SCOM - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Covered in a chaotic mix of pheromones, Zuo Luohuan returned to her dorm. It took her a long time to wash up. She skipped lunch and went straight to class.

Her one o'clock class was in the command department. Zuo Luohuan arrived early and chose a seat in the back. She leaned back in her chair with her eyes half-closed, not noticing Ji Yuezhi enter through the back door and take a seat in the front row.

Zuo Luohuan kept her eyes closed until the teacher arrived. Many students were coming and going, but for Jia Hailan's class, no one was late.

Usually, for the first class, most instructors would start by explaining the semester's teaching plan to give students a mental preparation. This was unlike Kang Guang, who had started the first day with something big.

Jia Hailan's first class was just a general overview of the history of command. He was over sixty, yet still refined and gentle. Standing at the lectern, he spoke lightly of that heavy yet magnificent history, inspiring in the students a yearning for this course, which could be called an 'art'.

Zuo Luohuan listened intently. The man's achievements were too dazzling. Back then, he had led a small army group to resist the Gashiro Empire's most elite troops for a full two years before reinforcements arrived. So many years had passed, and that army group had grown into one of the most renowned armies in the Federation's history, yet Jia Hailan had chosen to retire at the peak of his career, stepping down from the position of commander.

"...Today, the Federation has nearly a hundred army groups, large and small. Fifteen of them are listed with the Federal Military Committee. An essential quality for every leader of these armies is command. A leader who doesn't understand command might win a few battles, but the army group under them will never last more than five years." Jia Hailan said gently, "If any of you have similar goals, I hope you will study command strategy well."

In the very first class, Jia Hailan had sparked a deep interest in the course of command among the students. Many were already looking forward to the subsequent lessons, a stark contrast to the combat department instructors who left students with a dark shadow on the very first day.

The one-and-a-half-hour class ended quickly. Zuo Luohuan got up to hurry to her next class, and it was then she noticed that Ji Yuezhi was heading in the same direction.

The last class of the day was He Yue's Shooting Methods. Including the previous Nature of Command, they had two major courses in common. Zuo Luohuan wasn't surprised. Even though Ji Yuezhi had differentiated into an Omega, his level was still higher than others. The First Military Academy had only so many high-level instructors, and as children of army group leaders, their paths were naturally similar.

The shooting class was outdoors, with students gathering on the shooting range. Zuo Luohuan walked at a leisurely pace, falling behind Ji Yuezhi. The two walked one after the other. As they neared the range, Jiang Hong cut in from the side.

He walked over to Zuo Luohuan, suppressing a laugh as he asked, "I heard you got reported."

Zuo Luohuan: "..."

"Honestly, I don't think those people are scared enough of you," Jiang Hong offered seriously. "When you're strong enough, they'll have to think twice before pulling a stunt like that."

Zuo Luohuan glanced at him. "True. Even you ran off this morning."

Jiang Hong said with certainty, "I was just in a hurry for class. If something like that happens again, I'll definitely bring you a change of clothes first."

Zuo Luohuan scoffed. "There's going to be a next time?"

By the time they arrived at the shooting range, He Yue was already standing with her hands behind her back in front of a large basket of sniper light guns, waiting for the students.

He Yue was a typical Omega. Her A-grade wasn't the best, and she wasn't tall, only one meter sixty-five. Patches of her skin were reddish. Most Omegas are born with fair, delicate skin that easily peels and reddens after sun exposure. But as she stood there, silent and erect, anyone could see that she was a true soldier.

The students, arriving in trickles, reached the shooting range. Upon seeing He Yue, they gradually quieted their laughter and chatter, standing silently opposite her.

Ten minutes before class started, all the students had arrived. He Yue finally spoke, her voice somewhat hoarse, as if from damaged vocal cords. "Today, we'll learn how to use a sniper light gun. Before we begin, form rows of five. Each person gets one gun and ten rounds. The dynamic targets are set a thousand meters away."

