The Hunt and the Agreement

Indeed, with three days remaining in the simulation, our goal is clear: eliminate as many obstacles as possible!” Huang Xiu declared fiercely.

Today, finishing off the hunting squad should have been a cause for celebration.

But who would have thought they’d run into that Gu Yushu, constantly stepping on her landmines!

‘Hmph, confessing his feelings right off the bat. Disgusting!’ Huang Xiu spat inwardly.

This was the first time she’d met someone so self-righteous.

Let alone whether she’d ever marry into anything.

Even if, just if, she were to marry someone, it would never be this arrogant fool.

With so many people around her, she’d most likely choose Yun Ning.

After all, he was far more gentle and considerate than this guy, understood her, knew her past.

He even played games with her!

Someone with shared hobbies really scored extra points, okay?

Come to think of it, he would actually be a great marriage prospect…” Huang Xiu stroked her chin.

For some reason, she recalled that erotic dream from the other night…

****

Defeating the joint hunting squad didn’t mean Huang Xiu’s simulation would be smooth sailing from then on.

On the contrary, the difficulty and danger only escalated.

Because the Conquest Bureau had started to make their move!

Even before Huang Xiu clashed with the joint squad, they had been gathering people overtly and covertly.

With specialized training, they quickly established unified command and even formed organizational structures.

Taking advantage of the window right after Huang Xiu’s group finished fighting, when their void energy hadn’t recovered, they launched a fierce attack.

Seeming to seize this opportunity to eliminate Huang Xiu, the leader of Tiandu University, right then and there.

‘Seriously, are these guys copying Guang Hongfang? So cunning and insidious!’

As evening approached, the sky darkened.

Huang Xiu dashed swiftly through the woods, her teammates and several other squads following closely.

Under the Conquest Bureau’s relentless pressure and encirclement, they were forced to tighten their formation.

“Hold on a little longer until our void energy recovers. Then we’ll be evenly matched with them.” Jia Qianrou squinted.

She didn’t appreciate the Conquest Bureau’s tactic of kicking someone when they were down.

“Aaaah, I just want to charge over and take them out!” Wang Xiaotao howled, electricity crackling over her body before fizzling out like a dead battery.

“Sister Tao, you’d better save your strength. Without your charge, your ability is half useless.”

A member of Squad 403, where Wang Xiaotao belonged, teased.

“Damn those opportunists!” Wang Xiaotao ground her teeth.

“Don’t worry, everyone. As long as I’m here, they won’t catch us in these woods.”

Deep in Huang Xiu’s eyes, white light flickered continuously—she was performing extreme micro-manipulation, controlling mutated plants while running to block the pursuing Conquest Bureau forces.

“Relax, Sister Xiu, we all believe in you!” Wen Zhan turned into a cheerleader.

The chase went on until late into the night.

Only when a new rule refreshed—one that assumed they were traveling—did the Conquest Bureau reluctantly retreat.

Stiffness—Leg Stiffness: From now on, no one may bend their knees.

This rule was simply ridiculous!

Huang Xiu walked out of the Conquest Bureau’s grasp with sheer willpower.

Stiff as a robot.

With legs unable to bend, their pace was absurdly slow.

“Xiu Xiu, we can hop!” Jiang Jing cheerfully pressed down her fisherman’s hat and started hopping.

Huang Xiu watched her, feeling like she was looking at a fox trying to dig into the ground to catch prey.

‘Has her fox-ification affected her nature too?’

She shook her head, tried hopping herself. It was a bit better, but more tiring.

It was only early morning now; the next rule change wouldn’t come until five.

Jia Qianrou shook her head, stiffly pacing around.

She couldn’t hop—her chest was too large, making it exhausting.

“How about we find a place to rest? The Conquest Bureau probably won’t chase us here.”

Huang Xiu agreed with Jia Qianrou’s suggestion.

She had to return to the birch forest of her birthplace tomorrow afternoon for a duel with Gu Yushu.

Right now, she really needed some good rest.

Of course, most people agreed. After all, psychics weren’t made of iron; they hadn’t slept well in days, fought a big battle in the afternoon, and been pursued nonstop. Everyone was exhausted.

