The sound of gunshots rang out, followed by the sounds of footsteps moving swiftly through the forest.
In the dark woodland, Yun Xi made a gesture to Mu Feichi, indicating to him that she would use herself as bait to lure out all the snipers who were waiting in ambush.
Without thinking, Mu Feichi instantly shook his head in disagreement. His dark eyes flickered with some coldness, and he said, "Do you know my record?"
"Yes, I know." A professional sniper would take 3.5 seconds to aim at the target, but Mu Feichi's record time was 3.2 seconds. That meant she had to find a place to hide within 3.5 seconds to avoid the bullet fired by the snipers.
"Until you can break my record, it's my job to lure the snake out of the hole!"
"But...my marksmanship is not as good as yours! However, I am capable of finding a hiding place within three seconds."
"Don't you have confidence in yourself?"
To a certain extent, a woman's physical strength and reflexes were not as strong as a man's. He could not risk her life by using her as bait.
Especially in this situation when he was not sure whether the enemy had planted a talented sniper to ambush them. He could not risk her life.
To spur her fighting spirit and to protect her, Mu Feichi had no choice but to provoke her. He spoke on the earpiece to Yan Shuo, the chief commander behind the scenes, who had not said a word. "Listen, Instructor Yan, this is the so-called good student who you have taught!"
Through the morning light that had gradually turned a darker blue, waiting annoyingly for the dark shadow not far away... This guy knew how to hit the right spot.
Yan Shuo, who was working behind the scenes, heard the provocation of Mu Feichi. Naturally, he understood his feelings of protection over her. He answered, "The student surpasses the master."
Since he, being her instructor, had given her such affirmation. Yun Xi could not say anything more.
You could do your best only if you had full confidence in yourself.
"Young Commander, I'll cooperate with you. But you have to be careful!"
Whether it was to lure the enemy or to stay put to fire at the enemy, both choices were just as challenging.
Since Mu Feichi chose to be the bait himself and gave her the full responsibility of sniping at the enemy, she had to live up to his trust.
Turning around, she took a few steps back to hide within the low bushes behind her and positioned her sniper rifle and night-vision goggles.
Mu Feichi gave her a slight nod, made a gesture, and swiftly spurted into the forest; his agile movement like a nimble cheetah's.
He moved very fast as he quickly sought a hiding place in the shortest time possible, relying on counting the time in his mind.
As expected, the enemy fired a shot at him. Just one shot and Yun Xi was able to determine the enemy's position. She moved her gun into position and quickly fired a shot just as the sniper started to change his position.
Not far away came the sound of a heavy object tumbling down from a high position. Yun Xi squinted, and from her deep calm eyes shone forth a bold and firm determination.
The next moment, she held her rifle and crawled along the muddy ground. Then she speedily positioned her rifle and fired another shot at the same moment the enemy's second shot was fired.
The two shots were fired at the same time. Although she did not hear any sound of the enemy being hit, she was very confident in her marksmanship.
Having successfully dealt with the six snipers, the remaining four were taken care of by Jin Lei and Li Zilan.
By the time the four of them met up, the sky had gradually brightened. The forest was dense, but the sunlight filtering through the trees made the scene visible.
Yun Xi stood up from the ground and put away her rifle. She lifted her eyes and saw Mu Feichi stretching his hand toward her, half-leaning over with his dark eyes filled with an affectionate smile.
At such a close distance, she could see the approval and pride in his eyes.
The first time fighting with him side by side was an unprecedented experience for Yun Xi. Compared with having him as an imaginary teammate in training, such a real gun battle had tested both of their understanding and experience.
She lifted her hand and placed it in his, letting him pull her up.
Looking at her messy appearance, Mu Feichi raised his hand and brushed at her hair, half-laughing and teasing her, "Well, still thinking about the feeling of fighting side by side with me?"
"Don't flatter yourself. Who is thinking about it?" Yun Xi humphed softly, turned her head, and looked at Jin Lei and Li Zilan, who was standing next to her. She couldn't help asking, "Has everything been settled? Were there any survivors?"
Just as Li Zilan was about to speak, Mu Feichi answered her question, "Yes, the three who ran away are still alive."
Yun Xi turned toward him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"They followed us from the moment we left the village. There were two groups of them. One group of three took the side road at the village entrance and the other group took a detour to ambush us from in front. The rainforest is very big. I have arranged for people at each exit to keep watch. Whether we can catch them depends on luck. If they choose to stay in the rain forest for ten days to two weeks, those men waiting outside can't do anything about it. After all, resources are limited. They probably can't keep watch there for longer than that."
