The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

R87

The team was eerily quiet. While the others may not have pieced everything together perfectly, they had generally figured out the series of events. All eyes naturally fell on Jaidy, who was not far away.

It was the captain of the team Jaidy belonged to who had orchestrated all of this.

And the fact that they had forcibly pushed Pavla Lava into their team must have been to restrain their squad. With that, Jaidy’s position in their team had suddenly become “important.”

To ensure that Lin Maowu wouldn’t be able to act on Pavla easily, they had to keep a close eye on Jaidy, not allowing him any chance to reclaim Jaidy as a card in this game.

Jaidy tried hard to maintain a neutral expression, secretly cursing Lin Maowu for his underhanded methods. ‘You’re fine, leaving such a mess for me to clean up…’

But after a moment, he realized the reasoning behind Lin Maowu’s actions. While he understood a bit more, he still felt very dissatisfied with his current awkward situation, knowing that the possibility of him lifting a gun again was slim. These people would never give him another chance to carry a weapon. After all, no one wanted to experience another backstab like before.

The real question was, who was it that attacked Tader’s squad? The second time, Lin Maowu had taken the shot, but who was behind the first? Was it really someone from R186 who shot during the chaotic battle?

Indeed, it seemed that the other side had been relentlessly firing towards R117 earlier. It was no surprise they concentrated their fire; when he observed R117’s team, they appeared to be quite agitated, showing no signs of fear, and it was expected that they would get hit.

But for some reason, when the situation changed, the attack suddenly stopped. Although Lin Maowu and the others hadn’t revealed too much about their movements, it was as if the other side had been drawn to the chaos and deliberately slowed their offensive, almost as if they were giving them a chance to recover.

Could it be that they knew about the secret of their team alliance, and were just watching the drama unfold? No, that couldn’t be it. If they knew, they would have done more than just this.

Both teams were left perplexed.

—

“Oh, so that’s how it is…” Jiang Hui commented, rather impressed by the creativity.

“Where did you get this from? Why didn’t I see you use it earlier?” Xierman asked, looking at the periscope optical sniper rifle in Jiang Hui’s hand.

“This thing can only see objects about a kilometer away, and it’s only equipped with one bullet. Once it’s used, it’s gone, so I didn’t bother bringing it out before,” Jiang Hui explained. It was quite a useless tool in that sense.

She handed the rifle to Xierman, cautioning him to be careful not to drop it, as it might come in handy later.

The organizers were still very shrewd. In real military combat, equipment like telescopes was a must. In the age of interstellar travel, modern telescopes had even more powerful functions, capable of seeing objects several kilometers away. However, in a small-scale competition like this, to keep the results balanced, it was naturally impossible to equip students with telescopes.

That’s why this rifle, with some magnification capabilities, was rare and valuable.

This was something Huan Xian had discovered in a cave earlier. He had been quite happy to find such a good item, but he hadn’t expected that while the item was useful, it was limited—only one bullet was provided.

The periscope could only see about 1.2 to 1.5 kilometers, which wasn’t even as good as her own naked eye for judging distances, especially in an environment where the line of sight was obstructed. It was basically useless.

However, since they were hiding in the tree, their view was wide, and with no immediate concern about enemies, the tool was somewhat useful, albeit a little.

Although trying to see things more than three kilometers away was still a stretch, it was blurry, but the wide field of view meant that even blurry or small objects could still be seen. The effort they’d made climbing so high had at least paid off in this regard.

To be honest, their position at the top of the tree was still quite dangerous. Jiang Hui had no doubt that if they slipped and fell from this height, it wouldn’t just be an issue of broken legs—there was a chance they could end up paralyzed…

Just kidding. Before coming up here, they had taken safety measures. The retractable bullet belt ensured they wouldn’t fall, and the safety belt and simulation harness around their waists were another layer of protection. It should be fine, right?

If you’d asked her a month ago, Jiang Hui would never have imagined she’d be brave enough to climb up a tree that was several dozen meters tall to watch the action. But after more than thirty star hours of competition, she had indeed grown quite a bit, from someone who would pass out after running ten or eight laps to someone who could now climb dozens of meters into the air to observe the enemy without even blinking.

Although the periscope had limited visibility, it still allowed her to spot some interesting things.

They injured their own people, but it was another team that fell. No, wait, there was still one left… and then that team that had acted went and pulled them back.

—If you didn’t carefully untangle the situation, it would be impossible to understand the complex relationships between them.

However, Jiang Hui had made similar guesses before, and now, everything fell into place as she pieced the clues together.

Could this group be the one running a hostage exchange coalition?
Three teams exchanging hostages… even during the Spring and Autumn period, they wouldn’t have been this dramatic. How can three separate forces maintain any balance? Wouldn’t it be a disaster if, as soon as something goes wrong, everyone just shoots at the exchanged hostages to warn each other? This kind of operation looks like a self-destructive move.

Whoever came up with this plan either didn’t think it through or had the intention to sabotage things secretly.

It seems like they’ve barely managed to rebalance things for now.

Jiang Hui wanted to get a clearer look, but unfortunately, the periscope’s functionality was limited. It could only slightly enlarge people the size of grains of rice. Anything more detailed wasn’t possible.

With Xierman messing around with the submachine gun, Jiang Hui casually glanced at the chaotic scene of enemies.

Wait… something’s wrong!
She quickly asked Xierman to return the submachine gun and aimed the barrel towards the area where the eliminated team had been.

That direction, that angle, no wonder she felt something was off… Jiang Hui slowly moved the barrel along the line she had traced in her mind, and eventually, it landed on a messy thicket.

This place, this direction, and considering the time it would take for them to reach there — it could only be them.

Seeing Jiang Hui slap her thigh, Xierman jumped in surprise. When he realized she wasn’t slapping her injured leg, he breathed a sigh of relief. “You scared me. What are you doing, slapping your leg like that?”

Then he heard the girl excitedly shout, “So that’s where they went! We’ve got an opportunity!”

Xierman was confused. An opportunity? What kind of opportunity? Was Jiang Hui planning to participate in this chaotic battle from almost three kilometers away?

But… considering their skills, it might not be impossible after all.