Although the dean was fearful and angry, he could not help but be heartened by how influential his old friend's descendant was. Still, he quickly collected his thoughts and emotions, and bellowed at the gobsmacked teachers frozen in their seats in the dining hall, "Are you all still eating?! Get a move on!"

"Ah ..." The teachers were stunned silly once more by the dean's ferocity. Who knew that the normally gentle and mild-mannered dean would have such a violent side to him?

"The rules relevant to the grand armed melee will be transmitted to your communicators by the mainframe in a moment," said the dean frantically, "Everyone be on guard at your positions and monitor every inch of the academy grounds. Keep a lookout for the rescue signals sent by the mainframe — at critical moments, put your backs into saving people!" When the flames were lapping at one's brows, even the most mild-mannered person would be sent off the edge. If a ma.s.sive number of casualties really occurred, even he would not be able to hold the fort.

"Yes, Dean!" The teachers finally woke up. The moment the grand armed melee began, their responsibilities would not be easy. They would have to keep the situation under control, and at critical moments, they would have to morph into omnipotent superhumans to rescue students.

"Dammit, what a real bunch of troublesome and reckless fellows ..." The teachers may complain, but not a single one of them was really displeased by this turn of events. The 7th grade teachers, in particular, could barely hide their glee, drawing the admiration of the teachers of the other grades. How had they managed to inspire such guts in their students?

On the other hand, the teachers of the 10th grade were somewhat solemn. They had initially thought that their students were decent enough, but compared to the current 7th grade, they could feel how lacking the students they had taught were.

The teachers swiftly left the dining hall. In the now empty dining hall, like taking off a mask, the dean's expression changed completely. His initially angry and impatient expression disappeared, and his lips actually curved upwards in a suspicious arc, showing just how good his mood was.

"Perhaps, these children will be the Federation's future ..." The circ.u.mspect and farsighted dean knew very well what the current children were lacking.

"A grand armed melee ... what opportune timing! Ling Xiao, if your son wasn't just fooling around and planned this on purpose, then he is truly impressive ..." If the boy had truly noticed this point and intentionally launched a grand armed melee to give the children an opportunity to awaken, then that meant that Ling Lan was not just a simple warrior, but a strategist as well. If he continued to develop his skills, it would not be impossible for him to become a legendary marshal.

Blood and combat were the true fertile soil to cultivate real strength! With the pa.s.sing of the years, old men like them gradually eased up on the younger generation out of compa.s.sion. They would rather choose those safer teaching methods than let the children face danger. But in truth, in the past hundred years, the number of people who had managed to advance to higher-cla.s.s operator was obviously pitifully small compared to that of the previous century. Even taking the unparalleled prodigy Ling Xiao into consideration was not enough to blot out this fact. Although the educational methods of 100 years ago were b.l.o.o.d.y and cruel, exceptional top-notch operators were produced generation after generation in an endless stream ... The status the Federation enjoyed now was fought for and earned by the batches after batches of top-notch operators produced then.

The dean naturally knew the flaw in their education system now, but he still lacked the conviction to force the start of a grand armed melee ... Unexpectedly, that bunch of 7th grade special cla.s.s students had helped him to make the decision this year.

At Sunmoon Square of District-N, Ling Lan and the others had already rushed over to the scene. At this moment, the academy's transportation robots had already brought over bundles after bundles of rubber bats and had piled them up inside Sunmoon Square. The same thing had happened over at Freedom Plaza where the 10th graders were.

Everyone who was involved in the grand armed melee, whether on the side of the challenger or the challenged, had all received the rules relevant to the grand armed melee. In this grand armed melee, they would only have one weapon — these rubber bats. If any other weapon was discovered to be used, the user would be immediately expelled, and their side would be deducted 1000 melee points. Of course, you could bring along as many rubber bats as you wanted, as long as you could carry them.

The 7th grade students needed no instruction. They quickly took up their weapons — some took just one, while others took two. This all depended on whether you were more proficient with single-handed wielding or dual-handed wielding.

Ling Lan symbolically took up one of the sticks as well. Frankly, with Ling Lan's capabilities, having a stick or not would not make much of a difference. However, since everyone had taken at least one, she needed to blend in a bit so that she would not stand out too much.

Just when Ling Lan thought that she would only need to sit still patiently and wait for the grand armed melee to start, Qi Long and Wu Jiong unexpectedly collaborated to sell her out. Without letting her know, they directly appointed her as the grand leader of this grand armed melee, and gave her the responsibility of making the overall arrangements and deciding the initial mobilization of their forces. According to Wu Jiong, since the grand armed melee was initiated by Ling Lan, then he should take full responsibility for it.

Ling Lan did not push away this responsibility. From the start, she had planned to use this to settle everything once and for all, getting rid of the troublesome problems from the upper grades with one stroke. She stood up on the open stage of Sunmoon Square, and using the loudspeaker there, she said, "Everyone is saying that we 7th graders have gone mad, actually starting a grand armed melee ... but have we truly gone mad?

"No!" The steel in Ling Lan's voice pulled in the attention of all the 7th grade students.

"After we've entered the upper division, everyone has suffered some hazing, whether big or small, from the seniors of the upper grades. Some even cross the line into outright humiliation. For the sake of graduating peacefully, there's nothing wrong with choosing to tolerate this. It's also a valid and appropriate method, I agree!" These words of Ling Lan's caused the students to break out into a furore — if tolerating is right, then why had he chosen to start this grand armed melee?

