Teresa and Arnold hadn’t wanted to waste any more energy on that person.
A trip to the chairman’s office had wiped out all the credits they’d accumulated that semester, and now, to make up for the loss, they would have to train until they puked blood.
But Pei Liang was simply too conspicuous. The moment she found out where the substitutes were, she headed in that direction without the slightest hesitation.
Arnold was itching to go. Their previous contest still hadn’t been settled.
If she could maintain the performance she’d shown before, then replacing the 2S substitute should be a sure thing.
The only question was what she intended to do.
In the end, he could only find an excuse to convince himself. “Actually, think about it. If she succeeds, she could become a competitor later on.”
“Getting familiar with a competitor’s information is also an important part of preparation.”
Teresa nodded. Clearly, she was bothered by it too, so the two of them followed from a distance.
There was still some time before class, but competition at the Imperial Military Academy was fierce. The only ones who spent their days muddling through were the sort of people who had originally clustered around Pei Liang, drifting along under the academy’s harsh system and its relentless pressure.
That was why the unfortunate substitute student was currently in the physical training grounds, working hard for an opportunity that might not even come.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one there. There were several upperclassmen training as well, and most of them were actually participants in the league.
That made sense. Preparing for the league was the top priority at every major academy right now, so the training grounds were naturally reserved for the competitors.
The training grounds were so vast that the scale was jaw-dropping. Their area was roughly comparable to a modern stadium capable of holding tens of thousands of people.
At present, the grounds had been divided into several sections, with students selecting different training modes.
The technology here had advanced to the point where it could reproduce real combat scenarios with ninety percent accuracy. Thus, the moment Pei Liang entered the training room, the first thing she saw was an upperclassman fighting a gigantic beast barehanded.
The beast’s physique and appearance—even the fine details, down to the texture of its fur—were indistinguishable from the real thing. Compared to actual wild animals, its computational abilities were even more precise, and it would continue to evolve as its combat data was updated.
The only difference was that the simulation would stop before inflicting a fatal injury on the student. A real beast, of course, would not.
Elsewhere, people were fighting within simulated swarms of enormous insects, each flying insect roughly the size of an adult’s arm. Even so, these were not Zerg; they were merely common species found on many rainforest planets.
Ordinary people had no chance of dealing with a swarm of Zerg fliers barehanded.
There was even a water-combat simulation inside training cubes measuring more than ten meters in both length and width.
The holographic simulation technology directly filled the cube with water that looked and behaved exactly like the real thing. The student inside immediately floated upward and began fighting sea beasts that continuously appeared out of nowhere in the water.
Every detail was authentic, from the resistance they had to endure to the difficulties of breathing during underwater combat.
Even more astonishingly, outside the several-dozen-cubic-meter cube, the boundaries dividing the training sections kept the water and air perfectly distinct.
It was as though the liquid had appeared on the ground without any container to support it. The sight was enough to set one’s blood racing.
Every detail of the future world was breathtaking. It was like an ancient person suddenly arriving in modern society, and Pei Liang was naturally prone to being distracted by these fascinating novelties.
Fortunately, she hadn’t forgotten why she was there. Her gaze fell on a training section in the upper-left corner.
Inside was a male Alpha who looked honest and easygoing at a glance. He had just finished a round of training and was now drenched in sweat, calming his breathing while gulping down water.
Pei Liang walked straight over and greeted him. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
The other man clearly had no real relationship with the original Pei Liang, though he knew who she was.
Hearing her, he instinctively asked, “What is it?”
Pei Liang smiled brightly. “Here’s the situation. I want to participate in the mecha league, but the chairman told me that the team selection has already ended and all the positions have been assigned.”
“If I want to participate, the only possibility is for one of the team members to be unable to compete due to circumstances beyond their control. But if a team member can’t compete, the substitute will naturally take their place.”
“There are several substitutes, but I’m not very familiar with the ones from the other years, so—”
She left the sentence unfinished, her gaze filled with suggestion.
Even the substitute guy, dense as he was, understood what she meant.
He was a proud Alpha as well, and upon hearing this, he let out a cold laugh. “So you think I’m the easiest target and want to start with me?”
He was merely an S-rank Alpha, yet she was acting as if he were a soft persimmon she could squeeze at will. The smile on the substitute guy’s face immediately turned vicious.
