After losing an hour of lunch break, Rong Shi left the Student Union office and headed straight for class.

The practical combat classes for the next half-month would involve reviewing the new training.

Interweaving teaching with error correction would make it easier to understand than direct explanations.

Rong Shi didn’t arrive early, and since Qian Fan was personally teaching today, the large classroom was almost full, not just with freshmen but also many upperclassmen who came to audit the class.

He had planned to find a random seat in the first row, but a certain blonde alpha waved at him.

Song Yu: “Ge-ge, over here~”

Rong Shi: “…”

In the first semester of freshman year, there were no specific majors; classes were divided only by monthly assessment scores, so he and Song Yu were naturally grouped together.

That single “Ge-ge” set the entire classroom off, with whistles rising and falling.

“Ge-ge, I have a seat here too~”

“Me too, ya~”

Rong Shi expressionlessly walked to the last row and sat in the only remaining seat next to Song Yu.

Song Yu rested his chin in his hand, a pencil skillfully twirling between his long fingers.

“Ge-ge, you’re so slow.”

Placing his book on the desk, Rong Shi said with a cold face: “Don’t imitate Mianmian’s speech.”

Song Yu chuckled, drawing out a lazy ending sound: “Isn’t it very affectionate?”

Qian Fan’s classes were vivid and easy to understand, always popular at the military academy. He also didn’t put on airs and was very approachable.

However, today he was unexpectedly serious.

“Alright, let’s look at the next error case.” Qian Fan lightly waved his finger, and a roasted pig leg appeared on the virtual screen.

Everyone: “…” Suddenly hungry.

Receiving Qian Fan’s glare, Rong Shi felt slightly guilty.

Qian Fan’s pointer smacked the desk, making loud noises: “Who knows where the mistake is?”

“I know!” Someone raised a hand, “You can’t roast it too fragrantly, it’ll attract wild beasts.”

“A roasted pig leg is too big a target, it should be cut into cubes and skewered to eat.”

“It should be roasted further away, lest the blood of the beast attracts other animals.”

Qian Fan was enraged. He pointed his pointer at Rong Shi: “Rong Shi, what do you say?”

Everyone else looked at Rong Shi in unison, all with expressions of anticipating a good show.

The “Food Journey” thread was still at the top of the forum, and Rong Shi had even been voted the “Top 1 Most Enjoyable Outdoor Player.”

Rong Shi: “…I think it’s fine, nothing wrong with it.”

“Pfft…” A group of people covered their mouths, stifling laughter.

“Fine?” Qian Fan smiled, but the look in his eyes held a “you’re dead” lethality.

“When entering a dangerous zone, do not consume any flora or fauna within the dangerous zone if you have sufficient food!”

Qian Fan’s suddenly raised voice completely extinguished the furtive laughter.

“The more dangerous the area, the higher the degree of mutation in its flora and fauna, and the stronger their toxicity. Eating indiscriminately without knowing the toxicity, ten lives wouldn’t be enough for you!”

Saying that, he looked at Rong Shi: “Did you hear that clearly?”

“…” Rong Shi obediently nodded, “Clearly.”

Qian Fan glared at Song Yu: “Don’t laugh, you’re the same.”

Song Yu: “…”

“Because of their wrong example, many students imitated them, and we couldn’t stop them,” Zhang Yi seized the opportunity to mock. “This kind of self-harming behavior is truly unacceptable, so irresponsible.”

Originally, everyone was silently watching the two bigwigs acting submissive in front of Old Qian.

The more serious Old Qian became and the harsher he scolded, the happier everyone became.

But Zhang Yi’s words completely shattered this atmosphere. The air in the classroom suddenly solidified.

Someone saw Rong Shi not refuting, raised a hand and stood up: “I don’t like what you said. Everyone’s a novice, anyone can make mistakes, so Rong Shi can’t? And how is he harming himself and others?”

Another person stood up: “It’s better than some people who disregard everything and just push others forward. During the buffalo herd incident, if Rong Shi hadn’t been there, none of us would have escaped.”

“I don’t think it was a wrong example. I walked for four days to reach the destination, and I only had two days of nutrient solution. If I didn’t eat meat, was I supposed to give up?”

One sentence provoked so many opposing voices, and the most crucial thing was that the people involved hadn’t even reacted.

