Because time was tight and the mission was critical, Ji Changqing’s strategy for breaking the deadlock was quite simple and crude.

The rumor about Zhuyan City and the Cishu District was a wild guess on her part, a product of her overactive imagination. But given human nature, even if it was just a legend, the one-in-ten-thousand possibility was enough to make them want to take preventative measures and pull it out by the roots.

Dispelling this rumor was basically impossible. But if they were to evacuate en masse for no apparent reason, the factions watching the Cishu District would lose sleep over it. They would wonder, Why did the people of Cishu District suddenly leave all at once? Did they discover something? Or are they the hereditary guardians of the self-destruct system’s hub?

So Ji Changqing simply did the opposite. She first fanned the flames, spreading the rumor far and wide. After all, the source of a rumor is hard to trace, making it nearly impossible to determine when it started.

As the rumor flew everywhere, was it so strange for an idle street punk to overhear it?

Suddenly discovering that her own district could become a battlefield at any moment, where no one would survive—how could she not panic?

Thus, the series of audacious moves that followed had a legitimate reason.

Fighting for her life in the ring, winning huge sums to buy large quantities of firearms, ammunition, food, and medicine—it was all to build a force capable of self-preservation. Only by winning ten consecutive matches did she earn the chance to meet the big boss and negotiate a deal.

Her request wasn’t even excessive; she just wanted to exchange it for a different piece of land.

It was only the final step—spreading the rumor—that spun out of control. Once a rumor starts spreading, no one can control its speed.

At the same time, to achieve his own goals, the big boss took advantage of her, secretly fanning the flames and feeding the rebel army a mix of true and false information, ultimately forcing them down the path of a decisive, head-on confrontation.

As for how strong she was as an individual combatant, that was actually the least noticed aspect of this entire game.

Never mind that she would most likely not survive this life-or-death battle; even if she did, so what? Could she go and settle the score with the big boss?

In this competition, there were plenty of people with outstanding performances, but the popularity of the other nine contestants in the top ten combined probably couldn’t match Ji Changqing’s.

After all, while most people appreciated teamwork and steady command that could turn the tide, they were more drawn to the thrill of swift vengeance and the spectacle of a single, overwhelmingly powerful individual saving the day.

Ji Changqing’s performance perfectly hit all the audience’s sweet spots.

She couldn’t help but feel a flicker of smug satisfaction, but she quickly sobered up. This kind of illusory popularity was just like a talent show in the entertainment industry; a contestant’s fleeting fame meant nothing.

The preliminaries consisted of ten matches in total. The first match eliminated the five hundred thousand people with the lowest scores, and the final match determined the ten thousand who would advance to the finals.

The second match was held ten days after the first, allowing those who had been unexpectedly “killed” in the first match to recover.

The format of the second match was a faction battle. There were two ways to earn points: one was to kill players from the opposing faction, and the other was a collective point bonus for the winning faction.

The faction battle format simply and crudely divided the contestants into two camps. The system didn’t automatically assign positions like commander-in-chief, deputy commander, company leader, or platoon leader. Everyone was still accustomed to operating in small squads, with students from the same school sticking together. At most, they would form loose collaborations with other academy squads on the same side.

For example, if the Fourth Military and the First Military were on the same side, they would have a tacit agreement: you take the left flank, I’ll take the right. We won’t interfere with each other and will compete for kills based on our own abilities.

After all, organizing everyone for a frontal assault was too difficult. Everyone was a top dog in their own right and wouldn’t submit to anyone else’s command. Since the commander didn’t get any extra points, why bother?

The military academy cadets preferred this kind of pure competition—just kill forcefully. There were no excessive interfering factors like scenarios or specific objectives. Those were simply too complicated; they were still just chicks, unable to handle scenarios with so many variables and complex, uncontrollable factors.

The audience, of course, also preferred to watch this kind of simple, crude, forceful killing—the drama of “the stronger one wins when paths cross in a narrow alley.”

Blade meeting blood, fist meeting flesh—how great was that? It looked so exciting!

They didn’t want to watch a long-running war drama full of scheming and probing!

Curiously, the subsequent matches basically followed a pattern of two pure player-versus-player matches followed by one battlefield scenario. In total, there were four scenario matches and six pure combat matches.

The audience felt that there were a few too many scenario matches in this year’s league, but as they watched, they got used to it and even found it interesting.

In previous years, the winners were mostly individuals with formidable personal combat strength. This year was different; there were outstanding performers in command, logistics, ship maneuvering, and even communications.

When all ten preliminary matches were over, only she and Du Zhong from Ji Changqing’s eight-person squad had made it to the finals.

This result wasn’t surprising to anyone.

After all, only ten thousand out of a million participants were selected, and the Fourth Military alone had over two hundred thousand contestants this time. Just getting through all ten preliminary matches was difficult enough, let alone making the list of ten thousand.

