My Wife is a Hidden Big Shot-Chapter 155 - 149: Eve Lowell, First Place?

Yellow sand blotted out the sky, stretching over a sea of corpses and shattered ruins.

The battlefield was an inferno, testing the students to their physical and mental limits. But they couldn’t retreat. It was as if a wall stood behind them, forcing them to grit their teeth and push forward.

Fortunately, the instructors had turned the simulation’s gore settings to their lowest. There were no live firearms, no gushing blood—only raw, primitive combat, sparing the students from excessive psychological trauma.

A good number of students had already "died" in battle, but the enemies ahead continued to press their attack.

Each wave was fiercer than the last, each batch of foes more formidable.

Eve Lowell glanced at the figure in the distance, her lips tightening. She raised her staff and charged, intercepting every enemy Aurora Sinclair prepared to fight.

She was especially fond of swooping in to deliver the final blow to enemies Aurora had already beaten half to death, claiming the kill and the points for herself.

"How despicable! She’s stealing our class’s points! Let’s go, guys..."

Seth Sterling, gripping his staff, was the first to charge forward to help Aurora Sinclair stop Eve Lowell from kill-stealing.

But the guys from Eve Lowell’s class weren’t fools. They used their superior numbers to intercept the archaeology students, holding them back.

For a moment, the virtual battlefield devolved into a free-for-all, with students scrambling to steal kills from one another.

It was utter chaos.

Suddenly, an NPC soldier beside them cried out again, "It’s over! We’re in big trouble! The enemy’s Great Warriors are on the move!"

Everyone looked ahead to see a group of enemies in blue combat uniforms charging at them. There weren’t many of them, but they moved like tigers descending a mountain, felling an NPC soldier with nearly every punch.

One student charged forward to attack an enemy in blue, only to be sent flying back by a single punch and instantly eliminated.

’So these NPCs really are at the Great Warrior Level.’

The students instantly grew tense and changed tactics, ganging up to surround a single enemy in blue.

Eve Lowell glanced over at Aurora Sinclair, who was still busy finishing off regular enemies. A cold sneer touched her lips as she swung her staff, batting a blue-clad enemy directly toward Aurora.

But Aurora dodged it with ease and, with a light jab of her staff, finished off another enemy.

Aurora Sinclair turned to look at the girl a short distance away, a little puzzled.

"Oops, my hand slipped," Eve Lowell replied.

Aurora Sinclair quickly backed away, putting several meters between them for safety. But the other girl stuck to her like glue, following her every move.

Before long, the two of them had drifted a considerable distance away from the main group.

Aurora Sinclair spun around. "Why are you following me?"

Eve Lowell finally dropped her facade. "I just wanted to see what kind of vixen would dare to seduce Young Lord Morgan," she said haughtily. "Turns out you’re nothing special!"

Aurora Sinclair was completely baffled. "I’m not a vixen."

But Eve Lowell just sneered. "You’re from some minor family, yet you dare to have designs on Young Lord Morgan? You should take a good look in the mirror and see if you’re even worthy..."

Aurora Sinclair froze for a second, staring at her. Then she shook her head. "Morgan is just my friend..."

Eve Lowell’s gaze darkened. ’How dare she flaunt it in my face? Absolutely infuriating!’

"Do you dare fight me for real, outside of this simulation?"

’If friendly fire wasn’t disabled in this virtual world, I’d teach her a lesson right here and now.’

Aurora Sinclair shook her head. "I won’t fight you."

Eve Lowell assumed she was afraid. Tilting her chin up, she warned, "Stay away from Young Lord Morgan from now on. Otherwise, don’t blame me for what comes next."

But Aurora Sinclair replied earnestly, "You can’t beat me."

"..."

***

Eve Lowell was about to explode with rage. ’How dare the daughter of some minor family act so brazenly in front of me.’

Clenching her long staff, she charged straight for the NPC enemies in front of Aurora Sinclair, snatching away every single target as if to vent her frustration.

Aurora Sinclair wasn’t fazed. If Eve wanted the kills, she could have them. Aurora simply continued attacking at her own pace.

Gradually, Eve Lowell’s stamina began to dwindle. Just then, a new wave of Martial Master Level enemies appeared up ahead.

There were only a dozen or so, but their strength was overwhelming.

Most of the male students had already been eliminated by them, the guys from the archaeology department included.

Now, only a dozen or so students remained on the virtual battlefield.

