Chapter 451-460

Chapter 451: Dated Then Broke Up


"Graduate from the university?"


Yu Bao'er widened her eyes. "My goodness. You're going to keep this an underground relationship for a few years? Incredible."


She opened her mouth and was about to say something not too pleasant before her eyes rolled as she held herself back.


Gu Qingjiu knew what she wanted to say upon seeing that expression. With a sigh, she said, "You want to ask what's going to happen if the Chief Instructor and I were to break up, right?"


Yu Bao'er vigorously shook her head. "That wasn't what I was thinking."


"That's perfectly normal. After all, there's a huge gap between the Chief Instructor and me."


Gu Qingjiu gazed at the ceiling and fell into deep thought. "I've thought about this matter myself. But I hadn't considered much about the future. What I plan to do is take one step at a time."


"That's right, you're still young."


The minute these words escaped her mouth, Yu Bao'er felt it sounded weird.


Did that sound like she could find another person after she broke up with the Chief Instructor?


Wasn't she cursing Gu Qingjiu in a way?


She felt like slapping herself!


"You have nothing to fear. I feel that someone like the Chief Instructor takes such things quite seriously."


After all, many women had tried to seduce the Chief Instructor back when they were in the troops, but he didn't even spare any of them a gaze.


On the other hand, he treated Gu Qingjiu differently. Didn't this mean she was special to him?


"Of course."


Having interacted with him for so long, Gu Qingjiu could sense what sort of a person He Niancheng was.


"Then don't be scared. The future is still far away, what's most important is to live in the moment. You won't stand to lose a premium-grade man like the Chief Instructor!"


Yu Bao'er was a person that took things as they came, and right now, she was giving Gu Qingjiu advice with the same attitude she held towards life.


Gu Qingjiu cast a sideways glance at her. "You sound like I'm not good enough for him."


Of course, she was aware that there was a gap between her and the Chief Instructor.


But then again, she still did have a lot of admirers.


It was just that there was nothing she could do about the fact that her boyfriend was even more outstanding than she was.


Yu Bao'er hurriedly hugged Gu Qingjiu with a smile. "Of course not. Our Xiao Jiu'er is so beautiful. It's the Chief Instructor's good fortune to fall for you!"


Gu Qingjiu laughed out loud. "Alright, alright. Don't go overboard with the praises."


Yu Bao'er giggled. "That means the person you were on the phone with just now was the Chief Instructor? Aiyoh, I really can't tell. For you to be smiling so sweetly, the Chief Instructor must be passionate on the inside despite his cool and calm appearance."


Gu Qingjiu was speechless.


Thinking back on the Chief Instructor's behavior recently, perhaps she was right.


But Gu Qingjiu felt that they were more or less done with this topic, so she pulled Yu Bao'er's arms and said, "Enough about me. What about you?"


She only asked because Yu Bao'er didn't look like one to stay still.


Yu Bao'er's eyes rolled about, and after a momentary silence, she said, "Did you know I dated your older cousin for a while? Then we broke up."


"..."


How dramatic.


Before she entered the troops she had known that Yu Bao'er and her cousin had exchanged amorous glances, but she hadn't expected that the two of them would date each other.


But.


"You broke up so fast?"


Most importantly, that older cousin wasn't very close to her.


You could see it from how Gu Qingjiu wasn't even aware of her older cousin dating Yu Bao'er.


She was shocked by this revelation.


Since Gu Qingjiu only found out after the two of them broke up, she figured they had dated for a really short time.


Chapter 452: Young Lady, This Is a Very Dangerous Thought


Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios


"At the start, I felt a sense of novelty, but subsequently felt that our way of thinking was incompatible."


Yu Bao'er pouted. She only put it more subtly because he was Gu Qingjiu's cousin.


But there wasn't anything that she couldn't say.


"Although he and I weren't the serious type, our views in certain aspects differ too greatly. We were just fooling around, and it wasn't a serious relationship. It's not surprising that we broke up."


A person with the same thinking as Yu Bao'er is a bit difficult to understand, and it's only when you try to know them more would you be able to understand.


Although Gu Qingjiu didn't have a deep understanding of Yao Yanshen, she roughly knew that her cousin and Yu Bao'er both were the fun-loving types.


It wasn't a good thing for two people like that to get together.


