Chapter 62: Combat Exercise Class (Triple Chapter)

Cassell College, Building 3 of the Teaching Complex.

"Team C, what is the situation on the third floor?" Caesar's calm voice echoed through the radio channel.

"Third floor clear, over," the radio responded.

"Still no sign of the Blue Team? Lin Nian... you guys really know how to hide."

In a multimedia classroom on the fifth floor of the teaching building, which had been temporarily converted into a tactical conference room, Caesar smiled and released his finger from the transceiver. Several soldiers wearing red combat uniforms and holding firearms stood in silence beneath the podium, watching him for further instructions.

This was the scene of the freshman "Actual Combat Exercise Course" at Cassell College. The substitute instructor was the head of the Operations Department—the captain of the Marine detachment whose biceps were thick enough for a horse to gallop over and whose glutes could crush a walnut. Known to everyone as "Little Schwarzenegger" or "Little Stallone," his thighs-thick arms gave off the impression that this guy could genuinely charge into battle while single-handedly carrying a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.

The content of the actual combat exercise course was simple: live-action CS. Aside from shooting classes, this was the students' only opportunity to fire live rounds at targets without restraint. All issued firearms and magazines were loaded with Frigg bullets that could not kill a person. Compared to paintballs, Frigg bullets had a greater impact force and better effectiveness because the bullet heads contained built-in high-efficiency anesthetics. This eliminated the absurd scenario where a brave warrior during live-action CS could take three or four hits and still shamelessly continue charging forward.

Past actual combat exercise courses were not restricted by environment or venue. The last exercise course, for instance, took place in the red pine forest two or three kilometers away from the school. It emphasized recreating primitive wilderness warfare, with students armed with a single pistol each in a battle royale, and the last one standing being the victor.

The last one standing in that session was Caesar. Relying on his superior hearing, he moved as if on flat ground in terrains with obstructed visibility, anticipating the enemy's moves every time... To use CS terminology, this guy was using wallhacks! There was no shortage of wilderness survival masters among the freshmen who could fashion a ghillie suit on the spot out of dead leaves and mud, but in front of Caesar, as long as you had a heartbeat and knew how to breathe—no matter whether you hid in a tree or under the soil—he could always deliver a bullet straight to your forehead in the nick of time.

The terrain chosen for today's actual combat exercise course was the much more complex teaching building, simulating an urban combat environment. The winning condition had also shifted from a solo free-for-all of the strongest to a head-on clash between the Red and Blue teams. Victory was not determined by wiping out the opposing team, but by a point system: eliminating one enemy was worth one point, and the first to reach five points won.

There were thirty freshmen taking this class, divided equally into the Red and Blue teams. Caesar's side was the Red Team, and the students spontaneously accepted Caesar as their leader. On the other side, unsurprisingly, Lin Nian had been chosen to lead the charge, turning this actual combat class into a strategic showdown between two figures currently in the spotlight.

Half an hour had passed since the combat class began. Both the Red and Blue teams had hidden themselves in the cleared teaching building, establishing their own combat bases and continually dispatching scouts to cautiously probe the enemy's situation. No one dared to expose their own position; the point-based victory condition meant that losing five members would result in defeat, and nobody dared to engage in a direct firefight without absolute certainty.

Just then, however, a sudden piece of news tipped the scales of victory in Caesar's favor.

"Boss, Group D seems to have found the 'sheep herd'," a voice vibrating with suppressed excitement rang out over the radio.

"Is the intelligence verified?" Caesar immediately asked in a deep voice from inside the tactical conference room.

The sheep herd.

This was an extremely mocking term, representing a group of people devoid of the power to truss a chicken and incapable of resistance. Such groups did exist at Cassell College. It did not mean they were useless, but rather that compared to combat, this group leaned more toward scientific research. Their strengths did not lie in holding firearms and engaging in life-or-death combat with dangerous half-breeds; alchemy, weapon manufacturing, and bloodline theory—fields leaning toward logistical development—were their domains, and even their Spiritual Disciplines were mostly supportive in nature.

To balance the strengths, both the Red and Blue teams included five "sheep." This was a point that both commanders had to account for. As long as the opposing combatants managed to infiltrate the sheep herd, the sheep would be slaughtered within seconds, and five points would be instantly claimed, resulting in immediate defeat.

Caesar's strategy was to scatter the sheep herd, with each squad consisting of three members—two combatants and one sheep—divided into five groups labeled A, B, C, D, and E. They were dispersed throughout the entire teaching building in a guerrilla warfare formation, while keeping the distance between each squad within a certain limit. Should any squad encounter the enemy, the other squads could form a three-dimensional pincer movement to quickly crush them.

