Chapter 39: The Strategy

Could the team from Almystheus Academy actually eliminate Boca Academy and Nancy Academy?

When the representatives from the various academies participating in the survival competition heard this news, nearly all of them wore expressions of utter disbelief. Meanwhile, Frank and his group, who were anxiously waiting at the edge of the Mengxiang River for Vent’s message and preparing to ambush Almystheus Academy, were so shocked they almost spat blood.

They had worked so hard for so long, carefully lying in ambush in the forest, enduring bites from countless insects—all so they could defeat Almystheus Academy and gain both fame and fortune. Yet now, they hadn’t even had the chance to lift a finger before being eliminated so easily!

The ten-thousand-Imperial-shield bet—the entire savings Frank had accumulated over seven or eight years as a teacher—vanished in an instant like a puff of smoke. How could Frank not go absolutely berserk with rage?

“What the hell happened, Vent?” Frank’s furious roar quickly echoed through Vent’s communicator. In his outrage, Frank had even forgotten his previous efforts to flatter the Honor Duelist.

Meanwhile, Vent, still hiding in the bushes listening to Linoah’s enchanting moans, was startled by Frank’s yell. He hurriedly covered the communicator in his arms, fearing that the sound might alert Zhang Wen and Linoah on the other side of the bushes.

“What do you mean, what happened?” After confirming that the two people locked in their “heated battle” across the grass hadn’t noticed his side’s commotion, Vent finally gathered his courage, raised the communicator to his mouth, and whispered with great effort.

“Don’t play dumb! Weren’t you supposed to be watching Almystheus Academy’s group the whole time?” Frank bellowed, his voice filled with indignation.

“I was!” Vent still didn’t understand why Frank was so furious. His rude tone only made Vent even more annoyed. After all, he, Master Vent, had been stuck here suffering all this torment just for their sake! He hadn’t even started complaining yet, and they were already coming to vent their anger on him!

“Like hell you were!” Vent’s indifferent attitude only stoked Frank’s fury threefold. He raised his voice even higher, gritting his teeth as he began cursing, “Have your eyes grown on a dog’s ass? Almystheus Academy’s bunch just ambushed our backline’s Psychic Arts team, and now we’ve been completely wiped out and eliminated!”

“What?! That’s impossible!” Frank’s words shocked Vent so much that he even forgot to be offended by Frank’s language. If not for his concern about being overheard by the people behind the bushes, Vent might have jumped up right then.

“I clearly heard those two damn lovebirds… no… oh, damn it! I’ve been tricked!” It was only then that Vent suddenly realized something—he hadn’t heard anything other than Linoah’s enchanting moans for a long time!

As for that male teacher named Zhang Wen, aside from a few words at the beginning, he hadn’t made a sound at all afterward. Honestly, under any other circumstances, Vent would have already grown suspicious. But Linoah, that peerless beauty, had completely misled him. He hadn’t even considered that any man would leave such a stunning beauty, once she had removed her clothes, to go do something else!

Those two teachers from Almystheus Academy had taken advantage of this very judgment error to deceive him!

“Damn it!” Upon realizing he had been tricked, Vent’s first reaction was, naturally, extreme fury. However, just as his anger began to rise, a sudden chill ran down his spine. Because Vent suddenly remembered—if the enemy had used his judgment error to lure him in, didn’t that mean they had known from the very beginning that he was tailing them?

Then, the reason they hadn’t acted against him was likely because they feared alerting him and spoiling their plans. Now that Almystheus Academy had successfully eliminated their opponents, Vent’s usefulness was gone. Would those people really let him, the “tail” who had been eavesdropping for nearly an hour, leave comfortably?

As this thought struck Vent, he finally disregarded all concerns about being discovered and immediately sprang up in panic. However, just as his body left the ground, Vent suddenly felt an intense pain at the back of his neck.

“O-Oh no…” A single thought flashed through Vent’s mind before everything went black and he fainted.

Thud! Vent’s body fell straight back into the grass. And with the impact of Vent’s body hitting the ground, the previously blood-boiling moans from the other side of the bushes abruptly ceased.

“Too slow! Why did it take you so long to come back?” From behind the shrubs, Linoah slowly sat up, revealing a face flushed with shyness and a hint of irritation. As she did, a small portion of her smooth, bare shoulder came into Zhang Wen’s view.