Yun Xi nodded and understood what he meant. It wouldn't be an intelligent distribution of assets.
This time, however, it had been just a diversion, not part of their mission, and she had had the honour to fight alongside him. For her, it was the best outcome.
"Well, let's go back!" Mu Feichi turned around, stretched out his hand to take Yun Xi's hand, and led her away.
The humid rain forest had once again been restored to its usual tranquillity. The Special Forces competition had been unexpectedly terminated due to the death of one of the participants and the massacre that had happened in another part of the rain forest. The competition finally had to base the awards for the various countries on the ratings from their previous achievements.
The five-member team from Jun Country won and brought several awards home. Yun Xi and Yan Shuo stood beyond the crowd and watched Qi Yuan and Feng Rui receive the awards on stage. They seemed used to such occasions and calmly received the medals from the organizer.
"Instructor Yan, this time I fought side by side with the Young Commander, and now I realize that the gap between me and him is still very large."
Yan Shuo tilted his head to look at Yun Xi, then turned to look at the stage. "It's still very far apart, and you have to depend on yourself working hard to close the gap. What I taught you were too tough for him to bear to teach you. Mu Feichi will teach you the remaining lessons. If I take the credit from him, he may hate me for life."
"......" Talking about hate, even before he took her away, perhaps that overbearing tyrant would have already hated him?
Otherwise, he would not have shown so much resentment against him when they met.
She'd learned a lot from him in the three months that they were together. She'd thought she was strong enough, but having fought side by side with Mu Feichi, she knew that she still had a lot of room for improvement.
The plan was to return the next morning. As Yun Xi and Yan Shuo were two additional unexpected people, the organizer had arranged a temporary tent for them.
However, there was only one extra tent. The question was who was going to stay in it.
Li Zilan was about to ask Yun Xi to share a tent with her when Mu Feichi spoke up.
"Instructor Yan will stay in our tent, and he can take my bed. I'll share the tent with Yun Xi."
With that, he stepped forward, received the tent that had been sent over by the organizer, and pulled Yun Xi along to the open space.
Yun Xi, with a confused look on her face, was pulled away by him. It took her a while to realize what he meant. She stopped and pulled on his arm.
"Why? I can just share a tent with Instructor Zilan tonight, right? No need to trouble the Young Commander to sacrifice himself."
Mu Feichi narrowed his eyes as a flirtatious smile appeared on his face. "I'm only accompanying you to sleep. It doesn't feel like a sacrifice at all."
"Excuse me, but I feel like I'm being forced."
"But we made a promise that there would be a punishment for guessing wrong. You agreed."
"I..." Faced with such a gentleman, who was constantly thinking about getting her in bed, what could she do?
Yun Xi pulled over a foldable chair and sat on it as she watched the man assemble the tent swiftly. She really couldn't think of a way to deal with his domineering and decisive behaviour.
Because two additional people had come at the last minute, the organizer could only produce one extra tent and floor mat. They didn't even have spare beds for them.
But Mu Feichi brought over his blanket and laid it on the floor mat, and lying on it did feel rather warm and cosy.
Yun Xi had been accustomed to sleeping in the desert, the mountains, and the rain forest during the past three months. Now that Mu Feichi was taking such good care of her, it made her feel like she was too sheltered.
...
Later, after Li Zilan had finished talking to Mu Feichi, Yun Xi flipped up the tent flap and went in. The first thing she saw was Mu Feichi sitting crossed-legged on the blanket, writing something. She sat down next to him.
"What are you writing?" She peered over. Mu Feichi didn't hide it from her. Instead, he adjusted the papers to give her a better view.
Yun Xi scanned through the draft. It must have been the written report on the competition, and the mission plan for the final mission that they hadn't managed to complete.
They did not complete the mission, and no winner emerged from the competition. However, with such large-scale international competitions, the experience from each event was a great training lesson for the special forces soldiers who participated.
Not just anyone could participate in this competition and learn directly from it. The Young Commander still had a long way to go in raising the overall capability and strength of the Jun Country special forces.
"I'm looking at what you're writing, and you're not holding back at all. A lot of people nowadays aren't willing to share their experiences and insights. There's a saying that when the student masters what the master teaches, then there's no need for the master anymore."
