by A Sick Frog
The beginning was fast-forwarded until the storeroom windows were pulled open by someone before the clip was slowed down to its normal speed. They saw a dark-clothed and masked person jumping into the storeroom, walking towards where the guns were placed and grabbed one to fondle it. Then the person opened the box that was used to place bullets, took a few and placed it in the person’s clothes, after which the gun was raised in search for an opening. In the end, the person actually pushed the bullet in through the muzzle. Everyone seated in the room looked at the person speechlessly as the masked person tried to “insert the bullet” successfully without even opening the safety.
After the masked person replaced the gun back, Xiao Jiang and Xiao Song appeared. What followed was a fighting scene between them. One of them was toppled over, the other was knocked out, and with that, they watched the masked person escape.
The clip ended, and the meeting room lapsed into silence. The company commander said: “Our garrison is too poorly guarded, to only discover an intrusion after the person had slipped into the storeroom. If it were not for the hidden surveillance cameras, that person could probably have strolled an entire round and we would still not know anything!”
No one talked. Everyone was reflecting.
“Company Commander, what person did you think that was?” After a while, an officer voiced his suspicion.
“What person did everyone think that was?” The company commander asked in return instead of replying.
Xiao Jiang said: “Reporting, according to our analysis, that person completely lacked knowledge of guns, and was more of curious about it. It is very probable for that person to be a student that is here for the military training this time. According to the length of the hair and the physique, our first determination is that that person is a 1.6-metre tall female.”
The company commander muttered to himself irresolutely: “A student huh?” And asked instead: “Then did you find her fingerprints?”
“No, she was wearing a glove, so everything she touched did not leave any fingerprint.”
Another officer voiced another question, “But would you believe that a high school student would be this capable? To enter the storeroom completely undiscovered, and even knock down two soldiers, oh, and another guard on the post, and to enter and leave so unrestrainedly on our grounds? I, on the other hand, suspect that it was one of the specially trained secret agents from outside.”
Everyone was consumed by their thoughts. He was right, the probability of that person being a student, and one from B city’s best school at that, was low.
The company commander asked again: “Did the surveillance camera at the student dormitories capture anyone running out in the middle of the night?”
“No, other than the cameras at the guns and ammunition room capturing someone appearing, none of the cameras in the other locations captured anyone. Everything else was very normal.” Xiao Song reported.
“It does not seem to be a secret agent though, would there even be such rookie agents? Even if it were them, and it would be close to impossible to locate them again since they had escaped. To say that that was a student, even though the possibility was not high, they are indeed inside this military base. Watch out for those characteristics and keep a look out first. As for the two of you acting on your own initiatives, even though it had not created any damage, punishments would still be dealt.”
Their squad leader took Xiao Jiang and Xiao Song away. On the way, their squad leader told them earnestly: “Remember not to be so rashly next time, careful your life will be lost.”
“Squad leader?”
“If it had not been that person letting it go leniently, the two of you would have been wiped out right there and then!” The squad leader knocked their heads fiercely, “Use your heads next time when you do things!”
“You said that person had been lenient?” They did not dare dodge, so after being reprimanded by their squad leader, they asked obediently.
“Xiao Jiang, do you think that you’ll still be alive if that person had tightened the two legs clipping your neck? Don’t think you’ll be able to dodge that, did you not realise at that time that that person had especially landed her leg on your chest? Did you think that that person’s calf hooking onto Xiao Song’s was a pure coincidence? If she kicked you with force, breaking your breastbone is not a problem. As for Xiao Song you, if she had pinched your throat and strangled you after she knocked you out, would you still be able to stand here and talk to me? The two of you should rejoice that she had no intention of killing you!”
The squad leader’s words had drenched Xiao Jiang and Xiao Song in cold sweat. They did not think they actually had meandered so closely along the death god’s door.
Hence, the activity to ferret out the black-clothed masked person unfolded quietly in the military base.
“How hateful, there was a military instructor that came to watch our class during training. His drawn-out staring at me made me slip up so many times, and I got scolded by the sergeant.”
“Don’t you guys think there’s always military instructors coming to inspect the training these days? And I ended up beyond tense, it’s dead tiring!”
“Why are they suddenly so uptight and strict about this? Aye, can’t we just skimp through this and we’re through? We’re not even here to train as soldiers.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
The students were all complaining about this these few days. Qin Ke Xuan, of course, also heard it, and delved into contemplation for a brief moment. They seemed to have guessed that she was the person that night and wanted to capture her. She had to properly conceal her abilities in the future.
At that moment, the sergeant called for a break at where they are, and everyone started swinging their arms and relaxing their numb legs. There was a military officer standing right in front of her, his pair of eyes sweeping her up and down brightly. Qin Ke Xuan frowned mentally. If her memory served her right, that guy was the guy she had knocked out that night.
Her head lowered and she contemplated briefly before a plan flashed in her head. Both her hands flew up to cover her face, and she twisted at her waist, saying shyly with embarrassment as she cupped her face: “I’ll be shy if you keep staring at me with such an overwhelmingly tender gaze.”
