First Battlefield Commander! - Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Revenge
Before the other party could react, Lian Sheng and her group quickly left the area.
They returned to their previous resting spot, waiting for Zhao Zhuoluo and the others to regroup.
"Ah—" Lian Sheng let out a long exhale, leaning against a rock behind her. "So tired."
Her old bones were suffering.
Before long, Zhao Zhuoluo returned as well, and they began dividing the bread.
Perhaps to effectively replenish sugar, the bread was made especially sweet. And there was something stuffed inside.
Lian Sheng examined it carefully under the moonlight—dark and unidentifiable—frowning. "What is this?"
"Chocolate," Lu Mingyuan said, surprised. "You've never had it before?"
"Hm? That's not the point. It's too sweet."
Lu Mingyuan nodded. "It really is too sweet."
Zheng Lei bit into the bread, his head bobbing up and down as he giggled foolishly. "My heart feels sweet too. Heh heh heh, feels like I've already reached the peak of my next life."
Six instructors plus twenty-nine students—such a massive free-for-all, yet they had managed to dominate the battlefield, profited from others' conflict, and retreated unscathed.
Just thinking about the "corpses" littering the ground filled them with a sense of accomplishment, joy lifting their spirits.
Still, Lian Sheng felt it was a pity she hadn't personally taken Instructor Fu's head.
"Did he hear my thoughts?" Lian Sheng asked. "What was his reaction?"
Zhao Zhuoluo paused mid-bite. "The corpse twitched?"
Cheng Ze suddenly looked up and corrected, "That was a tremor from the soul."
The others nodded in agreement. A perfect summary.
"You're utterly shameless!" Zheng Lei praised sincerely.
"I'm just not forthright enough. In war, forthrightness is the most useless trait," Lian Sheng said. "Call me 'flawless strategist' instead."
Zheng Lei insisted, "You're too ruthless!"
"I prefer 'adapting to circumstances,'" Lian Sheng said. "The survivors will soon thank me for my wisdom."
There hadn't been much bread to begin with, and the boys ate a lot. Were they really supposed to share equally?
Every time it came to dividing spoils, fragile alliances like theirs would collapse. The more people involved, the messier it got. When their own interests were at stake, they wouldn't care about fairly distributing credit based on contributions. The only reliable method was overwhelming strength.
If they hadn't struck first, they wouldn't have gotten eight loaves at all. Having fought for their gains, were they supposed to hand them over willingly?
The fact that Lian Sheng hadn't completely wiped them out was already showing mercy for their shared studenthood.
The group sat on the ground, resting briefly. They took turns napping for twenty minutes.
Sleeping too long would muddle their minds and leave them sluggish. Besides, this wasn't a good place to rest. It was better to recover slightly, strike while the iron was hot, score more points, and end things sooner.
They repeated their earlier tactic, setting up another ambush to lure the instructors. But with fewer people active at night, their efficiency plummeted. Waiting quietly like this only made them sleepier.
They missed the 8 p.m. supply drop. By 11 p.m., they decided to try for another.
Because they were hungry. Really hungry. After a full day of activity, how could one piece of bread be enough?
The question was: how to participate?
Meng Jiangwu suggested, "How about taking advantage of the dark to trick them again?"
Points and bread—from the results alone, it seemed like the best option.
The others weren't enthusiastic.
That was too wishful. Information wasn't stagnant on this mountain. Six instructors with trembling souls had already descended—wouldn't they spread the word?
Tactics weren't techniques. There was no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. It might work against different opponents, but using it repeatedly in the same battle against the same targets would backfire.
Meng Jiangwu understood this but still held onto some hope.
Information gaps were their advantage. Who knew if the six instructors who'd just gone down would be too ashamed to speak of it? Even if they did, newly arrived instructors wouldn't spread the news so quickly. They still had a good chance.
Zheng Lei said, "How about this? It's dark now, so they can't see us clearly. We'll stay far away and negotiate. If they don't know about this, great—we proceed with the old plan. If they do, we adapt immediately and run! At night, it's easy to hide anywhere—much safer than daytime."
The group looked at Lian Sheng.
"If you want to try, go ahead. Sitting around isn't helpful anyway." Lian Sheng yawned and nodded. "If it fails, at most we lose one head. If we go for supplies directly, we'll have to prepare for casualties—more than one, at that."
Put that way, the risk seemed worth it. But the stakes were higher than last time, so Lian Sheng shouldn't be the one to go.
Zheng Lei volunteered again. "I'll go!"
It was time for their cannon fodder to ignite once more!
So they got up and began searching for instructors again.
At night, the downside was that they couldn't immediately distinguish instructors from students—they had to rely on the outline of protective gear and look twice to be sure. Plus, moving was harder, slowing them down.
They wandered the mountain for over an hour before finding real targets.
Two instructors.
"Only two?" Zheng Lei said regretfully.
