DHMB - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
While Kai Yun remained completely unfazed, many at the First Military Academy were feeling restless because of it.
This sudden lecture made everyone deeply understand a truth: just when you think the tragedy is over, it will reappear in a brand new form.
Although, out of protection for privacy and students' mental health, the major military academies avoided using real videos and instead used comics for the explanation, the unspoken glorious deeds still carved a giant canyon in the minds of all the students. It would likely take at least a decade or two to fill it.
This dark history might even be fondly remembered from time to time, circulated as a negative example until their juniors, and their juniors' juniors, pass it down to the next generation.
Lei Kaiding, a man destined to leave his mark on the history of The Tournament.
Watermelon Head felt that since the incident had become such a big deal, Lei Kaiding must be very sad right now, perhaps even hiding somewhere and crying for a while. After all, he wasn't even participating in the usual campus activities he was most enthusiastic about.
He understood completely.
Although Lao Lei was tall, his heart was fragile. He was still a silly fool who hadn't outgrown his chuunibyou phase.
Worried that his old friend was in trouble, Watermelon Head specifically asked Lei Kaiding's roommate and learned that his friend had been holed up in his room since the competition ended and hadn't eaten for nearly a day.
Everyone put their heads together and decided this wouldn't do. They had already lost the match and lost face; if they lost the person too, it would be too great a loss!
So a group of classmates gathered to discuss how to dig Lei Kaiding out of his room. Several people took turns, banging loudly on the iron door.
"Lao Lei! Lao Lei, come out quickly! There's another match the day after tomorrow, what are you doing starving yourself? Have you formed a team? Are you still going to daily training? Aren't you going to conquer your sea of stars anymore?"
Inside the room, Lei Kaiding was curled up under the dark blanket, his fingers tapping the optical computer one by one, scrolling through the candidate scores just released by Sanyao. The pale blue screen light illuminated his face as rows of names flashed across his pupils.
His roommate outside spoke earnestly, "Lao Lei... it was just one loss, you have to look on the bright side. For us martial artists, winning and losing is normal. If you give up now, you're not losing dignity, but an opportunity to get back at them! How can you bear to give up like this!"
Finally, a suspicious name stopped before him.
Kai! Yun!!!
This score, this test location, this gender—it had to be her!
Lei Kaiding's breath hitched. He pulled the blanket down slightly, the light filtering into the quilt confirming he hadn't misread.
Heh, little punk, thought you could hide?
Outside, the group trying to persuade him changed; the previous brother went to the side for a drink of water.
"Lao Lei, a gentleman's revenge is never too late. Although you had a bad start in The Tournament, we are people striving for the championship. As long as you perform well later, occasional mistakes don't count for much!"
Immediately after, Lei Kaiding used the name "Kai Yun" to search the database for her next match's test location arrangement.
The result column showed Test Location Six.
Six...
Lei Kaiding was still wondering why this number sounded so familiar when he saw his own name a few lines down.
He blinked hesitantly. Isn't this what they call enemies meeting on a narrow road?!
"Ahhh—! Hahaha! Bang—!"
Inside the room, there was first a startled cry, then a burst of laughter. Following that was a loud crashing sound.
The few people outside exchanged glances, seeing horror in each other's eyes.
Had he gone mad?
Watermelon Head pushed the others aside, banging hard on the door and shouting:
"Lao Lei! Don't do anything foolish! Just open the door! You—"
Before he finished speaking, the door was kicked open from the inside. Lei Kaiding was dressed, carrying a small bag, and strode out.
Watermelon Head was stunned.
"Where are you going?"
Lei Kaiding said excitedly, "I bought a ticket to the Alliance Military University, I'm leaving now!"
Watermelon Head didn't expect him to be so agitated that he would go for a real-life battle. He quickly grabbed his arm and shouted, "Let's think this through! Let's think this through, Lao Lei!"
Lei Kaiding ignored him, breaking free from his friends with an unstoppable momentum and rushing out of the school.
Kai Yun lay on her bed, searching the Sanyao system database for the test location arrangements for the second round of The Tournament.
