Midnight Ambush

The night was deep, the sky growing dark.

Only half an hour remained until midnight.

Huang Shuo, fully equipped, leaned against the window of the washing area behind the dormitory, peering out.

The square where the evening briefing was held was not far behind the dorm. From this angle, she could see the entire scene.

Now the searchlights on the square were off. The whole square, including the stage, was pitch black.

No教官, no garrison troops…

The girl’s gaze shifted to the road ahead.

The base road, paved with rubble and concrete, was empty of any figures.

Only the street lamps shone alone.

The entire Observation Point 1 seemed to be asleep.

Midnight was approaching, the Strength vs. Weakness Competition about to begin, yet Huang Shuo saw no action from the strong side.

“Something’s wrong…” she murmured.

Would Guang Hongfang be kind enough to wait until midnight, only to send the garrison after they left the dorm?

Without thinking, the answer was no.

The best time to strike was undoubtedly while they were in the dorm.

She remembered her two teachers’ evaluations of him: cunning, unscrupulous, insidious.

And from what she’d seen, Guang Hongfang was exactly that kind of person.

He played no by the rules, immediately pitting them, the Specials, against human soldiers.

He even boldly declared his rules were the only rules.

A guy like that would never miss any opportunity.

Also, why did Guang Hongfang go to meet me on the high-speed rail two months in advance? What was he thinking…

Huang Shuo frowned slightly.

While preparing her equipment, a spark of insight hit her—she suddenly remembered why Guang Hongfang looked so familiar.

He was the one who had scolded her and Ying Zhiyu on the train that day for being noisy and disrespectful.

Over two months had passed, and she had long forgotten about that incident.

But now she had to recall and ponder whether every word and action Guang Hongfang said that day had some deeper meaning.

It couldn’t be that he deliberately waited at the station to check me out because he planned to target me during the military training.

Huang Shuo gave a self-deprecating smile.

If that were true, then as an S-rank, she seemed to receive much more attention than she had imagined.

“Sister Xiu, we’re ready.” Chi Xue walked over from inside the dorm and whispered.

“Okay, no rush.” Huang Shuo didn’t turn around.

This dorm, and even the entire Observation Point 1, was the home turf of the present world garrison. As long as they weren’t stupid, they would all try to break out. So we shouldn’t be anxious; let others go first to draw fire.

The only one in our team who could serve as a frontliner, Zhong Zimei, was still a question mark in terms of strength.

So the best strategy was to avoid the sharp edge for now.

“Understood.” Chi Xue nodded, her hands unconsciously rubbing the anti-slip texture on the iron slingshot handle.

Though she had experienced two actual combats, facing the military and modern weapons was still new to her.

She couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

“What’s wrong?”

Hearing the somewhat heavy breathing behind her, Huang Shuo turned around with a smile. “Nervous?”

“Mm.” Chi Xue nodded, not hiding it.

“It’s just a simple competition. Don’t worry too much. We’ll definitely win.” Huang Shuo chuckled.

She was about to say more when her expression suddenly changed.

Although Guang Hongfang said they couldn’t leave the dorm until midnight, he didn’t say they couldn’t use their abilities in the dorm before midnight!

Seizing this loophole, she had already transformed a large number of soybeans into mutated ones and hidden them throughout the dormitory building to scout the garrison’s movements.

Just now, a mutated soybean sent her a message—it had detected human activity!

“What’s wrong?” Chi Xue noticed the change in Huang Shuo’s expression and quickly asked in a low voice.

“There seems to be movement on the roof. Let me check.”

Huang Shuo finished speaking, immediately closed her eyes, and through [Sen Luo], remotely controlled the mutated soybean that had detected the anomaly.

Under the stairwell door leading to the rooftop, a round mutated soybean trembled slightly, then its eyes became clear.

It shook its head, adjusting to the slight dizziness caused by the sudden change in perspective.

Then it looked up into the distance.

Large panels of blue-black photovoltaic glass were installed, reflecting the cold moonlight.

A huge water tower stood at the corner of the roof, with winding pipes extending from it into the ground or walls.

