Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

At this point, it was about half an hour until nightfall. The heavy rain continued to pour, but the thunderclouds had dispersed, making the sky slightly brighter than it had been when it was overcast.

In the hour that Adam’s team had been resting and drinking their nutritional supplements, three to four thousand cadets had arrived at the camp. The whole camp had become bustling and lively, which explained why they could hear so many voices outside their capsule apartment.

Ruo Manni, holding up a waterproof cloth, walked toward the barracks. There were already four or five other capsule apartments surrounding theirs, although those capsule apartments seemed smaller and less impressive than Hebrew Adam’s.

Ruo Manni noticed that every team arriving at the camp looked like they had been brutally pushed to their limits by their instructors. Each cadet appeared disheveled and battered, making her wonder just how many instructors the school had brought in to manage so many first-year cadets and push them so hard.

It seemed that due to the large number of new students or perhaps a shortage of treatment pods, the instructors had been less harsh on the later-arriving cadets than they had been on the two teams from the elite class.

Most of the cadets waiting in the courtyard for further instructions were uninjured. Those who were hurt tended to be the stronger captains and leaders of the teams, suffering only from minor injuries like bruises or cuts that could be quickly treated.

Ruo Manni spotted Dean Atchison and Gao Haitao setting up their capsule apartment not far away and walked over to them.

“You seem to be in good shape; it looks like you’ve made significant progress this past month,” Dean Atchison said.

After receiving treatment, Dean Atchison looked much better—both physically and mentally—no longer resembling the pitiful state he had been in just an hour earlier when he was bleeding from the head and barely able to walk due to internal injuries.

“I was carried by the captain for the second half of the sea journey, so I didn’t do much,” Ruo Manni said, not minding at all to give some credit to Hebrew Adam for being such a capable leader.

“But we did run into Instructor Dudley in the forest,” Ruo Manni sighed.

This immediately drew sympathetic looks from Dean Atchison and Gao Haitao. “What did he do to you?”

“The combat suits of our four male teammates were shredded to rags. They had several stab wounds from short swords, with the captain being the most seriously injured. I also exhausted my mental energy and passed out, lying in the treatment pod for an hour before waking up,” Romanni said lightly.

“Although we didn’t encounter Instructor Dudley, our situation wasn’t much better. Our captain has a minor fracture in his shin and is still in treatment to avoid affecting tomorrow. Mina, on the other hand, had her thigh broken by a sea beast’s bite while in the ocean. We’re not even sure if she’ll be able to move tomorrow,” Dean Atchison said, wearing an expression that showed their shared hardship.

“Our elite class got the worst of it. The other groups didn’t suffer as much,” Gao Haitao also sighed. “At least we can be thankful our captain only has a fracture and not a full break; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be able to lead the team tomorrow.”

“Did you also encounter sea beasts? What kind?” Ruo Manni asked.

They must have encountered either a high-level sea beast or a large group of them, considering how battered they were and how much later they arrived.

Dean Atchison sighed and said, “Two fourth-tier Sharp-Beak Sea Beasts. We couldn’t fully attack them in the water. Mina-Olli was bitten on the thigh by one of them. Fortunately, our suits have good defensive capabilities, and she managed to knock out the fourth-tier Sharp-Beak Sea Beast with her telekinesis in time. She only ended up with a broken thigh. Otherwise…”

Otherwise, she might not have been able to save that leg. Romanni sighed as well, realizing that Mina-Olli was likely the most severely injured cadet during this training exercise.

But even though Mina-Olli was unlucky, in this era, losing a limb could be fixed by spending an hour or two in a treatment pod, followed by a good night’s sleep with a treatment device. By the next day, the bones would mostly be healed, allowing for normal movement.

However, even if the bones were mostly healed, it would still take time for the injured bones to fully grow and fuse back together to their original state. For at least ten days, she would need to be careful not to exert too much force.

If it were a normal situation, this would be easy to handle, but they were on the first day of a three-day training exercise. As for tomorrow, everyone could guess that their task would involve climbing.

Mina-Olli’s current condition was quite problematic. Luckily, she had only fractured her thigh bone and not a joint; otherwise, she wouldn’t need to think twice and would have to withdraw from the training exercise.

Ruo Manni looked at him sympathetically. “No wonder you were close behind us at first, but then we couldn’t even see you. We encountered a large group of Anni Sea Beasts along the way and spent half an hour dealing with them. I was curious why it took so long for you to catch up. Later, three third-tier Blood-Sand Sea Beasts showed up due to the smell of blood. Fortunately, we ran fast; otherwise, our situation wouldn’t have been much better than yours.”

Dean Atchison forced a smile. “We struggled to reach the island only to be tortured by the instructor.”

Ruo Manni patted his shoulder. “It’s worth enduring the hardship for a nutritional supplement. If it weren’t raining, the instructors wouldn’t have treated us this way. Instead, they would have sent us up the mountain to find our own dinner. Just think about how much worse it would be if we were exhausted and still had to do that.”

“That’s what Instructor Dudley said,” Dean Atchison said with a grim expression. “There are pitfalls everywhere.”

Ruo Manni nodded. “Otherwise, we might still be running and hunting on the mountain.”

In fact, the instructors would prefer to send the elite class up the mountain to hunt if it weren’t raining heavily. After all, Hebrew Adam, Hua Deli, Dean Atchison, Gao Haitao, and Su Forty-three were all extremely strong and would recover quickly after resting; hunting wouldn’t be a problem for them.

But for the elite and regular cadets, it was uncertain. After swimming fifty to sixty nautical miles and then having to hunt for themselves would be truly brutal.

“But you have it worse than us. We were tortured in the forest, and our captain felt that Instructor Dudley was too harsh and didn’t dare to hand me over to him while I was unconscious. Later, Instructor Dudley admitted that handing over one’s comrade to someone with an unclear stance was indeed a point deduction,” Ruo Manni said sympathetically.

This was also a pitfall. Dean Atchison and Gao Haitao looked quite depressed. But thinking about it, even if they had known it was a trap, there was nothing they could have done. They had barely avoided a total defeat; apart from Gao Haitao, none of the other four could stand properly.

“Instructor Dudley probably did it on purpose, making us jump into the pit even if we saw it coming,” Dean Atchison gritted his teeth. At that time, he was so injured and disoriented that he couldn’t think much.

“Isn’t this normal? The lead instructor is an old-timer, and they get even scarier when they’re tough. I think Gao Haitao was saved because the instructor couldn’t handle all five of you at once, so he left him behind as labor. It’s just bad luck you encountered him; there’s nothing you can do about it. Try to look at it more positively,” Ruo Manni comforted him.

Dean Atchison gave Romanni a sidelong glance, seriously doubting whether her words were comforting or just an additional blow.