Chapter 1 The Tide Turns

The crowd was stunned for a moment before they suddenly realized an even more serious problem: why would they quit? Unless they had better offers!

"Tch, those two guys didn't join Team One, did they?"

Zhou Nanyi nodded silently.

Ye Tong chuckled dismissively, not too surprised. Team One hadn't been idle lately, using various tricks to try and persuade her, but she hadn't paid them any attention. But she couldn't control others.

Meng Ye also heard this and shook his head. "Student Nanyi, please handle your affairs first before looking for me."

Meng Ye knew a little about this; it was the new principal's polishing plan, and he couldn't rashly interfere.

Zhou Nanyi felt a bit empty inside. She had been holding onto a sliver of hope that the professor could stand up for them. Ye Tong sensed this, but she hadn't held any hope at all. People were just helping out, and helping was a favor, not an obligation. People still had to rely on themselves.

The training room fell silent. They were already facing various challenges and needed a lot of training. Now that two people were gone, what were they going to do?

"Why don't we let Brother Hao fill in for a while?" Zuo Xiaotang suddenly said, seeing this as an opportunity.

Ye Tong rolled her eyes. "What are you thinking? You know he can't participate in official matches, and you want him to make up the numbers? Isn't that rubbing salt in his wounds?"

Zuo Xiaotang quickly waved his hand. "That's not what I meant."

The crowd fell silent again. Ye Tong stood up. "Looks like nothing's happening today. I'm going back."

Wu Zang and Zuo Xiaotang looked at Zhou Nanyi, and Zhou Nanyi nodded. "Let's call it a day."

In the empty training room, Zhou Nanyi sat alone, feeling lonely. There was a time when she was full of vigor, but now her team was on the verge of disbanding, facing one problem after another. She suddenly felt useless. Reason with people? If reason worked, what was the point of military academies?

She didn't blame Xue Gang and Tang Yu. People always strive for better opportunities, and Gao Yunfeng had given her a solid lesson. She didn't deny her own judgment; Gao Yunfeng's team was doomed because it lacked cohesion and wasn't pure.

But was her own team pure?

At S10, she saw the Moon team, the Mars team, and even the Titan team, their passionate morale, their unwavering determination, and even their unscrupulous pursuit of victory, all of which she envied. That's why she wanted a team like that.

When she received Long Danni's support, she felt blessed by fate, but what was it now...

It wasn't that she wasn't working hard, but she didn't know what to do anymore. Beg?

Even if people came back, what would the team be?

She wasn't just aiming to be a captain, but hoping that Tianjing Mech Academy would have a team full of fighting spirit, fighting for honor.

Perhaps she wasn't suitable to be a captain. Unconsciously, she walked to the EMP building, but Zhou Nanyi had no desire to fight today. She stood in the lobby, staring blankly at the big screen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Puppet God is online! After much anticipation!" Zhuang Zhou shouted enthusiastically.

Some people just have a burning buff as soon as they appear. Anyone who had seen the Puppet God's matches almost instinctively switched away.

And the EMP hall of Tianjing Mech Academy also switched to the Puppet's match live broadcast. Tianjing Mech Academy really didn't have any impressive live streams. High-level players like Gao Yunfeng were unwilling to publicly show their battles. At least Zhuang Zhou, who was somewhat related, was still a member of Tianjing Mech Academy.

Before long, the hall was full of people. Zhou Nanyi was also in the crowd, listening to everyone's discussions and enthusiastic expectations. This was the kind of cohesion she wanted, but couldn't achieve.

Her Skylink rang. It was a text message from Xue Gang apologizing, and also telling her that Huo Ying from Team One had been eliminated. In fact, he was just a bit irritable and reckless, but he was still capable. As a heavy mech warrior, he was definitely qualified.

Zhou Nanyi knew this, of course. This was an opportunity. She had once been a member of Team One. Huo Ying was a junior this year, and was definitely the most promising first position player in Tianjing Mech Academy, but his personality was also quite problematic. Even Gao Yunfeng couldn't control him. He often missed training and liked to give blind commands, a time bomb in the locker room. If it wasn't for S10, Gao Yunfeng would have kicked him out long ago, but he had waited until now to find a suitable replacement.

Zhou Nanyi opened her Skylink friend list. Who in the class could help in an emergency, who had higher EMP scores, or who was stronger in certain aspects? Who else?

As the class monitor, she had the friend list of the entire class. Most students would share their scores with her, so she knew that Li Hao was last, and Zuo Xiaotang's shooting accuracy was extremely high.

...?

1568 points???

Who was this? How could someone in her class have such a high score?

It hadn't been long since the start of the school year. Could it be Wu Zang?

...Why was there an S symbol next to it, especially eye-catching? This was only available to those who had obtained S-level test certification.

S-level?

...Li Hao?????

Li Hao entered the ranked match, stretched, and then put his hands together with a clap. "Amitabha, brother, give me a tough one, mamimamihong~~~~"

ID: Loma Chenko, Firecloud Mech Academy

Bang...

