Chapter 118: This Is the Acting Thrill (Revision)

Meng Kexin heard that, her smile grew even sweeter, yet she shook her head firmly.

"No, Young Master Chen, this is the deal we agreed on; I'll help you secure first place in this assessment, and all the 'merits' and 'glory' must be yours."

She lowered her eyelids slightly, her long lashes casting a small shadow beneath her eyes; her voice was gentle yet carried a clarity and helplessness beyond her years.

"This world isn't friendly to women… especially those without powerful backing."

"Even though the Church has been trying to reform some systems in recent years and many fields appear open to women, entrenched attitudes don't turn that easily."

"Look at the upper echelons of the Academy, look at the leadership of the major factions—how many women reach those positions without facing public prejudice?"

She lifted her head, her gaze passing through the gaps in the canopy as if looking farther away, her tone laced with a faint sarcasm.

"I was born into a relatively affluent family, but my parents favored my younger brother. They sent me to Mitra—not so much hoping I'd make a name for myself as hoping I could find a sufficiently powerful patron to bring benefits to the family."

Her gaze returned to Chen Mo Zhi, filled with sincerity.

"Your family's name, the Chen Family, is my best talisman; only by leveraging your 'aura' can I survive more smoothly in this world…"

"Therefore, please make sure I continue to play the role of that 'vase attached to you'; it benefits us both."

Chen Mo Zhi listened in silence; his perpetually shadowed face revealed little emotion, but his red pupils narrowed slightly.

He didn't agree with her method, yet he had never experienced her situation and had no right to object.

Chen Mo Zhi pressed his lips together and finally gave a faint "mm," tacitly approving her plan.

No longer tangled over credit, Chen Mo Zhi shifted his focus, concentrating to sense the airflow and locate the ventilation shafts first.

Meng Kexin watched his focused profile, her sweet, dependent smile returning, and she quietly stepped back half a pace, hiding herself behind Chen Mo Zhi's silhouette.

What she seeks has never been worldly achievement, but merely surviving the game and returning alive to the real world.

Compared to others, this duplicitous young master is far too easy to exploit.

Exactly thirty minutes of prep time elapsed, and the printer in the outpost sprang to life, spitting out sheet after sheet of exceedingly complex schematics before everyone.

It was an energy‑resonance Cannon Barrel assembled from multiple modules, its structure precise, with thousands of components, demanding extremely high assembly accuracy and energy circuit connections—clearly not something that could be finished quickly.

The class monitor of the Manufacturing Department, a boy wearing thick glasses, immediately made several extra copies of the schematics, handed them out, and began assigning tasks based on them.

His gaze swept the crowd, and when it landed on Ying Duo, he hesitated noticeably.

He'd heard many 'legends' about this person, mainly concerning their destructive power and bizarre behavior, but regarding hands‑on ability… information was scarce.

Honestly, he couldn't fathom why Ying Duo would be assigned to the Manufacturing Department.

For the sake of stability and overall progress, he gave Ying Duo the simplest, most basic tasks.

She was responsible for polishing, calibrating, and assembling a dozen standardized parts.

These parts had relatively simple structures and high tolerance, so even if done slowly or with minor flaws, the impact would be minimal.

Ying Duo raised no objection, indeed seemed to accept it gladly.

He took the small pile of materials and tool list assigned to him, silently walked to a corner workbench, and began 'working'.

His hands were unnervingly steady; every motion with the tools was devoid of excess, each step precise and efficient, and the Ying Guang Lu energy filaments flickered briefly at his fingertips.

His speed far outpaced the classmates who had just started and hadn't yet found their rhythm.

Shen Zexi saw the Manufacturing Department gradually getting on track with smooth early progress and breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked over to Luo Jinyou, who was lingering near the main gate, contemplating whether to reinforce again, and whispered.

"The internal defense work is taking shape, the Manufacturing Department has started production, but I'm a bit worried about the Assault Team's situation,"

"I know Qi Hengyu's strength; few could stand against him head‑on here, so I'll handle him when the time comes. The problem is Chen Mo Zhi—I don't know much about him, only that his poison skills are formidable."

"I'm concerned they'll strike on two fronts, combining a strong assault with infiltration."

Even he would fare poorly when confronting both of them simultaneously.

Fortunately, the Security Team has Luo Jinyou's presence, and also Ying Duo, whose combat power is unknown but whose escape rating is maxed out.

He'd also heard a few things about Luo Jinyou.

The other party is Professor Luo De'an's adopted son and the sole special recruit of this cohort.

One must know that a person can awaken Aberrant Arts at any point in life.

However, any youth who awakens Aberrant Arts before age sixteen is forbidden from developing their own arts, supposedly because early development would overtax the body and lower its ceiling.

Thus, even though Shen Zexi awakened Aberrant Arts long ago, genuine development of those arts only began in recent months.

And the sixteen‑year‑old stage is a critical period for their rapid power growth.

Luo Jinyou is undeniably an anomaly; he's the only student Shen Zexi knows who was admitted to Mitra at just fourteen, and his Aberrant Arts development is in no way inferior to Shen Zexi's.

Luo Jinyou heard this, his expression turning grave as he nodded.

"Understood. Though I haven't faced a poison‑wielding opponent before, holding them off should be manageable."

"Then I'll leave this to you for now," Shen Zexi patted Luo Jinyou's shoulder.

"I'll go check the ventilation system's filter unit again and make a few more preparations."

Although the Manufacturing Department classmates had already fashioned some crude filters for the vents before the schematics were released.

But given the limited materials and the fact that the defensive works here were nearly complete, the Assault Team would still need some time to arrive…

During this window, he could lay some Rune on several vents to prevent the enemy from tampering with them.

However, the course of war often hinges on the tiniest accidents.