Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Caxin Greiz's coughing didn't stop for a long time. He hastily gestured, prompting the students in black uniforms around him to form a human wall around him, deliberately blocking Bai Sha's line of sight.

Bai Sha: "……"

Bai Sha suddenly felt like laughing.

Xino noticed the commotion at Caxin Greiz's location and asked with some confusion, "What's going on with the Greiz family over there?"

"Who knows," Bai Sha put her empty glass back on the table, "I think he doesn't seem very bright."

Xino: "……" He wanted to agree, but then thought that the Greiz family, after all, belonged to the leading class among the beast-types. Saying so might imply that all their beast-types were somewhat naive.

At that moment, the orchestral music in the hall slowly came to a halt. A light and lively tune ended, giving way to a solemn and magnificent piano piece. The musical notes seemed to step elegantly through the room, and the dancing students changed their steps to a more polite and restrained style.

"It's strange, they're all military academy students, yet it seems like none of them are bad at dancing," Bai Sha observed somewhat sentimentally, watching her usually fierce classmates transform as if they were completely different people today.

"There are some, like me, who aren't good at dancing," Cen Yuehuai tossed some peanuts into her mouth, "No one in my family has a talent for dancing."

They were chatting casually when a young man in a deep green military academy uniform approached them.

He was from Dongluo Military Academy.

Students from Dongluo Military Academy, unlike those from other academies, always carried a light smile, their eyes sparkled with liveliness, exuding a free and peaceful aura.

The young man before them had elegant features and a slender figure, with a glowing psychic entity, a swan, following him. The swan gently fluttered its snow-white wings, its demeanor tranquil and graceful. It glanced at Bai Sha quietly, then turned its head, tucking its black beak beneath its graceful and luminous neck, seemingly shy.

"Hello," the young man spoke nervously, his eyes shimmering like autumn waters as he looked at Bai Sha, "May I have the pleasure of inviting you to dance with me?"

Bai Sha: "……"

Bai Sha, seeing the nervous expression on the boy's face, involuntarily began to feel nervous herself.

Xino raised an eyebrow slightly, curiously glancing at the boy. The boy, slightly tilting his head, spoke confidently yet respectfully: “I know you are Xino from the Uss family. But I've been observing you for a while and it seems you and this student are not ‘in that kind of relationship’… That's why I came to invite her to dance.”

"Your Highness, there's really nothing wrong with just dancing. Just don't make any casual promises," Cen Yuehuai whispered to Bai Sha, "But, his psychic entity is a swan, eh? In our feather-kind, that's famously faithful. It's not just about being devoted; it's said that if their partner dies, they choose to live alone for the rest of their lives, and might even die alongside them!”

Bai Sha: "……" The pressure just got bigger, okay!

In the Empire, being loyal and never straying is the foundation of marriage, but this “dying with the partner” trait almost sounds like a racial legend, right?

Bai Sha was about to refuse when she noticed the crowd around them suddenly quieting down. It was a noticeable change, from noise gradually returning to silence. Bai Sha and her companions turned their heads, immediately catching the cause of this change.

——It was the “Angel.”

The crowd parted like the Red Sea for the “Angel” enveloped in radiance.

He was dressed in a silver-white suit, with pure golden curly long hair cascading down, and streamlined diamond ear cuffs glinting under the lights, shining brilliantly…

The young man, with one fist pressed to his back, bowed towards Bai Sha, extending his other hand, his face radiant with a bright smile.

——May I have this dance, Your Highness?

Bai Sha faintly heard the murmurs around her:

“Who is that?”

“Seems like a guard brought by the Emperor.”

“So good-looking…”

Under the gaze of the curious onlookers and the disappointed eyes of the Dongluo Military Academy's suitor, Bai Sha took the hand of the "Angel" before her.

"It's an honor," Bai Sha nodded, and then turned to the suitor from Dongluo Military Academy nearby, apologizing, "Sorry, I already have a partner."

Guided by the "Angel," Bai Sha walked into the hall, blending into the dancing crowd.

The music continued, the noise rising again. Bai Sha, stepping in time with the music, gracefully twirled in sync with the young man before her.