"Eh, Qingjiu, let me ask you a personal question."


Yu Bao'er suddenly acted all mysterious, looking embarrassed. It was an expression rarely seen on her.


"Since you and the Chief Instructor are dating, has he thought about... having sexual relations with you?"


Gu Qingjiu was speechless.


She had nothing to reply to that.


Yu Bao'er's question was too aggressive.


Although Gu Qingjiu's psychological age wasn't young anymore, the furthest she went in her past life was only kissing.


She wasn't that open-minded in such matters.


But now that she was facing the Chief Instructor, whom she was truly fond of, she didn't resist it that much.


But the Chief Instructor had mentioned that he wouldn't touch her until she settled her matters.


Hence, come to think of it, she wasn't clear if the Chief Instructor ever had such a thought.


Wasn't it said that no men could hold back the urge?


But just last week, they slept in the same room and nothing happened!


The Chief Instructor didn't even touch her fingers in the room.


So, she nodded. "I don't know. But we're not at that stage yet."


"Good to hear that. Even if it's the Chief Instructor, I feel that you're too young. You ought to give this matter some thought. But if you like the Chief Instructor it's fine. Because I'm this type. Those boyfriends that I dated, I only dated them for fun. Hence, I wasn't willing."


Yu Bao'er sounded a little glum as she spoke. "Don't judge me by the way I look. My family is very strict with me. I'm guessing I became somewhat rebellious before I entered the troops because I was brought up so strictly. I had dated quite a few guys before, and some had asked to have sexual relations with me. I didn't use to care about all these, but sometimes I'd still be scared.


"Having seen so many of those news reports, I'm afraid that once I let loose I'll become one of those people seen on the news.


"Also, my older brother keeps saying that if he finds out something wrong with me, he'll break my legs together with my parents."


Gu Qingjiu was speechless.


All parents were the same.


As were older brothers.


Gu Qingmo had said the same thing when he learned of her dating the Chief Instructor.


That if something happened, he would break Gu Qingjiu's legs.


He had said the same thing.


But she was different from Yu Bao'er, because her Gu parents were usually quite lax with her.


Of course, in the past, she was so ugly that she was despised, that she didn't even have the chance to do something wrong.


Now that she had the opportunity, someone tied her down to a relationship.


But she was willingly tied down.


But Gu Qingjiu didn't know why Yu Bao'er suddenly brought this up.


Yu Bao'er bowed her head and thought for a moment, then looked up again with a lewd smile. "Actually, I want to find someone and have a taste of what it's like."


Gu Qingjiu was speechless.


Young lady, this is a very dangerous thought.


Chapter 453: Qi Xiaoran's Mission


Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios


"Be careful, your older brother might break your legs."


Gu Qingjiu threatened Yu Bao'er.


With an aggrieved look, she said, "I'm just curious. It's not like I'm going to do it."


"Alright, alright. Why do you keep thinking of this nonsensical stuff all day long? Hurry up and go to sleep. After we go out and have fun tomorrow, I'll have to return to school and won't be able to come out in the next two weeks. You won't get to see me even if you want to."


"Aiyah. Alright, alright."


Yu Bao'er replied, then shrunk into her blanket and closed her eyes to sleep.


As her blanket was fit only for one person, she whipped out another one for Gu Qingjiu to use.


Both thus peacefully drifted off to sleep with a blanket laid over each of them.


...


Sunday afternoon, Gu Qingjiu and Yu Bao'er had a great time. Then Gu Qingjiu took the train back to the military school.


Before returning to the dormitory, she went to the canteen to eat first, as she usually did.


When she returned to the dormitory, she prepared to take a shower before going to see the Chief Instructor.


Both Gu Qian and Chu Lian were in the dormitory, but Qi Xiaoran wasn't around.


After Gu Qingjiu came out from a shower, she asked in passing, "Qi Xiaoran hasn't returned?"


"Nope."


Gu Qian and Chu Lian, who was playing chess on their phones, waved a hand upon hearing Gu Qingjiu's question.


Gu Qian then asked Gu Qingjiu, "Qingjiu, what exactly is this Qi Xiaoran doing? Why is she not around all the time yet the school doesn't seem to care about that?"


Qi Xiaoran frequently wasn't in school.


