Infiltrating the Superhuman Training Girls’ School of the Republic of China!

“First, Colonel Tikhonov.”

The major, who had stopped the small event, stood firmly on top of the tank and glared at each student one by one, as if about to hold a reflection meeting.

She didn’t bother to call out Shradha Bhatt, Rebecca Katerfeld, Hoang Thi Linh, Celine Demetriades, and Anya Crystal, who remained in the back.

“How on earth do you have a pistol? You couldn’t have gotten permission when entering China, could you?”

“A Red Army officer can’t be without at least one pistol, Major.”

“You know that’s not what I mean, Colonel.”

Seeing Zhou Lizhi’s serious expression, the Russian colonel grinned and tucked the pistol she was holding back into her waist.

“Russians don’t enter China through Shanghai or Tianjin, where quarantine is strict. Because there’s no need to. With the Gobi Desert wide open, the sea route and Manchuria aren’t the only ways into Central China, are they?”

“So you’re brazenly telling me right now that you illegally imported weapons by exploiting the vastness of the Chinese continent.”

“To me, a bicycle is a more powerful weapon than a pistol, Instructor.”

It sounded strange, but considering how she had just completely outmaneuvered a heavy tank with just a unicycle in front of the tank, it might not be entirely wrong. Moreover, although I can’t explain it clearly, there seems to be something more between that colonel and the bicycle.

“Was there really a need to feel guilty?”

“There’s no need to feel guilty, but with that mindset, I can’t help but doubt how well the colonel will follow our school’s rules.”

“Don’t worry. I survived under communist rule.”

At those words, everyone standing there froze. In this era where the fierce confrontation between the communist and anti-communist camps has continued for decades, most people felt a visceral fear about someone so boldly declaring themselves a communist in the heart of China.

Not to mention someone like me who has bad memories of the Communist Party.

“Your methods and the methods I learned shouldn’t be that different. The Soviet Communist Party and the Chinese Kuomintang are surprisingly similar, aren’t they?”

“Ha.”

As soon as I heard Tikhonov’s words, I thought a gunfight would break out immediately. Those words were too dangerous to utter in China, and especially in front of a Chinese soldier, it was a terrifying statement that wouldn’t be strange if it resulted in immediate execution.

Is the reason it’s scary because that statement is so… so spot-on about reality? People say that the Soviet Union is a terrifying dictatorship that oppresses the people and controls freedom. But is this something that Kuomintang China can criticize?

No one in the party dares to mention the emperor’s voluntary abdication out of fear of the authority of the Generalissimo, who is almost 100 years old. There’s suppression of intellectual figures who seem even slightly left-leaning, and even rampant public executions of people who may or may not be spies. Can this Kuomintang China criticize the Soviet Union as a controlled society?

Chiang Kai-shek is a great emperor. But how contradictory is it that an emperor still exists in a republic that arose from overthrowing an empire? Therefore, Tikhonov’s statement highlighting the similarity between the Soviet Communist Party and the Chinese Kuomintang is so dangerous. It’s so insolent.

Even Briar Churchill, who had been slowly walking forward, raised her hair and widened her eyes after hearing Tikhonov’s words just now. If Zhou Lizhi were to pull out a gun and shoot the Soviet colonel’s heart right here, what should we do?

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Zhou said in a slightly cracked voice.

“The Communist Party is the Communist Party, and the Kuomintang is the Kuomintang. The collaboration of 1924 just saved the colonel’s life. How about being a bit more careful when opening your mouth from now on?”

“Even if Nikita Khrushchev came back to life, he couldn’t shut my mouth.”

“Even if Joseph Stalin came back to life?”

“Comrade Stalin is a different story, Major.”

“The Chinese Generalissimo, who lived in the same era as that Comrade Stalin and formed an alliance with him, is still alive. Is that not enough reason for you to keep your mouth shut, Colonel?”

“Is that so? Then I’ll take my leave.”

