“Is that so? Is that really his daily workload?”

“Yes! He’s busy until midnight. He’s probably preparing his thesis.”

“It seems it was the school’s decision. They said he would be the first to defend his thesis, and he had to submit it a month in advance.”

“Tsk… All these petty tricks! If we win now, won’t it be an unfair victory?”

“I’ve made up my mind!”

“What?”

“Starting today, I’m going to train an extra hour of ship piloting every night, and an hour of simulated wargames! Then, at four in the morning, I’ll get up and do physical training too!”

“Horatio, don’t be impulsive!”

“That’s right! You’re not a spiritual energy user! You’ll die before he does!”

“Don’t stop me! I…”

“Meng Jiao, aren’t you going to say something?” Deng Zhengqing shouted.

“Hmm, how about I also get up at four?” The Highlander warrior, who had just joined the small group, mused, stroking his chin.

“Huh?”

“I did hear that he gets up at four to train. As a spiritual energy user, he certainly has that kind of stamina. And he’s already a successful vanguard warrior of the Xiwei Star Region, yet he’s still so disciplined! Thinking about it, I guess I’ve been a bit lax too.”

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere immediately grew a bit cold. Everyone looked at the luxurious decor of the Lionheart Society’s new headquarters, felt the comfort of the plush sofas beneath them, yet all felt a bit restless.

Kent felt a little awkward. His family owned several hotel brands, and the Blue Faction crew’s lavish meals during this period were naturally provided by him.

“Indeed, wealth makes fools of us!” Deng Zhengqing sighed.

“So, starting tomorrow, let’s cancel those hotel banquets. We’ll train like them!”

“The training intensity can certainly be increased, but the hotel banquets cannot be canceled. As the saying goes, a small kindness is remembered, a small slight is resented; if we cancel them, everyone’s morale will drop. Besides, I think all of this might be Yu Lian’s scheme?” Autumn Mountain Yawata said.

“Hmm? How so?”

“Isn’t it easy to understand? With Horatio’s temper, if he knew Yu Lian only sleeps four hours a day—oh, and sometimes Miss Chang’e even sends him late-night snacks when he’s studying in the self-study room—how would he react?” At this point, Autumn Mountain Yawata pushed up his seemingly glowing glasses: “There’s only one truth: this is an enemy-fatiguing tactic! If Horatio truly gets led by him, his body will collapse before the battle even begins. But with his temper, even if he’s injured, he’ll surely go to the front lines, right? At that time…”

Kent felt this made too much sense and loudly declared, “Did you hear that, Horatio! You absolutely cannot be led astray by the enemy!”

Wien thought carefully and felt that this possibility also existed. He calmed down a bit but still said, “This… this cunning fellow! Yahata, how are our plans progressing?”

Autumn Mountain Yawata silently pushed up his glasses and looked at the person who had been shrinking in the classroom, who turned out to be Yu Lian’s Roommate B, Ris.

“Well, it’s not going too smoothly. Although a few Hong Fang (Red Team) crew members were persuaded by me, none of them are in important positions.”

“Hmph, at first, when that guy found some civilians to be important officers on the ship, I thought he was insulting me. Now that I think about it, at least in terms of integrity, those unheard-of civilians can indeed be considered talented! So, we absolutely cannot let our guard down! Uh, sorry, Ris, I wasn’t talking about you.”

Even though he said that, Horatio Wien still carried a hint of disdain.

“This is normal. I am indeed his Roommate, but he’d rather find some civilians from obscure schools outside the campus than give important positions to us. This has already caused dissatisfaction among many people. So, you shouldn’t be looking for the ones Yu Lian brought back, but for others! People from our own school!” Roommate B, Ris, said coldly.

“…Anyway, thank you for your hard work.” Kent said, “Please continue the work of winning over others. You know the conditions, don’t you?”

“I know perfectly. Then I’ll take my leave.” Roommate B nodded and left directly.

Autumn Mountain Yawata watched his retreating back, his expression a bit gloomy.

Young William Turner watched Ris’s back until he was out the door, his expression growing increasingly dark and stern: “Yahata, isn’t it just an exercise? Do we need to go to this extent? Besides, this is also the highlight of Navy Day! The higher-ups probably don’t want to see this happen.”

“Since it’s a live-fire exercise, then it must look like a live-fire exercise! Espionage is part of warfare! Only those old fogies would think it’s a performance!” Horatio Wien scoffed, then added.

He looked at Yahata and suddenly remembered the small incident in Tiannan City before, and immediately became furious again: “That guy even used a divisive scheme! How shameless, how despicable! Can’t I use espionage?”

Autumn Mountain Yawata sighed, and his poker face once again showed the bitterness and helplessness of having experienced much hardship through his sigh.

