Infiltrating the Superhuman Training Girls’ School of the Republic of China!

I heard that this school also allows autonomous course selection from the second year, but first-year students don’t have such freedom. It was a natural measure. Especially for first-year foreign students who need to take all classes under a single instructor and prove their innocence, they can’t be scattered in different classes.

From the second year, they become completely mixed with Chinese students and gain more freedom. In particular, it’s important to get away from the supervision of Zhou Lizhi, who is shameless yet has a subtly cute side.

Given my position, I’m in a situation where I need to recruit Zhou to some extent or probe her true intentions rather than distance myself from her. Judging from the trends so far, it doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult…

“What are you grinning about?”

Briar Churchill snapped irritably, as if she had seen through my strange thoughts. She was flipping through the Chinese military textbook we were supposed to start learning from tomorrow. Instead of answering her question, I asked one in return:

“How’s the content of the book? It seemed to be this year’s revised edition.”

“For a revised edition supposedly released for Chiang Kai-shek’s 100th anniversary or whatever, it’s pretty much the same old stuff. The Battle of Cannae, the Battle of the Somme… Just stuffing in some battles we’ve heard about a million times, and again with basic army manuals, example cases, et cetera…”

Well, a British person would certainly know about the Battle of the Somme. No matter how arrogant and self-centered Briar Churchill is, there probably aren’t many British people who can live without carrying that wound in their hearts.

“More importantly, 100th anniversary? Don’t kill the person we just met.”

“Sorry, I’m not very fluent in Chinese yet.”

She said this shamelessly despite having been speaking in English the whole time. It seemed Briar Churchill would never abandon her native language unless all foreign students were gathered by Zhou Lizhi’s summons, or unless she was certain the other person couldn’t understand English.

“Isn’t the real essence of that textbook the part about tactical manuals after the emergence of superhumans?”

“Well, yes. But even so, it’s just an encyclopedia of abilities. Types and classifications of abilities of awakened individuals that have appeared so far, countermeasures for each classification, and actual engagement cases… It’s good, but hasn’t it already been proven that superhuman abilities are difficult to classify and organize like this?”

“Because with every war that breaks out, superhumans with unprecedented, extraordinary abilities appear.”

“That’s what I’m saying. This textbook, it must have just been printed, there are even things like this at the end.”

Briar Churchill flipped through the pages and opened the very end of the textbook, the “Superhuman Ability Classification” chapter. I looked into her textbook and chuckled seeing the latest abilities that hadn’t appeared before us, such as ‘Chalk Master’ and ‘Duct Tape Shapeshifting’.

“We’re getting registered in the book quickly.”

“That’s the purpose of this school continuing to accept foreign students, isn’t it? Information gathering to keep updating this splendid book. Even if my ability, Maestro, isn’t the first in history, it’s different for something like Duct Tape Woman, right?”

“Chalk Master too.”

“That Argentinian? Honestly, what kind of ability is that?”

“It might be useful for erasing the blackboard after class, don’t you think? If you can control chalk dust, you should be able to clean the blackboard more neatly than anyone else.”

Briar Churchill laughed gleefully at my words.

After that, we exchanged some idle chat for a while before going to bed.

The next day, the ‘first day of school’ in the true sense dawned. According to the schedule, we had to put on our exercise clothes from the morning and do a ‘light’ run around the sports field, which was the size of several soccer fields.

Honestly, it wasn’t such a difficult exercise for me. After surviving that terrorist attack at 18, I was thoroughly trained by the CIA to be able to handle this level of exercise with ease. Even after my body changed to female and I lost a lot of muscle, my cardiopulmonary function remained largely the same. If anything, running felt even easier, perhaps because my body had become lighter.

But from this first day’s exercise, 4 out of 10 students dropped out midway. Only I, Briar Churchill, Catherine Duey, Barbara Tikhonov, Shradha Bhatt, and Celine Demetriades succeeded in completing a full lap.

Hoang Thi Linh, Anya Crystal, Julia Curoo, and Rebecca Katerfeld either gave up midway or were completely sprawled out on the ground.

Zhou Lizhi, who was running alongside us, nodded while looking alternately at those who had collapsed and those who were still standing.

“Six out of ten on the first day? This year’s level isn’t bad.”

“It seems more like five out of ten to me?”

