Chapter 28

After ensuring that Lucian's life was not in danger, Jiang Fei took the time to sort out the clues about the Redemption Society. She didn't believe that this organization would be indifferent to the selection competition. Her premonition told her that something was going to happen.

She had no time to leave the base, so she released the two pollutants on hand to collect information. The hawkmoth was not easy to be discovered due to its shape, and it even flew to the edge of the selection competition venue. However, due to the barriers all around it, it could only flap its wings anxiously outside.

[I smell the scent of pollution in the venue!]

[I discovered it first!]

[I came first, okay?!]

Several of the split bodies started arguing again. Jiang Fei rubbed her temples and used her consciousness to stop their quarrel. "Everyone, be quiet. Is this the smell of the pollutant from last time?"

[It's somewhat similar, but because the distance is too far, and like last time, it's also a part that split off from the main body.]

[Everyone says you can't do it, the master wants a definite answer!]

During the quarrel between the two hawk moths, another moth carefully observed the barrier, looked around, and finally found a loophole. It struggled to pass through the narrow hole, and even rubbed off a large piece of its wings, so it was shaky when it flew.

By the time the other two hawk moths realized what was happening, it was already too late.

[Hey? Where's the other split?!?]

[Ah, it seems like I ran away!]

Jiang Fei shared vision with the human-faced hawk moth that flew into the competition venue. She observed the surroundings through it. According to what they had said before, they sensed the smell of pollutants in the competition venue. This meant that people from the Redemption Society had also sneaked in here, which also proved that Jiang Fei's guess was correct. She wanted to see what this organization was going to do.

In the tropical rainforest, not only the contestants are prey, but all weak creatures will become prey to other animals, especially such a small moth. Fortunately, while the human-faced hawk moth flies laboriously, it does not forget to use its scales to confuse the animals that try to eat it.

[The smell of that pollutant is getting stronger! I'm almost there! !] The hawkmoth was very excited. Thinking that Jiang Fei would praise it for this, it flapped its wings even more frantically.

The moth stopped flapping its wings and landed between the leaves. Through the lush green branches, Jiang Fei "saw" the contestant, who was wearing a familiar black robe, but this time without a hood. That was why Jiang Fei could see his profile clearly.

Ha, it turned out to be him.

Jiang Fei thought that he should have died in the attack on A-1 base, but the fact was obviously not the case. Jiang Fei looked carefully a few more times and she finally confirmed that the person in front of her was Allen who brought her to A-1 base.

So, he's also a member of the Redemption Society? That makes sense. He's staying at A-1, even working for Joshua, for other reasons. If his real purpose is to control the person in charge of this base, she can understand that. His motives and actions would then align.

Then, was participating in the selection competition this time also a task given to him by the organization? Jiang Fei's mind was filled with questions for a moment.

"Follow him and see what he is going to do." Jiang Fei ordered the human-faced hawk moth.

Even without her saying anything, the moth would follow Alan obediently.

There were spots of blood on Allen's hands, which were left by him when he had just dealt with other contestants. With his strength, he was undoubtedly a candidate for the championship, but he seemed to be not focused on becoming the champion. He walked around the edge of the competition field from beginning to end. At first, Jiang Fei thought he might be avoiding other contestants to save energy, but later she no longer thought so.

Because her vision is shared with the hawk moth, she can see things that humans cannot see even in the field of view of pollutants. For example, a drop of black liquid actually drips from Alan's fingertips every time he walks a certain distance. Jiang Fei is sure that the production team of the competition did not notice it, and neither did the other spectators.

His movements were very skillful. If Jiang Fei had not seen the black liquid oozing from his hands, she would have subconsciously ignored his hand movements.

What is it doing? The hawk moth flew to where one of the drops of black water had fallen, and as it got closer, the black water seemed to have self-awareness and grinned at the hawk moth.

"How fierce! I don't mean any harm." The Hawkmoth said as it distanced itself from the small black bug.

It seems that it is the black bugs she collected before. Are they placed here for marking?

Alan had already walked a distance, and the hawk moth was following him in a hurry, but Alan suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked back a few times. The hawk moth was so scared that it quickly hid behind a tree nervously.

The man narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky, as if he was gazing through the sky at the sky city behind him.