"Uriel," Bai Sha whispered, "why are you here too?"

Their dance steps meshed flawlessly.

After all, Uriel was the partner Bai Sha practiced with most frequently when learning to dance on Youdu Star.

"I'm here to protect you, Your Highness. There are people from various families here, and star beasts on Lüyin Star," Uriel answered with a smile, keeping in step with her, "As your guard, it's my duty to ensure your safety."

Normally, Uriel should have been following Bai Sha closely, never leaving her side.

Holding Bai Sha's hand, his palm pressed gently against the back of her hand, leaving no space in between.

"What’s with this surprise attack from you and my uncle?" Bai Sha said with a touch of amusement, "But thank you, your timing was perfect just now."

"You must get used to refusing, Your Highness," Uriel said as he lifted his arm, guiding Bai Sha in a twirling motion, "This sort of thing will happen again. There will be many more looking at you with longing eyes."

"I just thought there was no harm in dancing," Bai Sha remarked, "And the other person was quite earnest. He was the first to invite me to dance so sincerely—I personally think such pure intentions should be cherished."

Uriel: "…So, did I misunderstand, and you're actually interested in that wild swan?"

Bai Sha surrendered, "What an odd reaction from you—okay, okay, I admit, I wasn’t really interested in him. Are you satisfied now?"

A beautiful smile lit up the "Angel's" eyes.

Before parting, Uriel leaned in to gently kiss the top of Bai Sha's hair.

"Enjoy your exercise, Your Highness."

Bai Sha, feeling slightly dizzy from the spinning, watched Uriel's quickly disappearing figure, suddenly overwhelmed by an odd sensation—

Strange.

Bai Sha attributed all the day's oddities to Uriel having an off day.

……

How many couples formed during the night's dance was unknown to Bai Sha.

In any case, they all dispersed the next day.

When the students donned their combat suits, jumped into the mecha cockpits, and the row of mechas entered the airship in formation, their metal shells glinting with a deadly gleam, and their exchanges carried a heavy sense of combat readiness—Bai Sha felt things were back to normal.

This felt right!

The mecha soldiers, apart from their mechas and personal weapons, had nothing else; they had to procure their own food and water in the wild. The mecha engineers, however, received a standard set of maintenance tools—their plethora of gadgets had to be regulated to ensure fairness in the competition, hence no additional weapons were allowed except those equipped on the mechas.

As the instructors distributed the tools, one paused in front of Bai Sha. She raised her hand: "Teacher, I’ll take a set too!"

The mecha engineer instructor: "You're participating as a mecha soldier, why do you need a toolbox?" He left without a backward glance.

Bai Sha: "……"

The airship's hatch opened, and Bai Sha leaped out in her mecha. A gust of wind hit her face immediately, revealing a vast expanse of deep blue wetlands.

"What luck, landing right in a swamp area?" Cen Yuehuai exclaimed, "The instructors did this on purpose, didn’t they?"

Bai Sha, slowing her descent with the engines, scanned the terrain. Fortunately, not far away, there was a patch of land protruding from the water.

Bai Sha, brandishing her long spear, opened the cannon muzzle at the moment of nearing the water surface and fired furiously!

A massive splash erupted skyward. Using the force of the cannon fire, Bai Sha altered her trajectory in mid-air, landing steadily on the land.

Bai Sha's cannon shot stirred up quite a commotion on the water surface.

Gradually, the dark green water began to reveal numerous red-eyed mutant creatures. They were "Predator Crocs," a hybrid of star worms and crocodile DNA, featuring strong jaws, sharp teeth, fin-like limbs, and green scales covering their bodies.

"So many Predator Crocs!" Cen Yuehuai instinctively pulled out her weapon, Rainbow Rain, and shot two ice arrows into the water beneath. She deftly maneuvered her mecha across the fragile ice surface, her movements precise. Several gaping Predator Crocs chased after her, shattering the ice and splashing water with their massive jaws.

Xino's mecha landed gracefully. He threw his long knife, transforming it into a chain blade, brushing over Cen Yuehuai's head, cutting a Predator Croc leaping from the water in half.