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief as they saw Barbara Tikhonov take off her hat, salute Zhou Lizhi, and step back. Except for Briar Churchill, who was glaring at Zhou with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

Zhou Lizhi turned to look at Julia Curoo, who was sprawled out on the ground, without showing any particular reaction. Julia, after returning to human form from the tank, was completely stretched out in the middle of the sandy field, in a tattered state with her clothes torn to shreds.

For her human body to end up with just those injuries after having her turret penetrated by an armor-piercing round, it seems that this shapeshifter from a modeling background shouldn’t be taken lightly either.

“Curoo.”

“Y-Yes…”

“Go back and rest. Your injuries are severe. It was unavoidable to check the reproducibility of your shapeshifting ability. I’ll apologize for now. Your performance was impressive. Medic!”

At Zhou Lizhi’s call, Chinese soldiers suddenly popped out with stretchers from who knows where they were hiding. Since it’s an academy that teaches superhumans, that instant teleportation might also be a superhuman ability.

“Take that collapsed American model to the infirmary. Make sure she receives the necessary treatment.”

“Yes, Major!”

“How kind of you.”

Briar Churchill grumbled. Zhou Lizhi’s mouth twitched as she looked down at Churchill.

“Do you have some complaint, Churchill?”

“What complaint could I have, Zhou Lizhi? Thanks to your surprise show, I was able to impress upon everyone how powerful I am. Everyone saw it well, right? That the nicknames ‘Greatest Talent of the Current Generation’ and ‘Marlborough’s Mad Hound’ aren’t just for show. Just know that I’ll be the boss here… Wait, Shin Eun-young. Is it right to use the expression ‘be the boss’ here?”

“It’s a vulgar expression for a lady to use.”

I answered indifferently. Briar Churchill pulled out the baton from her waist and fiddled with it, with a face deep in thought.

“Then what would be better… Maybe I should play a piece to think of something…”

Just as Churchill was about to raise her baton cheerfully to swing it, suddenly, with a swoosh, the baton slipped out of her hand and was sucked into Zhou Lizhi’s hand. Lizhi gripped the short baton tightly and looked it up and down.

“It looks like an antique. Is it a famous item?”

“How on earth…”

Briar Churchill wore the most flustered expression I had seen so far. Zhou Lizhi, seemingly enjoying having taught the arrogant British lady a lesson, grinned and tapped her palm a few times with the baton.

“Generally, a baton isn’t a weapon. So I can’t handle it. But Spencer-Churchill, you seemed to think of this baton very much as a weapon. After all, it’s our consciousness that allows us to use our abilities. I’m telling you not to live too carelessly.”

Zhou Lizhi swiftly turned the baton half a circle and held out the handle towards Churchill. Churchill received the baton back with a much deflated expression compared to earlier and stepped back slightly.

And my fear of the person named Zhou Lizhi kept growing.

“What does England expect from you, Churchill? A military band officer? Or a face for England? Do they want to assign you as a cavalry officer in the Royal Guard? Or perhaps towards the Navy Minister position, following your famous ancestral relative?”

To mention Winston Churchill in this setting, it’s blatant mockery.

Wasn’t it since Winston Churchill, Britain’s first Navy Minister, that politicians from the Marlborough family started to get a reputation for being ineffective? The reason Shradha Bhatt showed such fierce hostility towards Briar Churchill is probably not unrelated to the fact that that man was among her ancestors.

“Personally, I don’t think the navy is bad. After all, it’s ‘Rule, Britannia’, isn’t it?”

Briar Churchill laughed off Zhou’s mockery as if it was nothing.

“But I don’t think the state has asked me to take on any particular role.”

“Is that so? Then with such talent, your expectation is just to be a clown. Well, you did well today. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. If you had come here to seriously perform some role for the people and the motherland, today’s behavior would be a failing grade, but what’s the point of giving such strict advice to a woman who’s just here to have fun playing music?”

I saw Briar Churchill’s expression momentarily distort upon hearing these words. It seems that instructor has quite a lot of experience.

Enough training experience to handle even these foreign students with strange personalities at will.