Catherine Duey shrugged. Zhou Lizhi looked at the French lieutenant with a puzzled expression, but I could roughly guess what Duey meant.

Let’s not reveal it now. If we reveal it too openly, we’ll both be embarrassed.

As soon as the morning exercise was over, we were given a brief time to wash up and have breakfast. After finishing a not-so-bad breakfast, we all gathered in the foreign student classroom in the main building at 9 o’clock.

The classroom was incredibly large, as imposing as the main building itself. It was hard to believe it was a classroom for teaching just 10 people. If all the desks and chairs inside were pushed to the corners, it seemed like superhuman duels could be held in the middle of the classroom.

We huddled together, almost as if it was a waste of this large space, and just stared at Instructor Zhou Lizhi. The major, after confirming that all 10 of us were present, flipped through the attendance book and called out our 10 names in order.

It was an unavoidable procedural matter, even though she could have known everyone was present just by looking at our faces, given the small number of students.

“First, before we start the semester, I’ll announce the grades for the test you took yesterday.”

Zhou Lizhi said something out of the blue. I leaned towards Lieutenant Catherine Duey, who happened to be sitting next to me, and whispered:

“It seems there are grades for that test.”

“Hmm, this is the first I’m hearing of it.”

The lieutenant said with a puzzled expression.

“Well, there can’t be a test without evaluation criteria at Huangpu, and the evaluation criteria for that test weren’t announced in advance.”

“The lieutenant is correct.”

Zhou Lizhi had sharp ears. The major, who had accurately caught Duey’s words, readily acknowledged the French soldier’s point.

“Therefore, the grades for this test are merely unofficial figures that have no impact on your performance or evaluation as students. It’s just a kind of reference material, and you don’t need to be too conscious of it, just consider it as a summary of this instructor’s first impression of you, who will be leading you for a year.”

“…Or you might be plotting something else using those grades…”

Duey muttered again in a voice loud enough for Zhou Lizhi to hear, but this time the Chinese army major didn’t respond to her muttering.

The so-called ‘grades’ she announced were exactly as expected. Hoang Thi Linh, Celine, and Anya, who didn’t step up at all, received terrible scores. The Indian exchange student Bhatt was highly evaluated for her enthusiasm, but didn’t receive a high score because she actually charged at the tank with a simple bare-handed attack and was knocked out.

Julia Curoo received a good score of 83 points, Barbara Tikhonov got 90 points, and Briar Churchill got 71 points. She explained that Churchill’s insincere attitude was a deduction factor compared to her performance.

The moment I heard that Catherine Duey received 68 points for her terrible gun aiming skills, Zhou Lizhi looked at me and smiled slightly. I instinctively knew that this greedy officer’s sudden announcement of ‘scores’ was aimed at me.

“And Shin Eun-young. To be honest, it was an impressive performance. I’ll give you 90 points. You utilized your ability to the fullest and showed maximum performance. Blocking both bullets and shrapnel with just adhesive force was an important performance that clearly demonstrated the versatility and potential of your ability. I can’t help but give it a high evaluation.”

“Why on earth…?”

My doubt didn’t last long. She soon began to explain her ulterior motive.

“Come to think of it, among students like you who are supposed to act together every day, it’s mandatory to appoint a platoon leader. Of course, it’s not a strictly enforced rule. It’s because of the additional clause in the school rules stating that foreign students don’t need to be treated like cadets from our own country. But looking at the foreign students this year, I have a feeling that it might be burdensome for this instructor alone to control all ten people. There are exchange students with high status, and there are too many students with peculiar personalities. Moreover, this year we have active-duty military personnel from hostile countries who outrank me, so even for me, Zhou Lizhi, it’s difficult to handle the workload. Therefore, this year I’d like to ask the most excellent and responsible student among you to take on the role of platoon leader and help me.”

“Haha… I can see the intention…”

Catherine Duey leaned towards me and giggled.

“The student who takes on the role of platoon leader will need to closely observe their fellow students and report to me whenever there are any unusual circumstances. It would be good for other students to respect her authority as much as possible, and even if there’s nothing special, to have regular meetings with me.”

This woman, she has no intention of hiding her motives. She keeps making eye contact with me.

“In the instructor’s opinion, how about having a student who achieved excellent results in the entrance exam just before the entrance ceremony, and who has the physical strength to easily perform the light training in the morning, take on this position? What do you all think?”