The time for the selection competition soon came to late at night. It was impossible for the contestants to sleep peacefully at this time because the darkness served as cover, providing the greatest convenience for killing. The weak were worried about being killed, and the strong were worried about missing out on some prey.

Jiang Fei couldn't hold on any longer in the second half of the night and fell into a deep sleep. She woke up once in the middle of the night. It turned out that Alan ran into a murderer who had killed more than a dozen contestants. After a fight, he narrowly won. She saw Alan struggling to get up with sleepy eyes, staggering forward, muttering something, but Jiang Fei couldn't hear it clearly.

"Everything will come to an end..."

"Then the stars will fall, the sky will fall, and everything will return to nothingness..."

Jiang Fei wanted to concentrate and listen carefully to what he was saying, but the heavy sleepiness made her close her eyes again.

When she woke up, it was already nine o'clock the next morning. She sat up from the bed and felt that the connection between her and the human-faced hawk moth that flew into the competition venue was broken. There was only one possibility: it was eliminated, or it automatically dissipated because it was away from its main body for too long.

No matter which possibility it was, it was very disadvantageous to her. She came to the restaurant again. The content of the selection competition was still being played on the screen. Since the start of the competition, the screen has been playing the game scenes 24 hours a day. Playing such cruel scenes is also invisibly strengthening the control over the residents of the underground city. Not only does it want to let the people in the underground city see the cruelty, but also let them see that the sky city will open its doors to outstanding people.

It's almost like giving a slap in the face and then giving a sweet reward. This trick is very useful for many people, especially young people in their early teens who fantasize about making a name for themselves through tryouts. This idea is like a poor person hoping to win the lottery, except that the former will even lose his life.

After just one night, the number of contestants had dropped to only half of its original number, many of whom had died the previous night.

Today, Gru was sitting around the table with Jiang Fei. He was so worried about Lucian that he even stopped training since the game started. Captain Anna didn't say anything about this, as she knew that Lucian was an important friend of Gru.

"Hey Gru, have you had breakfast?" Jiang Fei greeted Gru first, and the latter replied absentmindedly, "Ah...yes, I have."

Jiang Fei glanced at the half-eaten sandwich left in his hand. He probably focused all his attention on the game and didn't even finish his breakfast.

"Is Lucian okay?"

"He's okay, but not too good. I also saw Unica and Alice. They were almost able to reunite, but there was a huge rainstorm last night." Gru watched the game all night long. He told Jiang Fei everything that happened last night. "First, there was a strong wind, just like a storm in the desert. Two players died when branches fell from the wind and hit their heads. Then it started raining. Actually, I don't know if that counted as rain, because it was all black liquid."

Jiang Fei heard the key words, "Black liquid...?"

"Yeah, at first I thought it was just the same kind of acid rain, but it didn't seem to be aggressive. But the rain was so heavy that they couldn't reunite successfully. The two of them had to find a place to hide first." Gru said, "That rain came so strangely."

No, to Jiang Fei, that was not strange at all. The black liquid dripping from Allen's fingertips appeared in her mind. Perhaps from that time on, the black rain had been brewing in secret.

Jiang Fei looked at the screen. The originally lush green rainforest had become dull in color after the black rain. Some black liquid remained on the emerald green leaves, sliding from the center of the leaves to the edges and hitting the ground with a plop.

The organizers of the competition were also puzzled by the rain's attitude. They contacted Arthur, the psychic who simulated the competition venue, and asked, "Did you simulate the rain last night as well? Why didn't you tell the production team in advance?"

Arthur yawned lazily. He looked only sixteen or seventeen, and based on his appearance alone, there was no way to connect him with the four pillars of Sky City. He said unhappily, "What do you mean? You disturbed my sleep."

The planner was stopped by the general manager, who smiled and said, "He was a bit abrupt. We were just worried that lack of communication would lead to mistakes in the competition."

Arthur was not very satisfied with his answer, but he still walked to the sand table in the middle of the room. The sand inside moved autonomously without any external force, but that was actually caused by Arthur's mental control. On the sand table was a three-dimensional map of the entire competition venue.

"Black rain..." Arthur raised his hand. "It's so ugly. I guess some wild psychic has sneaked into the competition again. How dare they mess up my work like this?"