More than twenty people found a spot near a cliff and set up camp to rest.

To conserve void energy, Huang Xiu didn’t grow a tree house but wove several blankets from mutated vines for everyone to sleep on.

“Here are some fruits I created. Eat a few each to replenish your strength as much as possible.”

Huang Xiu distributed watermelons and other fruits she had mutated to everyone present.

Except for Jia Qianrou and a few others, everyone else was tasting these watermelons for the first time, and their eyebrows shot up in astonishment.

“Wahh, Mom, I’m in love! I’ve finally found my dream melon!”

“Such rosy flesh, such tender juice—it’s amazing! If those Koreans next door saw this, they’d probably cry!”

“Wahh, I’m crying too! It’s so delicious!”

“Sister Xiu, just say the word and we’ll pool money to set up an orchard for you!”

“Alright, alright, thanks!” Huang Xiu was both amused and exasperated by their exaggerated reactions.

She understood them, though. When she first tried the mutated watermelon, she was so stunned she ate two in a row.

It just went to show that [Sen Luo] was truly unmatched when it came to cultivating delicious fruit.

After all, the ability was just too unreasonable!

A bit of banter later, most people were tired and began to sleep.

Once everyone was asleep, Huang Xiu stiffly rose from her vine bed.

Hopping, she made her way into the woods.

She looked left and right, making sure her figure was completely hidden by the bushes, not a trace exposed.

She took out a black plastic bag and changed her sanitary pad.

‘Calculating the time, it should be now. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow with blood all over my pants.’

Huang Xiu was taking precautions.

Wrapping the plastic packaging back into the bag, she returned to camp and stuffed the bag into her pack.

Then she flopped down and fell asleep.

****

On the fourth day, just as dawn broke, everyone was woken by the rule that changed at five.

[Something for Nothing—Manna from Heaven: From now on, airdrops will take place across the entire area.]

“Airdrop?” Huang Xiu asked sleepily, not yet processing what was being dropped.

A second later, a humming sound came from above. The tree canopy bent low, leaves rustled and danced, and some were blown off, landing on Huang Xiu’s head.

“Look! Drones!” someone shouted.

Huang Xiu looked up and indeed saw a quadcopter drone the size of a car hovering overhead. A huge box hung beneath it.

Zzz… The box door suddenly opened.

In an instant, yellowish-brown disc-shaped objects rained down like droplets. One landed right on Huang Xiu.

She picked it up—it was a naan bread sprinkled with sesame seeds!

“Whoa, it’s still steaming! Did they just bake it?” someone exclaimed.

Huang Xiu took a bite. Not bad, actually.

‘It’s rare for Guang Hongfang to be so generous. Wait, is he planning something shady, hence the generosity?’ she teased.

“Probably not. The simulation ends the day after tomorrow, and most teams must be eliminated by now. What trick could Guang Hongfang still pull?” Jia Qianrou shook her head.

Huang Xiu thought about it. True. If he wanted to cause trouble, he would have done it long ago.

‘Forget it. I’ll just take this as breakfast and rations.’

Huang Xiu stood up and called everyone to pick up the naans.

After days of eating fruit and fish, she was craving some carbs.

There were plenty of naans this time. After picking them up, they counted—each person could have four pieces. Enough to last until the simulation ended.

Having naans was far better than eating half-raw stuff they prepared themselves. Everyone happily wiped them clean and stuffed them into pockets or bags.

Seeing this, Huang Xiu felt it was time to counterattack against the Conquest Bureau.

“Since everyone is well-rested, it’s time to teach those old guys a lesson!” she declared loudly.

Though her words weren’t particularly inspiring, given their shared experience yesterday, everyone felt the same. They gritted their teeth and raised their hands in response, vowing to avenge the pursuit.

“Then let’s move out!” Huang Xiu’s eyes flashed coldly. “Let them taste the might of Tiandu University!”