And near the intertwined pipes, several well-equipped garrison soldiers were crouching.

They seemed to be installing something.

“As expected… Guang Hongfang won’t let us off easy. He’ll launch a surprise attack right away.”

The mutated soybean’s yellow-orange pupils showed a glimmer of understanding, but quickly a hint of confusion.

What were these garrison soldiers doing?

Could they be setting up anchor points for descent? But I don’t see any load-sharing plates or other auxiliary ropes…

Because of the last [Dragon Pool] contact drop, she had specifically researched operations like parachuting and rappelling online.

Now she was a theoretical giant.

To gather enough intelligence, Huang Shuo decided to get closer.

The mutated soybean was smaller than a cockroach. Under cover of night, as long as it wasn’t exposed to strong light, it was virtually undetectable.

Dragging its slender limbs somewhat awkwardly, the mutated soybean crawled toward the water tower where the garrison soldiers were.

As it neared the stairwell, the view suddenly opened up.

Only then did Huang Shuo realize.

Not only near the water tower, but also outside the stairwell wall in a blind spot, two more garrison soldiers were installing rappelling gear.

Yellow-and-blue ropes were tied to pipes and protruding concrete, forming a web in the space.

Finally, they converged onto a metal plate shaped like a tiger with irregular holes—a load-sharing plate.

Huang Shuo’s mind flashed the name of that metal plate.

She now finally confirmed how the garrison would launch their attack after midnight.

By rappelling, directly entering the rooms to attack.

‘This position… is directly above my head. It seems Dorm 606 is probably the first target.’

At that moment, Huang Shuo suddenly realized.

Maybe she wasn’t randomly assigned to Dorm 606, but Guang Hongfang had prearranged it.

He planned to take her down first…

“He really thinks highly of me!” Huang Shuo sighed inwardly.

Just then, the garrison soldiers near the water tower seemed to have finished their installation and walked toward the rope setup.

They moved very quickly, but their soles must have been designed, because even this close, she could hardly hear footsteps.

Huang Shuo instinctively looked in that direction, her gaze passing between the legs of the approaching soldier.

A pile of yellow cylinders and rubbery things were connected by wires to a simple LED screen.

The screen showed a countdown starting from 30:00.

Huang Shuo: “?”

If she wasn’t mistaken, this thing was what they called… detonators?

“Holy shit! Are they playing this big?”

In the washing area, Huang Shuo’s sudden soft curse startled Chi Xue, Jia Qianrou, and the others nearby.

“What’s wrong?” Chi Xue asked hurriedly.

Huang Shuo opened her eyes, a trace of disbelief on her face. “You guys come with me first!”

Afraid of being overheard by the garrison on the roof, she led her roommates to the middle of the dorm.

“I just saw the garrison installing detonators on the roof. They seem to be planning to blow up the building and flip the table on us.” Huang Shuo said.

“Isn’t this a newly built dorm? Blow it up just like that?” Zhong Zimei was incredulous. “What a waste.”

“D-d-d-detonators? Bombs?” At the mention of detonators, Wen Zhan’s face turned pale with fear.

“No, if they were going to demolish it, blowing the roof wouldn’t work. They’d have to target the load-bearing walls.” Jia Qianrou analyzed calmly.

“Maybe it’s not real destruction. Like a drill—if we don’t evacuate within the countdown, we’re disqualified.” Chi Xue offered her judgment.

“That’s possible.” Huang Shuo said quietly. “I’m worried about that too. We have no room for error. If we lose just because of this, that would be really unlucky.”

“So after midnight, we need to move out of the dorm as quickly as possible. Prepare yourselves mentally.”

“I’m fine with anything.” Jiang Qingcui replied first, still wearing her fishing hat for some reason.

Dress was a personal choice, as long as it didn’t hinder movement, so Huang Shuo only glanced at her.

Then she shared with her roommates her discovery that the garrison was preparing to rappel from the roof to attack.

“They are right above us right now. If they really rappel in, we’ll be the first target. There won’t be any place to hide.” Huang Shuo lowered her voice.

“So what do we do? Change dorms?”

