The next day, however, Meng Huai followed the team and Teacher Wang to the competition venue.
The first match was on Juexing Star, which was quite a distance from the Imperial Capital Star. It took over four hours by spaceship.
As soon as the spaceship landed and Meng Huai exited with the team, many reporters were already alerted and waiting.
They must have been lying in wait here. Every participating team docked their spaceships here.
"Yo, reporters are here. I wonder if we're the first ones to arrive," Hui Xingxiu said, giving Meng Huai a meaningful look. Meng Huai didn't understand. Zheng Yiran, walking on Meng Huai's other side, told her, "Just ignore them if the reporters ask you anything."
Some reporters, in pursuit of a story, would disregard any professional ethics.
However, today's reporters were not as they had described, and Zheng Yiran and the others were being overly cautious.
The reporters naturally recognized the four of them, Zheng Yiran and the others, who had participated before. Could the beautiful girl surrounded by them be the single-soldier replacement for this year?
The reporters rushed towards them, proving that speed was also part of success. Excellent reporters needed to be able to run. And indeed, the first one to arrive had already started asking questions.
"Please tell us, since Classmate Hu from the Imperial Military Academy's previous competition has graduated, is the replacement student here before us? May we ask for your name?"
The microphone was handed directly to Meng Huai. Before Meng Huai could answer, Hui Xingxiu spoke. Seeing this, the reporter swiftly handed the microphone to Hui Xingxiu.
To the reporter's surprise, Hui Xingxiu didn't answer his question but instead asked the reporter, "Are we the first to arrive? Which other academies have arrived?"
The reporter instinctively replied, "Yes, students from the Third Military Academy and Asser Military Academy arrived before the Imperial Military Academy."
"Oh, is that so?"
As Hui Xingxiu was about to ask something else, other reporters also arrived. These reporters hurled questions chaotically: "Is this student a replacement?" "What kind of results do you think the Imperial Military Academy will achieve this year?" "There are betting pools on the StarNet. Do you know that not many people are supporting the Imperial Military Academy right now?"
The last reporter's words clearly made the few of them frown. What did that mean, not many people supporting the Imperial Military Academy?
"They can set up betting pools so openly?" Meng Huai asked Zheng Yiran softly, clearly believing that betting pools were always set up secretly.
"Yes, this betting pool has been around every year. It's set up by the league officials, so there's a guarantee of credibility." Zheng Yiran told Meng Huai. She also knew that sometimes Meng Huai was unaware of issues that were common knowledge. Perhaps it was due to her background from a trash planet, and she hadn't paid attention to these things before, Zheng Yiran thought.
Jing Yuancheng, standing nearby, leaned over Hui Xingxiu and asked Meng Huai, "If Junior Sister Meng is interested, you can also place a bet."
"That's fine too."
The reporters looked at this group of Imperial Military Academy students as if they were invisible, feeling quite helpless. Having also heard their conversation, they handed the microphone to Meng Huai and asked, "Does this student also want to place a bet? Betting on your Imperial Military Academy?"
"Of course!" Meng Huai had an innocent expression, as if asking, "What are you talking about?" which left the reporter speechless.
Soon, another reporter continued, "Does this student believe you can win the championship?"
"Yes!" Of course.
However, the reporter quickly followed up, "You know, the Imperial Military Academy only got fourth place last time. What reason makes you so sure you can win the championship? Is it your confidence in yourself, as a new member?"
Upon hearing the reporter's words, Meng Huai asked Hui Xingxiu, "You only got fourth last year?"
Hui Xingxiu nodded sheepishly. Meng Huai was speechless for a long time.
Hui Xingxiu nudged Meng Huai with his elbow and whispered, "We're outside. Give us some face."
The reporter asked again, "Please, this student, are you very confident? Do you feel that with your presence, you can lead the team to achieve first place?"
Meng Huai nodded and said to the reporter, "Of course, why else would I be here?"
Reporters had seen plenty of arrogant students. After all, those who could represent the entire academy were the most formidable. So a bit of arrogance was understandable. But whether they could maintain this arrogance would depend on their subsequent performance.
However, this reporter didn't expect there to be more to these arrogant words.
Meng Huai added, "However, it's not me leading the team. Commander Zheng is leading the team. I'm just a single-soldier... that's all."
What leadership was there to speak of? This clarification made everyone else laugh. Hui Xingxiu chimed in, "Yes, yes, our single-soldier is just a machine that follows orders!"
Jing Yuancheng also added, "That's right, that's right."
The reporters were left somewhat speechless. The same reporter finally said to Meng Huai, "Alright, then we look forward to the Imperial Military Academy achieving excellent results. We'll be watching!"
Meng Huai replied, "Thank you."
Seeing that they had spoken for so long, the reporter asked, "We still don't know this student's name?"
"My name is Meng Huai."
The reporters exchanged glances. The surname Meng was neither common nor particularly uncommon. To probe further, as was their duty, someone asked, "Please tell us, are you related to Marshal Meng?"
These reporters thought that if this new student had any connection to Marshal Meng, even a distant one, it would be a good topic. However, they did not expect Meng Huai's answer to be:
"No, I come from a trash planet. I'm not good enough to associate with him!"
Meng Huai's face was expressionless, as if she had just finished a meal. But her demeanor was imposing, making the reporters instinctively take a step back.
Meng Huai then nodded to the group of reporters and left their encirclement. The others followed Meng Huai out. The situation indeed made it seem as though Meng Huai was leading the team.
Soon, this video was uploaded online. Everyone was most concerned about the Military Academy League at this time, so any new material that appeared was quickly shared.
Before long, a post appeared on a forum dedicated to discussing the Military Academy League. The title read: The new single-soldier from the Imperial Military Academy is a bit arrogant, and I love it!