Chapter 1572: Peer Evaluation

"Captain, Xia Qing made huge progress today?" The electric ray, pushed out of Territory Seven by Wang Man, noticed Yanlong seemed to be in a good mood and asked with a smile.

She had only been in this territory for a single day, yet the electric ray had smiled more in that time than in the past half year combined. Because the sky here was vast, the land wide, the air fresh, and the people here all lived earnestly and with great effort.

Yanlong was in a good mood because she had found a worthy sparring partner, taken on a group of very promising trainees, and earned 160,000 credits. However, the agreement she had signed with the wolf pack contained a confidentiality clause, so she could not reveal any of it to anyone. She didn't answer the question, and asked directly instead, "How did the recheck come out?"

The electric ray's face, which had regained some color, was wreathed in a smile. "The Quang-damage suppressant worked extremely well. The Quang-element content in my body has already dropped by three percentage points, out of the danger zone."

Yanlong nodded. "That's good. Iron Hammer hunted a crocodile and brought it back. We're eating meat tonight to celebrate."

Wang Man, who was pushing the wheelchair, showed a rare smile. "Tang Huai has beer. How about we trade for two bottles and drink with grilled meat tonight?"

This was not a military camp, but the very safe Northern Zone One territory. Their identities were not soldiers either; the only soldier, Yanlong, was still on leave. Having a drink to relax did not violate any discipline.

Unexpectedly, Yanlong refused outright. "You two go ahead. I have a special training mission tomorrow."

At six o'clock tomorrow morning, the grey-eyed wolf king from the Southern Wolf Pack was bringing four sub-adult wolves over for a trial class. Although drinking would not affect Yanlong's combat ability, it would alter her scent.

A wolf's sense of smell was extremely keen. Yanlong didn't want to meet her four new trainees and their "parents" for the first time reeking of alcohol.

Thinking of her trainees, Yanlong thought of the credit card in her pocket and added in a good mood, "Tang Huai's barbecue seasoning is good quality. Trade for two packs to grill the crocodile meat. Also get 200 grams of Green Lantern honey from Territory Three. You two head back first. I'm going to Territory Seven to trade for two Green Lantern dragon fruits, to get some vitamins."

While I'm at it, I'll let Zhang San know that she's found an even better job than nurse.

Watching Yanlong head toward Territory Seven, the electric ray looked up and exchanged a glance with Wang Man, who was pushing her, silently sympathizing with Xia Qing. For Yanlong to be this happy, Xia Qing must have been beaten black and blue.

Inside the Territory Seven laboratory, looking at Xia Qing, who had been beaten by Yanlong into panda eyes, with bloodshot right eye and a split lip, Zhang San was silent for two seconds before he couldn't help speaking up. "If you can't hold on, tell Yanlong and ask her to dial down the training intensity a bit."

Xia Qing downed in one gulp the juice her idol had poured for her, beaming. "Starting tomorrow, it gets dialed down."

Zhang San raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What do you mean by that? Did Yanlong agree?"

Just yesterday, in this very office, Yanlong had still had the attitude that she had to beat Xia Qing within an inch of her life.

If she asked her directly, Yanlong would definitely not agree. Xia Qing grinned. "Starting tomorrow, I won't be the only one in the dawn special training. Sister Yan will have to split her energy to teach the other trainees."

Zhang San frowned. "Tan Qi and the other three are going too, or did Yang Jin come back?"

At this stage, what those four children needed most was ample nutrition and sleep, not high-intensity training. Yanlong couldn't possibly not know this, so the most likely possibility was that Yang Jin had seen Xia Qing getting beaten too badly and couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's not Yang Jin, and it's not Tan Qi and the other three either." Xia Qing played coy. "There are ten new trainees in total tomorrow morning. The oldest is five years old, and the other nine are around one week old."

Zhang San looked at the new human across from him, whose brain was even more colorfully patterned than her face, and asked, "You found a pack of wolves to share Yanlong's firepower for you?"

Xia Qing corrected him primly. "It's that the wolf pack leader discovered Yanlong's combat ability was high, so they paid tuition to learn combat from her. 40,000 credits per little wolf."