“……” Everyone in her class, as well as the sergeant and Xiao Song, was as though they were struck crispy by thunder. In fact, anyone who saw an expressionless person purposefully twisting their body, saying such coy and mincing words in such a chilly tone would be struck speechless.
Xiao Song’s lips spasmed, and turned to leave, facepalming. That was not the who knocked him out, definitely not!
Qin Ke Xuan turned, saying blandly to the blanked out sergeant: “Break’s over, start the training.”
“Aye?” The students, still inadequately slacked, pronounced their dissatisfaction.
Qin Ke Xuan’s gaze swept across them, and said coldly to the students that were donning weirded-out expressions: “Why, is there a problem?”
“Who gave you the authority to boss people around?!”
“Perhaps you think things are too dull with the cancelled ten rounds?”
Ever since running ten rounds on the first day, the students from class 15 all became obedient and proceeded with training properly. The sergeant’s anger also dissipated, but he could not go against what he had said, so he brought up that if there was someone who could run the ten rounds every day, the punishment would be cancelled for rest of the people. And hence, Qin Ke Xuan was the only one from class 15 that ran the ten rounds, and regarding this, she had no objections, for whether others running or not was not of her concern. If she were to not run, then they would have to run that ten rounds, so everyone shook their heads unanimously.
“Then stuff a sock in it, stand at attention!”
A certain sergeant stood at the side weakly, and had a really strong urge to ask: “I’m the sergeant, right?”
Before t
he morning training ended, the sergeant announced to them: “We will be doing an Outward Bound Training this evening, everyone, prepare your things when you go back. Actually, it’s not much either, we’re just going to climb a mountain.”
“Aye? How come we didn’t hear about such an activity?” The students in class 15 asked.
The sergeant exhaled, his arm on his waist as he started to herd the bunch of the class 15 students, saying: “Freaking hell, you bunch of brats. I realise that you guys will always find something to rebut about no matter what it is I say, regardless y’all are still attending it. Are you rebutting because you have an objection or what?!”
Everyone looked at each other, they did not actually have any objections. Hence, in the end, caved in under the mighty power and returned to their dormitories obediently.
When they gathered again in the evening, all fifteen classes, each brought by their sergeant leaders, went into the mountains behind the military base. In the beginning, everyone was still pretty excited, after all, climbing a mountain was more comfortable and fun than standing still unable to move for several dozens of minutes.
However, when they arrived before the metal-linked bridge, they were struck dumb. Freaking hell, that was way too terrifying!
The head military officer comforted the students paling with fright: “Everyone, don’t worry. Even though this bridge looks weak, it is actually very strong. We have tested it and repaired it, so the possibility of the bridge breaking is close to impossible.”
Other then some of the students who had a phobia of heights being left behind, everyone else had to go. After the troop of them crossed the mountaintop, what appeared before them were a dozen or so ropes tied to the cliffs. This time was rock climbing, and quite the lot of people were left behind. The students who had scaled the cliff were only less than half the size of the original troop, and the remaining girls were even less.
The Qin Ke Xuan who was scaling the cliff looked at the students scaling the cliff around her. Those whose physical strength was slightly weaker were eliminated. She then understood why the students did not know of such an Outward Bound activity; it looked like they had squeezed their brains dry trying to come up with a way to pluck her out. She had wanted to act as a sick person, but her rosy cheeks and intrepid lustre would instead attract attention if she were to spontaneously pull out of the activity and stay behind in the dorms, hence she had to continue.
Chapter 24 - Leave
Out of the ten people remaining from Class 15 at the moment, the girls, including Qin Ke Xuan, only numbered to a five. Luo Sheng Hui walked over to Qin Ke Xuan’s side, his tone one of respect: “Didn’t think that your stamina would be so lasting given your delicate and frail appearance!” Frankly, the ten rounds Qin Ke Xuan ran every day was already enough to substantiate what an intrepid and doughty loli Qin Ke Xuan was, and it very vividly and thoroughly validated how you really cannot judge a person by their appearance.
After Luo Sheng Hui finished talking, Qin Ke Xuan’s face immediately started paling, and so he asked anxiously with concern: “Oi, you okay? You don’t look very good.”
Qin Ke Xuan swallowed the blood refluxing in her throat expressionlessly, and asked to the housefly beside her: “I’m not feeling very well, I want to rest.” And this was the method she had come up with to lessen these soldiers’ suspicion towards her— cultivating her Inner Gong the opposite way to force out an internal injury.
Luo Sheng Hui started fretting, “You serious? But you can’t stop midway! Why didn’t you say so earlier? Can you hold it in for a little bit more, at least till the next pit stop then stop to rest?” Why was it that the next moment he had said she was doughty and valiant, she immediately became sickly and frail? Unless he was jinxed it? He looked at Qin Ke Xuan’s increasingly pale face in worry. Her lips lacked colour, yet she was still walked along with the troop of them step by step. He clenched his teeth and squatted down in front of Qin Ke Xuan, “Get on.”