"That's true in a sense, but I'm different. I have a lot of things to worry about, and I wish that someone would share some of my burdens, instead of me shouldering everything. Jun Country isn't mine alone. It lies on the shoulders of everyone. It's all of our responsibility, our duty, and our calling to support it. If some people can take over these responsibilities for me, then I'll have more time to spend with you, isn't that right?"
As a soldier, he often didn't have a choice. He was simply trying his best to strike a delicate balance between his country and his love.
"..." Yun Xi raised her eyes, and her gaze moved to look toward the man who was mere inches away from her. His handsome face emanated a sense of warmth under the dim lights; his prominent features looked especially elegant under such lighting.
Even when he was talking about such solemn matters regarding his beliefs and justice, his gaze was still so tender and heated when he looked toward her. Yun Xi could feel her heart pounding when her eyes met his.
"Your performance was not bad today. However, when you were faced with choices, you were neither confident nor decisive enough. Just like how you trust me so much, you need to trust yourself as well. It is only possible to fully utilize your strengths when you believe in them. Only when we have no way to escape will we fight like our lives depend on it, got it?"
When he was lecturing her, his gaze was deep and serious, yet there was just an indescribable charm to it that attracted every bit of her attention.
"Got it!" Yun Xi nodded. It looked as if her pretty eyes were glowing under the dim lights, while a faint smile appeared uncontrollably on her lovely face.
Looking at her staring straight at him and laughing, Mu Feichi suddenly reached over and pinched her chin. Then he narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Why are you smiling at me?"
"No reason." Yun Xi blinked and turned her head away. She felt a little self-conscious and didn't dare to look into his eyes.
She had smiled at him for no other reason than how different it had felt to her when he was lecturing her, compared to how it had felt in the past.
Back then, when she hadn't cared about him and he was just a stranger to her, his lecturing had felt like that of a teacher.
But now, when he lectured her, she felt a strange sense of admiration and respect for him, and she revered him from the bottom of her heart. It felt different.
But the man had caught on to her slipup and wasn't going to let it go so easily. "Such a pervy smile, are you planning to do something to me?"
Yun Xi blushed and suddenly realized the position she was in. Mu Feichi, who had always been an expert at insinuating things in their relationship, suddenly lay back, propping up his head and blinking at her.
"Babe, do whatever you want to me. I won't yell or scream, and I can even cooperate with you to do all sorts of positions."
"Shut up!" This guy seriously just takes things to the next level.
Feeling a little annoyed and embarrassed, Yun Xi kicked him lightly. But just as she was drawing back her leg, he grasped her ankles tightly.
The domineering man used the force from her kick to stand up and suddenly got up close to her. He looked at her straight in the eye, his deep calm gaze laced with tenderness.
"Babe, if you kick too hard and break it, you'll be losing out on a lot of fun for the rest of your life."
"Stop it! If you continue talking like this, I'm going to go sleep on the grass tonight."
She forcefully pulled her feet free and stared irritably at the man who was so close he was nearly touching her face. Just moments ago he had been so attractive and charming to her, but now he was just acting like an immature kid.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Let's go to sleep. We'll be returning home first thing in the morning. You'll end your three months of training a bit early."
Mu Feichi reached over and dragged her down onto the blanket before she could stop him. He said, "When we return, you'll have to go back to school. Now that you've obtained first place in three subjects, you should raise some conditions to your dad and move out on your own."
"Why?" Yun Xi didn't dare to make any big movements while he had his arms around her, as that could awaken a certain part that shouldn't be awakened. If that happened, she could forget about getting a peaceful night of rest.
"So you can learn to be independent. Besides, there are many things that you need to learn. It won't be convenient if you're living at home."
"I can stay at the school hostel."
"You want me to have to go look for you at your school every day and make people think that I'm your sugar daddy?"
"You can just not come and find me."
"Babe, there is no such thing as an impermeable wall. Besides, you're well aware of how much your dad can make by being in his new position. Rather than let him spend it on other women, why not spend it on his daughter."
"I got it. Just let me think about it for a bit."
"Oh, by the way, the president left the decision of when and where to hold the Socialite Ball to me. When do you think would be a good time?"
"How would I know? You decide yourself."
"Okay." Mu Feichi nodded. The warm body in his embrace felt so soft and cosy, it almost had the same effect as sleeping pills, making him drowsy and sleepy.
