Chapter 65: Du Yuhan: The Taste of Loyalty!

[March of the 127th Year of the Transcendence Era: The Yudu Combat Team exceeded 1,000 members.]

[With the aid of starlight-grade auxiliary instruments, over a hundred members within the team completed their second-transition trials and became second-transition professionals.]

[Noticing this development, the Du and Liu families increased their investments in the Yudu Society.]

[Meanwhile, the Yu family of Pingcheng, where Du Yuhan's aunt resided, also began investing in Du Yuhan upon hearing the news.]

[Many scions of prestigious noble families held positions across various combat corps.]

[They could directly or indirectly mobilize the strength of multiple combat corps for their own use.]

[However, being able to borrow the strength of combat corps is entirely different from having absolute mastery over a powerful combat corps of one's own.]

[The greatest distinction lies in whether they could continue to summon these combat corps to guard them when fierce conflicts broke out between noble families.]

[If a rival family held a more critical position within that combat corps, the sharp blade that previously aided them might very well turn around and pierce their own heart.]

[Therefore, a combat corps belonging directly to the Du family was something they desperately craved.]

[Thus, upon seeing hope, they spared no expense in pouring massive amounts of resources into it.]

[Although the Chixin Combat Team had been battered by Lin Xue's poaching efforts, it managed to stabilize its internal turmoil in the shortest possible time on every occasion.]

[At the same time, thanks to the massive scale of the Chixin Society both inside and outside the academy, the membership of the Chixin Combat Team not only failed to shrink, but actually grew in reverse.]

[This also let Du Yuhan know that the forces behind the Chixin Society were likewise raising the stakes and increasing their investments.]

[Yet, such fierce competition was precisely what made things interesting!]

[If a mortal enemy were knocked flat with just a single slap from her, where would the fun even be?]

[As for relying on the power of her family?]

[Was she really the only one leveraging family power?]

[If the Chixin Society had no backing from noble families, she would eat feces while doing a handstand.]

[Accompanied by the frenzied competition between the Chixin Society and the Yudu Society—especially fueled by the lavish sponsorships from the Du, Liu, and Yu families—Yuncheng First Academy was undergoing drastic transformations.]

[Almost every student at Yuncheng First Academy reaped the benefits generated by the collision of these two behemoth factions.]

[For ordinary students of middle-class backgrounds, even the mere dust falling from the Chixin Society and the Yudu Society was enough to stuff them to bursting.]

[Centered around Yuncheng First Academy and Yuncheng Second Academy, even the surrounding streets began to undergo massive transformations under this massive influx of resources.]

[According to official statistics from Yuncheng, the Chixin Society and the Yudu Society provided a vast number of local employment opportunities.]

[As a token of encouragement, the Yuncheng authorities specially issued a reward fund of two hundred million credits to both the Chixin Society and the Yudu Society.]

[April of the 127th Year of the Transcendence Era: The elderly principal submitted an application to the Ministry of Education.]

[He argued that Yuncheng First Academy had reached the standards of a super-first-tier institution in terms of campus construction, faculty quality, educational standards, and all other conditions.]

[Upon receiving the application, the Ministry of Education initiated the evaluation process for super-first-tier institutions.]

[A school's promotion was a protracted process.]

[And throughout this journey, the cultivation of personal connections and favors was indispensable.]

[Consequently, the elderly principal, accompanied by Vice Principal Zhang, traveled overnight to the Federal Center to lobby and maneuver for the school's elevation.]

[Upon learning of this, the head of the Du family contacted the elderly principal.]

[He stated that as long as the school was willing to grant greater developmental authority to the Yudu Society and provide full assistance when they formed their combat corps, the Du family would mobilize its connections to help Yuncheng First Academy advance its academic standing.]

[The elderly principal did not agree immediately; instead, he consulted with you regarding this matter.]

[After all, this affair might infringe upon your interests.]

[Upon hearing the news, you directly instructed the elderly principal to accept the offer.]

[Why on earth would anyone turn down such a free-lunch opportunity?]

[As for whether the Yudu Society might grow too powerful as a result?]

[To be honest, you desired the growth of the Yudu Society and the Yudu Combat Team even more than the head of the Du family did.]

[Most importantly, making Yuncheng First Academy a super-first-tier institution had been the elderly principal's long-cherished wish for many years.]

[Of course, compared to a super-first-tier institution, you were simply more inclined to see Yuncheng First Academy become a top-tier powerhouse academy.]

[May of the 127th Year of the Transcendence Era: Enraged after two entire cohorts of the Chixin Combat Team were poached away in a single sweep, you led a group to storm the headquarters of the Yudu Society.]

[This marked the first direct, head-on collision between the two supernova student societies: the Chixin Society and the Yudu Society.]

[In this clash, nearly five hundred members of the Chixin Society were injured, while three hundred members of the Yudu Society sustained injuries.]

[However, before leaving, you led your people in smashing the newly constructed Yudu Building.]

[Watching your display of impotent rage, Du Yuhan felt an endless wave of euphoria well up in her heart.]

[Putting everything else aside, just comparing the number of injured personnel, the Yudu Society had won!]

[And since the Yudu Society was founded by her, by logical substitution, didn't that mean she had won?]

[Finally!]

[She had finally won for once!]

[This also demonstrated that the strategy she and Lin Xue had formulated was exceptionally correct.]

[Poaching members of the Chixin Combat Team not only weakened the combat power of the Chixin Society but also effectively bolstered the strength of the Yudu Combat Team.]

[Of course, there was an even more crucial matter: Lin Xue's brainwashing capability.]

[Under normal circumstances, combat team members who were poached over would carry the stigma of being untrustworthy and disloyal.]

[To put it bluntly, if she could lure the other party away using transcendental resources, other factions could naturally poach them right back.]

[For major factions, especially noble families, anything less than absolute loyalty was absolute disloyalty!]

[Yet, miraculously, under Lin Xue's command and psychological conditioning, the former Chixin Combat Team members who were brought over would reverse their mindset within a very short span of time.]

[During every internal meeting of the Yudu Society, she could feel the ardent gazes directed at her by the Yudu Combat Team members seated below, and she found proof of reality in their extreme, fiercely protective attitude toward her.]

[Coming from a noble background, the philosophy of "don't listen to what people say, look at what they do" was deeply ingrained in her bones.]

[Although she felt a slight sense of bizarreness amidst these fervent gazes, what she cared about most was the fearless, life-risking loyalty the Yudu Combat Team members displayed in protecting her during the conflict.]

[She couldn't possibly be mistaken—this was the very taste of loyalty!]

[Perhaps it was because these members formerly belonged to the Chixin Society that they felt guilty toward her and failed to pledge their allegiance to her immediately at first!]

[Well... this bizarre emotional state could perhaps be interpreted as an inexplicable sense of guilt.]

[All in all, the chess move of poaching Lin Xue was the pivotal step toward her success!]

[After all, Lin Xue had personally participated in plotting multiple assassination operations against the Chixin Society; listening to those schemes from the sidelines had made her heart skip beats. Those interlocking chains of traps, nested assassinations, and utterly unprincipled methods were simply chilling to the bone.]

[If she didn't know Lin Xue better, she would have suspected that Lin Xue held some deep, irreconcilable hatred toward the upper echelons of the Chixin Society.]

[Therefore, she felt profoundly fortunate!]

[Thank goodness you didn't value Lin Xue enough and failed to offer sufficient benefits to retain her.]

[Otherwise, she didn't even dare to imagine what kind of state the Yudu Society would be in without Lin Xue!]