SCOM - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

At three in the morning, the hour of deepest exhaustion, an abandoned factory was anything but quiet.

Two people approached from the southeast. One of them had night-vision goggles from a random backpack, which they now wore, allowing them to move freely in the darkness.

Suddenly, a dark figure flashed past from the west.

The two exchanged a look and instantly gave chase.

The figure moved with extreme speed, almost imperceptible in the dark. However, the person with the night-vision goggles soon lowered their voice in excitement and said to their companion, “It’s right there, behind the pipes.”

They split up, blocking the figure’s escape routes from different directions. But when they got there, the person was not behind the pipes.

Just as the one with the goggles was about to look up, the figure leaped down from atop the pipes and attacked him.

His companion instinctively moved to help, failing to notice another dark figure appearing behind him. The newcomer raised a hand and swiftly knocked him unconscious.

Zuo Luohuan quickly patted the person down, took a signal gun, stuffed it into her backpack, and kicked the unconscious body aside. She then looked up. Across from her, Ji Yuezhi had also acquired a signal gun.

“The people from the main gate are here.” Ji Yuezhi had also gotten a pair of night-vision goggles. He had just tried looking around when he noticed the movement at the main entrance. He quickly reached out, grabbed Zuo Luohuan by the collar, and pulled her into the shadow of the pipes.

They were pressed extremely close. He had used too much force. Zuo Luohuan glanced down at her nearly torn collar, then at Ji Yuezhi, who was intently focused on the main gate. In the end, she said nothing, simply joining him in watching the group of people who had just entered.

One, two… seven of them.

Seven people had arrived at once. Had they already formed a team for the military academy exercise?

Without night-vision goggles, Zuo Luohuan couldn’t make out who the seven were, but that didn’t stop her from preparing to take them on.

“The two in the middle are the weakest, from the weapons development department. The one at the very front…” Ji Yuezhi turned his face to tell Zuo Luohuan his plan, only then realizing their faces were almost touching, and his hand was still clutching her clothes.

“Keep talking,” Zuo Luohuan said in a low voice, her ear turned toward Ji Yuezhi as she watched the people searching in the distance.

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 so she could see them clearly. “I’ll draw them away. You follow behind and take them out.”

“Let’s try another way,” Zuo Luohuan said. “The one at the front, if I remember correctly, she’s best at running. Plus, there’s Fu Wenyue, ranked fourth on the red list, next to her. Not only will you get caught easily, but you’ll also be surrounded.”

“So you need to come for me quickly,” Ji Yuezhi said suddenly.

“…What?” Zuo Luohuan didn’t react for a moment and couldn’t help but turn to look at him.

But Ji Yuezhi was calmly watching the group as they drew nearer. What he had just said was likely offhand, with no other meaning.

“Fine,” Zuo Luohuan agreed. “I’ll come for you as quickly as I can.”

Once their plan was set, Ji Yuezhi circled around and made a noise. The group immediately noticed and gave chase.

Zuo Luohuan fell back, silently taking out one person after another. By the time she closed in on the fourth-to-last person, Ji Yuezhi had been caught. Just as Fu Wenyue was about to engage him, Zuo Luohuan deliberately made a sound as she knocked someone out.

“Zuo Luohuan?” Fu Wenyue stopped and turned, recognizing the face of the person behind her in the moonlight slanting down from the roof. She then looked back at Ji Yuezhi and laughed as if she’d seen the world’s greatest joke. “You two are actually working together?” Weren’t they rivals?

“Do the rules say we can’t cooperate?” Zuo Luohuan asked. “Want to fight?”

Fu Wenyue’s face twitched. Finally, she said to Zuo Luohuan, “Haven’t you always been at odds with Ji Yuezhi? He’s injured now. How about we cooperate? We can kick Ji Yuezhi out together.”

Zuo Luohuan tossed her backpack aside, rotated her wrists, and said nonchalantly, “The last person who said that has already been eliminated. Three against two. Who do you think will be left standing today?”

Fu Wenyue’s face instantly darkened. “Zuo Luohuan, don’t think you can win this time just because you beat me before.”

“Try me.”

The moment she finished speaking, Fu Wenyue charged. The two fought bare-handed, using nothing else, while the other two went straight for Ji Yuezhi.

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, her eyes fixed on one of the monitor screens. “Ji Yuezhi’s side is a bit troublesome.”

Everyone looked toward Ji Yuezhi. The two opponents had noticed the injury on his arm and were constantly attacking that spot. Although his jacket offered some protection, the wound underneath had most likely reopened.

What was more troublesome was that one of them was skilled with hidden weapons. Small stones picked up from the ground, small broken pieces of metal—they flew toward Ji Yuezhi whenever he was distracted.

Ji Yuezhi had already identified the seven people when he used the night-vision goggles and knew their specialties. He had been wary of the hidden weapons, so he dodged the first few attempts. But then the other military academy student, who was extremely agile, coordinated with his partner to block his path, allowing a small piece of metal to slice across his arm.

“I have to wear this jacket for two days,” Ji Yuezhi said, looking up at the person using hidden weapons. “You ruined it.”

The opponent: “?”

...

It wasn’t difficult for Zuo Luohuan to defeat Fu Wenyue. After she grabbed the signal gun and looked back at Ji Yuezhi, his fight was over as well. She glanced at the two lying on the ground, their jackets and pants shredded to pieces, and asked, “What happened to their clothes?”

Ji Yuezhi said coldly, “They ruined my jacket.”

