Chapter 26

“Since the establishment of the Interstellar Academy, such a malignant incident has never occurred before.

Upon confirming that the deceased was a professional assassin who infiltrated the academy, the academy president directly notified the Interstellar United Security Team, requesting a thorough investigation. Starting from today, the Interstellar Academy will be guarded to ensure the safety of the students.

Originally, this matter should have been reported to the Alliance, but now the Alliance itself is in chaos.

The current captain of the United Security Team is a graduate of the Interstellar Academy, so naturally, he will not hesitate to act on this matter.

So when Ji Fu slowly woke up, the first thing she saw was the interstellar warships hovering over the entire Interstellar Academy and a large number of patrolling unmanned drones.

Captain Lu Bingyun was questioning what had happened just now with Zhou Lu Hai. When she saw Ji Fu wake up, she smiled lightly and handed her a nutritional liquid:

“You’re awake.” She looked at Ji Fu’s pale face and weak posture, her tone unconsciously softened by three points. “Your teacher said you’re not feeling well, so drink this first.”

The teacher next to her couldn’t help but cough lightly.

Lu Bingyun was indeed too based.

Just now, she didn’t have this attitude towards Zhou Lu Hai; it seemed like she was interrogating him as if he were a criminal, but she spoke gently to Ji Fu.

Among the current core members of the Alliance, Lu Bingyun is considered to have a relatively low background. She was able to reach her current position purely based on her extremely high talent and her reckless tactics.

Combined with her mech, she is known as ‘Deadly Lu Sandao.’

During the defense against the beast tide, she directly used her mech’s energy blade to kill someone who disobeyed orders, a prominent figure from a major family, earning her this nickname.

Lu Bingyun does things without mercy, and there seems to be a subtle bias against the major families.

This has made her promotion difficult, even though her strength is outstanding, she can only be the captain of the United Security Team in the end.

“Do you remember what happened before you lost consciousness?” Lu Bingyun asked softly.

Ji Fu took the nutritional liquid, took a few sips, and couldn’t help but cough.

With this cough, her face flushed red, adding a hint of rosiness to her normally pale complexion, making her look even healthier.

Lu Bingyun looked at her, her gaze becoming even softer.

In front of so many people, she even reached out and gently patted Ji Fu’s hand, her tone gentle. “It’s okay, take your time to speak, don’t rush.”

Following Lu Bingyun together, every day seeing her using devilish tactics to train the subordinates below…

Just now, I saw Ji Fu punch and kill Zhou Lu Hai, a professional killer…

Zhou Lu Hai had no expression, calmly looking at Ji Fu.

The medical room is quite special. There are many places in the Interstellar Academy with surveillance, but the medical room has many students receiving treatment here, occasionally needing to undress, and medical treatment itself is a relatively private matter.

So, it is not allowed to install any monitoring devices.

He actually wants to see how Ji Fu will explain what just happened.

“…I don’t know either. I was still half asleep, just felt the medical compartment being opened, and the one opening it was Zhou Lu Hai.” Lu Bingyun nodded, she also found these records in the medical compartment log.

Under Zhou Lu Hai’s gaze, Ji Fu responded smoothly, “Zhou Lu Hai asked if I had seen any suspicious individuals, before I could speak, someone suddenly appeared.”

“And then…”

Lu Bingyun asked, “And then what?”

Zhou Lu Hai looked at her with a smile but not a smile, while Ji Fu’s eyes were clear and confident as she answered, “And then that person was killed by Zhou Lu Hai.”

She seemed to recall it, her face filled with admiration, “A decisive blow, resolute action!”

Zhou Lu Hai: …

He folded his arms, listening to the person in front of him lie without changing expression.

Their gazes met in the air, Ji Fu with her pale face, despite her fragile appearance, smiled at him with great friendliness.

Okay, okay, okay!

Zhou Lu Hai couldn’t help but laugh at her audacity.

With just a few words, the person who killed was now him.