Qin Ke Xuan had originally wanted to reject him with the reason of gender differences, but she slanted a glimpse from under her fringe, discovering that one of the officers were being mindful of their situation, hence she climbed on to Luo Sheng Hui’s back without further ado, might as well brazenly showcase her frailness.
Luo Sheng Hui walked a few steps with Qin Ke Xuan, and could not help but exclaim: “Woah, how heavy are you, aren’t you a little too light?!” After not even a minute after voicing that, freaking hell he wanted to take that back!
He had already been exhausted from the military training these few days, not to mention, they were scaling a mountain, so no matter how feather light Qin Ke Xuan was, she was still another person, one of similar age to his. Not only so, he was the kind of young master who knew, other than knowing how to eat, drink and be merry, was how to eat drink and be merry. He was increasingly unable to manage; every step was excruciating. He reckoned this was what the handsome Monkey King* who was squashed under the mountain had experienced.
(T/N: Monkey King is referencing to Sun Wu Kong (孙悟空) in the Journey to the West (西游记) where Sun Wu Kong was locked under a mountain for 500 years and could not escape due to the curse placed on him)
“Put me down if you can’t handle it.” Qin Ke Xuan said.
“Pant… It’s, it’s alright, you…”
Qin Ke Xuan escaped his grip and jumped down, saying to the panting Luo Sheng Hui: “Trying to force it even when you can’t isn’t the way to showcase your masculinity, you can only continue if you conserve your energy. You, come and support me.” Actually, she was not so weak to the point she could not walk, she just needed to place forth an image of such frailness for the glaring officers who were eyeing her as though watching a prey.
As expected, Class 15’s sergeant walked over to them, asking Qin Ke Xuan in concern: “Xiao Xuan, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
Qin Ke Xuan lightly nodded her head, “Enh.”
“We’re not very far from the next destination, just press on for a bit more hah.” He had actually pretty wanted to carry her, but such an action would have the students saying that he was showing favouritism, and would not leave a very positive impression.
“Enh.” If all these were still unable to dispel their suspicion towards her, then she would have to make herself scarce and go stay at the organisation. She was slowly adjusting to the way of life here anyway, it was just that she would not be able to continue going to school to understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and to be unable to understand that would entail her unable to figure out a way to travel back.
Suddenly another person’s head popped up, his expression on of blandness: “Why not let me carry her.”
He was also Class 15’s student, one with a reserved character. While the other guys had fraternised themselves with each other so much they were on the basis of calling each other brothers, he usually moved alone; his relationship with the classmates was also pretty bland. If it had not been him being in the same dorm as Luo Sheng Hui, Luo Sheng Hui would not even have realised there was such a person in their class!
“No need, I can walk on my own.” Qin Ke Xuan had already achieved her goal, she need not come into skin-ship contact with other people, so she rejected.
Luo Sheng Hui wiped his forehead beading with sweat with his sleeve, saying, panting: “Why not just let him carry you, just look at your condition, do you think you’ve got the capabilities superman has? At the rate you’re going, you’ll probably collapse just walking a few steps!”
Qin Ke Xuan’s gaze turned, happening to meet Xiao Song’s gaze from not far away. Xiao Song looked at her meaningfully, and she immediately moved her gaze away, leaning quietly on the guy’s back, the tint of murderous aura flashing in her eye unnoticed by others.
“Aye, Xiao Song, you keep staring at that girl, is it her?” Xio ao Song’s companion beside him asked.
“Enh, the physique’s pretty similar, and didn’t you guys said that girl ran ten
rounds for her class every day? The Class 15 sergeant said she didn’t even pant after running, that finesse sure is amazing. That girl definitely isn’t a nobody.”
“But didn’t you see it all? She looks like she needs someone to carry her! You saw Xiao Liu’s hand signal just now right, she’s not pretending. That girl, after all, is just a little girl.”
“Then what if I said her gaze was very similar to that girl that night?”
“Freaking hell! You serious?!”
“Enh. Even though it was a little chaotic that night, the instant my gaze met hers, I remembered it. No matter what, she was the one who fulfilled all the suspicious points. You guys keep a look out for other potential suspects, I’ll continue observing her.”
Qin Ke Xuan continued dozing, wondering if she should continue pretending, or if it would be better to just leave. But she really was unwilling to give up the opportunity to figure out a method to go back, yet she was currently in enemy territory and could be captured anytime. If they were to draw their guns and aim at her, she was not confident in being able to evade so many bullets. She clenched her teeth, harbouring resentment. Why did this goddamn place have so many of such powerful weapons?!
“Qin Ke Xuan are you feeling very uncomfortable?” The Luo Sheng Hui following beside them upon seeing Qin Ke Xuan clenching her teeth asked in concern.
The guy who had been quiet all along asked: “Is it because I’m jolting too much?”
“No.”
“You’ve gotta tell us if you’re feeling uncomfortable.”
“Enh.”
The third stop consisted of all sorts of wood-made obstacles such as single-logged bridge, staggered pilings and high mountain roads. The difficulty level did not look high, but to pass that was not an easy task.