First Battlefield Commander! - Chapter 154
Chapter 154: Compromise
Lian Sheng stared at him for a while longer, making him squirm uncomfortably.
Lu Mingyuan forced a dry laugh: "The roads near the mining area are very rugged, with lots of loose stones on the ground. One slip and you'll get scraped up. I accidentally tripped, what about it? Is there a problem?"
Only then did Lian Sheng say: "Oh, nothing. Please be extra careful about safety."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
The group continued along the path toward the cafeteria.
Lu Mingyuan hadn't eaten dinner tonight, instead getting two bread rolls from the infirmary for a simple meal.
The five of them sat at one table, eating the assembly-line produced white bread along with protein powder.
Lian Sheng shook her protein powder container and said: "The salty flavor is almost gone. By the way, can you guys accept sweet flavor mixed with bread?"
The four looked up: "..."
Cheng Ze: "Sweet... sweet noodle bread?"
Fang Jianchen said: "That's just jumping from bad to worse."
Ye Buqing: "How much longer do we have to eat this? How long has it been already?"
This was precisely the kind of question one shouldn't contemplate directly.
The group suddenly felt life was hopeless, utterly dark.
Zhao Zhuoluo chewed on his chopsticks thoughtfully, then asked: "Students in data analysis should all be doing guidance training, right?"
When the topic suddenly shifted in another direction, the group fell silent.
Cheng Ze said: "For data analysis majors, they should be assigned to blast analysis - there's a dedicated data room for that, right?"
Fang Jianchen: "But they still have to go in and out through the mining area. Although the roads there are relatively flatter, it's not impossible to trip and fall?"
Lian Sheng stirred her chopsticks and said: "It was a fall injury. The scrapes from the stones were very obvious."
Ji Fangxiao came over carrying his meal tray.
Lian Sheng looked at him.
Ji Fangxiao's gaze fixed on their bowls as he covered his chin with a hand, his expression one of existential doubt: "You all eat like this?"
Lian Sheng nodded: "Habits are truly terrifying things."
Ji Fangxiao's expression cracked slightly. Whether habits were terrifying or not was debatable, but Lian Sheng was undoubtedly a terrifying person.
Ji Fangxiao looked up, forcing himself not to look at the awful contents of the bowl: "Is Lu Mingyuan alright?"
Lian Sheng: "Why are you asking me instead of him directly?"
Ji Fangxiao: "Of course I know he's not in life-threatening danger. What I mean is, what did he tell you?"
Lian Sheng pushed her bowl aside, pressing it against the table as she asked: "Then what did you see?"
Ji Fangxiao hesitated before saying: "I'm not entirely clear either - I didn't see it happen. By the time I got there he'd already fallen. But it was during work hours, and he normally wouldn't have come out then."
Lian Sheng: "Then what did you hear?"
"Among those training with us, besides our year, there are also students from the year above. More are from other schools. They might not get along well with Alliance University students." Ji Fangxiao pursed his lips and said: "The situation I heard about was rather bad. Someone asked Lu Mingyuan to come out for guidance due to operational issues, then after he came out claimed their mech was out of control and chased after Lu Mingyuan. The mountain paths there are very rugged - in his panic, he fell."
Lian Sheng narrowed her eyes.
She had thought it was those forgetful people from District 36 who did it - turns out it was internal division? Could it be these people had also been here too long and their brains weren't working right either?
Ji Fangxiao also frowned seriously: "Whether it was truly a mech malfunction is unclear. And there are no witnesses. But this kind of behavior is too dangerous - whether accident or prank, there absolutely cannot be a second time."
Regardless of usual relationships, coming here makes them all Alliance University students. Their alma mater intrinsically linked them into a community of shared interests.
Moreover, Lu Mingyuan and Ji Fangxiao had collaborated several times before. Turning a blind eye to Lu Mingyuan being bullied was something he couldn't do.
Besides, what satisfaction could be gained from putting others down and watching them humiliated? Military ruffians were never in short supply, but someone who would mock and bully comrades without shame was nothing but a true cancerous tumor. Even if their side was down to just one person, Lian Sheng would never appoint such a person.
The dining table fell quiet again.
Ji Ban went to the base warehouse to park his mech and conduct secondary data checks. After reporting the damages and completing the paperwork, he came running to the cafeteria. Upon arrival he saw his friends sitting together in a group, looking as if they were about to achieve spiritual transcendence.
"What are you doing?" Ji Ban asked bluntly, "Is the food that bad?"
Lian Sheng asked: "If someone makes fun of you under the guise of joking, what should you do?"
Ji Ban said: "Some jokes aren't funny at all. If they think it's funny, of course they should experience it too."
