novelraw Chapter 79 : Rest Period
Chapter 79 : Rest Period
The day after returning to Zhu Jing Fu, school team building, conference hall.
Xie Chunshi pulled up the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain field live broadcast replay.
The division and school team participated in the review task together, with ten people now orderly surrounding the conference table, watching the light screen in front.
"The second elimination match is divided into five tracks. The top five in the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain field will choose in sequence. Currently, the top five are all Seven Schools, which means that no matter which track is chosen, there will be internal fighting scenes among the Seven Schools."
The top five in points from White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain were, in order: Na Luo River, Saint Laurent, Xitisi, Ink Hills, and Yakedoluo.
Golden Tower and Zhu Jing Fu were both around tenth place.
"Wow, so in the worst case scenario, we could run into two Seven Schools teams at once."
Zhou Chen was unusually smart, offering his insight, but as soon as he spoke, everyone's eyes turned to him.
"Puluo, cover his mouth," Chen Sui said expressionlessly.
Puluo's large figure stood up, walking behind Zhou Chen with an intimidating presence, one hand firmly covering his crow's mouth. Zhou Chen widened his eyes in struggle, but couldn't resist the single combat unit's enormous strength.
Chen Sui manually muted him, finally satisfied, then looked at the Commander, "Due to the blessing of unnatural forces, I think we should prepare for the worst."
The people present were silent for a few seconds, so Xie Chunshi first pulled up the Seven Schools' perspective, spreading his hands: "Then our subsequent training tasks won't be so easy."
Zhou Chen finally broke free from Puluo's blockade, hurrying to clear his name: "Are you all serious? I'm really not a jinx!"
Chen Sui: "Don't believe you. Leader, please continue."
Zhou Chen saw that no one else even gave him a glance, and couldn't help reflecting: "How am I a jinx?!"
But regardless of whether what he said was true or false, Zhu Jing Fu began researching the situations of the other six academies.
Meanwhile, at the Saint Laurent conference hall.
Having watched Zhu Jing Fu's match record to the end, the Saint Laurent school team was watching the screen showing Zhu Jing Fu processing materials on the sea surface in the West Sea Domain. Listening to Chen Sui introduce the materials one by one, Noya laughed in anger.
"Fine, fine, fine! I wondered why Xie Chunshi was so kind, giving me 15 energy tubes!"
"Blue Fin! To-Water Fish Bone! They didn't mention a word about these!"
Even though Noya wasn't a repair technician, he had heard of the famous To-Water Fish Bone.
Not to mention the Blue Fin.
"Leader, I didn't expect someone could outdo you in showing off," He Shuangmu said sincerely. Looking at Zhu Jing Fu's Commander Xie Chunshi reluctantly nodding, he finally understood the common trait of school team Commanders.
—Ruthless!!
"You're talking about me? Didn't you claim to be a gossip master? What did Zhu Jing Fu's single combat unit tell you?"
He Shuangmu patted his chest, proudly saying: "Puluo revealed everything about their analyst! Their analyst really is an interstellar nomad, just learned the charts, and has a super weak physique... so delicate?"
As he spoke, He Shuangmu's mind flashed to the scene of Chen Sui punching and shattering the single combat unit's energy shield, making him somewhat doubtful.
"I feel like something's not quite right?"
"Huh!" Noya let out a cold laugh, "Just learned? Delicate? These people are too deceitful, full of lies, and yet you believed them."
Looking at the team that ran into First Ring Fourth Academy on the screen, "You just watch, against First Ring Fourth Academy, this is Zhu Jing Fu's true level."
"Super weak? As if! From now on, I won't believe a single word from Zhu Jing Fu's school team!"
So, He Shuangmu mumbled, quieting down to watch the screen.
This scene played out in sequence at various major academies. It must be said that Zhu Jing Fu's performance indeed made other academies take notice.
"This analyst is no simple matter," in the Ink Hills meeting room, Zhang Yingjie pushed his sensor glasses, pulling up the recording and pausing on two frames: Chen Sui killing the Pure Blood Tree and eliminating Xu He. "Rather than an analyst, she's more like an output. Her difference from conventional analysts allows Zhu Jing Fu to choose more tactics, such as an all-output lineup. If we encounter them in the elimination match, we may not be able to achieve a complete victory."
Xin Ming, as a wood-attribute awakened one, was also very interested in the energy accumulation Chen Sui displayed.
"The analyst's spiritual body level is A, but it doesn't seem like it... The energy accumulation around her prioritizes her; in places where wood attributes gather, she can demonstrate strength beyond A-level."