Pei Liang hurriedly waved her hands with a smile. “How could I? It’s simply because yours was the only name I recognized.”
Of the several substitutes, this was the only one whose face and name matched in Pei Liang’s memory. Even if she went looking for the others, she wouldn’t know who they were unless someone identified them for her. Too much trouble.
In a certain sense, this guy really had drawn the short straw.
Pei Liang continued, “However, I left in a hurry and didn’t confirm how the eligibility transfer works.”
With that, she called out to an instructor who happened to be nearby. “If I defeat him, do I automatically inherit his position? Or is there another procedure?”
The instructor frowned when he heard this. He was quite displeased that she was interfering with the substitute’s training.
At that moment, Arnold and Teresa also entered the training room. When the instructor saw them, he suddenly realized that the person in front of him was probably the same one who had just been summoned to the chairman’s office along with Arnold and Teresa after the broadcast.
He had no idea what had happened in that office to make this S-rank Alpha suddenly become so arrogant.
The instructor said sternly, “Student Pei Liang, do not interfere with the training. Leave.”
Pei Liang said helplessly, “It’ll be quick. Why don’t you explain the rules to me? There ought to be some sort of contingency plan, right? After all, although it’s unlikely for both a team member and their substitute to be unable to compete at the same time, it isn’t impossible.”
Seeing that she was being deliberately difficult, the instructor was annoyed, but he still answered, “If an official team member is unable to compete for any reason, the substitute naturally takes their place.”
“If the substitute is also unable to compete, the school will convene an emergency meeting and select a new candidate. Usually, the teachers will make recommendations. So, Student Pei Liang, even if you—”
The instructor found the hypothetical situation somewhat difficult to say aloud.
“Even if you challenged Student XXX privately and defeated him, the position would not automatically transfer to you. Even if he were injured and unable to compete, the teachers would jointly decide on a new substitute.”
Pei Liang smiled. “It’s fine, it’s fine. As long as I know the rules.”
“Since I can’t replace him directly, I’ll just take out whoever can replace him next.” The smile on her face somehow made everyone’s scalp tingle. “I’ll keep going until the teachers unanimously agree that I’m the most suitable candidate among those remaining.”
“There’s still time. It should be enough.”
The instructor’s face turned black when he heard this. He felt that this girl didn’t have the destiny of a heaven-defying protagonist, yet she had somehow contracted the protagonist’s illness.
Tris and Arnold came over as well, standing not far away with their arms folded as they watched the “farce” with cold indifference.
The two of them were the center of attention wherever they went. When the others saw them approaching, their attention naturally shifted toward them. And when they noticed how unusually interested the pair was in the spectacle, everyone in the training room gradually turned their eyes toward Pei Liang.
Perhaps enraged at being treated like a pushover in front of so many people, the substitute guy placed a hand on her head the moment Pei Liang finished speaking.
His palm was as broad as a fan. With just a tightening of his grip, he could practically lift Pei Liang off the ground.
He sneered. “First, you have to make me lose my spot.”
“Go ahead. We’re on a break anyway, so I don’t mind playing with you. If you can last five minutes against me, I’ll voluntarily give up my spot.”
He wasn’t being arrogant. After all, he was a 2S-grade Alpha qualified to compete in the league. If he couldn’t deal with an ordinary S-grade Alpha in five minutes, he might as well spare himself the embarrassment of showing up at the league.
Seeing how readily he had agreed, the admiration on Pei Liang’s face deepened. She said, “I like your straightforwardness. Don’t worry—I’ll bring you a local specialty from the arena.”
The moment she finished speaking, a streak as fast as lightning flashed past.
The substitute guy’s entire body stiffened. His expression was still frozen in its slightly ferocious irritation and anger, but blood suddenly began flowing from his nose. His features twisted as though he had been struck, making him look especially comical.
He stood rigidly like that for several seconds before crashing to the ground.
The people who had gathered around after finishing a section of their training were all too stunned to react. Even the instructor only stiffly turned his gaze toward the fallen man after he hit the floor, as though he found the situation utterly incomprehensible.
“What—what did you do?” the instructor asked incredulously.
An uproar broke out around them.
“Was he ambushed?”
But Teresa and Arnold, both 3S-grade and already somewhat familiar with Pei Liang’s combat ability, had kept their attention fixed on her and saw everything clearly from beginning to end.
