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Hoo boy, there’s a lot of characters here. For this arc, I’m splitting them up based on their factions. The juniors’ name who participated on the event is underlined.
Character List
=The Chu Family=
Qiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC, currently attending intermediate college.
=The Xiang-Wei Family Alliance=
Xiang Kun: Chu Yan’s mortal enemy. Xiang Hui’s younger brother. Mecha manufacturing student.
Xiang Hui: A colonel. The Xiang family’s current heir. Xiang Kun’s older brother.
Xiang Lingyun: Xiang family’s head. Xiang Kun and Xiang Hui’s father.
Xiang Jing: Xiang Kun’s paternal female cousin. 22 years old.
Wei Xiongchang: Wei family’s head. A Liutenant General.
Wei Yu: Wei Xiongchang’s grandson. Probably around 20 years old.
Wei Lan: Wei Yu’s younger brother. 14 years old.
=The Ning Family=
Ning Kongran: A fifth-grader at intermediate college. Ning family current heir.
Chairman Ning aka Ning Tianya: Ning family’s head. Ning Kongran’s father.
Ning Kongting: Ning Kongran’s female cousin. 19 years old.
Ning Konghua: Ning Kongran’s male cousin. 21 years old.
=The Presidential Faction=
Long Baorou: the President’s daughter. 24 years old.
Long Ruizhang: Long Baorou’s younger brother. Probably 23 years old.
You Xia: Long Baorou’s maternal male cousin. Older brother to You Yuanyuan.
You Yuanyuan: You Xia’s younger sister.
The broadcast started at 10 o’clock, and it was already 9:40, so there was no time for them to settle for breakfast.
Ning Kongting, the prettiest among the girls, said, “Don’t eat breakfast, pack up and get ready to start the live broadcast.”
Everyone remained silent, acquiescing to her proposal. Even Xiang Kun, who was the loudest just now, didn’t bemoan his hunger. Instead, he stared at Chu Yan, who returned the rude gesture with an equal amount of rudeness.
The temperature on the primitive planet was a bit high. Seeing that breakfast was hopeless, everyone went to find a place to change into lighter summer clothes. Fortunately, the supervisors showed some humanity and didn’t take away their change of clothes.
“I suggest that you don’t wear short-sleeved shorts or skirts. Simple and lightweight long-sleeved trousers are the best choice. Be careful of flying insects here,” Qiao Zhiya kindly reminded everyone before changing clothes, and then followed Chu Yan to change behind a tree.
Several girls paused after hearing his reminder. Among them, Xiang Jing and You Yuanyuan thanked him politely, while Ning Kongting directly ignored him as he brushed her hair. Glancing at Qiao Zhiya who was walking away, she harrumphed and went to the other side with her brother.
Ten minutes later, everyone changed their clothes and assembled again.
The boys have all changed into their neat training clothes, which was no problem. Among the girls, Xiang Jing and You Yuanyuan listened to Qiao Zhiya’s suggestion. They changed into long-sleeved trousers, and tied up their hair. Only Ning Kongting was different – her hair was still draped freely, while her top was a close-fitting and long-sleeved, which highlighted her exquisite figure; she paired that with a long skirt that looked cumbersome to walk in.
Everyone actually listened to Qiao Zhiya’s suggestion, and felt that it would be easier to move around in such a situation where they hadn’t figured out the surrounding environment. It’s natural they couldn’t help but focus on Ning Kongting, the odd one out.
Seeing this, Ning Kongting pulled her skirt indiscriminately, revealing the trousers under the skirt.
Everyone: “…”
They were all wearing long trousers, why bother to put on a skirt outside.
The boys were very puzzled, the girls had strange eyes, and Qiao Zhiya had already foreseen the appearance of this beautiful long dress being scratched and tangled by the roots, branches, or even the flying insects.
The time slipped to 9:55 unknowingly, and there were still five minutes before the start of the broadcast. Everyone stared at each other for a while, and fell silent without knowing what to do.
‘What should I do next? Standing around waiting for the broadcast to start?’ Many of them thought.
Ning Kongran, who was still the oldest, suggested, “First, we should find out the surrounding environment, find food for lunch, and find a place to rest in the afternoon. As for the grouping, let’s go with Xiang-Wei and Chu-You. The Ning family already has three people, so this division should be fair. Remember not to divide too sparsely, and make sure that the other two teams are close enough to be reached if there’s an emergency. After an hour, no matter what you find, we will gather here. How about it?”