Although she didn't lag on her training and lessons much, she could never be seen once the weekend arrived.


Sometimes, she even spends the night outside on Mondays and Fridays.


This was incredulous considering they were in a military school—a place that enforced strict discipline.


Although nobody asked, the fact that even the school's leaders were letting her be meant that Qi Xiaoran was an incredible character.


Gu Qian usually didn't interact with Qi Xiaoran, because she felt that the latter was too cold and aloof.


She was even more aloof than Qingjiu, and it made one not dare to go near her.


Usually, Gu Qingjiu was the only person who would interact with Qi Xiaoran.


Gu Qingjiu paused. "I don't know either. I've never asked her about such matters."


"You do seem like the sort who wouldn't ask about such stuff."


Gu Qian propped her chin up with her hand. "I'm only asking. I feel that this Qi Xiaoran is someone incredible that even the leaders never bother about this matter."


"Since they don't bother with this, it means they allowed for it to happen. Asking this question means that you're not smart enough." Chu Lian rolled her eyes.


Gu Qian flared up. "You're scolding me again. You only know how to scold me!"


"How was I scolding you? I was merely stating a fact, not scolding you..."


"You're scolding me again. Don't think I really can't tell! Chu Lian, I feel that if we go on like this, we'll fall out sooner or later. Why don't we just fall out for good now?"


"Okay."


"Hmph, let's fall out for ten minutes. Don't talk to me!"


The duo started squabbling again. Looking at them, Gu Qingjiu shook her head helplessly.


Then she walked out preparing to head to He Niancheng's office.


On the way, she considered Qi Xiaoran's matter for a moment.


In the past, she had indeed never asked Qi Xiaoran about such matters.


Other than the time Qi Xiaoran accidentally had a fever and got injured, she always appeared extremely mysterious.


The more problematic one was perhaps her older brother.


Thinking back to the time Qi Xiaoran fell unconscious, and the words she heard coming from Qi Xiaoran's mouth, Gu Qingjiu's curiosity was finally piqued.


As a 'dark hand', what sort of missions did Qi Xiaoran usually partake?


Chapter 454: Even If You're Going to Hell, I'll Go on Your Behalf Before That Happens


In an ordinary chain hotel in the capital.


Qi Xiaoran, whom Gu Qingjiu was thinking of, was there at that same moment.


With her upper body naked, she was lying sprawled on the white bedsheets.


Although her skin was a bit more tanned, it was still lustrous and exuded a wild beauty.


With her eyes closed, she appeared alluring as her figure sunk deeply into the large, white bed.


Her lower body was merely covered with a thin blanket, and it exuded a mysterious and hazy aesthetic.


She seemed to be asleep, for she hadn't moved an inch for half a day.


The bathroom door behind was pulled open, and Qi Yefan came out with a bath towel draped over him.


His gorgeous face was distinct one moment and indistinct the next amid the fog, giving off a devilish charm that made one lightheaded.


He had a tall and well-built figure, as well as perfect eight-pack abs. His V-cut abs could be seen plunging into that bath towel wrapped around him.


The water droplets glistening on his body rolled into the bath towel along the V-line, making him look sexy and amorous.


It made one fantasize endlessly.


Staring at the figure on the bed, a passionate feeling surfaced from the depths of his eyes.


"Ranran."


His voice was deep and seductive, making the person on the bed move slightly.


Qi Xiaoran opened her eyes and with a shaky voice, shouted, "Brother."


Qi Yefan walked over and reached his hand into the thin blanket. He said in a deep and raspy voice, "At times like this, I prefer you to call me Yefan."


"Brother..."


Qi Xiaoran's body quivered under the blanket. With a muffled voice, she continued calling him Brother.


She buried her head into his arms, as though she didn't wish to face him.


Qi Yefan's gaze turned dark, and his usually dark and depressed eyes exuded a dangerous excitement.


"Up to you. Just call me whatever you please."


"Brother, the higher-ups found out about me and you. They asked me to watch out, and not to come out so frequently, else it'll attract the attention of other influences."


Qi Xiaoran's voice came from under his arms, carrying an unknown fog with it.


As Qi Yefan listened, a hint of crazed look flashed across his eyes, and following that, a killing intent arose out of nowhere.


"You know I don't like to hear these words."