This tactic required fast and decisive command from the leader, and Caesar happened to be an immensely confident individual. Through his deployment, nearly half of the teaching building had fallen under his control. It was completely natural that Lin Nian's Blue Team, which had been cowering in hiding, was now showing a chink in its armor.

"Don't rush. Verify the authenticity of the intelligence," Caesar said. "The Blue Team hasn't dared to engage us in a firefight and is now at their wit's end. It's completely normal for them to slip up, but we must also guard against this being bait they've thrown out. Gathering the sheep herd together is an extremely unwise decision, and I don't think the enemy commander would commit such an error."

"They probably hid the sheep herd in the tiered lecture hall at the corner of the first floor. That was the first place we searched, and I think they're trying the 'hide in plain sight' trick," the captain of Group D said in a low voice.

"A tiered lecture hall?" Caesar fell into deep thought. Indeed, if the captain of Group D hadn't brought up this location, he would never have imagined that the Blue Team would take such a desperate risk to hide the sheep herd there. Freed from the burden of protecting the sheep, the Blue Team could indeed overwhelm them in direct combat. For half-breeds, losing five burdens and discarding numerical advantage would actually be advantageous to the tactical situation.

"We stumbled upon it by accident. Just now, when a brother from our group went to the restroom, he happened to catch a glimpse that the curtains of the tiered lecture hall were drawn. He said he clearly remembered that when we searched the tiered lecture hall the first time, those curtains were open!" the leader of Group D said. "The heartbeat detector shows there are only five people inside. If I'm not mistaken, they simply shoved the entire sheep herd in there, completely undefended!"

"Five people." Caesar fell silent. To be honest, he was already tempted. This certainly looked like bait, but it also looked like the Blue Team's commander had been pushed to the breaking point by his guerrilla tactics and had desperately resorted to a risky move, only to carelessly reveal a flaw.

"What do you think, boss? Should I send someone to scout out the situation?" the leader of Group D asked.

"Don't rush. Even if there are only five sheep, Group D only has three people and two combatants. The terrain of the tiered lecture hall is easy to defend and hard to attack; if you charge in recklessly, you might end up making a fool of yourselves by being taken down by five non-combatants inside," Caesar instantly made his decision. "Hold your position and scout the surrounding area. The other four squads will immediately reinforce your location."

Regardless of whether this was bait or not, Caesar was prepared to take a bite. He didn't care whether the five people in the tiered lecture hall were sheep or combatants disguised as sheep; such a setup was foolish once exposed. All he needed to do was concentrate the forces of all five squads, launch a frontal assault, and wipe out the five individuals inside to secure five points and win the victory.

No one raised any objections to Caesar's orders. How could fifteen people lose to five? As long as it was confirmed that there were no ambushes on the first and second floors, and there was no other interference within the first minute of storming the tiered lecture hall, the Red Team would claim victory in this combat class.

Soon, all fifteen members of the five Red Team squads converged on the first floor. Sure enough, after reconnaissance, it was confirmed that there were no ambushes on the first and second floors. This meant that regardless of whether the five individuals in the tiered lecture hall were sheep or wolves, victory or defeat would be decided the moment they stormed in and wiped them out.

Outside the tiered lecture hall, a Red Team member holding a heartbeat monitor pressed against the wall. The device displayed five steady heartbeats. Upon seeing this, Caesar raised his right hand, held up two fingers, and gently waved them.

A member of Group B stealthily approached the door of the tiered lecture hall, and after a few seconds of mental preparation, suddenly kicked the door open and tossed a flashbang inside.

Naturally, the effect of the flashbang used in the actual combat exercise class was merely to flash a burst of white light and emit some smoke. Students were required to consciously close their eyes for dozens of seconds upon seeing the flash, or else it would be considered a foul.

As the flashbang was thrown, the Red Team members poured in like a school of fish. Outside the lecture hall, Caesar pulled back his bolt-action handle but suddenly frowned, because he hadn't heard any gunfire from inside the room.

"Boss... I think you need to come take a look," the voice of the Group D captain rang out from within the tiered lecture hall.

***

Caesar strode into the tiered lecture hall and discovered an astonishing scene.

Scattered across the seats of the lecture hall sat five students wearing Blue Team combat uniforms. However, these students were all in a deep slumber and offered no resistance whatsoever when the Red Team members charged in, because they had already "died" long ago!

