One could hear the teasing giggles and snickers resounding in the room, which Ye Chong seemed unaffected of. People might have looked down on his capabilities in teaching, but frankly they were very impressed of his high stress resistance. Most new instructors would have sunken under the table, deep into their grief if they were given a barrage of humiliation. This new instructor was rather young yet he was the same calm.
It took literally 15 minutes for Ye Chong's group to fill up completely.
"Alright, folks, we would proceed with the stage. The consortium had assigned staffs to escort all the groups to their respective site. The instructors would then lead all trainees to the training ground. So, the instructors can now meet with their trainees. Should you have any inquiries, please come see me. I hope we would have a fruitful and joyful training here," Senda sounded relieved. He was apparently feeling uneasy of such atmosphere.
"Follow me," said one workman hurriedly coming from the other end. He and the other members were on standby for the escorting session.
Ye Chong responded with a nod and quickly followed. Nothing happened at the meeting room affected him actually. He was preoccupied with the unique interface of his new mech. He had been thinking the workarounds of dishing out the most damage, so he was silent the whole time.
"Well, yeah, tsk, you have been looked down," said Shang, with an inhibited dissatisfaction. Shang was never the humanitarian with a heart of gold, it was rare to hear Shang speaking with such a tone.
"Look... down? I don't care where they placed their eyes?" Ye Chong was not sure what Shang meant since he had never bothered to observe the meeting room.
"Not that. They are seeing nothing in you, not even your strength."
"Oh..." Ye Chong finally comprehended the new phrase, "That's good? Why must I have them seeing something in me? I don't want their attention?"
Well, Ye Chong had a point. He would be better off being the unnoticed boy in the group. Shang could not really counter that argument.
"Mhm..." Shang was taking a different approach, "You are right of what you've said. But they aren't paying much for us to last here you know. We need more money and you know that. At this rate we might be stuck in Gray Valley for good."
"Right," nodded Ye Chong, "You have a point." Based on the information they had obtained from the virtual world, the consortium had the few exits under their enforcement, the strictest one too. It appeared to be no one could pass through the pathway without permit, not even a space rock, while only those cargos from He Yue could get the certificate of permission. Those merchants owning those cargos did not have an easy time either, as they had to undergo heavy inspections before they could reach the other side of the world. It came to both Mu and Ye Chong's agreement that they were going to stay in Gray Valley for quite some time.
Since they would very likely be stuck for the next few months, the problem proposed by Shang would truly be a problem in no time. Ye Chong was very well-aware how it would be a trapping horror without gold in his pocket.
"They would be determining your pay based on the number of trainees who passed the final examination, and certainly the strength of these trainees too. Well, they are rather generous on that side of the payment."
"I understand," said Ye Chong flatly, as he caught the underlying meaning.
When Ye Chong had arrived at the site for Group No. 25, the trainees were already there, whose eyes were mostly, as one had guessed, filled with the disdain as if towards the filthiest dirt on their planet.
"Would you like to have a word? Or proceed with the training directly?" asked the worker.
"To the training ground." Ye Chong was the decisive kind who held the virtue of "less talk, more work".
"Hah!" One voice came from the group, "With your standards, I'm better off as the teacher. Shameless."
"Right?"
"Who are you to teach us?" The students were seemingly reluctant to be taught by this air-headed bum from nowhere.
The working man was finding the situation awkward as he never foresaw such dramatic reaction.
Ye Chong stared at the bunch of noisy kids in their early puberty.
"What? Want a piece of me? Hahahaha!" The trainees were laughing as the fiasco intensified.
Ye Chong frowned, he was enraged not because of the humiliations, but the lack of action, time-wasting behavior of these young trainees. He could tolerate everything other than wasting time. He felt the need to take action, in order to cease such ridiculous waste of time.
Ye Chong's step crushed the ground as he vanished.
Xi Qing, who was watching Ye Chong at the dark corner, had his heart raced. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears, he was sweating as heat raided his throat.
Could it be?
His premonition was proven right as soon as he heard that loud cracking sound coming from the loudest guy in the group.
And the fuzzy silhouette of the instructor regained its structure.
Am I seeing things?
Xi Qing rubbed his eyes. His face was cold.
The guy was now in the instructor's hand, passing out. He was the one who started the entire angry mob attack.
What?
Xi Qing could feel a never-before-experienced chillness crawling his back.
He could not believe how his eyes failed to capture the instructor's speed. He did not manage to observe every gesture of this instructor. He did not even know how the instructor did the back-and-fro seizing. It was as if a giant skip of multiple animation frames in between.
The rascal might have started the commotion, but he was not the ordinary street bullies one would see on the street. He and the others were capable of joining the consortium training after all. These rebellious young men and women were potent to a certain extent.
The commotion died off the moment the youngsters saw their new classmate resting in the cradle of the devil. They could not remember an actual thing of the incident just now. They only could recall a shadow flashing by. The instructor soon grew alarming in the eyes of these trainees as clearly the instructor could take them out before they knew a thing.
The worker was dropping his jaw.
"Move," instructed Ye Chong, with a glance as he walked towards the training ground with the fainted trainee in his hands.
They had to cooperate, unless they wanted to leave the world before adulthood.
Meanwhile Xi Qing was experiencing a boiling excitement in him after the sheer cold fear Ye Chong gave him. He knew he was right! He betted the right person! Expectation filled his head, as he wondered how much more surprise the instructor could bestow him.
Contrary to the other groups who were making bubbly, happy go lucky screams in their training ground, Ye Chong's group was brewing wordless, dust-rolling intensity on the field. The other groups were sending mockery through their eyes upon finding out the center of the dullest void being Group No. 25.
"This would be the training ground for your group from now on. The accommodation locates right nearby. It should fulfill most of your daily necessities. If you have any need, feel free to call me or contact Mr. Senda. Now, if you would kindly excuse me..." The escort seemed to have an utter change in his tone after the incident.
"Thank you. Take care," replied Ye Chong concisely.
Ye Chong was pretty happy of the size. The training ground could easily accommodate the 20 trainees he had.
The trainees were observing their new overwhelming instructor carefully, with curiosity in some of them and passion in the others.
And they would all play the Red Light, Green Light game, quickly silenced themselves into obedience the moment Ye Chong turned to them.
They were holding their breath, with fright in their eyes.
"Oh?" Ye Chong remembered he was lifting a problem and there he dropped the fainted trainee.
Thump! The trainees could hear the horrible ending of Humpty Dumpty on their mate. The problematic trainee rubbed his eyes and appeared to be under his sleeping spell.
Ye Chong decided to provide assistance in breaking the spell.
Ye Chong clipped the sleepy trainee, his eyes searched for a safe landing point. There was a pool. A perfect target. And he gave a skillful toss, lobbing the trainee.
Splash!
The eyes of the trainees enlarged drastically as they had just observed an inhumane act coming from their new instructor. Imagine they were the walking sandbag instead!
"Ah!" The trainee was instantly waken by the cold water. He quickly crawled out of the pool and dawdled towards the group, with confusion and fear in his steps.
"In your line. 5...4...," said Ye Chong.
The trainee began sprinting, as if losing the last bus in the night. He only regained his soul when he got back to the line.
Ye Chong was silent.
The training ground was silent.
The trainees were dead silent.
They would not want to anger this instructor a little. It was irony when they just called the instructor an airhead a second ago.
...
... ...
The trainees were in fear of the never-ending silence, wondering if the instructor was planning the next diabolical execution to the misbehaved.
The reality? Ye Chong was discussing with Shang regarding the minimum amount of pay he would need in order to progress, with details on the approximate number of successful trainees.