"Forget it, let it rain again to wash away all the annoying black." He talked to himself and then clapped his hands. As soon as he finished speaking, a large cumulonimbus cloud suddenly appeared in the sand table, thick and huge, covering the entire rainforest.

"Are you all satisfied now?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask me about such trivial matters in the future. It's very annoying."

As he was speaking, heavy rain began to fall from the rainforest. It was not just ordinary rain, but a torrential downpour that was powerful enough to cause mudslides.

The planner couldn't help but say, "But like this--" The game would no longer be enjoyable at all!

"What?" The young man glanced over with a sharp gaze. The general manager quickly tried to smooth things over. "No, it's nothing. Everything you did is fine! As for the follow-up matters, we won't bother you again!"

The general manager and the planner left the boy's room. The general manager said to the planner earnestly, "You almost died just now. Do you know that?"

The planner was still a young man, having only been in office for a short time, and he asked, “What should I know?”

How did someone with such a fierce personality survive until now? The general manager sighed, "That person is a ruthless person who can kill people with a smile without even blinking an eye. And... you don't think he is really just a child, do you?"

The planner remained silent. The person in charge had already guessed what he was thinking. "You're totally wrong. He only looks like a child. His actual age... is probably older than the two of us combined."

"What? Then why can he keep his appearance the same? Is he a monster?"

"Who knows? Maybe it really is." The general manager looked back at the closed door. "That person, and the remaining three people, are the four pillars of Sky City. They were the ones who accompanied the first governor to establish Sky City."

"What!? But that was already, already..." It was already a hundred years ago! Hearing this, the stubborn look on the planner's young face gradually faded.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago."

*

On the other side, Jiang Feicai and Gru didn't say a word before the scene was blocked by heavy rain. The rain was so heavy that it seemed as if it was going to submerge the entire rainforest.

Gru said angrily: "Are you crazy? It just rained once, and now it rains again!? Do they think this is a game!?"

He was right, in Sky City it was all just a game, but it was strange to have two consecutive rains.

The rain in this rain is just ordinary rain.

At this moment, the remaining contestants in the competition venue couldn't help but curse the organizers, especially Alice. She hid in a tree hole, and the rain was about to flood the cave. She cursed, "Goddammit, all they know is rain. Don't they have any new tricks?!"

If the rain continues, she will have to move to another place. Staying here is just waiting to die.

Lucian thought the same thing. Fortunately, the cave he was looking for was located on a higher ground, so he didn't have to worry about that for the time being. He stood at the cave entrance and looked out. The hallucinogenic effect of the pollen had passed, and his brain had finally regained clarity. He couldn't stay in the game for too long; he had to reunite with Unica Alice as soon as possible.

As for the culprit who brought about that strange black rain, he sat on a branch, watching the black liquid being washed away bit by bit, his face becoming somewhat gloomy. "Do you think this will work?"

Jiang Fei was still thinking about whether he could let the human-faced hawk moth fly in again to see the real situation, but the news he received from them was that the barrier outside the competition venue had been reinforced again, and now there were no gaps or loopholes to be found.

In desperation, she had to give up the idea for the time being.

The rainstorm lasted for about three hours, during which time online viewers also complained.

[What's going on? It already rained, and now it's raining again. I'm almost getting tired of it!]

[How come the organizers don't have any new ideas?]

[I heard the organizer of this competition is new, so I guess he doesn't have much experience.]

[The new planner is so lame, even worse than the previous one. I'm speechless. If it weren't for the fact that the contestants in this round are so good-looking, I wouldn't be able to bear to watch it.]

[I heard the former planner was forced to resign because he angered some important figure, right?]

[What? I'm putting my ear here.]

[(ear) (ear)]

【This user has been banned. 】

After the rain stopped, Unica finally found Alice. After they reunited, they planned to go find Lucian. Alice continued to ramble on about the bad things she'd encountered along the way. "Everyone's just so badass. Ah... This tournament isn't fun at all. I'm so frustrated."

Unica listened quietly, nodding occasionally in agreement. "Once we find Lucian, we can withdraw from the competition."

Alice, who hadn't had enough fun, snorted softly, "Alright, let's go back to base."