No self-introduction, no course plan. The moment He Yue opened her mouth, the formal instruction began.

The students went forward one by one to get a sniper light gun. As Zuo Luohuan walked over, bent down, and reached for a gun, Ji Yuezhi was on the other side, also picking one up.

After everyone was holding a sniper light gun and had lined up, He Yue said nothing, remaining silent.

Everyone looked at each other, unsure of the situation.

The Seventeenth Army had a top-tier weapons development team internally. Ji Yuezhi recognized it at a glance as a YU-93 model sniper light gun. Its maximum range could reach two thousand meters, but the time from its invention to its obsolescence was a mere two months. This was because the gun was too heavy, weighing a full eighteen kilograms, making it difficult to carry and not universally practical.

On the other side, Zuo Luohuan looked down at the gun in her hands. She didn't know the origin of this sniper light gun, but that didn't stop her from calibrating it and familiarizing herself with its data.

A full fifteen minutes later, He Yue finally asked, "Anyone who doesn't know how to use a gun? You may step out."

A few people stepped forward. He Yue had the others line up again. There were exactly thirty people, five to a row, for a total of six rows. Zuo Luohuan stood at the far right of the third row, and Ji Yuezhi stood on the left of the second row.

"Prepare to begin," He Yue said.

The five people in the first row stepped forward, knelt to set up their sniper light guns, and quickly lay prone to adjust their scopes.

He Yue stood to the side and suddenly shouted, "Fire!"

One of the five didn't react in time. The others fired their ten rounds within a few minutes.

He Yue looked down at the ring counts of the five on her optical computer. The ones who fired reacted quickly, but their accuracy was practically nonexistent. One person hadn't even hit a single shot.

"Next group, continue."

The second row went forward as well. After they fired their ten rounds, the next row took their place. Once the round was over, He Yue displayed everyone's ring counts on her optical computer.

It was basically a total wipeout. Only Zuo Luohuan had the highest hit rate, hitting six out of ten shots for 50 rings. Ji Yuezhi was next, hitting five out of ten shots for 50 rings.

He Yue glanced at Ji Yuezhi and asked, "Do you have obsessive-compulsive disorder?" His first shot missed, the second was a 10-ring. He had finished his ten shots in that alternating pattern.

Hearing this, Zuo Luohuan, for some reason, recalled Ji Yuezhi's usual cold demeanor. For a moment, she ignored the discomfort in her mind and inexplicably smiled to herself.

Ji Yuezhi was a strange person. Sometimes she felt he was noble and aloof, inheriting Ji Xixiu's deep cunning, but occasionally she would get the illusion that he was pure and naive.

When He Yue spoke, the surroundings were very quiet, with only the occasional sound of gunfire from the adjacent shooting range.

"I was just calibrating," Ji Yuezhi replied.

He Yue nodded and didn't press the matter further.

"The YU-93 model sniper light gun. It was phased out after only two months in the army. I've only heard of it, never seen it." He Yue took the last sniper light gun from the basket. "Today is my first time touching it."

Just like all the military cadets, she knelt to set her position, lay prone in silence to calibrate, and a few minutes later, fired ten rounds.

Zuo Luohuan looked at He Yue's hand on the trigger. There was a fresh scar on the back of her hand, and she knew exactly what had caused it.

That night, the SL-9 light gun had shattered the spot where He Yue was. The wound was likely caused by shrapnel from the explosion, and the cut wasn't shallow.

He Yue, who had been lying on the ground, stood up. "Even a sniper light gun with flaws so great it only survived in the army for two months is still a gun."

The optical computer displayed the score He Yue had just achieved: ten hits out of ten, 90 rings.

The military cadets stared at the terrifying hit rate on the optical computer. The way they looked at He Yue changed once again. Knowing she was skilled was one thing, but seeing it with their own eyes was another matter entirely.

