Chapter 167: This Is Not My Roommate (Thanks to

"Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve... Everyone lower your gravity bands by one level, continue!"

"One, two..."

On the training ground of the National Defense Military Academy, a class was undergoing physical fitness training; every student wore gravity bands to ensure training intensity.

"Do one last set!"

"One, two..."

"Everyone stand up! Assemble!"

"Attention!"

"At ease!"

"Attention!"

The instructor stared at them expressionlessly, suddenly feeling the urge to use the restroom, so he frowned and shouted:

"Zhang Ming?"

"Here!"

"Step out of line!"

"Yes!"

"You watch them! Stand in military posture!"

"Yes!"

The instructor strode toward the restroom.

Just then, a figure in the distance walked straight toward them.

That figure was tall with a pair of long legs; although dressed casually, she possessed an inherently cold and sharp aura. When she walked in front of the formation and scanned them coldly, for a moment, no one dared to meet her gaze.

Only hearing her shout in a deep voice:

"Attention!"

The students couldn't help but obey.

"At ease!"

The sound of synchronized movements.

That figure instructed in a deep voice: "All of you, train properly! Perform well! Today, students from other schools are coming to our school for a competition. If anyone slacks off and lets people from those other schools make a joke of us, losing face for our National Defense Military Academy, I will be the first one to not let you off!"

"..."

"Hm? Didn't hear me!?"

"Yes!"

"Didn't eat?"

"Yes!!"

"This is for your own good; train more in peacetime, bleed less in wartime! As Sword Cultivators of the Special Operations Group, you often operate on the front lines. You face the enemy's most brutal firepower. If you want to survive, you must ensure your personal martial strength!"

"Report, instructor!" Zhang Ming stood out, head held high and chest out, eyes looking straight ahead, "Instructor, we are the Army Command Class!"

"Hm? What is your name?"

"Report, instructor, Zhang Ming!"

"Zhang Ming!"

"Here!"

"Don't contradict my words next time!"

"Yes! Instructor!"

"No matter which class, you must all train properly!" That figure's expression became even more serious, and the sharp aura she radiated made their hair stand on end: "Especially today! Did you hear me?"

"Heard you!"

"By the way..."

The figure's aura vanished abruptly, and she even scratched her head: "May I ask, I'm here to participate in the Martial Body competition, which way should I go?"

"Instructor, you are..."

"Oh, I'm a student from the neighboring Ling'an Academy. It's my first time here, I'm not very familiar with the roads, just came to ask for directions..."

"???"

"Forget it if you won't say, see you later..."

Zhang Suannai hunched her neck and trotted away from there.

Her roommate had left very early today and hadn't traveled with her, nor was she willing to, just to go with that blockhead Chen Shu, which made her angry; she hadn't expected that she, possessing a Heavenly Human Bloodline, would actually value romance over friendship.

Zhang Suannai intended to find them.

In the preliminary stages of the inter-school competition, each person only fights one match per day; the semi-finals and finals are arranged at discretion due to their higher significance.

The first day's opponents are said to be random, but they must avoid intra-school matchups and also avoid matchups between Fifth Stage and Fifth Stage. I heard from the group leader that each school has given their respective participating students an estimated rating; those with the highest estimated ratings will fight those with the lowest, and for those with ratings in the middle, the opponents' strength will be similar.

First, eliminate the weak.

The total number of participants is forty-six.

Yujing, Ling'an, National Comprehensive Academy, and the Military Academy each have about ten participants, the Daoist Academy only has three participating, and the Buddhist Academy only has two.

Inside the National Defense Military Academy, there are many combat venues similar to the Martial Cultivation Hall, which they call Martial Arts Arenas; unlike the Martial Cultivation Hall, the Martial Arts Arenas are outdoors. There are enough for forty-six people to compete simultaneously, but they didn't arrange it that way.

Chen Shu's opponent today happens to come from the National Comprehensive Academy, and happens to be a direct royal descendant of a small surrounding country, who came to Yiguo to study and gild their resume.

The time is at eleven o'clock in the morning.

Martial Arts Arena No. 14.

Before him are the Gate of All Wonders and the Green Lamp Ancient Buddha, but they both start at ten o'clock, in Martial Arts Arenas No. 15 and 16 respectively.

Brother Jiang is the same as him, both at eleven o'clock, at Martial Arts Arena No. 15.

Zhang Suannai and Yan Keling are in the afternoon.

Chen Shu was not in a hurry, taking Qingqing to wander around the Military Academy. At ten o'clock, he went to watch the match of the Profound Wonders Gate; it was very boring, the opponent was very weak, and the Profound Wonders Gate did not use the Summoning God Technique at all, defeating the opponent with ease. By the time he ran to the neighboring Martial Arts Arena, the battle of the Green Lamp Ancient Buddha had already ended.

Next was Chen Shu's own match.

When he arrived at the venue, Shi Qian and Teacher Fu Jia were both there, as well as many academy leaders; they seemed to value him highly.

But he still had no intention of showing off for long.

Chen Shu only thought about ending the fight quickly, then going to watch Brother Jiang get beaten up, and then accompanying Qingqing to eat lunch.

He arrived on the stage.

Chen Shu looked around the surroundings.

Qingqing was sitting quietly on the side, and Zhang Suannai had found her way over at some point, sitting next to Qingqing, staring at him boredly while resting her chin on her hand.

Yan Keling was not far away.

And on the other side of the venue, there were two figures standing side by side, one wearing Daoist robes and the other wearing monk robes, both moon-white. Upon noticing his gaze, the two smiled and nodded to him in greeting.

Chen Shu could not help but smile and nod back at them.

"Both contestants, prepare!"

"Clang!"

The gong for the start sounded, and Chen Shu went all out.

