Chapter 85: Field Training – Victim Of The Thirty-six Stratagems
At 10 a.m., in the northern region of the forest surrounding the training base, seven or eight students from Class Ten’s sports club were scouting in the forest on the class president’s orders.
“Do you think we’ll run into Class Eight this time?” the girl following behind the leader said with some expectation.
“What? Craving that new club president’s food box?” the leader boy laughed.
As soon as he said that, the entire patrol squad burst into laughter.
“What?!” the girl glared at him annoyedly, “Don’t tell me you’re not craving it.”
“Yeah… saying I’m not would be fooling people.” The leader boy touched his chin, “Last Friday, on the recommendation of our club’s Class Eight member, I went to try the new club’s stuff, and it was really delicious.”
As soon as he mentioned it, the boy’s mouth watered uncontrollably, as if reliving the enjoyable moment when that bite of chicken bun from last Friday slid down his throat, and his vigorous swallowing made everyone laugh.
“You calling me out, but you’re even more craving it.” The girl rolled her eyes at him, and the leader boy snapped back, embarrassedly chuckling an apology.
“By the way, that new club president brought a ton of meal boxes this time.” The boy nearby holding the light screen to record the terrain said, “That whole box could last a week, right?”
“And each meal box isn’t small.” The leader boy said, “The night before last, I went to visit Class Eight and happened to see that club president taking club members to pick up meal boxes; that size was bigger than the desk at my home.”
“After all, she’s the young lady of the Yue Xiang Group, so the things she uses naturally exceed normal specs.” The girl said, her eyes lighting up, “What if we take down Class Eight? Wouldn’t we get to share that club president’s meal boxes?”
“What a bold thought, but I like it.” The leader boy gave a thumbs up and winked flirtatiously, making the girl blush and shyly push his hand down. After a week together, she knew he was straightforward and this “like” wasn’t romantic, but hearing it said outright still made her thin-skinned heart flutter for a few seconds.
With the idea started, everyone’s imagination took flight.
“The buns in the club activity room are so delicious, there must be stuff even better than buns inside, right?”
“A classmate who went to interview for that club said there were strange soft solid food and refreshing sweet liquid food during the interview, all extremely delicious; maybe the club president’s meal boxes have them.”
“If we take down Class Eight, let’s have a party that night with that club president’s meal boxes—no, with so many meal boxes, maybe we can eat for two or three days.”
“That’s too much… Be careful or that club president will set you as a refused customer when you get back. Though I’d gladly accept that treatment if it means tasting the stuff in that club president’s meal boxes.”
“What are you afraid of? Worst case, we act as external aid for them for a few weeks as compensation, or share our stuff with her—reciprocity.”
“By the way, why is she called club president instead of leader…?”
As the group chatted more and more excitedly, suddenly there was a rustle from the nearby bushes. Everyone froze for a moment, then assumed posture. Though there’s no martial arts in the modern era, for fitness, after kids enter elementary school, schools mandate practicing a set of martial arts exercise. As education level rises, the difficulty increases, but the benefits to kids’ health are visibly great, so it’s highly praised by parents.
“Who’s there!” the girl shouted sternly.
“Wah—!” A figure suddenly burst from the bushes and ran panickedly into the distance.
“Don’t let him get away! Chase him!” The leader boy quickly ordered. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to let the other go, but their own class president had given a strict order: if they spotted students from other classes while scouting, they must capture them, or the other side might trace their path to scout the route to Class Ten’s base first.
Yes, in this confrontation match, though everyone knew each other’s staging area locations and surrounding terrain, the routes between staging areas weren’t marked on the map, meaning students had to scout them personally. Thus, mapping a direct route to other classes became each class’s top priority now.
“Which class is that?!” the girl asked while running. Surprisingly, the other guy’s footsteps were fast; she, a sports club member, couldn’t catch up right away!
“Not sure! But the northern region should only have four classes! Closest to us are Class Eight and Class Two!”
“Ha! If it’s Class Eight, that’s super lucky! Maybe we can party tonight!” the girl said excitedly, her steps speeding up involuntarily.
Gradually, the distance between the girl and the other shortened. Timing it, she threw the neon rope ring in her hand, which precisely looped around the other. He jolted in fright and tried to struggle free. The neon rope ring has extremely high precision for nearby things, but its drawback is that it’s not sturdy.
But these few moments were enough for Class Ten’s squad to catch up.
The girl and leader boy closest to him both leaped up simultaneously, pouncing on the person. Poor guy finally broke free of the rope ring, only to be tackled squarely by the two.
“Quick, binding rope ring.” The leader boy urged, and the girl understood, immediately taking out another rope ring device, fastening it to the other’s back. Ropes extended from both sides, wrapping layer after layer, finally binding him like a dumpling.
By then, the others from behind had caught up.
The boy doing terrain scouting looked at the bound person on the ground and said surprisedly, “I know everyone here; he’s from the neighboring exoskeleton armor club, I remember he’s from Class Eight!”
“Whoa,” the girl couldn’t help exclaiming, “We’re really lucky.”
“Yeah.” The leader boy laughed too, then turned and said, “Quick, scan around for movement traces, best to start from where we first spotted him.”
The crowd cheered and scattered, starting to search for traces of this Class 8 Member’s path. Everyone thought of opening the route to Class Eight to rob gourmet food and take down Class Eight!
The boy responsible for recording terrain scanned around, found no traces, and headed back, with one scout team member following him back.
“You guys are really unlucky.” The girl squatted down looking at this silent Class Eight boy bound on the ground, “Didn’t expect us to reach here already, right? Your Class Eight drew the best staging area this time, and now you’re handing it over—what a pity.”
Hearing this, the Class Eight boy lowered his head, hair covering his eyes so his expression was unseen, but his slightly trembling shoulders seemed to express his unwillingness.
“Forget it, don’t say that; we’re classmates after all.” The team leader boy patted the girl’s shoulder to stop her close-up taunting.
At this moment, the trembling boy vaguely muttered something: “…to…”
“Hm?” Both looked at him simultaneously.
“Didn’t expect it to go so smoothly…”
The Class Eight boy said this and raised his head; only then did the two see his expression—he was smiling.
Instantly, rustling sounds from numerous leaves rose around them. The remaining Class Ten members startled, then saw about fifteen people emerge from the bushes. Before the Class Ten crowd could bolt, they were solidly bound by incoming binding rope rings.
They stared dumbfounded at these suddenly appearing fifteen people, brains not yet sorting out what was happening.
“This is Lure the Tiger Out of its Lair, right?” Chou Manman said excitedly from not far away.
“I think it’s Secretly Cross the Chencang Pass.” Liang Gong, dragged here as audience, thought and said.
Recommendations, favorites, monthly votes—throw them all over!
