In the most recent hundred years, there had not been a single grand armed melee. This was because the event was much too bloody and cruel, involving all the students of two grades in a large-scale group melee! During that time, no one would be able to control themselves — terror, rage, submission, humiliation ... there were all sorts of elements that could cause someone to lose control. A massive number of casualties had been recorded for a grand armed melee in the past — this was another important reason why the grand armed melee had faded away into obscurity for up to a hundred years.
Of course, the moment the words 'grand armed melee' were said, not only were the 10th graders taken aback, even the 7th graders present, like those Class-A students who had come with Ling Lan, were all gobsmacked as well. They had only been notified that a 7th grade Class-B female student had been bullied by a 10th grade senior, and had only rushed here to lend a hand and show support. They had never expected their leaders Ling Lan and Wu Jiong to immediately escalate the issue to such an extent.
However, their blood could not help but boil with excitement — if the 'grand armed melee' of 100 years back which made all students turn pale at its mere mention were to reappear at their hands ... that would be so goddamn amazing!
"Big Brother Xu, they don't have enough people, only 89 ..." One of the 10th grade students quietly reminded their leader to not panic. This was very likely a scare tactic by the 7th graders; they should not trip themselves up because of this.
At this reminder, this Big Brother Xu took a closer look and found that it was as that student said and calmed down. Indeed, who would be so stupid as to play the fool with their own lives — a grand armed melee? Even if they really wanted to try it, they wouldn't dare to fight one against the 10th graders, right? Wasn't this just suicidal? These little brats were definitely just trying to scare them, wanting to get them to surrender without putting up a fight. They must not fall for this threat and undermine their own authority! Thus, the leader laughed long and loud, "Hahaha ... that's hilarious! Actually daring to suggest a grand armed melee against us. Alright, I'll play with you all. Let's see if you all can really gather the full 95 people needed to successfully initiate a grand armed melee!"Originally, there was some disturbance among the 10th graders at the mention of a grand armed melee, but after some internal discussion, the 10th graders had quickly settled down. Now, hearing their leader speak out, they all began chiming in as well, "Yeah, we're waiting ..."
"Such a fun event, how can you leave me, Li Yingjie, out!" A flippant and prideful voice rang out from the doorway. Ling Lan and Wu Jiong couldn't help but sweatdrop — this punk Li Yingjie just loved to show off, extremely egotistical.
However, the arrival of Li Yingjie's team showed that the three strongest teams of Year 4738 were working hand in hand. Meanwhile, at this very moment, the number of 7th graders present had reached exactly 95 people. If everyone here chose to agree, they would have the minimum quorum required to initiate a grand armed melee.
"Classmates, since entering the upper division, you all must have felt the suppression from the upper grades. Be it by a little or a lot, quite a number of people have suffered. Boss Ling Lan has said before that people should possess backbones — we should rather die standing than live being forced to kneel. Because this is our dignity, our pride — once lost, then we will be unqualified to be soldiers ... and what are we scouts? The cradle to cultivate qualified soldiers. What do you say? In this situation, can we submit?" proclaimed Wu Jiong loudly.
"No!"
"No!"
"No!" The rage of the 7th grade students was stirred up by Wu Jiong's words; they all shouted their defiance loudly with clenched fists."Shall we take up weapons to defend our own honour? To let everyone know that, although we are new members of the upper division, we will not allow ourselves to be scorned!" Wu Jiong continued to fan the flames.
"Grand armed melee!" Heaven knows who hollered it out, and then all the other 7th graders took up the chant, "Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee!"
Only by initiating a grand armed melee would the 7th graders prove their right to stand on equal footing with the 10th graders, through a fair fight.
"Then let us initiate a grand armed melee!" Wu Jiong raised his right hand, revealing his communicator, and put up the grand armed melee against the 10th graders for a vote.
Simultaneously, all the 7th grade special class students received the options of 'agree/disagree' to initiate the grand armed melee. Everyone present resolutely clicked on 'agree'. Even those 7th grade special class students who had not yet made it to the scene also received this selection notification from their communicators at the same time.
********
A white-clad youth lying down on the grass in front of one of the dormitory villas suddenly felt his wrist vibrate. Bored, he listlessly opened the notification and when he saw the contents, he instantly leapt up. "Grand armed melee? Haha, how interesting! Who'd have expected the Class-A people to have such guts? I need to go watch the fun!" The initiator had to be one of the top 5 of Class-A — although he did not know who it was, he still decisively clicked on the button to agree. Then, with a stamp of his feet, he disappeared from the patch of grass!
"Grand armed melee against the 10th grade — 7th grade special class approval at 97 people. This number exceeds the minimum requirement. The grade grand armed melee is officially established!"
Spread out at all corners of the academy, all the 7th grade students, whether they were from the special classes, the merit classes, or the regular classes, received this news on their communicators at the same time. This caused the 7th graders to jump in shock 1 ...
And then, all the alarms in the academy started to blare, going on for a whole 3 minutes! Everyone was flushed out from all corners of the academy by these warning alarms. They began asking the people beside them what was going on, but unfortunately, other than the 7th graders and a small number of the upper grade students, most of the students were clueless, so there was no clear answer to be found.