"Frigg bullets." The Group D captain reached out to turn the head of a sleeping team member, revealing a clear patch of red mist on the other's neck.

"Kamikazes." Caesar instantly understood the identity of these five people.

In military terms, kamikazes were elite soldiers who fought bravely and feared no death, willing to sacrifice everything, including their lives, for victory. Without a doubt, these five individuals were the Blue Team's kamikazes. The Blue Team had seized a loophole in the rules of this actual combat exercise class: scoring points required the enemy to eliminate your personnel, but what if your own people shot themselves?

The substitute instructor observing everything through the external surveillance cameras had not halted the class, which meant what the Blue Team did was not a foul. If the actual combat exercise class was a simulation of a real battlefield, it meant the substitute instructor approved of the Blue Team commander's strategy of trading five lives in exchange for a single ambush opportunity!

Yes, an ambush! Since they laid bait like this, the enemy definitely had an ambush prepared!

Caesar turned back, wanting to shout an order to retreat, but the deliberate sound of gunfire had already erupted outside the tiered lecture hall!

"It's the Blue Team! They're pressing down from upstairs! Their firepower is fierce!" the team captains outside reported rapidly over the radio.

"Fall back into the tiered lecture hall! We're at a disadvantage right now; standing outside makes us targets. This actual exercise doesn't feature heavy weaponry, so if they want to storm in, they'll have to pay a price. The outcome is not yet decided," Caesar made a decisive judgment. The battlefield for this combat class was restricted to the interior of the teaching building, and the tiered lecture hall at the end of the first-floor corridor was equivalent to a "dead corner." There were indeed no ambushes on the first or second floors—they had hidden themselves higher up on the third-floor classrooms, waiting for the entire Red Team to descend to the first floor. The purpose of laying bait in the tiered lecture hall was to trap the Red Team in a dead corner and wage a encirclement battle!

The fifteen Red Team members quickly retreated into the classroom and tightly sealed the main door. All the windows were barricaded with desks and chairs to prevent thrown projectiles. The only entrance to the tiered lecture hall was the front door. Caesar had not lost yet; as long as they held the entrance, no matter how many people the Blue Team sent, they were merely delivering themselves to their deaths. Furthermore, having sacrificed five people as kamikazes, the Blue Team inherently had less firepower than the Red Team!

And let's not forget, the sheep—who were unversed in three-dimensional combat—had also taken the shooting class. In a defensive battle, they could serve as competent combat units just as well!

It was merely shifting from active to passive. Caesar calmly loaded his submachine gun. Seeing their commander remain so calm, his subordinates transitioned from their initial panic upon entering the trap to absolute composure. As long as Caesar was here, they retained absolute confidence. This man was like a pillar anchoring their morale firmly in place. As long as they guarded the tiered lecture hall well, they hadn't lost yet.

"Truly cunning, that 'S-grade'. They knew that every team was equipped with a heartbeat detector in this complex terrain, but people hit by Frigg bullets only fall into a deep sleep while their heartbeats don't stop. So we only knew there were five people in the room, but we couldn't tell whether they were 'living people' or 'dead people'. If we lose this, it's entirely my fault," the Group D captain cursed in frustration, slamming his table and glancing at the few "dead people" scattered across the tiered lecture hall.

"Don't blame yourself. I made the decision to storm in, so I bear a large share of the responsibility. The false positive caused by the heartbeat monitor was indeed deceptive. I must admit this is a truly perfect piece of bait, exploiting both the loopholes in the rules and the flaws in the equipment..." Caesar stopped midway, a bizarre thought suddenly surging into his mind.

Since the heartbeat monitor couldn't distinguish between "dead people" and "living people," what made them so certain that everyone in this classroom was a "dead person"?

Before Caesar could ponder further, a deafening gunshot rang out inside the tiered lecture hall.

Just as everyone's attention was tightly fixed on the main door, one of the "dead people" slumped comatose over a desk at the back of the lecture hall suddenly jumped up without warning, dual-wielding pistols and firing at the Red Team members inside the room!

Two Red Team members were struck directly in the back of the neck. Crimson mist burst into the air as anesthetic flooded in, and the two collapsed to the ground like corpses. Yet the "dead person's" shooting did not stop; the magazine capacity of the pistols he held was twelve rounds each—twenty-four rounds in total across both guns. As long as he emptied the magazines, he would inevitably hit five or more people and secure victory!

