The insect repellent powder proved truly effective. The three of them took turns on watch, each guarding for two hours, and the night passed without incident.
There was no disturbance that night, and all of them slept soundly.
Unbeknownst to them, the other military schools, lacking the powder, had a very difficult night.
Not long after they had fallen asleep, at the Asell Military School, the night watch was a soldier who had been thrown by Meng Huai last time.
This soldier sat outside the tent, bored, with his chin in his hand, observing the surroundings. The night was very quiet, so any sound was heard clearly.
At that moment, he heard faint rustling sounds. He looked up and saw the sand in front of him churning.
He immediately fired a cannonball, which stirred up the creatures beneath the sand.
The force of the cannonball kicked up a cloud of sand and dust, obscuring everything. From the dust emerged a colossal creature, bearing a striking resemblance to the sand scorpion Meng Huai had faced during the day.
However, the one Meng Huai had slain was entirely black, while this one was brown. In terms of size, they were almost identical.
It was clearly another Class 3S star beast.
The soldier first patted the tent and shouted to his teammates inside, "Sand scorpion! Sand scorpion!"
Then, he immediately entered his mecha to engage the enemy. Upon hearing the commotion, the other members of the Asell Military School quickly emerged from their tents to assist.
Fortunately, the sand scorpions were not numerous, with only this one being of high grade, but it was still enough to make things difficult for them.
During the battle, one soldier, through carelessness, was struck by the sand scorpion's tail. The mecha's outer shell where it was hit was directly corroded, damaging some unknown component and rendering the mecha sluggish.
The interior was exposed, and sand began to pour in.
Despite this, the soldier persevered, cooperating with his teammates to strike the sand scorpion.
"Liu Xin! Retreat, if you continue like this, the mecha's engine will burn out!"
This soldier was named Liu Xin. He was unaware of the function of the damaged parts. However, the team's mecha technician, seeing the situation, could not allow him to push himself further. If the engine burned out, Liu Xin would be useless there!
Liu Xin had intended to finish off the sand scorpion before repairing his mecha, but since the mecha technician had spoken, he turned to the other two soldiers and said, "I'll leave this to you two for now. Be careful of the sand scorpion's tail."
He didn't want them to suffer the same fate as him.
The soldier who had been thrown by Meng Huai earlier, named Zhang Xing, couldn't afford to worry about Liu Xin's situation at this moment. He didn't even glance in that direction, casually replying, "Got it, got it!"
Although the three of them had jointly dealt a heavy blow to the sand scorpion, with one less combatant, the sand scorpion grew more ferocious. The remaining two soldiers had to simultaneously deal with the continuously harassing sand scorpion minions, which was quite vexing.
Suddenly, the sand scorpion flung Zhang Xing far away with its tail. Inside the mecha, Zhang Xing coughed up a mouthful of blood.
However, he still had to get up and continue fighting. At this moment, he thought to himself, why is it always me who gets hurt! And why do I always get thrown around!
Although Zhang Xing was lamenting in his mind, it didn't affect his actions at all. For a time, the two of them and the sand scorpion were evenly matched. Liu Xin, watching his teammates busily repairing their mechas, felt the situation was agonizing!
After another ten minutes of fighting, both sides had sustained injuries. Whether it was due to boredom or the realization that their persistent attacks were also causing them harm, the sand scorpion eventually retreated.
Zhang Xing and the other soldier had no intention of pursuing; they were injured themselves. But seeing this scene, the audience erupted in anger.
"..."
"What a bunch of losers! Three of them can't even handle one sand scorpion. Remember, Meng Huai from Imperial Military School took one down by himself! With this kind of gap, let alone competing for the championship, they might as well stay in tenth place forever!"
That's right, Asell Military School had placed eleventh in the previous competition.
Of the three allied forces, only the Second Military School performed slightly better, ranking seventh.
"I stayed up late not to watch you let a Class 3S star beast escape. Points were delivered to your doorstep, and you couldn't grasp them!"
"You had the sand scorpion crippled, and you didn't chase it! I'm impressed... Bye, I can't watch anymore! Damn it, I'm so angry I can't sleep!"
"I'm speechless. I waited for ages for you to enter the arena. Not long after entering, it got dark, so sleeping was fine. But you encountered prey and didn't kill it! I'm impressed, shameful! I'll never say I support Asell Military School again. The money I invested is wasted! Utterly disappointed!"
The audience clearly could not accept the fact that the two soldiers did not pursue the retreating sand scorpion.
While the audience was fuming, the mecha technician was still repairing the mechas. The night was spent in repeated turmoil.
At two o'clock in the morning, on another side of the arena, the Fourth Military School encountered a large swarm of star beasts.
However, unlike the Asell Military School, they did not succumb to their attacks. But their sleep was definitely disturbed. The situation was similar for other military schools.
Therefore, the broadcast announcements continued throughout the night.
"Congratulations to the Fourth Military School for defeating a Class 3S star beast."
"Congratulations to the Second Military School for defeating three Class 2S star beasts."
"Congratulations to the Twelfth Military School for defeating a Class 3S star beast."
...
Throughout the night, the broadcast announcements continued to ring out. The students of the Imperial Military School, who were sleeping soundly, simply turned over and continued their rest.
When morning arrived, Meng Huai and the others were refreshed and energetic. In contrast, the members of the other military schools had dark circles under their eyes, presenting a stark contrast.
However, these participating team members were not so exhausted from a single night of poor sleep that they were listless.
It was the newly arrived audience who were startled by this scene.
"Seriously, look at these dark circles. You've startled me. I wanted to watch a live broadcast while eating, but this is really affecting my appetite."
"To the person above, if you want something to go with your meal, watch a food broadcast. I recommend – the Imperial Military School live stream."
...
Well, food broadcasts had already gained some notoriety in their circle.
As they got up in the morning, they began discussing what to eat!
"You're here for a competition!"
"I checked the scoreboard. Alright, eat up, eat up! You're still in first place!"
"Stop eating, they're catching up! The other military schools haven't been idle all night!"
"Let the children eat. They'll have more energy to work after a full meal."
"Boil some porridge?"
Hearing someone ask what to eat for breakfast, Meng Huai suggested.
"Sure!"
Everyone unanimously agreed with Meng Huai's suggestion. All of them took out their bowls and chopsticks from their spatial nodes, waiting for the porridge.
Meng Huai looked at her eager and hungry teammates helplessly. The cooking equipment and pots hadn't even been brought out yet, and they were already waiting to eat?
Meng Huai beckoned to Rong Feiwen, saying, "The stove and pots."
Then she took out some rice and other ingredients, "Let's make medicinal porridge?"
Rong Feiwen took out the stove he had prepared earlier and set it up, saying, "I have no objections."
The others also chimed in, "I can do it!"
"No problem."
"Sure, sure."