The No.1 Military Academy was particularly tense after the school celebration ended.
Due to the peculiar setup of the academy, the fifth day after the celebration marked the grand competition among various races.
This tiresome competition, held monthly, mandated that all but the first-place race run a hundred laps around the field every morning for a month.
It was utterly inhumane.
On the day of the celebration, everyone had a blast, and the decorations remained, softening the usually stark lines of the buildings with cute balloons and streamers, adding a touch of softness and childishness.
The youngsters especially loved it, and those with less self-control might even climb the walls to snatch balloons during training.
Like the little curly-haired kid in Chloe's team.
"What are you holding in your hand?" Chloe asked, barely containing her anger, facing the youngster.
The youngster's face was round and cute, more delicate and frail compared to his peers, now hiding his hands behind his back, pretending he hadn't just been up to something.
His innocent eyes stared straight at Chloe.
Chloe: "..."
Laughter erupted nearby, from her own people and students of other races alike.
Chloe felt like she had transformed into Ren Yunying on the spot, infuriated to the point of spitting blood by this youngster.
She kept a straight face, sternly saying, "I'll count to three, and if you don't hand it over willingly, I'll roll you into a ball and kick you from the start to the end of the track."
Her expression was serious, her lips tightly pursed, clearly not joking.
The little curly-haired kid immediately remembered the crisp slaps Chloe had handed out at the start of the school year.
Without a doubt, Chloe would do exactly as she threatened.
Startled, the youngster no longer hid, hurriedly pulling out the object from behind his back.
Sure enough, it was a spray-painted balloon.
As he handed over the balloon, the youngster's eyes were filled with reluctance, as if Chloe had taken everything from him.
Chloe, unable to bear it any longer, menacingly threatened:
"Do you like it that much? If so, go climb every building in the No.1 Military Academy and take down all the balloons, or else prepare to be kicked around by me."
Hearing this, the youngster shuddered all over, hastily shaking his head to indicate his refusal.
"Scared now?" Chloe said sharply, "Still distracted by balloons when you should be focusing!"
"The big competition is coming up, and you're still not concentrating, just thinking about playing! You complain about being tired after a short practice now, but won't it be tiring to run fifty laps every morning if you lose the competition?"
The youngsters looked at each other, realizing there might be some truth to her words.
Moreover, during Chloe's absence, the vampire race had almost never won under their lax training regime, indeed running fifty laps every morning, feeling like they were about to collapse each day.
Now that Chloe was back, she absolutely would not allow her team to lose to the other fools, so she pushed them to train desperately.
Day after day, the vampires were up earlier than the chickens and asleep later than the dogs.
Chloe led the charge recklessly, and naturally, no one else dared to slack off.
After all, any relaxation meant a solid beating from Chloe.
Under such tyranny, no one dared to object.
Their relentless training method successfully caught the attention of Qin Huaibei and his group.
Qin Huaibei held a thermos in his hand, filled with goji berry tea, and as he watched the orderly vampire squad on the track, he shook his head and said:
"What a sin."
At that moment, Chloe was leading the team back.
Hearing Qin Huaibei's remark, Chloe pointed with one hand, and with a gesture, snatched the thermos right out of his hands.
Qin Huaibei hadn't even swallowed a sip of his tea before it vanished, and he stared wide-eyed:
"Are you out of your mind!"
Chloe, unfazed, scoffed:
"Acting all grown-up at your tender age, drinking goji can harm your body."
Furious, Qin Huaibei immediately directed his team to confront Chloe's vampire group.
The human youngsters swarmed up and immediately tangled into a brawl with the vampires.
Chloe wasn't annoyed; she clapped her hands and shouted:
"Take this seriously! Who taught you these wild moves? Did a dog eat your combat skills?!"
The vampires dared not disobey and immediately started fighting properly, move by move.
Chloe cursed again: "Can't adapt, do you want to be kicked around like a ball?"
Everyone was miserable and immediately tried to integrate all their techniques.
Even the human youngsters were intimidated by Chloe, fighting with utmost seriousness.
Chloe let them fight together while she stepped off the track and took a bottle of water handed to her by Anderson, unscrewing it and gulping down most of it in one go.
"How about it, do you think you can handle it?" Qin Huaibei came over to ask.
Chloe glanced at him: "Beating you guys is no problem."
Qin Huaibei: "...That's some confidence."
Chloe, tying up her slightly loose hair, said: "Whether I'm bluffing or not, we'll know soon enough."
"Don't get too cocky," Qin Huaibei said, "Our human training isn't bad either."
The elves and werewolves were almost the same.
But they didn't train much on the training grounds, mostly in the gym.
No one wanted to lose.
Everyone was desperate.
There was a moment of silence, then Qin Huaibei remembered something:
"I remember after this grand competition, it's the military academy students' family visiting day, right?"
Chloe, agreeable as ever: "If you want to come see your daddy, it's not like you can't."
"...Get lost." Qin Huaibei, not wanting to argue with Chloe, cursed and then continued on his own, "I called ahead, and during that time my parents will be working in the government district, it's pointless for me to go back alone."
Chloe sensed something: "So?"
Qin Huaibei smiled: "So, can I come over to your place?"
As he spoke, Qin Huaibei also dragged Daniel into the conversation:
"And I'm not like that dumb wolf Daniel, your uncle definitely won't mind me."
Chloe blinked: "Sure."
Before Qin Huaibei could rejoice, Chloe slowly added:
"Just don't resent the wealthy, my home is quite luxurious."
Qin Huaibei: "..."
"I really appreciate it," Chloe said, laughing to herself after she finished speaking.
Unable to stay any longer, Qin Huaibei cursed a few times before running off to instruct his clan members to train properly.
Poking Anderson in the elbow, Chloe asked, "Hey, will you be returning to the Francis Family when the time comes?"
Anderson slowly turned to her and nodded, "Yes, I will."
Something came to Chloe's mind, "Then, about your brother..."
She was referring to the original heir of the Francis Family, who was paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.
Anderson remembered being bullied by this very person in the past.
It took Anderson a while to recall who Chloe was talking about, and then a cold smile appeared on his lips:
"He's nothing to be afraid of, Miss. Rest assured."