Zhang Yi’s face flushed alternately green and red.

“That just proves you’re weak! The school only gives two days of nutrient solution, which means you should have reached the destination in two days! There’s no need to eat wild animal meat at all!”

Unexpectedly, Rong Shi’s influence had grown to this extent, and Lu Ming’s face was very grim.

“Giving only two days of nutrient solution isn’t because you can reach the destination in two days, but to test what choices cadets make in situations of food scarcity.”

Song Yu said casually, “If you had paid any attention, you’d notice that everything we were given was incomplete.”

The new training teams were colloquially known as “cleaver teams” – they lacked everything. Their only two goals were: first, reach the destination, and second, survive.

“You—!” Being called inattentive, Zhang Yi angrily started to shout at Song Yu, but was kicked by Lu Ming.

Qian Fan nodded: “Exactly. The purpose of the new training isn’t to see how you kill wild beasts, but to let you personally experience harsh environments and quickly enter a soldier’s training state, laying the foundation for later courses.”

“The question raised by student Zhang Yi is exactly what I’m going to talk about next.” Qian Fan integrated the knowledge points he was about to explain. “When you have a certain understanding of a dangerous zone and food is insufficient, you can appropriately choose to eat certain wild beasts—”

Song Yu looked at the screen, leaned slightly towards Rong Shi, and whispered: “I’m defending you like this, are you moved? Do you want to get married now?”

Rong Shi flipped through his textbook, his voice faint: “Old beasts have no heart.”

Song Yu: “…”

—

The bell rang. Before Qian Fan could dismiss the class, an Alpha burst through the back door of the large classroom, heading straight for Rong Shi.

“Hey, what grade are you, I haven’t dismissed—” Qian Fan hadn’t finished speaking when he saw the Alpha punch the desk in front of Rong Shi.

“You, a newcomer, know nothing! Think you’re so capable? You dare to make decisions on old cases?!”

Hearing that familiar, irritable voice, Rong Shi looked up and saw a burly, spiky-haired Alpha glaring fiercely at him.

He had just taken on the case at noon, and the person involved had already shown up right after class.

Catching a glimpse of Zhang Yi’s poorly hidden schadenfreude, Rong Shi stood up and said calmly: “I’m the chairman. Problems that the previous chairman couldn’t solve naturally fall to me.”

The Alpha’s voice was loud and vicious: “He couldn’t solve it, and you dare to take it on so casually? I’m telling you, if you dare to issue a disciplinary notice, I’ll make sure you can’t stand straight in this military academy!”

Rong Shi hadn’t spoken yet, but Song Yu laughed first.

“I’m curious, how will you make him unable to stand straight?”

The Alpha sneered contemptuously, “You don’t bother me, I don’t bother you. If you dare to step over me, I’ll teach you how to write the word ‘regret’!”

The commotion here caused the students who were leaving to stop successfully.

Someone whispered: “Isn’t that Liu Hong from the second year? How did Rong Shi get involved with him? This is trouble.”

“He’s notoriously difficult. Whoever provokes him is unlucky. Even the school leaders turn a blind eye to him.”

“It wouldn’t be because of that brawling incident from before, would it? Jiang Xingze actually dumped this mess on Rong Shi, that’s too much.”

Listening to the discussions around him, Rong Shi’s expression remained calm: “What if I insist on handling it?”

Liu Hong’s fists cracked, and he articulated each word: “Then I’ll have to apologize to you first. Your military career ends here!”

“What are you doing?!”

Qian Fan quickly walked over from the podium, dismissing the onlookers, but they only moved back a couple of steps, unwilling to leave entirely.

He looked at Liu Hong: “You dare to cause trouble in my class?”

Liu Hong’s lips were a tight line: “My apologies, Teacher Qian.”

After a brief understanding of the situation, Qian Fan tried to mediate: “Rong Shi is doing his job, there’s no problem. But you publicly threatened a junior student, what kind of behavior is that?!”

Though rebuked, Liu Hong didn’t back down an inch: “He can do whatever he wants, as long as he doesn’t interfere with this matter, I won’t cause trouble.”

Qian Fan: “You—!”

“Let’s set a rule,” Rong Shi gestured to Qian Fan not to get angry. “Since our positions cannot be reconciled, let’s decide who backs down in a way you can accept.”

