Twenty-five twenty-five

The punishment had to be completed on the same day; if it dragged into the next day, it would double.

Under the ruthless pressure of the instructors, the Silver Star students could only cast envious glances at the Imperial group next door, who had been dismissed on the spot, while they continued to drag their aching feet forward.

The most miserable among them were, naturally, the laggards at the back of the pack. They were already exhausted after the first five laps, practically crawling by the final one. Now, with two additional laps tacked on, it was truly the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Thud!"

Along the way, students collapsed one after another. Wu Haoxuan, in particular, was worth mentioning; as he ran, he suddenly dove face-first into the dirt and lost consciousness on the spot.

"These little brats have pitifully poor stamina."

Several instructors followed behind the formation, shaking their heads and offering critiques as they jogged. Fortunately, the entire Third Legion had been dispatched to the Imperial Academy to babysit these children. A standard legion contains not only various combat units but also military medics. As if they had anticipated this outcome, the medics in white coats moved methodically, loading the fainted students onto stretchers and activating their abilities to provide treatment.

Yuan Hanshuang maintained her steady pace, keeping Ke Junda moving with her. Her mind was racing as she ran. While the Imperial Academy’s military training was always strict, in previous years, they had at most designated a few officers from the military to oversee it. Dispatching an entire, fully equipped legion was an unprecedented event in the school’s hundreds of years of history.

Moreover, the arrival of the Third Legion was not solely for training. During a break, Yuan Hanshuang had overheard someone mentioning that the Third Legion’s orders were to garrison the Imperial Academy. The Imperial Academy was prestigious, but was it really worth stationing an entire legion there? Linking this to Professor Zuo’s opening ceremony speech, which also touched upon the Third Legion, made it hard for her not to read more into it.

While she was lost in thought, the others were in the thick of it. By the seventh lap, the sweat pouring down Ke Junda’s back had soaked his entire camouflage uniform. This state was common throughout the group; most of the students still running were pale, their lips trembling, looking as if they had been fished out of water and struggling on the edge of total physical collapse.

Seven laps, ten kilograms of dead weight, and such a long-distance run had drained what little strength they had left. Most were hanging on by a mere thread. Yuan Hanshuang saw it clearly: today’s training session had been turned into an exercise in reaching one's absolute limit. Everyone’s stamina had a ceiling; high-intensity exercise could rapidly deplete it. Those who didn't train often would faint on the spot, like Wu Haoxuan, but those with strong willpower could transcend their limits after exhausting their physical reserves. If successfully sustained, this training method could clearly improve physical endurance. However, its drawbacks and lack of reason were equally obvious.

"Boss, if this keeps up, won't we have to do extra training every single day?" Ke Junda asked, gasping for air.

"It certainly looks that way," Yuan Hanshuang frowned. "The gap in strength between the Imperial and Silver Star groups is just too wide."

Not to mention the three hundred laggards at the end, even among the first ten students to finish the initial five laps, only Yuan Hanshuang, Ke Junda, and Xuan Yuan-Sheng were from the Silver Star group; the other seven were all military academy students—a stark disparity.

"But now that you mention it, something really is off."

She had been too preoccupied with the Third Legion to think carefully, but now, the instructors' actions clearly held deeper meaning. "Even we can see that the Silver Star group is far behind the Imperial group. If this continues, only Silver Star will ever be punished; such a punishment is meaningless. Besides, for just a basic military training, there’s no need to deliberately divide us by academy to foster a hostile atmosphere."

Halfway through her thought, Yuan Hanshuang suddenly smiled. "I understand their intention now."

Gauging the instructors' motives wasn't difficult. When Xuan Yuan-Sheng had raised an objection earlier, the adjutant’s reason for rejecting it had already revealed everything. With that in mind, Yuan Hanshuang suddenly raised her right hand and unfastened her weighted bracelet.

The moment the bracelet was removed, it issued an automatic warning: "Warning! Warning! Failure to wear the weighted bracelet properly detected. If not re-fastened within ten seconds, the instructors will be notified to administer punishment. Ten, nine, eight..."

"Boss?" Ke Junda looked confused by her sudden action.

Before he could even ask, however, Yuan Hanshuang snapped the weighted bracelet back into place.

"Don't worry, I was just running an experiment, it's fine."

Even if she did have to face double the punishment, she could still finish it, so she was naturally unconcerned. Yuan Hanshuang smiled brightly. "On the contrary, this experiment confirmed one thing for me." She tapped her sidekick’s brawny arm, lowering her voice with an air of mystery. "A major discovery that will allow your boss here to make some quick cash and get rich!"

Ke Junda: "???"

(A face full of confusion.jpg)

Although her sidekick’s left eye spelled confusion and his right eye spelled curiosity, Yuan Hanshuang resisted the urge to share her plan. Because her desire to make money was so strong, she didn't even bother pretending anymore. On the final lap, she suddenly accelerated, passing the top-ranked Xuan Yuan-Sheng in a matter of minutes. To everyone's astonishment, she sped away and headed straight for the dorms.

Every elite academy had its own private student forum. On the first day of enrollment, the seniors had kindly told the freshmen that if they ran into any trouble they didn't understand, they could ask for help on the forum. Yuan Hanshuang opened her optical terminal, and sure enough, the Silver Star forum was buzzing.

The homepage was filled with threads like "Preparing for an internship, selling second-hand goods cheap," "Budget 100,000 Star Credits, newbie looking for terminal configuration recommendations," and "The nutrient solution in the Fifth Cafeteria tastes like barbecue."

Beyond that, there were plenty of threads about the freshman military training. After all, the first event was an astonishing run around the campus, which many students in class had witnessed. It was clear, however, that the seniors were mostly gloating. The discussions were mostly: "This year's freshmen are so miserable; only half can get credits, and they have to compete with the Imperial Academy next door," "Hilarious, back in our day, we just coasted through training," and "At this very moment, people who heard about this year's training tragedy are silently crossing the Third Legion off their elective lists."