Lian Sheng said approvingly: "You're absolutely right."
After their conversation, the noodles had all clumped together. What was already difficult to eat became even more tragic.
So with bitter expressions, they forced down the bowl of noodles.
They felt the most hurtful greeting in the world was probably "let me make you some noodles."
Their schedule here was actually quite packed. They had to take vehicles to the mining area in the morning and couldn't return to eat until evening. The managing instructor might not even be in his office, and they couldn't use optical computers to contact each other within the base. Unless summoned, meeting someone was truly difficult.
Ji Fangxiao brought several students who had been present at the time, going once in the evening and again in the morning before finally seeing him. Then they reported the issue about the "mech malfunction."
Of course everyone knew sensor mechs could fail, but the probability of losing control was infinitesimally small. Believing a mech malfunctioned was less credible than believing the pilot's brain malfunctioned.
The instructor pondered for a moment - these days the words "Alliance University" alone gave him a headache. He nodded: "I understand. I'll have someone look into it. You can return to training."
When students returned in the evening, he called several involved parties to inquire about the incident.
The offending students put on innocent expressions claiming complete ignorance. Lu Mingyuan hesitated, then also said it was just a misunderstanding.
In situations like this without surveillance footage, it all came down to each side's story. If one side stubbornly denied it, there was no solution except to see whether the instructor had a conscience.
But Lu Mingyuan didn't want to escalate things and cause tensions between the military school teams, so he forcibly endured it.
The instructor looked at them with an inscrutable expression. A quiet resolution was naturally best, because he also didn't want any more incidents. But these students were restless and thought themselves clever - it was truly prone to causing trouble.
"I don't accept any excuses about mech malfunctions. What really happened, I think you all know in your hearts. Using such laughable reasons to brush me off, I can only let you know I'm someone who enjoys jokes too," the instructor said. "If I discover this, or if something similar happens again, then those involved can forget about withdrawing from the Expeditionary Force's training - I guarantee your files will never reach any military recruitment office. Do I need to emphasize this again?"
The students replied: "Understood!"
The instructor then looked at Lu Mingyuan, half-lowering his eyelids: "The first thing a soldier must learn is to protect themselves. Otherwise what's the point of picking up weapons? No soldier goes to the battlefield to die."
The military was this cruel of a place. The strong were respected - they wouldn't give sympathy to the weak, much less special treatment out of pity.
"Considering the bigger picture" was often used as an excuse for weakness. But if a soldier extended his hand to superiors just from being bullied, when could he ever demonstrate his resilience?
Lu Mingyuan saluted him, then left the office.
Several other male students followed him out.
The two groups only exchanged glances, but neither spoke.
No matter how bad relations were, they couldn't possibly start arguing in this surveillance-filled office area.
So they walked harmoniously all the way to the street.
Lian Sheng and Ji Fangxiao's group were waiting at the entrance. Seeing him come out, they asked: "What did they say?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head: "Don't bother with this matter anymore. I know my limits."
Lian Sheng raised a hand to block the sun. She felt summer was coming rather late here: "Whether you know your limits is completely unimportant. What matters is whether they know theirs."
Mechs were massive weapons - even without high-damage armaments, that didn't change their threat to human life. Using such behavior to intimidate comrades, if not stopped from the beginning, there was no guarantee it wouldn't escalate.
Lu Mingyuan seemed unwilling to say more, waving a hand as he walked ahead.
Seeing this, the nearby male students shrugged innocently: "Next time before tattling, could you ask the involved party first? Don't you know what 'meddling' means?"
Lian Sheng turned and pointed at them: "You stand right there. Don't move."
"What?" The boy stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Know how to respect your seniors? I'm a year above you, freshman."
Lian Sheng: "Since you're so bold, have the guts to stand there."
Lian Sheng turned to chase after Lu Mingyuan: "Hey you up front, wait!"
Lu Mingyuan stopped: "What is it?"
Lian Sheng put an arm around Lu Mingyuan's shoulders, steering him forward as they walked.
Lian Sheng said: "Comrade Lu Mingyuan, do you know? In the world of pheasants, if one rooster gets pecked by another but doesn't fight back, its ultimate fate is to be pecked to death by its own kind."
Lu Mingyuan was baffled: "...Pheasants?"
"Right. The survival rules among animals. Actually this applies to humans too. Everyone likes to bully the weak. Some educated, civilized people know this is wrong and suppress those impulses. But some remain as stupid as livestock - in their minds, toeing the line just enough to avoid consequences is something to be proud of. Clearly there are quite a few such people." Lian Sheng said, "You're an enlightened modern human - will you indulge this situation too?"
"..." Lu Mingyuan said, "Huh?"
