SCOM - Chapter 111
Chapter 111
“Where do you think Instructor Jia is being held?” Zuo Luohuan asked. “I’ll go find him.”
“The north-side laboratory building,” a younger female student said. “We’ve checked other places these past few days. That’s the only one we haven’t searched yet.”
Fortunately, it was the Eighty-third Army. The students of the First Military Academy are usually divided among the Federation’s major army groups each year, and no one in this particular army group was familiar with the layout of the First Military Academy. So, even with the army spread throughout the campus, the remaining military students had managed to hide for a few days by using their knowledge of the school.
Zuo Luohuan glanced up at the seven or eight military students coming up from downstairs. “I’m leaving first.”
With that, she placed a hand on the railing and leaped straight down.
Watching the figure instantly jump from the tall building, one of the people who had just come upstairs couldn’t help but ask, “Why did she leave?”
“Who was that? Looked pretty arrogant.”
“What’s going on? She just left like that?”
The younger female student pointed to the fallen army soldiers on the stairs behind them. “The army soldiers in this building have been cleared out. Also, that person just now was Senior Zuo.”
“Senior Zuo? Which Senior Zuo?” The group hadn’t registered it yet.
“Senior Zuo Luohuan,” the younger student added.
“Ah?”
“…No wonder even her back looked so arrogant.”
Someone else thought of another matter. “Have reinforcements arrived?”
“A few, I think.” The younger student looked distantly toward the front of the Jinhai building. “Let’s head over there.”
When Zuo Luohuan reached the north side, she heard a commotion before she even got close to the laboratory building. She rushed over and found military students and army soldiers locked in a chaotic fight, with a group of students escorting an injured instructor out.
Instructor Jia was in a sorry state, his usually well-kept hair now a complete mess. A few military students holding light guns stood by his side, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
Zuo Luohuan’s gaze fell on the army soldiers who were being attacked from both front and rear. It seemed Instructor Jia had escaped with the students.
The army soldiers were performing poorly, one could even say they were in a panic.
Zuo Luohuan watched as an army soldier tried to throw a fourth-generation robot dog onto the ground, only for it to just twitch uselessly. The soldier anxiously kicked it, but to no avail.
Since entering the First Military Academy, they hadn’t found any other robot dogs, only the fourth-generation ones. But these new models were enough to endanger military students who had never encountered them before. It was clear the Eighty-third Army had relied on these new robot dogs to suppress the students of the First Military Academy. However, Zuo Luohuan had brought a jammer capable of disabling the new robot dogs.
Thanks to the people from the weapons department.
Zuo Luohuan charged in. With her skills, she quickly drew everyone’s attention.
The military students couldn’t tell, but Instructor Kang Guang, who was escorting the injured students away, recognized who this person was and felt a wave of relief.
With Zuo Luohuan here, they would be fine.
Kang Guang and some fourth- and third-year military students quickly escorted the other injured instructors and younger students away to find a medical room.
These army soldiers were of average strength, relying purely on their light guns and the new robot dogs. Although the First Military Academy students had skeletal mechs, not everyone had one. After all, they were for public use and limited in number, which easily became a constraint.
But now that the new robot dogs were useless, and with Zuo Luohuan’s help, the situation was quickly brought under control.
Zuo Luohuan sheathed her curved blade, lifted her foot off an army soldier, and said to the military students who had stayed to fight, “Gather the weapons and prepare to leave.”
Instructor Jia stood not far away, watching them. When she walked over, he confirmed, “Zuo Luohuan.”
“Instructor.” Zuo Luohuan deactivated her skeletal mech, revealing her face.
Jia Hailan patted the student supporting him, signaling for him to let go. He stood up straight on his own and said to Zuo Luohuan, “Five days ago, an army group broke in. The Eighty-third Army alone wouldn’t have the guts to do this. What’s happened outside?”
He had sent a team of military students to break out and call for help that day, but that team had yet to return.
“The entire capital is under control.” Zuo Luohuan’s light words successfully plunged the nearby military students into shock.
Jia Hailan, after all, was a man who had weathered many storms. He calmly asked, “How many reinforcements have arrived? What’s the current situation?”
“All districts are tied up. It’s just our Exoskeleton Legion,” Zuo Luohuan said. “We don’t know what’s happening with the Military Committee right now.”
Jia Hailan nodded and asked, “Where are the others?”
“At the port. We’ll return there shortly,” Zuo Luohuan said.
Her gaze fell on the instructors in the distance, especially Instructor Kang Guang. The old scar on his face had been deliberately and brutally sliced open. Even with medicine applied, the already hideous scar looked even more terrifying.
“After this group of soldiers captured us, they took pleasure in torturing the instructors,” Jia Hailan explained, following Zuo Luohuan’s gaze. “Instructor Kang has a fiery temper. He disciplined their leader before and was retaliated against.”
Jia Hailan showed no emotion on his face. As someone who had retired from the battlefield to become a command instructor, he maintained his composure in any situation. But thinking of Kang Guang’s ordeal, anger still stirred in his heart.
The army group’s goal after capturing them was to torture the instructors’ bodies and the students’ minds. Kang Guang had originally been in the crowd, but he stepped forward voluntarily to draw the attention of the group’s leader, making them focus their torture on him alone.
Zuo Luohuan walked over and took the medicine from Instructor Kang’s hand. “Instructor, your hand is injured too. Let me help you.”
Kang Guang subconsciously wanted to grin, but the wound on his face made him stop. Zuo Luohuan held the medicine and looked at his hand. All his fingers were broken, except for one thumb.
