vncnus 030 Kassel College Crisis Exercise
030 Kassel College Crisis Exercise
At seven o'clock in the morning, when Lu Mingfei arrived at the training ground, students dressed in various combat uniforms were already lined up according to their formations, and the flags of the student council and the Lionheart Society fluttered in the morning breeze.
Over at the student council, Cesare Gattuso stood at the front of the line, his blond hair gleaming like molten gold in the morning light. Beside him was Nono. Today, she was wearing a black trench coat from the referee team, with a red referee badge on her chest. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she was confirming something with Professor Manstein.
On the Lionheart Society's side, Chu Zihang stood in the center of the group, his Murasame sword gleaming from being polished. His deputy, Susie, stood beside him, head down checking the equipment list. Lu Mingfei had heard of Lancelot, Qilan, and Passy before, and now he recognized each of them.
By the way, Fingel was giving a speech to the paparazzi in the distance, and he looked even more imposing than Caesar Chu Zihang. If you didn't know better, you would think he was the commander-in-chief of the exercise.
Professor Schneider stood on the high platform, while Professor Guderian excitedly rubbed his hands together. When he saw Lu Mingfei arrive, he immediately jogged over.
"Mingfei, you're here!" Guderian said enthusiastically. "I have great news for you! Your 3E score is in, you're a true S-class!"
"Guderian," Manstein's voice came from the side, "Let the S-class observe on their own. You come with me to the observation group."
Guderian wanted to say something, but was stopped by a look from Manstein. Lu Mingfei noticed a subtle satisfaction in Manstein's eyes, probably because the exercise had finally not caused any major property damage, and he, as an S-class, had not caused any trouble.
"S-rank." Professor Schneider stepped down from the platform. "Observe, but don't interfere."
After saying that, he left. Lu Mingfei could sense that Schneider's attitude towards him was complicated. He didn't completely trust him, but he had to admit the strength that Freedom had demonstrated in just one day.
The warm-up activities began, with students jogging and stretching, and commands echoing throughout.
Next came high-pressure load training targeting the power of the King of Earth and Mountains. The students dragged weighted belts and moved with difficulty on the track, their combat uniforms quickly soaked with sweat.
Chu Zihang's pace was significantly faster than the others, with a stride frequency as stable as a metronome; Caesar's movements were equally efficient, but his style was completely different, with every gesture exuding an elegant composure.
After completing the race, Caesar walked towards Lu Mingfei.
"Lu Mingfei".
Lu Mingfei nodded: "Senior Gattuso."
"I've reflected on what happened during the day of freedom," Caesar said. "Chu Zihang and I used to focus on improving our individual abilities, which inadvertently led to the conflict between the student council and the Lionheart Society. This is meaningless in the face of a real crisis."
"Although what you did made me lose face, it did illustrate a point: when the differences between individuals become too great, even the most exquisite personal skills become meaningless."
Lu Mingfei nodded. He genuinely thought Caesar was quite capable, given his words and his strong execution and organizational skills.
"So Chu Zihang and I made some adjustments during this period." Caesar's lips curled up, with a kind of pride that said, "I did something great but I'm too embarrassed to say it directly."
"The two clubs started to clean up their atmosphere last month: they purged a group of members who were just there to fill their resumes, increased high-intensity collaborative subjects, and reduced the proportion of individual practice sessions."
"The plan for this exercise was also decided by Chu Zihang and me. You missed the first phase, the basic physical fitness screening."
He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to him. It was covered with a densely packed schedule and training diagrams, with different colors marking the modules, and handwritten annotations next to them.
We are now in the third phase, joint training, which will last for three days. Yesterday was D-3 basic joint training, today is D-2 tactical joint training, and tomorrow is D-1 full-element simulation.
Then comes the fourth phase, D-0, the formal exercise.
"Very impressive." Lu Mingfei folded the paper and handed it back to him. "This self-correcting attitude is truly remarkable."
"Um..." Caesar hesitated slightly, "I've heard some rumors circulating in the academy lately. You know, in this closed environment, information always spreads very slowly... It's not that speed is bad, it's just that sometimes the accuracy of information..."
He abandoned his evasive approach: "So, what's going on between you and Zero?"
Lu Mingfei sighed in frustration: "Senior Gattuso, don't even mention it, I don't understand it myself."
"Don't you understand?" Caesar wondered if he hadn't learned Chinese well enough.
"Really," Lu Mingfei scratched his head, "I didn't do anything, and she just came up to me. She fed me cookies and even forced them into my mouth; I couldn't refuse. What does she want from me anyway?"
