The Aftermath and the New Training

**Bai Gu Yuan** riot?

Huang Xiu was startled, the last vestiges of drowsiness vanishing completely. She opened her mouth to say something.

But then the female instructor bellowed, “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you, I heard you!” Wen Zhan nodded with red-rimmed eyes, as if frightened by the shout.

“I don’t have time to waste here. Go inform the remaining dormitories on the sixth floor, then return to your dorm immediately!”

The female instructor finished, and without waiting for a reply, she picked up her blade, turned, and left the room. Right in front of everyone, she vaulted over the railing, leaped down from the corridor, and vanished into the night.

The situation seemed even more serious than imagined…

Huang Xiu’s heart sank. Hearing the commotion from other dorms in the corridor, she quickly said, “Let’s split up. First, do what the instructor said.”

Everyone nodded without objection.

They dispersed to the nearby dorms, relaying the instructor’s words. Only after notifying all the rooms on the sixth floor did they return to their own dorm and close the doors and windows.

Even then, the red light and alarm outside continued unabated. The piercing wail of the siren set everyone on edge.

At a time like this, even those without a care in the world couldn’t sleep.

Huang Xiu and her five roommates were wide awake. They huddled at the back of the room, peering through the old wooden-framed glass window at the outside.

The night was stained crimson by the red alarm lights.

Wherever they looked, people were running through the streets and alleys, armed with blades.

The crunch of gravel underfoot was the only sound aside from the alarm.

Wen Zhan gripped her collar, uneasy. “Will everything be alright?”

“It should be fine…” Huang Xiu reassured. “With so many big shots here, how could anything go wrong?”

“This is Observation Point No. 1, which means the base’s main purpose is to suppress the Bai Gu Yuan,” Jia Qianrou analyzed. “So relax. The instructor reacted so quickly—they must be experienced in handling these riots.”

But even with this analysis, the worry in everyone’s hearts didn’t diminish much.

Virtual realm riots, virtual realm invasions—these words always signified brutal war and casualties.

Having experienced the Long Tan riot, they knew this all too well.

The alarm blared until after eight in the morning. The six of them endured it sleeplessly, tossing and turning.

Thanks to their enhanced physiques as Specials, they weren’t too exhausted after the long night.

Huang Xiu sat up in bed and looked out the window. The sky was clear blue, the sunlight dazzling.

“Is it over?”

“The alarm stopped. It should be over,” Jia Qianrou said, running her fingers through her disheveled long hair.

Zhong Zimei’s expression lit up. “Does that mean we can go eat?”

Talking about food—it was fine until she mentioned it.

The moment she did, Huang Xiu’s stomach growled.

A rumbling sound, accompanied by an unbearable hunger, washed over her.

She patted her belly and hesitated. “The alarm is gone, so the lockdown should be lifted, right?”

“I think so. Want to bet on it?” Jiang Qing put on her bucket hat and climbed down from the bunk. “I bet we can go eat now without getting scolded by the instructor.”

“Jiang Qing, you really do find any excuse to gamble!” Huang Xiu said helplessly.

“Just tell me, are you betting or not?”

As she spoke, Jiang Qing had already reached the door. She pushed it open and stuck one foot out.

“Let’s go! Count me in!” Zhong Zimei rushed over.

‘It should be fine to go out now…’ Huang Yong was starving. She got out of bed and joined the food expedition.

Thus, less than two minutes after the alarm stopped, all six of Room 606 left the dorm.

They weren’t alone. In no time, as they descended to the second floor, the corridors from floors one to six were packed with girls from every dorm coming out to see what was happening.

Clearly, everyone was curious about the situation.

“See? Everyone gets it,” Jiang Qing said, leaping down the stairs to the first floor.

“I—” She turned the corner, then suddenly froze. After a few seconds, she continued, “Hello, instructor!”

“Mm.” A cold voice came from the left side of the corner. Then a disheveled figure stepped out.

The female instructor’s face was covered in dust and exhaustion. Her standard-issue military uniform was tattered, stained with clumps of sand and dried blood.

The black blade in her hand was coated with a rusty-looking dark red, and the edge was chipped and jagged, as if it had struck something very hard.

Caught red-handed, Huang Yong’s face flashed with embarrassment. She rubbed her head and quickly said, “Instructor, you’ve worked hard!”

“It’s fine.” The instructor glanced at the six of them. “Are you going to eat?”

“Yeah!” Huang Yong nodded.

“Go ahead. The lockdown is over. I came to inform you to eat,” the instructor said calmly.

Hearing that the lockdown was lifted, Jiang Qing beamed triumphantly and shot a look back at Huang Yong.

As if to say: ‘See? I won the bet, didn’t I?’

‘What a gambler…’ Huang Yong’s mouth twitched. Then she asked curiously, “Instructor, how are the Bai Gu Yuan now?”

“The lockdown is over. It’s been suppressed.” The instructor nodded and urged, “Go eat first. You have military training at ten. Don’t waste time. After eating, head back to the dorm building and gather for training.”

Clearly, she didn’t want to elaborate. Huang Yong swallowed her curiosity and headed toward the cafeteria.

On the way, there were many people—mostly veteran soldiers who had just returned from battle.

They gathered in groups, chatting and laughing.

Some discussed how many void creatures they had killed; others talked about where to unwind later.

If not for their unwashed state, most would look just as haggard as the instructor.

It was hard to tell they had just come from a fight.

“Looks like riots in the Bai Gu Yuan are really common here. They’re used to it,” Huang Yong remarked.

Jia Qianrou, walking beside her, heard this and after a moment’s thought, joked, “Xiu Xiu, do you think Guang Hongfang will have us participate in suppressing the Bai Gu Yuan during training?”