He pulled open the blanket and pinned himself over her. "Such days won't go on for too long. Just bear with it for now."


"I'm not bearing with it..."


Qi Xiaoran lifted her head, her face wearing an abnormal paleness, and Qi Yefan's gaze was reflected in her eyes.


The usual gloominess and bloodthirst surfaced in that gaze.


"I... I killed someone..."


Her words made the atmosphere in the room tense up.


He could feel she was frightened just from her trembling tone of voice alone.


"Although I know that person is guilty and although I know that I did the right thing, the instant I fired the bullet, I indeed didn't know what I was doing."


Only in front of him would she reveal such a panicked expression. "Brother, I feel so scared. I fear that I won't be able to control myself—that I won't be able to stop."


"You'll be fine."


A hint of pain flickered across Qi Yefan's eyes.


His arms weaved under Qi Xiaoran's armpits and flipped her over, pulling her into his embrace.


Her body instantly turned softer, yet at the same time, it was stiff to the max.


He laid a hand over her smooth back. "You have me. I'll be here for you."


Following his gentle words of comfort, the body underneath gradually eased.


Sensing the change in her body, he propped his arms and slowly penetrated her body.


With his eyes closed, his kiss glided past her hair and the corners of her eyes.


"Ranran, don't be scared. Even if you're going to hell, I'll go on your behalf before that happens."


Chapter 455: Schoolwide Competition


After a leisure weekend passed, the tough training resumed.


Last week, Gu Qingjiu had carried out intensive training for Feng Yumeng, and this week it was time for the schoolwide competition.


This schoolwide competition would take place once every two months. To this group of new students, it was their first time taking part.


The categories were combat, shooting, physical fitness, and formation drills.


Among them, other than formation drills being the only group event, the other three were individual.


But for combat, group points would be the basis of the judgment.


That was why Feng Yumeng was super nervous.


There was no time to rest during the weekend since the competition would take place from Thursday to Sunday.


You could view it as a sports meet in a military school.


All the students—from the first-years to the fourth-years—had to take part in it, but they would be competing in different camps.


From Monday to Wednesday, the instructor-in-charge of each segment would send the most appropriate candidates to participate in the competition.


For the combat segment, one had to be selected by a professional before they could compete with their peers at the same level.


If one could obtain victory, they would receive additional military points.


Same for shooting.


Different from ordinary universities, the military points here had to be obtained by merit of one's results.


Usually, everyone differed only by their performance in academic results, and now, military points are also considered.


In a military school, every student was groomed to be a future military officer.


But amongst them, some were outstanding and some were inferior.


For some troops, it wasn't just the students applying to study there, but they also could afford to be selective with the students they took in as well.


Military points were one of the bases they made such a decision upon.


Every freshman came in with zero military points.


Once every few months, or once a year, there would be a major competition that allowed them to earn military points.


Such as Gu Qingjiu taking part in the upcoming shooting competition in November—which was a major competition. For combat, they also had a major competition that would take place in December.


Formation drills and physical fitness competitions, on the other hand, took place at other times of the year.


Being on a schoolwide level, a competition of this scale was considered a minor one, which could not be compared with the major competition where various military schools took part together.


Students who emerged victorious in these various segments would become the candidates chosen to participate in the major competitions.


For the shooting segment, the instructors had already decided upon Gu Qingjiu.


There were only a few spots for each specialization, but when the computer science specialization decided to fill Gu Qingjiu's name for the shooting competition, no one in the entire specialization voiced their objection.


What a joke. She was a sharpshooter who wiped out the entire National Defense University. Who would dare to vie with her for that spot?


As for the other segments like combat and physical training, they had to undergo a selection process.


Although Gu Qingjiu was slightly stronger in combat and shooting, she didn't stand out in physical training. She usually just put up an average performance. Naturally, she chose to give up on this segment.


Classes were temporarily halted these two days and instead, the time was used for training and selection.


Yesterday, they held selection rounds for physical training, and today it was combat. Meanwhile, tomorrow would be for shooting.


Combat was a nightmare to Feng Yumeng. But for physical training, she was almost on the roster.


For the level-wide competition, each specialization could send in at least thirty students to take part, and luckily Feng Yumeng ranked at least beyond thirty-something.


For her combat results to be this terrible, it truly was a headache.