Right then, a female voice with a faint mechanical tone rang out above the academy:
"Warning, one hour later, a grand armed melee between the 7th grade and the 10th grade will officially begin. Duration is set for 24 hours. All students not involved with the grand armed melee please note, please enter the dormitory area quickly within this 1 hour. For 7th grade and 10th grade students who refuse to participate in the grand armed melee, please enter the dormitory area as well! One hour later, the dormitory area will go into full lockdown, becoming the only safe area during the grand armed melee. No one shall fight within the safe area; violators will receive heavy punishment!"
The academy's warning announcement was repeated three times. All the students of the academy were instantly in an uproar — some lower grade students did not even know what a grand armed melee was, and were quickly looking it up along with all other relevant information on their communicators. When they found out how cruel a grand armed melee was, some children's faces had turned deathly pale.
Very quickly, a recording was played on the academy loudspeakers. It was the speech that Wu Jiong had given to the special class students in the canteen:
"Classmates, since entering the upper division, you all must have felt the suppression from the upper grades. Be it by a little or a lot, quite a number of people have suffered. Boss Ling Lan has said before that people should possess backbones — we should rather die standing than live being forced to kneel.
"Shall we take up weapons to defend our own honour? To let everyone know that, although we are new members of the upper division, we will not allow ourselves to be scorned!"
...
"Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee! Grand armed melee!"
In the end, the students were collectively bellowing for a grand armed melee. This infected all the students of the academy, especially those 7th grade students of the merit classes and the regular classes. During this period of time, they had all suffered the suppression of the upper grades. All the humiliation they had been forced to endure all this time, abruptly exploded in this moment.
Grand armed melee! This was a chance for revenge gifted to them by the special class students! They silently clenched their fists tightly. Even if they died, they would pull those seniors who had bullied them down into hell along with them!
"The assembly point for the 7th grade — Sunmoon Square in the district-N! The assembly point for the 10th grade — Freedom Plaza in district-E!" Finally, the academy mainframe gave the two grades their respective assembly points, and everyone began to move. In contrast with the 7th grade's repressed and focused fighting spirit, the 10th grade students were obviously somewhat panicked and unbridled ...
"Bastards! That bunch of 7th graders are most definitely lunatics!" A majority of the 10th grade students had the same opinion. Otherwise, how would they be so berserk as to initiate a grand armed melee?
On the other hand, the 8th grade and 9th grade students were all puzzled, astounded at the sheer guts of the newly advanced 7th graders. They would rather start a savage grand armed melee rather than submit and compromise, and subject themselves to the bullying of the upper grades ... could it be that the upper division would be turned on its head?
Some of them were even vaguely regretful — if only they had suggested a grand armed melee like the 7th grade now when they had been hazed by the 10th graders back then ... would they have become different? Maybe even stronger?
********
In the dining room of the instructors, the instructors had initially been quietly eating their meals. Today, our esteemed dean was also eating in the dining room.
Just as he was enjoying his meal, the academy alarms suddenly sounded throughout the academy. In his fright, the dean actually spewed out the food he had in his mouth right then. He abruptly stood up and yelled, "What's going on?!"
Could the mainframe have shorted? Or was someone actually stupid enough to attack the scout academy?
The dean's wrist communicator began vibrating forcefully. The moment he connected, the captain of the ace mecha team guarding the school appeared on the screen. "Dean, what happened?"
"I was just about to ask you. Could it be that outsiders have invaded the academy's airspace again?" The dean recalled the incident with Ling Lan seven years ago. That Ling family had been so brazen as to fly a mecha straight into the academy's airspace, giving them quite a scare.
"No, we used radar to scan the surroundings. Everything's normal. No unidentified objects have approached the academy. Could it be that there's an internal problem?" The mecha captain reported their findings to the dean.
"Understood. Be prepared to act on your end, I'll check with the school mainframe ..." The dean had yet to finish speaking when the voice of the mainframe rang out in the dining room:
"Warning, one hour later, a grand armed melee between the 7th grade and the 10th grade will officially begin. Duration is set for 24 hours ..."
"Grand armed melee? F*ck, why did this hundred year old relic appear again?" All the teachers looked at one another. Even they had not experienced a grand armed melee before, having only heard its name, so they did not really know how bloody or scary a grand armed melee could be.
"Heavens, which bastard initiated this?" The dean's complexion changed drastically as he leapt up in shock. He had actually seen those top secret files before. Every time there was a grand armed melee, the children would indeed develop rapidly, however, the casualty rate was just too shocking. Therefore, the dean of every generation would take precautions against a grand armed melee happening. They would rather the children develop steadily instead of using this kind of cruel method to force their growth. This was yet another reason why the grand armed melee had disappeared for over a hundred years.
The dean connected to the mainframe and pulled up the video of the location where the grand armed melee had been initiated.
The large screen right at the front of the dining room suddenly lighted up, and then the scene of a confrontation was played. Two sides were facing each other — Ling Lan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, etcetera were all displayed clearly, not a single person was excluded ...
"Godd*mn! Basically all the 7th grade special class members are there!" Seeing the 7th grade special class so united, all the instructors had approval in their gazes. This made them think of their comrades who had fought by their side through battles of life and death ...
Good good good! As expected of his offspring! The dean stared at Ling Lan's figure and could not help but suck in a sharp breath. The dean was truly an old fox — just by looking at the standing positions of the 7th grade students, he could tell who the orchestrator of this grand armed melee was.
