158: Chapter 158 Didn't you say I still had a chance?

The Dark-skinned Man propped his greatsword back onto the ground and looked over with a helpless expression.

"Speak."

"If there wasn't a chance, how could the Captain remember my name? Our Battle Group has so many people, and she's usually so busy..."

The Dark-skinned Man finally couldn't help but roll his eyes grandly.

"I'm begging you. When we joined, the Captain personally stamped our approvals. She remembers everyone's name, okay?"

The Dark-skinned Man continued, "Half a month ago, when my friends and I were dining out, the Captain ran into us and even picked up the tab."

"Hmm..." Wang Sheng pondered for a moment before immediately saying, "I don't believe it!"

The Dark-skinned Man sighed helplessly; he was truly at a loss for words.

"Forget it, I don't blame you," he said resignedly.

Their Captain was beautiful, powerful, and had a gentle personality.

Within their Battle Group, nearly half the members were more or less infatuated with her.

Well... he meant half of all the members, not just the guys.

The girls were even worse; their private talk was so unrestrained it made him blush just hearing it.

So, his good brother's reaction was entirely within his expectations.

Finally, Wang Sheng let out a helpless sigh.

"Sigh."

He wasn't a fool; how could he not know?

He just wanted to deceive himself for a bit.

"Fine, I accept my fate." Wang Sheng lifted his sword again.

The Dark-skinned Man raised his own sword, tapped the other's greatsword, and said, "Don't be sad. The Captain is so strong that she probably doesn't have her eye on anyone right now. Just keep working hard, hahaha."

Wang Sheng heard the mockery and was about to snap back when he caught sight of Su Wan out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately swallowed his words and turned to look.

Seeing his reaction, the Dark-skinned Man followed his gaze.

Then, both of them raised their hands and waved in that direction.

"Hello, Captain..."

As they spoke, they realized Su Wan wasn't looking their way at all.

She was currently walking briskly toward the entrance of the area.

The two glanced at each other, somewhat confused, and continued to stare.

Before long.

At the entrance, a figure with a pitch-black crow perched on his shoulder quietly appeared.

Su Wan went up to meet him, exchanged a few words, and then accompanied him as they walked inside together.

Watching the way their Captain conversed with him.

Wang Sheng and the other man couldn't help but exchange another look.

Holy crap, something's not right!

They had never seen their Captain like this—her smile was the same as usual, yet it carried a hint of earnest nervousness.

Su Wan and the man continued walking inward, and their figures soon disappeared.

Wang Sheng and the Dark-skinned Man stood there stunned for several seconds before coming to their senses.

"Go to hell!"

Wang Sheng suddenly let out a low growl, raised the Training Greatsword in his hand, and swung it at the Dark-skinned Man.

"Holy crap! What are you doing? Are you crazy?!"

The Dark-skinned Man was startled and clumsily blocked with his sword. The blades collided with a dull "clang."

"Didn't you say I still had a chance?!"

Wang Sheng hacked down fiercely again, with even more force than during their practice earlier.

While parrying, the Dark-skinned Man ranted frantically in his mind.

How the hell is this my fault?!

...

Halfway there, Gu Changming saw Lin Jianqiu strolling leisurely toward them.

Upon seeing him, Lin Jianqiu immediately quickened her pace and approached with a grin.

"You really have quite the reputation, getting our Captain to personally pick you up," Lin Jianqiu teased as she came over.

Su Wan gave her another helpless glare.

"Su Wan said she wanted to show me around," Gu Changming had to explain.

Just now, Su Wan had indeed taken him on a tour, showing him their territory and the members undergoing various types of training.

"Oh? So what do you think?" Lin Jianqiu grew interested and began to introduce their group. "Our Battle Group now has nearly a hundred D-Class Ability Users, and we've secured a permanent entrance to a Secret Realm. Our steady weekly income alone is around fifty thousand points..."

"It's quite good," Gu Changming nodded.

Hearing this, the corners of Lin Jianqiu's mouth curled up even higher.

But Su Wan, standing beside her, frowned slightly.

She looked at Gu Changming, her tone becoming more serious. "It's fine. If you see any problems, you can speak freely."

Too many times, when Gu Changming spoke, he habitually held something back, unwilling to say it out loud.

Gu Changming looked at her with some surprise.

He did indeed habitually withhold his thoughts. It wasn't that he was unwilling to speak, but rather that often, even if he explained things clearly, the other party might not listen or might even take offense.

So, it was better to say nothing at all or just say what the other person wanted to hear.

Gu Changming thought for a moment and then spoke slowly, "Although you're called a Battle Group now, the training still seems to be focused on small teams. This doesn't really leverage the advantage of having many people."

"Also, the proportion of front-line melee members in the Battle Group seems too high. In large-scale combat, coordination and cooperation are key. Long-range and support roles should make up at least half the force to be considered balanced..."

Although he didn't have a Battle Group in his past life, he might not have eaten pork, but he'd seen pigs run—he could still recognize basic structural issues.

After speaking, he saw Lin Jianqiu's face immediately drop and thought to himself: As expected, I shouldn't have said anything.

Fortunately, Su Wan was frowning slightly in deep thought; she seemed to have taken his words to heart.

"You have a point..." Su Wan nodded slowly.

Her mindset was still stuck in the small-team phase, so the people she recruited were mostly powerful melee-focused ability users.

After Gu Changming pointed it out, she also noticed the problem. No wonder she always felt a bit awkward when commanding before.

Seeing Su Wan like this, Lin Jianqiu grew frantic, her eyes accusing: You spineless girl, why are you helping him belittle us?

How are we supposed to recruit him and make him one of us like this!

...

The two took Gu Changming on a general tour of the Battle Group's station.

After finishing the tour, Su Wan was about to suggest taking Gu Changming somewhere in the Stronghold for lunch.

But at that moment, a message notification box popped up once again.

She intended to ignore it, but upon seeing the content, she paused and looked down.

"Hmm?" Gu Changming also glanced over at that moment.

Soon, an apologetic expression appeared on Su Wan's face as she turned to Gu Changming. "Um... the Assessment just ended, and the managers of the various areas in the Stronghold are having an emergency meeting to summarize the situation."

"How about this: let Lin Jianqiu take you to lunch first, and I'll be back as soon as the meeting is over?"

The message was from Fang Shouzheng, saying they needed to discuss matters related to integration, which was crucial for the future development of the entire Stronghold, so she couldn't miss it.

Gu Changming waved his hand, intending to go along with it and say he had things to do as well, taking the opportunity to leave.

But before he could speak, he noticed the words "Meeting of Managers from Various Areas."

Then his eyes flickered as if he had thought of something.

"Um... can I go and take a look?"