As Chi Xue spoke, her eyes uncontrollably ‘glanced’ toward the back window of the dorm.

She was worried that the next second they would break in and send her into a sleep like a baby.

Changing dorms was obviously a good idea to avoid the first wave of fierce attacks…

Jia Qianrou and the others looked at Huang Shuo, waiting for her decision.

Making decisions, especially important ones, was never Huang Shuo’s forte.

If possible, she would rather be an executor.

But at this moment, the only one who could inspire trust and make decisions was her alone.

Huang Shuo had to force herself to come up with a plan. After thinking for a while, she looked up.

“Changing dorms is fine, but I have another trick that might give the garrison a little surprise…”

….

11:59, the last minute before the Strength vs. Weakness Competition began.

Countless eyes were fixed on the wall clocks in the dormitories.

In that excited and tense atmosphere, the second hand turned both fast and slow.

Tick…

The second hand completed its final circle; the minute and hour hands simultaneously advanced, pointing straight at the 12 in the middle.

Almost at the same instant, the wall clocks in all dormitories turned to 00:00.

No broadcast, no announcement—the Strength vs. Weakness Competition had begun!

“Move!”

The same command echoed in different dorms. Some shouted, some whispered, some laughed out loud.

Different personalities created different scenes.

The male dormitory erupted into chaos instantly—dense footsteps and voices nearly boiled over.

The female dormitory was a bit better, as they were too concerned about face to let out excited shouts.

Those who decided to strike first and rush out at the fastest speed were practically counting down and bursting out of the dorms.

Dormitories on the first two floors had the advantage—they could jump down without injury.

For higher floors, besides taking the stairs, the only option was using abilities.

Someone flipped out from the fifth floor, summoning a gust of wind to help themselves and their roommate land softly.

Someone grew wings from their back, grabbing a roommate like a string of coins, and that roommate grabbed another.

With a flap of their wings, they glided down from the sixth floor—each showing their unique skills.

The two dormitory buildings housing all the Specials of Daxia this year erupted with a variety of abilities.

The dazzling scene was like a movie, with special effects so extravagant that even Hollywood would calculate costs per second.

“Let’s go.”

Jing Shuai shouted, leading the way out.

Prideful but not foolish, he deliberately waited a beat to give himself some buffer time.

Scorching heat radiated from his body surface, and his clothes instantly became dry, as if ironed.

His eyes turned red.

To prevent accidents, he directly activated his ability [Fire Body].

Jing Shuai’s dorm, 203, was on the second floor. Such a height was easy even for ordinary people with skill to jump over.

Let alone a Special.

With a push of his right hand, he vaulted over the railing gracefully, bending his knees upon landing to absorb all the impact.

After slowing down slightly, he ran off in large strides.

His friends, determined to act with him, quickly followed.

Within half a minute of midnight, over a hundred people had already rushed out of the two dormitory buildings, scattering in all directions.

The fastest runners had already covered a hundred meters, becoming small black dots on the street.

“Indeed, with my speed, I can completely catch everyone off guard.”

The farthest runner was Bei Hao from the Bureau of Administration. He narrowed his eyes, feeling quite smug.

His ability was [Overclocking]—which could significantly increase the frequency of all his actions.

Like now.

By increasing his heart rate and stride frequency, he pushed his speed far beyond human limits.

“If not for my innate void energy concentration being too low, I should have been at Tiandu University with my ability…”

Bei Hao narrowed his eyes.

“In this Strength vs. Weakness Competition, I will definitely perform extremely well and make Tiandu University regret not admitting me!”

Not being admitted to Tiandu University was the pain of his life.

This competition didn’t force direct confrontation; with his ability, he could easily survive until the end.

So he resolutely chose to go solo.

Instead of forming a baby bus with those roommates whose abilities were utterly useless!

Past this street, right turn, then run another hundred meters, and I’ll be out of Observation Point 1.

Bei Hao rehearsed the route while increasing his void energy output, further boosting his action frequency.

His hands and feet became a blur of afterimages as they moved back and forth.

From a distance, the afterimages even seemed to merge, as if Bei Hao had grown several extra feet and hands.