Hearing this, Zuo Luohuan raised an eyebrow, carefully examined Ji Yuezhi’s jacket, and then walked over to him. She pointed at the tear in the jacket. “Are you injured underneath?”

“No.” Ji Yuezhi had been on guard. The small piece of metal had only torn the jacket, the one she had given him.

The two walked outside the factory and fired nine signal guns in succession. The entire night sky instantly lit up as if someone was setting off fireworks.

Elsewhere in the trial grounds, all the resting military academy students were jolted awake at that moment.

“Taking out nine people at once, Zuo Luohuan must 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 her.”

Qian Mao’s thigh and waist were severely injured. He’d had bad luck, being chased the moment he woke up with nothing in his hands and no time to react. He had just managed to escape his pursuers when, before he could even catch his breath, he ran into another military academy student from a combat major and was beaten half to death.

If Guan Xue hadn’t arrived, he would have been eliminated long ago.

“What if… it’s not Zuo Luohuan over there?” Qian Mao was pale and ghastly from blood loss and could barely walk.

“That location had three signal guns go off together this afternoon, and now nine more tonight. No matter who it is, they have the highest chance of having a medical kit.” Guan Xue directly hoisted Qian Mao onto her back. “Your reputation in the weapons development department is enough to make them willing to take you into the exercise with them.”

The brazen and dense sound of signal guns made other students suspect that an alliance had been formed. In the time that followed, many who encountered others began to consider teaming up.

In the monitoring room.

Bai Feng, who had been up all night, sat before the monitoring screen with a cup of coffee beside him. He yawned. “It’s already noon, and some people still haven’t made a single move.”

“What’s the use of just hiding?” Kang Guang tapped the microphone. “Attention, everyone in the trial grounds. There are five hours left until the end of the competition. There are currently 17 survivors, and you still need to eliminate ten more. If you fail to eliminate enough people by five in the afternoon, you will all be disqualified.”

“Additionally, to help the competition proceed smoothly, the locations of all surviving students have been sent to your optical computers. You can check them at any time,” Kang Guang said with a grin, but his voice carried a chilling excitement.

As he pressed the send button, everyone in the trial grounds received a map of light dots on their optical computers. Seventeen red dots showed their general positions on the map. Some dots were still moving, but that was all; no names were indicated.

Zuo Luohuan was very happy to receive this map. She had been waiting here for so long today, and only one person had come over. She didn't know what the others were thinking, but they seemed to be avoiding this place.

“Since they won’t come to us, we’ll go to them.” Zuo Luohuan turned and extended a hand to Ji Yuezhi beside her. “Want to come with me?”

Ji Yuezhi looked up at the hand in front of him. A moment later, he placed his hand in Zuo Luohuan’s palm. “Alright.”

Zuo Luohuan hadn’t expected him to actually place his hand on hers. She thought Ji Yuezhi would ignore her, but now… the warmth of his fingers traveled through her palm to the cerebral cortex. In that instant, she was suddenly dazed, thinking: Ji Yuezhi’s body temperature is warmer than he looks.

The daze lasted only a moment. Zuo Luohuan quickly composed herself, clasped Ji Yuezhi’s hand, and pulled him up. The two of them started walking toward the entrance.

“Zuo Luohuan!” Guan Xue rushed in, carrying someone on her back. “Do you have a medical kit?”

The two inside the doorway instinctively stepped back. Zuo Luohuan glanced over and saw it was Guan Xue and Qian Mao on her back, so she didn’t attack. “This is a competition.”

Guan Xue put Qian Mao down; he was already on the verge of losing consciousness. “I can cooperate with you.”

Zuo Luohuan didn’t reply, instead looking at Ji Yuezhi. “What do you think?”

“Qian Mao’s specialty is modifying firearms, and Guan Xue can adapt to any firearm. If they compete together, their influence will be stronger than others.” Ji Yuezhi thought for a moment. Keeping them would be more beneficial for the later stages of the exercise, so he said, “We’ll cooperate.”

Zuo Luohuan raised an eyebrow. “Your call.”

In the backpacks of the nine people 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 this competition as soon as possible, or he won’t make it.”

Zuo Luohuan glanced at the map of light dots. Two had just disappeared, leaving fifteen people. She looked back at the chapped lips of Guan Xue and Qian Mao and said, “I’m going out for a bit.”

“I’ll stay here,” Ji Yuezhi said, guarding them.

Zuo Luohuan found the person closest to them and took them out. After searching their bag, she discovered there wasn’t a single bottle of water inside.

“Tsk.”

She stood up, looked at the sun, and thought of the miserable state of the other two. In the end, she decided to get some water first.

In the monitoring room, He Yue watched as Zuo Luohuan circled behind a mountain to a stream. She filled two empty bottles with water, then opened several waterproof containers to fill as well, eventually stuffing her entire backpack full. He Yue couldn’t help but frown. “The time spent finding water could have been used to eliminate one or two people.”

“The people are too scattered,” Jia Hailan said, pointing at the light dots. “If she runs into a difficult opponent, it would also take a lot of time.”

Inside the factory, after Guan Xue had treated Qian Mao’s wounds, she looked down at Ji Yuezhi, who was guarding the entrance. She suddenly realized that the jacket he was wearing was Zuo Luohuan’s.

Zuo Luohuan’s jacket had a burn mark the size of a water droplet on the back. Not long ago, when Qian Mao was cutting metal, sparks had flown onto her back, and one of them was particularly noticeable.

Guan Xue: “Did you two… have a big fight last night?”

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