There had been no trick or ambush. She had simply thrown a punch, struck him in the face, and knocked him unconscious. That was all.
After the substitute guy fell and failed to get back up, Pei Liang asked the instructor directly, “Who are your recommended candidates, sir? I can speak with them one-on-one.”
That was outrageously arrogant. Someone immediately spoke up in displeasure.
“What a joke. The league team hasn’t fallen so low that it would accept someone who ambushes a fellow student.”
“What did you do to him? Did you take advantage of him while he was exhausted after training and use some despicable trick?”
Pei Liang nodded thoughtfully. “That’s true. He had just finished training and wasn’t in peak condition. Winning like that was a little unfair.”
She then glanced at the instructor. “The old me was careless and had no achievements worth mentioning, so I never made much of an impression on you. If you were to add me to the recommended candidates now, you’d have to explain it repeatedly to the other instructors. That would be too much trouble.”
As she spoke, Pei Liang swept her gaze across everyone around her.
“How about you all come at me together?”
A result like this was enough to cause a sensation throughout the entire school. At the Imperial Military Academy, where victory reigned supreme, it didn’t matter whether an instructor personally admired her or not—her existence could no longer be ignored.
But everyone else could only think that this S-grade had to be insane.
Two upperclassmen glanced at Teresa and Arnold and sneered. “If I remember correctly, she’s in the same class as you two?”
Pei Liang had a rare, pure Eastern lineage, and her family background was respectable as well. Whether in the school or in high society, she was at least someone people had heard of.
“Looks like the two of you have truly disgraced the dignity of 3S-grades. You can’t even exert the most basic intimidation, to the point that a mere S-grade from your class has developed delusions like this,” the two upperclassmen said.
Teresa and Arnold exchanged a glance. They vividly remembered underestimating Pei Liang’s abilities, getting slapped in the face for it, and having all their credits deducted.
They couldn’t possibly be the only ones to suffer such bad luck.
So instead of getting angry, their first reaction was to drag someone else into the mess with them.
Arnold clapped his hands and put on a deliberately humble expression as he said to the upperclassmen, “You’re absolutely right, senior. We were negligent and incompetent. Please help us clean up this mess and teach this ignorant fool a lesson.”
“...”
The upperclassmen were so caught off guard by Arnold—who had always paid no heed to seniority—acting this way that they were left speechless.
They could only feel that he was mocking them. One of them sneered, “Our time isn’t cheap enough to waste on a mere S-grade.”
He then turned back and looked down at Pei Liang condescendingly. “Leave the training room right now, and I’ll pretend that—”
Before he could finish, a violent gust of wind swept toward his face.
A 3S-grade was, after all, a 3S-grade. Their strength belonged to an entirely different tier from that of a 2S-grade. Unlike the substitute guy, the upperclassman didn’t get knocked down before he could even react.
He instinctively leaned aside, but the fist still grazed his face. Even that slight contact left his skin numb for an instant, followed by a searing pain.
This time, everyone saw clearly that the S-grade had simply thrown a punch.
But her speed was too fast. Was that really the speed an S-grade should possess?
And soon, they would realize that she possessed more than speed far beyond what her rank should have allowed. Her combat skills and rhythm of movement were even more astonishing.
After narrowly evading the attack, the upperclassman came down from the training platform, his heightened instinct for danger still active.
No matter how much he had looked down on this S-grade, his body had already honestly recognized the danger ahead of his conscious mind. It had filtered out the dismissiveness his reason was unwilling to acknowledge and sounded the highest-level danger alarm.
This upperclassman had considerable combat experience. His expression darkened, and his eyes grew serious.
But Pei Liang’s attacks were different now from when she had fought Teresa and Arnold earlier. At that time, she had been testing the upper limits of the abilities possessed by people of her own age in this world.
Now, however, she intended to challenge everyone present in a single sweep. Naturally, she couldn’t afford to drag things out.
Teresa and Arnold noticed that she was now attacking with even greater decisiveness and precision, striking with every blow.
It was as if she had been holding back when she fought them earlier.
The realization made their expressions even more unpleasant.
The first upperclassman exchanged only two blows with her before she drew him into her rhythm. Then, using combat techniques so uncanny they seemed impossible, she sent him crashing to the ground.
Her attacks appeared to extend beyond mere physical strength. It was as though something transcending the physical body manifested in the form of consciousness—or even a profound martial intent.
