The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

The campus is truly like a rumor mill.

How did things get twisted like this? Jiang Hui’s expression tightened with disbelief. Could she really be the person everyone was talking about? If so…how come she didn’t know anything about it?!

Yet the rumor had spread with specific details about the time, place, and people involved, all pointing to the incident with that guy who randomly tried to challenge her yesterday afternoon. So…they were talking about her?!

Jiang Hui was stunned. This rumor had spiraled into something absurd, the kind that would leave even the person involved completely speechless. It wasn’t even a true competition—let alone one where she “defeated” anyone. She couldn’t help but feel bad for that poor upperclassman being painted as utterly humiliated.

Of course, she felt worse for herself. Now, not only had she been dragged into an exaggerated rumor, but she might have unknowingly offended someone. What if he thought she’d spread it? Even though she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong, it still made her uneasy.

This kind of reputation being forced on her didn’t exactly bring her joy.

Oh well, the rumor was everywhere by now. There was no way to reel it back, and trying to explain would probably just make things worse.

But as for the guy standing in front of her, she needed to set things straight. Jiang Hui was genuinely at a loss for Xierman’s misplaced enthusiasm; she wasn’t the person he imagined her to be. If this added some strange filter to how he viewed her, things could only get more awkward. So clearing this up was absolutely necessary.

Unexpectedly, Xierman’s thoughts didn’t follow the usual logic. Hearing Jiang Hui’s clarification, he simply brushed it off, saying, “But you still won, didn’t you? Jiang, you’re just too modest.”

“It wasn’t really a win. It was just a small game where I happened to have the upper hand. In a formal competition, he would definitely be much better than me,” Jiang Hui replied objectively.

Last night, Nie Erqi had chatted with her about this very topic.

He had told her that as a beginner, though she had impressive talent and potential to become an exceptional marksman, her time in the field was still brief, and she lacked sufficient training and experience. Her recent rapid improvement and strong performance were largely due to her natural talent and the boldness that comes with being new to the discipline. As she continued to delve deeper and encountered inevitable bottlenecks, she would face various challenges.

Talent serves as a foundation and provides the potential to reach the top, but the climb requires building each step herself. That initial fearlessness that often drives beginners would gradually be replaced by caution and discipline as she became more practiced. This shift is, of course, a positive sign of skill maturity, but it would inevitably mean losing a bit of that initial uninhibited quality.

In short, Jiang Hui certainly had shooting talent, but if she aimed to surpass someone like Hess at his current level, she still had a tough road ahead. Nie Erqi had given her valuable advice and suggested effective ways to improve.

Though he knew Jiang Hui wasn’t one to think too highly of herself, Nie Erqi, as her mentor, still felt the need to offer this reminder, hoping she’d gain a clearer understanding of her current level and goals.

As for Jiang Hui’s explanation, Xierman didn’t take it to heart—in fact, he saw it as more proof of her humility.

Of course, he didn’t actually believe all the wild rumors circulating everywhere. Even he found them exaggerated, especially considering that neither of the people involved had said a word about it. There were so many versions of the story that it felt more unbelievable the more it spread.

Once he learned that one of the people involved was Jiang Hui, Xierman was even more certain that the rumors had been twisted by others. He just couldn’t reconcile the image of the supposedly arrogant sharpshooting freshman in the “legend” with the calm and collected Jiang Hui he knew. It simply didn’t fit.

However, there must have been some basis for the story to get around, so it was only natural for him to ask when he ran into her today.

Hearing Jiang Hui’s version, of course, made things much clearer. In fact, it was probably the only accurate version of events. Xierman genuinely felt that this new friend of his was almost too modest at times. Even when she had impressive skills, she never seemed to make a big deal about it, acting as if her talents were nothing remarkable—calm and composed to an impressive degree.

This only fueled his curiosity about Jiang Hui even more. He truly wanted to be friends with someone like her.

Moving past that topic, the two of them talked about a few other things: new happenings in their class, some rumors about tomorrow’s orientation race, and even recent events across the galaxy. It was a rare, relaxing moment—though who knew what tomorrow would bring at this time.

—

After adjusting her training uniform, Jiang Hui checked her appearance in the mirror one last time to make sure everything looked right. Satisfied, she grabbed her hat and left the dorm.

Today was the final event of the military training: the orientation race. All first-year students, regardless of major, would participate. However, to ensure the safety of students from non-military programs, they would be separated from those in military-focused tracks.

She’d received the notice last night, instructing all freshmen to gather at the specified assembly point on time, fully and properly dressed. They were also reminded not to bring any communication devices, such as their personal light computers, into the race. Naturally, other banned items on the list were also strictly prohibited.

She left the dorm fairly early, but since her dorm was a bit far from the training field, she arrived a little later than planned. The large venue was packed with people, and it took her a while to locate the section designated for her class.

It was Jiang Hui’s first time at this location—the second-largest training field at Beska Intermediate Academy. Usually reserved for large events, it was big enough to accommodate an entire grade of students. Looking out at the bustling crowd, she was struck by just how many students the academy had, filling up such a vast space with just one grade level.

Once she found her team, Jiang Hui quietly merged into the crowd, doing her best to blend in without drawing attention.

The instructors hadn’t arrived yet, as the official gathering time was still a few minutes away, so everyone was fairly relaxed. Most students were only loosely standing in formation, striking a semblance of a proper military stance.

As she scanned the field, Jiang Hui noticed that the training ground was set up a little differently than usual. There were posters and banners for the orientation race placed in prominent spots, along with various signboards covered in dense writing she couldn’t decipher from afar. The setup really added to the atmosphere.

Some sections of the field had colorful ribbons and banners to enhance the event’s ambiance, and large monitoring cameras were positioned in each corner of the area.

Everything seemed ready to go.