SCOM - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
It was three in the morning, the most drowsy hour, yet the abandoned factory was far from calm.
Two people approached from the southeast. One of them had night vision goggles in their random backpack, now worn, allowing them to move freely in the dark.
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed rapidly past to the west.
The two exchanged glances and instantly gave chase.
The shadow moved extremely fast, barely perceptible in the darkness. However, the one with night vision goggles soon whispered excitedly to their companion, "Behind the pipe up ahead."
They split up, approaching from different directions to block the shadow's escape routes. But when they reached the spot, the person wasn't behind the pipe.
The one with night vision goggles was about to look up when the shadow dropped from the pipe above, attacking him.
His companion instinctively moved to help, unaware of another shadow appearing behind him. A swift strike knocked him unconscious.
Zuo Luohuan quickly searched the person, took the signal gun, stuffed it into her backpack, kicked the unconscious person aside, then looked up at the opposite side. Ji Yuezhi had also obtained a signal gun.
"People from the main entrance are inside." Ji Yuezhi had also acquired a pair of night vision goggles. He had just tried looking around when he noticed movement at the main entrance. He quickly reached out, grabbed Zuo Luohuan's collar, and pulled her into the shadow of the pipes.
They were pressed extremely close. His grip was too forceful. Zuo Luohuan glanced down at her nearly torn collar, then at Ji Yuezhi, who was intently focused on the main entrance. She ultimately didn't say anything, just looked with him towards the people entering through the main gate.
One, two... seven.
Seven people came at once. Had they already formed a team for the military drill?
Zuo Luohuan didn't have night vision goggles and couldn't recognize the seven, but that didn't stop her from preparing to attack them.
"The two in the middle are the weakest, from the Weapons Development Department. The one at the front..." Ji Yuezhi turned his head to tell Zuo Luohuan his plan, only then realizing how close they were, practically face to face, and his hand was still clutching her clothes.
"Keep talking." Zuo Luohuan watched the searching group in the distance, turning her ear towards Ji Yuezhi, whispering.
Ji Yuezhi's hand loosened slightly. He quietly observed Zuo Luohuan's profile, then placed the night vision goggles over her eyes with his other hand, allowing her to see clearly. "I'll lure them away. You follow behind and take them out."
"Change of plans," Zuo Luohuan said. "The one at the front, if I recall correctly, she's best at running, plus Fu Wenyue, Red List number four, beside her. You'll not only be easily caught but also surrounded."
"So you need to come quickly," Ji Yuezhi suddenly said.
"...What?" Zuo Luohuan was momentarily taken aback, turning her head to look at him.
But Ji Yuezhi was calmly watching the approaching group. His previous words seemed casual, without any other meaning.
"Alright then." Zuo Luohuan agreed. "I'll come find you quickly."
With the plan set, Ji Yuezhi circled around, deliberately made some noise, and the group immediately noticed and pursued him.
Zuo Luohuan followed behind, silently eliminating one after another. As she approached the fourth-to-last person, Ji Yuezhi was caught. Just as Fu Wenyue was about to engage him, Zuo Luohuan deliberately made noise while knocking someone out.
"Zuo Luohuan?" Fu Wenyue stopped, turned her head, recognized the face behind her in the faint moonlight filtering through the roof, then looked back at Ji Yuezhi, laughing as if seeing a huge joke. "You two are actually cooperating?" Weren't they rivals?
"Does the competition forbid cooperation?" Zuo Luohuan asked. "Want to fight?"
Fu Wenyue's face twitched. Finally, she addressed Zuo Luohuan, "Aren't you always against Ji Yuezhi? He's injured now. How about we cooperate? Let's kick Ji Yuezhi out together."
Zuo Luohuan tossed her backpack aside, rotated her wrist, and said nonchalantly, "The last person who said that has already been eliminated. Three against two, who do you think will remain today?"
Fu Wenyue's face instantly darkened. "Zuo Luohuan, don't think just because you beat me before, you can win this time."
"Try me."
The moment she spoke, Fu Wenyue charged forward. They fought bare-handed, using nothing else, while the other two attacked Ji Yuezhi directly.
In the monitoring room.
"Who do you think will win?" Kang Guang turned to ask the other instructors.
"Zuo Luohuan seems to be handling it with ease," He Yue said, staring at one monitoring screen. "Ji Yuezhi's side is a bit troublesome."
Everyone looked towards Ji Yuezhi's screen. The two attackers noticed his injured arm and kept attacking that spot. Although the jacket offered some protection, the wound underneath had likely reopened.
More troublesome was that one of them specialized in using hidden weapons – small stones picked up along the way, broken pieces of metal – flying towards Ji Yuezhi when he wasn't paying attention.
Ji Yuezhi had identified the seven using the night vision goggles earlier, knew their specialties, and had been wary of hidden weapons, dodging the first few attempts. But then, the other extremely agile student coordinated with the attacker, blocking his path, successfully allowing a small piece of metal to graze his arm.
"This jacket needs to be worn for two days," Ji Yuezhi glanced up at the person using hidden weapons. "You damaged it."
The opponent: "?"
...
Zuo Luohuan defeated Fu Wenyue without difficulty. When she retrieved the signal gun and looked back at Ji Yuezhi, his fight was also over. She glanced at the two lying on the ground, their jackets and pants shredded, and asked, "What happened to their clothes?"
Ji Yuezhi replied coolly, "They damaged my jacket."