Gu Qingjiu didn't feel much pressure about combat, though she did feel worried about Feng Yumeng.


She didn't know if the intensive training she put Feng Yumeng through last week had any effect.


Though, when Feng Yumeng was dueling with her earlier on, she at least had learned how to take the initiative to counter-attack.


With the selection rounds going on in the school over these two days, the shooting department wasn't of much use.


After all, all the members had to prepare for the competition in their specialization.


This was a rather big military school, with more than five thousand first-year students, and tens of thousands of students in the entire school. One could only imagine how much time the selection rounds would take.


Chapter 456: Feng Yumeng Finally Wins


Gu Qingjiu's match was later. At that moment, matches within specialization were taking place – similar to how they organized practices.


Hence, it was easy to tell everyone's skill levels.


This time, Feng Yumeng was the first match. Although Gu Qingjiu was from a different class, she still went to her side to watch her duel.


Feng Yumeng's opponent this time was a first-year student. Gu Qingjiu didn't know the student, so she had no idea about her skill level.


Since that student was from Class B, Feng Yumeng didn't know her either.


And that made her anxious.


Her classmates were cheering for her. "Don't be afraid. Didn't Gu Qingjiu give you emergency training? So, don't waste her efforts and just work hard!"


"That's right!"


Everything was okay before that, but once those words were out, the stress Feng Yumeng felt increased.


Feng Yumeng nervously looked around, and she somehow met Gu Qingjiu's eyes amongst the crowd.


Gu Qingjiu nodded to her, and Feng Yumeng did so as well.


She took a deep breath. To hell with it!


If she couldn't even win her first match, she wouldn't be able to face Gu Qingjiu.


It was Feng Yumeng's first preliminary match.


Gu Qingjiu felt no pressure. After all, Feng Yumeng was from Class A and they were up against Class B. Meanwhile, Gu Qingjiu, on the other hand, was from Class C.


She could freely cheer for Feng Yumeng.


It would be awkward if she were to cheer on Feng Yumeng when she's up against Class C later on.


The moment it began, the student from Class B ferociously attacked.


She probably knew about Feng Yumeng. Being the dead-last of the specialization meant that she was infamous as well.


The opponent wanted to defeat Feng Yumeng as fast as possible, hence why she fought aggressively.


Gu Qingjiu slightly raised her brows.


She had never held back on practice fighting with Feng Yumeng right off the bat.


Hence, she was well aware that Feng Yumeng had gotten herself accustomed to their dueling style. This speed should be...


As expected, Feng Yumeng could block her opponent's relentless attacks. Furthermore, she took the chance of her opponent's breathlessness to slide a punch in.


Fen Yumeng's punch struck her opponent that she staggered backward, almost stepping out of the match boundaries.


Stepping out of the boundary was considered as an immediate failure.


The audience was shocked at Feng Yumeng's blow. After all, before this, all she would do was hide and shrink.


"Feng Yumeng, go for it!"


"Feng Yumeng, there's hope!!"


Once her classmates saw that Feng Yumeng had a chance, they started cheering for her.


Feng Yumeng herself couldn't believe it. She was the type to face defeat just within a few seconds into a duel, but now, there seemed to be a ray of hope for victory.


Her opponent was stunned as well, but just for a short while.


Soon after, the attacks continued.


Probably suddenly fearful of her possible defeat at the hands of the dead-last, the opponent's motions became careless.


In the eyes of others, this sloppiness was an opportunity for exploitation. But for Feng Yumeng it was still daunting.


Even so, the practice training she had still had its effects on her. After avoiding the opponent's fierce blows, she hooked the opponent's leg and quickly grabbed hold of her shoulder, following through the motion to exert strength. She then flipped her over and caused her to fall out of the boundaries.


Feng Yumeng's pretty good stamina had its advantages in dueling, but she didn't know how to make use of it.


Once she knew how to attack, her dueling would do fairly well.


"Feng Yumeng's the winner!"


The instructor's whistle rang around and made the students from Class A roar.


Feng Yumeng stood at the center of the field, staring at Gu Qingjiu in bewilderment.


Chapter 457: Who Will Be the Champion


Did she win?


Did she win this easily?


It still felt like a dream for Feng Yumeng.


There were neither any difficulties in the first match nor did she make any shocking moves.


Did she win so naturally?


