Zhao Chen won?
Hearing the girl's words, the students in the classroom were all astonished.
Those farther away even wondered if they had misheard.
"How could Zhao Chen possibly win? Are you sure you read that right?" a boy chuckled and asked.
"It's posted on the Academy Intranet forum. If you don't believe me, look for yourselves." The girl enlarged the holographic screen in front of her so everyone nearby could see.
On the Hot Search List, a post was climbing at an astonishing rate.
Its title was: [Zhao Chen Defeats Zhang Haoran in Starship Duel! Shocking Appearance of 1200mm Caliber Heavy Cannon, One Shot Sends T2 White Eagle Packing]
Besides this, there were actually several other related posts, but none had gained as much traction as this one.
Because this post contained the full video footage!
It even included a close-up and detailed introduction of that 1200mm caliber heavy cannon.
"Zhao Chen won? That's impossible." Some students still refused to believe it and asked the girl to play the duel video.
"Only five minutes? This video must be fake." A student noticed the video's duration and immediately questioned it.
Generally, a Starship Duel between vessels of the same class would last at least half an hour, and some could even involve hours of intense, back-and-forth combat.
How could it possibly be a mere five minutes?
But the ensuing video footage silenced every student present.
Even the teacher, who had been drawn in and hadn't left the classroom, gathered around to watch the holographic screen.
From the Zero Blizzard evading the T2 White Eagle-class Light Interstellar Cruiser's Laser Main Cannon at 100 Knots Stellar Speed.
To the Zero Blizzard decelerating from 100 Knots Stellar Speed to a complete stop in just five seconds.
And the thrilling scenes that followed.
When the massive 1200mm caliber cannon made its appearance, some of the boys in the classroom felt their blood boiling with excitement.
Then, seeing this colossal cannon fire, its single shot directly hitting and severely damaging the T2 White Eagle-class Light Interstellar Cruiser.
It shocked everyone!
"My God! How... how could Zhao Chen's starship possibly have a 1200mm caliber cannon like that?" a student exclaimed.
The teacher stepped forward at this point, swallowing hard, and said with some astonishment, "If I'm not mistaken, that should be the T2 heavy 1200mm caliber cannon mounted on the T2 Devil Crocodile-class Medium Interstellar Battleship!"
Hearing the teacher's words, the students buzzed with discussion.
Even at this moment, some still doubted whether the video had been faked.
It wasn't until someone pulled up the official announcement of the day's Starship Duel results from the Academy's official website's duel channel that the truth of the matter was confirmed.
[Duel ID 3030062701, contestants Zhang Haoran and Zhao Chen, winner: Zhao Chen]
Even class monitor Shen Bing was now using her Handheld Terminal to replay the video, watching it over and over.
Her eyes held disbelief. He actually won.
"Holy shit! My bro is awesome! My bro won!" Li Wei finally snapped out of his daze after a long moment, his excitement making it seem as if he himself had won.
He pointed at the people in the classroom and declared without reservation, "See that! That's my brother, Li Wei's brother.
And you were all sneering and mocking earlier, practically wishing my brother would just disappear."
"So? My buddy one-shot him, that Zhang Haoran isn't even worthy of tying my buddy's shoes.
All you fair-weather friends, go find somewhere cool to hang out."
After saying this, Li Wei ignored the ugly expressions on his classmates' faces and ran out. He needed to find Zhao Chen and get the full story.
This guy actually won!
He must be hiding something from me.
After Li Wei's mocking humiliation in Classroom Eight, no one uttered a word.
Even the teacher felt ashamed, because his earlier attitude had also been that Zhao Chen was certain to lose. Now, Li Wei's words felt like slaps directly across their faces.
——————
Zero Blizzard docked at a starship berth within the North Star Starship Military Academy's Starport, a berth Zhao Chen had reserved well in advance.
Since Zero Blizzard had essentially sustained no damage to its ship hull during this battle, no repair work was needed.
"Alright. Mission accomplished. You're all free to move around within the permitted areas of this starship," Zhao Chen said, patting Deputy Captain Charlotte on the shoulder.
Truthfully, Zhao Chen's gaze was fixed on Charlotte's furry head. He wanted to see what it felt like to pet this white tiger beastwoman, but that was just a thought.
Charlotte's sharp tiger fangs weren't just for show.
His eyes fell upon those white, severed ears.
It really hurt to look at them, and they marred her overall beauty.
Zhao Chen reaffirmed his determination: in the future, he must restore Charlotte's body. After all, Charlotte was now his deputy captain; consider it a crew benefit.
"Yes," Deputy Captain Charlotte responded quietly.
Zhao Chen left the bridge and returned to his captain's quarters.
Entering the captain's quarters, the space was quite sizable, roughly fifty square meters.
It contained a bedroom, a living area, a desk, and even a bathroom with shower facilities.
Even though it followed the layout of a decades-old starship, the captain's accommodations were still quite decent.
Zhao Chen had seen the crew quarters on this starship. They were somewhat similar to his previous life's school dormitories, but even more cramped.
One room held six triple-decker bunk beds, housing up to eighteen people. The aisle between the beds was less than a meter wide, and all eighteen shared one bathroom.
The smell... even decades later, Zhao Chen felt it was a bit too memorable.
Even on a starship, significant space constraints existed, forcing the compression of ordinary crew living quarters. Of course, there were single and double rooms specifically prepared for senior officers.
And now the situation was even more severe. Originally designed for fifty crew positions, the dormitory area now squeezed in one hundred demi-human crew members.
Many demi-human crew members had to sleep on the floor.
So, by comparison, Zhao Chen's living conditions were simply too good.
"Whew." Zhao Chen flopped onto the large bed.
He savored the comfort of the bed for a few seconds before getting down to business.
After defeating Zhang Haoran, his mission system had already notified him of completion, awaiting his claim of the rewards.
[Mission Content: Challenge Zhang Haoran to a Starship Duel and defeat him in the duel.
Task Difficulty: D-grade
Mission Reward: One Task Point and 300 points
Failure Penalty: Deduct 300 points
Mission Completed. Please claim your reward.]
Zhao Chen focused his mind.
[Mission rewards received: 300 points and one Task Point]
At this moment, Zhao Chen's interface displayed these new rewards.
[Host: Zhao Chen
Occupation: Top Starship Engineer
Special Attributes: Fleet Luck Bonus, Eye of Insight
Points: 400
Task Points: 1
Starship Count: 1 vessel
Mission: Quarterly Mission (Incomplete)
Warehouse: T3 Blizzard-class light interstellar battlecruiser technical blueprint]
His points had increased from the original 100 to 400, and he now had one Task Point.
"Now that I have a Task Point, let's see if I can exchange it for something good from the store!" Zhao Chen opened the System Store and began searching for his target.