The sandpit training room, as the name suggests, requires swift navigation through each stepping board revealed in the quicksand. Those who fall or make mistakes three times are considered out.
"Stay away from her. She's a hypocritical little witch, always pretending to be weak. If she gets us involved and we end up in the punishment room, we'll be in trouble."
"Yeah, yeah, during the monthly exam, she only defeated Li Yilan and then chose to withdraw. But Li Yilan defeated everyone else in our grade. Yet she, taking advantage of Li Yilan's victory, managed to secure the fourteenth place. She always acts as if she's so weak, it's really nauseating."
These words echoing around made Lu Anru shudder involuntarily, bringing to mind the terrifying punishment room associated with being eliminated.
Different training rooms led to different punishment rooms. Taking the sandpit punishment room as an example, the quicksand engulfs the body of the eliminated person with a speed faster than one can cover their ears.
After a short period of suffocation, one arrives in the punishment room.
The punishment room sounds scary, but in reality, it's not as physically intense as navigating through the sandpit. The terrifying aspect lies in the psychological pressure. It drains the patience and confidence of the eliminated person.
In the absolute darkness, one must quickly calm down. Once panic sets in and the first clue is missed, the punishment time increases indefinitely.
If one can identify the clues immediately and systematically solve them step by step, they can leave the punishment room in three hours, which is half an hour longer than the normal class duration, effectively nullifying their break time.
But following the clues is easier said than done. Lu Anru particularly remembered her first class in the sandpit training room. Out of the 57 people in their grade in the club, only three didn't end up in the punishment room.
Former junior combat club queen Gao Ying was one, followed by Li Yilan and Ning Guang. Lu Anru, barely hanging on, endured until after eight in the evening, struggling to come out of the punishment room, only to spend the evening catching up on missed classes and assignments.
Perhaps because she was a frequent visitor to the punishment room like most people, Li Yilan never paid attention to her before the monthly exam. Pursuers of pure strength like her equated cute girls with trouble.
After the monthly exam, Li Yilan's and most people's attitudes turned to the other extreme.
Even though men scorned gossip behind their backs, whenever they met Lu Anru collectively in the punishment room exit, they would disdainfully glance at her and mutter familiar words under their breath.
"She's pretending again."
If Lu Anru heard this and made eye contact, straightforward men would just leave.
Those with higher emotional intelligence would compliment and sarcastically explain, "Don't mind them. It's mainly because you're too modest, which can be annoying. As the saying goes, 'A person without flaws has no friends.'"
After saying this with a meaningful look at the people close to Lu Anru, all of whom were her teammates in the recent midterm exams, the conversation would end.
In fact, Lu Anru wasn't deliberately acting aloof; only she knew the hardships behind it.
Within 24 hours, she could only gather all her strength for ten minutes. So every time she took an exam, she opted for swift battles, fearing not just showing weakness but also exposing her true abilities.
Since childhood, she would forget everything if she didn't wake up naturally. Whenever she saw her mother's tearful face, her heart would ache. When she remembered, she would remind herself not to let her mother down again.
So she forced herself to concentrate quickly and wake up her memory upon hearing the special signal, her beloved brother's call of "Sister, the message is here," forcing herself to focus and awaken her memory within ten minutes, thus developing her ten-minute peak state.
Lost in thought, she was bumped from the side.
The force was carefully calculated, redirecting her body, which was about to tilt towards the center of the quicksand, in the opposite direction.
Lu Anru blinked gratefully at Gao Ying and then focused on the stepping boards that might appear on the quicksand at any moment.
In the blink of an eye, a stepping board emitting a faint blue light appeared diagonally across from her.
Judging from the distance between the two boards and considering the five-minute disappearance factor, except for a few individuals with strong leg strength who could easily jump over, others wouldn't succeed without a running start.
In the grand scheme of things, it seemed necessary to create space for easier jumping through 'clearing the field.'
Players who could enter the Intermediate level of Yue Xiang were definitely not weak. The Combat Club had much higher training intensity compared to the other three clubs, and people knew that a moment of softness meant elimination.