The NPC soldier cried out, "These martial masters are too powerful! We can only hope our own martial masters arrive to rescue us soon."

When Eve Lowell managed to kill a martial master—one she’d snatched from Aurora Sinclair—she was met with cheers from the remaining male students.

For them, a martial master was just too powerful.

They hadn’t expected Eve Lowell to be able to kill a martial master. ’Does that mean she’s at the Martial Master Level herself?’

The boys’ eyes lit up, their gazes fixed on Eve Lowell with newfound fervor.

「Elsewhere, in the monitoring room.」

The instructors were also stunned by Eve Lowell.

They hadn’t expected the girl from the Lowell Family to be a Martial Artist of the Martial Master Level.

All eyes were on Eve Lowell until the simulation ended.

In total, Eve Lowell had killed five martial masters. Aurora Sinclair had killed only one.

***

As the holographic simulation system powered down, the training pod slowly opened. Aurora Sinclair removed her helmet and stretched, only then realizing her entire body was soaked with sweat.

A crowd of guys from the archaeology department—all of whom had been eliminated early—had gathered around her pod.

Seth Sterling’s face was flushed with excitement. "Sinclair, you were amazing! You actually killed a martial master!"

The words had barely left his mouth when an even more excited cheer erupted from nearby: "Eve, you were incredible!"

"As expected of Mr. Lowell’s granddaughter! You’re so strong!"

"You’re our freshman class’s very own Female Martial Artist at Arcadian University now."

...

Seth Sterling glanced in their direction and muttered unhappily, "What’s the big deal? At least our kill was against a higher-ranked opponent!"

"Exactly! To us, Sinclair is the pride of the archaeology department."

The archaeology boys all voiced their support, and hearing them, Aurora Sinclair’s expression flickered.

Meanwhile, Eve Lowell emerged from her training pod like a victorious queen, drenched in sweat. Her legs suddenly went weak, and she nearly collapsed, but thankfully, the crowd of boys around her caught her in time.

Listening to the chorus of praise, Eve Lowell felt a surge of smug satisfaction. Her gaze traveled over the crowd toward Aurora Sinclair, but Aurora was already being ushered out by the boys from her own department.

A flash of displeasure crossed her face. ’Those archaeology boys clearly haven’t seen much of the world.’

***

「That evening.」

Everyone gathered again on the large training field, waiting for the base commander to present the awards.

"First place in the team survival simulation goes to the Department of Physics and Engineering! Second place... the Department of Archaeology!"

The guys from the archaeology department erupted into a wild cheer.

Considering how few students they had compared to other departments, snagging second place was an incredible feat.

"And for the individual rankings in the survival simulation... first place goes to..." The base commander deliberately drew out the announcement, building suspense.

"Aurora Sinclair... Aurora Sinclair..." Seth Sterling and Danny Archer chanted under their breath, their eyes filled with nervous anticipation.

But the students from the larger departments next to them were already shouting out different names, the calls rising and falling in waves.

The base commander smiled. "This time, we have a tie for first place between two young women: Aurora Sinclair from the Department of Archaeology, and Eve Lowell from the Department of Management..."

The boys from both the archaeology and management departments leaped to their feet, ecstatic.

Under the spotlights, Aurora Sinclair and Eve Lowell passed through the roaring crowd and walked onto the dais.

The base commander singled out Eve Lowell for praise, announcing that her personal kill score on the virtual battlefield was the highest of all participants, causing her popularity to surge once more.

She even earned a headline on the Arcadian University forum’s homepage.

The headline read: [Management Beauty Eve Lowell: A Heroine Who Rivals Any Hero, Secures First Place in Survival Competition]

Beta Morgan, who was keeping a close eye on the Arcadian University forums, saw the headline and complained indignantly, "How come our Aurora isn’t the sole winner?"

Benjamin Morgan glanced at his phone. "Aurora is also in first place."

"Then why are they only reporting on one of them?"

"The heiress of the Lowell Family had the highest individual kill score on the virtual battlefield."

Beta Morgan was shocked. "Eve Lowell got the highest score? How is that possible? She’s nowhere near as strong as Aurora..."

Benjamin Morgan didn’t answer, instead glancing at Alvin Morgan, who was busy with an experiment.

"The Young Master instructed Aurora to cap her strength at the Ninth Rank of a Great Warrior for the simulation."

"..."