She pulled up the list of participants for her test location and scanned through them one by one. She pulled up the few high-scoring students ranked at the top and searched for them online to see if she could find videos of their matches, so she could analyze their combat strength in advance.
Suddenly, she spotted a familiar name—Jiang Tu!
Kai Yun was immediately excited. She clicked on the details to confirm and was certain this was indeed the Jiang Tu who helped her plant the small tomatoes.
See! What did she say? This was fate!
Her best friend!
Kai Yun immediately switched pages, ready to contact Jiang Tu, but the doorbell lit up first, and the system indicated someone was outside the dorm.
The person deliberately stood outside the camera's view, not showing their face.
This building was specifically prepared by the Alliance Military University for visiting students taking the exam, but because very few students from other schools participated in The Tournament each year, it was usually empty.
Kai Yun had empty rooms all around her, and she hadn't run into anyone. The only person she knew at the Alliance Military University was Jiang Tu.
She quickly grabbed her optical computer, put on her shoes, and ran out.
After Kai Yun left the dorm building, she looked around but didn't see Jiang Tu. Instead, a tall, large young man impatiently stepped forward, coughing to announce his presence.
Kai Yun looked him over carefully and realized it was the boisterous young man from the previous test location. Her eyes widened, "You are—"
Lei Kaiding put his hands on his hips and said proudly, "Didn't expect that, did you?"
Kai Yun lowered her head and thought hard, "That... who was it?"
Lei Kaiding: "..."
He coldly dropped a "Farewell!" and turned to leave.
After only two steps, he turned back, pointed at Kai Yun, and loudly accused, "Don't you think you're going too far?!"
Kai Yun remembered how his friend had called him: "Lao Lei?"
Lei Kaiding: "Who told you to call me Lao Lei? Do we know each other?!"
Kai Yun: "..."
Humans were truly too complicated.
Lei Kaiding raised his hand and scratched his scalp again, softening his tone, "I'm a student from the First Military Academy, my name is Lei Kaiding. I came here this time to discuss cooperation with you."
"Cooperation?"
"For victory, I can put aside past grievances." Lei Kaiding paused, then continued, "I've discovered that your style complements mine perfectly. I recognize your strength. If we cooperate, we can definitely maximize our benefits."
Whether they complemented each other or not, Kai Yun didn't know, but the corner of Lei Kaiding's mouth, pulled up to show sincerity, carried a hint of conspiracy.
Not sincere at all.
Kai Yun asked, "Weren't you eliminated?"
"I have teammates! Teammates share points. They racked up a few kills afterward, and the whole team got the qualification to advance." Lei Kaiding sounded a bit angry when he said this, "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have had to work so hard!"
Kai Yun: "Then don't you already have teammates?"
Lei Kaiding: "The test locations after advancing are reassigned, randomly assigned by individual."
Hearing this, Kai Yun suddenly thought, had Jiang Tu also been separated from his original team? The list for the new test locations had just come out, maybe he, like Lei Kaiding, was searching the world for teammates.
She pulled up Jiang Tu's account right in front of Lei Kaiding and said, "But I have someone I want to team up with."
Then she directly sent a voice message to the other side.
"Jiang Tu, we're in the same test location for the next round of The Tournament. Want to team up?"
Lei Kaiding didn't expect his long journey to be met with rejection; there were plenty of people at the First Military Academy who wanted to team up with him. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Jiang Tu replied. Kai Yun clicked it open directly, playing the voice message aloud.
"Sorry, our coach has already arranged teams for us."
Kai Yun: "..."
Lei Kaiding gloated, "Hahaha!"
Kai Yun stared at him blankly.
Lei Kaiding's laughter gradually dried up.
They were both rejected, what was the point? He was the one who was more miserable.
"It doesn't matter if we team up or not." Lei Kaiding sighed and shrugged, "From what you just said, you probably don't know much about The Tournament. Generally speaking, the first match is free team formation, but in the second match, besides teaming up, there's also a faction relationship. I want to cooperate with you to win this match big and wipe away the shame!"
Kai Yun raised an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously.
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