Hearing those familiar words, Su felt like crying but had no tears to shed.
He knew this phrase very well. Every time new recruits entered the military academy, he was assigned to train them for a whole month.
He was notorious for his harsh scolding. Su knew this well—several times, he had even managed to verbally break down a burly man standing at 1.85 meters tall.
Despite the admiration and respect those outsiders showed him, the new recruits inside the academy who had been trained by him often cursed him in secret.
"Alright, I remember," Su said quickly, recalling the image of the most obedient recruit he once trained.
"Good. Time is almost up. Go back and rest. I will go catch some food," Mu Qingyun said as she looked at the utterly exhausted Su. She waved generously, signaling him to return.
Without hesitation, Su nodded and headed back toward the cave. No way—he had to get the doctor to release the virtual creatures soon. That way, Mu Qingyun would be too busy to bother him any further.
[Finally, the live stream is back on. At last, I get to see Brother Mu's face again.]
[Ugh, what is so good about that ugly face? It makes me want to vomit just thinking about breakfast.]
[Who is that? Why do you have to be so annoying? If you do not want to watch, then leave. Why do you even bother here?]
[This really cracks me up—are Mu Qingyun's fans always this classy?]
[Hey upstairs, you act like you have high standards. Oh wait, not only do you have bad manners, your eyesight must be terrible too. Otherwise, how could you only see Mu's fans cursing others?]
[Enough fighting, guys. Did anyone notice Su has some redness on his body? There is no way he got like this on the very first day of training, right?]
[Are you saying...]
[Mu definitely did something behind our backs. What exactly, I will not say.]
[Hahaha, dddd, I ship this so hard, brothers!]
[Ship what ship? Please keep your fantasies to yourself.]
Soon after, Mu Qingyun returned with some fish she had caught, while Su had already purified the water inside the cave, just waiting for her to distill it.
"You all need to learn how to process food. You cannot always rely on me," she said, glancing at the three staring at her eagerly. She casually pulled a fish from her storage bag and tossed it in front of them.
The fish was not yet dead. The moment it hit the ground, it thrashed fiercely, its tail slapping against the earth with sharp smacks. The sudden movement startled Xiong Ruoyou so much that she nearly jumped.
"B-but we do not know how to process it," Su frowned as he looked at the lively fish.
"If you do not know, then learn," Mu Qingyun said, raising her chin and gesturing for them to watch closely. "I will only demonstrate once."
With that, she picked up a dagger and efficiently began to clean the fish.
The process seemed simple, and combined with Mu Qingyun's smooth, flowing motions, the three gained some inexplicable confidence.
"Alright, the fish are on us. Brother Mu, you just focus on distilling the water," Xiong Ruoyou smiled and immediately took a sharp little dagger out of her storage bag, attempting to mimic the scraping of scales.
But trying it themselves was not as easy as watching Mu Qingyun.
Even scraping the scales proved difficult for them.
Seeing this, Mu Qingyun said nothing and instead quickened the pace of distilling the water.
Earlier, while out hunting, she had squeezed the juice from the lemfruit into a small bottle. Soon, she planned to discreetly add a few drops into the water.
"Brother Mu, I am doing it wrong!" Xiong Ruoyou looked helplessly at the scales stuck all over her palms and glanced up at Mu Qingyun.
"You must learn to be self-reliant," Mu Qingyun said coolly, showing no intention of helping. Her hands remained leisurely busy over the boiling water.
Taking advantage of their struggle with the fish, none of them paid attention to her. She quietly turned off the live stream and quickly dripped several drops of lemfruit juice into the prepared water.
After finishing, she reopened the live stream and casually said, "If you really cannot manage it, stop and drink some water. I will handle it."
[Hey, my screen just went black for a second, it scared me!]
[Whoa, mine too! I thought my phone broke because it suddenly blacked out!]
[Wait, did anyone else notice a blackout just now?]
[Seems so. Is there a problem with Brother Mu's live stream?]
[Haha, even the heavens seem to be opposing Mu's arrogance. The stream suddenly goes dark—hilarious.]
[Maybe it is a bad omen because he is too cocky.]
The comments grew wilder and more exaggerated.
Mu Qingyun accepted the fish Xiong Ruoyou and the others handed to her and casually said, "I just accidentally touched something, and you all have such wild imaginations."
"Huh?"
Xiong Ruoyou thought Mu Qingyun was talking to her. She raised a curious brow. "Brother Mu, are you talking about me?"
"No," Mu Qingyun shook her head.
"Oh," Xiong Ruoyou nodded obediently and said no more.
The group drank the water laced with lemfruit juice. Mu Qingyun watched them discreetly, cautious they would notice the subtle change.
Yet they drank heartily, showing no sign of suspicion. Even the usually observant Su did not notice.
Only then did she quietly breathe a sigh of relief and return to cleaning the fish.
After eating and drinking her fill, Mu Qingyun closed her eyes to rest, silently thinking about the road ahead.
After each stage of the military academy's trial, participants were given two months to return home and recuperate.
Since she had no home to return to, and Xiong Ruoyou had previously invited her, Mu Qingyun planned to stay at Xiong's place during those two months.
No matter where, money was always important. Though sometimes power surpassed money in value, her original self had been a princess of this empire—the princess whom both the emperor and empress had discarded.
Since power was no longer an option, she would focus on accumulating wealth.
Seasonings were expensive here. They were extracted and refined from plants, so she could explore the wilds where many plants must leave traces.
Making seasonings involved no cost, making it a surefire profitable trade.
Mu Qingyun was happily plotting her next steps when a sudden commotion came from the cave entrance.
The moment she heard the noise, she snapped her eyes open and looked toward the cave's mouth.
[Yo, what is happening now?]
[Wait, the academy just announced that virtual creatures will be released earlier than planned. However, if a team manages to kill a thousand virtual creatures, they can leave the island early. Those who cannot leave early will be automatically eliminated later!]
[What? Why the sudden change in rules this year?]
[No idea. Is this to let the strongest stand out faster? Is the academy short on recruits?]
[Also, there is an additional point: after half the time passes—three months from now—the island will enter competitive mode. Teams can steal virtual creature points from each other!]