"...Did I stuff a mouthful of cookies in your mouth?" Caesar repeated.
"Yes, pork floss cookies, she made them herself. Then she forced me to eat them all, and even handed me milk and wiped my mouth." Lu Mingfei recalled the scene, getting goosebumps with embarrassment, and couldn't help but rub his arms. "She was very domineering, like a mother hen."
Caesar seemed to be deep in thought.
"Senior?"
"Just call me Caesar," Caesar's voice became somewhat hoarse, "I just feel that this behavior pattern is indeed a bit illogical."
"Right!" Lu Mingfei found a resonance. "That's why I said I don't understand!"
"Hey, what are you two grown men whispering about here?" Nono walked over and tilted her head to look at them.
Caesar instantly regained his composure, a confident smile playing on his lips: "It's a man's topic."
"They must be talking about women," Nono said bluntly.
Caesar didn't take it seriously and suggested, "How about we train together? Let's test our teamwork."
"No need, the referee doesn't need to go out and eat dirt. I'll just watch the show from here." Nono waved her hand in refusal.
"Okay." Caesar glanced at Lu Mingfei, then turned and left.
Nuonuo plopped down on the box next to Lu Mingfei and crossed her legs.
"Tell me, how did you and Zero get together?"
"..."
Lu Mingfei slowly turned his head to look at Nuonuo.
"Could you schedule a time to come and ask together?"
Lu Mingfei sighed and repeated what he had just said to Caesar—library, cookies, milk, wiping his mouth.
In the distance, Zero's medical team was conducting a casualty treatment drill. A simulated wounded soldier lay behind an obstacle. Zero knelt down on one knee, deftly examined the wound, bandaged it, and before her partner could react, Zero had already hoisted the simulated wounded soldier onto her shoulder, like carrying a sack of potatoes, and ran towards the safe zone.
"That medic..." The student next to him was stunned. "How can he be stronger than the assault team?"
Nono gestured with her chin in the direction Caesar had left: "Do you know why Caesar was unhappy just now?"
"Unhappy?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback. "He was quite approachable just now?"
Nono was speechless: "Caesar has become insecure lately because of you."
"Because I sent him flying on the day of freedom?"
"Not a day of freedom."
"What is that?"
"It's about the progress of your relationship with Zero."
Lu Mingfei was completely baffled.
"...Wait, why does my relationship with Zero make him insecure? Has he taken a liking to Zero? But he's not with you, Senior Sister..."
Nono took a deep breath, then rolled her eyes dramatically. The eye roll was quite skillful, conveying a sense of helplessness that said, "How could you be so stupid?"
"Can't you be a little more rational? In the beginning, it was those rumors between you and me that Caesar didn't care at all. He thought I just wanted to go out and have fun."
"But things changed later. A beauty of Zero's caliber—I'm not talking about her looks, but her identity, her lineage, her mysterious aura—she took the initiative to pursue you, and other girls in the academy also started paying attention to you..."
"Caesar is starting to think that you might have a special attraction to Zero, and to girls like you who are hard to predict and very special."
"What do you mean?"
"As the heir to the Gattuso family, Caesar always believed in conquest and charismatic leadership. But the 'ability to be conquered' you demonstrated touched a blind spot in his thinking."
Lu Mingfei was stunned, his mind replaying his conversation with Caesar.
He wasn't asking about Zero's situation; he was asking Lu Mingfei what dating tips he didn't know.
And what did Lu Mingfei just do? He described very sincerely how Zero took the initiative to come up to him, how he domineeringly fed him cookies, and how he wiped the corners of his mouth...
This is tantamount to telling Caesar: I don't know, that's how girls approach each other.
"Fuck!" Lu Mingfei said.
Nuonuo laughed heartily at his ghostly expression. This mischievous behavior made Lu Mingfei feel uneasy again.
"Nono," he hesitated for a moment, "and what about you?"
"Um?"
"Why are you so concerned about me? From the Regent Hotel to Hakone, and now, why are you doing all this...?"
He didn't know how to finish his sentence.
Nono stopped laughing and looked at him.
"Because of Lu Mingfei," she said;
"You have a special attraction for me—"
Seeing his terrified expression, Nono laughed again. This time, after laughing, she stood up and walked towards the referee's table.
"I'm going to the referee's box," she said, glancing back at Lu Mingfei. "Don't overthink it. The attraction I'm talking about is different from what you're thinking."
"What kind of thing is it?" Lu Mingfei pressed.
Nono didn't answer; the hem of her trench coat fluttered gently on the path.