What’s even funnier is that Lu Bingyun, seeing Ji Fu like this, believed her words without any doubt, and even said, “Ordinary professional killers usually carry self-destruct devices on them. When he acted, it was probably to prevent the opponent from self-destructing.”

“But no matter what, killing someone in front of classmates is unacceptable.” Lu Bingyun turned to him, her attitude completely changed, “Zhou Lu Hai, do you hear me?”

In a position where she couldn’t see, Ji Fu raised her eyebrows at Zhou Lu Hai.

Wasn’t she still indebted to her?

Whether he wanted to shoulder this blame or not, he had to.

Zhou Lu Hai’s expression changed several times, but in the end, he didn’t say anything, implicitly accepting Ji Fu’s explanation.

The testimonies of the two students had no problems, only the identity of the killer was unclear.

If the other party was targeting Zhou Lu Hai, it made sense.

The major families all had their feuds.

But it shouldn’t have happened at the Interstellar Academy.

For the time being, Lu Bingyun decided to settle the matter and instructed her subordinates to strengthen patrols and guards at the Interstellar Academy starting from today.

To ensure no one can take advantage of the situation.

As for the security flaws of the school, they were left to the school authorities to handle.

Lu Bingyun herself would stay at the school for the time being to ensure the safety of the students.

After the inquiry, Lu Bingyun and her group went to report to the dean’s office.

Ji Fu relaxed and lay back in the familiar medical compartment again.

Zhou Lu Hai looked at her coldly, “What, everyone’s gone, and you’re not pretending anymore?”

Ji Fu closed her eyes, “Don’t talk, you’re giving me a headache.”

Zhou Lu Hai: ?

He couldn’t help it and leaned against the edge of the medical compartment to watch her.

Zhou Lu Hai was 1.93 meters tall, with an excellent physique. As a mech soldier, he still had very superior muscle lines all over his body.

With him leaning like this, he almost covered the entire medical compartment.

The pressure was overwhelming.

Compared to him, Ji Fu, who looked soft and weak, really didn’t seem like someone who could punch a professional killer to death with one blow.

Zhou Lu Hai scrutinized her, “Your short-term eruption is strong, have you ever considered becoming a mech soldier?”

Ji Fu opened her eyes.

Under the moonlight, he saw in her eyes, as if scattered with fine starlight.

She said lightly, “Relying on this body that faints after a single outbreak to become a mech soldier?”

As a military academy student, her body was indeed a bit weak.

Zhou Lu Hai didn’t say anything more, just said, “Then rest well. The advancement exam is in a few days, don’t mess it up.”

He had already shouldered such a big blame for her.

She couldn’t mess up the advancement exam.

“Got it.”

Zhou Lu Hai turned to leave.

“Come back.” Ji Fu called out to him, “Close the compartment door for me.”

Zhou Lu Hai hesitated for a moment, but had to go back and close the compartment door for this ancestor.

After leaving the medical room, he realized belatedly that he couldn’t help but laugh.

His family always said he had a bad temper and was hard to discipline, even saying he was lawless, perhaps one day he’d fall flat on his face.

Looking at it now, lawless?

He had never been this obedient.

A professional killer appeared in the school, was killed by a student, and the academy leadership covered it up.

Since the killer was originally there to kill, and the student killed in self-defense, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Publicizing it would only cause panic.

So the school made the decision to cover it up.

However, these past few days, there were always serious-looking security team members on campus, and some observant students could sense something unusual.

Blaming it on Zhou Lu Hai, and blowing it up, had a significant effect.

In any case, these past few days, Ji Fu hadn’t felt any disturbances anymore.

It seems the other party still considers things carefully, especially when it comes to matters involving one of the three major families, the Zhou family, as they easily backed off. But just by looking at it this way, it’s difficult to guess the other party’s identity.

After all, the relationships within the alliance are intricate, and the noble families are not as amicable as they appear on the surface. These matters are unknown to the students of the academy.

The minor disturbance brought by the security team didn’t last long because a bigger commotion was about to happen.

