At the same time.

Across the Alliance’s major Star Systems, among the countless teachers and students watching the offline match, quite a lot of people were starting to feel like yawning. Because up to this point, there really wasn’t anything worth watching.

The main reason was: they said the match had started, but many students still hadn’t entered the arena. One part of it was that the contestants hadn’t fully arrived. Another part was that the vast majority of students taking part were completely clueless about the rules of this match.

A few students, like Ji You—who had just entered and already dared to egg the class monitor on to shoot drones—were the rare exceptions. Their little squad could be considered relatively clear on the rules.

Everyone else was still at the stage of just coming in and trying to get familiar with their own squad members.

There were 10,000 people in the entire arena, and tens of thousands of screens were playing at the same time. Every student had their own dedicated screen, broadcasting their every move live to the audience outside.

The audience outside could watch all 10,000 screens, or a few hundred, or a few dozen... and they could also switch to a single screen at any moment.

Before this, as someone who’d ranked dead last in the tests, Ji You had been synonymous with "ridiculous" and "weak." Her screen view count was pitifully low, but her sudden power grab instantly attracted a swarm of viewers.

Only now did everyone realize that this little shorty in front of them had actually been hiding her true strength.

All kinds of reactions burst out at once, some praise, some criticism, all over the place.

But without a doubt, the number of people watching Ji You’s match multiplied several hundred times in an instant.

Right now, those staring at Ji You’s every move through the screen couldn’t help showing confused faces:

"What is she trying to do?"

"An ambush?"

"Definitely an ambush."

"The problem is— the match hasn’t officially started yet. Does an ambush even count?"

As soon as someone asked that, someone else immediately replied, "Of course it counts. The moment a contestant steps into the arena, it’s equivalent to the match officially starting. Whether they advance or not, that’s all on their own skill."

Then—

Everyone’s gaze followed He Nu’s movements and saw the situation on the other side.

On the other side of the slope, five students were sitting in a temporary base, introducing themselves. They were completely unaware of He Nu’s arrival.

He Nu listened for a bit, roughly counted the time, and didn’t keep eavesdropping. He hunched his back again and quietly slipped away. From the moment he came to the moment he left, those five students talking heatedly didn’t show the slightest hint of sensing danger. Watching this scene, the audience outside practically wanted to punch walls:

"Hey!"

"You five idiots! There’s a wolf coming, run already!"

"Turn around and take a look, will you? Check if there’s danger around you, if there’s anyone suspicious!"

"Hurry up and look behind you."

...

Unfortunately, no matter how the audience shouted or panicked, the five students inside the arena couldn’t receive any of that information. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He Nu returned to the squad in exactly 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

Then—

He Nu reported what he’d scouted to Ji You. Before Ji You could say anything, Cheng Haoyue, He Yu and the others were already startled. Liu Jia, who was rather impatient by nature, blurted out, "You mean you want to sneak over and kill them?"

Ji You said with a smile, "You don’t seem quite as dumb as you look on the surface."

Liu Jia choked, a little annoyed, but he was very interested in this plan. For the moment he didn’t argue with Ji You, and instead pushed, "So how are you planning to ambush them? Sneak over quietly like this classmate just did?"

"That’s not impossible... but if all of us go over together, won’t we get spotted?" Wang Xin sounded a little worried. Of course, he wasn’t worried about getting spotted, he was worried about whether they could get out in one piece after the operation was exposed.

Compared to Liu Jia and Wang Xin’s various worries, Cheng Haoyue didn’t have that many thoughts. He directly asked Ji You, "When do we set off?"

Ji You said, "Now."

Liu Jia and the others: "..."

Liu Jia said anxiously, "Now? But you haven’t told us any plan. How are we supposed to move later? What are we supposed to say when we get there? You haven’t told us anything."

Ji You glanced at him. "You don’t need to say a word. Just keep your mouth shut the whole time."

Liu Jia: "..."

Liu Jia was choked off again, and this time it hit him hard.

He wanted to open his mouth and argue his case when he heard Ji You say to He Yu, Wang Xin, and Cheng Haoyue, "The three of you don’t need to talk either. Just keep your mouths shut the whole time."

The three of them: "..."

Now there were suddenly three more people almost suffocated by a single line from Ji You, and Liu Jia’s heart weirdly felt balanced.

Then Ji You said, "My plan is very simple: we sneak over and take them out. Got it?"

Hearing that, Liu Jia and the others felt all sorts of complicated emotions that were hard to put into words, but strangely, no one raised an objection. Whether it was He Yu, Liu Jia, and Wang Xin, who’d just had their faces metaphorically slapped and were now resigned to their fate; or Cheng Haoyue, who compromised with a sense of helplessness; or He Nu, who trusted her wholeheartedly—in any case, all four members of the Seventh Team followed Ji You’s command.

From the time He Nu returned with intel to the decision to move out, less than one minute passed. Ji You didn’t hesitate for even one second and immediately said, "Whole squad, move out."

Guided by He Nu, Ji You’s group easily made it to the boundary line. Looking at the river on the other side, Ji You rubbed her chin and thought for a moment, then said softly, "We go over stealthily first. I’ll give you one minute."

He Yu hesitated a little, but still said quietly, "My clothes don’t have a waterproof function."

Liu Jia added, "Mine either."

Wang Xin’s mouth opened and he looked at Ji You, finding it hard to say, but he still spoke up: "I... mine too."

After the three of them finished, their faces all turned red.

The match hadn’t provided any kind of standard uniform. Whatever the students had been wearing when they came in was what they were wearing now. Because no one had expected a situation like this, of course they hadn’t thought to prepare waterproof gear.

Ji You wasn’t surprised at all and said lightly, "I’ve already assigned your roles as the ’drag-the-team-down trio.’ I never planned for you three to do anything. You’re just going over there to boost the headcount. If your clothes get wet, they get wet."

The three of them blushed even harder.

From anger.

Then—

Ji You took off her jacket, clamped it in her teeth the same way He Nu had before, and was the first to slip into the water. He Nu followed close behind.

The two of them quickly swam a long distance out, seemingly not caring at all whether their teammates in the rear could keep up or even come along.

Cheng Haoyue and the other three exchanged a look and didn’t move. He Yu hesitated and asked softly, "Monitor, are we really going over there?" Because on the other side was the enemy’s camp.

Cheng Haoyue actually wasn’t confident either, but he was one of the people who’d seen the little slip of paper and knew how important the points for kills were. On top of that, with his own score at -2, he suddenly steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and said, "We’re going!"