The day passed in training, and the man who had come to the Imperial Military Academy to invite Zheng Yiran and Meng Huai encountered Marshal Meng upon his return to the military district.
Marshal Meng was aware of his errand that day and, upon seeing him return, assumed he had good news. He walked over to inquire.
To his surprise, the news was: "They didn't agree? Neither of them agreed?"
Marshal Meng exclaimed in disbelief, clearly not accepting the outcome and feeling a touch of dissatisfaction.
"Yes, Marshal Meng."
The man was also at a loss. Not only had he made a wasted trip, but he had also been rejected by two young individuals.
"What did she... what did they say?"
Marshal Meng intended to ask about Meng Huai's response, but it felt a bit abrupt, so he asked about both.
"The commander said she accidentally used her perceptive barrier when she was in imminent danger, and that was her reason for refusing the invitation."
Marshal Meng's expression improved slightly upon hearing this reason, and he asked, "And the other one?"
"The other solo operative, her reason was even more... well, harder to decipher. She said she hadn't thought about her future. From her demeanor, it seemed she hadn't even considered joining any military district at all."
Marshal Meng was also incredulous. "Doesn't want to join any military district?"
They were both silent for a long time. Marshal Meng waved his hand and said, "I understand."
Even after the man left, Marshal Meng remained standing there, pondering the matter.
"Not joining the military district? Wouldn't that be wasting such excellent strength? If Meng Huai had grown up in the Meng family..."
Marshal Meng mused, considering whether he should quickly bring Meng Huai back to the Meng family. Wouldn't that perfectly solve the problem of the Meng family's criticized lack of young talent in the succession line!
"It seems I need to have a talk with that girl."
With that, Marshal Meng also left his spot. Meng Huai suddenly had a bad premonition.
In the past two days, Meng Huai had not only received invitations from one military district but had rejected them all. Consequently, Meng Huai's name had begun to make waves across the various military districts.
At this moment, Meng Huai returned to the medicinal cuisine restaurant the day before her next competition. She placed all the previously brewed wines on the counter and told Sister Ting, "Put these wines on the highest shelves. I've pre-sold them on the shop. They'll be available in five days, and Sister Ting, you'll be responsible for shipping."
Meng Huai wouldn't be back in five days.
Then, as if remembering something, she sent a message to Xie You: "Xiao You, the spiritual plants you gave me last time have been brewed into wine. Some are suitable for ordinary people, and there's one bottle for rapid perceptive recovery. Give me your address, and I'll have someone deliver it to you."
Xie You was on the battlefield at the time and didn't see the message immediately. By the time he did, it was already evening. However, he still sent his address to Meng Huai.
Meng Huai showed no reaction upon seeing the address, as she had no idea where "a certain section, a certain number" was. She casually shared the address with Sister Ting. Like Meng Huai, Sister Ting also didn't realize the address's peculiarity.
After all, why would these people pay attention to where the Emperor and the Crown Prince lived? They normally didn't concern themselves with such knowledge.
Upon receiving it, Sister Ting said, "Don't worry, I'll ship the wine as soon as the time comes."
Since the wine still had a few days until it was ready for brewing, Meng Huai had handed over the task. By the time Xie You returned to the Imperial Capital Star, the time for the wine to be ready was also fast approaching.
At that time, Meng Huai's competition was nearing its end.
The fourth match was held on Fei'ao Star. Unlike the previous two matches, which featured distinctive local environments, everything here was very ordinary.
Upon arriving at the competition venue, Meng Huai felt something was amiss.
"What is this atmosphere?"
Seeing the hostile gazes directed at everyone, Meng Huai voiced her question. Zheng Yiran replied, "Aftermath of the last match. It seems we won't have to worry about alliance issues in this match!"
Zheng Yiran thought: Looking at the atmosphere, it's likely that for this match and subsequent ones, they won't have to worry about these people forming alliances! In just a few matches, both alliances had credibility issues, so who would dare to pull such stunts.
However, Zheng Yiran was mistaken; they dared!
As the first team to enter the arena, Zheng Yiran immediately shouted, "Alert! There's a high-level star beast!"
Upon hearing Zheng Yiran's words, all five entered their mechs. Then, they saw a colossal creature appear before them, about to attack Zheng Yiran.
Seeing the creature's appearance, the audience was utterly disgusted.
"No, what kind of mutated rat is this!"
"What species is this thing to grow so large!"
Indeed, the colossal creature before them was larger than the students' mechs, and it was a rodent. Who said rodents were small animals? Throw this video at them!
Someone recognized it and explained in the comments: "Whirlwind Rat. Extremely fast. It's unknown if the Imperial Military Academy students can escape from this thing."
But as its name suggested, the rat was incredibly fast and headed straight for Zheng Yiran.
Seeing this, the supporters of the Imperial Military Academy were terrified, and the comments section was flooded with: "Perceptive barrier! Perceptive barrier!"
"Can we see the perceptive barrier in this match?"
However, Zheng Yiran did not satisfy the audience; she couldn't use her perceptive barrier. At this moment, Meng Huai clearly had no such intention either. Instead, she directly threw a vial of medicine at the star beast.
"What is that thing?"
Everyone was curious about what it was. The vial, thrown towards the Whirlwind Rat, was caught directly in its mouth.
The crunching sound echoed through the live broadcast. The Whirlwind Rat even crushed the medicine bottle with its teeth.
As the Whirlwind Rat instinctively bit down on the medicine bottle, Jing Yuan Cheng, standing nearby, lunged with a knife towards the rat's neck.
The Whirlwind Rat clearly noticed the situation and immediately changed its direction, attempting to evade the attack.
But what was happening? The rat felt something was wrong and looked back, only to see its tail left behind in its previous position.
"This rat didn't even seem to think its movements were that fast!"
"Yet it still lost its tail here."
"Huh? Why did it fall?"
The audience was puzzled as to why the creature wasn't reacting as quickly as rumored, not living up to its 'whirlwind' name. The creature then swayed and collapsed on the spot.
Hui Xing Xiu pointed at the creature and asked Meng Huai, "What did you give it?"
They had seen Meng Huai throw a vial into its mouth just now. Was it grinding its teeth on the medicine bottle?
Its sudden collapse was surely due to Meng Huai's medicine.