That’s the promotion exam for Special Class A.

The promotion exam is always lively every year because it’s the only way for many students to catch a glimpse of the talents in Class S. And this year is especially unique, with several participants in the exam, making people even more excited.

Before the promotion exam, the school publicly released the list of participants.

Wan Feng and Zhou Lu Hai from Special Class A were known to everyone beforehand. But Wan Die and Ji Fu were unexpected.

The protagonists of the promotion exam are students aiming to enter Class S, and these students can choose their teammates freely.

Those who team up with them can also enter Class S together if they pass the exam. This sounds like a good thing, but in reality, the choice of companions is crucial.

Because in every promotion exam, they don’t have to face alien beasts or plants but the current students of Class S. In other words, they’ll be facing Class S students across grades.

New students have just entered the school, and facing mature Class S students is much more challenging than dealing with alien creatures, making the exam much more difficult.

So, no one would casually choose their companions for this matter.

Normally, in situations similar to Wan Feng and Zhou Lu Hai’s, they would choose to team up internally, meaning two people in one team, to unite against one Class S student. This way, the chances of passing the exam would be greatly increased.

But this year, these two didn’t follow the usual course.

They didn’t team up with each other, and each chose a C-level companion.

Wan Feng can be forgiven because the person he brought is his own younger sister. Wanting to bring his sister into Class S seems reasonable.

But what about Zhou Lu Hai?

[Too confident, isn’t he?]

[Confident about what? S and A are completely different concepts.]

[You can’t say that. To be honest, I think Ji Fu is not simple.]

Because of this choice, the forums have been lively these days, with all sorts of discussions.

Just like this, everyone’s expectations for this promotion exam have already been raised high. Unexpectedly, the school made a miraculous change to the rules of this exam.

The main content of the exam hasn’t changed, which is still to obtain scores from Class S students to pass the exam.

But the minor rules have completely changed.

In the past, it was always two promotion candidates against one Class S student.

This year, they’re not in teams anymore, so logically, each would face one Class S student.

But no one expected that the school would upgrade their opponents to two.

In other words, they would each have to face two Class S students.

And there were no restrictions on who the opponents could be. Before the exam, it would be decided by random drawing.

This implies…

[Damn, does that mean Tan Xi might also end up in the mix?]

Tan Xi, the current strongest in Class S, the number one monster in the Interstellar Academy.

Calling him a monster is not an exaggeration.

He’s still a student but has already participated in many large-scale missions. After last year’s joint exam, he even received a commendation.

He’s also the only current student in the Interstellar Academy who holds a military rank without graduating, as a mecha soldier.

It’s said that his strength is above S, so he usually doesn’t participate in promotion exams.

But this time, if the school goes random, even he would be included.

[That’s unlikely. There are several people in Class S. Who could be unlucky enough to draw Tan Xi?]

Ji Fu could.

On the day of the drawing, Zhou Lu Hai wasn’t there, so she went to draw the lots.

She pulled out number 01 in one go, leaving even Du Ming, who supervised the drawing, speechless.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

According to the rules, it’s two versus two, so another lot needed to be drawn.

Ji Fu reached out and pressed the button again.

When the scrolling name tags stopped, the surrounding students were all taken aback.

She raised her eyebrows and sent a message to Zhou Lu Hai.

[This person’s name seems familiar.]

Zhou Lu Hai was briefly silent because she drew Tan Xi, but he responded quickly this time, asking, [Who?]

Ji Fu: [Li Yunyi.]

Zhou Lu Hai: [….]

The only two star-level mecha soldiers in the school, she drew them both in one go.

Upon seeing the star-level mecha soldiers, Ji Fu paused for a moment and intentionally asked, [What’s a star-level mecha soldier?]

There was a five-minute pause on the other end, then she received an internal family’s article on the topic.

Among ordinary people, talent levels range from F to S.

But in reality, talent levels aren’t just limited to S.

Talents above S are referred to as star-level talents.

Due to their extremely high talents, those with star-level talents usually wear star-shaped badges, or their mechas bear star markings.