Zuo Luohuan raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this, carefully examined Ji Yuezhi's jacket, then walked towards him, pointing at the tear. "Are you injured underneath?"
"No." Ji Yuezhi had been cautious; the flying piece of metal only scratched the jacket, the one she had given him earlier.
The two walked out of the factory and fired nine signal flares consecutively into the sky. The entire night sky instantly lit up like fireworks.
Elsewhere in the trial grounds, at that moment, all resting students were jolted awake.
"Nine people eliminated at once, Zuo Luohuan might be there," Guan Xue looked up at the sky, then excitedly called out to Qian Mao, "Hold on a little longer, I'll take you to find her."
Qian Mao's thigh and side were severely injured. His luck was bad; he was chased right after waking up, had nothing on him, and couldn't react in time. After barely escaping, before catching his breath, he encountered another combat-focused student and was beaten half to death.
If Guan Xue hadn't arrived, he would have been eliminated long ago.
"Going there... what if it's not Zuo Luohuan?" Qian Mao, pale from blood loss, could barely walk.
"That location fired three signal flares together this afternoon, and now nine more tonight. Regardless of who it is, the chance of finding a medical kit there is highest." Guan Xue directly carried Qian Mao on her back. "Your reputation in the Weapons Development Department is enough for them to be willing to bring you into the drill team."
Such brazenly dense signal flares made other students suspect an alliance had formed successfully. For the remaining time, many considered teaming up when encountering others.
Monitoring Room.
Bai Feng had stayed up all night, sitting before the monitoring screen with a cup of coffee beside him. He yawned. "It's already noon. Someone hasn't made a move even once."
"What's the use of just hiding?" Kang Guang tapped the microphone. "Attention all trial grounds participants. There are five hours left until the competition ends. Currently, 17 people remain; you still need to eliminate ten. If not enough people are eliminated by 5 PM, you all fail."
"Additionally, to help everyone compete smoothly, the locations of surviving students have been sent to your optical computers. You can check them anytime," Kang Guang grinned, his voice carrying a chilling excitement.
As he pressed the send button, everyone on the trial grounds received a map with glowing dots on their optical computers. Seventeen red dots showed approximate locations on the map, some moving. However, only locations were shown, no names.
Zuo Luohuan was happy to receive this map. She had guarded this place for so long today, only one person came by. Others, she didn't know what they were thinking, seemed to be avoiding this area.
"Since they won't come, we'll go to them." Zuo Luohuan turned her head, extended her hand, and asked Ji Yuezhi beside her, "Want to come with me?"
Ji Yuezhi looked up at the hand offered before him, paused for a moment, then placed his hand in Zuo Luohuan's palm. "Okay."
Zuo Luohuan hadn't expected him to actually place his hand there. She thought Ji Yuezhi would ignore her. And now... the warmth from his fingers transmitted through her palm to her brain. For that moment, she suddenly thought distractedly: Ji Yuezhi's body temperature was warmer than he looked.
Just a momentary lapse, Zuo Luohuan quickly collected herself, gripped Ji Yuezhi's hand, pulled him up, and they walked towards the entrance together.
"Zuo Luohuan!" Guan Xue rushed in carrying someone. "Do you have a medical kit?"
The two inside instinctively stepped back. Zuo Luohuan glanced, saw it was Guan Xue and Qian Mao on her back, and didn't attack. "This is a competition."
Guan Xue put Qian Mao down; he was almost unconscious. "I can cooperate with you."
Zuo Luohuan didn't reply, looking towards Ji Yuezhi. "What do you think?"
"Qian Mao specializes in modifying firearms. Guan Xue can adapt to all firearms. Having both in the competition gives them more influence than others." Ji Yuezhi thought for a moment; keeping these two would be more beneficial for the subsequent drill. He said, "Let's cooperate."
Zuo Luohuan raised an eyebrow. "I'll listen to you."
Among the nine backpacks from yesterday, there was a bottle of glucose supplement solution and a hemostatic agent. Ji Yuezhi found them and gave them to Guan Xue. "We need to end the competition quickly, otherwise he won't last."
Zuo Luohuan looked at the map. Two dots had just disappeared; fifteen people remained. She turned back, glanced at Guan Xue and Qian Mao's chapped lips, and said, "I'll go out for a bit."
"I'll stay here," Ji Yuezhi said, guarding them.
Zuo Luohuan found the nearest person and attacked. After finishing, she rummaged through the bag only to find not a single bottle of water.
"Tsk."
She stood up, looked up at the sun, thought about the two's miserable state, and finally decided to get water first.
In the monitoring room, He Yue watched Zuo Luohuan circle behind the mountain to a stream, fill two empty bottles with water, then open several condoms to fill with water, finally stuffing the entire backpack full. She couldn't help frowning. "The time spent finding water could have been used to eliminate one or two people."
"People are too scattered," Jia Hailan pointed at the glowing dots. "If she encounters someone difficult, it will take considerable time too."
Inside the factory, Guan Xue finished treating Qian Mao's wounds, looked down at Ji Yuezhi guarding the entrance, and suddenly noticed the jacket he wore was Zuo Luohuan's.
Because Zuo Luohuan's jacket had a water-drop-sized burn mark on the back – Qian Mao had splashed sparks all over her back while cutting metal not long ago, one mark being particularly obvious.
Guan Xue: "Did you two... have a big battle last night?"
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