Have the captain of the Flood Dragon Special Ops Team teach a pack of wolves?! Zhang San raised a hand and pressed it to his forehead. "After the wolf pack's special training ends tomorrow, bring them back to the territory for the final exam."

...... Idol, are you the devil? But...... I love it!

"No problem. Fourth Brother isn't allowed to record video. Third Brother, are you busy tomorrow? How about...... you come over tomorrow to proctor the exam?"

Zhang San lowered the fingers pressing on his temple, his expression softening slightly. "Sure. Send me the test paper so I can take a look. Let's set the exam time and subject order right now. I need to adjust tomorrow's work schedule based on the exam time."

Xia Qing......

Zhang San looked up, his gaze frosty. "You haven't even written the test paper yet?"

"...... Didn't you say to use a peer-evaluation method for the exam?" Peer evaluation — did she still need to write a test paper?

Zhang San felt the urge to pick up a dragon fruit and turn Xia Qing's other eye into a panda eye too. "Peer evaluation means letting students evaluate and give feedback on each other's learning outcomes according to established standards. You don't even have questions — what are they supposed to evaluate?! When you were in elementary and middle school, didn't your school ever use this teaching method?"

Her elementary and middle school days were separated from the present by more than ten years of catastrophe, as distant as if they belonged to a previous life. Xia Qing thought carefully for a moment, then answered cautiously, "Third Brother, if the teacher had the class monitor, the subject representatives, and the students who were good at studying help her grade the test papers, does that count as peer evaluation?"

Xia Qing's academic performance was above average, so she had never been class monitor nor subject representative, and thus had never been qualified to help the teacher grade papers.

After entering first grade, Xia Qing actively applied for every class position she could, and in the end the teacher appointed her as the class's little gardener.

The duty of the class's little gardener was to take care of the twelve pots of devil's ivy on the windowsill in the classroom. The task was very simple: water them once a week, and during holidays bring the ivy home to look after.

For Xia Qing, who had become the class's little gardener, the days of winter and summer break, and the first day of each new school term, were her proudest moments of the year.

During breaks, her parents would come to the school to pick her up, and the family of three would carry the twelve pots of devil's ivy home together, trimming the roots and changing the potting soil. When school started, they would deliver them back to school.

With her parents' help, Xia Qing grew the class's devil's ivy extremely well. The longest ivy vine was a full six meters, able to creep from the front blackboard along the nails specially driven into the wall all the way to the back blackboard.

Because Xia Qing did such an outstanding job, she kept this little gardener position from first grade all the way to ninth grade, receiving an Outstanding Award certificate every year to fill her otherwise empty awards collection. It was also precisely these twelve pots of devil's ivy that sparked Xia Qing's enormous interest in farming.

By the time Xia Qing, lost in her memories, came back to herself, she found that her idol had already taken out a scalpel. She startled so badly she jumped, and was racking her brain for a way to save herself when she heard Zheng Chen's voice come through her idol's walkie-talkie.

"Lord, Yanlong is outside the south gate and wishes to enter the territory to visit you."

Without needing to see her, Zhang San knew what Yanlong had come for. He pressed the button. "I'm busy!"

Xia Qing, who had been chased out of the office by her idol, looked up and saw Zhang Song, who was standing pitifully at the door of his own office.

Meeting Xia Qing's eyes and confirming that she was in a good mood, Zhang Song immediately hurried up to her. "Sister Qing, those injuries on your face — are they from sparring with Yanlong?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Song Ge, are you busy right now? If you're not, I have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

Zhang Song's eyes immediately blazed with fervent light. "Not busy!!! We can set off right now!"

Xia Qing......

"Song Ge, shall we go to your office and talk in detail?"

"Sure, please, this way, Sister Qing!" In his excitement, Zhang Song forgot about his leg, and his body twisted into a pretzel. Xia Qing grabbed him in one hand and hauled him into his office.

Ten minutes later, Xia Qing walked out of Zhang Song's office, put on a one-way-transparent protective mask with an expressionless face, and headed outside.

That silhouette, however one looked at it, radiated ease.