Star-level talents are the cream of the crop among geniuses.

Not to mention in the Interstellar Academy, even within the entire interstellar community, they are extremely rare.

But for ordinary people, S is already the peak, so the concept of star-level talents is too distant.

Zhou Lu Hai knows quite a bit more.

Talking about Tan Xi and Li Yunyi, they were detected with star-level talents since they entered school, and in their batch, they were undoubtedly the first.

Both of them currently serve in the Third Legion and are also comrades-in-arms, extremely tacit on the battlefield.

They are the most dazzling new stars in the Third Legion this year.

However, both of them come from humble backgrounds. Li Yunyi is fortunate to have a small family background, while Tan Xi is from a civilian background.

When Tan Xi was detected with star-level talent as a civilian, it caused quite a stir on the Imperial Star.

In recent years, there have been fewer top-tier talents, and star-level talents from non-aristocratic backgrounds are even rarer.

After they entered the Third Legion, their performance was outstanding, attracting the attention of many aristocratic families who sought to win them over.

That’s also why Zhou Lu Hai has heard of their names.

[In other words, either one of these two is a trump card in the current S-class. If you put them in the same team, they will only enhance each other’s strengths, resulting in an effect greater than the sum of their parts.]

On the other hand, Ji Fu didn’t immediately respond. Zhou Lu Hai waited for a while before seeing her send a message leisurely.

She said: “I remember now, I know Li Yunyi.”

The first time she did a Starry Sky Formation, collecting materials externally, Li Yunyi gave her a piece of Star Iron and said let’s be friends.

Zhou Lu Hai asked: “And then?”

Ji Fu: “And then I blocked him.”

Zhou Lu Hai:…

Okay, okay.

Not only is she lucky, but she also has a good temper.

Throwing down two kings right away, one of them still has some grudges with her.

Zhou Lu Hai was almost amused by her.

But seriously, she did draw the two people he most wanted to confront.

And although they are stellar talents, they can only control mechas up to S-level in the promotion exam.

That’s the same level as the mecha Zhou Lu Hai is currently using.

Controlling mechas of the same level, he might not necessarily lose to these two.

He even thinks Ji Fu wouldn’t either.

Although so far, his understanding of Ji Fu is limited to that mechanical dog called Flame and the one-shot kill from that day.

But this person gives him a feeling far more dangerous than any teacher or student from any interstellar academy.

Except for one thing.

She is confined to a deficient talent, currently only at C-level.

It’s incredible for a C to fight an A, let alone a C against a stellar talent.

There’s almost no chance of winning.

That’s what the forum says too.

“…The school’s rules are too biased. Even if Zhou Lu Hai is S, with one S and one C, they’re not a match for double S, are they?”

“The rules were updated so late, couldn’t they have chosen teammates now?”

“No, I went back and checked.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, the school leaders are really heartless.”

“?? Student above, if you’re so dissatisfied, come, go to the Academic Affairs Office and speak up.”

The last ID displayed was that of the academic director.

Students on the forum dispersed instantly, and the post complaining about unfair rules was quickly deleted.

But the students’ private discussions didn’t stop, this matchup is indeed unfair.

Everyone feels the school is deliberately adding difficulty to Zhou Lu Hai’s team.

Compared to that, the matchup against Wan Feng’s team also involves two S-class students, but one of them is a mecha engineer, so their offensive capability doesn’t seem as strong.

Putting these two top mecha soldiers together is indeed a lethal combination.

Ji Fu didn’t care about these discussions.

The screening system clearly had been tampered with.

In other words, whether she went to choose or Zhou Lu Hai went to choose, they could only select Tan Xi and Li Yunyi.

The screening system came from the hands of the school leadership, obviously aiming to train Zhou Lu Hai.

She heard Zhou Lu Hai say that the three-school joint exam would be held in three months.

The school must have considered this aspect and thus intervened so heavily.

Urging them to grow rapidly, it’s also for them to achieve good results in the tri-school exam.