“I think it’s possible,” Chi Xue said quietly. “That Guang Hongfang clearly does whatever he wants. It really seems like something he’d do.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Huang Yong shot Chi Xue a look.

“Our principal did the same. Saying that is like insulting our principal, too.”

Chi Xue and the others were speechless.

Their principal was also a troublemaker—having freshmen suppress contact points during the orientation ceremony. That was something he’d do.

Looking at it that way, he did have some similarities with Guang Hongfang.

Jiang Qing, ever the opportunist, jumped at the chance to bet. “Want to bet on it? Just a bottle of drink.”

“No bet. I’m a good student.”

Hearing Huang Mi’s resolute refusal, Jiang Qing pouted, clearly displeased.

She tried to rope in others, but no one was willing. Finally, she gave up and ate breakfast obediently.

After breakfast in the cafeteria, they wasted no time and quickly returned to the dormitory building.

They rested briefly and waited until ten o’clock when everyone had assembled. Then the female instructor led them to the training ground.

As with the first two times, the training was combined.

But due to the large number of people from the four major organizations, a separate venue had been arranged.

After walking about ten minutes, they reached the outskirts of Observation Point No. 1. Passing a row of tiny matchbox-like bungalows, a vast open space came into view.

The ground had been leveled, likely by a steamroller or similar heavy machinery. It was wide and flat.

White lines on the ground divided the area into four sections, one for each organization.

When Huang Mi and the other girls arrived, the boys from Tiandu University were already there.

Not far away, the Conquest Bureau had also gathered early.

Under the direction of a male and female instructor, the male and female groups of Tiandu University merged into a single formation. They began adjusting ranks according to height.

Huang Mi, at over 170 cm in shoes, was tall for a girl, but compared to the boys, she was much shorter.

So she ended up in the front few rows.

Standing in the formation, Huang Mi glanced around. The only familiar face among those nearby was Jia Qianrou.

Back in their dorm last night, they had discussed what might be arranged for this training.

They all agreed that while the content for this session wasn’t extensive, the first few days would likely involve basic, standard training.

And sure enough, when the training instructor Leng Qianhua arrived, everyone learned the day’s schedule: standing at attention, marching, and a series of command drills.

Such simple content immediately put everyone from the four organizations at ease.

After all, with their enhanced physical abilities and coordination, plus their high school training experience, this was a cakewalk.

Of course, some looked skeptical, suspecting a trap.

“Is it really this simple?” Huang Mi muttered in disbelief from within the formation.

She wasn’t a masochist who craved difficult, suffering-filled training, but she couldn’t believe that Guang Hongfang would arrange such easy content.

But when the female instructor began explaining the fundamentals of standing at attention and had them start, she had no choice but to believe it.

The old bastard Guang Hongfang actually didn’t cause trouble today. He didn’t give them any meaningless hardship!

Huang Mi really didn’t want to attribute it to a change of heart.

She chalked it up to their exhaustion from yesterday’s competition and the sleepless early morning, along with lingering injuries. He probably arranged it to avoid accidents.

After explaining the basics, the instructor had them stand at attention for ten minutes.

“Ten minutes. Too easy.”

Huang Mi smirked to herself, but her face remained expressionless as she stood perfectly straight.

In high school, she had also undergone military training.

But back then, she had been a boy and not a Special. Training had been quite painful.

Not like now—standing at attention didn’t bother her at all.

The female instructor patrolled the formation.

Occasionally, she would walk behind someone and forcefully press her knee into the back of their knee. If they bent, she would immediately shout.

“Keep your knees straight! Eyes forward!”

Huang Mi was prodded several times, but since she was always serious, she never got yelled at.

So, starting at ten o’clock, they trained all day.

They only stopped for lunch and a one-hour break. The day’s training ended at six in the evening.

This intensity would be high for normal college students, but for Specials like Huang Mi, it was just tedious.

Physically, they weren’t very tired.

Thus, they also arranged evening training, mainly focusing on military theory.

Of course, due to the special nature of Specials, battles mostly took place in contact points and virtual realms, where Special teams operated in coordination.

So the theory content was adjusted accordingly.

Topics included: hand signal communication, team management, and how to assign roles based on team abilities.

Then there was the part Huang Mi was most interested in: battlefield decision-making.

The painful lessons from the last competition were still fresh in her mind.

She absorbed the knowledge eagerly, as did everyone else. They all studied with intense focus.

Everyone knew that the competition wasn’t a one-time event.

This was a period of learning and improvement. The more skills they acquired, the better they might perform in future competitions.

And if a strong-versus-weak competition was held again, they might even use this knowledge to get revenge.

Thus, for three days, they trained basics during the day and studied theory at night.

By the end, everyone had mastered standing at attention, squatting, and marching—as if they had been drilled for months.

At the same time, those who had been seriously injured in the last competition gradually recovered over these days.

Many keen observers noticed this.

Soon, rumors began circulating among the organizations.

The fourth day of training might mark a new phase, with increased difficulty.

No one doubted this rumor.

Some even pessimistically speculated that Guang Hongfang, who had been absent for four days, might soon cause trouble again.

On the fourth day, at 7:50 in the morning, twenty minutes before training started, people from the four organizations had mostly gathered at the training ground, waiting for the session to begin.

“So, should we bet on whether Guang Hongfang will show up at the training ground?” Jiang Qing said excitedly.

“Loser does the laundry,” she added.

“No bet!”

In an instant, five people shook their heads in unison. They weren’t stupid enough to gamble with Jiang Qing.

“Hey, he’s here, he’s really here!” The formations from the Jurisdiction Bureau suddenly stirred.

Huang Mi and her roommates’ hearts skipped a beat. They turned to look.

Guang Hongfang was driving a large truck out of the base. Noticing the crowd’s gaze, he stuck his hand out of the cab, smiling widely, and waved.