In total, only about sixteen hundred students from the Fourth Military made it to the finals, and the majority of those who qualified were fifth and sixth-years. There were only about three hundred fourth-years like Ji Changqing and her peers.

People like Tao Jun, Gu Changge, and He Qingzhi—scions of military families who had undergone strict training since childhood, worked hard, and possessed considerable talent—all advanced smoothly.

Of course, those from ordinary backgrounds who were exceptionally hardworking and talented were also among those who advanced.

The finals would still be broadcast live, but they wouldn’t be held on the StarNet. Instead, they would involve actual combat.

Coincidentally, the New Year holiday began shortly after the preliminaries ended. During the two-month holiday, one month was scheduled for closed training for the ten thousand finalists. The other month would feature four matches, following a 3-3-3-1 elimination rhythm: the first three matches would each eliminate three thousand people, and the fourth match would select ten people from the remaining one thousand to enter the grand finals.

The grand finals would be a ten-person tournament-style elimination match to determine the final top-ten ranking.

For the military academies, their main concern was the list of one thousand who made it to the final match of the finals—this determined the allocation of resources to the schools.

But for the individuals and the Alliance audience, they were more excited about the grand finals, the final ranking match.

Barring any accidents, the top ten from every military academy league would go on to become shining new stars in the future.

Ji Changqing felt this military academy league was just asking for trouble. She could understand each academy conducting its own pre-competition training, but all the contestants training together? Was it because they were afraid everyone didn’t know each other well enough, that the fights wouldn’t be intense enough? Did they want everyone to use this month to fully understand their potential opponents, to “know thyself and know thy enemy,” so they could be more targeted when they started making trouble?

Gu Changge and the others had already quietly filled her in.

The ten-thousand-person training camp—oh, no, the entire military academy league—had several purposes. One was to test the skill level of the cadets. A second was to let them learn from the competition. As for the third, well, that was the true purpose of the annual league.

It was a grand event for all the various military departments, like the major military regions and fleets, to pick their fresh meat. They could pick whichever ones they took a fancy to. Of course, it wasn’t a forced transaction; the student had to agree.

Being scouted and specially recruited from the league was naturally different from being assigned after graduating and passing the standard assessment. Not only would you get in earlier, gaining two or three years of experience over others, but the number of special recruits was small—one or two at the least, three or four at most. The department would have plenty of opportunities to observe and cultivate them. To put it simply, it was the difference between a top student getting private tutoring and an ordinary student eating from the communal pot.

What’s more, some special departments only selected promising candidates from the league, taking them away for separate training.

Based on this, Gu Changge and the others specifically warned Ji Changqing to be careful. She was simply too prominent, a tall tree that catches the wind. Her popularity hadn’t waned at all. The audience on the StarNet seemed to love a grassroots underdog story; many were betting on her to make the top ten, and quite a few even thought she had a shot at the championship.

In the contest for fame and fortune, even in the military academy league, there would always be people who would use any means necessary to eliminate strong opponents early.

As long as your methods were skillful enough, your schemes successful, and you could clean up the mess afterward.

This was a hidden rule of the competition. After all, the military wasn’t a gathering of sweet, naive simpletons. They were black-hearted! Without a bit of cunning, how could you trap your enemies? How could you win every battle?

Sweet, naive simpletons would only end up feeding kills to the enemy!

Gu Changge was deeply worried, muttering from time to time, “Just you wait, someone will definitely target you. Who told you to stand in so many people’s way? During the ten-thousand-person training, be extra vigilant. Don’t reveal all your trump cards.”

He Qingping was rather speechless. Ji Changqing herself was quite black-hearted. Instead of worrying about her, Gu Changge should worry about himself. Rather than muttering, he should do something useful. He patted Gu Changge’s shoulder. “Relax a little. Changqing should be able to handle it. Let’s first compile a list of people to watch out for, gather more information, and make sure we’re prepared.”

By the time they were about to depart for the training camp, Gu Changge and his group had given Ji Changqing a detailed list. It included strong contenders likely to make the top one thousand, with over twenty names specially circled as having the potential to vie for the top ten. In addition, there was a separate list of people to be wary of—the most black-hearted and ruthless bunch, who might use subtle means to eliminate their opponents.

Even though it wasn’t the first time Ji Changqing had witnessed their pre-battle intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities, she was once again amazed by their methods. This was probably the difference determined by their backgrounds. Scions of prominent families always planned before they acted. Grassroots people like her, lacking such a foundation, could only adapt as things happened, relying on their own strength and luck to push through.

To her surprise, Tao Jun also came over to give her a special warning. Of course, he wouldn’t give her a list. They weren’t friends, nor were they allies. Why would he share the fruits of his labor with her?!

He simply brushed past Ji Changqing as they were disembarking the ship and entering the training base, lowering his voice to say, “Be careful of He Qingzhi. I’ve heard whispers that the He family has been making some small moves lately.”