Zhang Yingjie nodded, "Zhu Jing Fu's weapons also perfectly match the players themselves, and also—"
He observed the scene of Puluo's shield umbrella and Zhou Chen's Four-sided Mace combining when confronting First Ring Fourth Academy landing on the island.
"If their weapons can interact with each other, there might be surprises we don't know about."
"The analyst's mecha repair skills are very proficient. In the same arena, there might be weapon differences beyond our expectations. We need to pay attention to the analyst's weapon modifications."
No one at Ink Hills was relaxed; an invisible pressure descended. Even someone as thick-skinned as Jipuna scratched his face, "Difficult, too difficult. Life is always like this, making you suffer a critical hit when you're at your most crazy."
"The critical hit is still to come," Zhang Yingjie stood up, switching the perspective, "Better pray we don't encounter Zhu Jing Fu in the elimination match too early."
This sentence was simultaneously uttered by the Commanders at Na Luo River and Xitisi.
If Xie You initially only harbored caution toward Xie Chunshi, then after the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain field, Chen Sui's dangerousness in his heart would increase exponentially.
He looked at the somewhat silent agile attacker: "Their analyst, in a 1V1 with you, what's the probability of elimination?"
Xiao Er sat in the corner, his hood and high collar covering his head and cheeks, with ice-blue short hair showing through the writing. Hearing himself being addressed, he slowly raised his eyes, his ice-blue eyelashes fluttering. He thought for a second, and from Chen Sui's familiar style, recalled another shadow, reminding him of her identity.
"The probability is... 0."
Xiao Er said slowly.
These words made He Lanqi and Lu Ting simultaneously raise their eyebrows.
"Yo, you're so lacking in confidence?" Simos's tone was teasing, "Not like your style!"
Xiao Er lowered his eyes: "I've worked with her before, in a two-person team, Static River Backflow map."
"She's very impressive. Under the same conditions, both her offense and self-protection are strong. I can contain her, but definitely can't eliminate her."
He Lanqi rarely heard him speak at such length, "Is she the one you mentioned, the very impressive analyst you met?"
Her tone was somewhat faint, with a hint of competitiveness.
Xiao Er didn't notice and nodded: "She's very impressive."
"Zhu Jing Fu isn't just troublesome because of their analyst," Xie You darkened his eyes, "Don't forget, their most deeply hidden Commander hasn't shown his spiritual body yet."
These words made the other members of Na Luo River fall silent.
An unrevealed spiritual body meant they couldn't guess Xie Chunshi's spiritual body attribute and specialization direction.
Lu Ting glanced at Xie You: "Speaking of which, you've never seen it at all?"
It was surprising that even they didn't know about Xie You, Xie Chunshi, and Xie Yi—three siblings who grew up together.
A flash of hurt crossed Xie You's face, his tone angry: "How would I know? After he awakened, he never came back to the Xie family! If we're talking about understanding, Song Yuan should know better!"
Xie You thought, at that time, in such a dangerous situation, if Xie Chunshi wasn't at the Xie family, he must have been at the Song family. Logically, Song Yuan, who also received training from the family head at the Song family, should know better.
Xitisi leader Song Yuan was also discussing this topic.
Song Yuan reminded her other teammates: "Currently, we must pay attention to Zhu Jing Fu's analyst Chen Sui. She's very aggressive, targeting single combat units and analysts first. She has a keen insight into the battlefield environment and opponents. Zhou Chen and Gu Qinxue both have great potential—one with fast attack speed, one with strong bursts. But these three have a common weakness."
"Time."
"Once the battle prolongs, Zhou Chen and Gu Qinxue's core crystals can't endure, and the analyst's physical stamina falls short. At this stage, be extremely careful of the Commander breaking through."
"No one has seen Xie Chunshi's spiritual body yet."
Song Yuan concluded.
Chi Buyu exclaimed: "Even Captain Song hasn't seen it?"
Song Yuan shook her head: "Xie Chunshi awakened in the God-Abandoned Domain. This part of the data was classified by the military. Afterward, he disappeared, and neither the Xie family nor the Song family had any news of him. So no one currently knows his strength, which is also the most concerning aspect of Zhu Jing Fu."
"They have too many unknowns. Once we face Zhu Jing Fu, we must be doubly careful."
All teams were wary of each other.
While clarifying the details in an elimination match, as the rest period progressed, the second elimination match was about to begin.
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Before the elimination match began.
Wisteria Star, Upper Yin District, White Crane Street.
Travel-worn Jian Run loosened the black mask on his face, the machine sending filtered pollen air into his respiratory tract.