At one point, when Pei Liang threw a punch, the two of them even saw what looked like a transparent fist detach from her arm, expand into a massive shape, and strike an opponent she hadn’t even touched.
That was why the upperclassman had been knocked down.
No one had ever seen an attack like that before.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The moment she had taken one down, she immediately charged at another senior student, launching yet another attack. To everyone watching, her speed was so blinding that she seemed to leave afterimages. They had no choice but to either take the beating or obediently fight back.
In the blink of an eye, she had dragged everyone present into a free-for-all.
Then she even declared arrogantly, “What’s the point of training in a full-dive simulation? If you want to train, train against the biggest monsters there are.”
She certainly had an impressive amount of confidence in herself.
The Alphas she had dragged into the fight, however, were furious. They abandoned all concern for rank and decorum, joining forces to aim their attacks at this S-class student.
The instructor was completely dumbfounded. At first, he had genuinely thought she was just an ignorant troublemaker picking a fight.
But when she proceeded to take down two Alphas of higher rank and remained perfectly at ease while being besieged by more than a dozen 2S- and 3S-rank Alphas, the instructor responsible for overseeing the training had no choice but to acknowledge one fact.
This girl wasn’t just all talk.
Most of the school team’s members were here, which meant that the training grounds had effectively gathered the strongest active students in the entire Imperial Military Academy.
Yet, all these powerful Alphas combined still couldn’t defeat an S-class student who, in theory, should have been far weaker than them.
For the Imperial Military Academy as a whole, this scene was likely an unprecedented humiliation.
Still, professional discipline quickly prompted the instructor to react. He hurriedly accessed the training room’s surveillance system, captured footage of the scene, and immediately sent it from his communicator to all the members of the decision-making board, including the chairman.
By the time several more instructors arrived, the battle in the training grounds had already come to an end.
Only a handful of people were still standing: the instructors, Teresa and Arnold, who had not taken part in the brawl, and finally the troublemaker who had started it all.
The sight of elite Alphas sprawled across the floor was deeply shocking. Any one of them would have been fought over by other schools, and an ordinary academy would have considered itself lucky to recruit even one of them, so valuable were they to the quality of an entire class.
Yet now, every one of them looked like a beaten stray dog—bruised and battered, down on their luck, and questioning their entire existence.
And, as if that weren’t enough, the instigator still had to run her mouth. When it was all over, she smiled at the instructors and said, “Student XXX and I made an agreement earlier. If he couldn’t hold out, he would automatically give up his spot as a substitute.”
“There’s one spot open now. I’m Pei Liang, from Class A, Year Two. I hope you’ll consider giving me a chance.”
As she spoke, her gaze swept over the Alphas scattered across the floor. In an offhand tone that somehow managed to infuriate everyone, she continued, “And to the senior students and classmates here—some of you may withdraw before the competition due to health reasons. To preserve the competitiveness of the league, I hope the instructors will consider making preparations in advance and adjusting the lineup.”
Everyone wore an expressionless face.
Was that a threat?
It absolutely was a threat, wasn’t it? She was implying that whoever had been beaten down should have the sense to withdraw first. Otherwise, she would find a way to make sure they couldn’t compete.
After saying her piece, Pei Liang swaggered off without a backward glance. Chairman Richter, who had yet to leave the academy, watched the scene through the surveillance footage, a flicker of interest in his eyes.
The military academy naturally prohibited unprovoked provocations and brawls. Pei Liang had only just been summoned by Chairman Richter for a talk, yet she had gone out and picked another fight immediately afterward. It was an utterly blatant violation of school regulations.
But at that moment, no one paid attention to that point. They had even forgotten to stop her.
After Pei Liang left, everyone fell into a heated discussion.
Teresa and Arnold silently walked out of the training room. Then, all at once, they realized that what Pei Liang had said earlier in the chairman’s office had been completely sincere.
She had been so serious that she had immediately put those words into practice.
For some reason, although their impressions of her were difficult to describe, the two of them couldn’t help feeling a powerful desire to compete with her—at least in this one regard.
But none of that concerned Pei Liang for the time being. The news that she had challenged and defeated several 2S- and higher-ranked Alphas at the training grounds naturally couldn’t be kept under wraps.