"But I'm not indulging them - I just can't beat them," Lu Mingyuan said honestly. "If you can't win, avoid them. What's the point of posturing? They wouldn't dare go too far anyway. And if things escalate, it'll affect everyone. What if it causes divisions in the team?"
Lian Sheng frowned: "From the moment you started conceding, you've been convincing yourself to compromise. Why?"
Lu Mingyuan: "Can't win means can't win. What do you mean why?"
Lian Sheng: "You're not alone, my friend! How could you not win?"
"What do you want to do?" Lu Mingyuan grew somewhat uneasy hearing this. "A group fight? Don't be impulsive, Lian Sheng. Do you know how serious the consequences would be? An open group fight would be worse than secretly ambushing them."
"What group fight? ...Well, it would be a kind of group fight. Your thinking is quite advanced too. We could challenge them. What are you best at? Not running away, not shamelessness, not helping mining teams calculate some... breaking points. You're a data analyst, a vice commander!" Lian Sheng patted his back. "And Alliance's most outstanding commander stands before you. Alliance's most promising soldiers are your schoolmates and backup. What do you have to fear from them? So what if they're a year ahead? Does that mean they've necessarily learned better than us? Challenge them! Come on, let's have a team match to settle this and shut them up properly!"
Lu Mingyuan pondered for a moment, hesitating: "Hmm... I'll need to think about this more."
He had always been low-key and inconspicuous.
Being short and soft-spoken, he'd been bullied since childhood. Relying on others was useless - they couldn't protect him forever. He knew the main reason was he wasn't strong or skilled enough to make others need him.
Only in data analysis could he firmly stand his ground. Outside this domain, he was just another nobody.
So he worked hard in the command department - this place gave him respect and honor, and he cherished everything he learned here.
But a challenge? Such things felt too distant for him.
Zhao Zhuoluo caught up from behind, not wanting him to misunderstand: "Senior, we're not trying to pressure you. We just hope you'll hear us out."
Lu Mingyuan nodded: "I'll consider it. Really. But I think it's unnecessary. I'll be more careful from now on, and they probably wouldn't dare do it again."
Ye Buqing shook his head: "My experience tells me bullying is never a one-time thing. Even if not you, it could be someone else."
Zhao Zhuoluo: "That's what I mean too. If even using mechs to intimidate - this most critical line - gets crossed, yet ends with just a slap on the wrist, what wouldn't they dare do next? If not mechs, wouldn't they find other methods? Does bullying only count if there's physical harm? This kind of atmosphere is never good."
Lu Mingyuan hastily waved his hands: "Actually it's not as serious as you think - they've never done this before. And the mining area has oversight teams while the base has full surveillance. I'm quite safe."
Lian Sheng said: "I find things are actually all the same."
Lu Mingyuan: "What things?"
Lian Sheng: "The District 36 situation - we were just talking about this."
Lian Sheng looked up, saying solemnly: "At the very beginning, when the Alliance bid for mining teams and distributed subsidies, they must have been thrilled, thinking their city would finally prosper."
"But they never imagined the government only issued a tiny initial sum before vanishing. The mining teams' profits had nothing to do with them. Instead, to enable mining operations, urban development was restricted and young labor conscripted. Their lives became even harder."
"Only then did they realize reality wasn't as rosy as imagined. But since District 36 belonged to the Alliance, they assumed the government wouldn't go too far. What they faced now was already the worst. They might have considered resistance, but then felt incapable. They could only console themselves that they'd only lost some extra money - not completely unbearable."
"Then before they knew it, everything around them had changed. They'd completely lost any chance to resist, because the place had gradually stripped them of that power too. That's how District 36 became what it is today."
"And how many years did that take?"
"I think the most terrifying thing in the world is compromise. Compromise and forbearance aren't the same. Compromise is just escaping reality, pinning hopes on an unpredictable, unprepared future, ceding one's rights step by step based on 'shoulds.' Forbearance is knowing one's goals, making temporary concessions to strive for greater rights with progress as the aim." Lian Sheng said, "What you think 'should' happen may never become reality - that is true reality."
Lian Sheng gripped his shoulders, asking seriously: "Comrade Lu Mingyuan, are you compromising or forbearing?"
Lu Mingyuan was stunned: "I hadn't thought that deeply about it."
Lian Sheng: "Then do you want to try? A team match between freshmen and upperclassmen - you'll be our specially invited data analyst. Winning would deter them; losing wouldn't be shameful."
Lu Mingyuan said: "That doesn't sound bad."
Let's see whether resistance would lead to harsher despair or newfound hope.
Check out my other ongoing translation, AI Artist, it's quite a unique take on AI takeover and is very fun to read.
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