Six seconds later.

The opponent was defeated.

By the time the referee announced the victory and Chen Shu looked up again, only the backs of those two figures remained, though Zhang Suannai was still sitting next to Qingqing.

The teachers and academy leaders were whispering to each other.

Chen Shu returned to the spectator area, first greeted Zhang Suannai, then patted Qingqing on the head, grinned, and said, "Am I handsome? Say I'm handsome!"

Zhang Suannai was stunned when she saw this—

Despicable!

To actually flirt with my goddess roommate like this!

She immediately curled her lip in disdain—

Casting a few invisible Spells, what's so handsome about that? Can it be as handsome as my Sword Sect's Sword Control Technique?

Tsk!

You have to know that Qingqing never lies!

She saw Ning Qing nod:

"Mm, handsome."

"..."

Zhang Suannai could not help but fall silent.

"Let's go!"

Chen Shu turned and walked away: "To watch my roommate get beaten up!"

The roommate followed without a word.

Zhang Suannai had no choice but to follow.

Brother Jiang was at the neighboring Martial Arts Arena, and his opponent was a Martial Artist from the Military Academy.

The Military Academy's Martial Artists were much stronger than those Martial Artists from Yujing Academy; they were bona fide modernized Martial Artists, killing machines on the Battlefield. This was the reason why no other schools had Martial Artists participating, only the Military Academy.

In terms of training:

The training direction for Military Academy Martial Artists was the Battlefield and combat, so naturally, they could not be compared to the little lamb Martial Artists in ordinary universities.

Fortunately, Jiang Lai was also trained on the Arena.

In terms of personal configuration:

Although Military Academy Martial Artists could not carry modernized weapons and equipment when participating in Arena matches, the Runes engraved on their bodies were uniformly provided by the military; the quality was superior to most Runes on the market, and they were in sets, often allowing several Runes to be used in coordination.

Fortunately, the performance of such highly standardized products was destined to be difficult to reach the very top.

Therefore, the two sides fought very intensely and brilliantly.

Dodging and shifting, punches landing on flesh.

However, Brother Jiang was about to win.

Zhang Suannai's voice came from beside Chen Shu: "Which one is your roommate?"

"The one getting beaten up."

"Oh..."

Zhang Suannai was also an expert and could tell, so she twitched her mouth: "What kind of bird-brained guy is this, he's too sleazy..."

Chen Shu nodded and smiled, not saying much more.

Not until Brother Jiang finished getting beaten up and began to counterattack did he feel it was no longer interesting. He took a few photos, prepared to send them to Brother Meng to see later, and then took the lead in turning to walk away: "Let's go eat, let's try their school's food."

"Hey, I haven't seen enough yet!"

"You can watch here."

"..."

Zhang Suannai blinked her eyes, seeing her roommate silently turn and follow that silly vegetable, she could not help but reach out and scratch her head, feeling that she saw a bit of a little follower's shadow on her cold goddess roommate, which made her feel somewhat confused.

She then stepped forward to follow.

The three of them walked into the cafeteria.

The Military Academy's cafeteria food was quite good; it was hard to say about the taste, but there was truly a lot of meat in the dishes, even whole fish, whole chickens, and whole ducks, and they provided specialized restorative drinks and other supplements for Martial Artists and Martial Cultivators.

Since it didn't cost money anyway, Chen Shu went straight up to the second floor.

As expected, the food on the second floor was better.

There were even salt-baked shrimp and braised prawns.

Chen Shu walked around a circle and asked Qingqing, "What do you want to eat?"

"There is nothing I like to eat."

"Get some meat! Put on some more weight!"

"No."

"Then what do you want to eat?"

"Let me look some more."

"Then I'll go get my food, you come find me later."

"Okay."

Chen Shu went to get a serving of hot and sour fish, a serving of salt-baked shrimp, and a serving of potato stewed with chicken, then found a seat and sat down.

Not long after, Qingqing arrived as well.

Zhang Suannai followed behind her.

Facing an empty six-person table, Ning Qing sat down directly opposite Chen Shu very naturally; Zhang Suannai blinked, feeling it was quite reasonable, so she sat down beside her roommate and quietly observed them.

On Qingqing's tray there was only a serving of scrambled eggs with tomato and a serving of stir-fried baby bok choy; she hadn't even gotten any rice, so it seemed there really was nothing she liked to eat.

How pitiful.

Zhang Suannai, on the other hand, had gotten a very hearty meal with plenty of fish and meat.

The three of them each began to eat.

It didn't take long for Ning Qing to finish her two small dishes, and she didn't speak, just sat opposite Chen Shu and watched him eat quietly.

Zhang Suannai's gaze kept darting toward her and Chen Shu, and one couldn't tell what she was thinking.

At this moment, Chen Shu said to Ning Qing:

"You're done eating?"

Ning Qing's eyes flickered, and she gave a hum of agreement.

Zhang Suannai's gaze also flickered incessantly.

Chen Shu grinned: "Since you're idle anyway, shall I find something for you to do?"

"?"

"Help me peel the shrimp."

"..."

"Don't mention it."

"..."

Ning Qing remained silent.

Zhang Suannai was stunned in place.

To think... he was ordering a goddess around.

A moment later—

Zhang Suannai widened her eyes.

She saw her roommate actually pick up the shrimp from Chen Shu's tray and begin to peel them carefully.

Ning Qing at this moment made her feel incredibly unfamiliar.

Zhang Suannai had even forgotten to eat, just staring straight at her roommate's movements as she peeled the shrimp; one by one, the tender white shrimp meat was placed onto Chen Shu's plate, and this person actually didn't stand on ceremony at all, picking up the shrimp meat and eating it.

He even looked as if he were already used to it.