"Feng Yumeng, good job!"


"Feng Yumeng, you were very cool!"


Her classmates celebrated her victory despite teasing her daily.


But when she won, everyone was truly happy for her.


The instructor could only smile as he shook his head at these excited students' antics.


Feng Yumeng took a while before she registered the fact that she won.


And then she squealed in excitement.


Gu Qingjiu clapped on from the side. She was ecstatic about her results.


She wasn't hoping for Feng Yumeng to attain a devastating victory from her training.


At the very least, she dared to strike – the first step to dueling – something admirable and worth celebrating.


After winning, the first thing Feng Yumeng did was to run out and give Gu Qingjiu a tight embrace.


"Qingjiu, Qingjiu, thank you so much!!"


She couldn't hold in her gratitude. Gu Qingjiu shook her head and let go of the hug. "It's the results of your hard work. I was only here to help you train and didn't teach you much."


She wouldn't claim credit where it wasn't due. Feng Yumeng won because she had the innate potential.


"The same words for you. If you're afraid of pain, you still have to defeat your opponent. Okay, you've to go to prepare for your next match. Mine's about to begin as well."


"Sure."


The ecstatic Feng Yumeng left to mix with a few of her good friends.


Besides, with these duels in full swing, the instructors couldn't be bothered with the students. Hence, they had the chance to unwind.


Gu Qingjiu rushed back to prepare for her match as well.


Her first match was against a girl from Class B.


It didn't take much for Gu Qingjiu to defeat her opponent.


And she emerged as the victor in the first round.


As she rested on the ground, she seemed to hear people discussing her.


"She's really strong. It was not even her specialty, right? She's from the sharpshooting department."


"She's good at dueling too. Look at Feng Yumeng. She was the dead last, but with her practice training for a few days, she grew by leaps and bounds and even won her first match."


"She's so perfect."


Hearing these declarations around her, Gu Qingjiu snickered deep within.


How many times had she been in their shoes – looking at others in admiration? Rather than her sitting there and being looked up upon by others.


It wasn't something that she was used to.


This glory was something she worked hard to obtain.


In the future, she just had to move forward with a clear conscience.


Due to her huge leap in confidence, Feng Yumeng had three consecutive wins and finally losing at her fourth round.


After all, it was only a few days of training. There were still gaps in her learnings.


Everyone had trained for a few months already. If Feng Yumeng worked hard, she would be able to catch up with them.


Gu Qingjiu, on the other hand, squeezed into the top thirty of the competition. She successfully qualified for the next day's competition against her year mates.


If she could get a standing, even if it was third place, Gu Qingjiu would be able to obtain military points.


There were too many uses for military points.


Even if it was only a single point.


For the shooting competition, everyone expected Gu Qingjiu to come in first in her year.


Because amongst the first-year students, there were no others who were good enough to enter the shooting department.


Chapter 458: The Super Strong Duelling Candidate


It looked like Gu Qingjiu already had the shooting competition in her pocket.


However, Gu Qingjiu wouldn't drop her guard.


Accidents may happen no matter what. If she wasn't a hundred percent sure, she couldn't afford to be arrogant.


After the dueling competition, Gu Qingjiu rushed to the canteen for her lunch.


She had to attend training with the shooting department tonight. Hence, she didn't call Feng Yumeng to train together.


After she had returned to the dormitory, she took her cell phone and rushed to the Shooting Department.


She reached the seventh floor of the Shooting Department, where the hundred-meter moving targets were. There were quite a few members around.


"Oh, Qingjiu's here."


"Hello, Qingjiu."


"Hey."


The moment Gu Qingjiu entered, the members greeted her cheerily. Lu Yimei wasn't here, but Lu Yibin was. She smiled and walked over. "What wind blew you guys over to the hundred-meter moving targets. Are you planning to steal my business?"


"No, no. There are a few third-year students who have preliminaries for the hundred-meter moving target tomorrow. So, we're here to practice."


Lu Yibin smiled as she explained.


Gu Qingjiu understood immediately.


The first-year students' floor only had the hundred-meter stationary target because they have yet to train with moving targets.


But for third-year students and above, hundred-meter targets were only part of the preliminaries.


Practicing it was normal.


"Qingjiu's here to practice too? But you don't have a hundred-meter moving target for tomorrow. Why did you come here?"