Zuo Luohuan found medical supplies, and after applying the medicine, she helped Instructor Kang Guang splint his fingers. “We need to head back to the port soon.”
The sky was about to brighten. Ren Pingbo should have realized something was wrong by now.
At six in the morning, Zuo Luohuan returned to the port with the people from the First Military Academy. By this time, the other teams had also rescued many civilians.
“What is this?” Jia Hailan was finally a little shocked.
“The residential areas along the way were all under control. This is just a portion of those we rescued,” Zuo Luohuan said. “I’ll have to trouble you, Instructor, to manage things here. There might be traitors or Gashiro people hiding among them. The First Military Academy students will stay here. There are also injured Scavenger Army soldiers in the port.”
However, the Scavenger Army’s casualties were too heavy; those who survived were all injured to some extent.
“Leave this to me.” Jia Hailan didn’t interfere with their plans and instead stayed behind. He glanced at the crowd and said to Zuo Luohuan, “You all be careful.”
Zuo Luohuan went to find Ji Yuezhi, but the further in she went, the more she felt that the atmosphere was off.
The people who had previously left the conference room had returned. Everyone was looking at Guan Yuan.
“What happened?” Zuo Luohuan pushed the door open, walked in, and asked the others.
“In the early hours of yesterday morning, he secretly went out to contact someone,” An Yingjing said. “I saw him acting suspiciously on the warship before.”
“I was just worried about my father.” Guan Yuan glared at him. “Is it wrong to contact my own father?”
“You can, but right now, no one can contact anyone inside the capital. How is it that you’re the only one who could get through?” An Yingjing questioned.
“How should I know? Maybe someone managed to get a signal,” Guan Yuan said angrily. “You haven’t investigated anything and you’re wasting time questioning me here?”
Ji Yuezhi looked up and said coolly, “At a critical time, it’s better to kill a thousand by mistake than to let one escape.”
Guan Xue impatiently slapped the table. “Stop struggling. If you have a clear conscience, why did you run?”
“Who did you contact?” Zuo Luohuan asked, stepping closer.
“I told you, I just wanted to call my dad’s optical computer to make sure he was okay,” Guan Yuan said, rolling his eyes. “Is that not allowed? You all suddenly jumped out, I thought it was a sneak attack.”
“Contact your father?” Zuo Luohuan looked down at Guan Yuan. “So the Twenty-sixth Army are traitors?”
“Don’t make baseless accusations!” Guan Yuan’s face twitched. He took off his optical computer. “Check it. See if you can find anything on it.”
Zuo Luohuan glanced sideways at the optical computer on the table, then took out her own flexible blade, pressing it against her finger without a word.
The conference room fell silent. No one spoke. Guan Yuan’s entire attention was involuntarily drawn to the flexible blade in Zuo Luohuan’s hand. He had seen her kill people with that blade before. Unlike others who showed all sorts of emotions when they killed, she didn’t even blink an extra time.
Guan Yuan’s face grew paler and paler.
“Your father has defected?” Zuo Luohuan asked, raising her eyes.
“No!” Guan Yuan immediately denied.
Zuo Luohuan lowered her hand, then suddenly reached out, grabbed Guan Yuan, and slammed him against the wall.
“What are you…” Guan Yuan met Zuo Luohuan’s utterly cold gaze and suddenly felt as if his throat was being choked. He was going to die! He was definitely going to die!
“Has your father defected or not?” Zuo Luohuan asked. As her words fell, the flexible blade was pressed against Guan Yuan’s carotid artery. He could already feel its sharp, cold edge.
Guan Yuan went completely rigid. He gritted his teeth, said nothing, and even closed his eyes.
Zuo Luohuan suddenly let out a sneer and released him. “Being wrongly accused, and you don’t fight back?”
Guan Yuan had always looked down on Ji Yuezhi and Zuo Luohuan. After all, in the capital’s circles, they were the only two of the younger generation constantly being mentioned.
If he had truly been wrongly accused, it would be impossible for him not to fight back. He would probably have seized the opportunity to mock Zuo Luohuan.
His cleverness had backfired.
Zuo Luohuan pulled over a nearby chair and sat down. “Did your father defect because his son is too stupid, a lost cause?”
Guan Yuan also realized he had given himself away. He still tried to cover it up, rushing over to attack Zuo Luohuan, but was slammed onto the table by Jiang Hong, who had stood up beside him.
Zuo Luohuan picked up Guan Yuan’s optical computer and scrolled through the communication logs. There was nothing unusual. The earliest communication was from three days ago, a call to his father, which matched his claim of wanting to contact his father on the warship.
However…
“Take this optical computer and ask the survivors at the port if they can recover call logs.” Zuo Luohuan tossed the device to Guan Xue. “I remember there’s a department at the port responsible for repairing warship communications. See if they can restore this optical computer.”
Guan Xue took the optical computer and immediately got up to leave.
Zuo Luohuan looked at Guan Yuan, who was pinned to the table. “Once it’s fixed, contact your handler. Let him get a good look at you. It might be the last time.”
Guan Yuan struggled frantically. “Check whatever you want! If it’s not me, Zuo Luohuan, you’ll kneel and apologize to me.”
Zuo Luohuan ignored him and instead asked Ji Yuezhi, “Did you search him?”
Ji Yuezhi nodded. “Already searched.”
Zuo Luohuan instantly understood Ji Yuezhi’s meaning. They had searched him but found nothing.
“So confident. You didn’t use this optical computer, did you?” Zuo Luohuan turned to look at Guan Yuan, not missing the fleeting stiffness on his face. She stood up. “It seems you threw it somewhere.”
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