"Holy crap! Modding bug spray into a flamethrower!"
"What an ancient move! I've seen this method in historical dramas!!!"
"Suddenly, I feel like getting eliminated early wasn't such a bad thing..."
"Wang Tianwei and Jian Jingyu are awesome!!!"
"Regardless, four sandworms are just too much..."
"Two and a half left! Keep it up!"
"Watching this in the middle of the night is getting my blood pumping!"
Fu Manli rescued Wang Tianwei, only thinking that this kid was incredibly reckless!
"Cough, cough, cough!"
"You're too bold... but you've already done..."
"Teacher! Cough, cough... I didn't press the alarm!"
The words of encouragement on the tip of Fu Manli's tongue were choked back... She didn't say a word for a long while, but then she felt a tickling sensation on her forearm.
Wang Tianwei felt dizzy and her vision blurred. Especially after being thrown out at the very end, she almost lost consciousness!
But this teacher's mecha was simply too dazzling! A bright red mecha that left afterimages as it moved...
Of course, it could also be because she was just choked to the point of fainting... so she was seeing afterimages of everything?
But she had never seen this kind of red on any vehicle before!!
Moreover, the texture of the metal felt completely different. Just from the tactile sensation alone, she could tell its density was unmatched!
Seeing her movements so silky smooth, without a single hitch, she wondered what the bearings inside looked like...
Fu Manli was fully synchronized with her mecha. She just felt someone scratching at her arm, once, then again... She confirmed it; it was the student right in front of her.
"...You know I can feel your little movements, right?"
Wang Tianwei's hand paused. She sat up clutching her neck, coughed a few times, and finally remembered she was still in the middle of a competition.
"Cough, cough! Teacher... I'm not eliminated, am I!?"
Fu Manli looked at her panicked expression and only felt helpless.
But thinking about it, it was true. Even if she hadn't saved her, the worst that would have happened was a concussion, and she should still be able to fight. So, she withdrew her hands and prepared to leave.
Seeing that the teacher didn't object or look like she was going to drag her back, Wang Tianwei guessed she could still continue the competition.
She glanced at her classmates who were still in the chaotic melee, picked up the bug spray and lighter, and rushed over!
The trick Wang Tianwei had brilliantly come up with worked exceptionally well against those dense tentacles!
The tents were mostly burned down by now. Students with bug spray and other flammable aerosols started using their homemade mini flamethrowers, though the demi-human students present suffered a bit in the nasal department...
The canine and feline demi-humans covered their noses with their sleeves but still felt dizzy. Zhang Lyra was practically holding her breath as she fought! The only lizard-type demi-human among the freshmen was already lying motionless on the ground!
As Wang Tianwei approached, she put a mask on him, and also handed one to Zhang Lyra.
"Put this on, it helps a little."
Upon returning, she went straight back to her original position. The slingshot that had fallen to the ground had been temporarily inherited by Jian Jingyu, who shoved it back into her hands when he saw her return.
During this action, that half-dead sandworm was also finished off.
When it came down to the last two, it was a free-for-all of fuel, laser guns, small firearms, and cold weapons!
The star beasts caught for freshmen to farm points were inherently low-risk. While a single squad facing a sandworm would have difficulty, finding its weak point made victory possible...
If two or three squads teamed up, it would be no problem at all. Now, people from all classes were mixed together, totaling seventy or eighty students with endless tricks up their sleeves. In the end, the two sandworms actually tried to run away!
They were intercepted by Huang Yan and another commander from Class A leading a group, and were eventually cornered to death...
To the sandworms, laser guns were more like dull knives cutting meat. When the two behemoths fell, they looked rather pathetic... Covered in scorch marks all over, the air was thick with the smell of roasted meat.
But the students weren't much better off! Everyone looked thoroughly battered. They were covered head to toe in sand, and their feet were coated in crushed white flesh...
Their faces and arms were covered in bruises, scratches, and burn marks. Many even had their hair singed! Now that the fires were finally out, they were still smoking!
Their clothes and pants were in tatters, and some were even left wearing nothing but their underwear...
But the students didn't mind. These minor injuries would heal after a short stint in a medical pod. They had survived seven grueling days!
Wouldn't it be a huge waste to quit now just because of a little pain or embarrassment!?
The dark night finally passed, and a corner of the horizon gradually lit up.
"We won!"
"Ah!!! We won!!!"
"...The sun is up... I'm burned out."
Cheers erupted from the crowd!
The rescue teachers took away the severely injured students who could no longer compete. The instructing teachers floated in mid-air, watching this group of soot-covered "little potatoes" cheering happily before leaving one by one.
Chao Hao took another look at his own students below. All three were still there, though their appearances had completely blended in with the crowd...
He looked up and said to Fu Manli,
"Thanks."
"It's what we teachers ought to do."
Fu Manli initially wanted to tell Chao Hao that his female student's first question after being rescued was whether she had been eliminated, and that she had secretly scratched at her mecha. But after thinking about it, she decided against it.
Anyway, she wasn't a student in her Class A... He was going to have endless headaches with this troublemaker in the future! What great news~
"Haha, look at the juniors, I'm dying of laughter. A bunch of little potatoes!"
"It's great to be young~ Now, after training every day, I'm so tired I just want to lie in my dorm. Winning or losing doesn't even matter anymore..."
"I screenshotted it! Wait till I post this on the forums!"
"To repeatedly roast them in the future?"
"Hahaha, to give them an unforgettable memory!"
"Underwear Bro is burned out!"
In the early morning, the students finally caught their breath and packed up their belongings.
The bulging backpacks they had when entering the mountain were now mostly empty shells, and even their clothes were incomplete... because everything that could be burned had been burned.
Only scions like Huang Yan, whose belongings were mostly waterproof and fireproof, still had half a backpack's worth of items left. But he was clearly exhausted too, currently pulling his tent out.
"You don't want your tent anymore?"
Wang Tianwei's hoarse voice startled the others, and she was a bit surprised herself. It hadn't been this bad just a moment ago; why did it get hoarser after resting...
Huang Yan glanced at her.
"Your throat is just starting to swell up now. Speak less.
We can leave today, so there's no need to make camp. It's too heavy to keep carrying."
Wang Tianwei nodded and plopped down beside him.
Then Huang Yan noticed that as he pulled it out, Wang Tianwei took it and stuffed it right into her own backpack...
"...You want this?"
"The quality is really good, I can use it next time."
How exactly has the Wang family been treating you?
Huang Yan pursed his lips and stuffed the tent back into his own bag.
"You... want it again?"
Wang Tianwei was confused. Huang Yan helplessly swept his gaze over her small frame and the deep strangulation marks on her neck...
"I'll give it to you once we're out."
"...Thanks... cough, cough, cough!"
"...Just shut up."