Someone had asked. Gu Qingjiu's lips curled up upon hearing this. "Because the hundred-meter stationary targets are no fun."


Ever since she experienced the fun of fighting another person, Gu Qingjiu found stationary targets to be boring.


She still had room for improvement for moving targets so there were no problems in practicing that.


"Aiyo, a sharpshooter talks differently."targets,


Some teased her while others lamented. "It seems that the first-year students are hiding some dragons. As expected, you would probably clinch first place for the shooting competition. Even the dueling competition already has a winner."


"Dueling?"


It stunned Gu Qingjiu. "Didn't the preliminaries begin today? The students were still dueling within their specializations. How can it be already decided?"


"There's a super scary girl in the Electrical Engineering course. No one could go over three moves with her – even guys couldn't."


Dueling and shooting were different. There wasn't that big of a gender gap for shooting.


Because in the last match, it was all mixed gendered.


The ratio of guys and girls were always too skewed, with the females as the minority.


The guys' competition would take three times the time compared to the girls'.


If dueling did not segregate the genders, it would cause many inconveniences.


After all, between genders, there was a tremendous difference in stamina. Dueling was highly reliant on combative abilities, and that put girls under immense stress.


But in a competition, girls shouldn't always be sheltered. Hence, they are treated equally as boys. Wherever they could reach was all determined by their capabilities.


But for dueling, only a handful of girls could come forth as a victor.


Ever since they established the competition across many universities, one could only use two hands to count the number of girls who had achieved the title champion.


Girls who had insane abilities in dueling had an immensely bright future.


But from that, it was easy to see how much stress dueling exerted on females.


Feng Yumeng's competition was all against girls today. It would probably be more difficult if it was against guys.


Gu Qingjiu's last few matches were against guys, and she won because of her superior nimbleness and reaction speed. However, she probably wouldn't reach much further than this.


Chapter 459: No Longer Daring to Go


"Girl?"


Gu Qingjiu was befuddled.


It was rare for a girl to be proficient in dueling.


"Electrical engineering major?"


That was coincidentally Qi Xiaoran's course.


She wondered how Qi Xiaoran fared since she had to participate in the competition as well.


"Yeah, her name is Qi Xiaoran. A pretty girl. No one expected her to become so ferocious when she dueled."


Dueling was all about combative skills; hence, everyone was direct when talking about it.


"Qi Xiaoran..."


Gu Qingjiu almost choked.


She thought about Qi Xiaoran, but she was not expecting it to be her.


"Yeah. Why? Do you know her?"


Lu Yibin turned to look at Gu Qingjiu. She had no idea if she should laugh or cry. "Qi Xiaoran is my dormmate."


"Aiyo, my sister, you're so strong. Number one in sharpshooting while your dorm mate is the number one in dueling. Both of you came to the school to smurf, right?"


Sharpshooting member Zhu Yuan complained.


The other members were shocked as well. They didn't expect Qi Xiaoran to be Gu Qingjiu's dorm mate.


As they looked for information, all they searched about was Gu Qingjiu.


Furthermore, Qi Xiaoran kept a low profile. Who would've known that both were dorm mates?


"Qi Xiaoran got first in dueling?"


Gu Qingjiu contemplated deeply.


For such a long time, she had no idea what strengths Qi Xiaoran had. But from what she had learned about her, she was indeed not a person to be underestimated.


"Looks like you found your opponent. I have a feeling that perhaps Qi Xiaoran would be quite good at target shooting as well."


Lu Yibin suddenly added, "Her information is weird. Until now, she has incomplete data, and no one in school cares about it. Today's her first time attending the duel session, and before that, she has only attended a few lessons. No one heard much about her."


Qi Xiaoran's data caught the sharpshooting members' attention.


"There are a lot more strange students around the school."


Zhu Yuan was a little excited. "You guys didn't see Jiajia's expression when he lost. I almost died laughing."


"Stop it, you're even laughing at our teammate's cousin. He just lost to Qi Xiaoran. It doesn't mean that he wouldn't get a chance later."


They rolled their eyes at him.


Gu Qingjiu followed up by asking what had happened.


Only to discover that the reason they were here talking about Qi Xiaoran was all because a teammate's cousin just lost to her.