Caesar's reaction was swift, however. The moment he heard the gunshot, he spun around and unleashed a stream of bullets. The ambushing "dead person" dove and rolled onto the floor, and the bullets carved a row of red mist across the wall in a straight line.

At that exact fraction of a second, Caesar saw the face of this "dead" Blue Team member clearly.

Lin Nian.

"So close, Caesar, just that close." Lin Nian patted his hair in the back row of the tiered lecture hall. He had to admit that Caesar's mind worked fast and his reflexes were exceptionally sharp; the moment he fired, that burst of bullets had grazed his scalp and struck the wall. If he hadn't ducked, firing a few more rounds into the crowd of Red Team members would have ended the class right there.

"Is this the scheme you came up with, Lin Nian?" Caesar, now crouching behind a desk, shouted loudly to Lin Nian at the far end of the classroom, while signaling with hand gestures for the surrounding Groups A and B to flank from both sides.

"Not entirely my credit, just the result of brainstorming," Lin Nian shouted back as he reloaded his pistol with a fresh magazine.

Simultaneously, four more gunshots rang out across the classroom. Evidently, Caesar didn't trust whether the other students were also playing dead and was making sure by giving each one an insurance shot.

"Don't worry, I'm the only one alive," Lin Nian said. "Actually, when I first requested to be the bait left behind in the tiered lecture hall, my teammates were quite opposed to it."

"Yet you're still here." For some reason, Caesar smiled. He lowered his submachine gun and drew the two silver-white Desert Eagles from his waist.

"Yeah, that's because I figured that instead of a frontal assault, breaking through from the inside is much easier." Lin Nian suddenly fired four rhythmic shots into the ceiling. Every window in the tiered lecture hall instantly darkened. Caesar turned his head to look and saw thick black cloths tightly covering every single windowpane.

"Turn on the lights!" Caesar shouted.

"The power's been cut!" someone near the switch roared.

"Too late." As the classroom plunged into pitch darkness, with only a sliver of light bleeding through the door crack, a dark shadow flew out from the back row. Groups A and B, who had nearly completed their flanking maneuvers from the sides, fired simultaneously, but what they struck was merely a bundle of clothes. The next instant, Lin Nian leaped out from the left corridor... wielding a submachine gun!

At the same time, Caesar resolutely stood up from behind the desks, dual-wielding Desert Eagles and firing repeatedly. Countless flowers of blood burst in the darkness, and the muzzle flashes illuminated the chaotic tiered lecture hall along with the anxious and bewildered faces of everyone present.

When the gunfire finally ceased, the lights in the tiered lecture hall abruptly flashed back on, illuminating the "corpses" lying haphazardly across the floor. At the very top of the pile of bodies, Lin Nian lay quietly with his forehead and chest stained in red mist, eyes closed. One could tell he had passed away in supreme peace.

"Combat over, Blue Team wins." The voice of the substitute instructor echoed from the loudspeaker in the tiered lecture hall.

***

Caesar let out a breath, lowering the smoking muzzle of his Desert Eagle. He glanced at Lin Nian atop the pile of corpses. In those final few seconds, that single burst of submachine gun fire had successfully taken out all of Group A members, catapulting the Blue Team's score to five points and winning them the actual combat class.

Cheers erupted from the Blue Team outside the tiered lecture hall. Inside the classroom, the surviving Red Team members stared in silence at the scene of "carnage." Caesar, standing in the center, shook his head expressionlessly. "Truly a tricky enemy."

Ten minutes later, the door to the tiered lecture hall swung open. Big burly men from the Operations Department, carrying syringes, grunted as they hoisted the "fallen" students up and placed them back onto desks and chairs, administering injections one by one to lift the anesthetic effects. Upon waking, the four Blue Team "kamikazes" were instantly treated like heroes by their teammates, almost being hoisted up and tossed into the air in celebration.

The Red Team also displayed perfect sportsmanship, applauding for the Blue Team from the sidelines. The commanders of both teams shook hands at the podium, signifying that this was merely an actual combat exercise and did not impair their mutual friendship.

"Splendid strategy, perfect ambush," Caesar praised. "This is the first time I've lost in this class, but I look forward to us continuing to be opponents next time."

"Exploiting rules loopholes isn't worth mentioning, and winning at the very end was hair-raising. Those two shots of yours were terrifyingly accurate; even in that pitch-black environment, you nearly headshot me. I missed killing five people by a hair," Lin Nian said with a smiling shake of his head.

