NOVEL WEB Chapter 150 - Substitute
Zhuang Huiya told Mai Dongzi about his conversation with Tony.
Tony was very interested in the person who used sound therapy to assist Zhuang Huiya during his dangerous period while using the cultivation potential enhancement agent.
It’s likely that Tony also wanted to use the cultivation potential enhancement agent and hoped that the same person would assist him through the dangerous period.
Tony’s idea sparked an inspiration for Mai Dongzi to make money.
Of course, Mai Dongzi would never tell Zhuang Huiya that she planned to earn money by helping others level up; if she did, her uncle would know she was short on funds and might end up transferring money to her.
So when Mai Dongzi spoke to Zhuang Huiya, she made an excuse that she wanted to use this method to practice sound therapy.
However, it would take time for this matter to spread, and they were about to go out for a month of training, so any issues would have to wait until they returned.
In the group selection competition, the Phantom Squad ranked second in their group, qualifying for the top twenty-six.
During the school’s annual regular training, these twenty-six teams would be taken to a more challenging environment for survival training.
The observing instructors would score each team based on their performance and then calculate an average score.
Finally, the sixteen teams with the highest scores would advance to the round of sixteen.
The Command Department aimed to reach the quarter-finals, a heavy responsibility that naturally fell on the senior class’s Thunder Squad.
For the Phantom Squad, the leaders of the Command Department felt both affection and frustration, as well as helplessness.
With Mai Dongzi’s strength alone, the Phantom Squad had advanced past the group stage, but given their team’s configuration, they were unlikely to make it to the top sixteen.
Then, after returning from a seven-day break, a member of the Phantom Squad had unexpectedly advanced to early level five. This surprised the leaders of the Command Department and sparked some new ideas.
Thus, on the third day after their return to school, while the members of the Phantom Squad were conducting regular training in their training room, Instructor Shan from the Command Department arrived with two students.
“Student Xi, in the team training competition, each squad requires two substitute members in addition to the six main fighters. These two students are the substitutes I personally selected for you,” Instructor Shan said kindly and amiably.
Before the break, Instructor Fang had mentioned this to them, saying that they would carefully consider the candidates, and after the holiday, they would report to the Phantom Squad.
However, they weren’t blind; one of these students was clearly the top student of the second-year Command Department, a senior from the Moonlight Team.
The other boy, although Mai Dongzi couldn’t remember his name, she knew he was a member of the Moonlight Team squad, the strongest one outside of the Moonlight Department.
In the group matches, they had previously faced off against the Phantom Team, and Wang Yiyi was defeated by him.
It was surprising that they would have a second-year top student serve as a substitute for the Phantom Squad. The leaders of the Command Department really had a unique way of thinking.
“Isn’t this a bit problematic?” Mai Dongzi asked helplessly, wondering why the instructors were so competitive.
“The requirements for main team members are stricter, but the criteria for substitute candidates aren’t as demanding. Don’t worry,” Instructor Shan replied with a hint of meaning.
“Is he willing?” Mai Dongzi asked. The other boy was fine, but it was hard to say if a proud boy from the Moonlight Department could accept being a substitute for a first-year student.
“Of course, I sought his consent,” Instructor Shan said with a smile.
Mai Dongzi really wanted to say, “You old rascal, you can’t be trusted.”
However, as the captain of the Phantom Squad, she couldn’t say such things in front of her team members. So, she cast a sidelong glance at the Moonlight Department students and then looked at Instructor Shan with a hint of disdain in her eyes.
Anyone could see from the expressions of the Moonlight Team students that Instructor Shan was not seeking their consent but was instead making it so they had no choice but to comply.
Seeing the girl’s pointed gaze of complaint, Instructor Shan couldn’t help but laugh again. “I trust in your leadership abilities, Xiaoxi. Leadership is a key focus of our Command Department training, after all.”
Fine, even though she knew this was a hot potato, she had to take it on and then face the headache of making a choice.
Instructor Shan saw that Mai Dongzi had some complaints but wasn’t trying to avoid the responsibility, so he left with ease.
He certainly had ways to make the two students from the Moonlight Team willingly agree to join the Phantom Squad, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he wanted Mai Dongzi to win them over herself, turning it into an opportunity for her to gain experience.
Mai Dongzi guessed this and, instead of getting angry, calmly said to the two boys after Instructor Shan left, “Let’s talk.”
She brought the two of them into the training room and said, “Let’s have a spar. If you win, you can choose whether to stay here or go back, it’s up to you. But if you lose, you will have to obey my leadership.”
The expressions of the Moonlight Team students tightened, almost to the point of breaking down. Not to mention one person having a chance to win against her, even when their seven-member team had teamed up during the group matches, they couldn’t even touch her little finger!
“No need to fight; we can’t win against you,” the student from the Moonlight Team said weakly.
“Even if both of us team up, it should still take dozens of moves, right?” Durant said with self-awareness.
“In that case, what are you not convinced about? Do you think I don’t have the right to be your captain?” Mai Dongzi’s expression changed, her aura imposing.
The Moonlight Team…
Durant…
They knew this junior sister was strong, but they hadn’t expected her to be even stronger than they had anticipated.
“I demand to be a starting member,” the student from the Moonlight Team stubbornly clung to his last bit of pride.
Mai Dongzi looked at him helplessly and said, “Do you think I’m an idiot? Someone as skilled as you should be used when necessary.”
Although Mai Dongzi’s tone wasn’t great, the student from the Moonlight Team felt a lot more comfortable, and his frustration dissipated by more than half.
“I have the same request,” Durant said.
“As long as you can defeat Senior Moonlight and Junior Zhuang Huiya, I have no objections,” Mai Dongzi said quite openly.
Durant felt deflated, but he quickly perked up and asked, “During our match, Junior Zhuang’s cultivation level seemed to be just below the peak of level four. How did he level up to level five just after a break?”
Durant’s cultivation had been stuck at the peak of level four for over a year. When he saw Zhuang Huaiya’s martial artist level had risen to five, he felt an overwhelming sense of envy and jealousy.
If it weren’t for the fact that he and Zhuang Huaiya didn’t know each other at all, he would have been unable to resist approaching Zhuang Huaiya to ask for the secrets of his promotion.
When the instructor spoke with them yesterday, Durant learned about the members of the Phantom Team, paying special attention to Zhuang Huaiya, the invisible top student of the first year who was excelling.
If he remembered correctly, Zhuang Huaiya’s cultivation potential was 2A. This level of cultivation potential was considered one of the best talents in the Command Department, but in the Combat and Ability Departments, it was only regarded as above average.
But why was it that Zhuang Huiya, with a 2A potential, managed to advance to level five in just his first year, while he remained stuck?