Lucian, who had a commanding view, spotted the two earlier and approached them. "We need to pause our plan."

Alice asked back, "What? You decided to abandon your base and go to Sky City to be a high-ranking official?"

"Of course not. Don't you find it strange?" Lucian's intuition was sharp; he had a feeling something was about to happen. "Two consecutive heavy rains. Even the organizers wouldn't do something like this, no matter how foolish they are."

Unica followed Lucian's train of thought. "You mean, the rain wasn't caused by the organizers, but by other people, other contestants."

Alice crossed her arms. "That's just a self-righteous esper. He thinks this will attract Sky City's attention and lead to their recruitment." She was well aware of the process, but Unica shook her head. "No, if they really wanted to be recruited by Sky City, that esper wouldn't do this. I don't think they want to become champion."

"If he doesn't want to become the champion, what does this guy want to do? Just to show off his superpowers?" Alice said impatiently. In her impression, people with superpowers are all arrogant and look down on others.

"Yeah, if I don't want to be a champion, why do I have to do this kind of thing?" Lucian said to himself.

"Thinking about this kind of thing is such a hassle." Alice angrily chopped off a branch with her long knife. There happened to be a pool of black liquid on it. The black liquid gradually approached her feet, but was stepped on by Unica just before it touched her skin. "What is this?"

“What?” Lucian looked over.

"It's black and it moves. Is it a bug?" Yunica said as she moved her feet away. The pool of liquid was flattened, but it was still slowly returning to its original shape. Alice moved a little distance away and stabbed it with the sword of her long knife.

"Sizzle--" The insect that was cut in half made a sharp and piercing sound, but because the frequency was beyond the sound frequency range that humans could hear, the three people present did not hear any other movement, only the subtle movement of Alice's long knife sinking into the soil.

Alice raised her hand. "How disgusting! There are all kinds of bugs here. We should stay away from it."

“Don’t you think this thing… looks like a semi-solidified black liquid?” Lucian asked. To be on the safe side, they didn’t touch the insect with anything else. Unica then continued, “Are you saying this is a product of the black rain?”

"Very likely."

At the same time, the skin of the other contestants came into contact with the residual black rainwater, either accidentally or unintentionally. The tiny water droplets immediately penetrated into the subcutaneous layer the moment they touched the skin. If you look closely, you can see that the black mass is moving under the skin, dividing and multiplying at an extremely fast speed, and finally forming a strange pattern, and then disappearing.

This process is very short, no more than half a minute, and it is difficult for players under tense and high-pressure conditions to notice it.

Alan, who was hiding in the dark, witnessed all this and murmured, "He will save you and save the world." As he spoke, the pattern on the back of his neck gradually spread and extended to his cheeks. Because he had put on a hood in advance, only his chin and nose tip were exposed. Most of his face was covered with an ominous black, like a demon from hell.

Lucian then asked the other two, "Have you come into contact with this thing again?"

"No, we were very cautious on the way here to avoid making too much noise," said Yunika.

"Yeah, even when I meet those idiots, I choose to avoid them instead of teaching them a lesson." Alice complained, "I would never be so friendly normally."

"But at least we're safe now," Yunica said. She heard a faint, heavy sound coming from the distance, like a sign of an earthquake. Then the ground began to shake. She steadied herself in time. "Oh no! It looks like an earthquake is coming! Let's get out of here!"

She hurried to take Lucian and Alice away from here and find an open and flat area to take shelter as soon as possible.

Alice couldn't help cursing as she ran away, "Damn it! Damn it! These organizers are all orphans who have been without parents since childhood!!"

In the midst of the chaos, Lucian said to Alice, "You'd better say less and save your energy."

Alice's rebelliousness kicked in and she cursed even harder, "Damn it! I'm going to curse them to death! A bunch of damn bastards!!"

Seeing this, Lucian stopped trying to persuade her and left her alone to curse the entire tournament organizer.

Unica's premonition was correct. When they ran to the open area, they saw that the towering trees in the center of the rainforest began to fall to one side and the ground seemed to be torn apart by an invisible hand, revealing a crack that was ten meters wide.

More than a dozen players died in the earthquake. Lucian stopped and gasped for breath, but his brain did not stop thinking.

He thought that someone was deliberately sabotaging the game.