Chapter 225

Chapter 225

The teachers in Changying’s monitoring room stared at the scene before them, unsure why, but strangely touched nonetheless.

See? Xingze Jiangzhi still shows them respect!

Xingze Jiangzhi does show them respect. The reason for that merciless lightning-fast operation earlier was entirely the Combat Command Department’s doing.

Subconsciously moved, the Changying teachers gazed at Bai Xingshu’s honest, kind face for quite a while before finally snapping out of it, realizing they might have been psychologically played by Xingze Jiangzhi.

Changying teachers: “…”

Never mind, just hurry up and start the second round.

However, the second round couldn’t begin immediately. The mechs and equipment already deployed had to be recalled, and the gear that had been locked or pre-positioned needed to be retrieved, unlocked, and repaired.

Of course, the most important task was reviewing the previous round.

Changying urgently dispatched a medical team to awaken the unconscious student, pulled up surveillance footage, and quickly conducted an after-action review with the combat personnel to ensure measures like checking cockpit doors, inspecting frontline mecha, and confirming recall procedures were properly implemented.

Regardless of the outcome of this round, if Shoujun managed another sneak attack on their base, there would be no more matches—those teachers would have their hides.

After identifying and fixing the gaps, Changying’s command staff didn’t forget to issue the highest-priority order to their combatants:

No matter the cost, capture Xingze Jiangzhi!

To avenge their humiliation!!

Listening to their enraged orders, the members of the Combat Department felt… largely unmoved.

Honestly, for those who frequently participated in battle simulations, this command was all too familiar—so much so that their ears had grown immune to it.

Every time there was a squad match against Xingze Jiangzhi, this was always the first order of business.

It wasn’t just that Xingze Jiangzhi drew fire easily. The real problem was that as long as he remained in the fight, even if only one mech was left on the battlefield, miraculous turnarounds would somehow happen.

But…

The mech combat platform usually only allowed five-mech squads at most. Yet in this large-scale school match, Xingze Jiangzhi had pulled off a lone-wolf assault directly at the enemy commander…

That truly defied all expectations.

And… it was absolutely mortifying!

Recalling how, not long ago, Bai Xingshu had emerged from the repair zone mech, hopped into a hover vehicle without so much as a backward glance, and flew off—

What a disgrace!!

Those who chose the Combat Department never lacked fighting spirit.

“Yes!” Changying’s Combat students roared in unison.

In stark contrast to Changying’s seething fury, Shoujun—the victorious side—had a completely different atmosphere. They didn’t have much to review, just pointing out a few coordination missteps or combat errors for future reference.

Their main adjustment was simply deploying the originally standby combat squad in the first wave.

Bai Xingshu’s group was temporarily assigned to the reserve unit.

A friendly match typically lasted about ten days, so naturally, not all combat units could be deployed continuously.

The most efficient combat rotation always involves one group carrying out missions, another on standby ready to deploy, and a third regaining stamina.

This is standard personnel rotation.

In the previous round's setup, it was decided that Bai Xingshu would be part of the first wave of combatants to apply pressure on the opponent, and no one had any objections.

The so-called "strike while the iron is hot" approach—boosting everyone's fighting spirit by letting Bai Xingshu lead off—was definitely a good thing.

Shen Geng never expected the plan to go this smoothly.

What he had originally envisioned was having Bai Xingshu infiltrate, cause chaos on Changying’s side when discovered, disrupt all their arrangements, and then have their own combat team extract him.

Bai Xingshu had chosen to collide with a speed-type mech, so getting back wouldn't have been a problem.

However…

Well.

Then again, if not for witnessing Bai Xingshu’s cockpit hijacking during the Freshman Tournament, who could have imagined such a thing?

Now, with the first round as precedent, everyone reconsidered.

Forget about whether Changying would be humiliated—if the battle ended in another hour or two and Changying refused further embarrassment by canceling the third round, wouldn’t this whole operation be pointless?

The rest rotation works fine!

Bai Xingshu didn’t mind either way. Resting was resting—rotations happened every six hours, so he’d get his turn eventually.

So Bai Xingshu closed his eyes and rested for over two hours. During daytime, he couldn't rest much deeper. As he rested, he eventually drifted over to their command center.

Officially, this core area was off-limits to anyone outside the command staff.

But in every sense, Bai Xingshu wasn’t just “anyone else.”

From a combat perspective, elite frontline operatives like him benefited greatly from understanding battlefield conditions.

And on another note… he was, after all, one of their own in the Combat Command Department.

So when Bai Xingshu arrived at the command center’s entrance, no clearance was required—the door slid open smoothly before him.

The mechanism worked so smoothly that Bai Xingshu paused mid-step before entering.

The order to let him in hadn’t come from Shen Geng. Only after finishing a combat decision did Shen Geng glance at the surrounding screens and notice an unauthorized presence in the command center.

A closer look revealed it was Bai Xingshu.

Shen Geng’s expression instinctively broke into a smile as he asked, “What brings you here?”

His tone was noticeably softer than when issuing commands earlier.

“I went deep into Changying’s territory earlier—I still remember the terrain and their layout. Thought I’d see if my intel helps,” Bai Xingshu replied succinctly, cutting straight to the point.

Since he had been piloting an enemy mech, there was no way to bring it back for the next round. As the visiting team, he was the only one with field intelligence.

Bai Xingshu’s decision to come to the command center was a tactical choice.

It had nothing to do with Shen Geng being there.

Although he had been scolded by the system before for being love-obsessed, Bai Xingshu's mind wasn't solely occupied by romance.

Still...

When Bai Xingshu looked at Shen Geng, everyone could clearly sense that there was something completely different in his gaze—unlike the way he looked at others.

It was as if he were gazing at his own private star.

In the command center, people bowed their heads or busied themselves with data. Though both Bai Xingshu and Shen Geng were polite and restrained—never making any inappropriate gestures or remarks in front of others—the atmosphere still felt overwhelmingly intimate.

Some even winced slightly.

They felt like random dogs being kicked for no reason.