Lian Sheng said, "Test the waters first. Don't complain about numbers—go ask."
Zheng Lei accepted the order, hiked up his pants, and said excitedly, "I'm off!"
The seven of them crouched behind cover a hundred meters away, scouting escape routes in case of trouble.
Zheng Lei approached cautiously, but the night was especially quiet, and the wind carried sound easily. The instructor barked sharply, "Who's there?"
Zheng Lei pitched his voice oddly. "Hey?"
"Hey my ass! Are you a guy or a girl?" the instructor snapped, standing. "Who the hell says 'hey' in the middle of the night!"
Zheng Lei hid behind a tree. Adjusting his tone, he asked, "Want to cooperate? I have bullets."
That drawn-out tone, paired with a coaxing lilt and the forest's intermittent wailing wind... The two instructors fell silent.
Zheng Lei pressed on. "I provide bullets, help you lure people, even help you score kills. Got any supplies?"
Only then did he realize his mistake—he should've asked about supplies first.
"Hey~?" Zheng Lei added. "You have food, right? You do, don't you?"
A crisp cocking sound pierced the night. "Why's it a guy?" the instructor muttered.
Zheng Lei's expression darkened.
That phrasing meant they already knew.
"You students are something else," the instructor said angrily. "Using bullets to bait instructors, deceiving their trust, turning it into a profession? Think instructors are stupid?"
Zheng Lei: "..."
In a flash, both sides moved, kicking off the ground and bolting.
Three shadows streaked under the moonlight.
"Run!" Zheng Lei waved his arms wildly. "Run fast!"
Lian Sheng and the others got the message and immediately took off.
"Head where there might be more people!" Lian Sheng said.
Lu Mingyuan directed, "Left turn!"
The instructors behind them raised their guns and fired blindly as they chased.
Zheng Lei clutched his backside in terror, leaping wildly to keep up.
"There's more than one—it's them!" an instructor shouted from behind. "Avenge our brothers!"
Lian Sheng: "..."
"Damn it!" Meng Jiangwu roared. "Why is karma so fast? At least wait until we're off the mountain!"
Their escape wasn't quiet, quickly drawing others' attention.
Following Lu Mingyuan's directions, Lian Sheng's group ran until they spotted a crowd of students. They stood on either side of the path, likely drawn out by the commotion.
Lian Sheng waved frantically at the leader, calling out earnestly, "Run! We've been discovered!"
Ji Fangxiao looked baffled. Recognizing her voice as she charged past like a lone rider, he said, "Lian Sheng?"
Lian Sheng took a deep breath and shouted again, "Zhao Zhuoluo, hurry! Run faster! They're all coming for revenge!"
The pursuing instructors roared furiously, "Not even flying will save you! No one leaves tonight!"
Ji Fangxiao, still dazed, had been about to order a snipe at Lian Sheng to settle old scores when he noticed instructors chasing her.
They'd stayed here to score points anyway. After a brief hesitation, his half-raised hand changed direction, pointing ahead. "Prepare for battle! Third team, follow!"
Lian Sheng's group seized the chance to slip into the woods and vanish.
The instructors, seeing their targets escape while their accomplices blocked the way, leaped aside to deal with the immediate threat.
Meanwhile, the monitoring room was packed with instructors Lian Sheng's team had eliminated. Instead of resting at this late hour, they stared at the screens resentfully, itching to personally exact revenge. A few curious instructors had also dropped by to witness the spectacle.
Watching this scene unfold, they clicked their tongues.
"Your student doesn't need your teaching," one instructor said, clapping Instructor Fu's shoulder. "You should learn from her instead."
Instructor Fu: "..."
Did he have no dignity left?
The eight of them escaped luckily. Only when the gunfire faded did they stop.
"See? You don't trip twice in the same place," Lian Sheng panted. "Let's just stick to ambushes."
The others agreed.
Lian Sheng braced against a tree, recalling the earlier scene. "Were there a lot of people on both sides of the path just now?"
A large team moving together, with someone leading. Plus that voice calling her name... Lian Sheng looked up. "Ji Fangxiao?"
The others thought back and realized it probably was him.
"Fate. A rare opportunity." Lian Sheng hugged her gun and grinned. "Let's go take a look."
The eight of them retraced their steps. The two sides were locked in fierce combat.
Since both wanted them dead, it was unwise to engage directly—that might unite their enemies against them.
Lian Sheng quietly circled behind Ji Fangxiao's team, sniped a few, and retreated before they could counterattack.
They waited patiently. After the battle ended, they tailed the team to the next engagement, harassing them when they were most distracted.
Ji Fangxiao had no counter for this infuriating tactic.
After two rounds of this cat-and-mouse game, they found it more fun than fighting instructors. Before their targets could fully lose their temper, they returned to set up another ambush.
Before they knew it, dawn arrived.
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