They automatically formed their camps, skipping the pleasantries and starting the fight.
Gao Ying immediately pulled Lu Anru behind her, blocking Li Yilan's heavy punches aimed at Lu Anru.
After going through the Junior to Intermediate exam and losing to Lu Anru several times, Gao Ying changed her brute-force style. She dug out ancient books at home and started practicing Tai Chi.
Her hands gracefully deflected Li Yilan's powerful punches, neutralizing her moves.
With an elegant finishing stance, she turned back to Lu Anru and reminded her, "Don't get distracted. If you end up in the punishment room, I won't wait for you."
"Got it."
Lu Anru replied earnestly, glancing at the three people protecting her, who were close to her. They were all special figures: Ning Guang, the Sun Prince of Xia Kingdom, and his deputy in the Shadow Guard, Li Mo, as well as the son of a colonel in the Royal Guard, Liao Lang.
Being special figures didn't mean they lacked strength. Ning Guang had been receiving intense training from private physical instructors since he was three years old and was proficient in the use of the latest weapons. Even though the virtual electronic weapons in the classroom differed from real ones, Ning Guang's teacher always taught ahead, ensuring Ning Guang's familiarity with weapons.
After all, any slight mistake by Ning Guang could jeopardize his teacher's future prospects or even his life.
As for the other two, Li Mo and Liao Lang were agile and skilled, tasked with protecting Ning Guang. With these three around, it was difficult for Lu Anru to be knocked out in a frontal fight unless she accidentally fell into the quicksand or lost focus and got caught by someone.
In fact, Ning Guang's private lessons far exceeded the school's curriculum, but for some reason, he attended every one of Huang Qizhao's devilish physical training sessions.
With Gao Ying and Ning Guang leading the charge and Li Mo and Liao Lang providing support, Lu Anru enjoyed herself, sneaking among the four to deliver sneak attacks.
Whenever she saw the frustrated gazes of those who wanted to hit her but couldn't, filled with frustration and hatred, Lu Anru would give them a few more kicks.
In return, they intensified their attacks. Whoever protected Lu Anru would become their target, but they weren't afraid of offending anyone.
In Yue Xiang, especially in the Combat Club, under the iron-blooded education of President Huang Q
izhao, even the Prince of the strongest nation, despite being adored by many elsewhere, received no special treatment upon entering the Intermediate level of the Combat Club.
The reasons why Lu Anru and Ning Guang chose the Combat Club became the subject of gossip and discussion among people in their free time before the start of the course. Lu Anru's younger brother, Sheng Ming, was the president of the Law Club, and upon entering, he instantly became the darling of the group.
From appearances, Lu Anru seemed more suitable for the Healing Club. It's said that the president of the Healing Club had invited her to join but was politely declined.
Regardless of which side she chose, it would be much more comfortable than being in the Combat Club.
Yet, Lu Anru stubbornly chose the Combat Club, appearing like a malicious witch, with a deceptive sweet appearance, all she did was torment people.
Some people reluctantly concluded that Lu Anru was purely seeking amusement, deriving pleasure from others' pain.
They could barely understand Lu Anru's reasons for joining the Combat Club, but Ning Guang's reasons were still baffling to them.
In their view, Ning Guang was most suited for the Literary and Historical Club, where they took "The Book of Tricks," "The Path of Officials," and "The Art of Ruling" as core courses.
If Ning Guang had joined, there would have been many people fawning over him.
With a royal-appointed private tutor, Ning Guang could easily stay in the Literary and Historical Club, comfortably completing the Intermediate level courses. He could just casually choose combat as a minor, so why bother?
They really couldn't understand what Ning Guang was after. Since they couldn't grasp the reason, they preferred to let their fists do the talking. If someone refused to take the path to heaven and insisted on staying in hell to suffer humiliation, then they shouldn't blame others for being impolite!
The twenty-three people standing opposite the five silently exchanged glances, coming to a tacit understanding as they gathered together to besiege the annoying group.
They could temporarily set aside their differences and first send away the annoying group.