why didn't you?"
Zheng Yunyun looked up in confusion.
"Ah? But, my gun was taken by her..."
Chao Hao leaned back in his chair.
"At such a close distance, even if your gun was disarmed, couldn't you engage her in hand-to-hand combat? You are a combat specialist!"
Zheng Yunyun's mind was spinning.
"But she was pointing the gun at me and said..."
Chao Hao sneered.
"Said what? You didn't dare shoot her, so you think she dared to shoot you?
Just because she said you had no chance of winning, did you really have no chance?
Or did you just lose your nerve the moment she mentioned sending you back to school for a shower?
She only learned that phrase ten minutes ago!
...And in the end, you actually gave her your own equipment? Hmph, you were sold out and still helped count the money!"
Zheng Yunyun was left dumbfounded by the scolding. Bian Ruiming, who was standing beside her, couldn't stand it anymore.
"Teacher, we know we were wrong. It was my fault for not leading the team well."
Chao Hao's glaring eyes immediately snapped toward him.
"Of course it was your fault for not leading the team well! You knew something was wrong, yet you didn't immediately gather everyone together?
After falling, you told the others to run first? Did you think you were being especially heroic?
When Jian Jingyu pinned you to the ground, did you hear the sound of water sloshing in your brain?"
"..."
Bian Ruiming quickly admitted defeat. Chao Hao didn't spare the remaining few either.
"...Don't tell me that as mecha mechanics and commanders, you aren't good at combat. Isn't Huang Yan a commander!?
On the battlefield, do you think the enemy will spare your life just because you're a commander!?
All I know is that the two of you fought two-on-one and still got beaten up! Embarrassing! If I were you, I wouldn't even be able to sleep when I got back!"
"And you! What's with that expression? S-rank? So what if it's an S-rank? When you encounter an S-rank, you should at least give your teammates a warning!
You didn't react in time? You saw a person, not a ghost! And that scared you silly? Truly the worst class I have ever taught..."
When the six of them were escorted back to the school by the safety officers, every single one of them had been verbally battered to pieces, as if a dark cloud loomed over their heads...
When they set out, everyone was full of energy, but upon returning to school, they felt pathetic and humiliated.
The few of them exchanged glances. Without even the appetite to eat, they scattered back to their dorms to hide.
Meanwhile, the audience who had been watching the live broadcast of the freshmen training noticed that the three students from the S-class had completely changed their tactics after this battle.
They no longer just fled like before; instead, they started ruthlessly ambushing people!
Huang Yan deliberately lured people toward the nests of mutated plants and animals. His judgment was incredibly precise, ensuring that the combat strength of both sides was evenly matched every time.
Then, when the fighting was almost over, he would rush in to pick off the survivors, succeeding almost every time and racking up a lot of credits in the process.
Wang Tianwei's tricks were quite similar, except she was much more cowardly in a fight. She even made a slingshot herself and specifically shot pebbles at people's alarm devices!
At a glance, it was obvious she wasn't formally trained like Jian Jingyu. When escaping, she only picked narrow paths and crevices, utilizing her size advantage to the absolute limit!
This made members of other teams grit their teeth in hatred and left the viewers in the live broadcast room completely speechless...
Even Jian Jingyu learned to set up traps first, then pretend to be accidentally discovered, run to his trap to eliminate his pursuers, and never forget to loot their gear afterward.
The occasional few students who didn't fall for the trap were simply crushed by his S-rank physical and mental strength.
In just two days, over a dozen teams were eliminated by the three of them alone. After all, the trio didn't even have to try hard to find targets; as soon as they showed their faces, people would deliver themselves right to their doorsteps.
But later on, someone saw them and spread the word that the S-class had three mad dogs who would bite anyone they caught and seemed eager to take their enemies down with them! Only then did people stop daring to mess with them...
In just two short days, the roles of the hunters and the hunted had been reversed.
Those who had managed to survive this long without being eliminated had more or less accumulated some credits. As long as they could complete the course, they would get bonus points; there was no need to fixate solely on those three.
The main point was that everyone realized the deeper they went, the harder the mutated beasts and star beasts were to deal with. More and more teams were being eliminated by star beasts... They really had no spare energy to go looking for Wang Tianwei and her group.
After two days, Wang Tianwei finally got a full night's sleep again.
But a new challenge awaited. Following her plan, she arrived at the edge of the desert within the time limit.
In places the students couldn't see, the number of Qilin Military Academy's rescue aircraft had doubled compared to the previous two days!
They also dispatched several small aircraft to patrol back and forth, fearing that if the freshmen encountered an emergency here, they wouldn't be able to rescue them in time.
The moment she stepped into the desert, Wang Tianwei felt the difference.
The ground beneath her feet was soft, sliding away when stepped on, meaning half her energy was spent just packing the sand with every step she took!
The morning sun wasn't too scorching yet, but for some reason, it was actually windy today.
Even wearing goggles, the windblown sand still found its way straight into her nose.
Wang Tianwei still had Zhu Yuan's short-sleeved shirt wrapped around her head, with a sun hat worn over it, and she didn't dare open her mouth at all.
Even when drinking water, she had to turn around with her back to the wind and sand, pat her face clean, and only then take a tiny sip.
Even so, after half a day, a fine layer of sand appeared at the bottom of her thermos...
To prevent falling into quicksand, Wang Tianwei held a long stick in each hand. Coupled with the extra weight of two water bags, her speed was as slow as a snail.
Half a day passed, and the sun rose to its zenith.
The desert inherently didn't retain heat well, and with no shelter anywhere, the air quickly became scorching hot.
Wearing her hat, Wang Tianwei unconsciously licked her dry lips. Looking back, she could no longer see her starting point.
In one morning, she had probably walked about five or six kilometers.
The surroundings were completely desolate, nothing but sand dunes upon sand dunes. Occasionally, she could see a few ant-sized people moving in the distance; those were her classmates from Qilin Military Academy.
Here, no one had the energy to cross such a vast distance to ambush anyone... because even just standing still felt exhausting!
Everyone had only been in the desert for half a day, yet they had already experienced its true terror.
After the sun came up, you could barely feel yourself sweating, because the sweat evaporated the moment it appeared...
With the wind blowing all around, the body's dehydration rate was much faster than they had imagined!
Some people had only walked a thousand meters in before turning back to the mountains to find more supplies.
Wang Tianwei found a sheltered spot and stuck her sticks into the sand, planning to pitch her tent and rest for a while.
The midday temperature was truly unsuitable for traveling. It was better to gather her strength first; forcing herself to keep going could easily lead to an accident.
