Chapter 27

Chapter 27

After about an hour of work, it was finally time to break for lunch.

When Song Xiyan announced they could go, the students from Class S were on the verge of tears, cheering and running like the wind.

Seeing their reactions, Bai Xingshu chuckled softly.

Song Xiyan glanced at Bai Xingshu and coldly commented on his behavior: "You're being mischievous."

Bai Xingshu immediately smiled and looked at Song Xiyan: "But you played along too, didn't you, teacher?" After saying this, Bai Xingshu leaned on the railing, resting his chin on his hand, watching the classmates leave with a gentle gaze. "Aren't they adorable?"

Song Xiyan, seeing Bai Xingshu seemingly immersed in the moment, chose to remain silent.

As Lin Lie followed the crowd to leave, he suddenly noticed Bai Xingshu was missing.

He turned around and spotted Bai Xingshu leaning slightly against the railing, standing harmoniously next to Song Xiyan.

One cold, one warm, they looked strangely harmonious.

Lin Lie halted in his tracks.

At that moment, Bai Xingshu seemed strangely distant from him.

But it was only for a moment.

The next second, Bai Xingshu noticed his gaze and beamed a bright smile, waving at Song Xiyan beside him before rushing towards Lin Lie.

"Waiting for me?" Bai Xingshu leaned close to Lin Lie, peeking over with a twinkle in his eye.

The radiant smile left Lin Lie momentarily stunned, and he softly replied, "...Yeah."

"Haha, let's get going then!" Bai Xingshu laughed heartily. "I heard the third cafeteria has sweet and sour pork ribs today, wow, sweet and sour pork ribs~~" Bai Xingshu was so thrilled he nearly burst into song.

But for Bai Xingshu, the happiness ended there.

In the afternoon, it was cultural class—data analysis.

After the class, Bai Xingshu was utterly exhausted, his steps faltering as he walked back to the dorm.

Review after review. Tutoring session after tutoring session.

Finally, Bai Xingshu let out a frustrated groan and banged his head on the floor.

Shen Geng, watching Bai Xingshu's increasingly frantic state of studying, tentatively asked, "...What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Bai Xingshu took a deep breath, his eyes blazing with what seemed like murderous intent as he put the tablet and books aside. Taking another deep breath, Bai Xingshu snatched up his login device and slapped it onto his head. "I'm going to fight to relax!!"

Shen Geng watched as Bai Xingshu instantly collapsed onto the bed: "..."

He recalled the times he had played duo battles with Bai Xingshu.

Thinking about Bai Xingshu's current mental state, Shen Geng couldn't help feeling a pang of sympathy for the opponents who were about to face Bai Xingshu.

With this in mind, Shen Geng glanced at the book in his hand and suddenly found it hard to continue reading.

Reflecting on it, he had never seen Bai Xingshu engage in a one-on-one battle.

So it was only natural for him to log in and take a look now, right?

Feeling somewhat guilty, Shen Geng took out his login device.

He started it up.

Shen Geng's friend list had only a few people, and Bai Xingshu, who was the only one online, was instantly noticeable.

Seeing that "Xing Ze Jiang Zhi" was in the matching state, Shen Geng quickly clicked to enter spectator mode.

As Shen Geng entered spectator mode, Bai Xingshu finished matching.

——Xing Ze Jiang Zhi VS Jiu Tian Yin He

When this line of text appeared before Shen Geng's eyes, he felt an inexplicable sense that something was amiss.

Soon, with his excellent observational skills, Shen Geng discovered what made him uneasy.

——It was the rapidly increasing spectator count in the corner of his view.

The semi-transparent gray font was barely noticeable, yet the number was skyrocketing.

Almost instantly, Shen Geng saw the spectator count surpass the one million mark.

But... it had only been less than two minutes since Bai Xingshu logged in, right?

How did so many people join so fast!

Shen Geng was stunned.

However, Shen Geng didn't need to be stunned by this anymore.

Because both mechs were already loaded into the arena.

Shen Geng gazed at the dazzling twelve-winged feathers on Bai Xingshu's mech, speechless.

He remembered once offering Bai Xingshu money to unlock weapon slots...

Shen Geng felt like facepalming.

Indeed... it was a completely useless suggestion.

Equipped like this, Bai Xingshu hardly needed additional weapon slots.

Shen Geng felt as if he had already seen the outcome—Bai Xingshu was set to dominate the battlefield, backed by a massive arsenal.

However, as the battle commenced...

Shen Geng realized he was wrong.

During the preparation phase, Bai Xingshu fully deployed all his wings.

The twelve wings spread wide, transforming the free mech into a descending angel that turned devilish in battle.

The wings, fine-tuned like air flow accelerators, granted blistering speed and erratic flight paths as the battle erupted.

The speed was unmatched even by the top-tier mechs on the platform with all sorts of enhancements.

In the blink of an eye, The One Who Acts Will Arrive evaded every attack from the opponent.

To be precise, it wasn’t even dodging.

When the opponent's weapons fired towards The One Who Acts Will Arrive, before the projectiles could even reach their target, The One Who Acts Will Arrive had already moved six or seven meters away.

This was a complete miss.

So, this is how the Twelve-Winged Radiant Feathers work? Shen Geng was lost in thought, but then he realized his perspective was still too limited.

During this high-speed dash, The One Who Acts Will Arrive arrived in front of the enemy mech and executed a sharp turn.

With a resounding *smack*, the massive and magnificent wings slammed into the enemy mech.