"But will tolerating solve the problem? It cannot!" Ling Lan's voice turned cold and forbidding, even containing a trace of concealed killing intent. "The seniors of the upper grades will not stop just because you tolerate them. In fact, they will just become worse and escalate their bullying time after time ... I believe everyone here has felt this. In that case, why should we continue to tolerate? Is it just to hold on through these few years, just to become as hateful as those upper grade seniors, and then bully the new juniors of that time just to comfort ourselves?

"Is that the path we want to walk?" Ling Lan's gaze was extremely cold, chilling all the 7th grade students; they actually did not dare to let their eyes meet hers directly.

"Yes or no?!" Ling Lan roared, the sound ringing out loudly by everyone's ears.

"No!" Qi Long was the first to shout in reply. His cry was soon followed by Wu Jiong's and several others', and then more and more, until everyone's voices were merged into a formidable wave of sound, "NO!"

This was the true voice of the hearts of the 7th grade right then. They had not yet been bullied so much that they had lost their pure souls — without a soul twisted by constant humiliation, they were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with guts and fighting spirit. Thus, they refused to let themselves become hateful and grotesque.

"A dark history should be ended, a dark legacy should not exist within the cradle which cultivates qualified soldiers. And we, the 7th grade, shall be the ones to end this dark legacy ... we are the champions of what is right!"

"Champions! Champions! Champions!" Everyone's blood was boiling after listening to Ling Lan's speech. That final remaining tendril of fear within their hearts disappeared completely — all that was on their minds now was combat!

Ling Lan waved both hands in a downward sweep to get the students below to quiet down again, and then continued to say unhurriedly, "Of course, I also do not wish for there to be any reckless heroes among us. Intelligence and courage should go hand in hand. Therefore, I recommend that all the merit cla.s.ses and regular cla.s.ses move around in teams as a combat unit!

"I do not recommend acting alone. Although the grand armed melee is a messy fight, it is extremely suitable for team members to cooperate with one another. I do not wish for any in our 7th grade to fall. Do not forget — by your side, you have your brothers, your sisters, your friends, your comrades ... you are not fighting alone!"

These words received the heartfelt approval of all the 7th graders. Everyone looked at the good friends and teammates around them, and determined that they would fight by their companions' sides till the very end!

"Besides that, do not forget to read closely through all the rules of the grand armed melee. When you all meet a Special Cla.s.s-A student, remember to press the b.u.t.ton to surrender or the b.u.t.ton to ask for help ... admitting defeat is not shameful. Only by living will there be hope for the future!" Ling Lan emphasized her final words with a push of her spiritual power, hoping that at a critical moment, the students would not be so worked up that they would attempt to perish along with their opponents. However, just this strong push was enough to drain Ling Lan's tremendous spiritual power, and her head started to throb in pain.

After saying her piece, Ling Lan stepped off the stage, giving her place to Wu Jiong and Qi Long. She signalled for Lin Zhong-qing to cover her, and then moved to sit in a corner, closing her eyes to rest and regain her strength.

"Boss, how can you be so reckless?" In the minds.p.a.ce, Little Four was very dissatisfied with what Ling Lan had done.

"Understood. I won't do it again. Let me rest first; help me monitor the surroundings." Ling Lan did not argue with him, but she also did not regret her decision. Initiating the grand armed melee was to give all the 7th graders a chance to become stronger, not to let them stagnate where they were.

After giving her instructions to Little Four, Ling Lan focused on cultivating her spiritual power. Compared to Luo Lang or Lin Zhong-qing, she trusted Little Four's monitoring even more. Anywhere the academy mainframe could monitor, Little Four would be able to monitor as well, without letting the mainframe find out to boot.

Time pa.s.sed quickly; very soon, the hour was almost over. Under Wu Jiong, Qi Long, and some others' arrangement, the 7th graders had swiftly departed Sunmoon Square to spread themselves throughout the entire academy, finding spots to conceal themselves.

The grand armed melee was a battle where the two sides hunted each other. Aside from the dormitory area, the entire academy was their hunting grounds. Even if the combined total of the two grades was about 20,000 people, once the students were scattered throughout the Central Scout Academy, they would be like water droplets falling into an ocean, leaving no lasting ripples behind.

In the end, Wu Jiong's team and the organizing teams also left, leaving Ling Lan's team as the only team in Sunmoon Square. At this moment, the mainframe's voice once again rang out with an announcement that reverberated throughout the whole academy:

"7th grade vs 10th grade, grand armed melee will commence after this countdown. Duration is 24 hours. Winning criteria: The grade with 40% of their population remaining and an acc.u.mulated melee score of 60%! Numbers at present — 9212 vs 9374! Acc.u.mulated melee score at 0 vs 0. The countdown begins now. 10, 9, 8 ... 3, 2, 1 — the grand armed melee officially begins!"

As the mainframe officially announced the start of the grand armed melee, a dome of light immediately surrounded the dormitory area. Seeing this, several 10th grade students waiting by the dormitory area were extremely shocked and surprised. They tentatively tried to enter the dormitory area, but were repelled by a powerful force.