Cen Yuehuai reciprocated, shooting an ice arrow where Xino was about to land, timing it perfectly to avoid forming ice too early, which would have hindered Xino, or too late, which would have frozen his mecha's feet in the water.

Fortunately, Cen Yuehuai's judgment was spot-on. She and Xino, shooting arrows and slaying Predator Crocs, leaped about ten meters across the water surface and safely reached the shore.

Some students weren't so lucky—like their classmate, Holos.

Holos plunged into the lake like a torpedo. He stepped on two Predator Crocs' heads, leaping up, drawing out a slender snake chain, flinging away two other Crocs sneaking up from behind.

After two steps, though, no more Crocs were available as stepping stones. He had to dive into the water, planning to swim ashore, but upon landing, he found the water only reached his chest.

"Haha, what great luck today!"

Holos let out a triumphant laugh, preparing to head to shore, but after struggling, he couldn't pull his feet from the muddy lake bottom—

It was a swamp!

Holos' smile froze on his face.

The red-eyed Predator Crocs roared and lunged at him.

Holos swung his snake chain, fending off the approaching mutants. However, with each movement, he felt himself sinking deeper. The more he struggled, the stronger the suction below...

Gritting his teeth, Holos decided to burn through energy reserves and fight the Crocs, igniting his engines. Looking up, he saw Cen Yuehuai and Xino standing just a few meters away on the shore: "……"

Xino watched Holos' muddy and miserable state with a smile, making no move to help.

Holos: "Hey, can't you give me a hand and pull me up? We're from the same school after all!"

"Sure, just call me 'Dad' and I'll pull you up," Cen Yuehuai offered.

Holos scoffed coldly: "In your dreams!"

As he spoke, Holos stumbled, nearly getting his snake chain bitten by a Predator Croc.

"Let's not bother with him," Xino suggested. "I remember Cineril from Class B landed not far from us. He'll probably join Holos soon. Let's head towards Yuyan's position and hunt more Predator Crocs on the way."

Predator Crocs are Class B mutant creatures. While their points aren't very high, they usually appear in groups. Though challenging to deal with, they are good for accumulating points.

Cen Yuehuai nodded, casting a glance at Holos before leaving. She clucked her tongue and pulled out three ice arrows, shooting them into the water around him—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Ice quickly formed around Holos' waist, immobilizing his lower body in the swamp. The mud and water solidified from the cold, stopping his sinking.

"This is as far as our school solidarity goes, fend for yourself," Cen Yuehuai commented.

Holos: "……"

He felt like a salted fish frozen in ice!

Holos couldn't believe they just left him like that—it was even more malicious than not helping at all!

Cen Yuehuai and Xino quickly moved across the scattered sandbanks, soon joining Bai Sha. They saw her skillfully controlling her mecha to uproot a tree, flicking out a sharp knife from her palm to strip the tough bark, then cutting it into strips and weaving it into rope.

Cen Yuehuai was stunned, witnessing someone perform such delicate tasks with a mecha for the first time.

"Your Highness, what do you need the rope for?"

Bai Sha pointed to a struggling mecha in the water, its coating adorned with the emblem of a rival military school.

Holding the rope she had made, Bai Sha wrapped it around herself twice, handing the other end to Cen Yuehuai: "Hold it tight. If I accidentally fall into the swamp, pull me back."

Cen Yuehuai nodded in confusion, gripping the rope firmly in her palm.

The mecha pilot turned his head, his eyes welling up with tears as he saw Bai Sha, bound with rope, flying directly towards him.

“Tha—” Before he could express his gratitude, he watched Bai Sha pirouette in mid-air like a dragonfly, her spear's tip scooping up his toolbox before she flew off without looking back.

The mecha pilot: “……”

Darn it! Give him back his moment of emotion!

Bai Sha returned to shore, untying the rope from her waist. She opened the toolbox she had acquired, inspecting it for a few seconds before attaching it to her back.

"These instructors are so stingy, not even giving me a toolbox. I had to grab one myself," she sighed.

Xino/Cen Yuehuai: “……”