After President Johnson appointed Lin Xiaohe as the Supreme Military Commander, he truly washed his hands of the whole affair and didn’t bother with anything else.
At headquarters, Lin Xiaohe took a shower with purified water, changed into a brand-new Major General’s uniform, put on her black leather boots, and walked with a crisp tap-tap-tap into the main hall of the Operations Department.
Inside the hall, two groups were distinctly separated.
The Federal officers sat with tense faces, their eyes gleaming with hostility. They looked at the examinees opposite them with deep dissatisfaction and undisguised contempt.
The representatives of the examinees were much more relaxed. The corners of their mouths were slightly upturned, bearing the innocent expressions of naive deer.
Hehehe, the exam is over. This is just extra credit. Nice and easy, no pressure at all.
The moment Lin Xiaohe stepped into the operations hall, all eyes turned to her.
This young girl was the newly appointed Supreme Military Commander.
Doubt flickered in the officers’ eyes. Could she really lead the Federation to victory?
Nearby, Lin Ye and You An were whispering to each other. “As expected of the extra credit exam arena, even these background NPC characters are so lifelike.”
Just how much computing power and how many resources must have been poured into this?!
Lin Xiaohe walked to the very front, toward the main chair. Just as she was about to sit down, she heard the guard behind her suddenly shout, “Stand up!”
Whoosh!
Everyone present shot to their feet instantly, staring straight ahead.
Guard: “Salute!”
Everyone saluted in perfect unison.
Lin Xiaohe licked her lips, secretly delighted. Being the leader feels… pretty damn good.
She kept a straight face and returned the salute.
Guard: “Be seated.”
Everyone sat down in response, their movements synchronized as if they were a single entity.
The room fell completely silent. Everyone was waiting for Lin Xiaohe to speak.
Lin Xiaohe raised an eyebrow slightly. Ever since entering the extra credit exam arena, [Nuwa] hadn’t given a single prompt. It seemed she would have to explore the situation within the exam arena on her own.
“Who can brief me on the current battlefield situation?”
The fourth officer from the left in the row stood up. “Reporting, Commander. The current situation is extremely dire.”
He activated the battlefield holographic projection. Red arrows represented the Empire; blue arrows represented the Federation.
The red arrows were relentlessly assaulting several high ground positions near Mount Heng.
The Federation’s blue defensive line was on the verge of collapse under the Empire’s onslaught.
The command center for the first defensive line was flooded with desperate calls for reinforcements. Electronic warfare had also reached a fever pitch.
The frontline command post was sending urgent requests for support to headquarters, asking how to hold the Hengshan defense line and what the enemy’s deeper strategic objective was.
Officer: “The Empire is fiercely attacking Mount Heng, but behind Mount Heng lies flat, open terrain, including the Kaslo Grand Canyon, five army bases, and three air force bases. Even if the enemy captures Mount Heng, their forces would be highly susceptible to being divided and surrounded by our troops. This kind of attack is strategically unsound for them.”
So, what exactly are they trying to achieve?!
Lin Ye’s heart tightened with focus. It seemed the extra credit test was designed to evaluate the examinees’ command capabilities and strategic foresight.
He spoke up first. “Could it be because they have an overwhelming number of troops?”
Enough to simply steamroll us with sheer human wave tactics.
The briefing officer took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. He patiently explained, “First of all, their troop strength is roughly equivalent to ours. Secondly, based solely on the forces they’ve massed near Mount Heng, sustaining an offensive of this intensity is completely insufficient.”
Unless they had a backup plan or a much deeper strategic objective, these Imperial soldiers might as well be on a suicide mission.
You An timidly raised a hand. “Is it possible… their commander just has water on the brain?”
The officer couldn’t hold back anymore and snapped, “The Empire sent their very own First Marshal to command this battle! You might have water on the brain, but he most certainly does not!”
You An sulked silently. What do these NPCs know? Lin Xiaohe is someone Marshal Chu values. Maybe [Nuwa] secretly went easy on her?!
The exam arena had expanded from a single capital city to an entire planet. This was a massive test for all the examinees.
Without detailed intelligence on the exam arena’s parameters, Lin Xiaohe wasn’t about to make any rash decisions. “Have the Operations Research Department draft several contingency plans.”