She’s not clear about other things, but she knows one thing about these three military academies.

Among the three major military academies of the Alliance, only the Interstellar Academy enrolls the most civilian students.

The Imperial Military Academy almost monopolizes students from all major aristocratic families with high talent levels. The other, Hanhai Academy, is backed by the Alliance.

The children of senior Union elites almost all attend Hanhai.

The top elite classes in these two military academies are not called S classes like in the Interstellar Academy, but are called Star classes.

Just by the name, one can tell that those who can enter this class are at least stellar.

In recent years, the Interstellar Academy has gradually declined. The students it produces are not as good as those from the two military academies, and the positions they hold after graduation are lower, almost on the edge of the Union’s marginalization.

If there’s no outstanding source of students again, the entire academy may become even more decadent.

Fortunately, Zhou Lu Hai came this year.

Zhou Lu Hai is definitely a pleasant surprise. Based on Ji Fu’s observations during this time, she vaguely guessed that the person with the highest talent in the Interstellar Academy is not Tan Xi and Li Yunyi.

It’s Zhou Lu Hai, who just entered the school not long ago.

This also explains why the school is so eager to put him into the S class.

The school is well-intentioned, and the topics they gave him this time are also very advanced.

If he can pass the exam smoothly, that’s best. If he can’t pass, there should be a makeup exam.

As for her.

She’s just an insignificant minor character, so it is in the academy, and even more so in the entire interstellar real.

So in all the discussions and debates, Ji Fu remained unaffected and slept well that night.

The next morning, she woke up amidst the bustling campus.

After getting everything ready and slinging her small backpack over her shoulder, she strolled leisurely to the simulated classroom.

The content of this promotion exam was also determined by drawing lots. Wan Feng’s group drew mech racing, while Ji Fu drew mech combat.

To prevent students from getting injured, the exam was conducted in a simulated classroom.

Although it was a simulated competition, their senses were connected to their real five senses, as well as their entire innate abilities. Once people were immersed in the simulated arena, the sensory experience was almost the same as reality.

The school leaders had listened to opposition all night yesterday, and today they finally relented a bit.

They changed it to mandatory 2v2 balancing.

Mandatory balancing meant that for example, if Zhou Lu Hai was a mech soldier, Ji Fu would be an alchemist.

Then the other team could only have one mech pilot and one support profession.

Two mech soldiers couldn’t appear together.

As for the support profession, it was up to the two from Class S to choose freely.

After hearing the rules, the simulated classroom became even more lively.

“It’s not much better.”

“…yeah, it sounds like it’s slightly better than Zhou Lu Hai facing two alone, but Li Yunyi himself has a double major, he’s also a mech pilot.”

“He’s not as outstanding as a mech soldier, but I heard he’s much stronger than ordinary Class A students, isn’t this making a fuss over nothing.”

But the school didn’t care.

They had already made the maximum concession. If they retreated further, they wouldn’t be able to test Zhou Lu Hai’s true level, so what fairness.

The dean, with a cold face, glanced at the digital clock and the pointer pointed to eight in the morning.

He pressed the stopwatch, and said coldly, “The exam begins.”

As long as it was an exam, there was a time limit. Almost as soon as the students heard the order to start the exam, they entered the simulated cabin without hesitation.

Zhou Lu Hai did the same.

Just before entering the simulated cabin, he turned around and saw Ji Fu walking around the simulated cabin.

“What’s wrong?” The invigilator asked as she didn’t go in.

Ji Fu looked up and asked, “Teacher, according to the exam rules, can I manually adjust the settings of the simulated cabin?”

The reason why the simulated cabin was called so was because it could simulate many situations.

And in general simulated exams, students were allowed to adjust the settings of the simulated cabin themselves.

The invigilator replied, “Yes.”

After this response, he saw Ji Fu open the control page of the simulated cabin, adjust her physical fitness to the highest level directly.

Beside her, Zhou Lu Hai: …

She really does have a strong and healthy heart.