This grouping cleverly separates conflicting families, ensuring that each group has a certain combat power and an older person to take the lead. Everyone has no objection to this, but there’s still differing opinions on “each group moves separately”.
“No, we just arrived here, and the environment is not familiar, so it’s not good to separate directly,” Ning Kongting said, and bumped into Ning Konghua secretly. She was obviously a little bit dissatisfied at Ning Kongran’s behavior of standing up to decide the general direction of the team.
Ning Konghua, who was also a handsome guy, received the signal from his sister, and nodded in agreement, “Kongting is right, the surrounding environment is unclear, so it is not wise to separate.”
Wei Yu analyzed the members of his group – Wei Lan, who would be a burden, Xiang Kun, who could only bark without a bite, and Xiang Jing, who was mediocre at best. His frown deepened, and said, “I agree. At least for today, we shouldn’t be dispersing.”
You Xia didn’t participate in the discussion, and he was willing to listen to others’ arrangements.
Chu Yan also pulled Qiao Zhiya to prevent him from expressing his opinions, and watched the show while eating melons.
The Ning family, who looked harmonious from the outside looking in, actually had internal strife. This scene has never been played before, so Chu Yan had a “wait and see” attitude.
Qiao Zhiya was held back, and looked sideways at Ning Kongran, who had been refuted by everyone. His brows were frowned, his little face was a little tense — in fact, Ning Kongran’s suggestion was the most appropriate. The supervisor group must have their reasons for putting them here; and the biggest possibility was that this place had been cleaned in advance to ensure their safety when they first landed.
And within an hour, the road conditions in the forest were complicated. Even if everyone dispersed, they couldn’t go far. If something happens, they could call the other two teams. Separation could increase the possibility of finding food. This was the best choice at present.
The atmosphere was at a stalemate. When it was ten o’clock, the insect-shaped camera equipment in everyone’s hands automatically turned on, flapped its wings and flew into the air, and pointed the camera at them — the live broadcast began.
Everyone froze and shut up.
On the warship, the supervisors of each family sat together, watching the live broadcast screen, frowning in unison — what’s going on? Why did they stay where they were when they were deliberately let go half an hour earlier?
Long Baorou also frowned, looked sideways at Chu Rong, and said, “Marshal Chu, your decision seems to be wrong.”
Although it was a live broadcast for the public to watch, there were many operable things in it.
For example, they could tell their children what to do before they land, write a script for them, let them act according to it. Or they could arrange the “experience” route in advance, giving them a little convenience instead of letting them play freely.
Obviously there were many optimal solutions, but Marshal Chu, who has a bad temper, refuses to choose them all, insisting not to resort to fraud.
Lieutenant General Wei first took a look at his two precious grandsons, seeing that they seemed to be in good spirits, he was a little relieved. But then he was puzzled, “What are they doing? Why are they standing still and not talking?”
Ning Tianya looked at the three juniors of his family. Seeing that Ning Kongran seemed to be deliberately rejected by Ning Konghua and Ning Kongting, he frowned unhappily — these two children were completely spoiled, and they didn’t know how to rein in their thoughts.
Out of all the supervisors, Xiang Lingyun was the oldest. This time, he sent Xiang Jing, who was low-key, sensible, and a girl. She complemented well with Xiang Kun, who was still too immature, especially when Chu Yan was within his sight. Thankfully, he’s still underage, so no matter what kind of trouble he’ll get with Chu Yan, Xiang Lingyun had the confidence it wouldn’t turn into a scandal.
Xiang Hui was also very calm, and looked directly at the Starry Sky Forum that was open simultaneously – public opinion was the thing that needed the most attention.
The melon-eaters were obviously a little confused by the fact that everyone stood still at the beginning of the live broadcast. There were endless discussions about asking about the situation, post after post, and the live broadcast screen was full of question marks from the audience.
Chu Rong didn’t respond to Long Baorou’s words, and frowned in dissatisfaction as he looked at the screen. He coldly said, “As a military student, these reactions aren’t adequate. They’re in an unfamiliar environment, and yet, all they do is stand around without doing anything, wasting time and energy.”