The cold still lingered; taking his hand out of his pocket brought up warm white mist from the air.
Wisteria Star was closest to the ancient star climate, with normally rotating four seasons. The plants and soil all grew normally, not as holographic projections or print edits.
The door he rang opened by a home robot, the machine voice reminding him: "Visit request approved, please close the door."
Jian Run entered the room, expertly passing through the front hall to the central courtyard.
In the courtyard grew a tall kite tree, its branches and leaves rustling in the wind.
This tree was a specialty of Wisteria Star, never blooming throughout its life, turning white in snow, displaying a transparent ice crystal color.
Under the tree, sitting in a smart wheelchair, was a middle-aged man with somewhat graying hair and bright eyes. Hearing footsteps, he looked up, saw who it was, then lowered his head to continue browsing his light brain.
Jian Run passed by, sitting on a wooden bench behind him, peering to look at the light brain screen.
"Master Song, you're not thinking of watching the league replay, are you?"
Jian Run squinted with a smile.
The middle-aged man called Master Song had a clearly mechanical right knee, his entire leg severed at the knee, connected below to a metal prosthetic. His face bore traces of time, his eyes clear and sharp. Hearing this, he looked at Jian Run, his tone disdainful, but his expression quite peaceful.
"What are you doing here? Not doing Competition Committee work, idle enough to fart around."
Jian Run chuckled a few times, "I miss my wife, so I came to look."
He said this seemingly casually, making Song Xingzhang pause in his tea-pouring motion, then resume normally.
"But, I've come to see you for a real matter too, to ask for your help."
Jian Run spoke seriously.
Song Xingzhang looked up at him: "You can handle legitimate business?"
Jian Run's unpredictable personality had been well-known since his youth. Song Xingzhang, an elder who had taught their group of young people, knew this all too well.
Seeing his attempt to divert the topic, Jian Run placed the item in his hand on the table in front of them.
"Master Song, I'm serious, it's legitimate business," Jian Run leaned on the wooden table in front of him.
Kite tree leaves slowly fell from mid-air. Song Xingzhang took the paper materials organized in front of him.
"What is this," Song Xingzhang's gaze was calm, "Chen Sui..."
He read the writing on the materials, and despite having a mental threshold value as high as 95, showed no change.
"I don't believe you haven't watched this league match replay," Jian Run was smiling, but unwilling to miss any of his expressions.
This seemingly unpredictable young man, who had made his way to the position of Council Chairman, possessed abilities no less than others.
Song Xingzhang's fingers holding the materials curled slightly at the mention: "Hmm, I watched it. Seven Academy's analyst, cooperates well with Little Chun. What about it? Why show me this?"
Jian Run stared at him, slowly saying: "Haven't you noticed whose style her energy body handling inherits?"
"I asked Yan Mingyu. Chen Sui has been learning analyst content for only three months. During this time, besides being taught by Analyst Department teachers, she learned through Zhu Jing Fu's holographic images. The teacher she chose was Vina."
This name had not appeared in Song Xingzhang's ears for too long.
Even though Jian Run came here every year to pay respects to her cenotaph, he always used the term 'wife' instead.
Since leaving all affairs ten years ago and returning to Wisteria Star, Song Xingzhang had never heard this name again.
—She was his proudest student.
"So what, what are you trying to say?"
Song Xingzhang didn't want to continue this question; he could guess Jian Run's words.
"She's a strong attack-type analyst, and one with excellent combat talent and analytical talent—a strong attack analyst."
Jian Run was visibly excited.
Compared to his emotions, Song Xingzhang, the creator of the strong attack style, appeared much calmer.
"Oh? Is that so?" His voice sounded somewhat disinterested, "Then that's really... somewhat shortsighted."
Jian Run's movements and expression both froze: "You..."
Song Xingzhang's gaze fell vaguely on the materials in his hand. There were too many emotions in his eyes for even Jian Run, with his experience, to discern what kind of emotion it was.
"Young people still don't know what's what. Once she enters a real energy field, she'll understand that analysts sometimes bear not just their own life and death, but the fate of the team."
Song Xingzhang commented.
Jian Run looked at him somewhat incredulously: "Master Song!"
He suddenly raised his voice.
"I never expected such words to come from your mouth."
Jian Run's expression suddenly changed, looking at Song Xingzhang with complete incomprehension.
He couldn't imagine that even if all analysts would deny the strong attack style, he never thought the creator of the strong attack style would do so as well.
"Have you forgotten how much we wanted to prove it was right? Vina and you did so much, wasn't it all to declare that the strong attack style could be a viable path for analysts? But now... have you given up?"