Zuo Luohuan stood in the third row, quietly looking down at the gun in her hands, but a sudden chill ran up her spine. If she hadn't turned and fired that shot with the SL-9 that night, she would have never made it out of the Military Armaments Database building.

He Yue was very strong. She seemed to have been born for the gun.

As an instructor, He Yue wasted no words. She began to disassemble the gun in front of the cadets, explaining slowly. Afterward, she had the students who had already shot disassemble it themselves, while she turned to teach the few who didn't know how to shoot.

An hour later, as class was about to end, He Yue had Ji Yuezhi and Zuo Luohuan step forward.

"I'll give you ten more rounds, same targets."

It was clear He Yue wanted to see the two of them compete. Among all the military cadets, their talent was impressive.

This time, the two of them lay on the ground, only a meter apart. Zuo Luohuan glanced sideways at Ji Yuezhi, who was adjusting his scope. In the sunlight, his excessively fair hands fiddling with the black gun created a strangely vivid image.

I must have been muddled by that mess of pheromones this morning. Zuo Luohuan noticed her own thoughts, frowned, and refocused her attention on the gun.

Both were ready. The moment He Yue said "begin," rapid gunfire erupted on the shooting range. If one listened closely, they would realize the twenty shots were almost synchronized into ten.

"Amazing," Jiang Hong couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the ring counts that instantly appeared on the optical computer.

Both of them had hit seven shots. Ji Yuezhi had 68 rings, and Zuo Luohuan had 60. It couldn't compare to He Yue, but among the students, and for their first time using this type of gun, their scores were definitely not bad.

He Yue's gaze swept back and forth between them. Ji Yuezhi was very talented in shooting, but her eyes lingered on Zuo Luohuan for a few extra seconds. A shooter's intuition told her that this student was a bit strange.

"Class dismissed," He Yue said, retracting her gaze.

Ji Yuezhi got up from the dry grass, placed the gun back in the basket, and bent over to pat away the blades of dead grass clinging to his body.

The instructor put away the optical computer. Ji Yuezhi lowered his eyes, thinking it was a pity he hadn't had time to record the screen when only their two names were displayed side by side.

"Ji Yuezhi," Zuo Luohuan suddenly called out to him.

Ji Yuezhi pressed his lips together, then turned back, his expression already returned to its usual state as he looked at her.

Zuo Luohuan reached out a hand as if to embrace him. Ji Yuezhi's eyelashes fluttered rapidly, but he saw her hand go around to his side, brush past lightly, and then withdraw.

"There was a piece of dry grass." Zuo Luohuan showed him the grass clippings in her hand. If she had reached out rashly just now without a word, people like them would have instantly turned to attack the person behind them.

She wasn't interested in getting hit.

"...Thank you."

Zuo Luohuan tossed away the grass and watched Ji Yuezhi's rapidly retreating back, somewhat puzzled. Is he unhappy?

Did he feel embarrassed because I helped him remove the grass?

Zuo Luohuan raised an eyebrow slightly but ultimately didn't dwell on it and headed back with Jiang Hong.

---

This week, the second-year military cadets were all experiencing the different teaching styles of their instructors. Meanwhile, an instructor for a course in the Information Department suddenly gave the students a special assignment.

The assignment was to list the class schedules of the top fifty military cadets on the Red List.

As soon as this assignment was given, it caused an uproar on the anonymous forums.

Fifty people? Everyone's schedule was different. They had to collect all of them in one night—the task was bound to be arduous.

While the Information Department students were wailing, more people were eagerly awaiting the results. Someone even posted a question: 【The top fifty on the Red List, does that include Senior Ji?】

【Probably not. Ji Yuezhi hasn't challenged anyone on the Red List, and his name isn't on it. It's just something we talk about privately.】

Amidst the endless debate, someone finally started a poll. The results showed that ninety percent of people hoped the Information Department students would include Ji Yuezhi's schedule as well.

At that moment, no one knew what they would see tomorrow.

---

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