Meeting adjourned.
The examinees were assigned to various departments based on their declared specializations. A portion of them were sent to the Operations Research Department.
They were immediately buried under a mountain of simulation and calculation tasks, each one working themselves to the brink of exhaustion.
Lin Xiaohe walked over. Something still felt off to her. “Get me the planet’s geological data and the complete operational logs.”
This particular data was stored on an isolated server, not connected to the main network.
If Lin Xiaohe wanted to see it, she had to come to the research department in person.
“Big Boss, this extra credit problem is way too hard,” one examinee groaned, his eye sockets dark and bruised, looking as if someone had sucked the life force right out of him.
Lin Xiaohe gave him a sympathetic glance, secretly thankful she hadn’t applied to a command academy. “Hang in there, classmate. Perseverance leads to victory.”
After offering that half-hearted encouragement, Lin Xiaohe began poring over the planetary data. The more she read, the tighter her brow furrowed.
The planet’s geology had definitely changed!
Lin Xiaohe was one hundred percent certain: the original planet absolutely did not have the Kaslo Grand Canyon!
Her sixth sense was screaming a frantic warning. A mix of unease and the frustration of missing a crucial piece of the puzzle churned within her. It felt as if she were a bug caught in a vast, invisible net already closing in around her.
She silently called out to [Nuwa] in her mind, but there was no response whatsoever.
Lin Xiaohe stood up and unfastened the first two buttons of her collar, as if doing so would allow her to breathe more freely.
The Imperial offensive was ferocious.
In the time Lin Xiaohe spent reviewing the data, the Federal frontline defenders had been nearly wiped out. Yet, the enemy showed no sign of stopping; their attacks surged forward like an unstoppable tide.
With the Federation on the verge of a catastrophic collapse, command posts on all fronts were frantically hailing headquarters, desperate for the First Commander to tell them what to do.
A pressure akin to three massive mountains bore down heavily on Lin Xiaohe’s shoulders.
She knew that at this moment, she should step forward, take charge, and stabilize the Federation’s crumbling defensive line.
But the gut feeling of unease and alarm was impossible to ignore.
Lin Xiaohe’s knuckles rapped rhythmically on the tabletop, her expression grim.
Silence hung heavy in the Operations Research Department. No one dared disturb her.
But the intense tension seemed to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
The examinee who had spoken earlier came over to Lin Xiaohe, his eyes rimmed red.
Lin Xiaohe looked up at him. “What is it?”
He lowered his head like a child caught misbehaving. His lips trembled, and finally, summoning all his courage, he choked out, “Big Boss… I’m sorry. I want to withdraw from the exam.”
At his words, every other examinee in the room turned to stare at him in unison.
“I’m truly very sorry. I just don’t have the ability to process these massive data streams. The moment I see the data flowing, my head feels like it’s going to explode. My goal was always just the Fourth Star Ring Command Academy.”
The moment he had left the capital planet, he’d already submitted a perfectly satisfactory performance.
He had secretly hoped that by clinging to the coattails of a genius like her, he might somehow pass the extra credit and maybe even catch the attention of a higher-level academy.
But reality had slapped him hard. If you don’t have the ability, you simply don’t have it. He was utterly incapable of handling the work in the research department.
Staying in the exam any longer would be pure torture, not to mention the risk of humiliating himself in front of the entire Federation.
Better to just bow out now.
Lin Xiaohe nodded. “I respect your choice.”
Hearing this, the examinee seemed to let out a long-held breath. He smiled with relief, said his goodbyes, “I’ll be rooting for you guys from the outside. Goodbye.”
One minute passed. Two minutes… Ten minutes.
Lin Xiaohe looked at him, puzzled. She raised an eyebrow. “Why haven’t you left yet? Changed your mind?”
The examinee’s pupils dilated. In an instant, his face drained of all color.
His hands began to tremble uncontrollably, cold sweat beading at his temples. His eyes were wide with sheer terror. “Big… Big Boss… Something’s wrong! I can’t log out! I can’t exit!”
A bunch of rookie chicks, caught completely off guard and trapped.
In the end, it’ll still be up to Lin Xiaohe.