Not only did it knock the weapon out of the mech's hand, but the entire mech was sent staggering from the blow.

Shen Geng: "..."

Lost in thought, silent.

How does Bai Xingshu make every move in battle so unpredictable?

By now, Shen Geng was certain Bai Xingshu would win.

The only question was how he’d do it.

As someone from the Combat Command Department, Shen Geng instinctively assessed the battlefield.

Shen Geng thought of the most absurd way Bai Xingshu could win.

—Using those six massive wings to slap the enemy mech to death.

And then, Shen Geng realized...

Bai Xingshu might as well have slapped the enemy to death with the wings.

After that slap, Bai Xingshu took advantage of the enemy mech's unbalanced state, climbed onto it, and extended his claws, completely tearing the mech apart.

Tore it apart...

Shen Geng stared blankly as mech parts and shell fragments scattered everywhere, completely speechless.

Bai Xingshu in his frenzied state was... downright terrifying.

Shen Geng swallowed hard, realizing Bai Xingshu had gone easy on him during their previous duels.

Shen Geng quietly logged off.

Just as he put away his login device, Shen Geng saw that Bai Xingshu had also logged off.

After tearing his opponent apart, Bai Xingshu was clearly in a much better mood, throwing himself back into his studies with renewed energy.

One hour later.

Once again in a frenzied state, Bai Xingshu picked up his login device with a murderous aura.

This time, Shen Geng didn't pull out his login device. After a moment of hesitation, he quietly opened the Mecha BattleNet community.

Shen Geng remembered that after the last 'Xing Ze Jiang Zhi' battle, over six million people watched. That kind of number definitely wouldn't fly under the radar in the BattleNet community.

Sure enough, there was a whole thread about 'Xing Ze Jiang Zhi' right on the homepage.

When he opened it, Shen Geng saw a bunch of people huddled together, shaking like leaves.

—Anyone else think 'Xing Ze Jiang Zhi' was kinda scary today?

—I was holding my breath, like he might jump out and beat me up any second.

—Dude's got some serious rage. Can we talk about that?

—So freaking scary...

—He's like a god-slaying, Buddha-crushing machine! So badass!!

—'Jiu Tian Yin He' just finished that match and bawled for ten minutes straight on stream. So sad.

—'Xing Ze Jiang Zhi' didn't log in yesterday, but today he's been popping in and out, always like this. You think he got dumped or something?

After reading that last comment, Shen Geng felt a sudden pang of psychological trauma.

But thinking about it, that didn't seem right.

Bai Xingshu's post-breakup state wouldn't be this terrifying.

Shen Geng carefully closed the community tab. A few minutes later, Bai Xingshu took off his login device and went back to his textbook.

Ten minutes passed, then twenty.

Bai Xingshu's expression visibly soured.

Noticing the change, Shen Geng paused. Thought about everyone's mental health, cleared his throat, and spoke up. "Anything you don't get? Need some help?"

He pointed to the data analysis book on Bai Xingshu's desk. "This is a required course for the Combat Command Department too."

Bai Xingshu looked up at Shen Geng, eyes brimming with tears.

"Yes!"

Shen Geng: "..."

Taking over Bai Xingshu's coursework and getting a sense of his progress, well...

It felt like he was stuck at a middle school level.

How the hell did he get into the Capital Military University?

Shen Geng couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Bai Xingshu laughed awkwardly, making excuses. "After getting in, I felt like I didn't need it, and after a holiday, I forgot everything."

Shen Geng: "..."

Alright then.

Shen Geng originally thought this would be a tough job.

After all, Bai Xingshu's pained expression looked exactly like a struggling student.

But once Shen Geng started teaching, he realized Bai Xingshu might not have been lying after all. He could quickly remember everything taught, and whenever he hit a mental block, a little push from Shen Geng would get him back on track.

Most of the time, Bai Xingshu just needed someone to help him figure out where his thinking had gone wrong.

In just one night, Shen Geng helped Bai Xingshu catch up on all the key concepts from the previous two data analysis classes.

The two data analysis classes didn’t require Bai Xingshu to learn too much extra foundational knowledge.

By the time they finished, it was already late at night.

Bai Xingshu closed his textbook and sighed in relief: "Good thing you were here. I was thinking about whether I should write these down and ask Teacher Song tomorrow."

Shen Geng, done with teaching, was packing up his things and getting ready to rest. Hearing Bai Xingshu's words, he paused, turned to face him, and asked, "Teacher Song?"

"Yeah, isn't he from the Mechanical Engineering Department? Don't they also have data analysis in their general courses?" Bai Xingshu replied.

Might as well chat while fixing mechs.

Making the most of downtime.

Shen Geng looked at Bai Xingshu in disbelief: "But Song Xiyan's major is Mechanical Engineering."

"Huh?" Bai Xingshu didn't understand what Shen Geng meant.

So Shen Geng clarified: "Song Xiyan specializes in mechanical design, modification, and maintenance. His coursework was completed at a non-military institution."

As for data analysis, or rather the data analysis they were studying, it was designed specifically for military operations.

Bai Xingshu, finally getting it: "..."

Meaning Song Xiyan has no clue about data analysis.

A misjudgment.

But Bai Xingshu was used to it.

In life, you can’t avoid making mistakes.

At least Shen Geng had already taught him.

Bai Xingshu brushed off the mishap and exclaimed, "How do you know everything? I never looked into this stuff. You're amazing. Does Combat Command really require such a broad knowledge base?"

Shen Geng stayed silent.