Chapter 228

Chapter 228

After repeated verification, the teachers in the monitoring room finally confirmed they hadn’t seen wrong.

Bai Xingshu’s maneuvers had skipped nearly half the standard procedures.

“How’d he pull that off?” one teacher muttered, in complete disbelief.

This was completely beyond their comprehension.

Their first instinct was to suspect cheating—until they remembered they were watching surveillance footage, not a simulator.

This was real—executed with actual mech controls.

If it worked, it counted. They welcomed any kind of “cheating”—any maneuver ordinary people couldn’t pull off.

Human advancement had always come from these kinds of “hacks.”

The teachers exchanged glances, barely containing their excitement.

Someone immediately suggested calling Bai Xingshu back to investigate what happened, even if it meant halting the match.

This discovery was far more important than an exhibition match.

It might even be more significant than the third-year championships.

However, the idea was shot down by the more reasonable among them.

“No need to make a big production out of this,” said a Shoujun teacher. “He’ll be back on rotation in a few hours. We can talk to him then. No rush.”

That made sense.

Besides, Bai Xingshu was ultimately a Shoujun student, so they had the final say.

Still, after this incident, the Combat Department teachers could barely pay attention to the students’ matches, too busy turning this over in their minds.

As they pondered, the Changying teachers suddenly sensed something off.

They noticed the Shoujun instructors trading knowing looks.

“Wait a second… You’re not planning to talk to Bai Xingshu alone, are you?” Leaving Changying completely out of the loop?

At that, the Shoujun teachers laughed and put on innocent “Who, us?” faces—but didn’t actually deny anything.

Changying teachers: “….”

Damn it!

“Tech sharing is royal decree—no school gets special treatment,” Changying quickly warned.

Shoujun kept dodging. “We can’t even confirm if this is a technical breakthrough yet—it could just be a fluke. Naturally, we’ll check with our own student first.”

“And while the rules are the rules, making a student cough up their findings isn’t appropriate either. We’d have to persuade them, right?” Their reasoning sounded reasonable enough.

In other words: sure, we’ll share the tech—when we feel like it. When to share was… flexible.

Watching Shoujun’s greasy act, the Changying teachers stared silently.

You shameless bastards!

The teachers from Changying were at their wits' end as they entered a round of negotiations with Shoujun.

We won't go into what concessions Shoujun wrung from them, but Bai Xingshu, the one responsible for the chaos in the monitoring room, had already wrapped up this round of combat.

By the time the battle reached the five-on-five phase, the Changying team quickly realized that if they kept going, they’d only end in total annihilation.

No one wanted to face Bai Xingshu once he switched into freestyle mode.

The Changying captain, locked in combat with Lin Lie and unable to assist his squad, immediately made the call: "Retreat!"

Everyone knew how to make their retreat when facing Bai Xingshu’s squad.

Countless energy weapons formed an impenetrable wall between the two teams, burning through their energy reserves in a burst of firepower meant to block any chance of pursuit.

Even so…

The members of the Changying squad remained highly alert, watching the firestorm behind them.

They knew from past experience what would come next from Bai Xingshu.

They braced themselves for the inevitable flying blade.

Yet one second passed, then two—they had pulled back a significant distance, but the killing blow never came.

Changying squad: "...?"

"Where’s Bai Xingshu’s Loading Blade?" someone blurted out over the squad channel.

This was exactly what the surviving members were wondering. After several seconds, someone finally realized, "Oh, right—this isn’t the sim arena."

Bai Xingshu wouldn’t just hurl blades into someone’s cockpit here.

…Why did they suddenly feel a weird sense of relief?

Of course, that feeling didn’t last long.

As they counted their surviving members, their hearts sank.

Their seven-man squad was now down to three.

The captain called the retreat fast, but Bai Xingshu moved faster. Not to mention, they had hesitated briefly while watching the insane move Bai Xingshu used to take out number six.

That kind of hesitation against him was like asking to get killed.

That three survived at all was a miracle they reacted fast enough.

"Captain, how do we stop Bai Xingshu?" one member asked bitterly.

The Changying captain took a deep breath.

Keeping his cool, he eyed the spot where they had faced Bai Xingshu and calmly replied, "We use the same way Shoujun stopped us."

If Bai Xingshu could fight through an army solo and reach their command center, he wouldn’t have needed to hack into a cockpit and pose as one of them in the last round.

Hearing this, the teachers in the monitoring room silently nodded. Whether from Changying or Shoujun, all gave the captain high marks.

Their standards for judging combat personnel went way beyond just fighting skills.

In stark contrast to the somber atmosphere on Changying's side, Bai Xingshu's side was clearly in good spirits. He began by lavishing praise on the teammate who had managed to hold off three mechs for over ten seconds until his rescue arrived.

"Deng, you're insane! Holding your own one against three?! No wonder you're our team's foundation—with you around, we're golden!" Bai Xingshu effortlessly piled on the praise, each word highlighting the most impressive aspects of his performance, making him sound downright unstoppable. The effusive compliments actually made the recipient blush.

After all that praise, Bai Xingshu didn’t forget Lin Lie either.

"Heh, Squad Leader! That's what I call teamwork!" Bai Xingshu gave Lin Lie an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

They hadn't discussed much beforehand—after all, during a standoff, there was no telling which opponent they'd be matched against.

—All the mechs looked practically identical.

In that split-second reaction time, Bai Xingshu had only called out to Lin Lie, yet the latter immediately grasped that Bai Xingshu wanted to switch opponents. That level of understanding truly deserved to be called "teamwork."

Just those two simple words made Lin Lie's heart skip a beat.

To him, they were the best compliment possible.

It took him a while to realize—oh right, Bai Xingshu already liked someone else. This teamwork was strictly professional.

That emptiness returned.

Listening to Bai Xingshu’s cheerful voice, Lin Lie calmly cut through the stream of compliments and asked, "Where are we heading? Aren’t we chasing those three?"

They weren’t standing still during this conversation—they were moving in a specific direction under Bai Xingshu’s lead.

"Central command says no pursuit," Bai Xingshu replied swiftly. "Let them retreat. Every time we engage, we eliminate a few mechs as fast as possible, then let the rest withdraw if they want."

"Let them take that L back with them—mess with their heads."