Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 32

After the confirmation was signed, Director Zhang said a few more formal words, then gestured for Meng Xuexiao and Li Hao to stand in the center of the field.

[Teleportation about to begin. Destination: B073 Duel Arena.]

A blinding light suddenly appeared above Meng Xuexiao’s head.

He felt as if something like a black hole had opened overhead, his feet left the ground involuntarily, and then he was completely drawn in.

It was like being in outer space, utterly weightless. The scenery before his eyes shifted rapidly. The school’s academic buildings turned into crumbling ruins, and the sky instantly darkened to a smoky gray, thick with the scent of gunpowder.

Before he even hit the ground, a wave of dizziness hit him. The healthy flush on his face drained away, and a wave of nausea surged up.

It felt exactly like when he had visited high-altitude areas before transmigrating into this world.

The air in B073 was far too thin, completely different from the breathable atmosphere of the Federation Military Academy.

He immediately reached for the spatial clasp at his waist.

The Federation’s teleporters couldn’t accommodate full-sized mechas, so before teleporting, he had stored the mecha inside the spatial device Shen Zekai had given him.

The mecha responded to his call in the next second. Liquid metal flowed out from the spatial clasp, rising from head to toe, wrapping around Meng Xuexiao, as if a God with inorganic eyes had lifted him in one hand and reverently placed him into the core of its heart.

A rush of synthetic air flooded into Meng Xuexiao’s lungs, quickly driving away the nausea. A soft, ergonomic leather pilot seat formed beneath him in an instant.

Then came the arms, the weapons, the control panel.

With the mecha activated, Meng Xuexiao’s field of vision instantly expanded to dozens of meters. Even the sky felt within reach. He almost immediately caught sight of the blood-red planet suspended overhead.

This planet was to the B073 duel arena what the moon was to Earth, but its two ends were unnaturally sharp, shaped like the sickle of a butcher, radiating a deep, ominous presence.

At that moment, a voice sounded in Meng Xuexiao’s ear, “Welcome to the Yanxing Battlefield, Commander Meng. Your mission: survive here for three days.”

Meng Xuexiao, of course, knew he wasn’t a real commander, nor did he deserve such a title. The only explanation was… The duel had officially begun.

Shen Zekai had explained to him before, duels like this weren’t just about primitive gladiatorial combat.

They usually came with a narrative setting, a main mission, and only then unfolded into the scheming and fighting between the challenger and the challenged.

It seemed that in this duel, his role was that of a commander, and the Yanxing Battlefield… was the backdrop for the entire scenario.

“Yanxing Battlefield? That name’s kind of ridiculous,” one student commented, “I think Duel Arena C499’s ‘Battle of Aminos’ sounded way better.”

Back at the Federation Military Academy, separated from B073 by hundreds of light-years, students were murmuring among themselves. They couldn’t be there in person, but they could see the surveillance footage streamed back from the duel arena.

This particular group was mostly underclassmen, who had never had the chance to witness a top-ten-level match. This duel would surely become the hottest topic of discussion for them in the coming months.

An upper-year senior cast them a sideways glance. He had once competed for a spot in the top ten but unfortunately had only ranked fifteenth in the end.

“Shut up.”

“Show the proper respect for one of the Federation’s major historical battles!”

The few students who had just been joking about the name “Yanxing Battlefield” were immediately stunned. Under the senior’s unfriendly stare, they mumbled awkwardly,

“But we’ve seen other duels before, and in those, whether the arena or the background, it was all virtual…”

As they spoke, they suddenly seemed to realize something.

Using major historical battles in student training wasn’t unheard of, but those simulations were extremely advanced, with nearly impossible requirements placed on the participants…

Because understanding the historical battle itself was also part of the student’s evaluation, and many of those real battles would contain key tactical hints woven into the scenario.

“Still…” one of them couldn’t help but argue, “This particular battle is way too old. You upperclassmen might know it, but for underclassmen like us, isn’t it way too hard? It’s just not fair!”

They looked at the monitor showing Meng Xuexiao on the other end. The young man, like them, was from a lower grade—a freshman, no less—and they instantly grouped him in as “one of us.”

At that moment, Meng Xuexiao’s brows were slightly furrowed, as if he were trying to piece together the clues provided by the dueling scenario.

He rested his chin in one hand, deep in thought, and the knuckles of his bent fingers unconsciously tapped lightly against his lips, his knuckles tinted a faint pink, resembling the soft gradient of a rose petal from base to tip.

The young man murmured, “Aside from the instruction to survive three days, they also gave me the identity of the Yanxing Battlefield’s commander. It feels like a clue… and yet also like nothing at all…”

Even the students at the Federal Military Academy, watching from afar, could sense the helplessness and frustration in his expression.

But… what could anyone do?

Let alone Meng Xuexiao, who was standing alone in the high-pressure environment of the dueling arena, even they, with the godlike clarity of the audience’s perspective, hadn’t realized what that supposed hint was trying to convey.

It was just way too cunning.

