The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Indeed, Nie Erqi’s instincts were correct; this guy was targeting his classmate, Jiang Hui. If he were someone who enjoyed watching chaos, he would have relished the opportunity to clear some space for them to stir up trouble. However, even though he was curious and bored with the overly calm task at hand, he remembered his role as a teacher; while everyone else could enjoy the spectacle, he should not.

Did these little brats think this was a place for competition? They should be grateful that they were still in a relaxed middle school environment. If they were currently in a higher educational institution, anyone who dared to defy a superior with such demands would be in for a rough time.

Regardless of the educational stage, schools are indeed committed to cultivating each person’s abilities. As mentioned earlier, since their ultimate goal was to produce suitable talent for the military, education at all levels would timely instill in them the importance of following orders, a military principle, rather than allowing impulsive behavior driven by self-interest.

Hess’s behavior was clearly crossing the line. He made the same mistake he did during the training exercise; if his superior were present at this moment, he would likely be facing another round of punishment.

However, those present were neither his superiors nor instructors, and he was temporarily assigned to this location.

Theoretically, Nie Erqi should have intervened to stop the other party; he couldn’t allow them to disrupt the teaching process. However, human psychology is quite complex, or rather, people are complex. Sometimes the plan looks good on paper, but executing it is a different matter.

The Empire needs individuals who understand the importance of following orders, who prioritize the bigger picture, and who are willing to truly integrate into the collective interest. But who starts out that way? And how many can maintain that attitude indefinitely?

So this is merely a false proposition, a broad guideline that current teaching must follow.

In daily teaching, it’s more about individual brilliance; showcasing personal abilities is often easier.

Nie Erqi didn’t mind letting these young ones, who had yet to realize the weight of the world, have their moment of ambition.

Hearing this, he merely raised an eyebrow and, amidst the nervous, curious, and pleading gazes of the crowd, suddenly smiled and said, “Sure.”

‘Sure my foot!’ Jiang Hui was taken aback.

Of course, Nie Erqi wouldn’t really set up a one-on-one competition between Hess and Jiang Hui. After all, he was the teacher, and this was his class; he set the rules and wouldn’t let these kids do whatever they wanted.

However, young people always have a competitive spirit at heart. Nie Erqi could understand their desire for a chance to prove themselves and was quite willing to give them that opportunity. With only two days left, he figured these kids couldn’t hold onto their basics for much longer, so he decided to introduce some new methods.

Since the original positioning net had already been stained by several rounds of laser gun dye, and the two previously laid out could no longer accommodate, he set up a new net, creating a total of three nets, which could allow over forty people to stand in a row.

But what was he trying to achieve? Was he really planning to let everyone engage in a free-for-all?

Nie Erqi was seen installing a series of unknown circular devices onto the positioning nets, each one securely attached at the nodes. In the center of each device was a small cross mark that perfectly aligned with the corresponding node at the back.

He attached a total of ten of these devices from left to right, then added another row below it, ultimately arranging a hundred of them in neat order.

Nie Erqi informed them that these devices were called target markers, auxiliary tools designed to work with the laser guns, capable of identifying the code of the laser gun that hit them.

“Does this thing really have such a function?” Jiang Hui was surprised. She had thought it was just an ordinary toy gun and looked at the laser gun in her hand in confusion, failing to find the supposed serial number. Finally, under Nie Erqi’s guidance, she spotted a tiny “07” discreetly located near the edge of the barrel.

She silently noted the serial number and listened as Nie Erqi explained the rules for this round.

In fact, this was a very simple practice, after all, it was just the most basic static target practice; no matter how they played with it, the variations were limited.

If they had previously been practicing in “single-player mode,” then this round was a multi-party free-for-all.

Although there were a hundred markers on the positioning nets, they wouldn’t all be used in one round; each row would only accommodate one round.

Over forty people would share ten markers in one round, but each marker could only be hit by one person at a time. This meant that if Jiang Hui wanted to hit a marker, she would have to compete with more than forty classmates.

This practice had a competitive feel to it, much more so than the previous individual practice, which stimulated the competitive spirit of everyone present, instantly boosting the morale of those who had been feeling somewhat fatigued from their training.

After all, they were all young and spirited; how many could truly focus on practicing seriously and methodically? Given that they had just experienced a setback, they were eager to prove their abilities in some way. Wasn’t this an excellent opportunity?

Clearly, this format also aligned well with Hess’s request to shoot at the same time as the younger students. He didn’t say anything further and instead deliberately glanced at Jiang Hui.

However, at that moment, Jiang Hui happened to be lost in thought, staring at the positioning net, completely unaware of his gaze.

Hess felt a surge of anger rising from his chest to his mind. It was happening again… Why was this person so infuriating?

In the past, he had always been indifferent to others, never bothering to look at anyone directly. Although Hess doubted this assessment, as he had never thought of himself that way, he had walked this path alone without relying on anyone, and he naturally had his own pride.

But he just couldn’t get through to Jiang Hui. What angered Hess was not the silent humiliation he suffered at her hands during the training exercise nor was it jealousy over her considerable shooting talent; it was the fact that she seemed to have no awareness of his presence whatsoever.

He was being so obvious about it that even the instructors and other students had noticed, yet Jiang Hui appeared completely unconcerned and indifferent.

…Though he had glanced at her a few times, it was merely looking, without any desire to explore further. Her attention felt even less engaging than the dull, one-sided shooting practice.

Hess had never realized he could feel such anger, nor had he expected that one day he would be so indignant about someone else’s disregard.

As his anger filled his heart and flared up, Hess felt that his pent-up rage was gradually transforming into an obsession.

Thus, he couldn’t help but make this request to Instructor Nie Erqi, ignoring how others viewed him, because all he wanted now was to confront this inner demon and defeat “her” once and for all.