Lao Jian addressed the recruits, “You’re all supposed to be on your field exercise. Simulated combat training is meant to come after that, but that schedule has been disrupted, so we’ll be moving into simulated combat training early, in the next couple of days.”

“Yes, sir!” The response was eager.

After all this training, everyone wanted to actually swing a blade. Han Qingyu’s spar with an instructor that very morning had only pushed that anticipation to a fever pitch.

“I never want to be like I was at District 1123 again. All I could do then was run. I could only watch while the instructors fought Sharpies to the death.”

The words came from somewhere in the crowd, and in an instant, everyone went silent. Fists clenched.

There was a long silence before another voice chimed in, heavy with regret and grief, “Yeah. We were all wearing our devices, and we all had blades, but we just…”

The person never finished...