No sooner had Principal Hong’s voice landed than there was a ’boom’ all around, and noise immediately erupted. Ji You’s eyes widened in shock: "!!!"
With the 10-point bonus awarded earlier, she had already racked up 60 points! That was 60 points! You know, the damn drill had just started, nothing had been done yet, and quite a few people had already lost tens of points... What about earning points, then?
The highest scorer so far had only 10 points.
If she could just survive until the end, even if she didn’t score any points during the actual exercise, she definitely wouldn’t have to worry needlessly.
Ji You was trembling all over—purely out of excitement!
One moment ago, when she blurted out that "Look! A plane!" as if possessed, Ji You felt she was an idiot, an exceptionally exquisite idiot, the king of idiots! After all, not just anyone could shout such an embarrassingly cringeworthy line.
Now, what idiot? She just felt like a little smarty-pants.
Smarty-pants, smarty-pants, just too clever for her own good.
Next, it was inevitable to be the target of animosity from that hot-tempered kid named Yue Qiguang, but well—
[I’m alive today for the sole purpose of scoring points!]
Just one person alone!
As long as there are points to be scored, who cares whether it’s animosity or adoration? Once in the drill ground, if I just quietly find a hill to hide behind and evade him until he’s dizzy, would he be able to find me?
Just as she was chuckling to herself, Ji You suddenly felt a gaze as fierce as palpable staring daggers at her. She looked up to see that red-haired, fiery-eyed Yue Qiguang grinding his teeth with a crunch: "You little rascal!"
"Daddy’s definitely going to have your head rolling on the ground today! Blood will flow like a river!"
"..." Ji You felt a chill down her spine and hurriedly took a step back, trying to avoid the murderous glare.
Principal Hong’s announcement rang out again: "Silence, everyone!"
Military Academy Students are known for their discipline; at Principal Hong’s words, all around fell as quiet as a graveyard.
Ji You looked at Principal Hong’s square face, which seemed a tad amiable, and thought to herself: What seriousness? What scariness? This is simply a Little Cutie handing out points.
The amiable Principal Hong’s expression changed abruptly, and he raged: "You fools! Do you have cauliflowers for necks? Just a random remark and you lose your composure, scattering all over the place! What have you been feeding on? Did you ever get calcium supplements for your brains when you were kids? Are you iron-deficient, mentally-deficient? I think you all just lack a beating and a scolding!"
Principal Hong: "No. 4444, Ji You student, it’s just a casual remark, and look at your cauliflower heads... all of you willingly raising up your cauliflower heads like treasures, waiting in line to be harvested!"
— We’re not cauliflower heads.
Why does Principal Hong keep repeating my number and name?
Principal Hong, spraying saliva as he cursed: "Cauliflowers like you! Once you get onto the battleground, you could die hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times! Even if we extract and clone your cauliflower brain cells hundreds of times, it still wouldn’t be enough for you to die!"
— We don’t want to hear about cauliflowers anymore.
Principal Hong seemed tired of his tirade and paused briefly only to scan the downcast new students with his hawkish eyes before suddenly announcing: "Attention, everyone! All except for No. 4444, Ji You student, will receive a 10-point deduction! — This is specially for treating your cauliflower brains."
— We hate cauliflowers! We hate cauliflowers for life!
"???" Ji You’s eyes suddenly bulged: "!!!"
Such a vicious heart...
Such a malicious mind...
Such a despicable method...
Ji You instantly realized why Principal Hong kept repeating her number and name; this round, he actually burdened her with 4999 shares of hatred!
Under the heavens, beside herself, everyone was an enemy!
Ji You felt the world spinning, unable to hear the sinister, malicious, despicable, shameless... words of Principal Hong any longer. Darkness came in waves before her eyes, and a classic song lyric inexplicably popped into her mind, singing out unconsciously:
"Even if fate is homeless and adrift..."
"Even if fate is twisting and wondrous..."
"Even if fate is threatening you..."
"Life is uninteresting... don’t cry... heartache..."
The girl’s voice was clear, her shaky and intermittent vocals, believe it or not, actually quite pleasant to the ear.
Over the broadcast, Principal Hong curiously asked, "Student Ji You number 4444, what are you singing?"
Ji You looked up, her eyes filled with resentment towards Principal Hong: "Singing... singing about my future fate that’s miserable, desolate, and painful."
Upon hearing this, Principal Hong smiled faintly: "Survive."
He’s taking pleasure in my misfortune!
I must off him with my own hands!
Gazes embedded with thorns, as sharp as blades, needle points, cutting edges, kept slashing at Ji You, piercing through, cutting open... Ji You felt she had been dismembered by the 4999 shares of hatred countless times, through mountains of knives, pots of boiling oil, through the fiery pits of Hell... In just a moment, she felt she had already experienced it a million times.
Trembling all over, Ji You kept backing away, thinking to herself, would giving up the exercise now mean a way out for her?
Would the students let her go?
"I’m going to slaughter her!"
"I haven’t done anything today, and I’ve already lost 35 points! I can’t vent my anger unless I slaughter her!"
"Ji You! Prepare to die!"
"Nobody move, I call dibs on the head of number 4444!"
"Who dares to steal from me? I’ll take his damned life!"
Her body trembled even more. She always felt that even if she committed seppuku in front of everyone today, it wouldn’t extinguish the anger of the crowd.
"Attention, everyone!" Seeing that the atmosphere was heating up as people went from a somber gloom to righteous indignation, Principal Hong was very satisfied. Looking around, he shouted loudly: "Shut up, all of you!!! Now, immediately board the spaceship and enter the exercise field. Within 5 minutes, I want all of you on board. For those who are late in boarding, 1 point will be deducted for every one second of delay! 10 seconds delay means 10 points deducted!"
Everyone gasped in shock, who would dare to dwell on Ji You’s head now? Hurry and board the spaceship, and then deal with her during the exercise.
All of a sudden, the rookies lined up, boarding the spaceship in an orderly fashion, no one dared to delay, no one dared to be the culprit that caused trouble for everyone, and for a moment, order was unprecedentedly tidy!
Ji You was one of the earlier people to board the spaceship. As she took her seat, a faint voice suddenly came from the seat next to her: "You’re done."