And that said cousin came from a martial arts family, and he was one who had insane skills in dueling amongst the new students. All the students thought that he had a great chance of becoming the champion.


Who knew that a Qi Xiaoran, who appeared out of nowhere, would beat him down?


The thing was that both of them were electrical engineering majors.


It was a shocking fact.


After understanding the situation, she got a good grasp.


It seemed like Qi Xiaoran was a person who hid deeply.


As deep as the ocean.


But for her, these things...


They didn't matter.


After her shooting practice, she intended to find the Chief Instructor.


She went back to her dorm to shower before grabbing her phone and going straight to find the Chief Instructor.


But before she could reach his office, she saw him downstairs from his office.


And a group of leaders was beside him.


Huo Yingcheng was standing there as well.


Commander Huo was back.


Gu Qingjiu shrunk back, not daring to find the Chief Instructor anymore.


Chapter 460: It's Not Good to Interfere Too Much With China's Affairs


She shrunk back into a dark corner.


She had no idea if it was just her hallucination, but she felt the Chief Instructor look over towards her a few times.


But with this considerable distance between them, the Chief Instructor should not be able to see her, right?


Even she couldn't even see his expression.


After staying there for a while, Gu Qingjiu left after seeing that the group of people had no intention of leaving.


When she was back at the dormitory, Gu Qian, who had a facial mask on, snickered at her. "Why? You didn't get to see your little lover?"


"Since you came back so quickly."


Gu Qingjiu decided to remain silent.


Looking up, she saw that Qi Xiaoran was already on her bunk.


And she was flipping through a book.


She wondered if she was wrong, but for the whole day, she got the vibes that Qi Xiaoran was in a good mood.


Gu Qingjiu called out, "Qi Xiaoran."


"Mm?"


Qi Xiaoran looked up from her book. Gu Qingjiu smiled. "In a good mood today?"


Qi Xiaoran paused for a moment before she chuckled a little. "Yeah, I won the competition. You have to work hard for the sharpshooting competition. I'm looking at you to win first place."


"That's not for sure."


Gu Qingjiu initially wanted to ask Qi Xiaoran about her duel, but somehow it felt like asking would have other implications. Hence, she kept it in.


Gu Qian and Chu Ling looked at the two of them talking and kept quiet.


Somehow, whenever the two of them were talking, their surroundings were always strangely silent.


Gu Qingjiu felt a little regretful not being able to see the Chief Instructor. After lying on her bed for a while, a text message from the Chief Instructor came.


[ Why are you not coming? ]


Gu Qingjiu smiled as she replied, [ How would I dare? There were so many leaders there. ]


[ Mm, a little busy today. Come over tomorrow ]


Seeing that, Gu Qingjiu didn't reply and instead started pondering about what the Chief Instructor might be doing at that moment.


...


Huo Yingcheng returned from the borders today. After talking to the leaders just now, he was strewn limply over He Niancheng's office table.


"Major-General, you're a nightmare, leaving me alone at the borders to feed the mosquitoes and making me lose a few kilograms."


Huo Yingcheng couldn't stop his complaints. He Niancheng was currently busy looking at documents related to the competition.


After all, he was a Chief Instructor. With that title, he had work to do as well.


Hearing Huo Yingcheng's words, He Niancheng glanced coldly at him. "I don't think you lost weight. You probably grew fatter."


Huo Yingcheng was speechless.


"No! Major-General, you're seeing it wrong!"


He sat up and chattered on about random things. "But Major-General, Qingjiu's talent in sharpshooting is a little scary. Her first outdoors shooting practice almost caused the National Defense University's team's elimination. It is something that even Yin Ruoyi back then could not achieve. Do you think that woman will pay special attention to Gu Qingjiu now?"


"At this stage, it's not worth her attention."


He Niancheng looked up, tapping his pen rhythmically on the table. "And she doesn't need her attention. Just mine is enough."


Huo Yingcheng was speechless.


This damned person was showing off his love.


"But that's not for sure. If Qingjiu caught her attention, it would be great news. Look at her dorm mate..."


Before he could finish his sentence, He Niancheng frowned and cut him off. "Her dorm mate's a little strange. Go check her background to see who is backing her."


Huo Yingcheng was perplexed. "As people of Penalan Kingdom, can we not care so much about China's affairs?"

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