The Strongest Brain in the Interstellar

Jiang Hui looked at the person on the ground, tearing into the bread like a wolf, and then handed over half a bottle of her remaining water to them.

That would have to do; after all, she only had one bottle left, and it was the one the instructor had left for her.

But she was truly puzzled. Weren’t they all supposed to be on the same training exercise? How could this person be so starved? Did they have an especially large appetite and simply didn’t eat enough? But even then, wouldn’t it be a bit excessive to shout for help?

In the dim light, Jiang Hui glanced at her hand, which had gotten wet earlier. It seemed dry now, without any residue, and while it tingled slightly, she didn’t notice anything unusual.

The person ate two pieces of bread and finished a whole energy bar before finally stopping.

Jiang Hui quietly waited for them to calm down and explain what had happened. She had a faint feeling that things might not be as simple as they seemed.

“Our instructor is trapped by star beasts over in the woods. I don’t know what’s happened to them! I ran really far away, and there hasn’t been a sound from that direction or any reinforcements—” Once the person had eaten their fill, they were able to shout, but after regaining their composure, they became increasingly anxious and flustered.

“What?” Jiang Hui’s voice came out before her brain could process what she had heard.

What was this? She understood every word, but putting them together just didn’t make sense.

“Wait, you need to clarify. What do you mean by instructor, and what’s going on with the star beasts?”

“Have you forgotten? We gathered at the A1 training ground and were assigned to the seventh squad together. The instructor is naturally the same one.” The other person seemed anxious, fearing that Jiang Hui would deny it.

“You’re in the same squad as me?” Jiang Hui finally understood but still found it hard to believe, instinctively repeating the question for confirmation.

“Yes,” came the reply.

It turned out that after Jiang Hui was placed at the back of the team, their progress had sped up significantly. They had quickly gone through several checkpoints and reached the last station, which was about ten kilometers from the final destination—less than an hour’s walk away.

Everyone was quite happy to hear this.

The thought of ending this long training exercise, which seemed to have no end in sight, made the once-dejected new recruits appear revitalized, like they had received a boost of energy. Their pace quickened, and the overall morale of the squad felt completely transformed.

But then, things started to go wrong at the last station.

This area was under a rain belt—a fixed thunderstorm zone. Whether it was day or night, it was always windy, rainy, and thundering. Without transportation, it was not easy to move around here.

However, since they had managed to endure such a difficult journey before, the difficulties they faced now seemed trivial in comparison.

Everyone felt the same way, but it wasn’t long after they entered the forest that strange movements began to occur around them.

They wondered if it would be another sudden assault—perhaps a mid-course training exercise arranged by the school.

But their usually silent instructor suddenly became extremely vigilant.

He abruptly shouted at everyone to stop and gathered them together, then scanned the surroundings, his brow furrowed, and his whole demeanor tense.

The lead instructor’s unusual behavior affected the new recruits as well, causing them to instinctively feel uneasy, especially since the environment around them seemed to be changing.

A strange, almost imperceptible acidic scent began to permeate the air.

This was not the familiar scent of acid rain, but a more foul-smelling, putrid acid, accompanied by an indescribable sense of pressure that made it hard to breathe.

It resembled the aura they had sensed from their class instructors and some of the officers, but this was different. It carried a stronger sense of aggression and hostility, instilling in them a fear that they were facing a natural enemy.

If the students here weren’t fresh recruits, they might have been able to identify this so-called sense of oppression as an aggressive psychic force emanating from non-human entities.

“Rustle—”

As this sense of oppression continued to intensify, the previously normal sounds of wind, rain, and thunder in the forest were joined by an increasing number of minor noises, like the subtle sound of insects moving their antennae or something being dragged across the uneven stone ground…

The sounds grew more numerous, and everyone could clearly sense that a group of unknown creatures was gradually approaching them, watching from the shadows.

Although everyone present was an inexperienced recruit, some merely ordinary students in their fields, they were all born and raised on this planet. As children, they had read various educational materials and, as they grew up, continuously absorbed information from the Star Network. They had also heard many accounts of humans being attacked by star beasts.

But this wasn’t a training route arranged by the school; how could there be star beasts here? Could this also be part of the school’s training program?

It shouldn’t be; it couldn’t be. No college without the proper permits is allowed to conduct practical exercises involving real star beasts.

Such activities are typically only organized by universities or certain advanced colleges that have applied for and carefully planned such operations.

Therefore, in a mid-level college’s training, the presence of real star beasts is impossible, and what they were currently facing was clearly not a simulated group of fake star beasts set up by the school.

If the fakes could be this convincing, wouldn’t that be a bit too realistic? Moreover, if they were fake, the lead instructor wouldn’t be so anxious.

They guessed correctly; this was definitely not a simulation.

These recruits, after all, were completely unaware of the situation. They had a bit of that naive bravado, just relying on their guesses and their assessment of the officer’s reactions.

If the school had indeed arranged this, and the instructor was just pretending to coordinate and frighten them, they could easily misjudge the situation.

But Mace knew that this absolutely could not have been arranged by the school, because surrounding them was a group of very real star beasts, and there were quite a few of them, all circling outside their information perimeter, eyeing them hungrily.

He was a military academy student who had undergone proper training and had actually seen battle; he had, after all, managed to earn some credit for his service.

Although he had been reassigned to this resident star system for some private reasons, he hadn’t lost his former training. He quickly and accurately assessed the basic situation of these star beasts.

They appeared to be a small group of insect-like star beasts, numbering around forty or fifty, with relatively small bodies and no venom. As for the individual level of psychic energy, judging by the emitted aura from the perimeter, they were likely around D-level. The specific types and the surface strength were currently undetermined.

Yet, no matter how small their scale or how weak their individual combat ability, they were still star beasts. And right now, the only one in their squad capable of fighting was Mace.