Before he fell asleep, all he was thinking about was how to choose a good time for the Socialite Ball and make it into her coming-of-age ceremony.
...
Yun Xi hadn't told her family in advance about the date that she would be returning, but she had told Second Aunt about it.
However, the moment Yun Xi reached home, nearly everyone in the residence knew about it.
Yun Yuanfeng got off work early and bought home some of the take-away dishes that Yun Xi liked. He was planning to celebrate with the family.
After all, her achievement in getting first place in three subjects had brought pride and respect to him both at work and throughout the residential villas.
After being away from Jingdu for so long, Yun Xi urgently wanted to know what the situation was like in various areas of the city, especially the recent movements of the Qiao and Han families.
If she recalled correctly, many things had happened during this year in her past life.
This was the year when the Qiao family rose to power. Regardless of who would become the key factor in the Qiao family's rise, she didn't want too many things to happen that were outside of her control.
After all, she had already started playing this game, and both the Qiao family and the Han family were important pieces on the board.
The moment she returned home, she asked for all the information on Jingdu during the past three months from Grey Wolf. She didn't even allow herself time to adjust from jet lag. Grey Wolf sent her the documents straight away.
Using the time before dinner, she looked through the Qiao family's recent movements in detail. As she had expected, the Qiao family had gained power fast during this period.
On the other hand, after the Crocodile incident, the Han family had been rather quiet during this time. But the quieter they were, the more she felt like this was just the calm before the storm.
Another interesting thing was that Qiao Ximin and Liang Xinyi were both doing the same thing during the past three months. They were both going through training at socialite classes.
Although the timing of the Socialite Ball hadn't been confirmed yet, all of the ladies in the entire upper class of Jingdu were doing their absolute best to get a spot at it. Some of them were looking to marry into wealthy, powerful families, while others were aiming at the main organizer of the party this time: Young Commander Mu Feichi.
It seemed that Liang Xinyi still hadn't given up her ambition of climbing up the social ladder. Even though she now had a notorious reputation, she was determined to put up a fight for her dreams of luxury and splendour.
Compared to her previous life when she used everything at her disposal, she didn't have such strong ambition now when things seemed to be going her way.
In this life, Liang Xinyi had been forced into a corner by Yun Xi and had to use every method, foul or fair, to get what she wanted. This included sullying herself in exchange for what she wanted. She was able to be ruthless to herself. Yun Xi was quite looking forward to what would happen if she destroyed everything that she had. Would she lose it altogether?
Chen Lixue had received a sum of money from Yun Yuanfeng. But all she had done for the past three months was to gossip with the other housewives in the neighbourhood where she lived, depleting the money. Yun Xi thought that Liang Xinyi would sell away her mother for her future.
It seemed that she had overestimated Chen Lixue. Looking at how myopic and cheap she was and how she fawned over those of higher status, it was going to be difficult for her to go from mistress to madam. If she wasn't able to find a husband, then there would be much to worry about concerning Liang Xinyi's future.
Since she seemed to be having so much trouble, Yun Xi decided to help them.
As she looked at the map of relations between the various families, Yun Xi thought of a suitable candidate. Her uncle would get better and better, so she must completely block off this path for Chen Lixue.
A faint sound suddenly came from the infrared sensors. Yun Xi turned toward the closed door. Moments later, someone knocked on the door.
Second Aunt's voice came from outside the door, "Yun Xi, are you awake? Come down and eat."
"I'm awake. I'll come now!" Yun Xi picked up her laptop and stood up to open the door. She smiled and looked at Second Aunt, "How's everything been at home while I was gone?"
"Everything has been good. After you came back with first place in three subjects, your dad had something to be proud of in the residences. The funniest thing was your mother trying to use your achievements to get close to the madams of the other families in the residences. But the people here are all quite discerning, and they know the ridiculous things that she has done, so none of them was friendly toward her. But she was still fawning over them despite being given the cold shoulder. It's a good thing that you weren't here because even just looking at her was embarrassing. If she really wanted to benefit from your achievements, she should've treated you better back then and this wouldn't have happened. Now she's just despised by everyone."
Yun Xi smiled. She was well aware of Liang Xiuqin's character. There was no hope of her changing for the better.
Even if someday, she had a revelation and changed and started to treat her better, Yun Xi probably still wouldn't like her. She could never forget the hatred she'd had for her when she'd disfigured her face in her previous life.