Chapter 104 - 103: Have a Pleasant Evening
Yvonne Lowell looked up. When she saw the burly, bearded man, she couldn’t help but twitch her lips.
’Would it kill him to pick a better-looking face?! And he even had to pad himself with a bunch of fake muscles...’
Everyone stared at him, bewildered. Who was this guy? And did he deliberately pick clothes a size too small? Wasn’t he afraid they’d burst at the seams?
"When did you get here?"
The disguised Zachary Jacobs sat across from Yvonne Lowell with a meal. "Just got here not long ago. Perfect timing for a meal."
Yvonne Lowell glanced up at him, saying nothing.
’If I actually believed he just got here, I’d be an idiot.’
’He was probably hiding in some nook or cranny, waiting until I was done lecturing everyone to show himself.’
"What’s with that look? Don’t you believe me? I really did just get here!"
Yvonne Lowell didn’t answer, asking instead, "Where is she?"
"In the dorm. She said she already ate and was going to catch up on some sleep," Zachary Jacobs said indistinctly, his mouth full of food.
The trainees eating nearby subconsciously slowed down, trying to overhear what this bearded man who seemed familiar with their instructor was saying, but they couldn’t make out a single word.
Theodore Zane furtively sidled up to Yvonne Lowell and asked quietly, "Instructor, who is this?"
"Hey there! My surname is Hughes, you can call me Instructor Hughes. I’m the assistant instructor your instructor invited over. I’ll be supervising you all with her from now on. Let’s get along."
Zachary Jacobs gave his shoulder a buddy-buddy pat, so hard that it made the poor guy stumble.
Yvonne Lowell raised a hand to cover her twitching temple. ’Instructor Hughes? Seriously? Is the name supposed to be a pun on his beard?’
’So last time in Country S, he called himself Instructor Green because he was wearing a green, curly wig, wasn’t he?!’
Theodore Zane’s expression didn’t change as he smiled and greeted him, "Hello, Instructor Hughes. You two enjoy your meal, I’ll be going now."
With that, he quickly walked toward Stanley Sutton, his face gradually contorting.
Once seated next to Stanley Sutton, he leaned on his shoulder and whimpered, "Boss, I’m dying of pain. How can that huge guy be so strong?! Is every ounce of flesh on his body pure muscle?! He just patted me once, and I felt like I was about to meet my great-grandma."
Stanley Sutton shrugged the head off his shoulder in disgust. "You reek. Get away from me."
"You’re disgusted with me?! I’m your most beloved subordinate!"
As he spoke, he snatched the leftover chicken drumstick from Stanley Sutton’s bowl.
Stanley Sutton glanced at him. "So, what did you find out?"
"He’s an assistant instructor our instructor invited. Surname’s Hughes," Theodore Zane said, shrugging his aching shoulder.
Blake Paxton’s expression was complicated. "That’s it?"
"That’s it. Isn’t that enough to know?" Theodore Zane stared at him, looking baffled.
Stanley Sutton and Blake Paxton exchanged a look, then picked up their empty meal trays and stood to leave.
Theodore Zane quickly followed with the drumstick in hand. "Hey, what’s with you two? I risked my life to gather this intel, and this is your reaction?"
Blake Paxton shot him a glance. "Everything you just said, don’t you think he was going to tell us that himself anyway?"
"Well, at least I got the news one step ahead of everyone else! Hey! Wait for me, you two! Why are you walking so fast?! Are you forming a clique to exclude me?!"
...
At nine in the evening, everyone had returned to their dorms. They were all washed up and lying in bed, shooting the breeze while waiting for curfew.
Yvonne Lowell went to the control room and switched on the broadcast microphone. "I have a brief announcement. Here, the daily schedule is the same as it was back at the main camp."
"However, if you hear an alarm, a whistle, or if any other special situation arises, everyone must tidy their bunks, get fully dressed, and assemble on the training grounds within five minutes. If anyone is late, the entire squad will be punished together."
"Finally, I wish you all a pleasant evening. Sleep well. See you tomorrow."
After speaking, she headed upstairs.
They were staying in the building diagonally across from the trainees’ dormitory. During renovations, a few single-person dorm rooms had been prepared there.
The moment she pushed open the door, she saw Nina Jennings sprawled brazenly on her bed, playing on her phone.
"You’re so cruel. Don’t tell me you just forgot to announce that this afternoon. You just had to wait until they were at their most relaxed and happy to shatter their sweet dreams. And you even said, ’Sleep well’~"
Yvonne Lowell didn’t take the bait, calmly changing her shoes. "Why are you here?"
"Well, I woke up and had nothing to do, what else? Besides, I was worried you’d be heartbroken over being separated from your dear President Grant, so I came to keep you company."
Nina Jennings scooted over, patting the mattress. "Don’t be too sad. Big Sis is here for you."
"Tch. That’s really not necessary."
Yvonne Lowell rolled her eyes at her, took off her mask, and grabbed her clothes to head for the bathroom. Suddenly, she paused.
"Can you take off those two little buns first? They’re an eyesore."
’I have no idea what goes through her head. She always goes out with a standard East Asian face, but insists on wearing two little buns on top of her head.’
’She looks just like a certain female character from a fighting game. If she were also wearing a blue and white training suit, I’d think I’d crossed into another dimension.’
’The look itself is actually pretty nice. The key problem is that she also uses a high-pitched voice changer, which makes her sound like a cross-dressing eunuch.’
It wasn’t just Yvonne Lowell who was repulsed by it; Zachary Jacobs and the others were too, though they were too afraid to say anything.
But she herself felt great about it, claiming: "Only the most extreme contrast is what makes one truly irresistible..."
"Tsk, how can you still be so unappreciative?! It took me ages to get these right, so don’t even think about making me take them down."
As she spoke, she flipped her phone’s camera around and vainly snapped a couple of selfies.
...
「Women’s Dorms」
After hearing the broadcast, Deputy Leader Skylar Kidd was suspicious. "I feel like this is a trap. There’s no way the instructor would bring this up so suddenly."
A girl with a bob cut also commented, "We’ll probably be woken up in the middle of the night. The instructor definitely won’t let us wake up at six like usual."
Summer Quinn clapped her hands. "Alright everyone, let’s all get to bed early tonight. Sleep in your training uniforms. Better safe than sorry."
"Roger!"
「Meanwhile, in the Men’s Dorms」
Theodore Zane let out a wail. "We just did a ten-kilometer run today, and now we have to be up at six tomorrow?!"
"You’re overthinking it. You really think it’ll be six?" Blake Paxton took off his glasses and lay down on his bed.
"Sigh, think about us in the Anomalous Abilities Unit. We basically sleep until we wake up naturally. We usually focus on training our superpowers, with physical training only four or five times a year. Why did they drag us into this one?" Theodore Zane looked pale.
"Weren’t you the one who was always saying how much you missed Number One? Now you get to see her and spend a month together, and you’re unhappy about it?" Stanley Sutton shot him a look.
"I wanted to see her, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to see her like this!"
...
「3:20 AM」
Night still blanketed the land. The once-full moon was now covered by clouds, with only a small sliver showing.
All was silent, save for the occasional croaking of frogs seeking mates in the distance.
Most people had already relaxed their bodies and minds, falling into a deep sleep.
Suddenly, a piercing WHISTLE echoed throughout the entire camp.