As soon as Chu Rong said his comment, the expressions of the other supervisors all changed — except for the Chu family, all of the children of the other families had students who had already entered the Advanced College section of the Federal Military Academy. This evaluation was really heartbreaking.
Regardless of everyone’s reaction, Chu Rong directly pressed the notification device connected to the camera equipment after saying this, and said in a cold voice, “The experience activity has begun, and I will give you two days to adapt to the environment. After two days, you will be given your tasks.”
After speaking, he simply turned off his microphone. His sight fell on Chu Yan and Qiao Zhiya, who were standing in the corner of the live broadcast screen. His gaze especially sharpened when he saw the hat on Qiao Zhiya’s head. His expression was so unpredictable that people couldn’t understand what he was thinking.
The supervisors of the other families looked at each other with more or less the same ugly expressions. They might not say it out loud, but they all had the same complaints in their hearts: ‘This Chu Rong is really unpleasant!’
Looking at Chu Rong’s handsome but indifferent side face, Long Baorou curled her hair with her fingers, lowered her eyes and took a sip of water.
There was a sudden sound from the camera equipment, startling the children who were making eye contact.
“It’s the voice of Marshal Chu,” You Xia glanced at the camera equipment flying beside him, and spoke first. Then he muttered in doubt, “What does the Marshal mean…? Besides experiencing the life of the Exoplanet Natives, do we have other tasks to complete during this one-week event?”
Someone opened his mouth to break the deadlock, and finally everyone stopped playing the game of staring at each other. The atmosphere slowly returned to normal.
“What kind of mission will it be? Is it related to the festival?” Wei Lan, the youngest, couldn’t hold back his curiosity, and was the second to speak.
Xiang Kun shook his head, changed his previous bluffing and viciousness, and replied in a mild tone, “It must be related, but not necessarily. Anyways, let’s pass these two days safely.” After finishing speaking, he patted Wei Lan’s head, looking like a good big brother.
Wei Yu, who was standing next to Wei Lan, looked down at him and didn’t speak.
Chu Yan was about to be disgusted by Xiang Kun’s acting skills, so he simply looked away, out of sight and out of mind. “Then follow what Ning Kongran said before. First spread out to find food, and after an hour gather here, find a place to rest in the afternoon. Everyone, cheers!” After speaking, he greeted You Xia, pulled Qiao Zhiya, turned around and left.
‘The live broadcast has already started, and getting together with the Xiang-Wei people might lead me into a trap. It’s safer to move freely with Qiao Zhiya.’
This decision was exactly what Qiao Zhiya wanted. He followed Chu Yan very cooperatively, thought for a while, then stopped to look and reminded everyone, “The brighter the color of the plant, the more likely it is to be poisonous. If you see a wild fruit that is being eaten by insects or birds, then it’s more likely to be non-poisonous. If you’re still undecided, it’s best to not eat it. Instead, you can hunt some small animals, but don’t touch the babies, it can attract its parents or even its herds.”
After he finished telling them, he left with Chu Yan without looking at other people’s reactions.
You Xia glanced at everyone, smiled and said, “Then our team will go first, and you two teams will work hard, see you in an hour.” After speaking, he patted You Yuanyuan’s shoulder and led her to follow in the footsteps of Chu Yan and Qiao Zhiya.
People from the other three families were left in place, and some did not react.
‘…So we follow the original arrangement?’
Wei Yu frowned, seeing that the team seemed to be a foregone conclusion, he also said, “Let’s spread out, everyone.” After speaking, he glanced at Xiang Jing and motioned for her to follow him with Xiang Kun.
Xiang Kun’s performance was robbed of the limelight by Chu Yan’s words. He was very unwilling and couldn’t help sighing, “Why is Chu Yan still so out of touch? Splitting up like this is clearly so unsafe.”
“Yes, that’s right, why didn’t they listen to my brother’s suggestion?” Wei Lan quickly agreed, defending his brother.
Xiang Jing and Wei Yu pretended not to hear their exclamations, and randomly picked a direction where the plants looked more lush.
Ning Kongran withdrew his gaze from the direction of Qiao Zhiya, looked at his relatives, and said gently, “Then let’s act too, it’s getting late.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Ning Konghua said, this time very cooperative. He even pushed his sister to follow him, pretending that their group was very harmonious.