"No, actually you could have ended this battle right at the start. You hid two pistols and a submachine gun in your desk, but you only used a pistol during your first shot," Caesar pointed out.

"Ending it all at once would be too boring anyway," Lin Nian said. "Besides, it's just an exercise; adding a bit of dramatic effect makes it better."

"Do you enjoy this kind of combat?" Caesar noticed the unconscious upward curve of Lin Nian's lips.

"Well... how should I put it." Lin Nian scratched his cheek, forcing his facial expressions back under control. "You know my homeland bans firearms. Back home, I never had the chance to touch a gun; the only option was playing live-action CS or going to a shooting range, but both of those cost a fortune..."

"Then how about having a college-wide gunfight game?" Caesar's expression flickered with interest.

"That would probably get us expelled," Lin Nian blinked.

* "Every semester, there's a day called 'Freedom Day' at the school. On that day, whatever students do is permitted, provided they don't break school rules. I want to plan a college-wide gunfight for that day, centered around the theme of... the Student Union versus the Leonheart," Caesar extended his hand toward Lin Nian. "I want you to join our side. The Leonheart has been the leading force of this college for too long; a stagnant place needs some fresh air."

"Sounds interesting, count me in... but you know this doesn't mean I'm joining the Student Union, right?" Lin Nian shook Caesar's hand, looking every bit like a troublemaker who loved chaos.

"Gongben Yixin withdrew from the race for Student Union President," Caesar stated suddenly.

"What?" Lin Nian looked up reflexively, then immediately comprehended the implication of those words. "You mean... you are the Student Union President?"

"Not quite yet. The succession of the Student Union President requires an inauguration ceremony, and the current president is still an intern. He probably won't be back to perform the handover ceremony until the end of the term," Caesar said.

"But essentially, you've locked down the position of Student Union President, right?" Lin Nian shook Caesar's hand again. "Congratulations, congratulations."

"If I become the Student Union President, I hope you'll join the Student Union, because that way I'll gain a closer friend," Caesar looked into Lin Nian's face with a smile. "But I wouldn't mind if you joined the Leonheart either, because that way I'd gain a formidable rival to challenge."

Lin Nian was momentarily stunned by Caesar's霸气 ( domineering) declaration. Before he could think of anything cool enough to say in response, a camera flash and a series of shutter clicks went off nearby. He turned his head alertly, but he was a beat too slow to catch the damn paparazzi from the News Department who had snuck in among the freshmen. He figured that tomorrow night's front page of the *Libero Tribune* was going to make for some interesting reading.

"What's our next class?" Lin Nian decided to tactically change the subject.

"Spiritual Disciplines," Caesar replied, successfully having his attention diverted by Lin Nian as well. "By the way, as an 'S-grade', can your Spiritual Discipline be conveniently disclosed?"

"No, I don't know what my Spiritual Discipline is yet either," Lin Nian shook his head.

"I can tell you that mine is 'Kamaitachi'. I'm quite curious what an 'S-grade's' Spiritual Discipline will be. I hope one day you can tell me," Caesar said.

"The *Libero Tribune* says that the awakening of Spiritual Disciplines requires a high-pressure environment. The 3E exam certainly counts as high pressure, but I still didn't awaken. Maybe I could retake the 3E exam with the incoming freshmen next semester and try my luck?" Lin Nian felt a bit envious of the legendary superpowers of half-breeds. The Spiritual Disciplines taught in class all sounded super overpowered—being able to breathe fire, summon wind, or even open doors. Wouldn't using that kind of Spiritual Discipline to rob a Swiss bank be completely badass?

"Perhaps you won't need to wait for the next 3E exam." At that moment, a voice spoke up from outside the tiered lecture hall.

Lin Nian and Caesar turned their heads to look, only to see a gleaming bald head... Professor Mandlstein.

"Professor, why are you here? Is something the matter?" Lin Nian asked, momentarily startled.

"I'm not specifically here for you, this is official business." Mandlstein held a stack of documents, his expression unreadable and his gaze somewhat complex as he looked at Lin Nian. He then withdrew his gaze, knocked expressionlessly on the door of the tiered lecture hall, and drew the attention of all the students inside.

"Attention, freshmen. Do you remember the Warfare Practical Course mentioned to you at the beginning of the first semester?" Mandlstein raised the documents in his hand and said indifferently, "Bad news... or perhaps good news for some of you. The course has been moved up. Everyone report to the school gates tomorrow morning and begin preparing for the freshman Warfare Practical Course!"

An uproar instantly erupted throughout the classroom.