The Fire Man clapped his hands suddenly, startling Zhuang Zhou. Looking at the other party's posture... What, was he going to start a real fight?

"Brothers, brothers, open your eyes! The main course is finally here! I don't know if you've heard of the saying 'Five Families, Four Schools, Three Sects.' USE has the so-called Five Ancient Martial Arts Families, NUP has the Four Modern Mech Schools, and we ROM have the strongest Three Sects formed by adopting numerous advantages in harsh environments: the Ghost Martial Sect, the Wolf Martial Sect, and the Secret Martial Sect. Let me introduce to you all, Savuti, a freshman from Firecloud Mech Academy, a ROM supernova, heir to the Ghost Martial Sect, a supernova!" The Fire Man looked enlightened. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, finally someone of substance to kill this brat.

Don't blame the Fire Man for being smug. The Mars Three Sects were just too strong. Unlike the Earth's ancient martial arts families' low-key and reclusive style, the Mars Three Sects were extremely high-profile, and adopted strict disciple selection and inheritance. The Three Sects' influence on Mars was deeply rooted. When the solar system selected the Apocalypse Youngster Class, it was almost entirely dominated by the Three Sects.

As the young master of the Ghost Martial Sect, Savuti's level was top-notch. Although the Mars Three Sects were arrogant, they wouldn't exist without ability. Savuti was also one of the most anticipated Mars supernovas this year.

Savuti didn't expect to be matched with an internet celebrity, but his teammates quickly reminded him. He didn't care about the Puppet or anything, but recently even he had heard of a challenger from the backward Earth who was extremely arrogant, especially since he didn't respect the great ROM.

Zhuang Zhou also paused. A person's reputation was like a tree's shadow. The Mars Three Sects were indeed strong, and their fighting style was reckless. They were ruthless guys. He had also heard of this guy's name. He seemed to have beaten someone to death during training in the sect. He was quite brutal. Mars didn't reason like Earth and Moon.

But one shouldn't lose face, plus, he was a streamer... Who was he afraid of!

"Old Man, don't be smug. Haven't you suffered enough losses before? The Puppet God's strength doesn't need to be proven. There are also very strong supernovas among his opponents..."

"Little Zhuang, can this be the same? Although both are supernovas, there are differences." The Fire Man didn't hide his contempt.

The two streamers traded barbs, which wasn't entirely for show. It was more of the Martian mindset. How could Earth's old foxes compare to the great Mars?

The popularity of the two live streams had reached over nine million, indicating that they had considerable appeal, and the most important thing was the number of VIPs, that is, those who paid to watch the holographic view in the EMP system and received their live commentary. This was the most valuable.

It had exceeded one million.

This was considerable support. Generally, it was good if tens of thousands of people were willing to pay, and it was clear that everyone wanted to see this big battle. Savuti's popularity on Mars was much higher than the Puppet's. With the title of young master of the Ghost Martial Sect and supernova, he was highly anticipated. His previous battles were also full of crushing victories. Compared to Wu Zang's low-key personality, his personality was extroverted in the extreme, radical and flamboyant, nicknamed "Unruly."

At this time, the number of people with EMP scores above 1000 in the VIP audience was significantly higher. In terms of quality ratio, the high score ratio was definitely among the best, which meant that most military students believed that the Puppet's battles were very informative.

The Mars Mech and American Lions were almost fixed. As long as they could catch the live stream of the Puppet's match, they would definitely watch it, even Robbie, who had just been abused and was still in pain, but his second brother's match was a must-see.

The Ghost Martial Sect was a rather disgusting sect, known for its arduous physical training, emphasizing surpassing the limits of the human body, like iron bones and steel muscles, the kind of madmen who would die with their eyes open. They were good at using knives in terms of weapons.

"Savuti is also outstanding among the supernovas, at least stronger than Wu Zang."

"The basics are actually similar, both are very solid, but he is more ruthless than Wu Zang. Mars does better in pursuing the limits."

"Let's see how the Puppet responds. Ordinary people's matches are sparring, but matches with the Ghost Martial Sect are all life-threatening."

The match was suspended???

"Everyone, wait a moment, wait a moment, there's a situation, the official announcement, Savuti has requested real mode." There was a kind of pride and excitement in the Fire Man's voice. That's right, 100% real mode, easy to get hurt, but Martian men were not afraid.

In training, real mode was used most often by Mars, followed by Titan, and third by Moon. Earth used it the least. It was no news that Earthlings were afraid of death. Of course, from another point of view, it was called being steady.

Zhou Nanyi stood quietly in the crowd, listening to the noisy people around her. At this moment, everyone was definitely on the Puppet's side. The Martians were too CJ. What the hell, why could they use real mode whenever they wanted? Everyone knew that the Puppet had come up from the virtual area. His body's tolerance for pain was definitely not as good as the Martians. This kind of mode change was likely to cause psychological pressure and movement distortion.

Zhou Nanyi was also watching. If it were her, she would definitely refuse.

"Nanyi, do you think he'll agree?" Gao Yunfeng walked to Zhou Nanyi's side at some point.