Chapter 260: Temporary Peace
The acting monitors were still nervous despite the relaxed atmosphere, especially since this examination could influence the selection of the year leader, but the regular students were all quite relaxed.
That was because with the end of the third week, everyone left alive had pretty much covered all their bases. Three weeks on top of accomplishing the first task meant that they had earned enough redemption points to buy Lifewater, which meant they would not lose anything even if they died.
With that in mind, everyone was visibly less tense, and even the construction of the towers had slowed down. There were more and more students who started to slack off. After all, compared to working hard, sleeping until they whatever time they felt like, then heading to the beach to enjoy the breeze and the sea was much more enjoyable.
Captain Yu was naturally furious at that, accusing them of underestimating the orcs, but everyone ignored the NPC. Even if they looked at military structure, that man had no right to order them around, so Captain Yu ended up getting so frustrated he made all the engineers focus on building the resurrection tower instead.
The elven warships remained in observation, the only difference being that their ships had moved a little in the last half a month.
Xiao Lin failed to feel happy about their peaceful situation. Ever since he learned from Qin Chuan that the war ended up in failure in actual history, he could not help but have doubts. If it really were that simple, then Dawn Academy could not have failed to such a degree.
A group of them that had Han Manman at the helm felt like they had caused a miracle after that night attack, and Han Manman even advertised that she was the one who pushed for the attack. Xiao Lin did not want any quarrel with her on that topic, and only held on to his own suspicions.
There were way too many questions in this war. First of all was the uncertainty of the elves, then the orcs being too weak.
It was indeed weakness. As ferocious the orcs appeared on the battlefield, Xiao Lin felt like the battles they had fought were too easy. He refused to believe that the team Dawn Academy sent those years ago could not even compete with these new students, and he refused to believe that no one thought about attacking at night.
In actual history, the orcs had made Dawn Academy suffer a huge loss. Even if the academy had won the war in the end, the losses were still immense.
There was also the shaman, Lightning. Xiao Lin felt like he was being too accommodating. Even with a little pressure, the shaman spilled everything, but a lot of the key details were very vague.
When Xiao Lin voiced his concerns about the orcs and elves allying with each other, Lightning only said that the two sides were indeed engaging in talks, but their differences were too big, and they failed to agree on a lot of points. He then said he was not cleared to partic.i.p.ate in those discussions.
Remembering those suspicious letters found in the fortress, Xiao Lin felt that Lightning was lying. He could be hiding an agreement with the elves, but Xiao Lin had no proof.
In the end, it was all just speculation from Xiao Lin. Even he could not say where his doubts came from.
It started to approach a month, and with them managing to hold onto the fortress for a month, everyone managed to earn additional credits on top of their redemption points, which was good news. That night, they once again had a bonfire banquet in the fortress. The female students that were the minority to begin with were hotly fought over, being invited to various dances which served as their only source of entertainment.
Xiao Lin had mustered up the courage to ask Gu Xiaoyue, but had been rejected coldly by that moment. Even if he had antic.i.p.ated it, it still left him feeling disappointed.
The banquet was held on the training grounds. The fortress was not that big, and one could see the entire fortress just by standing at the entrance. That was how Xiao Lin saw the crowd that was busying themselves not far away. He walked over in surprise. He realized it was Captain Yu and his engineers. The students had invited them to attend the banquet, but was rejected by Captain Yu.
“The construction of the resurrection tower cannot be delayed! This peace is only temporary. The orcs just don’t have enough troops at the moment. They will come back soon enough!” Captain Yu was quite unhappy with how easygoing everyone was acting, but as an NPC, he had no right to command them.
Xiao Lin showed a hint of remorse on his face, and nodded in acknowledgement. He then looked over at the silver tower. The resurrection tower was taking shape nicely. He had seen one in New Washington before, and could therefore make out an approximation.
“Does the resurrection tower need to be completely finished for it to take effect?”
“Of course, don’t underestimate the smooth exterior; the inner mechanisms are extremely complicated. Not even a single error is permitted.”
“How long do you still need to complete it?”
“A month at most! At that point we would have nothing to fear from those filthy orcs. As long as we still have our lifespan left, we’re invincible!” Captain Yu said with confidence.
At that moment, a thought entered Xiao Lin’s mind, leading him to widen his eyes in shock. He stared at the resurrection tower, not even listening to what Captain Yu was saying.
“I have something urgent to handle!”
Xiao Lin hastily departed, pulling Cheng Ming and the others who were happily partying around into the command room. Under their unhappy looks, he breathed deeply before saying, “Everyone, I had a sudden thought just now. The orcs and the elves might actually be waiting for us, which is why we had it so peaceful for such a long time!”
“Waiting?”
“They are waiting for the resurrection tower to finish being built! They need the completed resurrection tower. I’ve asked Captain Yu, and the resurrection tower’s inner mechanisms are extremely complicated. No other race could possibly replicate it. If they took back the fortress now, they would never be able to finish the tower, so they have to wait until the resurrection tower is complete!”
Han Manman laughed in exaggeration, mocking, “You’ve said that before; why are you still saying the same thing? I think you’ve had too much to drink! Don’t you think there’s something wrong with your guess? If they wait until the tower is completed, then we would be under the Law of Immortality, which means the orcs won’t be able to take back the city that easily!”
“It’s not that simple.” Cheng Ming had caught on to Xiao Lin’s train of thought. He might be honest, but he was not stupid. He said hesitantly, “If the enemies only crippled us and not killed us, then captured us alive, they can just bring us out of the resurrection tower’s radius and kill us then.”
Cla.s.s Eight’s Sheng Guo then said, “Surely that’s not possible. First of all, if we can always kill ourselves to ensure resurrection if we’re crippled. Taking a step back, if the orcs really are aiming for the completed tower, can’t we just destroy the tower itself when the time comes? Surely the orcs considered it as well.”