Thus began a counter-encirclement operation. Despite the Conquest Bureau’s good command, high discipline, and coordination, their sheer strength couldn’t match Tiandu University’s elite students. Especially now with Huang Xiu in top form leading them. Perhaps because of Guang Hongfang, Huang Xiu showed no mercy at all.

She went straight for the combo of tree giants and mutated poison flowers. One Conquest Bureau squad hadn’t even seen the mutated plants before they were poisoned and twitching on the ground.

But as Huang Xiu used her mutated poison flowers more frequently, the Conquest Bureau took notice. They began to guard against it and prepared countermeasures. Suddenly, the effect of the poison flowers plummeted, sometimes even backfiring when a wind-ability user blew the poisonous pollen back, causing friendly fire.

Psychics were not like Void creatures; they were smart, especially trained ones.

Huang Xiu wasn’t discouraged by the reduced effectiveness. After all, intelligence was what put them at the top of the food chain.

If the Conquest Bureau hadn’t caught on after several successful strikes, she would have doubted their training. But even if they caught on, it was too late—they had missed their best chance. Now, with our strength rising and theirs falling, victory was certain.

Huang Xiu sat at the rear, remotely commanding the entire counter-encirclement battle.

So she saw it clearly.

The Conquest Bureau’s decline grew as Tiandu’s students became increasingly adapted.

It was inevitable.

After all, the Conquest Bureau’s advantage lay in good quality and coordination.

And those abilities improved most rapidly in high-intensity combat.

How do you turn a rookie into a veteran?

Simple: let them crawl through battle a few times. As long as they survive, even the dumbest becomes a veteran.

That was the point of the simulation.

It let new students from various institutions form teams and fight, transitioning from ordinary people to psychic warriors in a controlled setting.

Huang Xiu could feel her own growth over these four days of competition.

Not only were her combat judgments sharper and reactions faster,

but she was also beginning to understand how to command and control a squad, analyzing the battlefield.

‘With Chen Molian, Jing Shuai, and the others joining, the battlefield situation is stable. My presence here doesn’t matter much now. So it’s time to leave and prepare for the duel.’

Huang Xiu looked up at the sky.

It was almost noon, about three and a half hours until the next rule change.

If she headed to the birch forest now, the timing would be just right.

“Azhan, I’m going to meet Gu Yushu as agreed yesterday. Want to come with me?” Huang Xiu turned to ask.

Whoosh!

A green-haired head popped out from the shadows.

“I’m coming! Wherever Sister Xiu goes, I go! I said I’d protect you!” Wen Zhan said seriously.

“Alright!” Huang Xiu smiled, picked up her tablet to check the map, and turned to head back the way they came.

****

Around three in the afternoon, outside the birch forest.

Huang Xiu, who had been walking all the way, stopped to catch her breath.

She patted the dust off her pants from jogging, then looked around.

On a large rock outside the birch forest, Gu Yushu sat cross-legged, chin in hand, daydreaming.

He seemed to sense Huang Xiu’s gaze, turned his head, and smiled broadly.

“Hello, classmate Xiu. You look beautiful today. Have you considered marrying me?”

“Go to hell!” Huang Xiu threw a mutated thorn grenade at him.

Gu Yushu easily backflipped, landing behind the boulder.

He let the grenade explode, covering the rock in thorny vines, then stepped out again.

“Say that again, and I’ll fight you right now!”

Huang Xiu leveled her spear, her face dark.

“Alright, I’m sorry, classmate Xiu!” Gu Yushu said apologetically. “I hope you don’t have too bad an impression of me.”

“It’s already terrible!” Huang Xiu retorted.

“Also, let’s start now. I don’t want to wait any longer!”

“How about we wait for the rule refresh? If it’s disadvantageous to you, we can reschedule.” Gu Yushu said seriously.

“How considerate of you!” Huang Xiu replied casually, her tone less aggressive than before.

Hearing that, and remembering the bizarre rules earlier,

she had a feeling that Gu Yushu seemed eager for her to win.

‘Is it just my imagination?’

Huang Xiu chuckled inwardly. How could anyone want to lose in a match that proves themselves?

Probably just Gu Yushu’s eccentric behavior giving her that false impression.