Perhaps out of concern that Vent might be watching, Linoah still kept her arms across her chest, covering the charms that her tight, sheer bra could barely contain. However, at the moment when only her delicate shoulder was exposed, this motion added an unusually provocative allure.

“Hehe, if I were alone, I’d have been back ages ago. Unfortunately, according to the competition rules, teachers aren’t allowed to harm students. Carrying Amylis and the others, it was already hard enough for me to get back so quickly. Look, I immediately rushed back alone the moment I dealt with those two groups,” Zhang Wen casually replied to Linoah’s complaint with a smile.

“Oh? So you really just got back now? What a coincidence. Right when Vent received a call, you suddenly showed up?” Linoah gave Zhang Wen a cold stare.

“Alright, alright. I admit, I was eavesdropping for a bit. But come on, who could resist being captivated by how beautiful your voice sounds, Teacher Linoah?” Zhang Wen replied with a teasing grin, half-serious and half-joking.

“Hmph!” Linoah let out a soft snort, though her face couldn’t help but flush a deep, alluring red.

After all, Linoah was one of the three deputy leaders of the Mithril Secret Intelligence Bureau. Even in situations where she had to use her beauty to entice men, it was always her own trap. But this time, she had been forced to fully accept Zhang Wen’s plan. Although she hadn’t really suffered any major losses in Zhang Wen’s arrangements, Linoah still felt an unprecedented sense of helplessness and humiliation.

In truth, she didn’t mind the performance in front of Vent all that much. After all, he was just a fool who had fallen into their trap. Just like no one would care if their pet saw them changing clothes, Linoah didn’t care much about someone like Vent seeing her either. Besides, Vent hadn’t even gotten a proper look at her from start to finish.

But Zhang Wen was completely different!

It was Zhang Wen’s idea for Linoah to take off her combat suit and throw it away! And the reason he gave was that he needed to lead the team into battle later, so he couldn’t take off his own combat suit, leaving Linoah to do it instead. Then, that despicable bastard not only got to see her half-naked body after she removed her combat suit, but also deliberately made her moan a bit longer because he found it pleasant to hear!

And what made Linoah feel most humiliated was that she had known all this might happen, yet she couldn’t think of a way to refuse that guy! Zhang Wen had openly used her, and she not only failed to resist, but even went out of her way to cooperate with every demand that bastard made! Linoah had always hated being used more than anything else in her life!

Fine! Let him take a little advantage—it’s like pitying a poor soul about to die! Linoah thought bitterly to herself, her face wearing a mature and charming smile.

“Shh! Linoah, I really have to say, you’re the most captivating woman I’ve ever met,” Zhang Wen’s voice, half-teasing and half-serious, reached her ears again just as Linoah was fully concentrating on cursing Zhang Wen to an early grave.

At first, Linoah didn’t understand what was happening. When she finally came to her senses, she realized she had been so busy cursing Zhang Wen that she had forgotten she was still half-naked, and had stood up from the bushes like that!

Moreover, she hadn’t noticed that the strap on her right shoulder had somehow slipped off at some point. When she had been lying down, it hadn’t made much of a difference. But the moment she stood up, her full, magnificent breasts sprang halfway out of the small, sheer bra. At that moment, her act of covering the upper part of her chest with her arm looked more like a deliberate attempt to show off her ample cleavage to Zhang Wen!

“Ahh!” Upon realizing all this, Linoah let out a startled cry and hurriedly tried to cover herself. But as her arm moved, the bra strap that had still been hooked on a little bit slipped off entirely! Linoah had no choice but to cover the most critical areas with her arms, but she knew perfectly well that these actions wouldn’t help her cover up—only make her look even more embarrassing!

In all of Linoah’s life experiences, she had never felt so flustered before. When she finally looked up again, her face was already completely flushed red.

However, just as the humiliated Linoah braced herself mentally to endure another round of Zhang Wen’s teasing, she was surprised to find that Zhang Wen had already turned his back to her. At the same time, the pink combat suit she had taken off flew toward her and landed perfectly on her body, covering almost everything below her neck.

“Put your clothes on. I’ll take care of the rest,” Zhang Wen said in a calm voice. Linoah stood there motionless for a moment before hurriedly adjusting her underwear and putting her combat suit back on.

As the protective combat suit returned to her body, Linoah quickly regained her composure as the sharp and capable female teacher. “What are you planning to do with this guy?” Not long after, Linoah curiously asked Zhang Wen, who was now rummaging through Vent’s belongings.

