Bai Ningning carried her shopping bag toward the field, her little heart thumping.

The cat-themed underwear... how should she put it? It was cute, sure. Just a little too cute. Cute to the point of feeling childish.

And way too anime.

If a junior found out that the pure, aloof senior on the outside was wearing this kind of overly cute, childish anime underwear underneath... then her cool-and-distant life would probably suffer a serious setback.

But as an aloof senior, she obviously wasn't going to let a junior see what kind of underwear she wore.

Therefore, by logic, there was no way this could be exposed.

Bai Ningning felt at ease.

...

At Xicheng University, the freshmen doing military training were organized by formation. The first ten formations were for boys, and the ones after that were for girls.

The large training field was split into a south side and a north side. The boys' formations were on the south side, the girls' on the north, with a buffer zone in between.

But the entrance to the field was on the south side. To get to the girls' formations, you had to pass in front of the boys first.

When Bai Ningning walked past the formations, the junior boys in training were doing their final attention drill of the morning.

A breathtakingly beautiful campus belle of a senior, with a delicate figure, passed gracefully before them.

The junior boys couldn't hold it together.

"Whose senior is that? She's insane."

"Looks like she's bringing stuff to some juniors."

"Why didn't I run into a senior like that when I enrolled?"

"First day of school really is like pulling gacha. What kind of senior you get depends entirely on luck."

"Can I reroll back to a week ago and spam a few more starter accounts?"

Sadly, life didn't come with rerolls. You only got one shot at enrollment. Miss it, and it was gone forever.

So all they could do was hope the underclassman she was here for was nearby. That way, she'd stop there, and everyone could keep enjoying the view.

But Bai Ningning didn't stop. Her steps stayed light and brisk, and her pale thighs in hot pants were especially eye-catching.

Those long legs looked amazing in motion, but please, stop moving already. If you keep walking, we won't be able to see you anymore!

The boys in the formations were frantic.

"Not Formation One, not Formation Two. So where is she even going?"

"Go on then! Keep walking! Hey, you're really still walking... don't go, don't go, okay? I was wrong, alright? Wuwuwu."

"She passed Four, she passed Five too. Six! Do something, Formation Six!"

"She didn't stop at Seven either. She's still going. What is this supposed to mean?"

Watching the cool and gorgeous senior get farther and farther away, nobody could stay calm.

"Don't keep going. You're almost at the end."

"What is this? Don't tell me everyone she brought stuff for is a junior girl, not a single junior boy?"

Under the longing gazes of all ten formations, Bai Ningning crossed the entire southern field and headed for the girls' formations on the other side of the buffer zone.

The junior boys in the first ten formations were numb in body and cold in heart. They were all first-year college students fresh out of high school, mostly around eighteen.

And today, they learned their first lesson about adult society—

Life rarely goes the way you want.

...

It was close to noon. The girls' formations were in their final standing rest period. Once the break ended, they only had to endure twenty more minutes of training before lunch break.

Bai Ningning had already asked around and found out where each junior girl was.

First was A Jin, the lolita girl in Formation 11. Of course, she was wearing camouflage right now.

"Senior, your figure is so unfair," A Jin said as she took the ice water and looked at her with envy. "You can make even the simplest clothes look this pretty."

"Thank you." Bai Ningning handed her the floral water. "Do your best."

Then came the sweet girl Lanlan in Formation 13.

"Senior, you're wearing this style too now," Lanlan said, lowering her eyes to Bai Ningning's long legs. "So? Isn't it amazing?"

Who knew if it was amazing or not. What mattered was that it had clearly triggered armor proficiency and boosted her stats.

"Mm. Do your best."

Next was the twin-tailed loli Xiaoyi in Formation 14. To adapt to military training, she'd switched to a single ponytail. But the number one loli on the cute-girl rankings... actually number two. Anyway, Xicheng University's second-cutest loli was still as charming as ever.

"Xiaoyi." Bai Ningning handed over both ice water and milk. "The papaya milk I promised you yesterday."

Sorry, Xiaoyi. Don't blame your senior for being biased. The main issue was that the other girl's loli factor was just too high. You only fell short by the tiniest bit.

Xiaoyi took the papaya milk, and starlight flashed in her eyes. "Seniorrr, if I drink this, will I grow up?"

"No," Bai Ningning said coolly. "Believe in science."

Xiaoyi froze slightly. "Then why did you give it to me...?"

"Psychological comfort."

"..."

After leaving the single-ponytailed loli speechless, Bai Ningning still gave the same airy encouragement as before.

"Good luck with military training."

Then she drifted off toward the next formation.

The junior girl with the black thigh-highs was in Formation 17, the last one. Of course, today she was also in camouflage.

Bai Ningning didn't go over right away. She stood not far away and observed for a bit.

She had a small problem—

Formation 17 didn't just have Qin Xin. Nana was there too.

She didn't know why, but Bai Ningning instinctively felt that Qin Xin absolutely couldn't find out about this.

After watching for a short while, she relaxed a little.

Qin Xin and Nana were both in Formation 17, but one was in the front row and the other in the back, very far apart. Which made sense. One was a tiny loli at one-fifty, and the other was a tall girl over one-seventy. The formation was arranged by height from front to back.

And right now it was standing rest time. They weren't allowed to leave their spots and move around, so the front and back rows couldn't see each other. In the whole formation, only the instructor and class monitor could move freely.

Bai Ningning felt much more at ease and went to the back row first to find Qin Xin.

"Junior Qin Xin, I brought these for you." She took out the ice water and floral water. "Drink a little more while you're on break."

Qin Xin took the things, but her gaze stayed on Bai Ningning.

"Senior Ningning, you look really pretty today."

"Do I?" Bai Ningning replied lightly. "That's what everyone says."

Qin Xin's gaze darkened slightly. As expected, she was still very aloof.

But that was fine. As the saying went: no matter how cold a senior seems, ( )( ) is still warm.

"Senior Ningning." Qin Xin took a sip of ice water and asked, "We'll be on lunch break soon. Do you have time at noon?"

Bai Ningning tilted her head. "I do, but don't you all take a nap at noon?"

"We don't sleep until one-thirty. The others too," Qin Xin said, sounding hopeful. "Before that, could you spend some time with us?"

If she brought the others along too, then even if she couldn't have her to herself, the success rate would be much higher.

"Sure. We'll come find you later."

Bai Ningning was looking for a chance to leave, but Qin Xin spotted the extra items at a glance.

"Senior Ningning," she said, "did you buy two extra bottles of water?"

Bai Ningning guiltily grabbed at the shopping bag. "N-No. Those are for me."

Qin Xin looked a little suspicious. "Senior Ningning, you're drinking two bottles by yourself?"

"Yes. Physical reasons," Bai Ningning answered calmly. "My water... I need more water."