Finally, one student couldn’t hold back any longer and directly confronted the senior who had ranked fifteenth, “Maybe in your eyes, us lower-year students are inexperienced, and sure, we may not compare to you upperclassmen—”

“But if I’m not mistaken, during your top-ten assessment, you were allowed to form teams and collaborate, right? Back then you could share information. But now there are only two people in the duel arena, Meng Xuexiao is fighting completely alone!”

The senior who had ranked fifteenth fell into a strange silence.

What could he say? Was he supposed to tell the underclassman in front of him that they’d overestimated the upperclassmen?

Back then, very few people had managed to uncover that hidden clue during the competition. And even those who did had paid a steep price.

The results of that test… had been brutal.

But he still had to tell the underclassmen a harsh truth, the same words their instructors had scolded them with at the end of their own top-ten selection exam, “In truth, the test doesn’t just assess how much information you’ve stored, it also tests your ability to obtain that information.”

“After all, in Duel Arena B073, the teachers and professors didn’t… confiscate their communication devices, did they?”

“If someone can call for outside help, that’s part of their own ability, too. Knowing how to use resources isn’t shameful.”

“But… isn’t using communication devices against the rules?! Whether in normal training or tests, it’s never allowed!”

The new first-year students had come in brimming with admiration for the Federation Military. To them, soldiers of the Federation were like heroes from fairy tales. Upright, fearless, charging through thorns with honor.

But their senior fell silent.

The things he’d experienced replayed vividly in his mind.

Back then, their instructor had scolded their entire group into the ground, saying they were too inflexible. On the battlefield, there are times when you have to be ruthless to reach your objective.

“Those of you who can’t adapt,” the instructor had said, “even if you rely on your superior physical abilities to squeeze into the top ten, won’t amount to anything in the end.”

From the senior’s silence, the younger students picked up on the unspoken truth and quietly turned their attention back to the duel feed.

After the duel began, Li Hao and Meng Xuexiao had landed in different locations, and the Federation Military Academy had thoughtfully split the screen to make it easier to monitor them both.

At this moment, Li Hao was making a move.

Li Hao, like Wu Zian, was an upper-year student.

Although he had never participated in the top-ten selection rounds, he had gone through advanced training and naturally understood that the initial prompt upon entering the duel arena must carry special significance.

His first instinct was to secretly take out his communicator to check.

But at the same time, he also knew that using a communicator was forbidden in all major training exercises. With everyone watching, he couldn’t blatantly do something that would make people criticize him behind his back.

Still, having followed Wu Zian for so long, there was no way he was the type to obediently follow rules. He secretly pulled out a miniature device capable of connecting to the network.

This mini-device was a specially customized product, extremely discreet. If that upper-year senior hadn’t already drawn everyone’s attention to the use of communicators, no one would’ve noticed it at all.

Li Hao couldn’t tell which part of the prompt was the key, so he cast a wide net, without thinking too much, he typed the entire prompt into the mini-device.

The mini-device immediately responded with a “Searching…”

In his heart, Li Hao chanted over and over, Hurry up. Faster. Faster!

He had to figure out what this duel arena was all about and then get to Meng Xuexiao’s location as fast as possible.

He deeply regretted choosing this duel arena on a whim. What had he been thinking?!

Although there hadn’t been any sudden ambushes upon landing everything seemed calm on the surface, and the main task appeared to be a relatively bland “survive for three days”, this was still a duel arena officially recognized by the Federation Military Academy as the most dangerous.

Li Hao didn’t believe for a second that the Academy would lie about the level of danger.

So where exactly did the danger come from, external threats? Internal ones? Or… both?

Then… could Meng Xuexiao handle it? Was he already hurt? What should he do? Would Wu-ge just chop him up on the spot?!

Li Hao shivered at the thought and stared anxiously at the progress bar indicating “search in progress”, wishing he could dive in and push it forward himself.

Please, please, just let Meng Xuexiao be okay!

The progress bar finally crept to the end, and Li Hao’s eyes instantly lit up. His hand was already poised to forward the results.

Meng Xuexiao should be carrying a communicator, right? If he could just send this data to him in time, maybe it would help him hold on a little longer?

But as the progress bar disappeared, what followed was a single, bold line of text: [Unable to connect to network. Please refresh and try again.]

The font was so large that even the Federation students watching from the monitoring screens could see it clearly.

Li Hao, whose vision went dark and who now wanted nothing more than to smash the mini-device into the ground, “……”

The underclassmen watching, “……”

The senior ranked fifteenth, “……”

I’ve already pulled down my pants, and this is what you show me?! After all that effort, turns out it was all for nothing!

Very few people actually knew that Duel Arena B073 was modified from the original Scorched Star.

Yanxinghad always been located on the outermost edges of the Federation’s territory, where even receiving signals was difficult. The Federation Military Academy had spent a very long time just setting up the teleportation array for this duel.

That senior could practically imagine himself grabbing his old instructor by the collar and shaking him furiously, so tell me, under these circumstances, what kind of connections would someone need to actually call for outside help?!