Song Xingzhang remained silent.
Jian Run continued on his own:
"Now the opportunity is right in front of us. I can say, if there is ever a day for the strong attack style to rise again, the breakthrough point is with her."
"Chen Sui learned Vina's energy body handling style, but there are obvious issues with her. Your eye for talent can't miss this, can it? She has already entered the threshold of strong attack, but to truly become an excellent strong attack analyst, there's still a huge leap to make. The one who can guide her through this stage, besides you, I can't think of anyone else."
Jian Run lowered his head, looking at this man who was once full of vigor in his youth.
When he took a path that shocked the world, he never gave up. When he endured questioning from the entire analyst community, even including his mentors, he never retreated half a step.
But because of his decision-making error, which led to all his teammates perishing in an energy field and himself losing a leg, Song Xingzhang had hesitated.
Vina's appearance, however, quickly dispelled this hesitation, making him once again firm in his path.
However, Vina's death finally completely extinguished his hope.
Over these years, Song Xingzhang constantly recalled the evaluations of analysts from those days.
The good ones, like old friends such as He Lanyi, called it a genius's dead end.
The bad ones were more direct, stating that strong attack style analysts were actions that led the entire team down a path to death—extremely irresponsible, disregarding lives.
Listening to Jian Run's angry voice, Song Xingzhang uncontrollably heard those voices in his ears again.
"Do you really understand the strong attack style, kid?"
Song Xingzhang looked up, his voice elderly, far exceeding his actual age.
People of his age, like Ji Qing, were still full of vitality.
But from him, Jian Run suddenly felt a sense of the setting sun.
It had only been ten years since that incident.
Yet Master Song already seemed like a candle that had burned out its oil, slowly approaching extinction.
"I don't understand analysts," thinking of this, Jian Run's voice couldn't help but become calmer, yet it sounded more heartfelt, touching Song Xingzhang, "I only understand Vina."
"I know, she always wanted to prove the viability of strong attack analysts, to completely establish this path."
"I just want her to be able to see it someday."
"She was never wrong."
Jian Run's voice was muffled by the mask. Song Xingzhang couldn't tell if it was voice distortion or if he was choking up when mentioning his love.
Undeniably, Song Xingzhang was somewhat moved, but he still said: "She's still very young. As you said, very talented. Even if she doesn't take this path, she'll achieve something."
Jian Run closed his eyes briefly, "Master Song, this path is Chen Sui's own choice. She actively chose to become a strong attack analyst."
"Currently, Chen Sui relies too much on energy crystals and perception when dealing with energy bodies. This is the most difficult threshold for strong attack analysts to cross, and also the purpose of my visit here."
"You can have your own choice, but forgive my directness, with her talent, crossing this threshold only requires time and experience. But like this, are you really content?"
Content to let a talented young person walk again that difficult path from years ago, facing countless doubts.
Content that a new style that arose from your own hands, a belief you upheld for life, will henceforth have no relation to you.
Jian Run watched as Song Xingzhang lowered his head, slowly flipping through the materials.
He exhaled, looking at the other side of the courtyard.
Not far from this courtyard was the cemetery.
The mechanical cemetery was divided into cubic meter-sized cells, extending underground with many layers, housing many urns, as well as cenotaphs for those who perished in energy fields with no remains.
Each time Jian Run came here, he would look at his love's cenotaph.
When he left, Song Xingzhang did not see him off.
In fact, Jian Run didn't know if he could persuade him, but he thought, he would fulfill Vina's wish, and so would Song Xingzhang—they had the same goal.
He was betting that Song Xingzhang's heart fire was not dead.
As Jian Run's transit flight reached the space station, the second Star League elimination match simultaneously began.
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The gathering point for the second elimination match was set at the Eleventh Star Ring Border Army Zone.
The energy field management office there possessed the largest transit device in the entire Star Alliance.
Transit flights could send transit members to any energy field management office in the Star Alliance in a short time.
This was most convenient for the second elimination match with distributed tracks.
During the rest period, Chen Sui, proving herself a master of time management, quickly processed the materials brought from the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain.
One part was posted on her StarNet store, another part, such as the To-Water Fish Bone, Blue Fin, Pure Blood, etc., she kept, planning to make some modifications to her mecha.
At the same time, Chen Sui decided to detach the summoned body from her mental threshold.
She had already begun resonance with her core crystal. The summoned body had helped her adapt to the fusion process, achieving its purpose, and now had no more value.
But before this, Chen Sui had a more important matter.
—She needed to undergo another awakening test.