One could only say that the joys and sorrows of humanity are not shared, a fact perfectly illustrated here. After browsing the forum briefly, figuring out the posting format, and choosing an eye-catching nickname, Yuan Hanshuang rolled up her sleeves and began her grand plan for getting rich.

Soon, a brand-new post drifted silently to the top of the homepage: "Taking orders online: Help you breeze through the 10kg military training weight."

At first, the post didn't attract much attention. After all, at that hour, the other freshmen were still working themselves to death running. She refreshed it for a while, and seeing no replies, she simply exited the forum to practice Tai Chi in her dorm while she waited. By the time she reached the third set, the "Young Miss" was being helped in, limping back to the room.

Hearing the door open, Yuan Hanshuang was a bit surprised. While also ranked in the bottom three hundred, Wu Haoxuan had fainted quite readily, whereas Xia Mengrou had gritted her teeth and finished the run, which was truly impressive. Although she had finished, Xia Mengrou’s state was far from good. Her makeup was ruined, her hair was matted into clumps, and she had difficulty even walking.

However, this didn't dampen the Young Miss’s imperious nature; her voice was still quite full of vigor. "Go run a bath, I need a medicinal soak! I'm covered in sweat, it feels sticky and disgusting." At her command, the maids hurried into action, bustling about the room.

Tai Chi was hard to practice in such a cramped space, so Yuan Hanshuang withdrew her fists and returned to her seat to see if she had hooked any fish. Unfortunately, the reality fell far short of her expectations. The post hadn't gone viral; it had sunk!

Yuan Hanshuang couldn't believe it. "No way, such an explosive title and no replies?"

She browsed the forum for a while and finally discovered the problem. Today’s training was so exhausting that there were hardly any freshmen active on the forum. Even if there were, the few sparse posts were things like "The Imperial Academy is too much, openly provoking us Silver Star freshmen." Clicking on them, she saw seniors offering comfort: "Oh, just get used to it, those military students are always like that, looking down on everyone," "We get looked down on all the time when we go to the Central Building for class," "Next time this happens, call more people; the academy forbids fighting, but we can definitely win a war of words."

...She had calculated everything except for this.

If she just went to sleep like this, Yuan Hanshuang would certainly be unwilling. So, she began to "bump" her own post. Every time she replied to the thread, it would jump back to the top of the forum homepage. By the time she returned to her seventh bump, someone finally took the bait.

[Let Me Graduate After Ten Years]: Is the OP a freshman? Didn't the instructors say you can't remove your bracelets until the training target is met, or the weight will double the next day?

Seeing a live reply, Yuan Hanshuang sat up on her bed with a start.

[Don't Stop Me, I Want Another Billion Bites]: I naturally have a way. If you don't believe me, let's meet up before military training tomorrow. If it doesn't work, I won't charge a cent.

[Let Me Graduate After Ten Years]: Alright, see you tomorrow then.

Soon, there were no more replies, and the post sank again.

Yuan Hanshuang, failing to make a fortune, felt a bit depressed. She rolled on her bed and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Miss Xia, do you need a power-leveling service?" If she managed it right, she could probably develop a wealthy client. Yuan Hanshuang thought happily.

Unexpectedly, Xia Mengrou, who was enjoying a foot massage, flew into a rage. "Are you looking down on this young lady?!"

Yuan Hanshuang: "?"

It took a great deal of effort to explain that she absolutely did not mean to look down on the fact that the Young Miss had ended up in the bottom three hundred in the long-distance run.

"Our Control Department just doesn't train as often as your Close Combat Department."

After ten minutes of explanation, Xia Mengrou was still huffing. "In team battles, the Control Department stays in the rear, planning and winning from a thousand miles away. Where is the need for such harsh physical training?"

Yuan Hanshuang thought to herself, *That’s because you haven't met me.*

The Young Miss still looked like she hadn't cooled off. Reluctantly, Yuan Hanshuang dug into her spatial button and pulled out a small bag, telling Xia Mengrou it contained two pairs of insoles and two pairs of wrist guards that were miracles for dealing with today's training.

She had expected the Young Miss to turn her nose up at this cheap street-stall merchandise, but the other girl paused.

"A gift for me?"

"Yeah."

Xia Mengrou suddenly stammered: "W-well, alright. Since you're so sincere about giving it to me, this young lady will reluctantly accept. But if you think you can use this little thing to become friends with me, you’re still a long way off!"

Yuan Hanshuang was confused: "Huh? Oh, okay."

The next day, Yuan Hanshuang slept in for once. Because the training load was already severely excessive, she had suspended the morning training for her two sidekicks. After doing her laundry, she came out of the washroom. Xia Mengrou was waking up, yawning.

"Miss Yuan, your training uniform," the housemaid said, handing her a stack of thick, compressed clothes.

"Thank you." Yuan Hanshuang took them; there were exactly thirty sets, neither more nor less.

"Hey, you're not allowed to wash them, just wear one and throw it away every day, you hear me?" Xia Mengrou, sitting at her vanity, snorted. "Why do you get up so early to do laundry every day? Rustling around, you woke me up from my beauty sleep! It’s not like the laundry and maintenance machine in the dorm is just for show."

Yuan Hanshuang was surprised: "Does that mean the laundry machine is available for me to use?"

"What, in your eyes, is this young lady so stingy? Please, don't think too much, I just don't like owing people favors."

The Young Miss tried her best to argue, but the tips of her ears near her hairline were bright red.

Yuan Hanshuang: *Got it. The Young Miss isn't just a beautiful airhead; she's a tsundere.*