Whoa! This means war!

The onlookers felt their scalps tingle. No matter how formidable Rong Shi was, he was just a freshman. How could he compare to a second-year student?!

Liu Hong thought he misheard: “You want to challenge me to a fight?”

Qian Fan also felt Rong Shi’s words were too impulsive and hastily tried to refuse for him.

But Song Yu spoke first.

“Mecha department?” Song Yu’s gaze swept over Liu Hong’s collar insignia, and he placed a hand on Rong Shi’s shoulder. “How about a mecha simulation battle? What do you think, Ge-ge?”

Rong Shi shrugged off his hand, looking at Liu Hong: “Can we?”

Seeming to hear something very amusing, Liu Hong sneered: “Yes!”

Rong Shi nodded: “Call the other four too.”

Holy cow!

The onlookers were dumbfounded.

What was Rong Shi planning?! To fight five at once?! Was he overconfident?!

Feeling inexplicably humiliated, Liu Hong sneered: “You better not—”

Rong Shi raised a hand to cut him off, then looked at Qian Fan: “Old Qian, have the freshman permissions been opened?”

The military academy had a very powerful simulation battle system, equivalent to an ultimate version of Star Wars, covering all current types of combat.

Every military academy student had their own account and dedicated simulation battle assessments.

“Yes, they have,” Qian Fan saw he couldn’t stop them and changed his mind. “Since you’re going to compete, do it well. This is also a good learning opportunity. Next period, I’ll change it to self-study for you all.”

A group of people were confused.

Not only were they going to compete, but they were going to do it during class, intending for everyone to watch?!

The matter was decided so lightly.

Before class, four more Alphas entered. They sat next to Liu Hong, their gazes unfriendly as they assessed Rong Shi.

Qian Fan, worried his good student would suffer a disadvantage, quickly explained the basic operations of a mecha to him.

Most young people had played Star Wars, but the mecha controls in the simulation battle system were more complex, and there was no game AI assistance. It was difficult to master without certain professional knowledge.

Qian Fan: “For fairness, everyone will use the E300 basic model.”

As Rong Shi logged into the simulation system, the news spread throughout the entire military academy.

As soon as the room opened, students poured in frantically, mixed with quite a few teacher IDs.

Rong Shi hadn’t used such a low-end model in a long time. After entering the cockpit, he began to familiarize himself with the buttons.

As he pressed them, the mecha performed corresponding actions.

“Rong Shi is starting to warm up. He’s doing a stretching exercise,” an excited student acting as a commentator said, “Can he really control an E300? I’m so worried for him.”

He had barely spoken a few sentences when his commentary privileges were cut off.

When the voice sounded again, it was Song Yu.

“This match will be commentated by me. First, let me introduce the opposing sides. On one side, we have our very familiar freshman chairman, my boyfriend Rong Shi—”

Rong Shi: “…”

One sentence ignited the comment section.

Song Yu continued: “On the other side, we have the military academy’s F5.”

Liu Hong, who was now one of the “F5”: “…” What the hell is F5?

“To make the match more interesting, the betting channel is now open. Everyone can place real-name bets freely.” Song Yu arbitrarily added a new rule: “If Rong Shi wins, the losing side must run 100 laps around the A-Block dormitory building after the match and loudly shout ‘Daddy Rong, I was wrong’.”

The comment section was full of “hahahahas.” Many people asked what would happen if Rong Shi lost.

Song Yu’s pleasant voice trailed off: “Then he’ll be punished by publicly kissing me.”

As soon as the betting channel opened, everyone frantically placed their bets.

There were only a few scattered bets on Rong Shi winning, while the F5 side was overflowing.

In the simulation battle system, students used their real IDs, so it was clear who placed which bet by pulling up the list. However, somehow a purely numerical ID also slipped in—01.

Song Yu’s smiling voice sounded: “It seems everyone really wants to run laps.”

Comment section—

“Speaking nonsense with your eyes wide open! We want to see the kiss! Shy [facepalm]”

“No loss if he loses, huge profit if he wins!”

“Chairman Rong, I’m sorry, but the temptation of the kiss is just too great.”

Watching Song Yu’s series of wild actions.

Rong Shi: “…” Was he dead?