“Hehe, this guy… I’ll just make him suffer a bit before letting him go. After all, he did help us out quite a bit this time,” Zhang Wen said with a teasing tone. “However, before letting him go, I still need to squeeze out the last bit of his usefulness. Ah… found it!”

As he spoke, Zhang Wen’s face lit up with delight as he pulled a thumb-sized communicator from Vent’s coat pocket.

“A communicator?” Linoah looked at Zhang Wen thoughtfully. Having witnessed Zhang Wen’s previous magical-like performance, Linoah could roughly guess what Zhang Wen was about to do next. However, the vague ideas forming in her mind made her feel a bit uneasy.

“Exactly. A communicator.” Zhang Wen smiled slightly and casually turned on the communicator’s switch.

“Hmph! What do you want now?” About half a minute later, an angry male voice finally came from the communicator.

“Hehe! What do you think? Mr. Frank. You still owe me a debt, and now the creditor has come knocking,” Zhang Wen said calmly, though the slight upward curl of his lips made Linoah feel a pang of pity for the male teacher named Frank on the other end of the communicator. Having spent so much time with Zhang Wen, Linoah had long since understood the meaning behind Zhang Wen’s small habit of curling his lips.

“Y-You’re… A-Almystheus Academy’s people?” Frank’s voice on the other end of the communicator immediately trembled like someone suffering from a stroke, making Linoah worry that he might panic and throw the communicator away.

“Exactly. I am a Physical Arts teacher from Team Three of Almystheus Academy.” Zhang Wen calmly admitted his identity with a smile.

“Y-You… Y-You want to collect what debt?” Frank’s voice continued to tremble. He was clearly terrified.

Under normal circumstances, if Frank had been caught cheating in the survival competition, the worst that could happen would be losing his job as a teacher. However, this time, he had cheated in the survival competition targeting none other than Almystheus Academy—the consequences could be catastrophic! If this were reported to Governor Temiso, that merciless butcher of a governor wouldn’t hesitate to make an example of him. If he were lucky enough to simply be beheaded on a chopping block, that would already be considered a blessing in his life!

“Hehe, you know exactly what I’m talking about, Mr. Frank. Colluding with bounty fighters to disrupt the survival competition—surely you understand what consequences this would bring if it were reported to the governor?” Zhang Wen said with a teasing smile.

“I… I…” Frank stammered for a long time, unable to even respond to Zhang Wen’s words.

“Damn it! You’ve already eliminated us, what else do you want?” Frank’s inability to respond finally made the Physical Arts teacher from Nancy Academy, who was standing beside him, lose his patience. He snatched the communicator and roared at Zhang Wen.

“Oh? Getting angry?” Listening to the voice full of anger from the other end, Zhang Wen sneered coldly, his tone suddenly turning razor-sharp, “Do you think being eliminated is enough to atone for your stupid actions, and that everything will be peaceful afterward? Don’t dream! You’ve openly cheated in a competition involving thirteen top imperial academies! Now, it’s my turn to be angry! If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in hell, then do exactly as I say! Got it, you idiot?”

“You… I…” Under the oppressive pressure of Zhang Wen’s overwhelming presence, the teacher from Nancy Academy, who was all bark and no bite, was frightened speechless. He seemed eager to throw out a few threats to save face, but his last shred of courage just wouldn’t surface.

On the contrary, Frank, who had just been pushed aside, immediately perked up when he sensed that Zhang Wen might be willing to spare him. With astonishing speed, he darted forward, snatching the communicator back from his companion’s hand.

“We understand! We understand completely! What do you need us to do? We’ll do anything,” Frank eagerly fawned over Zhang Wen, then covered the microphone and turned to pat his furious companion on the back. “We’re not doing this for ourselves. Think about the students who came here with us—they’re innocent. Would you really want to drag them into this too?” Frank declared solemnly, feigning moral righteousness.

“Hmph! Do whatever you want,” the Nancy Academy teacher muttered. Deep down, he was already terrified, but his refusal to back down was mostly due to his inability to swallow his pride. Now that Frank had given him a way out, whatever courage he had left vanished instantly.

“Good,” Zhang Wen nodded with satisfaction at Frank’s attitude. Naturally, Zhang Wen didn’t trust Frank in the slightest. However, he was confident that the sword of Damocles hanging over Frank’s head would ensure the man obeyed every word.