Does anyone in the entire Federation Military Academy really have that powerful of a backing?!

…

Inside Duel Arena B073

Meng Xuexiao mentally replayed the prompt he’d received upon entering the arena several times. After confirming there was no more useful information to extract, he set it aside.

He was no longer within the bounds of the Federation Military Academy, the environment around him was entirely unfamiliar, and even if danger arose, rescue teams wouldn’t be able to reach him in time.

He could only rely on himself, now.

His expectations weren’t high. Winning or losing the duel didn’t matter. As long as he survived, that was enough.

In a way, the duel’s main task was kind of a perfect match for his personality?!

Meng Xuexiao scanned his surroundings, checking carefully to confirm that there were no signs of other human activity nearby.

YanxingBattlefield, as the name suggested, was a former warzone.

Given the “Commander Meng” identity he had been assigned, it was highly likely that he represented one of the two opposing sides in this conflict. And if that was the case, then anyone moving within this area could be an enemy.

Sitting inside the mecha, Meng Xuexiao’s field of vision was vastly expanded, and every blade of grass and tree in his vicinity was clearly visible.

At a certain moment, he suddenly noticed a patch of grass sway in the distance.

Something was there, was it… a person?

But based on the shape and size, it didn’t quite look human.

Still, in a place like this, even the slightest anomaly couldn’t be ignored.

He maneuvered the mecha, zooming in on that spot, trying to get a clear view of what it was, but even then… it wasn’t enough.

The mecha that General Shen had given to Shen Zekai was a frontline combat powerhouse, outfitted with powerful weaponry capable of reducing a small mountain to ashes in a single strike. But in return, it was less equipped for recon functions, like motion tracking or species scanning.

There are gains and losses, Meng Xuexiao understood that principle well.

It was just a dark shape in the grass. It probably wasn’t anything serious… right?

He tried to shift his attention elsewhere, but his eyes involuntarily flicked back to that spot again.

Just now, that patch of grass moved again.

His movement had been extremely subtle, so slight that even the most advanced bio-sensing systems might not have picked it up.

But in a tiny, easily overlooked corner of the mecha, a design that could have easily been mistaken for a decorative sticker in the shape of an eye… suddenly shifted. It slowly opened like someone waking from sleep, only, there wasn’t the slightest trace of sleepiness in that non-organic pupil.

The Enforcer had originally decided to keep its distance from Meng Xuexiao, this unexpected “virus” that had disrupted its calculations. But just in case, it had left behind a contingency.

At this moment, that eye-shaped mark functioned like a 360-degree, endlessly rotating surveillance camera, faithfully monitoring Meng Xuexiao’s condition on behalf of its main consciousness.

Just now, Meng Xuexiao’s heart rate had spiked.

Because of… that thing in the grass?

The very next second, a sudden pop-up window appeared in front of Meng Xuexiao’s eyes. Its format and display style were exactly like that of a mecha equipped with species scanning functions.

Wait…

Does that mean this mecha actually does have species-scanning capabilities? But during training, this function was never mentioned…

Meng Xuexiao was a bit puzzled, but his attention was quickly pulled toward the 360-degree holographic projection now emerging from the pop-up.

The projection displayed a beast-like creature, resembling a rat, but it was about the size of a young calf.

Next to the projection was a line of notes:

Mutant Grey Rat:

One of the Empire’s bio-engineered military species. Numerous in population, low in intelligence, and completely fearless.

Often deployed as the vanguard in battles.

Once created massive tactical advantages for the Empire in the Yanxing Warzone, dealing heavy losses to the Federation.

Yanxing Battlefield…

A creature’s profile actually overlapped with the prompt from the duel arena.

That absolutely couldn’t be a coincidence!

Meng Xuexiao noticed that within the annotation, “Yanxing Battlefield” was highlighted in blue, just like a hyperlink in a search engine. It looked like it could be clicked for more information.

Without hesitation, he tapped on it.

A retrieval progress bar, just like the one Li Hao had seen earlier, appeared in front of Meng Xuexiao.

Like a little ant, it inched forward slowly, bit by bit.

Then, at a certain moment, as if growing impatient, pale white electricity snaked out from the corner of the mecha where the eye-shaped emblem was embedded.

Even after extending deep into the ground, the current showed no sign of stopping.

If someone had been standing in orbit, observing from the outside of Scorched Star, they would have seen that at this very moment, the entire planet was wrapped in a web of white electricity, like a newly born celestial body, radiating a brilliance almost too dazzling to believe.

Inside the Federation Military Academy, the teacher in charge of the duel arena’s teleportation system suddenly widened his eyes and rushed to drag over the diagnostic machine to check the device’s readings.

“That’s impossible… It looks like the signal from Yanxing has been restored, and it’s still strengthening!”

Almost the moment his voice fell, Meng Xuexiao’s progress bar suddenly shot forward as if it had caught fire, and the detailed information about the Yanxing Battlefield popped up before his eyes.