The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

At this moment, Nancy suddenly remembered the “person” that Lin Maowu had murmured about earlier.

She had initially thought he was referring to the first-ranked Jiang Hui or the third-ranked Clarens. At that time, she hadn’t been convinced… although those two had impressive results, they hardly seemed frightening.

Besides, they were all from the same grade, just participating in a small internal school competition. Even if they were to determine a ranking for the time being, it didn’t seem necessary to be so cautious, right? This seemed to conflict somewhat with Lin Maowu’s usual calm and confident demeanor.

Nancy had thus thought that while Lin Maowu was intelligent, he was perhaps a bit too cautious, and being overly careful might even hinder his ambition.

But now, as she truly faced this unknown and terrifying enemy, feeling the pressure, Nancy realized Lin Maowu hadn’t said much. That enemy was indeed formidable, as was their team.

Only now did she become genuinely curious about who Lin Maowu was referring to… Was it Jiang Hui, the first place finisher? Or Clarens, the third? Or perhaps the fifth-ranked Huan Xian?
Nancy vaguely remembered that the fifth-place person was also from the command department, just like Lin Maowu, and it seemed they were even classmates. Could it be that the person he had been talking about all along was Huan Xian?

Receiving a signal from the other side, Lin Maowu motioned for the others to take cover behind the rocks, quickly switching weapons and reloading ammunition in preparation for the upcoming rotation.

His back pressed against a tall rock, he took a deep breath. As expected, it was still the same.

A month ago, he had witnessed the terrifying strength of Huan Xian, even briefly collaborating with him. However, the overwhelming power of Huan Xian hadn’t given him any sense of assistance at the time. Instead, it had inexplicably filled him with a deep sense of fear.

He pushed away Huan Xian’s hand and stubbornly cut ties with a classmate he had spent two days with.

What followed was no longer within his control. The rejection and the small actions were not his concern. Even though Lin Maowu could no longer maintain a friendly relationship with Huan Xian, he wasn’t the type to resort to petty actions.

Some might say that his reaction was driven by jealousy, an irrational fear of a stronger person from someone in a lower position. He wouldn’t deny it, as these were indeed real emotions he had felt toward that person.

However, no one knew that beyond these feelings, he was even more terrified of Huan Xian’s attitude and mindset, which seemed detached from human social ethics and norms. Huan Xian simply didn’t know how to behave as a human and didn’t seem human at all. He appeared to be a product born from some unnatural mechanism, a monster, unfit for humanity.

Rather than fearing Huan Xian’s abilities, it was more accurate to say that Lin Maowu feared Huan Xian’s very existence.

This was why he could never coexist peacefully with him. Yet, Lin Maowu also couldn’t shake the shadow Huan Xian had cast over him in such a short time.

Even though the two had never exchanged another word, Huan Xian had crushed him with overwhelming power, deeply wounding his pride.

He finally mustered the courage to fight, only to realize that the opponent was even more terrifying than he had imagined. He felt quite helpless.

Indeed, he was a monster that everyone feared, wasn’t he?

He really didn’t know what his teammates beside him were thinking. He wondered if they would eventually come to the same conclusion after this competition and choose to stay away from him, just like he was thinking. They probably would…

——————————————

“Sigh, I can’t go on, I need a break,” Zhou Xuwen sighed heavily, lowering the gun resting on his shoulder and retreating from the front line, out of the range of direct fire.

Huan Xian glanced at him, kindly responding, “Take a break for now. Once you’re rested, just help reload the bullets when you’re able.”

As for Clarens, he was completely absorbed in the world of shooting, paying no attention to the conversation between the two.

Zhou Xuwen nodded obediently. He knew that among the three of them, his shooting skills were the weakest. He was probably just slightly better than Xierman, but stuck between two big shots, he didn’t feel like he was of much use.

But the enemy was just too numerous. Clarens and Huan Xian were the only two on their side, and the gap in numbers was too wide. Even if their shooting skills were exceptional, there was a limit to what they could do. So Zhou Xuwen had always encouraged himself to act as a support, trying to make himself useful and take advantage of the situation between the two sharpshooters.

Of course, he probably was the only one who thought this way…

Actually, in the recent rounds of combat, Zhou Xuwen had played a significant role, relying on his sharp intuition to break through the enemy’s defenses several times, forcing several opponents to reveal themselves.

Overall, the three of them coordinated quite well.

However, for Zhou Xuwen, maintaining such a high level of concentration while shooting was still quite taxing. Unlike the other two, he was from the logistics department, and the physical training he had undergone over the past month was on a completely different level compared to students from combat units and other specialized fields.

In addition, his basic stats weren’t very high, and after more than thirty hours of intense physical exertion, he was already extremely fatigued.

Huan Xian was also aware of his condition and had suggested more than once that Zhou Xuwen step back from the front line to rest for a while, but Zhou Xuwen insisted on staying in position.

Because he knew that what was coming next could be a long standoff.

Lin Maowu was being cautious as usual. It was likely that he had suggested for their team to take cover near the rocky area.

If it weren’t for those rocks blocking their path, they might have already cleared the area by now. Although the enemy had more people, their skill level was still far behind that of Huo Qi’s team. Furthermore, they had the protection of trenches, and the enemy couldn’t do anything to them for now.

However, while they had trenches, the enemy had rocks to shield them as well.

Even though Huan Xian was an exceptional marksman, his weapons couldn’t penetrate the rocks to hit the enemy, so they had to wait for the enemy to expose themselves and take shots when the opportunity arose.

But this method was clearly inefficient. The enemy couldn’t get close, but they couldn’t move either, which was time-consuming and exhausting.

What made the situation even worse was that the enemy had over ten people, while they only had three. When it came to sustained physical endurance, they were at a disadvantage. So, they had to come up with a solution because it was clear that the enemy wasn’t going to give up on their prize so easily.

When they noticed the enemy had slowed their shooting and switched to alternating shots, Huan Xian and the others breathed a sigh of relief, though they didn’t dare to relax the offensive too much; they just eased up a little.

Huan Xian, deep in thought, sent his mental energy to probe around the area…

“Eh?”

The other two turned to look at him with puzzled expressions, their eyes showing confusion.

Huan Xian raised an eyebrow, as if he had discovered something interesting. He released the hand that had been supporting the rifle and knocked on the earthen wall of the trench with his knuckles. “Looks like there’s going to be a good show.”