Next, Zhang Wen and Frank engaged in a several-minute conversation. Once Zhang Wen was satisfied and shut off the communicator, he gave Vent a hard kick.

“Get up. Don’t play dead. I know you’ve been awake for a while!”

“You… what do you want from me?” Vent opened his eyes in terror but stubbornly remained on the ground, as if that alone could somehow protect him from Zhang Wen. His current behavior reminded Zhang Wen of a creature on Earth called an ostrich.

“You heard what Frank and I were talking about just now, right?” Zhang Wen lazily asked again.

“I did,” Vent nodded nervously.

“Then you can probably guess what I’m going to do next?”

Vent hesitated briefly before finally nodding firmly.

“Good. You’re an important piece in my plan. You’d better start praying right now that my plan succeeds perfectly. Otherwise… the convicts in Cellblock Seven of Casares Prison will find your backside very interesting.” Zhang Wen’s sinister tone made Linoah shudder involuntarily. Vent, under Zhang Wen’s piercing gaze, turned completely pale.

Meanwhile, as Zhang Wen unabashedly threatened Vent in front of Linoah, several other teams led by Tarell and Gina had already launched fierce attacks against two other teams from Almysis Academy.

Originally, positions 3 and 32 were supposed to be quite safe on the first day. But the moment they fell into Almysis Academy’s hands, all sense of safety vanished.

From the start, both teams from Almysis Academy seemed to sense that other teams were approaching them. They tried desperately to mask the badge’s fluctuations using psychic techniques, hoping to lose their pursuers. Unfortunately, they hadn’t expected that behind each of them trailed a bounty hunter they could never shake.

Thanks to the intelligence provided by those two bounty hunter friends, Tarell and his allies always knew precisely the direction in which Almysis Academy’s teams were heading. As a result, within just a few hours, the two teams that had started from excellent positions were mysteriously caught in a pincer movement from three sides.

Just as Tarell, brimming with confidence, was about to issue the order to wipe out the trapped team before him, news reached his ears that one team each from Boca Academy and Nancy Academy had just been eliminated.

Although Boca Academy and Nancy Academy weren’t top-tier institutions in the Empire, they were both formidable middle-tier schools on Casares. In the annual survival competition, these two academies usually had one or two teams reaching the final sixteen or even the top eight. Considering that the top three spots were always dominated by Themis Academy, such results were enough to prove their strength.

Yet now, within less than six hours after the competition began, each of these academies had lost a team completely to Almysis Academy, a school that had always been at the bottom!

Thus, when this unbelievable news broke, not only were Tarell and his allies who knew the inside story stunned into silence, but even the two representative teachers from Almysis Academy were equally shocked into disbelief.

Just as both sides, equally dumbfounded, had unconsciously halted their fighting, Zack and Cloud, who were also caught in the encirclement, were the first to recover. Seeing their opponents’ stunned expressions, the two exchanged a glance of surprise and joy before grabbing their psychic teammate and rushing desperately toward the weakest point in the encirclement.

The three academies surrounding Almysis Academy varied in strength. The point Zack and Cloud chose to break through was precisely the weakest segment guarded by Nancy Academy’s second team. Unprepared for the sudden charge, the Nancy Academy students instinctively launched their habitual thrusting attacks the moment they saw Zack and Cloud approaching.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t realize that during the past two weeks of special training under Zhang Wen, Zack and Cloud had trained most intensively in countering thrusts. After enduring hellish drills in the arena, the two could now execute Zhang Wen’s techniques almost blindfolded.

In the blink of an eye, the two opponents blocking Zack and Cloud were effortlessly knocked flying. If not for the strict limitations on weapon power in the survival competition, those two Nancy Academy students would have been killed instantly.

Even so, the heavy blows left them completely unable to continue fighting.

“Run!” At this point, the rest of Almysis Academy’s team finally snapped out of their shock and rushed toward the gap Zack and Cloud had torn open.

“Stop them!” Tarell, equally startled back to his senses, barked furiously as he sprinted toward Nancy Academy’s position. At his command, the teachers and students from the other two academies also sprang into action. In an instant, the previously peaceful forest erupted into chaos.

The pressure from Tarell and his group forced Almysis Academy’s team to flee for their lives. However, with two of their martial artists defeated by Zack and Cloud, Nancy Academy’s team tried in vain to block the escape. Ultimately, Almysis Academy’s entire team managed to flee completely.