The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Jiang Hui had reached her limit. Although she had participated in relatively high-intensity training over the past ten days, she was not actually able to reach the average level of a combat unit student. She was just an ordinary person with below-average physical fitness, and her stamina was not worth mentioning. Without any testing, she didn’t even know if her fitness had improved during this time, but it probably wouldn’t have progressed much, given her low baseline.

She was wondering if she should take that stamina supplement later, or if it would be too early to use it now…

Every student’s backpack was equipped with a small medical kit, but it didn’t contain much. This also indicated that there was no real danger in this night training exercise. The medications provided to students were all basic remedies, and even the only fast-acting medication was just a stamina supplement, of which there was only one.

If they wanted more, they would have to exchange their own points for it. However, it was clear that the school did not encourage this, and no student was foolish enough to spend their dwindling points on a stamina supplement. Such things could be bought at a pharmacy without even needing a prescription.

So the so-called training exercise was just a long-distance fast walk; its essence was still to train the freshmen’s endurance, without setting up overly difficult challenges.

However, many students from ordinary majors couldn’t hold out and first resorted to taking stamina supplements. As for how they would manage to push through afterward, they didn’t know. After all, if they couldn’t even endure without taking them, they would have to deal with whatever came next when the time came.

Jiang Hui could barely hold on, but her worries kept her from taking the stamina supplement. However, she was also reaching her limit. She figured they were about halfway, and wondered if she should take a supplement for the next segment to help her make it to the end.

After passing the foot of the mountain, they had about ten kilometers left to reach the temporary resting point. At this point, the giant trees had gradually thinned out, and there were quite a few rocks.

The path was much flatter and easier to walk on, but Jiang Hui didn’t feel any relief because she sensed that the air had changed since entering this area… No, to be precise, the atmosphere around her had undergone a significant transformation.

That feeling returned. Jiang Hui couldn’t help but feel a bit tense; her condition wasn’t great to begin with.

Since early yesterday morning, she had felt something was off; she sensed that the entire atmosphere and aura around her had shifted, infused with some unsettling and agitating energy. At the time, she hadn’t realized it.

Now, Jiang Hui finally found an accurate explanation for that feeling of unease.

That feeling… it was as if someone was watching them.

Last night, it could be explained by the presence of someone standing guard nearby. But now? Who would be lurking in this desolate wilderness during a training exercise, just to keep an eye on them?

Jiang Hui became secretly alert, her hand pressing down on the mechanism of her trekking pole. She actually wanted to talk to the instructor, but the team was currently marching, and the instructor was constantly moving around at the front or back. How could she say anything?

Besides, Jiang Hui had a feeling that the instructor was aware of the situation. This could even be an additional challenge for this training exercise. Who knows how the school might set them up? She thought that given the school’s style, they might actually wake people up at three in the morning for training, so there was a real possibility of that happening.

“Boom—”

The person at the front suddenly stopped, and the whole team became a bit chaotic.

Had it started? Jiang Hui was puzzled.

The team leader, who had been at the back, immediately ran to the front to see what was happening.

From a distance, she could see a few people gathered around, and the instructor frowned, “What’s going on? Why are you all gathered here?”

She noticed that although several people were surrounding one individual, one of them was half sitting on the ground, and the surrounding new students seemed to want to bend down to help her up.

“She suddenly collapsed like that, and we couldn’t hold her up. We called out a few times but couldn’t wake her. Could you let her rest for a moment, instructor?” The girl who spoke was polite and refined, but it was clear that she was worried.

Although this instructor was young, he was evidently well-trained. He squatted down to check on the fainted student, quickly making a judgment. He frowned and said, “She’s in shock and has exhausted her energy. She won’t wake up in a short time. We need to get her to the nearest temporary resting point for treatment. If we can’t manage that, she won’t be able to continue the training.”

Then he picked up the fainted girl from the ground and gave her some of the emergency medication he had on him.

Just when everyone thought this small crisis had passed without incident, a strange commotion came from behind.

With a fellow student fainting from exhaustion, the small team became somewhat chaotic and couldn’t help but get restless. Moreover, with the instructor attending to the situation at the front, the back began to lose control, and the orderly line that had been maintained all along started to show signs of disorder.

Feeling the increasingly restless atmosphere and the strong, palpable presence of an unsettling energy surrounding them, Jiang Hui’s internal alarm bells rang at maximum volume.

After taking a short break, Xiu Wen finally felt that he was barely hanging on. He wasn’t sure if he had overdone it, but his current mental state seemed surprisingly good, at least not as muddled as before.

Now he finally had the time to reflect on what had happened along the way. Xiu Wen had always thought of himself as someone with fairly good physical fitness, yet he almost couldn’t hold on and nearly fell flat on his face during the journey. Thankfully, someone from behind helped him up; otherwise, he might have taken down a whole row of students in front of him.

He remembered the girl behind him, thin and delicate, with a scholarly and refined appearance. He hadn’t expected her to have such strong willpower, and he didn’t even know which major she was from. He wanted to turn around and say thank you.

It was quite embarrassing that he, a boy who often exercised in a junior college, couldn’t hold out as long as she did. In the end, she had to support him, which was really humiliating.

However, when he turned around, before he could say anything, he noticed that her face had turned pale, and she seemed extremely tense, as if she were scared.

A flash of confusion crossed Xiu Wen’s mind. What was going on with her? But then he thought, given the perilous journey, it was normal for anyone to feel unwell; she was probably startled by what had happened up ahead. He was just about to say something when he saw her expression change suddenly, and she lunged toward him.

“Get down!”

Then he didn’t know what happened next; he just heard a gunshot, and a weight crashed down onto his back.

Immediately, screams erupted from the surrounding students, footsteps scattered, and everything fell into chaos.

Someone was shouting, “It’s a gun… someone is sniping!”