Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

Hua Deli and his team were worried about the uncertain situation of Adam’s squad. They were thinking about sneaking over to check on them when their communicators, which had been without signal since the training exercise began, suddenly activated.

The two squads immediately checked their communicators, and after exchanging information, they found that everyone had received the same notice from their respective training instructors. The notice instructed all the cadets to stay where they were, find a suitable place to set up camp and wait for further instructions. The school would provide nutritional supplements, and they would be informed tomorrow whether the training exercise would continue.

“To halt the ongoing exercise, and to stop everyone… something must have happened to the Second Prince and his group, and it must be something serious,” Dean Atchison said with concern. After all, he had spent several months with those six teammates, building bonds through shared hardship and effort.

“The real danger is likely with Manni,” Mina-Olli said even more anxiously. At this moment, she wasn’t thinking about anything else; she could only think of the camaraderie developed over the past few months.

A Stage Four Psychic Core Mutated Tree’s offensive capability is actually quite weak; it’s even less so than a regular mutated tree. To consume its prey, it usually creates illusions, causing its victims to walk right into its trap.

So, if that Stage Four Psychic Core Mutated Tree wanted to devour Adam’s squad, it would definitely have to deal with Ruo Manni first. Without eliminating her, the illusions it created would soon be broken by Ruo Manni, and it would be left with no means to act.

Under normal circumstances, with Ruo Manni’s cultivation level, she should be stronger. Mina-Olli could sense that the aura of the Stage Four Psychic Core Mutated Tree was slightly weaker than Ruo Manni’s.

However, the issue was that during the battle with the Red-beaked Strange Bird, Ruo Manni had already expended a lot of her psychic energy. In such a state, she might not be able to handle that late-stage Four Mutated Tree.

Mina-Olli had already started fearing the worst. If Ruo Manni could handle that Stage Four Psychic Core Mutated Tree, then Adam’s squad wouldn’t have violated the rules by using hot weapons. They would only resort to such measures if they encountered a danger that couldn’t be resolved with combat skills alone.

“The instructors have already arrived at the scene and are handling the matter. We won’t be of much help if we go in. It’s better to follow orders, leave the forest, and secure our position, then wait and see what happens next,” Abulaiti Asimu suggested to Hua Deli, given the uncertainty of the situation. It was better for everyone to stick together.

“The outside of the forest is definitely safer than inside,” Hua Deli agreed, nodding at Abulaiti Asimu’s proposal. He gestured for his teammates to head back.

It’s still afternoon, and it’s unclear if anything else might happen or when we’ll be able to take action tomorrow. With so many uncertainties, it’s better to find a good place to set up camp and rest for now.

As Hua Deli’s team was just dropping their capsules and watching the capsule apartments rapidly unfold, Hua Deli suddenly lifted his head and stared into the distant sky on the right.

Mina-Oi and Dean Atchison noticed something strange a moment later, and they also began looking in that direction with Hua Deli.

The other teammates were slightly slower to react, but they noticed their captain’s unusual behavior immediately, so they also turned to look in that direction. Soon, they realized that something was rapidly approaching.

Immediately, everyone quickly drew their weapons, preparing for whatever was coming their way.

Before long, a small, seventh-class military ship broke through the clouds and flew overhead, disappearing beyond the forest on the other side. Its speed was such that it seemed almost to create an illusion as it passed in the blink of an eye.

Dean Atchison, a little uncertain, glanced at Hua Deli, then moved closer to him and asked quietly, “Was that Cousin Qi’s special ship?”

Hua Deli nodded. He had seen that ship many times and had even been on it several times, so he recognized it even as it quickly passed by.

“If it has reached the point where Cousin Qi has to come personally,” Hua Deli thought to himself, “the situation with the Second Prince must be quite serious, requiring him to personally come here to take control.”

Dean Atchison nodded in agreement. “Since Cousin Qi is here, we should just settle down and focus on recovering. This isn’t something we should get involved in.”

However, the situation wasn’t as severe as Hua Deli and Dean Atchison imagined. The reason Hua Deqi had come to this island was, on the surface, to personally escort Dr. Saint Paul and to root out the mole within the instructors’ team of Xuan Gu’s First Military Academy. But, in reality, it was because of Ruo Manni’s injury.

While others might not know, Hua Deqi was well aware of how highly the Crown Prince regarded Ruo Manni. It could be said that the Crown Prince placed Ruo Manni on the same level as the Second Prince, hoping that these two geniuses would rapidly grow and reach Level 8 within eight years.

Therefore, the Crown Prince would certainly not allow Ruo Manni to go without training for several years. To ensure Ruo Manni’s absolute safety while she was unconscious and to provide her with the most timely treatment, he had dispatched Hua Deqi to oversee the situation.

No one else, apart from Hua Deqi and Dr. Saint Paul, knew how precious the special medicine they had brought with them was.

The Crown Prince had acquired this two years ago from an unknown source, and there were only two main doses. One was made into a potion for the Second Prince, while the other had been kept unused by the Crown Prince. It wasn’t until Ruo Manni appeared that he instructed Dr. Saint Paul to begin preparing it.

Hua Deqi had originally hoped that the remaining dose held by the Crown Prince would be used for Hua Deli. However, now that it was given to Ruo Manni, he had no objections. This was also the main reason why the Crown Prince sent him to oversee Dr. Saint Paul, knowing that Hua Deqi wouldn’t collude with the healer to tamper with anything.

Hua Deqi didn’t know how powerful the main ingredient was, but after the potion was specially prepared for the Second Prince, the leftover materials were refined by Dr. Saint Paul, and the resulting potion was given to outstanding youths like Hua Deli, Mina-Olli, and Dean Atchison.

Over the course of a year, Hua Deqi wasn’t sure how other children had fared, but Hua Deli’s cultivation potential had increased by half a level. Thanks to this half-level improvement, Hua Deli advanced to the late stage of Level 4 Warrior six months earlier than expected.

If things continued like this, Hua Deqi estimated that if Hua Deli received enough experience and could comprehend battle intent, he could advance to a Level 5 Warrior at any time. Reaching Level 8 within ten years would definitely not be a dream.

There were only three or four outstanding members in the younger generation of the Hua De family, and as the prospective future head of the family, Hua Deqi was very hopeful that Hua Deli would grow quickly so they could face the coming great tribulations together.

While Dr. Saint Paul was treating Ruo Manni in the treatment room, Hua Deqi was interrogating the instructors in the ship’s hall.

Hua Deqi, who had been promoted to a Level 7 Warrior and given the rank of Major before turning forty, was certainly not someone to be taken lightly. His methods of interrogation were beyond what most people could imagine.

In just over ten minutes, Hua Deqi identified the insider behind the incident—Instructor Fidler. As the person in charge of this inspection, Fidler had easily cooperated with certain forces to plant the Level 4 late-stage Psychic Core Mutated Tree in a critical area of the training route and had also installed barrier devices around it.

This was the main reason why Instructor Dudley and the others failed to detect the danger faced by Hebrew Adam in time, delaying their rescue.