“Don’t worry, we all trust you.” Deng Zhengqing quickly said.

Wien took a deep breath: “Since entering the school, I’ve lost to him many times! At least this time, this time, I will definitely…”

The future elites of the 830 Party looked at each other, all feeling that this guy had truly gone mad. However, after a few minutes of silence, starting with Banner, everyone silently stacked their hands together.

“Don’t worry, Wien! None of us want to keep losing to him!”

“That’s right! We also want to show the world that Central Defense University isn’t just about Yu Lian alone!”

Meng Jiao, who had been silent on the side, hesitated for a few seconds, then hesitantly placed his hand on top.

“I really want to have a serious contest with the vanguard warrior of the Xiwei campaign!”

“So…”

“Shout with me!” “One!” “Two!” “Three!”

“Down with Yu Lian!”

The future famous generals of the 830 Party felt their morale soar again.

“Oh, when will our marksman arrive?”

“Huh? Simon Vasali, he should only be able to arrive next week.”

“Very good, arriving late has its advantages! Hehehe, there are so many big surprises waiting for Yu Lian! Hehehehe…”

The future famous generals of the 830 Party, looking at their captain who had gone mad again, felt their high morale replaced by embarrassment once more, and they all had an impulse to defect to the opposing Hong Fang (Red Team).

At the same time, in the self-study room on campus, Yu Lian had already put away his research materials, looking at Roommate A, Luo Ming, and Roommate C, Lu Ke, in front of him, not knowing what expression to use to face them.

He twitched the corner of his mouth, pressed his temples, and then said, “So, Old Luo, this is the plan you told me about last time?”

Luo Ming said, “Ris should be able to gain their initial trust, and then we can take the opportunity to send some false intelligence!”

“No, that… when Autumn Mountain Yawata came to find you, you decided to do this on the spot?”

“Yes, this is a counter-strategy!” Roommate C, Lu Ke, said expressionlessly.

Luo Ming added, “Anyway, we just wanted to inform you. You go ahead and be busy. Finish your thesis, lead everyone in training, and finally make a battle plan. Don’t worry about the rest!”

“Old Luo, I suddenly feel, are you two actually… against me?”

“Bah! This internship concerns the happiness of my latter half of life! I went home for a blind date during the National Day holiday and hit it off with a Miss! She heard I was participating in the final single-ship performance and adored me! She even said that as long as I win, she’ll… Hehehe, hehehe… Uh, anyway, it has absolutely nothing to do with you!”

“This also affects my employment. When I interviewed at White Wing Anglo Company, they said that as long as our side wins, I can become a director upon joining and will be a key training target for the company.” Lu Ke said.

“Ris is already preparing to get a job offer from the Sea God Fleet; if he wins, he can directly become a third officer!” Luo Ming added.

“…Is that so? You two aren’t planning to stay in the military, then!”

“…” The two left without a word.

When those two left, they didn’t say a single word. But for some reason, Yu Lian always felt that every step they took was full of passionate and exhilarating energy; it would have been a shame not to have background music for it.

To be honest, no matter what tricks or schemes the Blue Faction on the opposite side had, Yu Lian didn’t pay them much mind. He felt that as long as he proceeded with normal training, normal preparations, and formulated a normal battle plan, there was no reason he would lose to the other side.

However, the abilities of his Roommates, even their seemingly insignificant efforts, still moved Yu Lian deeply!

In any case, after nearly two months of his efforts, the word puzzle was more than half complete. Occasionally, to clear his head, he would carefully check the articles written in Furman, confirming that they were all research materials left behind by the Dragon People.

There was a lot in the fields of bionics, biology, and computer science, and the content was quite valuable, almost counting as the highest-end cutting-edge technology. This made Yu Lian truly unable to stop his imagination from running wild.

The Dragon People had a small population. So, they had certain expectations for robots and even artificial humans, was that it?

After they were exterminated by the Empire for some very grand reasons? Some research materials were preserved in the Dragon’s Eye and flowed into the civilian sector?

Then, Count Salwen fortuitously obtained these? And then established a spiritual treasury for their preservation? Why didn’t he leave them to his descendants?

Count Salwen was historically assassinated and died violently, so it’s not surprising that he didn’t have time to leave a will.

So, why was Charlie exploring the secrets he left behind?

Yu Lian felt that to unravel all of the above, he had to complete that set of Roan Secret Texts. Moreover, he wasn’t too interested in the secrets above, but rather more interested in Charlie’s whereabouts.

Heh, uncultured Charlie, you can continue playing hide-and-seek at Tanghauser Gate.

However, before that, he still had to see this exercise through to the end!

And so, time reached April, the simulator training concluded, and it was time for everyone to board the ships for practical operation.