However, since every Alpha present had lost, they were all extremely tight-lipped whenever the matter was brought up.
As a result, although the story circulated among the students on a small scale, hardly anyone believed it. Some even assumed it was an exaggerated rumor someone had deliberately spread to humiliate Pei Liang.
The academy remained quiet for the next few days. No instructor came looking for Pei Liang, though some teachers occasionally gave her indescribably complicated looks during class.
Pei Liang wasn’t in a hurry. If Chairman Richter truly followed through on his principles from beginning to end, then she would get what she wanted.
After all, for Chairman Richter, strength came before everything else. His personal feelings were secondary to the honor of the Imperial Military Academy.
Sure enough, just before the weekend, the academy finally seemed to have reached a decision. Pei Liang guessed that they had already thoroughly investigated her recent movements, daily routine, and lifestyle. Every detail had probably been turned inside out. At this point, the academy likely knew more about the original owner of her body than she did herself.
Then, after one of her classes, an instructor in charge of league training came to take Pei Liang away.
The instructor brought her to the military academy’s research center, where the most cutting-edge technological talent in the entire Empire—apart from the military itself—was gathered.
Several people were already waiting there, including Chairman Richter.
When Pei Liang arrived, one of the researchers in a white coat said, “Over the past few days, we’ve conducted a comprehensive analysis of your previous readings and observed performance.”
“Our conclusion is that there was no error in your previous test results.”
The Pei family was one of the Empire’s top families. As a member of the main branch, Pei Liang had possessed a precise and complete record of genetic-level observations from the moment she was born. She wasn’t an Alpha from the slums who had never received proper testing, so the possibility of an error in her results was virtually nonexistent.
Even so, they had repeatedly reviewed every record and report from Pei Liang’s birth onward. Only after exhausting every possibility had they finally ruled out even the slightest chance of a misdiagnosis.
And so they reached their conclusion: this S-class had evolved.
In theory, one’s mental-power rank was determined at birth. Historically, there had been examples of people whose rank evolved through acquired effort, but those cases had almost exclusively involved individuals below the S-class level.
The higher one’s rank, the more the gap between levels resembled an impassable chasm. Yet this person, with the power of an S-class, had defeated several 2S- and even 3S-rank Alphas. Although it had only been close-quarters combat and had not involved mecha warfare, explaining the result solely through experience and technique was simply too far-fetched.
“But the strength you’ve displayed has far exceeded the limits of your mental-power rank,” the researcher continued. “That’s why we’re going to test you again.”
Pei Liang didn’t mind in the slightest. Even as the instructors switched on the most sophisticated testing equipment, she smiled at Chairman Richter and said,
“According to your own standards, Chairman Richter, this latest provocation and brawl was another instance of me demonstrating commendable ability. So I shouldn’t be punished this time either, right?”
Chairman Richter gave this student, who made no attempt to conceal her rebellious nature, a long, deep look before smiling.
“Normally, I would have deducted a symbolic number of credits.”
“But you should thank Mr. Valen. He personally called me just now to plead on your behalf.”
“Mr. Valen?” Pei Liang was momentarily at a loss.
The next instant, a call request came through on her communicator. She glanced at it and saw that it was from an unfamiliar number.
But a call at a time like this certainly wasn’t a coincidence. Besides, this era was nothing like the modern world, where private information was leaked everywhere and sales calls bombarded people all day long.
In this era, promotional messages and calls were illegal, and the security of personal information was far better—especially given Pei Liang’s family background, which placed an unusual emphasis on privacy.
She didn’t hesitate for long before accepting the request. A face that wasn’t entirely unfamiliar appeared before her.
The man was wearing a military uniform and cap. His handsome features had an even more compelling charm than when she had first seen him.
Even in uniform, however, he still carried that devil-may-care air. In a lazy tone, he said, “I heard you got into two fights after returning to school?”
Pei Liang didn’t deny it. “That’s about right.”
The other side had provoked her once, and she had provoked someone else once. Either way, she couldn’t exactly be called blameless.
Then, suddenly curious, she asked him, “But why would the school call you about something like this? Could it be that my father has finally found out that I’m not his kid after all, but yours?”
The Mr. Valen on the other end of the call—the lover her cheap mother had brazenly brought home when they had previously discussed the engagement—suddenly wore a thoughtful expression, as though Pei Liang’s words had given him an entirely new idea.
