Chapter 668: Xiao Lin’s Invitation
After five days, Dawn Academy’s team left for Tokyo in j.a.pan, and started to get ready for the battle at the j.a.panese academy. Just as Song Junlang said, the j.a.panese were very warm and welcoming. The one who greeted them on Earth was a plump woman. Her looks were comparatively average, but her makeup was very eye-catching.
She implicitly stated to everyone that, as long as they were in j.a.pan, they would be provided with everything possible. With the principle that every one of the colonists were family, they would not be treated badly.
A few of the monitors were moved by the hidden implications. It was just like the last time, and the one who followed them was just the vice president who held no power. The real decision maker was Xiao Lin, and Xiao Lin obviously was not interested in caring about those matters.
However, thanks to Song Junlang’s earlier reminder, he felt that the j.a.panese enthusiasm did not come from kind intentions, so Xiao Lin still reminded the rest of them with a business-like tone to mind themselves. They were only staying in Tokyo for less than a day, so they should just stay in their rooms.
The invitations won the favor of the female monitors, but the rest of them did not go against Xiao Lin’s words either. At some point, possibly thanks to the president and Yu Mei’s deliberate actions, Xiao Lin’s authority as the leader had slowly begun to set in. Even though some of them might curse at some things, they would not dare to disobey Xiao Lin’s orders.
After that small incident, Dawn Academy’s team arrived at the j.a.panese academy.
The j.a.panese academy was built quite early on. Based on Earth’s time, it was built around the period of the Qing Dynasty. The j.a.panese academy had rapidly expanded at the start, and had even leapfrogged over some of the older European academies. However, after the World War on Earth, the j.a.panese academy was slowly restricted.
Officially, Planet Norma’s matters would not have anything to do with Earth’s politics, so even at the worst points of the war on Earth, the colonist academies were still in a state of peace, but their mutual relationships would obviously be affected.
Earth’s politics still managed to affect Planet Norma in the end. From the perspective of Planet Norma, the j.a.panese academy was only about a hundred kilometers away from Dawn City. The fastest carriages could have them arrive there within a day.
The two academies had intensely fought each other in colonist history. Even though they did not use military might, there were various things that happened in the dark, so Dawn Academy was never in a good relationship with the j.a.panese academy.
Xiao Lin viewed this match very earnestly. In terms of the line-up, he had some slight adjustments, and had himself partic.i.p.ated in the individual matches. Even though he was very strong, being too strong also affected the overall team chemistry. They would likely be able to win that way, but it also easily caused the others to develop lazy habits.
With Chen Dao and Xiao Lin helming the individual matches, they easily won the two individual matches. In the secondary profession matches, thanks to Gu Xiaoyue being swapped in, they easily won. However, they lost the fourth match, and ended up winning the team battle by the slimmest of margins.
The team battle was a hard fought victory. They were forced to fight until the last person was standing, but thankfully, Cheng Ming used his golden sword aura at a key timing, allowing him to cut down two opponents and gain the victory.
Xiao Lin had been observing the matches on the outside. He finally let out a sigh of relief after the results were out. He had been nervous throughout the whole time, and it had proven his earlier worry. It was definitely not a good thing that a squad would suddenly not know what to do after losing just one member.
Xiao Lin needed a squad that was capable in multiple ways, not one that only relied on that, because he still needed to consider the future matches. The Russian Voyna Akademiya and Judge Academy were not academies that could be defeated with just the might of one person. Judge Academy’s loss in the first round to Dawn Academy was only because of carelessness and them underestimating Dawn Academy. It was impossible to reproduce that result with a squad like that.
“No matter what, we won in the end, and that’s enough,” Gu Xiaoyue lightly said after being silent for the whole time. Gu Xiaoyue had been angry that Xiao Lin did not a.s.sign her to the team battle. It caused her to remain mute throughout the whole time. No matter what Xiao Lin tried to say, she would purse her lips. She looked like someone who wanted to be angry but could not.
Xiao Lin did not know if those words were to console herself or him, but he did finally get a chance, so he smiled and said, “Three wins in a row in the group stages. Our chances of making it out of the group are increasing by the day, so you don’t have to give yourself too much pressure.”
“The next match is against Judge Academy again, so how do you plan on dealing with that? The strategy from last time will definitely not work.” Gu Xiaoyue pouted, but did not continue remaining silent. However, her thoughts were already on the next round.
They found out earlier on that Judge Academy had defeated the Turkish academy, solidifying their second place spot in the group. Based on the home and away rotation, their next match would be the start of the second rotation, and Dawn Academy would be hosting Judge Academy. Considering the standing of the two academies, the match might determine the first two spots in the groups.
After the match against the j.a.panese academy, since j.a.pan was closer, the vice president told them that the student union had specially arranged for them to have a few days of holiday in consideration of the continued fights. So, they would be allowed to spend two days on holiday on Earth. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted, but they needed to report back to the academy on time two days later.
For the first-year students, they only got one vacation each semester to return home. Even though they could usually write letters, the letters all needed to be checked in case they revealed information about the academy. So, that special holiday definitely won the cheers of all of them. It was an even better reward than the rewards they got after winning each match.
“Gu Xiaoyue, we should use these two days to sightsee in j.a.pan!” Xiao Lin immediately invited Gu Xiaoyue.
Gu Xiaoyue was so surprised that she hesitated for a few minutes before saying, “I want to go back and see my sister. Chengyun’s next semester is starting, so I need to prepare her school fees, and her living expenses as well. Other than that, the home…”
“Yes yes, all these things can be done via long distance, and the people from the Earth department can help you do it as well. It’s not like you don’t know this. The Earth branch was formed to help with these matters.” Xiao Lin waved it off, smiling. “Two days is a very tight timeframe anyway. Even if you take a flight back, with all the transfers you’d have to take, you’d only be home for half a day at most. You’d practically use up the full two days just going there and returning. We’ll have a long holiday after this semester anyway, so we should just use today to properly relax.”